My Little Photo that Lies

"I certainly did something wrong,
but I don't think I was alone in the whole thing," she says,
adding that it was not her intent to deceive.
"I was trying to present it even better."
-Kristin Roovers

In Jeffrey Young's article, "Journals Find Many Images in Research Are Faked," Ms. Roovers is quoted (shown above) where she attempts to justify the manipulation of one of the images from her research. Although she admits to altering the image, she does not hesitate in mentioning the involvement of others. However, that does not exempt her from the fact that she knew manipulating the image was wrong, but did it regardless. What good does it do to "present it even better" if the outcome nearly ended your career?

Furthermore, the idea that Ms. Roovers "little stunt" postponed what could have been a breakthrough in the research of cell growth in diabetes angers me. My roommate/best friend is diabetic, and I see first hand how much of a struggle it can be.

Presenting something in a way unlike its true form is deception, regardless of intent.

Here is my photo that lies:

I chose a photograph of Hitler, because I am thoroughly interested in how photo alterations played a great role in our history. I was not aware of how many famous photographs actually have been altered. Also because I wanted to make fun of Hitler. Before I began searching for an image, I knew I wanted it to be Hitler making some sort of speech because I wanted his mouth open for the kitty-eating. Google helped me located just what I needed!

I used the magic lasso on Photo-shop to place the kitty on his hand. The kitty image was actually in color and larger, so I had to decrease its size, and convert it to black and white. I played around with the hue/saturation and brightness/contrast tools until I found a happy medium. I had to use the "healing brush" and "smudge tool" to blend the kitty into the Hitler image. In order to obtain some of the grain that was in the original photograph, I had to use one of the grain filters on my kitty layer. Lastly, I used the smart brush tool and applied the "yellow photo" application and then played with the hue/saturation tools again.

I manipulated this photo of Hitler because most of the photo altering of world leaders is never really nice. I wanted to poke fun at someone who actually deserves it. Although I am against photo manipulation when it is more than just touching up blemishes on my senior pictures, for example, I do not think it was harmful in this case. No kittens were harmed in the process, and there have been worse things said about Hitler. That is my story and I am sticking to it!



Works Cited:

Young, Jeffrey R. "Journals Find Many Images in Research Are Faked. (Cover story)." Chronicle of Higher Education 54.39 (2008): A1-A11. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 11 Nov. 2009.

PowerPoint Presentations

In class today we presented on of a concept in an area of major academic interest. Twelve of us presented and I must say I was thoroughly impressed by all of them! No two presentations were the same, and each contained different designs that effectively communicated their concept.

Chelsey Farmer's presentation "Commercial Real Estate Broker" proved to be one of my favorites. It was very informative, yet informal which eased into an understanding.The overall design was consistent and simple. Chelsey's use of the color red created a warm tone which added a sense of friendliness. I also learned what it actually means to be a "broker" and was thoroughly impressed by his desire to reform its negative stereotype.

Aaron Bishop's presentation on "Preserving National Parks" was beautiful! The overall design contained breath-taking images which definitely made me want to go out and preserve parks. I really liked the custom animation on the "Problem" slide.

I can't wait to see the rest of the presentations this coming Thursday! I have learned many new things about my classmates :)

Five Guidlines for Power Point Presentations

Power Points can be used for good or bad. Choose wisely! From the resources provided by Professor Belisle in the CS1300 class, I have gathered some of my favorite tips for good presentations:

1. Avoid text heavy slides. If my professor were to use power point and pack as much information as he can on one slide, either my hand would fall off from trying to write it all down, and/or my mind drifts off into a land of puppies and candy canes.

2. Use the slides to reinforce your words, not repeat them. Again, same professor, if he were to put his entire lecture on the power point, I just might copy down the information and call it a day. It would be a waste of my time and his.

3. Use graphic images, not clip art. Although I have always been a fan of the corny clip art, it is 2009. Let's use graphic images!

4. Limit use of transitional effects. I actually had not realized how distracting the different types of slide transitions are. Looking back, I can see how much better it would be to limit such effects.

5. Use readable fonts. I realize how tempting it is to use all the cool fonts available, but have mercy on your audience. Choose a simple font that can be read from the back of a room.


After reading these tips, I hope you feel a bit more comfortable in creating your very own, innovative power point!

The Wonders of the Center for Learning Technology of Trinity

Today we had the opportunity to go on a "field trip" to the CLT lab in the first floor of the library. Robert Chapman, who is the Instructional Support Manager of CLT, spoke to us about the various tools and resources CLT provides to aid Trinity faculty and students. CLT stands for the Center for Learning Technology, and it is funded by both the university and a grant from AT&T. This center further demonstrates all of the wonderful things Trinity provides us, but for some reason, remains unknown to a number of students.

Mr. Chapman explained to us how part of his job is to train faculty on how to use and implement the new technology provided by CLT into their classes. This occurs in the Innovation Studio which is a room specifically designed for such learning. An example of the software taught to faculty and staff include, but is not limited to, one for course management such as TLEARN. A fun fact that I learned is that CLT designs, builds, and supports the general technology that is found in all of classrooms across campus! As a tip, if you were to ever run into problems with the technology in the classrooms, call CLT not ITS (they focus on the connection between the servers and computers).

CLT focuses on the technology which can be used for various academic and even personal projects (charged for after a certain extent). You can check out video cameras, digital camera, mp3 recording devices, and etc. to use for those assignments which require specific technology. Not only can you use those devices, but CLT also provides a computer lab with both Macintosh and Windows computers that have the latest in multimedia editing software. You can edit the media that you were able to obtain from those devices (or even your own). I was very excited to learn that CLT also has the technology that would allow me to make copies of an audition recorded on camera to DVDs. I would be able to send those DVDs to various theater programs. I also learned that they have the technology to transfer media on VHS and video cassettes onto DVDs, for a fee of course, but still that is really neat! My family has all this home video footage that should be transferred so we can enjoy them! I am definitely going to make sure I make use of the CLT lab soon because this is a wonderful opportunity I cannot miss.

Excel: handy for the grown-up world

Excel had always been one of those programs on the Microsoft Office Suite that I never quite understood, nor cared to. However, I am so grateful that in the Computer Skills 1300 class we not only learned how to use Excel, but also how to apply it to real-life situations!

The reason for why I am so great is because, last summer, I started working for the Civilian Personnel Office at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene. I worked as an office clerk and performed an array of tasks ranging from filing documents,answering the telephones, and typing up letters,etc. One day, my boss needed some data presented on an Excel worksheet. I figured I could get it done with no problem. I have never been so wrong. I absolutely hated that task because I could not figure out Excel and something so simple was taking me forever. Thanks be to God because I eventually finished, and I also learned a valuable lesson: LEARN EXCEL!

Because of this course, not only do I now know how to format my worksheet using the various themes, but also format the data to show certain conditions. I learned that you can present your data on various charts AND that it changes if you edit the data from which it came from. Furthermore, I was unaware of the dozens of formulas Excel can execute! I really appreciated the fact that we practiced with the formulas that we could actually use as students.

Next summer when I work in Civilian Personnel(God-willing!), I will be able to apply all my knowledge of Excel! I am also going start an Excel workbook to keep track of my financial aid and loans. Hooray for using Excel for personal academic purposes! This is very important, especially now that I want to go to law school after graduation. The "grown-up world" is right upon my doorstep and I need to start preparing.

Chris Nolan and Google

Last week, we had the pleasure of having Trinity librarian Chris Nolan give us a presentation on "Searching the Internet." I must admit that at first I was skeptical at the things I could learn, simply, because I have been using Google for years now. However, Mr. Nolan showed us a more efficient way to find websites appropriate for research and such things to use for papers and projects, etc. He also explained to us the various resources Google provides us and demonstrated how we can use them to our benefit.

For example, under the “advanced search” section, Google gives you different options to narrow your search. For some unknown reason, I did not think Google had such a section, or at least I never came across it until Mr. Nolan demonstrated it during his presentation. He then showed us the different ways we can type in our search using certain symbols to obtain what we need. I learned that using quotation marks around your search means that you want Goggle to find websites with the exact phrase. This is helpful if you are working under a time crunch! Also, you can even search within a site or domain. Which means you can go to narrow your search results to “.gov, .edu, and .org” websites. There are more tips like these that he taught us, and I am so excited to try these out!

One thing that surprised me the most of Mr. Nolan's presentation was the websites he had us find and evaluate their legitimacy. I was shocked to see the Martin Luther King website (an ".org" one at that) which was actually hosted by StormFront, a white supremacist group. I was angered at the content of the website and the fact that Google had it as one of their top results for a search of Martin Luther King. This demonstrates the importance of evaluating websites. Currently, the Internet is our main source of information and we need to take note of where such information came from.

Pictures that Lie: The Altering of History

I chose the Leon Trotsky photo for two reasons: 1) It did not ever occur to me that in the early twenty-first century photographs could be altered. 2) I am a history buff and anything related to the history of communism excites me. The photograph is of Leon Trotsky mingling with other Soviet officials, before, of course, he was exiled from the Soviet Union. After Trotsky's departure, photographs such as this one, were manipulated by "erasing" him out of the pictures and filling in the gaps with color matching the background.



The Soviets manipulated documents,news reports, and books, etc., in order to hide any party dissension or problems from the people. Because of his "treason" to the party, I can only assume they would want to eliminate Leon Trotsky from the history of the USSR. I do believe the manipulation was harmful because, no matter what, history should be presented in an objective and honest manner. I disagree that anyone should have the right to alter history. Because if we do not learn from our mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them!