Week 5: Clear

Week five covered the topic of mastering Excel. The clearest topic to me in week five was the formulas. They were extremely easy to catch onto as long as you didn't forget to put the equal sign ( = ) at the beginning of your formula. Formulas can be built by clicking on a cell and typing in the correct combination of letters, numbers, and symbols to produce a answer. This may seem a little intimidating at first, but the formulas are all basic math followed by the order of operations that you learn in elementary school (PEMDAS). The lectures were extremely helpful in demonstrating how to enter and copy your formulas into other cells. However, it was also helpful to me to explore the formula help bar to identify the correct formulas I needed to use and what they are used for. 


Mastering the use of formulas in excel can be very beneficial later on in life when you are looking for a job or just managing your money and time. Many work places have strict rules about using Excel for certain projects and having well rounded knowledge of the program ahead of time can give you a leg up on the competition in the job market. Also, I have talked to many college professors and they said that submitting your resume in Excel really shows how important the job is to you and sets you apart from the other thousands of applications that are submitted in Word format. 


For the more experienced Excel user there are formulas that can help you form advanced mathematical calculations quickly and accurately. Also, when working with Excel formulas you need to keep in mind the difference between absolute cell addressing and relative cell addressing. An absolute cell address consist of the column letter and row number surrounded by dollar signs ( $ ) and is used when you want a cell address to stay in a specific cell. While a relative cell address point to a different cell in relation to how far the cells are apart. Relative cells addresses change and absolute cell addresses do not. 


The following link helped me to remember the format when differentiating relative and absolute cells. It also helped me recognize formula formats for basic math. 


http://www.baycongroup.com/excel2007/02_excel.htm

Week 6: Clear

Week six came across extremely clear to me. Multimedia is something that I am very familiar with being a Journalism major. I have taken many classes on photography and technology which helped make this topic very easy to understand. Multimedia is broken down into three categories; images, audio and video. Out of these three categories the clearest topic was images.

Images in multimedia are broken down into two separate graphic fields, raster and vector. Raster graphics are an array of colored dots most commonly known as "pixels" that create a bitmap. The only problem with this type of graphic is when you scale an image to make it larger it sometimes becomes jagged or pixelized.  While on the other hand, vector graphics are represented by primitives, which are geometrical and expressed mathematically. The benefits to using a vector graphic is that you can zoom in and out to infinity without losing resolution (clarity/sharpness) and there is no pixilation. 

Images can be saved in multiple file formats, BMP, GIF, JPG, and PNG. The BMP format is extremely useful when creating original copies that can be edited later because they are uncompressed. When you compress a file it tends to lose its quality after multiple copies. Compression can be done in two formats Lossless, which eliminates redundancy, saves space, and is great for archiving, and Lossy which discards data but makes the file extremely small and great for transferring.

Multimedia is extremely important in the business world because it can make or break a business deal. The more technologically advanced corporation usually gets the best offers, sells the most products, and hire the best employees. By knowing how to use your computers multimedia you can create your own promotional material, you can record your own music recordings and videos to send to potential employers. Also, once hired in a business you can use multimedia power-points at work to make your presentations more professional. Multimedia and business evolve together hand in hand, and it is almost essential in todays society to be able to manipulate and produce digital media. 

Creating multimedia images is simple. It can be accomplished by using the following methods:

• Digital Camera
• Webcam
• Scanner (Careful of copyrights when scanning pictures)
• ScreenCaps (PrtScrn)

The following link helped me to understand all the various types of multimedia and cleared up any questions I may have had on the subject. It showed me a bitmap color chart, and clarified the different types of multimedia programs there are for graphics.

http://www.grassrootsdesign.com/intro/graphic.php

Week 4: Clear

Week four covered Application Software, and helped me to realize all the major components I needed to look for before buying software for my personal use, and future business use. The clearest part of week four to me was the analysis of the different license agreements, the penalties, and the types of licenses that can be purchased. Learning about EULA (End User License Agreement) was one of the most interesting things to me. I had no idea that there were so many license agreements that I agree to everyday when I am downloading applications, music, and new software. I also was surprised at some of the ways companies will enforce the license if you break the EULA.

To begin with, commercial and open source licensing were completely new to me and were extremely easy to catch onto. Commercial licensing can be broken down into several groups depending on what your company needs and how big your company is. These licenses can be sold in bundles to be used on multiple computers as a per-seat license., or A site license can be purchased to legally allow all the computers in a LARGE business to run certain application programs. There are also Trial, Shareware, Freeware, Developer, and Per-CPU commercial licenses that can be purchased all according to the specific needs or a corporation. 

Open Source Licenses on the other hand give buyers access to the programs source code, which allows its users to be able to modify and even redistribute the software. These types of software are typically developed by teams or communities, not distributed by a sole creator. Also, they are usually free, although some may have a donation fee. However, concerns when choosing either a commercial licensed software or open source licensed software are mostly dealing with support activity, patches and fixes, response time, and its migration path.

I found that the consequences and repercussions for breaking the license agreement were also made very clear. Your system, computers, and network could be locked. You could be sued to your illegal actions, and your business or good name could be given a bad reputation all by breaking one license agreement. I learned so much from this section of the class, and it has been made extremely clear that I DO NOT want to break a license agreement!!

The following links helped me greatly understand software licensing, and the consequences of not following licensing rules.

http://www.aaxnet.com/topics/slicense.html

http://www.the-eggman.com/writings/piracy.html

Excel Project

For the Excel project that I had to complete three worksheets. I had over 500 pieces of data to work with and it got a little confusing at times. During the project I was required to adjust pre-existing formats such as changing the text position, making it bold, italic, changing the size, and changing the font. I had to create new columns and sheets and rename them as they are made. One of the simplest part of the projects was creating the formulas. I was required to create simple formulas for adding and subtracting, and also some formulas for calculating percentages. After watching the short videos and with my past excel experience the formulas were extremely easy to configure and place. 

The hardest part of the assigned project was learning how to make a pivot table. I spent hours watching videos, using google to search "pivot tables" online and reading through the chapters in the book. It was especially hard to figure out to me because I am new to Mac Office and all my previous experience is in regular Microsoft excel. Not to mention the fact that the lectures are all in Microsoft excel so they were of almost no help. Finally, it came to me and I realized what I was doing wrong by trying to adjust my columns in rows to much instead of just entering the data. After completing the first pivot table, creating the second pivot table was a breeze and only took me minutes to complete.The information once you learn it is extremely easy to catch onto.

I feel that learning both Microsoft excel and Mac's version of excel will be greatly beneficial in the future. I will not have to learn a new system now and will be able to transfer smoothly to whichever program my place of business prefers. Below I have provided a screen shot of my AvgIncrease pivot table. Learning to take screen shots on the Mac was also something new I learned from completing this project. I am really happy I jumped on this project far ahead of its due date because it definitely threw me through some loops.

Week 3: Clear

I felt like this week the most clear concept I learned about was Computer Ergonomics. I feel very passionate about this subject because I have been in a wreck that has rendered me incapable of sitting for long periods of time. I have to use absolutely perfect posture in order to maintain functionality. Computer Ergonomics is the correct posture and seating arrangement one must have in order to use a computer safely without inflicting bodily injury to oneself. It is the proper posture one must use while in a computing environment. The short video on how to seat yourself, set-up your work station and the health risks of poor ergonomic design helped me improve my ergonomics. I re-adjusted my posture and computer desk and it made my overall experience much more comfortable. I didn't feel tense, my back no longer hurt and my eyes did not lose focus once. Proper ergonomics can help to prevent health risks such as; carpel tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, fatigue, and even chronic colds and flu!!

I feel that the short course on computer ergonomics will stay with me for the rest of my life. I think that it should be taught in more computer classes to help prevent future back problems and slouching. It is extremely important to have exceptional ergonomic skills in the business world, because you are going to be putting in extremely long hours at your computer station and when a boss or superior arrives it is always beneficial to have great posture and look your best. Also, good ergonomics can lead to more productivity in the workplace. If people are more relaxed at their cubicles then they will be doing more work rather than taking breaks to stretch, eat or use the bathroom. 

The following links I have provided emphasize the correct computer desk set up to be ergonomically safe. Also, I have provided a link showing the health risks of bad ergonomics.

http://ergonomics.about.com/od/office/ss/computer_setup.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?Health-Risks-Of-A-Non-Ergonomic-Environment&id=667053

Week 2: Clear

Well this week in ISM the clearest topic I learned about was the CPU Storage section. As a avid gamer, I learned at a young age how to increase my computers performance through its storage. Upgrading and installing extra sticks of RAM (Random Access Memory) is extremely critical in improving your systems speed. It is also better to install more RAM rather than let the memory be stored on your hard drive (Virtual Memory) which can dramatically slow down your access time and increase your latency, which in game can cause you to lag (your game wont buffer as smoothly). 


Also, I learned about the importance of the Solid State Drive. Although it is more expensive than regular hard drives, the benefits accumulated from using this type of drive far surpass those of a normal hard drive. The durability of shock resistance, environmental efficiency, and the fact of it being cooler, quieter and faster all make the small increase in price worthwhile. Also, when entering the business environment the last thing you want to happen is to be doing a HUGE presentation to seal a deal, and your powerpoint freeze up or your computer crash because its running to many applications with not enough RAM. A lack of memory and a computer malfunction can be a deal breaker in the business world where time is money.


The lectures were very informational and once I printed out the slides the sections were a breeze. Although, I did take some additional notes, the basic topics were not confusing and the professor did an extraordinary job at explaining them. 


The following link helps to clarify why RAM is important in the business environment.


http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how-to/build-pc/1278856

My Avatar

I created my first avatar this week on Doppelme.com. It was extremely easy to do and took all of ten minutes to complete. Also, after you create your avatar the website ask if you would like to join to get more choices and customizations for you avatar. It was actually quite fun going through all of the different looks and hairstyles.

Week 1: Muddy

During the first chaotic week of school things can easily become lost or forgotten. With classes being changed, a new online website to explore and memorize, and the back to school rush I became extremely confused with the blogging. I had no idea how to create, customize, or write a blog. I didn't even know what we were suppose to write about! I was on the verge of breaking my computer.


At first I could not find the blog website on my mac, and then once I got there I didn't have a clue what to do, I have never "blogged" in my life. So, after getting lost on the e-learning site multiple times and finally arriving in the blog instructions section, I found myself still completely disoriented. Eventually, once I read through the instructions and visited the complimentary blogging background websites I was a little more confident. However, if it wasn't for the help discussion board I would have never been successful.

It was comforting to know that I wasn't the only person stranded without any knowledge of what to do. The instructors quick reply post were also an important factor in clearing up the murky blogging conundrum. After the initial logging into the website, submitting my URL, and establishing my blog, running the website was a piece of cake.

My helpful tips for not getting lost blogging are:

• Always read the instructions first, print if you need.
• Head to the discussion board, your not the only one lost.
• If you get stressed, take a break and come back your probably overlooking something and being stressed isn't helping you find it.