IRLS 571 Assignment --

Hello World!

In this last of the 4 installments of my homework for IRLS 571 I will talk about what changes that I would suggest for this class next time.

There are not many changes that I would make to the course. I will admit I had some trouble finding all the reading assignments for some classes as the readings were in different places. I might suggest that you go by class date, and then put all the stuff for each date in the one spot, and then upload the power point slides when they are ready.

Along those same lines maybe have all the PDF's under a heading called assignments at the bottom of the class either ahead of time or add them as you give them out in class.

Otherwise I don't have much more to say. I liked how you mixed up the history and the computer assignments and also that you made videos for us to watch at home. That was very helpful for me, as I could re-watch the videos as much as I needed to.

WHY I AM NOT DOING A YOU-TUBE VIDEO --

So I really had my heart set on uploading a You Tube Video to the internet for this assignment. let me tell you about my issues.

Size really does matter!

I thought that creating a video and uploading it to You tube would actually be quite simple. I asked around a bit at OSCR and they assured me that yes, it would be simple. My laptop comes with a built-camera, so I thought (mistakenly) that I was set.

I will admit that I was just playing around with the camera and it is strange to watch yourself and try not to look at your goofy-self, but into the camera. I did a few "test" runs and then went for it. My first video was not too bad only 5 minutes and 1.3 gb. (my flash drive is only 1G)Then I went and set up my You Tube account and it found out that the site would only let you upload a video less than 100 mb! WOW.( and I also did not realize that it could take between 1-5 minutes to upload EACH mb! (and that was with high-speed!) It was here that I was beginning to realize that It might not be so easy to make this thing.

OK Rounds 2-4 were trying to get all the information that you wanted us to include in the assignment down into the smallest amount time. I worked it to just over 3 minutes, and also cut down on the pixels on the camera. Still my best was 250 Mb with my laptop.

Then I tried to call OSCR and the person said that I should come into the lab or the Zone at the library and they had a camera that I could use etc... because it was really simple to make a vblog in the OSCR multimedia areas. So now off to the library...

The Zone is now packed with people completing their last of the semester stuff, but so am I, right! So I tuck in to a computer (Mac) that the OSCR person recommends and give it a go. I tried not to talk too loud, but there was so much noise that the speaker was going in and out. I gave it 3 tries and some test spots of 1 minute, and I did manage to make an OK 3.5 minute video (and finally small enough at only 29.4 mb!!!) but each time I watched it, the speakers would give out during some part of the presentation, and the whole thing would go silent.

I have one more option up my sleeve for a You Tube video and I am planning to try it tomorrow, but I wanted to have this Blog done just in case!

Yikes a picture, I almost forgot! As you can see, Delaina and I have just started this blog over the winter holidays and are using it to communicate with our friends around the country. In the beginning we were going to update it once a week (yeah so optimistic!), and now it is more like once a month, but I still like having it and the best part is adding the pictures to the posts. So here is my inspirational You Tube vloger in the hopes that I join the ranks soon!

IRLS 571 Assignment --Pivotal events....

Hello world!

This part of the assignment will answer the following question, What was the best stuff?

The parts of this class that I thought were the best include using Putty and working on the Command Line of the server. I had a lot of trouble with that assignment and really felt a sense of accomplishment when it was over, that I had triumphed over the system! I was amazed that the computer would not give any feedback if everything was OK. I guess that is still the same, but when you cannot "see" what you are working on, I guess I thought there would be more feedback then there was.

The web page critique was also a lot of fun. First to use the Krug book "Don't Make Me Think", and apply it to websites that we use was great. I however liked the second part of the assignment when we had to use a screen shots, mark them up, and add to a web page. That was the best. I have even shown other people how to use a screen shot for other assignments.

The second part of the Krug book that I enjoyed was all the web conventions that Krug urges web designers to use. This really make me think that websites really do want you to use them, and they have made it relatively simple to understand what is going on, when you visit a brand new site.

The Ping that you sent out in class, and we waited to return after all the "hops" was great as well. I did not fully understand the packets, trace routs etc.. before this class. Moreover, I thought the WWII influence that is still a part of the internet was fascinating.

Furthermore, the variety of readings was great. I thought that the V. Bush reading "As we may think" was great. I cannot believe all the ideas that Bush came up with in the 1940's as well as the "Hacker" readings and the open source software that allowed so much computer code to be written, developed, and then amended all by a bunch of people who just loved to work on the new computer. And I only thought hackers were after my bank account number...

This photo is of an early video game (tennis) . Notice how it compares to video games today......

IRLS 571 Assignment - Where I am now...

Hello World and Prof. Smith

Question 2 of this assignment is Where am I now?

Well, I feel that I am much more confidant with the computer in general than I ever have been before. I have a great deal of knowledge and historical references that make the computer much more friendly then ever before. I a familiar with terms and the internal workings of the hardware and how everything works together.

I have much more confidence building and publishing web content then ever before. I really understand what they are saying to me when I have to ask the OSCR folks (as I had to do many times during the group project) but I was also the one who went out and made our group the Wiki, knowing that the website would not be too far over my head. I even downloaded winSCP and Nvu on m home computer so that I can easily add to my web page whenever I would like to.

So I am much more confident and have much more general understanding of how the computer works, in fact I feel so much better when library patrons ask me computer questions and I no longer "always" have to get some one to help me out.

I am more willing to try new stuff as well. Hey I figure if all the kids are doing it why not??

Also this is a picture of another Mac out of my past, just for old times.... When I was at school in the dark ages, the yearbook staff all got to use these Macs and I thought they were the coolest!

IRLS 571 Assignment- Where I started in the class

Hello world and Prof. Smith

These next four entries to our Blog will be focused on a school assignment. I am taking a class called Introduction to Technology IRLS 571 (Prof. Smith) and this assignment was to describe where I was in the class before I started this one.

My technological skills before starting this class were low to OK. I was able to use a word document, search the web and even create a simple web page. However I always felt that I was missing something and felt that this information would really help my computer experience. I had few problems using D2L but did carefully read the course syllabuses before school started this semester just in case a class required some technology that I was unfamiliar with (and I avoided those classes).

I had created a web page in 504 and also in 551 but they were both with a lot of help from the GA's or OSCR people. I did the creating with dream weaver, but they really had to be there to watch me and help me many times along the way.

I also did not understand the relationships between the GUI, the Motherboard and the many other parts of the computer, and how they all worked together. Also I did not have any sort of idea what to do to troubleshoot when something happened.

The bottom line is that I found the computer interesting but frustrating at times, and always felt as if I was missing some vital piece of information.

Here are two old Apple Computers from history. The scary thing is that I actually used the AppleIIC for college when I was working on my BA in History in 1985 YIKES!! That was high tech back then. I can't believe how small the screen was on that computer. WOW.