Bonnie: The Flyer/Dancer/Sorority Chick

Second Project Draft Link...

2005-12-02T05:59:00.000-08:00

Here is the link for the draft of my second project on open source. I still have quite a bit of developping that needs to be done before it can be anywhere near a final draft, but I got a really good basis down to start myself off with.

http://student.wiu.edu/BM-Becker/Project-two.html

Abstract for Project Two:

2005-11-17T21:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, so my ideas for the second project are still a little choppy and kind of chaotic the way that I put it together, but this is basically what I've got going through my mind at this point:

For the second project I have selected a number of concepts that I might want to work with, but I'm pretty sure about the one that's probably what I'll do. I picked out copyright, language and publications from the lists. I had a question though: is it possible to do this project on the concepts listed at the top, such as Intellectual Property? I was not sure if the concept had to come from one of the bottom two lists or not. I kind of want to take the concept "copyright" from the list of "the cutting room floor" and also talk about intellectual property along with that. That is the main concept that I am interested in, mostly because when we had all of our class discussions over the week that we spent on IP, I just wanted us to be able to have more and more classes on it. It is a subject that is very interesting to me and it also kind of overlaps with my first project on code. In my first project I often discuss "hacking" and code, and hacking deals with a lot of security issues which could in some ways relate to IP and copyright issues. I like the idea of dealing security and the internet and what is who's and all of that sort of information. In conclusion, I'd like to do something with copyright and IP.

Project One Draft

2005-11-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

So I finished my Draft for Project number one, but there is still quite a bit that I would like to do with it before the final draft is due. I have a lot more ideas for it that I just need to put into action. Here is the link for my draft: http://student.wiu.edu/BM-Becker/Project-one.html

Images

2005-11-04T08:02:00.000-08:00

The discussion about images on Wednesday was really interesting. I liked the discussion about the different advertisements like with the Panzani add and the Michael Jordan ad. I think it is weird how you see the Michael Jordan advertisement and automatically jump to saying that Michael Jordan has a long wingspan, when he in fact does not have wings at all, but just long arms. Someone in class made the comment that this advertisement makes sense because Jordan is seemingly flying when he jumps really high to make a slam dunk. A point was made against this though saying that Jordan cannot actually fly and Banash said that he felt Jordan's jumping ability is not all that great anyways. It's weird how an image like the Jordan ad can have so many different meanings and interpretations to different people.

10 years old

2005-10-24T06:06:00.000-07:00

The fact that the Don Gentner and Jakob Nielsen article is ten years old should still make it relevent today. Regardless of the fact that most of the stuff being discussed in this article and the problems that arise are ones that have been solved for the most part. It is relevent, because it is good for people to understand how things once were in this aspect and how much things have truly evolved since then and also how they can continue to evolve. In disussing the "WYSIWYG" part of writing a document, this has certainly come a long way, when in writing a document one can see much more on the screen or as much as they want to be seen, other than what will be simply be printed out of the work they've done. I think that this article is important in continuing to understand how much more improvement can be done as people are constanty complaining about computers and about how all these improvements need to be done. This article shows that a lot of improvements have been done since ten years ago, but there could still be many more.

IP

2005-10-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed all of the class discussions last week over IP and found a lot of this new information very interesting. In some ways I agree with John Dvorak and in some ways I don't. I think that Creative Commons could possibly help some people to understand licensing and such, but then at the same time it could hurt them, if they are not aware of the actual copyright laws. If people do not know that by simply writing something down, it is copyrighted, then they may think that this creative commons thing is absolutely necessary just so no one else will be allowed to steal their work, and by the copyright laws this could not possibly be further from the truth. I really do not see the point of creative commons for the most part and even when I read through it for the first time, I found it highly complicated and confusing even in its simple state that the creative commons people tried to put it in. It has already been put into a state of human understanding instead of a bunch of legal gibberish, but it seems as if the creative commons people kind of drag it out and make it way more complicated than it should actually be.

Abstract for the assignment: CODE

2005-10-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

I would like to do my project on the keyword, CODE.

I chose code for this assignment for the following reasons:
· The first reason that I chose code is because I had never taken any sort of thought process to all of the different codes that exist on the web before this class. I just never realized before what it was that web pages are made up of and that they actually require all of this hidden code to make up all the different aspects of web pages including: font, size of font, color, background, spacing, links and lots of other characteristics.
· The second reason that I chose code is because of the organization that is involved and which was particularly discussed in the “Absolute Powerpoint” article by Ian Parker. This article among some others encouraged me to truly analyze the Powerpoint program and breakdown how worthwhile it is depending on the situation in which it is being used.

This is a list of questions that I intend on working with and engaging:
1.) Is code a concept that is important for the general public/users of the internet/web to become familiar with and understand?
2.) Are there certain codes within the web that are more difficult to comprehend than others and if so…
3.) Then why are they more difficult to understand and in what type of situations does this sort of intensified difficulty apply?
4.) What sorts of websites have code that is easy to hack into and change and how often are these sort of sites hacked into, and also…
5.) Who are these people doing the hacking onto websites with code that allows them to do so and why are they doing this/what purpose does it serve/ are they trying to implement negative or positive changes for the web?
6.) How can code be useful for particular classroom activities and in what kind of classes or departments would code be most useful to education and endorsing learning?
7.) In what ways is code linked to accessibility and why do creators of some websites choose to take the easy way out with code, knowing they are doing so, and make these sites less accessible?
8.) What does it mean to "hack" a website?

Accessibility

2005-10-13T20:01:00.000-07:00

From the tagged readings on accessibility and also from the discussions in class and the assignment that we had to do in picking a WIU website to assess, I learned that the web is not quite as accessible as I had thought it would be. I never thought about it in ways that people with certain disabilities would have a more difficult time using/accessing the web than others. I know that I usually have a fairly easy time accessing most websites, except for when I'm trying to search for something that is slightly more of a topic not mentioned quite as much and I'm on Google, Yahoo or some other infamous search engine. I know this is probably going to sound really stupid, but until our activity the other day in class, I did not even know that you could use the keyboard/tab key on websites when trying to access the different links or work your way through the page. I think I need to experiment with technology a little more often, rather than just accepting the basic necessities that have been handed to me throughout life. The "Introduction to Web Accessibility" article made me realize how much more effort the creators of certain websites need to put into them in order to embrace the needs of all people, whether they have some sort of disabling disability or not. I think one of the most important things that I got from this article is the idea of these creators having the need to be more committed to and trained for these websites that are being created for the general public's use.

Del.icio.us account

2005-09-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

So I started a Del.icio.us account finally and put some links on there that are really interesting to me that have to do with flying and dancing. My URL is del.icio.us/FLBonnie if anyone is interested in looking and maybe if you want to comment about it. I am still kind of confused as to the whole point of this delicious thing, besides saving some sites that are of interest. All I can say is that I hope my house gets internet soon, because I can't stand not having it. I will post more later on today.

Missed class on Friday

2005-09-18T22:49:00.000-07:00

I know I missed class on Friday, which really sucks, because now I feel as though I am going to be really behind, but I keep on getting really sick and then it seems like I never get better. I also hate the fact that my house does not have internet and it is now late Sunday night and this is the first chance that I have had all weekend to come to a computer lab and use the internet, so I don't know how caught up for class I am going to be, but it's really quite frustrating. This weekend was so hectic, because of recruitment and everyone was sick and making everyone else even more sick than they already were. Tomorrow is the end of recruitment though, so that will be a little bit of a stress reliever, however I am choreographing variety show for Chi Omega so I have to do all of that this week and then next week is Homecoming which is going to be ridiculously busy. I would think that since I just quit the Dance Theatre that I would have more time for things, but nope, still just as busy and loathing it. I printed out all of the stuff that we are supposed to read for class this week and am trying to read it all in time, but still feeling pretty sick after not having much time for recovery.

Crazy Week!

2005-09-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

Oh my Gosh!
This week has been a really crazy one and I have a strong feeling that the craziness is not going to end until Homecoming is over, but even after that there will still be more stuff going on until the rest of the semester. Recruitment is just a really busy time and it is so hard to keep up with everything. This is why I have been contemplating quitting the University Dance Theatre that I have been in for the past 4 semesters, because life is just becoming too stressful. It is difficult for me to complain about it though, because I know that I brought it upon myself. I am one of those people that is just an avid volunteer and whenever someone needs to sign up for something i just do and it's starting to work against me. I need more time for myself, more time for academics, more time for my boyfriend who only ever gets that time with me anymore when I am doing homework or reading for some english class. I am glad that he puts up with my crazy life and my ridiculous schedule, but I really do try to spend time with him whenever possible. I am also thinking a lot about transferring down to school in Florida and that has been kind of annoying to have that on my plate too; to be going back and forth weighing out reasons to stay and reasons to go. I just have no idea what to do and I am horrible at making decisions. This whole weekend is basically taken up by recruitment stuff, but I am excited for our Fall collection! I bet there will be a conflict of feelings at the bars/house parties this weekend. There will be the people that will be so happy that no sorority girls are out and then there will be the people that cannot wait for all of us to be able to come back out again. If you haven't guessed by now, all sorority girls are dry this entire weekend due to sorority activities. Well, that is all for now, just trying to go over some more of this reading and working with the whole web page thing in the little amount of time I have on the internet since our house still does not have internet, but we are supposably getting it next week (I HOPE!).
S-Later!
~Bonnie~

Confused about PowerPoint

2005-09-11T22:04:00.000-07:00

Hello All Again,
So I am having an interesting time still working with my PowerPoint, but I was just wondering if anyone has an idea of how far we're supposed to take this thing with it. I am still just making comments and stuff in mine over the articles that we were supposed to read from last week, mainly on the Ian Parker thing. I don't know how long I should continue to make it, but I've been messing with a lot of the custom animation stuff, which is always kind of fun. So if anyone has an idea of how far we're supposed to take the PowerPoint thing, let me know, cause I am just not too sure.
~Bonnie~

Class from last friday-wed 9-7

2005-09-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

So I ended up having to miss class last Friday due to being incredibly sick and not having been able to move a single muscle in my body. I went home over labor day weekend and literally just laid on the couch all weekend and did nothing but watch television and sleep, because that was pretty much all that I was capable of doing considering the state that I was in.

I was still able to finish up doing that whole thing with the website that we had started the wednesday before that from class, but I was at the same time confused with some things about that, because I was not sure how it would be classified as a real website.

Doing the Power Point stuff this week has been kind of interesting, but I have not done anything in Power Point since High School. I know that a lot of teachers do not really care for it, because it does become such a hindrence so many times unless if the person using it has had practice with it. I cannot stand it when Professors will use Power Point to conduct their classes and then simply rely on it the whole time and basically just read off of it instead of truly giving the class an explanation in their own words. Sometimes I think it is just laziness or maybe ignorance in not knowing how dependant they really are on the device, but either way it gets really annoying sometimes.

That's all for now, until next time: Hugs to all,
~Bonnie~

First Week of School

2005-08-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
The first week of school went pretty well, but as usual was quite busy. I have already had my first PHC meeting and auditions for the dance theatre. I also tried out for the new competition dance team and I made it! Yay me! Most of my classes went alright, except a couple of them seem as if they might turn out to be kind of boring this semester and difficult to sit through, but I am sure that I will manage. I am definitely missing Florida and everything down there, but it has been nice to see everyone back at school again. Until next time, Hugs!