After reading the articles about what to do and not to do in a PowerPoint presentation, here are my five favorite points:
*Choose your fonts well: I honestly didn't know that there are serif and sans serif fonts, which I thought it was interesting. It's also important to choose the right font or otherwise the font can be distracting or make the presentation dull.
*Spend time in the slide sorter: Definitely something I never do, but now I will! While making the presentation, you can get off topic, repeat yourself or have slides that don't flow. If you take a couple of minutes in the slide sorter, it will make a big difference.
*PowerPoint is not a teleprompter: it's not hard to understand- STOP READING FROM THE PRESENTATION!
*No cheesy images: Thank you Microsoft for providing a clip art gallery, but we don't need it..
*No more than six words on a slide: No need to explain this.
In addition, here's a video that my seminar Professor showed in class because we have to make a PP. presentation next week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM
Good luck with your presentations!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Excel
During this first part of the semester we learned about spreadsheets.Before taking this course, I didn't know how to make a running balance sheet, which I think it's very useful so I can at least try to organize my own budget, and I had no idea that there was such thing as an "IF function". I think it’s going to be helpful to know how to use excel in the future, mainly for my math and maybe science classes. So far, I’ve only used it once for one of my photography assignments, where I had to do a chart and a graph, but it was rewarding to see how easily I could make it while other students where struggling with it. Another thing that I found useful is that I can use my information from excel in my power point presentations to show graphs and charts about data that I might collect for a certain project.
What I liked most from learning how to use excel is that I used to think that it could only be used to create inventories or budgets in companies. I was definitely wrong. I know that I won't use excel for every single class in the next four years, but I can definitely see myself using it and making my life easier.
What I liked most from learning how to use excel is that I used to think that it could only be used to create inventories or budgets in companies. I was definitely wrong. I know that I won't use excel for every single class in the next four years, but I can definitely see myself using it and making my life easier.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Pictures that lie
For "Pictures that lie" we had to pick one picture from several others that have been doctored for different reasons. I chose the picture by Adnan Hajj originated in the Lebanese capital after an Israeli air raid because it was a picture published in the Reuters, which I consider a good source of information and it shocked me that they posted an altered picture related to serious news.
The picture shows the Lebanese capital with smoke coming out of a building. Hajj altered the picture by adding more smoke and making it look darker. He said that "he was trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under."
I believe the manipulation was somehow harmful because it might have overreacted the story and made the attack more powerful than what it really was. Also, because Reuters published it, it makes them lose credibility and professionalism. This assignment made me realize that we need to be critical thinkers and not let ourselves be fooled by images, even if the come from a "reliable" source. We need to check more than one source, it's better to have too much information than not enough information.
The picture shows the Lebanese capital with smoke coming out of a building. Hajj altered the picture by adding more smoke and making it look darker. He said that "he was trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under."
I believe the manipulation was somehow harmful because it might have overreacted the story and made the attack more powerful than what it really was. Also, because Reuters published it, it makes them lose credibility and professionalism. This assignment made me realize that we need to be critical thinkers and not let ourselves be fooled by images, even if the come from a "reliable" source. We need to check more than one source, it's better to have too much information than not enough information.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
AT&T Center
The AT&T Center for Learning & Technology is located on the first floor of the library. It has several stations, such as Studios @CLT, Digital Audio Lab, Media Presentation Lab, Video COnference Center, and Innovation Studio.From all of these, I think I would use the Studios @CLT and the Media Presentation Lab.
Studios @CLT has computers, printers, scanners, and different types of multimedia software that could be helpful for my classes, whenever I have to make a presentation, a report, or any project. Some of the softwares that are available are Adobe, Macromedia, Sony/Vegas, Roxio, Apple, etc.
The Media Presentation Lab is a room where you can view presentations that you created on the Studio. I could use this facility whenever I have a presentation in class, like a PowerPoint presentation or more complex assignments. Also, the Digital Audio Lab would be very helpful if I have the need to incorporate audio to my presentations, but I am not very familiar with that, so I wouldn't use the Digital Audio Lab very often, unless someone can help me!!
One nice thing that I found on the AT&T Center was that they have equipment available for project presentations. Some of the things that are available for checkout are laptops, data projectors, slide projector, projection screen, DVD and VHS, and CD player, microphone, lectern, and flipcharts.
With all of the resources available on the first floor, I am definitely going to improve the quality and presentation of my projects.
Studios @CLT has computers, printers, scanners, and different types of multimedia software that could be helpful for my classes, whenever I have to make a presentation, a report, or any project. Some of the softwares that are available are Adobe, Macromedia, Sony/Vegas, Roxio, Apple, etc.
The Media Presentation Lab is a room where you can view presentations that you created on the Studio. I could use this facility whenever I have a presentation in class, like a PowerPoint presentation or more complex assignments. Also, the Digital Audio Lab would be very helpful if I have the need to incorporate audio to my presentations, but I am not very familiar with that, so I wouldn't use the Digital Audio Lab very often, unless someone can help me!!
One nice thing that I found on the AT&T Center was that they have equipment available for project presentations. Some of the things that are available for checkout are laptops, data projectors, slide projector, projection screen, DVD and VHS, and CD player, microphone, lectern, and flipcharts.
With all of the resources available on the first floor, I am definitely going to improve the quality and presentation of my projects.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Copyright
Diane Graves, the librarian, came to our last class to talk about copyright. I learned many things that are going to help me in Trinity and generally, in life.
It was very interesting to learn about the "Fair Use" Rule. There are certain situations when it's ok to use another person's work. From the website that was provided in class, the third rule was the one that I liked best:"Giving the Author Credit Doesn't Let You Off the Hook". I thought that if you give credit to someone else's work, then you are not plagiarizing or infringing copyright laws, but that's not the case. It is important to get authorization from the author, if not, then there's a copyright violation. "Fair Use" doesn't mean that one can use someone else's work freely.
Another thing that was very helpful to know is the legal point of view of file-sharing. I knew it was illegal to download music of files in general through programs like LimeWire, Kazaa, etc. but I didn't know that a student can get sued for sharing files. I think it's a good thing to do because the music industry is losing a great amount of money due to illegal file sharing. Even though now I have to buy my music, I think it's better because it's a good way to support the artists you like. I'd rather spend $0.99 + tax for a song on Itunes than get sued because of file sharing.
It was very interesting to learn about the "Fair Use" Rule. There are certain situations when it's ok to use another person's work. From the website that was provided in class, the third rule was the one that I liked best:"Giving the Author Credit Doesn't Let You Off the Hook". I thought that if you give credit to someone else's work, then you are not plagiarizing or infringing copyright laws, but that's not the case. It is important to get authorization from the author, if not, then there's a copyright violation. "Fair Use" doesn't mean that one can use someone else's work freely.
Another thing that was very helpful to know is the legal point of view of file-sharing. I knew it was illegal to download music of files in general through programs like LimeWire, Kazaa, etc. but I didn't know that a student can get sued for sharing files. I think it's a good thing to do because the music industry is losing a great amount of money due to illegal file sharing. Even though now I have to buy my music, I think it's better because it's a good way to support the artists you like. I'd rather spend $0.99 + tax for a song on Itunes than get sued because of file sharing.
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