Taylor's Computer Skills Blog

Websites

2009-04-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

It was so cool to go around and see all of the hard work my classmates had put into their websites. All of the ones I looked at were very visually pleasing as well as had plenty of cool information about the people who had made them.

One of my favorites was Marina's website. Of course through sitting next to her all semester I knew that she was from Mexico and had a very interesting personality but her website with the extremely colorful background and cool links proved to me that she was also very creative. Looks like she's a sucker for romantic comedies too!

Another very well put together website was Hannah's. The different colors she chose to use as well as an obvious understanding to everything we have been learning all semester made her webpage incredible.

I also like John's webpage. Although not as comlex as Hannah or Marina made theirs, I could tell that John put a lot of effort into finding plenty of nice pictures of his family to put on his website. I liked his because I can relate to the athletics side of his career here at Trinity and that was neat how he put up pictures of the tennis team. \

My own webpage can be found at www.cs.trinity.edu/~tburden

Advice for later CS1300 Students

2009-04-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

Probably the biggest and most useful piece of advice I can give to incoming computer skills students is to pay attention in class. To begin the semester, I had a tough time doing the hw because I decided I could do other things in class and then just figure out the homework on my own, but I was sadly mistaken. Be sure to keep up with the instructions given in class and you will enjoy CS1300.

Powerpoint presentations

2009-03-31T09:27:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite powerpoint presentations was Jenny's presentation on the camp she works at during the summer. I think a summer camp like that is a great idea and that she would take part in a cause like that is very admirable.

I also liked Taylor's chinese writing powerpoint. I found it interesting how he compared the forms of chinese scripture with the writing of english. Very cool.

Powerpoint

2009-03-24T06:37:00.001-07:00

Powerpoint has been a tool used by students for school and work presentations since it was introduced. I don't think I can even count the times that I've sat up trying to get my slides to transition from left to right, instead of right to left. Lemme tell you, it's pretty frustrating.

Obviously the most generic piece of advice I can give my classmates is to be simple with their slides. All to often students try to get very complicated and fancy with their powerpoint presentations and they just get boring instead of get better. (Or I just get more frustrated that they know how to make their powerpoint do cool things and I don't)...

I find things like loud sounds and crazy, headache-inducing transitions to be very distracting and takes away from the point of the presentation.

There are also 5 things I consider to be very important in a powerpoint...
1. Don't just have a powerpoint, print out some written documentation for people who may have missed the presentation.
2. Limit animation
3. Make the template for each slide consistent, if it's not, I find myself trying to figure out which theme will be next instead of paying attention to the actual presentation. (I think thats called ADD, but I'm not sure...)
4. Don't include too much data on the on-screen charts like pie-charts and barcharts.
5. Use the right colors! Color can increase interest and improve comprehension.

My Experience With Excel

2009-03-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

During the weeks using Microsoft excel, I learned how to do numerous things that I did not know how to do previously. First off, I now know how to use the fuction tool. This option has come in very handy to compute different numbers and to make charts, it's hard to imagine ever using Excel without completely understanding this particular tool, it has made the program so much easier to use.
I also learned how to fully take advantage of the chart option. Before this class, it was hard for me to get a decent looking chart but now, I can make a chart or graph in no time.
After talking to my Dad, I found out that he spends a lot of his time at work for American Airlines making and analyzing spreadsheets of everything from part numbers to the number of passengers per week.
In the future, I hope to use Excel as a part of my business as an easy way to store and analyze the many numbers in the business world.

Field Trip to CLT

2009-03-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

Because I was on a trip to Round Rock for baseball, I was unable to go on the center for learning and technology on the first floor of the library. I did however learn some interesting things through both the library website and by talking to classmates. I actually had no idea how infinite the resources at the library were, specifically from a technology standpoint. For example, there is a digital audio lab on the first floor of the library where students can record audio digitally and manipulate it with a synthesizer and editing hardware.

I think the room that could help me the most throughout my college career is Studios@CLT. This area has many computers and color printers along with multimedia software. This is the room that I could utililize to the greatest extent both in my computer skills class and in my other classes.

Copyright.

2009-02-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

I never knew there was so much behind copyright laws. From public domain to terms of copyrighted work, copyrighting is a long and extensive process. I think the most interesting thing I learned was all about the terms and different laws concerning the terms of copyrighted work. A copyright has a term length, depending on when the work was created. For stuff created after January 1, 1978, the term of copyright is the life of the author plus 70 years or, if the work is a work for hire, the term is 95 years from first publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first. For works published or registered prior to January 1978, the term of copyright is 95 years.
One issue that is probably the most talked about issue as far as copyrighted things are concerned is the sharing of files such as music. File sharing sites such as the ones Jason Hardin mentioned like Limewire are not allowed for what most people use them as. I used to use Limewire to download songs before I came to Trinity. I think that file sharing should be allowed, for the plain reason that I have thousands of songs on my computer and I didn’t want to have to pay thousands of dollars. I understand that artists deserve compensation for their work, so I think that sites such as Limewire should pay the artists from the billions of dollars they get a year through advertisements on the sites. Or, Limewire could charge a flat rate per month, almost like a membership to get songs off their site, and pay the artists from the membership dues collected.

2009-02-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

I do personally use facebook as a networking tool. Although facebook can be used to meet people, I don't usually use it in that way. I think that getting to know someone cannot happen over a computer screen, but rather through contact with another. I don't know of even one friend of mine that does not have a facebook page.

MS Word Experience

2009-01-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

Well, of course everyone has used MS word at some point, including me. This program is the main word processor I used in high school and so far in college. Pushing the buttons with the letters on them is about all I know how to do however. I would like to learn how to use shortcuts so I don't have to go through a lot of searching to print my page or copy a document.

About Me

2009-01-15T10:17:00.000-08:00

Hi, my name is Taylor. I was born on a warm summer afternoon, August 27th, 1990 in the Great North. I tell most people that I was born in Calgary, Canada when in fact I am from a smaller town called Strathmore. (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=strathmore+canada&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GPEA_enUS294&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title)

I moved to Colleyville, TX in September of 2000, at the start of fifth grade. It was fun to be "the new kid", I got asked the strangest questions. Some included "what's it like to live in an igloo?" or "speak Canadian for us". That was the best request because I would always reply in complete jibberish and when asked what I said, I would say that I called them stupid in "Canadian."

Ever since I could walk, I've had a baseball glove on my hand, and cleats on my feet. Speaking of which, that is my secret, eventhough it's not really a secret for most that know me. I am a pitcher on the university baseball team.

That is pretty much me, baseball consumes my life. In terms of computer skills, I have relatively none. I can open itunes and the internet and that's about it.

I love getting to know people, so email me! tburden@trinity.edu