Kim's Computer Skills Blog

Advice

2009-04-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome class of 2009-2010. don't be intimidated by this class, it's actually quite useful. Here are some tips to help you enter and then I'll hand it over to Ms. Belisle to do the rest!

1. Don't cringe when you see the textbook!... It's more of a key to use in case a topic is difficult to grasp or you think you need practice, there isn't an extensive amount of work or reading to do...

2. Be prepared to come to class... if you come to class, the sky is your limit... a lot is covered during class. It's easy to follow along but you will go over a lot of little tricks and useful keys. It's super easy to fall behind, but remember,it's also super easy to keep up!!

3. Do your homework... if you do the homework, you'll get points, you'll understand class and you'll do fine on the quizess, so it makes sense

You'll learn a lot of cool stuff so don't worry and don't be hesitant. It goes by fast and be looking forward to... Excel and photoshop (those were my favorite!)

Wonderful Websites

2009-04-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

Everyone did a great job with their websites, so good job. I want to applaud three people in particular. The first is someone who is not in our class (and who gets to sleep in the morning), Katie Doucet. Her website can be found at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~kdoucet, you guys should check it out. In particular, I loved her design. She chose three colors to play around with that complemented each other very strongly: red, black, and white. With these, she had freedom with colors and patterns but a nice basis to flow on and keep her website consistent. Plus it was just an amazing site in general. She had an excellent use of tables to highlight points, and she used interesting graphics. This is especially true on the home page and navigation bar- yay! Nicely done!

Closer to home, I really thought Nick Lilly’s website was awesome! It had a really cute moving animation which was fun to watch. It was organized and the graphics were well balanced with the text. Another thing I really liked- oh, other than the cool picture on the home page- was his use of space. I like it when I go to websites that don’t make me scroll down a lot. Nick chose to do more pages and links and less text on each. He presented his information so I did not have to search and scroll for it.

I also really enjoyed navigating Jeff’s page. I really liked his choice of photos- they provided a nice summary and insight to his daily life. I also liked how the navbar switched colors and made a pattern to reflect the color scheme of the website. The resume seemed straight forward and organized for people who wanted to see Jeff’s accomplishments… I would hire you Jeff.

So, cool job everyone. If you get bored, be sure to visit my website at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~kferrari...

Powerpoint perfection

2009-04-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

A lot can be said about a power point presentation. Creating one that is informative yet energetic and innovative is something quite applaudable. For the second round, I would especially like to compliment the efforts of Jeff P. and Elena G.

Jeff presented a topic on business, specifically the chief marketing officer of Nintendo. His slides provided many statistics. He didn't go into them however, or make them distracting or overwhelming. Instead, they acted as something for the audience to skim. They enhanced his credibility but were not given a huge emphasis. This made his presentation informative but easy to follow. I also really liked his use of images. There was a chart with different animals to explain financial standings of companies. I'm no good in business, so the diagrams made the concepts easy to remember and enjoyable to follow along with.

I would also like to say that Elena had a wonderful presentation. She presented a very specific subject, which narrowed her point and made it extra persuasive. She talked about the nanowrimo competition. She spoke slowly and eloquently and kept the audience in mind during the presentation by directly addressing us with sentences such as "it's a wonderful experience and I'm sure you would enjoy it". The background picture she chose to use was complex, but not distracting at all. This could be because of the beautiful light tan color. I also like how she incorporated the text into the background picture like it was coming out of the book!

I'll say it twice...

2009-03-31T05:38:00.000-07:00

As I was working on my power point project, I got a few friends curious enough to ask me what exactly I was working on. Every time someone did, I ended up explaining myself twice. Sure, this project was a little unique, I won't disagree. But I didn't mind explaining it twice because simple as it sounded, the project encompassed many elements and skills. That is why a project well done is a project well done. And I especially want to compliment Emily Bynum and Ryan Berry on their presentations.

Emily Bynum presented a very interesting subject. Instead of focusing on a subject here at Trinity, she chose a topic that was new to the audience and very related to her own life. She presented a little summary of the wine industry. It was a family business of which she was very fond. One thing I enjoyed about her power point was that her slides really matched her enthusiasm. The diction she used made the wine industry sound innovating and exciting, and she even used exclamation points. These did not take away the formality of the slides, but added a little element of fun to keep the audience listening. The slides were also colored and enthusiastic, focusing on an outdoor theme of grapes. The pictures weren't distracting because they cradled the words and focused the reader to them. I also like her use of quotes. They were effective, inspiring, and a good way for her power point slides to present something new and different from what her oral presentation did. It avoided repetition and kept me looking at those slides.

Another great presentation came from Ryan Berry. He instead presented on the business side of things. He presented a political bill in a way I really thought was direct. His font was formal, but clear enough to see. It carried a political theme with it. It was large enough for the audience to read but fancy enough to actually make them read it. Another major element which I enjoyed was that it was persuasive. Often, power point is a program users use to persuade someone of something. That's because power point offers tools and interesting gimmicks to give a topic something other than words. Ryan did a good job of keeping the persuasive theme of power point. He did this by directly addressing the audience. One slide was titled Why Should You Care? And I enjoyed that because it made me not only feel like I had to care about politics, but that I had to care about what Ryan was telling me because it directly related to me. This made the presentation more credible and interesting.
It also presented his ideas as controversial, which added a little spice to what he said and invited a reaction in the audience. This is something towards which power point aims. So, nicely hit.

Great job Emily Bynum and Ryan Berry, you tackled this unique project well. And that is yet another thing I wouldn't mind saying twice! Great job.

points about power point

2009-03-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

PowerPoint is an extremely common program and such a useful asset that it is sometimes easy to forget some of the basic do's and don'ts. The article presented information to help remind us of these pointers. Although there were no surprises reading through, I must admit that reading and hearing advice is something entirely different from putting it to use. Sometimes, we are so proud of all our research that it's understandably difficult to limit 6 words per page. Or what about impressing the teacher? Would she like all the added noise? And would the large amount of pictures impress her? Usually, the rule is KISS- keep it simple stupid... but not too stupid because classy, elegant slides is often a key motivator. Sometimes, this really stinks because we feel like we won't impress our audience unless slides are packed with every cool gismo we can think of. But remember, the opposite is usually true.

1. USE PICTURES THAT ARE RELEVANT AND NOT TOO DISTRACTING.
I love to draw and I adore art. But power point is about being wise with picture choice, not spontaneous. Remember to use pictures that really emphasize your point. Sometimes, it's even a good idea to let a picture stand alone on a slide while you share a story. A picture is worth a thousand words.
2. LIMIT YOUR WORDS
Even though you have put a lot of research into your presentation, remember that it is the words you tell your audience that mean the most, not the presentation itself. Let power point be a guide to emphasize your main points, not a distraction from them.
3. THINK BEFORE YOU COLOR
Sometimes it's easy to forget little details like color schemes. It's a good idea to have your background and text complement each other. According to my dad, a researcher, in scientific presentations, for example, the colors are usually dark blue and yellow. And, tempting as it may be to diversify every slide, know that consistency is good. It's best to keep the same color scheme through out (like my dad. He has used that blue and yellow pattern for more than 20 years!!)
4. USE PERSUASIVE WORDS
Power point presentations are all about convincing someone about something. So make sure you don't place facts that people already know, or obviously agree with. Be aggressive with you point, be specific, and fight for it!
5. BE FORMAL
Although there is definitely some lee way to this one, make sure you keep it in mind. Remember, you won't sound stuck up and boring if your slides present only relevant information because you're welcome to crack all the jokes you want in your presentation! And, there is nothing wrong with adding a cute sound effect or color scheme, just remember that everything is good in moderation.

Excel-lent Experience!

2009-03-18T16:22:00.001-07:00

I thought that the Excel unit of this course would be the most beneficial. I was right! To confess, I’m in a biology lab and I always felt so lost because I was Excel- slow. Well, now I feel like I have learned a lot and I’m glad I could learn something very useful.

One of the best things about Excel is how you can type in a formula, either relative or absolute, and have the program calculate numbers for you. This is especially useful for tedious or repetitive calculations. Let me go back to my lab as a useful example. First semester, I did all calculations by hand (this sometimes meant figuring out the concentrations of 12 or 13 different solutions while using the same formula).

I also thought the concept of multiple sheets was useful. This feature is amazing for organization. It’s a simple concept and it’s easy to handle, but it’s just so cool to use sheets because excel is usually where I place random data and more often than not, it’s a lot of separate little observations and numbers that I jotted down. Sheets and tabs helped me to sort out all I had without the confusion of having multiple files and excel spreadsheets. This would be very useful also in planning a trip or family vacation, for example. It’s a simple way to keep organized and avoid bumping into frustration. With sheets, you can have one tab dedicated to expenses, places to go, people to see, and budgets.

I also learned how to create, manage and perfect graphs and charts. I learned about the different types of charts available and simple tips on how to make them unique (changing axis titles, slanting labels, altering colors etc…). I think the most useful application for graphs in the future would be in business fields. Charts are an easy way to visually and persuasively display data. Using a chart to show differences in sales over time, for example, would be a lot more persuasive than presenting a list of numbers. A neat thing about excel is that you can easily have the chart change as data changes. So, in case you mess up, it’s not a big deal. In the end, it’s easy to manage and edit data without redoing all the color options and creating a whole new graph.

Excel-lent Experience!

2009-03-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about Excel is how you can type in a formula, either relative or absolute, and have the program calculate numbers for you. This is especially useful for tedious or repetitive calculations. Let me go back to my lab as a useful example. First semester, I did all calculations by hand (this sometimes meant figuring out the concentrations of 12 or 13 different solutions while using the same formula).

I also thought the concept of multiple sheets was useful. This feature is amazing for organization. It’s a simple concept and it’s easy to handle, but it’s just so cool to use sheets because excel is usually where I place random data and more often than not, it’s a lot of separate little observations and numbers that I jotted down. Sheets and tabs helped me to sort out all I had without the confusion of having multiple files and excel spreadsheets. This would be very useful also in planning a trip or family vacation, for example. It’s a simple way to keep organized and avoid bumping into frustration. With sheets, you can have one tab dedicated to expenses, places to go, people to see, and budgets.

I also learned how to create, manage and perfect graphs and charts. I learned about the different types of charts available and simple tips on how to make them unique (changing axis titles, slanting labels, altering colors etc…). I think the most useful application for graphs in the future would be in business fields. Charts are an easy way to visually and persuasively display data. Using a chart to show differences in sales over time, for example, would be a lot more persuasive than presenting a list of numbers. A neat thing about excel is that you can easily have the chart change as data changes. So, in case you mess up, it’s not a big deal. In the end, it’s easy to manage and edit data without redoing all the color options and creating a whole new graph.

Pictures That Lie

2009-03-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

I chose to focus on picture # 11, which featured Oprah on TV Guide. The only problem was, the woman on the front cover was not Oprah! Only the head belonged to her, the body, instead, was that of an actress named Ann Margaret. I chose it because I was tricked by it. I couldn't tell that there was any head splicing, and maybe that's the problem with the media today.

Strangest of all, I'm not sure why the publishers did it. Perhaps they had many incentives: they wanted a fancier cover, a more spectacular page, a more appealing Oprah for audiences, but it seemed almost spontaneous- as if the media has made an expectation for itself: now, all pictures must be practically fake to win any sort of attention.

The manipulation of the picture may seem harmless, but I believe that it was indeed harmful, if not in contents then in principle. Sure, Oprah looks fancier, the cover looks more professional, but deception was involved. An audience reading a magazine wants to find some truth. If someone wanted to find out the scoop on Oprah's fame and found out that the cover was a complete lie, why should that reader believe any of the facts about Oprah inside of TV Guide? The short answer is, they shouldn't. If the cover was skewed to make Oprah fancier, why shouldn't the facts be? Worst of all, the picture was manipulated without the permission of Oprah or the actress, making the situation and deception even broader.

Mr. Nolan

2009-02-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

Mr. Nolan gave a nice presentation about search engines. Even if it was at 8:30 in the morning, I was quite able to stay awake because he provided some pretty neat facts and tid bits that are useful to know. And these days, in college, knowing about various search engines can be a nice asset.

One useful piece of information I learned from his presentation is the common symbols you can type in with your search term in order to refine your search. For example, you can use + and -'s. A minus sign is used when you don't want a specific word to turn up in your search. For example, let's say that you are searching the internet for a not-so-well-known author named Fred Wilder. You might want to put -Gene in your search so that you can avoid the many fan pages that might come up for Mr. Gene Wilder.

Although not as useful to know, I did also learn some surprising facts from Mr. Nolan. One was the relationship between blogging and search engines. I didn't know that blogging was an issue for search engines, but here is why: organization will post links to their sites on blogs in order to have a higher relevance rating in Google or other search engines. That's cheating!

Copyright

2009-02-05T06:23:00.001-08:00

Copyright or Public Domain
Which should be restricted?

Copyright laws date from 1873. They were enacted in order to give people the right to hold, for limited time, their works. But the main concept behind copyright laws is that nothing stays copyrighted forever. Today, published works for corporate entities have a term of ninety- five years, and personal works are copyright protected for seventy years after the author’s death. After that, works enter the public domain. This domain contains materials that can be used and shared without request copyright permissions from the creator. They are publicly available. Some argue that copyright laws should be extended and the public domain be reduced, while others, such as myself, hope for the opposite.

Many corporations argue that copyright terms aren’t sufficiently long. Usually, this is argument is placed because of the corporation’s profit off of a publication. For example, when Mickey Mouse’s term had initially ended, Disney was desperate to keep him under their copyright laws. The profit they were making from him was unbeatable. In response, the government enacted the Sonny Bono Act, which extended Mickey’s term of copyright for another 20 years. Disney was thrilled.

But many others were disappointed. It was not a personal dislike towards Disney, but rather a hatred towards the idea that government could extend the term of copyright so easily, and, more importantly, that it did. Many citizens believe that instead, the public domain is a righteous thing and that it should be copyright laws that are restricted to ensure their freedom. For examples, those in the education department find it tedious and difficult to follow by and keep up with copyright laws and the use of academic journals and education has been slightly slowed because of restrictions in use of materials.

I believe that copyright laws were put in place in order to allow creative minds the right to express themselves freely. It encouraged people to express what they wanted. And in this way, people did not have to worry about their ideas being taken or used for personal profit. It helped to create the democracy the government stood for. However, what is most important to note is that too strict of copyright rules inhibit the free flow and exchange of ideas that it meant to protect. Copyright laws can become their own paradox. The Public Domain solves this paradox and establishes a set of rules that balances the sharing of ideas with the right to claim which ideas belonged to which individual. For this reason, it should be copyright rules that are restricted, not the public domain. As terms currently stand, publications have an ample amount of time to belong to an individual or corporation.

Facebook Frenzy

2009-02-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

Facebook is a social networking tool that is used by many, many students.

As the article pointed out, "Facebook has matured into a warehouse of school information, a big-time player in campus activism, and a mirror of university life - good and bad. More than 12 million users are signed up." i

I can understand those who signed up because I am one of those more than 12 million. At first I did not want to join because I thought there were issues of privacy. However, when my friends forced me to sign up, they showed me the options I could chose which would block information from everyone other than those I had accepted as "friends". I thought that was neat.

Facebook became an easy way to relay information between friends, and, something I find useful is how it helps me to track upcoming events: mainly birthdays. It may seem like just a silly way for friends to have a goofy time sharing photos and jokes, but I believe that it can also be beneficial for the university environment. I use the Facebook chat button to ask friends what a certain professor assigned and often, I'll even get information on upcoming lectures or speakers. Even if it is often just a fun way to connect casually with friends and might not necessarily have an academic theme, it is a good way to stay in contact with friends and have a good time. After all, students perform better in universities if they feel integrated and confident. So, I like Facebook, and I even sort of regret being so hesitant to join.

i. To learn more about Facebook and the ways in which it benefits a campus, read the article written by The Christian Science Monitor, titled Facebook: A campus fad becomes a campus fact at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1213/p13s01-legn.html

Word Up

2009-01-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

I suppose I'll put in a few words for Word.

I use the program pretty regularly, and know most of the basics, but am sure I could learn a lot more. I am more comfortable with Word 2003, but am able to find most options if I browse the ribbon for a bit. I know how to print, insert pictures, save, change fonts, colors, change margins, and playing with the page layout. For things that confuse me, I know how to use the help option (even if it's not a paper clip character anymore- the one with strange eyebrows, I liked him).

I would like to review how to make charts. I use Excel occasionally, but am still trying to learn some of the basics there. So, I would like to review how to make a simple chart in Word. Also, I would like to review some MLA options (like adding headers and footers).

2009-01-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

2009-01-15T07:25:00.000-08:00

It is so nice to meet you. My name is Kim Ferrari. But if you call me Chiara, I will still answer. Chiara is my twin sister. She's been my twin for as long as I can remember... which makes sense. She is very awesome, so I don't mind, and we have been close our whole lives... or so, for as long as I can remember, which also makes sense. I also have two little siters who are fraternal twins. Their names are Ilaria and Federica. And I have an older brother named Giacomo.

In my free time, I really enjoy to draw. I draw cartoons and one of my favorite things is having sharing sessions. Those consist of sitting down with anyone and exchanging pictures. Which is a lot more fun than it may sound. Right now, I'm planning to study biology, and I'm living in the third floor of Herndon Hall. Although my family lives in Houston now, I was born in California and grew up mostly in Ohio.

My secret fact is that my personal hero is Iron Man. He lives! He walks! He conquers! That motto comes from the very first edition of marvel comics he was in. Did you know that the series was called Tales of Suspense and Iron Man first wore gray, big, bulky, not very sleek armor? I suppose it doesn't make much of a difference- he's still quite the hero. He's selfless, brave, and faces his problems with a big heart, even if it's close to being ripped by shrapnel. And so, Iron Man is my personal hero.

And Tony Stark is someone to be admired also because of his genius mind. I, on the other hand, have not had much experience with technology. I have owned a laptop for two years and know the general basics. I hope to get into some of the details and effects of certain programs, and look forward to sharing class with you.

My email is kferrari@trinity.edu.