HTML code

Unfortunately I wasn't here to learn all about the Expression Web, but it sounds really awesome. HTML code seems very important to know though. If something goes wrong for some reason it is important and helpful to be able to go into the layout yourself and understand how everything works. It can help you identify problems or tweak things if you want to.

Favorite PowerPoints

My two favorite presentations were Emmalee Bannon's and Raelle Smiley's. I thought that both of their topics were really interesting. I thought that the story of Tanta Carutha was intriguing and Emmalee presented it well, showing how the story relates to anthropology and what an interesting subject it can be. The music she used was fitting and added to the presentation as a whole. Raelle's was also really interesting. I love the Alamo Draft House and I was really pleased to see a presentation on it. It was interesting for me to look at it as a business enterprise and see all the work that goes into it. I also liked the backgrounds used on the presentation. There were a bunch of other presentations I liked as well but these two were my favorite.

PowerPoint

Well, I have used PowerPoint in the past, and I'm sad to say that I did most of the things on the "Not-to-Do" lists. Mainly I got carried away with the fun transitions and such. Yeah I used a BUNCH of those. It's true though that if you want your PowerPoint to be effective, it needs to be professional. It should not take the focus away from you, but rather compliment what you are saying. I also fell victim to the number one classic mistake of reading directly off a PowerPoint presentation. Tips for PowerPoint are as follows:
1) Don't read directly off of a PowerPoint (It's boring and often you end up speaking towards the screen instead of the audience)
2)Use consistent transitions (all the fun zooming ones are reminiscent of eighth grade)
3) Keep the information concise, don't write a novel on every slide
4)Use appropriate graphics to compliment presentation, things that the audience can relate the presentation to, NOT clip art
5)Use legible fonts that are practical and easy to read
Mainly don't do what I used to, keep the PowerPoint simple and professional, it's really your presentation of the material that is going to matter anyway. PowerPoint can only take you so far.

Excel-lent!

I really had no clue how to use excel before this class. I really like excel though, it seems really practical and useful. It really helps if you need to balance a budget individually and it has endless uses for businesses. Sometimes it can be a pain to input all the numbers, but it saves a lot of time by doing all the equations for you. I'm also excited that we learned it because I'm taking statistics next semester and I herd that there are a couple excel projects in the class, so now I won't be totally helpless! That's always a good thing  guess. Also excel really can really help manage grades. So overall, I liked excel.

Manipulated Pictures

The picture of the city with the smoke was definitely harmful as it presents a false image to readers of the articles. It's the same as manipulating numbers and facts to present your own agenda. Journalists and writers are harshly criticized for such actions and so should photographers for their manipulations. Photographs used in news venues are rarely questioned by the public at large so it is even more damaging and misleading than journalism which is fact checked and widely scrutinized. I chose this picture because it made me think about how, before photo editing technology, a picture could be trusted, where as now people have to ask and wonder whether a picture has been modified, and if so, for what purpose?

The Wireless Campus

Trinity's being listed as one of the Top 10 Wireless Campuses (http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2572) is a really distinguishing feature for the School and, on the whole, good for its students as well. Sometimes having wireless anywhere can be kind of distracting though. It is easy to be working on an essay, get bored, and then just get lost on the Internet instead. Despite this, I really enjoy the being able to work or study wherever I want, especially when the weather is nice and I want to be outside. I have had problems getting my laptop to hook up with the wireless sometimes but Trinity has an excellent help desk for such problems and I have used them on more than one occasion.

Katie's Intro

Hello, my name is Katharine Kies but I go by Katie. I was born and raised in Austin Texas.  As happy as I am here at Trinity, I will always love Austin Texas . In high school I was involved in my school's TV show, so I'm definitely interested in film, and I hope to get involved in Tiger TV soon.  One weird thing about me is that I can speak a made up language called Ob that my mom used to speak as a kid and taught my brother and me growing up (if you ever watched the show ZOOM as a kid, it's kind of like the language they speak).  I've used computers ever since I was a little kid and can navigate myself through basic stuff; word, internet, and powerpoint, but I never learned much beyond that. My one specialized computer skill is I"m certified to use Final Cut Pro which is a film editing software that I used in high school and still use on my mac today.