Kyle Porter CS 1300

Prospective Students

2008-12-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

As for the students taking the class next semester, make sure you never miss an assignment zeros will destroy you in this class.

Kyle Porter

My Favorite Websites

2008-12-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed almost all of the websites that my classmates created this past week. However, if I had to choose three that I liked most I would have to pick Casey Kay, Steven Sheppard , and Raul Erazo. These three websites were very colorful and fun. I also really appreciated their favorite websites. For instance one of Steven's favorite websites was the Republican home page which was cool because now I can go there to get facts whenever I need them. I liked Casey Kay's website mainly because of his page on family. His love for his family is so strong it reminds me of my own family, he also had some really funny pictures especially of his dad (asleep in the mall). Steven's website was mostly about his political beliefs which is cool, I am not that into politics but I respect him for being an active voter in the community. He also had some really nice photos of Trinity University. Raul's website was by far my favorite the backgrounds he had were very colorful and his site was all about travel, lets face it who doesn't enjoy traveling. It was awesome seeing pictures of him all around the world. All in all everyone did a great job on the websites, I really enjoyed making mine.

Unfortunately while creating my website I realized that there was not a file with my information in it because I registered late for this class. So I do not actually have a website...Sorry.

Kyle Porter

The Code of HTML

2008-11-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

It is extremely important for web designers to know and understand the HTML code. At times the code can be very laborious and lengthy making it exceedingly difficult to use, but it is definitely worth knowing how to use it. There are several instances where this skill can come in handy while using software such as Expression Web or Dreamweaver. One such instance being, if a web designer has a problem with a website they can look at the code and fix what is wrong. As soon as they figure out what the problem is they can change the code, fixing the website. It is always nice to have a back up plan just in case these sophisticated software's fail us. The occasional web designer likes to use the old fashion HTML code. That way they know exactly what is going on in their website. It is much more full proof. With these software's it makes the job of web designers easier but it is important for them to know the HTML code just in case they might need it...

2 POWERPOINTS

2008-11-10T18:51:00.002-08:00

Even though all of the Power Points were very well done, there were two that really stuck out in my mind. Those two were Robert Parker's presentation on coaching college football and Ralph Steven-Petang's presentation on sports/soccer. These two presentations were very informative and inspirational. They used the tools that Power Point has to offer perfectly to go along with their presentations. I am a sports nut so these two presentations were especially interesting to me. I really enjoyed Roberts Power Point for many reasons, I enjoyed the back ground song, his knowledge for the legendary University of Southern California football coach, Coach Parker, and also his love for the game of football. When a person has that much passion for the game it is contagious. I was able to relate because that is the way I feel about soccer and I also want to be a coach. Roberts slide show had a great flow, it was very enjoyable to just sit back, watch, and learn. I felt much the same with Ralph's presentation, it was extremely heart felt and educational. I learned a lot about Ralph, his presentation was very personal and I was able to relate at a whole other level from the rest of the class because I am just as passionate about the game of soccer. In fact it is not just a game, it is my life. Both presentations had great pictures and had a very smooth transition between slides.

These two Power Points were on opposite sides of the spectrum, Ralph's was very deep and Robert's was much lighter, but I learned a lot from both of them.

2 POWERPOINTS

2008-11-10T18:51:00.001-08:00

Chris Nolans Presentation

2008-11-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

Going into Mr. Nolan's presentation I felt very confident with my knowledge on Internet sources such as google. However, I actually learned a lot of things that I did not know before. It was very informative and I'm sure it will be useful in the future. Chris was a very outspoken individual and he really knew what he was talking about. One thing that I will most definitely use is Google Scholar, I had no idea that it even existed before the presentation. I can use that when I am writing an academic paper and I need some good scholarly sites. Sometimes sites like Wiki Pedia just wont cut it and it will be nice to choose from some really good sites. I was shocked to hear that Google was the most commonly used search engine in the world with a whopping 60% population use, no other search engine was even close. The closest search engine was Yahoo with 21%. Another thing that I found to be very odd was that the most popular sites found on Google were not actually scholarly sites. The scholarly sites are almost always far below the popular sites. This is where using Google Scholar comes in handy.

I'm really glad that Chris Nolan came in to talk to us, I learned a lot of valuable information that I know I will use in the future.

Kyle Porter

Power Point Good and Bad

2008-10-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

From middle school through high school and into college I have done very few PowerPoint presentations. The articles on PowerPoint were great, they gave me a much better idea of what to do and not do. After reading through these articles on PowerPoint I have recognized that I was not very good at them in the past. I feel like I can now compose a very good, professional PowerPoint presentation. All of the guidelines were very valuable in creating the perfect PowerPoint but there were five that really caught my eye. The five that really stuck out in my mind were "Keep it simple," "Use high-quality graphics," "Use appropriate charts," "Choose your fonts well," and "Spend time in slide sorter." The first guideline that stood out taught me not to overdue slides by adding unnecessary information or items. The second guideline talked about using high-quality graphics that make the presentation look professional opposed to using clip art which may make it look elementary and cheap. Graphics can be extremely useful in explaining things to a crowd when applied correctly. The third guideline that was useful to me was the one about charts. It taught me not to add to many details to the charts and to make the information on the chart obvious to the crowd. The fourth guideline that helped me was the one that talked about which fonts were good and which ones were not. It showed me that some fonts are not to be used on Power Points, the best fonts are the ones that can easily be read by the audience. The fifth and most useful guideline was the one that said to spend time in the slide sorter, this function is very helpful in organizing the slides of your PowerPoint. It helps you to sort your slides in the appropriate order. All of these guidelines will help myself and others greatly in creating a PowerPoint presentations.

When I look at Power Points I like to see things that are entertaining because I have a very short attention span. When the entire presentation is only text I get bored quickly and tend to fall asleep. It is nice to see a balance of pictures, videos, colors, and different texts. These guidelines will help to create a PowerPoint that will keep my attention and others.

Kyle Porter

Excel Experience

2008-10-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

I personally had a great experience with Excel, it was very informative. Before taking this class I did not know a whole lot about Excel, all that I used it for was creating weight lifting exercises. Now I know that it does so much more. Before this unit I did not know that you could create equations in the cells to get the answers. This will really come in handy in the future while doing financial work. There are many other functions like this one that I plan on using in the future. The homework helped a great deal while working with Excel. The test was over a lot on Excel and if I had not done the homework then I definitely would have failed the test. I know that I will be using the information that I've learned on Excel in the future, especially if I decide to go into business. Even if I don't go into business I will use it for my finances and taxes. Excel will also help me in future classes I'm sure of that. I'm so glad that I decided to take this class I have learned a lot so far and I know that this is only the beginning.

Kyle Porter

Grasshopper on Semi truck?

2008-10-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

I chose the grasshopper on the semi truck picture for many reasons. When I first saw it, it seemed ridiculous. I mean why would they have a picture of a humongous grasshopper on the back of a semi truck? I thought it was really cool and unusual that the grasshopper was about a million times bigger then a regular sized grasshopper. This picture was originally on a post card and was manipulated by Frank D. "Pop" Conard of Garden City. By the looks of this photograph it was taken in the 1930's or 1940's because the image is not very sharp and it is in black and white. The photograph was manipulated with the addition of the grasshopper. There was not actually a grasshopper this large on the semi truck. The photographer put it there to make the picture stand out more and to sell more post cards, that is the reason for the manipulation. I don't think that the manipulation was really harmful to anyone other than maybe the city, the picture is implying that the city might have an insect problem, because of the huge grasshopper. There is a caption in the bottom of the photo saying "Hevlin em out." I take it that there is a big insect problem in the city and they are trying to take care of it. This could have a negative affect on the city. The finished product of this picture is very interesting to look at, I'm sure that it sold many post cards.

Kyle Porter

AT&T Center for Learning and Technology

2008-10-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

I was very pleased with my visit to the AT&T Center for Learning and Technology. Before I went down to the CLT I had no idea that we had access to that equipment. It was very cool, hopefully I get to use some of it. All of the technology down there is so new and useful. Another thing that i noticed was that there weren't a whole lot of people down there and almost everyone that I have talked too hadn't even heard of the CLT room. This was very strange considering that the Studios at CLT can be used by all students without permission. The Studio is really cool it has both windows and macs and these computers are top of the line. The computers in the Studio are equipped with laser printers and scanners.

There are five different stations in the CLT, Studios@CLT, Digital Audio Lab, Media Presentation Lab, Video Conference Center, and Innovation Studio. The station that caught my eye was the Video Conference Center (A room with as satellite down-link and Polycom two-way video conference facilities). This room was quite amazing especially since it use to be a live set for a TV show. In this room people can broadcast all over the school, the Polycom could also be used anywhere in the school.

The Media Presentation Lab is also really cool. Here classes can come in and have presentations or watch movies. As long as they reserve the room they can have it whenever they like.

In conclusion the CLT was a very nice place with extremely good equipment. I'm sure that I will be using it in the future. We are lucky to be this fortunate, having such a nice place to do our work. Trinity has done a great job of taking care of their students.

Copyright Blog

2008-10-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

I feel like I learned a great deal in the class lecture on Copyright law. The head librarian Diane Graves did an excellent job of explaining Copyright laws to my class. I learned that for the most part if a student is illegally downloading items from the Internet they get something called a Take-Down notice. A Take-Down notice is just a warning that the student should stop downloading or they could get sued. If a student receives a subpoena then they will be sued and may lose thousands of dollars. Unfortunately there is no choosing which of these two letters a student will receive for their infringement, it is completely random.

There have been hundreds of Take-Down notices here at Trinity but there have only been four Subpoena's. In one case a girl had only downloaded twelve songs and was sued for over ten thousand dollars. I would imagine that she was furious considering that almost everyone else only got warnings (Take-Down notices). The average settlement for Copyright infringement cases is between fourteen and seventeen thousand dollars. This seems a little steep for a few songs/movies. I feel that it would be much more fair if students got Take-Down notices before they got subpoena's. This way they would have a little warning before losing all of that money. I feel extremely fortunate that I have all of this information in front of me now. If I didn't know these things then I might have been the one to get sued for infringement. I now realize that Copyright infringement is not something that should be messed with. It is much smarter to pay a little money for the item then to pay a huge penalty for taking the easy way out.

There is no way that I will ever illegally download again!!!

Kyle Porter

Wireless Internet on Campus

2008-09-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

I feel extremely fortunate attending a University of such quality. The wireless internet is truly amazing, a person can gain access anywhere on campus. It is very helpful for students. Trinity University was listed in the top ten for wireless campus' and I can see why now. The internet is such a great tool for research and we are very lucky to have such an incredible connection. On the other hand it can be a distraction with Facebook, AIM, and Myspace. Statistics have shown that college students are among the top technology users in the country, this is shown in an article at: http://www.usatoday.com/life/2006-10-02-gennext-tech_x.htm . It is awesome being able to have internet at all time and being able to take a lap top to my classes. Being able to go anywhere on campus to do my homework is also really cool. In conclusion the wireless internet at Trinity is supreme and the students/staff are very lucky to have it.

Kyle Porter CS 1300

2008-09-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

My name is Kyle Porter and I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am a first year student here at Trinity University. I play for the soccer team and I plan on studying either History or Philosophy. I hope to become a Strength and Conditioning Coach and/or a College Soccer Coach after I graduate.

Some of my interests are hanging out with my friends and family, playing Xbox, and Snowboarding. Although I have to say that my true passion is soccer.

As for my computer skills, it is fair to say that I am lacking in that department. I know all of the basics of computers but I look forward to learning how to use them at a higher level. It will be nice to learn how to create a website among other skills.

If you have any questions, please email me at: kporter1@trinity.edu