CS 1300 Advice

To the students taking this class next semester, no matter how trivial and redundant some of the lessons may be, always pay attention and do the practices- you will definitely learn things you didn't know before.

Class Website and Stumper Comments

I was really impressed with everyone's websites, but the ones that truly stood out for me were Natalie's, Holly's, and Sarah's. I loved the simple yet ecclectic layout of Natalie's, Holly's colors went really well together and I loved the way she made her pictures semi-transparent, and the photos used in Sarah's really showed off the personalities of her and her friends. To see more comments on their websites, click the following links:

Websites
1. Sarah's
2.Holly's
3.Natalie's

My favorite Stumper pictures were Alex's, Kate's, and Paul's, because they were all really original pictures, and I enjoyed the clues and comments that accompanied the pictures. To see my comments, and others, on their Stumpers, see the links below.

Stumpers
1.Alex's
2.Kate's
3.Paul's

Trinity Stumper

How well do you know Trinity's campus? Do you think you know it fairly well? Test your knowledge by seeing if you can figure out where this picture was taken.

Sam's Homepage

Come visit my website! Hopefully this webpage will give you a little more insight into what makes me, well, me. Enjoy!

Bad PowerPoint Presentations

I enjoyed all of the 'horrible' presentations on what not to do when creating a Power Point, but I especially enjoyed Juan's, Alex's, and Andre's. I loved that all of Juan's slides were white and barely readable, and his presentation was very amusing! Alex did a great job making all of the slides clash with obnoxious colors, and I really liked that she included charts and graphs with distracting values. The use of distracting animation and colors was also very well done in Andre's presentation. After seeing all of the wonderfully-terrible presentations, things you should remember to do when giving a Power Point presentation are:

• Include title pages for your slides, using a large, bold font
• Use simple, color coordinated backgrounds and colors
• use appropriate pictures and animations to make the presentation captivating, but don't use too many!
• Coordinate text fonts and sizes so that it looks professional and is easy to follow
• Make text size legible
• Use short, concise statements in a bulleted format
• Include a bibliography for any cited sources, including pictures

For another example of what NOT to do during a Power Point presentation, follow this link:

http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~sbrusnig/bad_files/frame.htm

Samantha Brusnighan

Copyright Policies

In today's tech-savvy world, copyright infringements can become a problem. Technically, as soon as anything as fixed in a tangible form (ie printed off or published) it is protected by copyright laws. In certain instances, photos can be used without citing the sources. For example, students may freely use other’s works, as long as the work (say a Powerpoint including video-clips) is displayed only temporarily, and on a secure sight (like Blackboard). All other works, photos included, are most likely protected by copyright laws. Some photos may not display an explicit copyright policy; these should still be cited, but permission for use does not need to be obtained. If a photo does have explicit copyright policy, has displayed that permission must be given for use, the appropriate information should be cited and actual permission granted for use of the photo.

My Response: Time's Person of the Year and Web 2.0

I was happily surprised when I read the Time's "Person of the Year" article- I was not expecting anything so entertaining, nor so optimistic about the future of our society. Apart from the fact that the article itself seemed more blog-like than an informative article, I loved the fact that instead of naming one single person who made a contribution to a specific cause (or didn't, they just look good on the front of a magazine), it was anyone and everyone who was recognized. While it did not try to hide the fact that there are still horrible things happening globally, it brought attention to the fact that we, ordinary citizens, are aware of it and talking about it openly. It is no longer just the small group of informed scholars/specialists that can talk about global issues.

This also ties into the article I read: Web 2.0 at Work. The article includes trends that have helped to 'accelerate the upsurge' of Web 2.0, including the development of social networks such as Facebook and Youtube, broader availabilty of 'user-friendly' software, the search for ways to use information in a more productive way, and the rising importance of knowledge workers. The article also lists ways in which companies such as Northwestern Mutual and Motorola have used Web 2.0 applications to facilitate both workers and consumers alike, primarily through tools such as Blogs, Mashups, and Wikis.

Although the article mentions nothing about the longevity of Web 2.0, it is optimistic about its uses for the present and near future, even saying that "within a few years, rich, collaborative software platforms that include a slate of technologies like wikis, blogs, integrated search, and unified communications will be the norm...". I agree with this statement- while I am in no way an expert on such topics, I do know, as a college student constantly on her computer, that such interactive tools are becoming more popular, easier to use, and more essential to communicating every day. For now I expect this to continue to grow and become an even more powerful communications tool.

Samantha Brusnighan

Experience with Microsoft Word

During my Junior year of high school I took BCIS, which provided me with a very good understanding of Microsoft Word. I am comfortable doing most things with Word, including inserting pictures and Clip Art, grouping, changing the color of pictures, text layout and formatting, inserting files from other documents, and page layouts. I would however, like to review how to use the paint and drawing tools that Word offers.


Samantha Brusnighan

Intro Blog

Hi! My name is Samantha Brusnighan, but you can call me Sam.

I love learning- I know that sounds cliche but discovering something you didn't know before, or finally getting something to click, is the greatest high ever. Last year I did an internship at Moody Gardens which included doing a project/presnentation on animal behavior, specifically concerning the penguins I worked with. It was an amazing experience.

You could say music defines my life. I enjoy all types of music, except rap. The type of music I'm listening to reflects my mood, whether it be silly, sad, energetic, angry, etc. One inch shorter and I'd legally be a midget (or dwarf or whatever the technical term is), and I love rollercoasters. Those two things together could potentially be problematic, but I've never had it set me back (I'm also very optimistic, and you'll rarely catch me not smiling).

My computer experience is limited; I've taken BCIS and a Photojournalism class, which taught me the basic ins and outs of Photoshop, but that's about it.

So if you were to try to pick me out of a crowd, look down, and try to find the smile!

Samantha Brusnighan