Class on 11-19-08

I wanted to get the shell of my website online. Done.

I also wanted a little bit more detail on what Karina, Inna, and I would be doing for our final project. Done.

Everything else: up in the air. Details to come.

Webinars!

The VrOOM software that we used this week added a little bit to my frustration level. It was software that I didn't understand, and the results didn't work as I expected.
I had a very difficult time hearing what I was supposed to be doing, and I didn't know if that was due to my inexperience with the software or a problem with my computer. We eventually got it working and accomplished our task, but I couldn't help but notice the metaphorical bad taste it left in my mouth. I think the biggest problem I had with it was the sheer amount of options and tweaks you could use with the software. Sure, it's great having powerful software, but at what point do you stop sacrificing usability and consistency for features?

:: sigh :: I would be a terrible software designer.

Week Ten Class

I really like Dr Bibbe's presentation, but I think it would have been much more effective if he had given it when we were first introduced to using a wiki. For lack of a better word, it felt very random to have a presentation on something we focused on almost 2 months ago.
Timing aside, however, I enjoyed what he had to say about using a wiki in class. It was obvious that he had a very solid technological background, but he kept everything at a level that the students could easily understand.

Moving on to hot potatoes. I'm not a visually creative person, at least in a very literal sense. I can't take a goal and turn that goal into a visually creative outcome. I have a difficult enough time knowing where my shoes go inside my closet, so using a suite of software designed specifically for visual manifestation of concepts is still a little hard for me to swallow. This is, however, not a shortcoming of the software itself, but rather a personal shortcoming that I will need to work on.

Reaction to tele and video conferencing

Sometimes when I'm out in public with my friends, we will pass a group of people speaking other languages. I'm often asked if I can understand what they're saying and generally, the answer is "no". My friends are usually surprised at this, since my Bachelor's degree is in Spanish. At this point, I have to make a very clear point to them: I can speak and understand Spanish very well and very easily, IF I'm involved in an actual interaction. When somebody is standing right in front of me, expecting me to understand what they're saying to me, I do. When I'm passing a group of people, there's no expectation and there is no pressure on me to grasp what they're saying. You could say that there is nothing to keep me focused.

Along those same lines, I noticed that the same thing happens while I'm engaged in a video lecture. Even though there is technically a live person "in front" of me, it feels too much like I'm watching TV and my attention wanders. I liked it better with the video feed, even though I felt like a jerk walking in fifteen minutes late because I missed the bus.

The audio-only presentation was near impossible for me to retain. There was little for me to focus on, save for the audio itself, so I didn't get much out of it. Perhaps if I were more accustomed to that type of learning I wouldn't have such trouble with it, but for now, I prefer live, face-to-face instruction.

Happy Election Day

Success is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory

As he defeated — dying —
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

Copyright (readings for week ten)

The issue of copyright is HOTLY debated in the nerd/hacker/pirate community. In my experience, I've run across all types of copyright issues, both legal and ethical, and it's very hard to know where the line is.

My first computer, an IBM PS/2 given to me back in 1997 had DOS running on it. For those of you who don't know but care enough to wonder, DOS is what Windows is based on. The only difference is that DOS doesn't have any sort of Graphical User Interface, or GUI. Instead, the user has to type commands to make the computer do anything.

As you can imagine, this was unacceptable to an impatient pre-teen like me. I wanted it to work by itself, without the need to have me type commands. I wanted Windows. My neighbor happened to share my enthusiasm for computers with me, and he lent me his copy of Windows 3.1. It was spread across 13 floppy disks, but it was Windows and it was free. I installed it without a second thought, and thus began my pirated computing career.

When I first started downloading "free" music back in 2000, it never even occurred to me that what I was doing could be considered stealing. Even after my dad explained it to me, I still felt that what I was doing was not wrong. I felt that I had been provided with a solution to a flawed industry. When I was in high school, a movie would get released to the theater, play for maybe a month, and then it would disappear for a year or more until it was released on videotape or DVD.

"Why," I thought, "would an industry do something so stupid? Why make us wait over a year to see the movie in our own homes? Why punish us instead of embracing us when we find a way to do it without your help?"

This mindset carries over very well into the music realm as well. I think it's ridiculous that companies will sell us a song with Digital Rights Management (DRM) attached to it so that we can only listen to it on one computer, but not on a CD or portable music player. Additionally, if my computer breaks and I get a new one, the DRM restrictions prevent me from listening to the song that I OWN on my new computer! I think the copyright law in the US needs a lot of change.

Week Eight Readings

In the nerd world, there are two definitions for the word "free". When someone refers to free software, they generally follow it with one of the two definitions:

Free as in Freedom: This means that the software is free to distribute, change, modify, destroy, whatever. You have complete freedom over what you do with it, and who you give it to. Additionally, the author(s) encourage users to veiw the source code of the software and modify/enhance it and share the changes with the world. The legal license associated with software that is free (as in freedom) is called the GPL (General Public License) and states that the software can never be restricted.

Free as in Beer: No doubt started by rowdy college programming students, software that is free as in beer does not cost anything, but does not have the same liberties associated with it as free as in freedom software. The name comes from college parties where people generally drink other people's beer for free.

Many of you have used software that is free (as in freedom) and may be unaware of it. Firefox is by far the most common example. Many browsers share the source code of Firefox, and Firefox itself uses the same source code as Netscape. This goes to show that you don't need to charge money to make some famous software.

Being a Norwegian Lutheran, I will not spend money on ANYTHING unless I absolutely have to. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed this chapter. Even if I were more prone (or proner, if you want to use some bad English) to spending money, the chapter would still be relevant because all of the activites we've done in class so far have been free. Free as in beer. A few exceptions have been using NVU and Kompozer, which are both free (as in freedom) since they share the same source code. In class, I love using free software and doing free activities because it eliminates the income barrier that many students encounter.

I like Szendeffy's idea of E-Postcards, since getting personal letters (electronic or otherwise) is always a plus for students, but I REALLY enjoy blogging. Blogging is almost always free (as in beer) and it gives students a very powerful writing tool. I like it more than ink-and-paper journalling because of the cost, and the fact that you can share your thoughts with the world without having to make many different copies.