Advice.

Overall, this has been a good experience. I learned a lot of new skills, like creating websites, using advanced powerpoint skills and etc. Just do your homework everytime you are given and review the tutorials that Ms. Belisle puts up. They are really helpful! Good luck, everyone!

Favorite Websites

Looking at all of the cool websites that we did, my favorites are Andrea's, Morgan's and Arielle's.

Andrea's Website: It's just very original. I love the background, the font and the overall theme. I think the black and white colors really work well with the content. The photos are nice too!
Morgan's Website: I love the homepage and the background that all her pages have. Looking at the cute converse shoes, it makes me want to wear and collect them as a hobby or something. I also like the design of the navigation bar.
Arielle's Website: I love jazz, too! I really appreciate her love for jazz, and that she showed it very well in her webpage. I also like it that the personal music website is linked.

Website

Please visit my website at www.cs.trinity.edu/~mtha. Making a website on my own was not that hard as I expected, probably for the main reason that I used Microsoft Expression Web instead of just handcoding. Now, that would have been extremely hard if it's handcoding. I think I'm most proud of my homepage. I spent a lot of time on it since it was my first page and I was trying out new stuff for the first time. It has my background information, my favorites/interests and basic information and links about my country Burma. For changes, I would have added more pictures and information about my social life at Trinity on the webpage Trintiy Experience. But then, I have some pictures of APO events at Trinty, so I guess they are enough. My biggest technical challenge was putting in pictures for the galleries. Not only did I have to resize them and make them to be thumbnails, but also I had to create tables in a way that they all look organized. Making tables and creating thumbnails took up a lot of time, too. My biggest design challenge was making the tabs on the top of every webpages. I used Adobe Photoshop to do that. In addition, my Photoshop was expiring, so it was a bit of a rush. Also, getting everything, like the colors, borders, and fonts aligned with the overall theme took time.
I will show my site to my friends and even family members because it is addressed to them basically. And I'm sure I will make another website for another class in the future because it can be a great way to showcase your portfolio or other projects. Websites are easy to follow and very accessible, and also you can show off your utmost creativity!

Computer Hardware

Last thursday, when Larry Hechler visited us and talked about computer hardwares, I learned some new things I should know. Probably the most important thing is the hardware backup. He said that 'the cloud' is where the information is stored and backed up; it is not physically attached to the computer itself, instead it is 'somewhere in the clouds'. Mr. Hechler emphasized the sad truth that people tend to forget to back their computers, so if they lose the data unexpectedly because the hardware dies, then the memories and everything inside are gone forever. Just gone. He ended his lecture on this depressing note, but I know this is something we need to be very careful of. Data back-up needs to be taken care of as soon as possible! In addition to that, I learned some things about the nature of laptop battery life. It's bad to recharge the battery after letting it off for like 15, 20 minutes. You either keep charging the battery or you let it use all of the energy at once before you recharge it all over again.

PowerPoint Presentations

I chose radio hosting as my area of interest for my Communication major, and I presented about it with a slide show. In the presentation, I included my experience at KRTU because it is the reason that I've started considering it as an area of interest in study. Also, I learned about the new advances in the radio world and how it is producing new career opportunities for those who are interested in it. I added the radio-personality icon, Howard Stern, to give as an inspiration because he is such an important person in the radio realm. I guess the thing I could have improved is the technical part. I could have made it more exciting with lively graphics and maybe music because it's all about the radio.
As for my favorite slide shows, I would say Katie's and Vedanti's. Katie's presentation is about sushi. The pictures looked all so yummy, and the effects really worked well on them. Including the recipes for different types of sushi was quite intriguing. Another one is Vedanti's presentation about a strange case in neuroscience history. It was interesting and fascinating how a person could survive strangely after that much of a trauma. The graphics and the intro music worked well with the content, with all their spookiness.

Photo that Lies

"...[M]ost studies approach photo manipulation as a breach of a singular code of ethics reflecting the traditional norms of journalistic objectivity.....greater protection of the essential shared values of journalists: accuracy, balance, relevance, and completeness. Technology has been viewed as the culprit......"
Photo manipulation is like a security breach, but a breach of ethics and integrity that has been breaking down the norms of journalism. Nowadays, as online journalism and magazines become prevalent, photo editing and manipulation have come down to as part of the norm for most people.There is less "accuracy, balance, relevance, and completeness" than the old times. You are used to seeing perfect-looking people on billboards on the streets and in magazines too where models look glistening in lipstick advertisements. The article discusses about how the newsrooms have changed in terms of values and norms in photojournalism. Their authenticity and ethics somehow become controversial. Also, it suggests that the "decision to manipulate a photo or to violate the norms in general" has come down to the fact that it is not an individual effort, but rather a group/organization effort, "making an error in judgement", and letting the individuals to take part in it.

Lowrey, Wilson. "Normative Conflict in the Newsroom: The Case of Digital Photo Manipulation."

Journal of Mass Media Ethics; 2003, Vol. 18 Issue 2, p123, 20p.

I chose my own picture because I wanted it to be more personal, and I think it's just more fun to play around with own pictures and laugh about it. This picture was taken at a Google office in New York City during spring break. This is an example of violating certain ethics and norms from the article above, but it is quite subjunctive and not obvious if you are not any of the people in the picture. I totally got rid of the Google sign and placed Yahoo! instead. I showed this to my friend who is one of the people in the picture. He said that people from Google will be really mad when they see this. What's worse, Yahoo! is one of Google's main rivals, so there could be real friction if our tour guides (who are Trinity alumni workin in Google) find out. Another fakery is the lady who appears to be sitting down behind the sign. I put her there because it helped me fill the space and it is interesting that she is also a Trinty alum but who works in MTV. So I'm hoping this to be controversial for the sake of this assignment about photo fakery, not because I want it to be. To answer the question, the manipulation is pretty harmful because it violates some ethics of being true and accurate.

Blog about Chris Nolan's Search Engines

Last Thursday, Chris Nolan, an assistant university librarian, came to our class and enlightened us about the nature of search engines, like Google. The new and interesting thing I found out was that Google changed its algorithm when certain websites that show up on the first page are not as professional or reliable. According to Chris Nolan, Google demoted ehow.com because the information contained was not necessarily reliable or trustworthy. I guess the most shocking thing that he told was the Martin Luther King website. It shows the lack of explicit censorship for profanity, obscenity and racist content in some radical websites, therefore it is extremely unconventional.

What Not To Do In Powerpoint Presentations

This blog is about what happens to powerpoint presentations if you use them extremely unprofessionally. When giving oral presentations, one should not only effectively presents his information to the class, but also he must captivate the audience with his show so that everything is much more colorful. Otherwise, it would become so boring to the extent that when you hear the word "powerpoint" again, you'd only remember the time when you couldn't stop praying for the presentation to stop that instant. The following are some of the things I hate about bad powerpoint presentations:

1. Putting complete sentences on the slideshows, and reading out loud from them and ONLY them: Most of the bad powerpoints I've seen have this problem. On the speaker's part, I guess it is a lot less nerve-wrecking to read out from the script when he is infront of a crowd, as opposed to improvising and putting mere short notes on the slideshow. But that makes it super bad and boring. Also, it's kind of an insult to the audience if you just read out from the slides, sentence by sentence because in almost all the cases of presentations, the audience can read all right. So you have to respect them.
2. Text and graphics flying all over: It looks so unprofessional when texts and graphics are all modified with effects. Serious presentations should have sinple effects with text as well as smooth transitioning slides, nothing too overly conspicuous. Those with less serious content can go fancier, but again nothing too annoying.
3. Time management of presentations: The speaker should be aware of the time limit he has and try to organize his oral presentation accordingly. I've seen some where the speaker wastes so much time in the beginning, either rumbling or putting in extra information, and then in the end, just roughly touching up on the materials.

CLT Blog

I was absent on that thursday morning when the class made a detour to the CLT. But fortunately, I've been there before even though it was brief. Hence, I'm writing this blog! First of all, even the fact that Trinity's CLT is sponsored by AT&T is pretty amazing; it means that our school has the latest technology! Last semester, when my group and I had to create a short video presentation for our spanish class, CLT helped us out a lot with its resources. In fact, it was our only help. We borrowed a camcorder (the size of a flash-drive, meaning it's advanced technology) Then after filming, we used the computers there to edit our video.It was all done without complication and we were all very happy. The staff were quite helpful, too. I'm sure there are more stuff down there which I don't know because I missed the tour. CLT is definitely a to-go place when you're creating video and other media projects because there are many cool and advanced technological resources. I'm a communication major, so I will have to visit there frequently sometime in the future.

The Excel Experience

Now that I've been taught more excel tools, I'm starting to think it's kind of cool. Cool as in not fun 'cool', but very neat and useful in applying, organizing and calculating information. Even the basic stuff, like scrolling down a cell to copy the formula, makes Excel seem easily doable and applicable, and I didn't know that before. The most significant thing I learned is how to use the f(x) function tool. So far, PMT and IF are the only two things from that tool, but they prove to be really helpful because they make the content clearer.

Deception in Media

I chose this picture of Oprah Winfey on the cover of TV Guide in August 1989 because it is deceiving to the extent that it insults Oprah. Her head has been sliced off and been attached to the body of an actress, Ann-Margaret. It was manipulated for the reason that it grants Oprah a better and more polished body-image since she is on the cover of a magazine. But it backfires because it is like insulting her true image and manipulating what the audience would think. In addition, neither Oprah nor Ann-Margaret gives permission for the usage of the photos, so it is very harmful




This video is shorter than 2 minutes, but it explains all about the deception of what beauty is in today's technology-laden world. I guess the message is that the models in magazines or on billboards are not genuinely as pretty as they seem to be. Make-up is one thing, but makeovers using photoshop can go too far to the extent that beauty becomes artificial and deceptive.

Op-ed Ethics Blog

This is a very interesting situation, conflicting with a lot of ethical aspects of Facebook, internet photos, companies and law firms. But moreover, it really proves the eminent dangers of the internet and how it can destruct potential accomplishments of a person, in regards to the future prospects. You can say that there are dangers lurking in every corner, in every aspects of the internet –so much so that it is unavoidable if you are not careful enough. Everything you do on the internet is being recorded or documented by some other ways; therefore, you would have to be extremely cautious. Code of ethics in media are entangled up in each other’s presences, so it would be an understatement to say that there is only one aspect for this situation, when there are multiples of it. Such aspects are those of the ‘victim’, the person who uploaded and business companies, namely the law firm.
In this case, it is really not fair for the college graduate conventionally because what he did is in the past, like 2 years ago. Of course, he should have checked and been more conscious of his wrong doings, so that a situation like this would be fully prevented. There seems to be no legal recourse for the actions, so he cannot do anything about the law firm not taking him as an employee. But if the pictures were not tagged to his profile, then how would he know if they existed at first place? Now, it’s up to his ‘friend’, the one who uploaded the pictures. In my opinion, it is unacceptable that a person would expose the ‘immoral’ pictures of other person without acknowledging him or without asking for his permission. Frankly, he never should have uploaded those kinds of pictures because not only do they pose disgrace to the public eye on the part of the person who uploaded, but also they greatly hurt the ‘victim’ that it becomes unethical. The code of ethics on Facebook (in regards to one self) states that “you should obviously be wary of potential employers, graduate admissions committees, and uptight family members viewing them and judging you accordingly.” (Weber) Therefore, it is even more wrong to inflict pain upon some other person. “Posting photos depicting other people in compromising situations is clearly not acceptable, as you are subjecting them to potentially detrimental consequences without their consent to do so.” (Weber)
It is extremely hard for the employee to gain legal recourse if what he did was genuinely wrong or at the least, questionable. Only when the employer violates the code of ethics against the employee, does the latter get legal recourse for the situation. That way, “..under the jurisdiction of ASHA (American Speech-Language Hearing Association) Code of Ethics, an employee may have recourse through filing an ethics complaint”. (Huffman) However, in this case, a potential employee violates the company’s Code of Ethics, making it impossible for the company to employ him. The actions done by the employers, ethical or unethical, remain questionable because as unconventional as it seems, they are doing things that are right for their companies. So, it seems understandably ethical from that point of view. Which prestigious law firm would want to employ a person who has had interactions with drugs or illegal activities at the present or in the past? But on the other hand, it is in the past; from the individual’s point of view, it becomes unethical that the company has to take it out on his anticipated potential employment based on the one small blunder he committed at a nothing-but-trivial college party.
Examining this situation makes me realize how crucial it is for Facebook users to adjust the privacy settings to the extent that everything is safe and secure, in terms of content of pictures or information. Otherwise, what started as a fun moment (which is taken as a picture or documented as information) can magnify so much that it would unfairly determine your career prospects. Internet is big and scary; anything can happen on it that you can’t erase. You just have to be super careful because with all the ethics surrounding every aspect of media and business, you can get into unexpected trouble.

References:
Weber, E. Jan 17, 2009. Everyday Ethics. Retrieved from: http://everyday- ethics.org/2009/01/the-ethics-of-facebook-what-should-and-should-not-be-posted/
Huffman, N.P. October 7, 2003. Employers, Employees and Ethics. American Speech-Language Hearing Association. Retrieved from: http://www.asha.org/practice/ethics/Employment.htm

Copyright and Creative Commons

On Tuesday morning, Jason Hardin, manager of access services came in and talked about copyright laws and other related issues, like infringement. These are very critical issues that a person needs to be aware of if they want to survive in America. As a non-american, the issue about copyright seemed to be so complicated because I'm not familiar with all the laws, but now I've learned quite a lot about it. Something that struck me and that scared me is the situation of Whitney Harper. She, at the age of 17, unknowingly downloaded songs from Kazaa, later only to find out that she violated certain copyright laws. This shows that downloading free stuff or sharing files is not safe at all, instead it's all tangled up with laws and regulations that you might not know exist. The other useful thing that Jason included was the danger of uploading stuff that is not your own, as opposed to just streaming them. I always use youtube, and sometimes, I come across clips that are labeled as 'due to copyright infringement, this clip is unavailable' or something like that. That is because they uploaded clips that are copyrighted and that are not their production. Overall, these copyright laws are present to keep documents safe and to avoid theft among musicians, writers, filmmakers, photographers, poets, etc.

May Oo's Blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at mayootha.blogspot.com.

My Trinity Network Diagram

This is a diagram showing how Trinity internet network works. It's an easy way to examine the way internet connection works in a big and complex institution like this.

The Mystery Spot

This particular place stood out to me because it's just really a cute and pretty spot, so I decided to use this and modify it with a theme. Obviously, I created a romantic atmosphere by making the place a 'proposal spot'. The guy would direct his girl to this place (hence, the arrows) and he would propose to her with the ring and later the champagne. The text and the butterflies are decorations on the wall. For the editiing, I played around with the contrast and brightness of the picture before I put the effect that only focuses on the objects on the table. Anyway, guess where that place is and leave a comment too! Freshmen should recognize it more quickly than the upperclassmen.

Best Tech Trip

On Tuesday, Joe Hatch, a user support services analyst of Trinity, came to our class and shed some light on tech survival skills. The best tech tip I got from him is CCleaner and its effects. He said that CCleaner not only cleans your computer and removes junk from it, but also it protects from hackers trying to use your brower. If we don't clean our computers often, then the computer performance will slow down and eventually damages the whole thing. That is something we as computer users, have to be aware of. Therefore, I downloaded CCleaner and started using it!

Network Server Diagram

This is a diagram of the Trinity network server. It works very well and conveniently because both students and professors can share their works, and at the same time, keep their personal folders.

Greetings Everyone!

My name is May Oo Tha, but you can call me May Oo. Yes, it seems slightly awkward, but it sounds just like how it spells. I'm a freshman at Trinity University and a very excited one that is. I'm from Yangon, Burma. For those of you who have no clue of where that place is (and I totally understand and forgive you), it is in Southeast Asia, surrounded by India, China, Thailand and Bangladesh. I grew up there all my life, so I was brought up in a strikingly different culture. Apart from some remaining bits of culture shock, I'm totally thrilled and happy to be here. Like seriously.

My interests are music (listening, playing guitar and singing), watching movies till I get sick of them, surfing the net (mostly, looking at wikis about random stuff), facebooking, travelling, reading, Glee, hanging out with friends and just singing out loud with them and making harmony! As for my major, I would say Communication is the potential one, and possibly Spanish as a minor. I'm not sure what I want to do in the not-so-long future, but I'd really like to do something with media (film and music). I haven't been putting my head around campus activities since I was battling with Huma last semester, but this time, I'm definitely going to. I want to join TUVAC and get an internship in Trinitonian and Tiger TV.

The interesting fact about me is that I graduated from a class of 7 seniors! I came from such a small school that I know every single face in the school. Also, I can speak four languages: Burmese, English, Spanish and Chinese, even though I admit, my mandarin Chinese is fading because I haven't had any practice ever since I came here. I have to get back on it! As for my computer skills level, I have some knowledge of Photoshop and Word, but none for the rest. I learned some of Excel during middle school, well, only a little. So what can I say? I'm not "tech-savvy". However, I'm pretty excited to be in this class; I have a very good feeling. Creating my own blogs and websites is very cool and will be pretty fun! That is  it for now. You'll see me in my later blogs. =) Oh and please feel free to email me at: mtha@trinity.edu.