Last Blog Post

Out of all the projects done in CST 101 this year, I enjoyed making me ePortfolio on Google Sites the most. I found that it was fun to play with design, and it was rewarding to see almost everything I learned and accomplished in this class. On Google Sites, I decided to organize the assignments I posted up based on the category they fell under (Images, Links, Videos, and Written Assignments). Then I made each page on my site look nice. Before working on my ePortfolio, the class did a few assignments in MS Excel in order to become more proficient in creating spreadsheets and using formulas. I wasn't very comfortable in Excel before, so it was good to do some of those exercises. Out of everything I accomplished this year, I believe that the most fun (and somewhat challenging) thing to learn was the basic html code, and the most useful thing I learned was how to use Google Sites and how to make videos. Blogging is honestly something I do on a regular basis on my own, so I must say that blogging has felt more or less like a waste of time. I also think the ethics portion is a little unnecessary, since we're already required to take an ethics class in order to graduate. Anyway, all in all, I must say that CST 101 this time (and last time, thank goodness) has been much better and more conducive to my life than the last time I took the class.

About the Ethics Essay

This week my team had to write a collaborative analysis on an essay of our choice regarding a topic in information technology ethics. Searching for and finding an article wasn't a problem at all. We just went into a search for "information ethics" in a couple journals and waded through the results until we found one we liked. Well, I found one I liked, and I suggested to my group that we use that one. I found it difficult to communicate and collaborate with teammates on the rest of this assignment, though. I think it's mainly just the timing of the semester; everyone is scrambling to finish all their projects in other classes and leaving an ethics essay until last minute. I won't lie. I'm one of those procrastinators. At any rate, four of us didn't post up our portions of the analysis to Google Docs until a day or two before the due date/time, and one of us didn't do anything at all. So, here we all were, waiting for each other to write our parts. Finally, it's too late to wait anymore, so what we have is what we have. Google Docs, by the way, was a great way to collaborate on an assignment like this one. We didn't get a chance to talk about who would put it all into a Word document and create a title page, etc. So, it's now four hours before the assignment is due, and it looks like I'm the last person who is going to add anything. I guess it's up to me to compile it all. I really wish I hadn't procrastinated so much.

Weeks 10 and 11

These past two weeks we have been using Microsoft Paint, Adobe Photoshop, Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, and Google's Picasa program to create digital images and simple video. Paint was old hat, of course, as I have played with that program at least since junior high school. Adobe Photoshop is a program I'm not as familiar with, and the layers function and rendering function drive me nuts. Since I have taken CST 101 before, I have used most of these programs before, so I at least have a little experience with them. However, it's always good to have a refresher. I had never used Picasa before, so it was fun to learn a new program. Though, I found that I don't really like Picasa as much as Windows Movie Maker and iMovie.

Pretty much all of the images I've been using for this class have come from creativecommons.org, which helps me locate material that I can change or use for other things as long as we cite the source. I think the section in the book on the concept of fair use is interesting. According to fair use, copyrighted material can be used for educational purposes (3rd ed. p. 334) without having to obtain permission from the original artist/writer. That basically means we could have used any images we wanted, since everything we've done in the class has been for educational purposes.

I posted a video to YouTube for the first time. I kind of feel that I'm probably not much more or less secure that I as before, seeing as I have a Facebook and MySpace account, where I often share personal photos and other personal information. The book points out that we all can enjoy privacy by deciding not to reveal anything to anyone, and we choose to reveal info in exchange for real benefits (p.347).

Week 9 - Part 2

Today we did the butterfly debugging activity. I'm supposed to share what process I used for debugging the web page, but honestly, that wasn't the hardest part. Debugging the page was easy. I didn't have to add in any new code, I only had to fix some very, very minor errors in the existing code. There was a space needed in one spot, and quotations needed in another spot, and it actually took quite awhile to realize that the file names for the pictures were case sensitive for getting them to appear on the page. After doing that, the hard part was actually figuring out what the URL was for my page. I didn't realize until the end that I had one extra folder that I left out, and I didn't need to include the ".html" at the end. I also ended up re-naming my file to the original name, which was a little confusing in my opinion, but that's what worked. So in short, the debugging was easy, and the hard part was just uploading my stuff to the web server and getting a good URL.

Week 9

Last week was spring break, and I accidentally skipped a blog entry before that, so we're on the ninth week now. Today is the first day back in CST 101 after spring break, and the instructor asked us to write about our mindsets. I feel great today, and my mind is all here academically. Yesterday was a furlough day for the class I would have gone to, so this really is my first day back from break. To be honest, I didn't sleep very well last night, and I really didn't think I'd be all here today. I didn't feel very well in my digestive system, so I didn't really get much rest. However, I decided to tell myself some affirmations, such as "I am healthy. I'll feel well tomorrow. I am responsible. I will go to class tomorrow no matter what. I feel healthy. Etc." This morning, when I woke up much, much earlier than I wanted due to my discomfort, I told myself some affirmations again, "I feel good. I am responsible. Etc." So, I rolled out of bed, showered, called the health center to ask a health question, blow-dried my hair, made some tea, and ate a half a bagel before getting on the shuttle for class. I kept telling myself that I feel good and that it' a beautiful morning outside. So by the time I arrived at class, it was starting to become overcast outside, but I still felt good. It also helped that I knew I was on top of all the assignments in this class (minus the blog I missed, of course). Thus, my brain followed suit with the rest of my feelings of well-being.

*Picture courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/motograf/1071051923/

Week 6

This past week we mainly spent working on our information literacy projects with our team. It took my team awhile to fine tune our research topic. The librarian told us that our team had the most "robust" discussion of all the class in our forum. I'm excited about the topic we chose, especially because it's close to what I'm studying for my major. Choosing good keywords and many synonyms for research was a good exercise for me, and is a practice I should make habit for my future research assignments.

Week 5

A lot has been covered this past week. We crammed Google Sites, GooWiki, and learning how to choose research topics all in one week. In Google Sites, I decided to add a couple horizontal rules to my site using the html code, and it turned out pretty good-looking. Incorporating the GooWiki activity with the Google Sites was a good idea, and made it feel like the Google Sites was an easier, smaller activity. I didn't know about Google Sites before this class, and it is super easy to use. The GooWiki exercise I've actually done before from taking this class before, so it was really just a refresher. I had forgotten about the "standing on the shoulders of giants" quote, so it was nice to re-learn about that. I had missed class on Tuesday, so I missed whatever the cute cat links thing was. Also, it was a little difficult to keep up with all the things that were supposed to be done outside of class. For example, I didn't even realize that we had quizzes to do this week until it was too late. Plus, last Thursday when Ramon was going over how to do the infolit tutorial and how to submit it, I felt like it went way too fast, so when it actually came time for me to do it, I wasn't really sure what to do. Thank goodness for the instructional video on how to submit the tutorial!!! Regarding the research topic assignment, my team decided to just use the topic that we already had decided to use. I didn't realize before that the way I had phrased it, it was too general and broad. I was thinking about it specifically in my mind, but it didn't come out that way in the question. We have since narrowed it down a bit, and I'm looking forward to my teammates' feedback on the narrowed down version.

Fourth Week

Well, html code was fun to learn. I found that I can make plain text documents in my TextEdit program, and also in OpenOffice and NeoOffice, and I can also export plain text copies of things I make in the program Pages.

This week I learned how to type out some simple html tags and create a simple web page about a fictional cat named Pochi. I think this was the most exciting part of the class. We didn't get a chance to use Google sites yet, but I'm looking forward to that too. I feel that I could take this knowledge and use it in many other places from now on.

Third week of CST 101

This week we learned how to use Google Docs. I had heard of it before, but I had never learned its features, etc. Now that I understand it, I have used it twice so far for other classes besides CST 101. It is incredibly helpful to be able to share a file as a webpage link, so that another person can collaborate and edit it live, and they don't have to wait on their computer to download.

We also did an exercise this week where we made cover letters to go with the resumes we did last week. I had never made a cover letter before, so it was a good experience that I can take with me into the rest of my life.

The directory hierarchy of my MacBook seems pretty basic. I was having trouble trying to identify the root system name, so I started with /Users. I even used the help menu in finder to figure out the location of Users, but to no avail.

I found a free online file storage service that I tried out (other than Google Docs). It's called MediaFire, and the free basic service gives you unlimited downloads, unlimited uploads, and unlimited storage. The max individual file size you can upload is 200MB, but you can upload multiple files at a time. The only thing is that you have to be subjected to ads on your page, and your files aren't encrypted unless you upgrade to the Pro service; so, you have to be careful not to upload private/sensitive information just in case there are prying eyes between you and the server. I tried it out, and your page after you log in looks similar to a typical email inbox. You can create different folders, and you can also share your files with other MediaFire users. I liked this service above others, because it's not just a free trial, and you have unlimited uploads, and it's very user friendly/self-explanatory/visually simple. I would recommend this site to anyone so far.

Reflection on Second week of CST101

Last week was fairly easy. I did learn how to form a MyCSUMB group, though. It was pretty simple, but interesting, and it may come in handy this semester for coordinating things for the group presentation project and other group assignments. I can't say I learned a whole lot regarding word processing and resume creating. I've used Monster.com before, and I've written plenty of resumes before. Granted, we can always use practice writing resumes. I admit that the one I wrote for this class wasn't the best I've ever written, even though it was probably the most impressive-sounding. I had chosen for my "coolest job" a lecturing position at a university teaching anatomy and physiology. I know that I would enjoy that job because it is sort of in a similar field that I'm pursuing: Sexuality studies. I've been using Microsoft word since I was in 6th grade, which is when I learned to type using the home-row and all the correct fingers on all the right keys. I took a class in 9th grade that taught me more in-depth how to use Word and Excel. I use Word more than Excel, so pretty much all of my spreadsheet experience is lost and forgotten. I knew about the resume templates in Word, though. Older versions of Word used to have a Resume wizard feature, that would generate your resume for you if you put in most of the information. That was nice, but I like the versatility of the new system, and there are a lot more resume templates to choose from. I think if I were to be making a real resume, I would expand it a little more. Even though it looks really good and tailored to the job, it kinda makes me look like a bland, one-dimensional person. But at least I recognize that. I was sort of sad that I didn't get any good comments from my peers on how to improve my resume, but I guess that's to be expected from a class that doesn't have a whole lot of resume experience.

First week of CST 101

The first week of classes have come and gone. I am pleasantly satisfied that I have already begun to learn things in all my classes. I wasn't thinking I would learn anything new in CST 101 already, but I have. I had never heard of Wordle before, so it was interesting to find out about that site. Although it's just for fun, mostly, I could see how one could integrate a word cloud into a project of some sort.

We also took our first quiz in CST 101. It was on chapter 1, which was mainly about the basics of the components of a computer. I had read the chapter a couple semesters ago, so I just skimmed the chapter this time around, and I flipped though the flash cards online before I took the online quiz. The quiz took me less than 5 minutes, and I got all the answers correct. Having a quiz that easy is nice because it's both refreshing and it provides a nice review of things I have learned before. The most interesting part of the chapter, in my opinion, is the part about the factor of improvement. In only a few years, the factor of improvement can be vast.