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.

The rise of modern architecture in today's society.

GoOgLE

When I have done research projects, I often get frustrated with the results that dear old Google provides. However, today I learned that the way Google finds what you're looking for causes many of those great scholarly and thorough articles to be towards the bottom of the page where many, including myself, usually never bother to look at. This is due to the fact that Google uses one criteria, as well as many others, to put the more "relevant" sites at the top - the frequency that such a site is visited. One example of this phenomenon can be seen when searching, let's say, for the biography of a particular individual. Wikipedia tends to come up first. Why? Because it is a site that is often visited.

Back in the US, back in the US, back in the USSR

I saw a lot of political mudslinging in this set of pictures dealing some with the 2004 Presidential election. However, I was surprised to see a picture from the political scene of the Soviet Union. I myself am a Russian major so this particular photo interested me quite a bit. Looking at the first picture, we can see Leon Trotsky, one of the fathers of the infamous Revolution, proudly smiling with other Party leaders. But, in the next picture, he is completely washed out. The Party even painted in the empty spaces for added realism. Simply put, the Party doctored photos where Trotsky could be seen with other officials. In retrospect, the early Soviets tried to alter history itself! This would be extremely harmful if by some chance we did not have the original photo set such as this. It would be quite unfortunate to have a skewed view of history just because a particular individual was exiled from his own country.

The Trinity Underground

Apparently, there are hidden passageways beneath the floor of the Chapel. It's true. Everyone knows about it. However, I had no idea that beneath the library, there is a place called the CLT. I never have used it, much knew that it even existed. But, I was absolutely blown away. Amongst the creepy, dimly lit hallways and stacks of old records on the first floor, there is a large, brightly lit room with objects that actually look up-to-date. Mac (better) computers, huge monitors and old projectors are everywhere. Considering that there are Mac computers down there, I will probably start working on some of my class assignments while staring at a gargantuan monitor. One of my Russian classmates, Brittany (aka Tanya) happened to be working the front desk while I was down there and she told me how much more you can do with all the technology in the CLT. You can edit videos, upload pictures and work on advanced graphic design. This could really help me create some very creative or innovative presentations for my other classes. For now, I am going to go see what is under my dorm room.

Thomas Jefferson would have used iTunes

Ironically enough, I already knew a lot about copyright. I knew copyright infringement was not exactly the same thing as plagiarism and that copyright laws allowed a person to copyright his or her work for a fairly long amount of time. However, I never knew that copyright laws were actually stipulated in the Constitution. I know they may have not had that annoying circle 'C' or 'R' symbol or anything, but they knew exactly what copyright can do for a society. I can most definitely see how these sort of laws have the great potential to promote and stimulate intellectual thought. I now have a much greater incentive to write my epic novel since I know I can get it copyrighted by the government of the U.S. of A. But, I do have to note one thing I don't necessarily agree with - the strict, harsh punishments for those who illegally download music. I will say it is wrong and I do use iTunes, honest. It is unfair that the artist can not receive a reward for his or her ingenuity. But, the punishments for downloading just a few songs is quite harsh. Ten songs can cost you thousands of dollars in a lawsuit. Moreover, these companies and music associations can even monitor an individual's computer and choose whoever they feel deserves legal punishment. Unfortunately, I find this an unfair side of copyright. I guess iTunes should have been around in 1790 to not let this happen.


Thomas Jefferson would have used iTunes by C.J. Robison is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Diagram!

I am quite proud of my Trinity Network Diagram. I find the path of the network very interesting and efficient. Hope everyone can follow my diagram...

Mucho Important Tech Tip

The most important tech tip I learned from Joe Hatch was to keep a backup of all of my data. This especially applies to me because I am a Mac user and could definitely use an external hard drive to backup my valuable information. Plus, I even have the capability to watch movies I have purchased online, transfer them to the external backup hard drive and then watch them on my TV instead of my computer. This tech tip seems like a "win-win" to me.

Intro

Hey, my name is Christian Robison but I prefer to go by C.J. I am from the best little city in the world, Lubbock, Texas. I had, and still have a great time in Lubbock but I most definitely enjoy being here at Trinity in the best big city in the world, San Antonio, Texas.

I have always been interested and involved in numerous activities. First and foremost, I enjoy being active more than anything else. Whether it is a simple game of football with my friends back home or stream fishing and snow skiing with my Dad in New Mexico, I can not resist being active in some sort of fashion. This is probably explains why I have dedicated so much of my time and energy to swimming on the competitive team here at Trinity. I could not imagine not being apart of the team and having the opportunity to compete and make great friends. Besides dedicating much of my time to the team, I find much of my peace, joy and solace in my Christian faith. To further my faith, I am actively involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship here on campus. I enjoy being a part of worship and studying scripture all while I am making great friends that I can trust and enjoy. I am also a member of First Baptist Church here in San Antonio where I can interact with other Christian members of our community. I find it a requirement of my faith to help and aid others in any way I can. To carry out this desire, I am currently involved in mentoring a student at Jackson Middle School here in town. It is very rewarding to help a young student in working towards motivating goals such as the pursuit of a higher education. Besides all these activities, I enjoy varieties of music, history, politics, major league baseball, college athletics, country Western dancing, reading and just hanging out with good friends.

Even though I often am found in a social setting, I have never played a game of monopoly. Everyone I know loves to tell me how I must have had a deprived childhood. Quite frankly, I just never had the opportunity or the deep interest to play. Again, I would much rather spend my times outdoors or maybe playing another game indoors like racquetball.

Since I am usually outside, whether it is swimming or just relaxing, I have never really spent my time working a computer. I have basic knowledge of computers and a love for Facebook just like anyone else, but I know I am lacking a good number of basic skills. This is also probably due to the fact that my Dad rarely uses a computer except for entering grades for his professorship at the local junior college while my Mom exclusively and almost entirely uses computers to run her own business as a CPA. I myself am caught in the limbo of these two extremes. I plan to be an International Studies and Russian major with an emphasis in international relations so I do type numerous essays using Word or, since I am a Mac user, Pages. However, I do plan to be an Economics minor so I would definitely would appreciate an extensive working knowledge in Excel and PowerPoint. This would greatly aid me in creating and demonstrating numerous graphs and large amounts of quantitative data.

I myself have other obligations at the current moment so I think I conclude this overly wordy entry. However, if anyone has any questions you can contact me here at my current email address. Have a good one and take it easy.