Some Advice

New Students,

I advise that you do all of your assignments in a timely manner. Don't wait until the last minute to finish an assignment because I can almost guarantee that you will run into some kind of challenge along the way. Time is crucial to this class.

Favorite Websites

I definitely enjoyed everyones website. I would have to say that Erin's website was very professional. Very simple but it used different methods to effectively present information. I also liked Emily's website. I could tell she worked very hard on it and really made it her own personal website. Taylor's website was pretty awesome as well. He presented a lot of cool things about himself and that basketball picture on his homepage was very cool. But all in all, everyone did a very nice job on creating their website.

HtML DoOd

You can visit my new website at www.cs.trinity.edu/~crobison. I used Expression Web to make the majority of this website. However, all the pages were made exclusively in PhotoShop. That was probably the most difficult challenge. I constantly had to go back and save in PhotoShop in order to make my pages appear correctly in Expression Web. Also, this technique led to problems with my required thumbnail pictures. I didn't really want to place the thumbnails were I had them, but Expression Web wouldn't let me do otherwise. But other than that, my website turned out great. I would definitely show this website to prospective students and parents in order to present a personal experience at Trinity. I am definitely proud of my Russian page because the web design and the information presented is very unique for a Trinity student. This demonstrates how one can be very unique with his or her studies at Trinity. I would definitely not mind making another website like this one. It was relatively easy to do and its a great way to present information in a creative manner.

HtML

It is important to know html coding because you can fix minor problems that programs such as Kompozer can not necessarily find or fix with its programmed controls. You can take care of a certain sentence or make your own unique color for a background knowing html code.

Picture that Lies

I decided to superimpose President Barack Obama onto and original Soviet propaganda poster depicting Vladimir Lenin. I also manipulated Obama's campaign symbol, the "O", with the classic symbol of communism, the hammer and sickle. To carry out the creation of this photo, I first found a photograph of Obama and began editing. I first cloned out a microphone in the original picture then used the notepad effect along with the fill bucket to give it its red drawing appearance. I then used the magnetic lasso tool to take Obama's headshot to the Soviet poster.

After Obama was superimposed onto the poster, I had to do some cloning and cropping to move Lenin over to the right in order to make room for Obama and the original Russian text to the left. I proceeded to take the campaign symbol and used the fill bucket to make the background red and the "O" white. I used the magnetic lasso tool and moved it over to the Soviet poster. I then found a drawing of the hammer and sickle and used the fill bucket to make it white (the background was already transparent). After some more cloning and "touch-up's," the original poster was now my own creation.

I decided to create this poster because I am politically conservative and do not agree with many of Obama's ideals. Though I do not think our President is a communist, I believe much of the legislation passed in the last year closely resembles government intervention that can be paralleled to many fundamental aspects of socialism. But, my poster is intended to exaggerate and not necessarily meant to be a personal ad hominem attack on the President. I believe it is a form of creative art that can exaggerate the extreme just like many pieces of literature attempt to do (e.g. George Orwell and 1984).

According to my research however, a particular cited list would deem my photograph unethical (i.e. The Webster University Journal "Policy for the Ethical Use of Photographs"). I cropped frames that would otherwise alter the meaning, reversed the photograph of Obama and added objects within the frame. Though my idea was my own idea of political free speech, the manipulation of my photograph would have still been unethical according to certain standards. But, according to free speech, I believe my poster is an act of political participation that can not be condemned by a simple list of unethical standards. Essentially, the particular poster embodies free speech elements that take priority over a simple list of photographic standards.

Literal translation of Soviet poster: Party - Of the mind and conscience of honor Enoch.

Salvo, Suzanne. "True Lies." Communication World 25.5 (2008): 26-30. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 12 April 2010.

PPT

Even though I feel pretty set on what I want to do when I graduate, I really enjoyed Lucy and Erin's presentations. They designed in a way that was very appealing and creative. However, and most importantly, they used certain elements which forced the audience to want more info about the topic. Lucy's video about brain hemispheres and Erin's promotion of the Communications Department really made me want to explore their fields of interests. And, of course, the design and layout of the presentations, as a whole, were very simple yet very appealing.

Some Things to Keep in Mind

For a PowerPoint Presentation, here are five things that I find very important -things that make or a break a presentation:

1) Use readable and professional font. It is quite annoying to a viewer when he or she can not read the information you are trying to present.
2) Use high quality graphics. Pictures or videos that are boring or of low-quality won't catch the viewer's attention
3) Use video or audio. Viewers will be much more interested in your presentation if you use such elements
4) Limit the amount of text. It is harder to keep the viewer's attention if one has to spend time reading what he or she needs to know.
5) Make your presentation emotional. Communicating is not necessarily through words but through the transfer of emotions.