Erin's Blog for Computer Skills

Advice!

2009-04-28T05:37:00.003-11:00

This class is really beneficial. Last year when I found out that I had to take this course, I wasn't very happy because I had always thought of myself as being good with computers. I actually learned a lot though- especially about excel.

My advice to any new students to Dr. Belisle's class it to learn all you can by listening to Dr. Belisle and doing the homework. I promise, you'll learn a lot of beneficial computer skills. Also, just come to class. If you miss class, you miss a lot. And each class, we learn a lot. Also- we always go over the homework before it's assigned, so it makes the assignments easier.

Finally, my last bit of advice is to read through assignments carefully. Dr. Belisle sometimes has very specific intructions that are very easy to fall if you just READ CAREFULLY.

Besides all that, enjoy this class. It's a lot of fun- especially the assignments for the second semester.

Thanks,
Erin Camp
ecamp@trinity.edu

Student Websites

2009-04-27T17:50:00.008-11:00

This has been (by far) my favorite project. I was not necessarily happy with the way mine turned out, but I was thoroughly impressed with my classmates' websites and I loved learning even more about them. It was hard to choose a top three, but three of my favorite were: Eva's, Adan's, and Hye-won's.

Eva's was probably my favorite because I have known her the longest in the class. I thought all her pictures were fantastic and since we were friends in elementary school, I loved seeing how little talents from when we were little turned into major

interests as a young adult. I also really liked her Nav Bar and the over all layout- She added her own little twist by keeping the major pages shorter and adding a other photo's page.

Adan's was my second favorite, because he definitely made a very original website. He is such a creative and multi-talented person. I really enjoy his website and hope he continues to pursue his many interests (especially music). I also really enjoyed his personally made font that he created. I really like his because it is unique.

And finally, I really enjoyed Hye-won's website. I loved her's because I enjoyed all the personality she put into it (even the purple color scheme had Hye-won written all over it). I also thought her idea of making all her pictures thumbnails was a creative and very useful one.

I enjoyed every website. I can tell that each student put a lot of effort into theirs.

I hope you will enjoy mine too: http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~ecamp .

Thank you,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Student Powerpoint Presentation Part II

2009-04-27T17:41:00.003-11:00

Since I was absent for the first round, I wanted to highlight on a couple more of the students' powerpoint presentations that I did not miss.

One presentation I thought very interesting was Taylor Burden's because of his use of music. Normally, music during a presentation (especially an academic or professional one) is very distracting. But I thought his music was thematic and added to the presentation a lot.

I was also impressed by Nicole Remling's over advertising in the world market. The powerpoint was creative and I really liked the compare and contrast she did of marketing and advertising.

Finally, Robert Buckrei's presentation over Epilepsy/Neuroscience was extremely well done. I enjoyed the layout (very thematic) and the outline was really easy to follow. I did not know that neuroscience could be such an interesting topic.

I was impressed by not only my classmates' interests and majors, but their creativity as well. I really enjoyed this project and watching the presentations.

Thank you,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Student Powerpoint Presentations

2009-04-01T04:11:00.002-11:00

Since I unfortunately was not in class for the first batch of presentations, I only saw the powerpoints from the students on Tuesday. After class, I was even more disappointed that I could not make it to the first session because I was very impressed by my classmates' abilities. I liked all of them and found the subject matter creative and enthralling.

My two favorites were probably Marina Urra and Ellen Desmarais because I thought their designs were the easiest to follow. Ellen did an excellent job catching her audience's attention through her excellent introduction. And Marina Urra had my favorite master slide, because she incorporated her subject of public relations by adding various people's faces.

Just because those two were my favorite, does not mean I did not thoroughly enjoy the rest. Because I did. Taylor Burden's use of music was incredibly appropriate and I thought he did a nice presentation over D-day. Robert Buckrei had one of my favorite layouts because it was thematic AND it was easy to follow. Baran Sonmez also had creative and well thought out backgrounds and bullet points. And finally, Carmel Tajornera had the most unique and interesting concept about teaching kids how to bake. I loved her ideas and her consistent use of the color pink (a color I thought appropriate for her topic).

Thanks,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Powerpoint

2009-03-24T03:30:00.002-11:00

Powerpoint presentations can be an important tool in many ways: they can enhance your speech with visuals such as charts and they can help your audience by providing an outline of what you are talking about. However as Professor Belisle pointed out, powerpoints are often poorly done and therefore do not help presentation but hurt them. Out of the useful websites we were provided in class, I have compiled a list of five guidelines I feel are important:

1. Watch out for what color the back ground of your powerpoint is. Neon colors and really bright colors (such as reds and oranges) are distracting and can be hard on readers' eyes.

2. BE CONSISTENT. Consistency is key when creating a professional powerpoint. Be consistent with fonts, colors, etc.

3. Steer clear of cheesy clip art. Cheesy clip art makes powerpoints look unprofessional and can dampen the credibility of the presenter.

4. Don't make your powerpoint too wordy. Powerpoints are not supposed to be your ENTIRE presentation on screen- they're only supposed to be a simple outline. You're not trying to distract your audience from your presentation, you're trying to help them follow along.

5. Do not make the font on your powerpoint too big. This can be distracting and overbearing to your audience.

One thing that annoys me about bad powerpoint presentations is when powerpoints are too wordy and people presenting are just reading off of the screen. I think this is a sign of the presenter being unprepared and not knowing their material. And that makes the presenter lose a lot of their credibility.

Thanks,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Excel

2009-03-18T13:15:00.002-11:00

To be honest, before I took this class I had only ever used Excel for one thing- to keep track of yearbook purchases in High school. I probably had the least experience of everyone in the class, or at least I figure I did/do. I had no idea Excel could do so much. I knew it had the ability to add or subtract... maybe even multiply, but I did not know it could alphabetize, find averages, create charts, along with many other things.

I already have contemplated starting to keep track of my spending by using Excel. (Haven't gotten around to it because of pledging, unfortunately) I recommend everyone take some sort of class on Excel, it can really make a lot of things easier. It has (what I like to think) an almost limitless calculation capabilities.

Thank you Mrs. Belisle for showing me the ins and outs of Excel. I really enjoyed it. I am really glad I have had the opportunity to take this class.

Thanks,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Center for Learning and Technology

2009-03-04T14:08:00.004-11:00

After I found my way down to the bottom of the library, I was amazed at what I had been missing. The AT&T Center for Learning and Technology definitely has the best technology of any other student computer center on campus. The computers come equipped with video editing equipment and they even have macs! (That was my favorite part because I am a proud Mac user) If I ever have to do something, such as edit a movie for a class, I will definitely be working in CLT. Not only do they have fully equipped Macs, but there are a lot of people that are available to ask questions and help you. (I would probably definitely need help if I ever decided to edit/create some sort of video)

I also had no idea that CLT could be used as a kind of hide-out when studying. The closed off room looked like an excellent place to isolate yourself from all sorts of distractions. That would be useful in any class- especially around midterms and finals. I would probably also use the computers down there for some major projects, because they're better equipped than my own AND it's much quieter than anywhere else I could think to use a campus computer. After visiting that room, I really believe it is a necessity for everyone on this campus to at least know where it is. I am sure it will come in handy for anyone of any major.

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Unethical Editing

2009-03-03T07:10:00.003-11:00

I chose the Katie Couric picture, because I am apalled at the amount of editing they deemed necessary to make her appearance appropriate for television. This image was originally released in May by CBS and the doctored version (the one on the right) appears in the September issue of Watch Magazine. It was manipulated by making Katie appear thinner than she actually is and darkening her choice of closing, so as to make her more appear "more professional." It was manipulated because the editor thought the picture would make her more appealing to his or her audience. I believe this sort of manipulation is exactly why society puts so much pressure on women to be thin. The editor is sending out a statement that Katie, as well as other women, would be more attractive if they were thinner. I don't believe in this message and don't agree with the idea that one has to be incredibly thin to be attractive. What is wrong with what Katie Couric's appearance before the editing? Nothing. That is why it's harmful.

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Searching the Internet

2009-02-26T05:01:00.002-11:00

I can't name one person that doesn't use a major search engine on a daily basis (especially Google). However, before listening to Chris Nolan I had no idea there were sort of "tricks" to using these popular search engines for research. These tricks can be as easy as putting quotations around a phrase so that the search engine finds the phrase together instead of as separate words.

A problem with Google and other popular search engines such as Yahoo, is that most people do not look at more than about the first thirty results. However, the first results are more than likely not scholarly sources because they appear based upon website popularity- not content.

One way to decide whether a source is credible is to look at the web address. A ".com" or ".org" are not necessarily credible, because they're businesses or organizations that are trying to sell you a certain idea. ".edu" websites are credible because it is a higher education website. A student doing research can limit his or her search to only ".edu" sites by doing an advanced search. (An advanced search can also limit your search in many other ways.)

The thing that surprised me the most in Chris Nolan's presentation was the technology Google has. Especially the technology to eliminate advertisers from informational sites. The reason Google is so popular is because of their technology. Their technology enables them to produce results that people tend to like more than other search engines' results.

I learned many things from Chris Nolan's presentation, which surprise me in itself because I use Google and other search engines daily. I learned about directories (places where people look at websites that they think are useful and stick them into different categories). I also learned lots of useful trick that you can view here.

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Copyright Laws

2009-02-04T10:55:00.003-11:00

Before the presentation last class, I had no idea how uninformed I was about copyright infringement. I learned an assortment of details about copyright that I believe every citizen of the United States needs to be aware of. For example, Copyright laws in the U.S. date back to 1790, which precedes the Bill of Rights (1791). These laws basically state that we, as citizens, cannot reproduce or copy another person’s intellectual property without having proper permission and giving credit where it is due (either monetarily or through citation). There are, however, some materials referred to as ‘Public Domain’ that can be used without requesting copyright permission.

One prominent issue with copyright infringement has to do with the use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes. Some reproduction of copyrighted materials can be used for educational purposes under the term “fair use.” However, this does not include all material that teachers may need or want to use for educational purposes. For this reason, copyright laws hinder some teachers and/or professors. Usually, these hindrances are due to their inability to reimburse a publisher monetarily.

I believe that authors should have control over their ‘intellectual property’ and therefore copyright laws should definitely exist and be enforced. However, I believe that in cases of education the law should be more lenient and have more exceptions. Education, I believe, the most important use of any type of material. Therefore, I think that if certain copyright laws are hindering teachers from teaching their students then “fair use” for educational purposes should be expanded.

Thank you,
Erin Camp
ecamp@trinity.edu

Facebook: A College Necessity

2009-02-02T11:13:00.003-11:00

As a college student, I use my facebook daily. It helps me keep in touch with my friends from high school as well as my friends here on campus. It makes inviting people to parties and campus activities not only easier, but more inclusive. I think it is more than merely useful, I almost think it is completely necessary if you want to maintain a social life without constant face-to-face contact with EVERY single person you know.

Facebook also allows me to keep in contact with my friends back home without being on the phone all the time. My friends and I leave videos as well as text posts on each others walls to keep each other informed on how we are settling into college.

It allows us to share our pictures from events and gives us a place to put them. Pictures no longer just sit in physical albums or dormant in a pictures file- they are put out on the internet so we can reminisce on weekends and past events.

I do watch what pictures can be found of me on facebook. However, the activities I'm involved in I'm honestly not worried about people seeing them.

For another perspective on this issue click here.

Thanks,

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu

Microsoft Word Experience

2009-01-27T06:44:00.002-11:00

I actually would consider my amount of word experience to be substantial. When I read chapters 1-3, I found the information very repetitive of what I had already known. I have been using Word since I was very litte and I have submitted virtually every typed assignment through this program.

Techniques I would probably like to review are diagram building. Other than that, I would think there isn't much I need to review.

Thanks you,
Erin Camp
ecamp@trinity.edu

About Me:

2009-01-15T07:18:00.001-11:00

My name is Erin Camp and I am from Tyler, TX. Tyler is a small(ish) town in east Texas. If you want to check it out click here. I went to a small Catholic high school called Bishop Thomas K. Gorman. Actually, Trinity is the first non-catholic school I have ever attended. Even the day care I went to when I was three was Catholic. Honestly, until college I never appreciated how easy my school uniforms made getting ready in the morning. I have two little sisters (Maddie- 16, Caroline- 12). The picture above is of all three of us- Caroline is the one on the left, Maddie is on the right, and I am in the middle. They're both quite a bit younger than me... and both quite a bit taller than me- even the twelve year old. My family is extremely close-knit and I love being with them. Some of my interests include: music, playing the piano, reading, hanging out with friends, camping, and traveling. As for campus activities, I live on the Trinity Elects hall and am part of the Honor Council. Other than that I have spent the year just settling in to my freshman year. I didn't have any computer classes in high school- they didn't offer them. I did take some in middle school, but they mostly taught typing. I have worked with Adobe Photoshop and InDesign though, because I was editor of my high school's yearbook. My secret fact is that I usually have to wear kid's shoes because my feet are so small.

Erin Camp

ecamp@trinity.edu