Last Blog Post for Class

Will I continue to post to the blog after class is over? I don't know, maybe. I like the idea of blogging, yet I haven't really embraced it completely. To keep the subject matter school and computer industry related was fine, but I haven't decided to blog entertaining and academic posts worthy of views by many.

That would take a commitment of time I haven't accepted, yet. It would also take courage on my part, to post my interests, opinions, and views, that could be revealing and may or may not be agreeable to a potential employer. Which subjects I comment on and how much to comment is still to confusing to me. Current events and politics, for example, can be very intriguing, but also can be very polarizing.

Although I am passionate about news in general, I wouldn't want to alienate or discourage any potential employers or contacts, by expressing views which could potentially be held against me. So until I decide to become a hack political commentator, my posts will mostly be about easier, more mundane subjects. Maybe games, music, travel, etc. I certainly like the journalism aspect of blogging and will be proud to continue blogging.

Catching Up

So Thanksgiving was great. Eight hour drive to Rochester, only six hours drive on the way back. Skipped Black Friday. Missed Cyber Monday. Tuesday is back to normal as usual with my blog post.

Flash websites. Some are pretty cool. They seem to be better suited for less business-transaction oriented websites, though I could be mistaken. I'm curious to see if more creative flash type websites become fast enough to be practical and useful. In the meantime less is more.

Wikipedia is my new best friend. All though we were well acquainted, since I am now a contributor to Wikipedia we have been spending a lot of time together lately. Wikipedia has been a little fussy with all the formatting to create new articles, but I'm sure we will work things out. Strict adherence to Wikipedia guidelines has been the challenge to figure out.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, it's been a good week. I've decided to spend more time investigating career opportunities in the digital signage industry. Digital signs with open networks can have content updated over the Internet and with RSS feeds. The way for digital signs to be successful is good content design. I'm not sure if the content designers and artists get paid well, but it's definitely worth looking into this ever growing industry. The Digital Sign Expo is at the Las Vegas Convention Center February 24-25, 2010.

POPAI (Point of Purchase Advertising International) standardized Screen-Media Formats for digital signs in March 2009. Digital signs have also been intergrated with IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). Pretty cool!

Strong Midterm

Last week's midterm tests and projects went well. After a little time off now it's time to get back to business.

I recently discovered the website FORA.tv, which is one of the most impressive websites I have seen. It features all types of videos and articles by proffessionals in communications, business, design, and so many other relevant topics. Pretty cool! Metafilter.com seems pretty cool, too. It's a very organized community weblog with some interesting topics.

Almost Midterm

The Flash Mob posting on the forum was interesting. I like the aspects of flash mob such as communicating and organizing through the Internet. The Internet is a fantastic tool for communicating with people in so many different ways.

I'm excited about the Wikipedia project, now that I have finally settled on a good topic. The Webquest project is coming along well. I'll have some time to spend with the Internet Technologies book tonight.

Design Essentials is a great class. I have had to create new designs every week and have really enjoyed it.

It looks like ICANN is ready to approve international domains, according to Patricia Resende at News Factor.com. Supposedly ICANN will be approving non-latin domain names and will have country code names in Chinese, Korean, and Arabic.

Projects Galore

The Webquest project is going to be great. I'm excited to present basic computer, Internet , and network information with multi-media. The Wikipedia project will also be fun. I can't wait to get started, but I need to finish the Webquest project first.

With projects in all of five my classes, my schedule has been strictly school work. Rarely do I have time for anything else. Sleeping less has helped manage my time better, but I still try to nap or sleep a little longer. I have really been enjoying the challenge of the New England Institute of Art. I'm learning so much. It's hard, but has been definitely been worth it.

I upgraded the RAM in my G5 and now I have 1.5 Gigs, so I can run the new Adobe programs now. I went to Microcenter in Cambridge and wish I could have spent some more money. Microcenter rules!

The Internet Technologies book is OK. It is very informative and covers all the basics thoroughly, but is a little tedious with the most basic instructions which is usually very obvious. I'm looking forward to catching up with the reading. I'm particularly excited about reading all the terms and definitions of computers, networks, and Internet technologies.

Until next week when I'm have an update for all my projects! Flash, Illustrator, In Design, is penciled in my calendar everyday.

Catching Up....Sort of

This week I've had some time to catch up with some projects, homework, and classes. I'm desperate to write about learning something in the Internet Technologies class. I did learn that I need to spend some more time studying my notes from class and the book. Too many questions were hard for me during Jeopardy! I would like to a be a little more fluent with the facts and terminology we have learned so far.

I have also learned that the Webquest projecting is haunting me and giving me nightmares. I said I was going to do it in Flash, but I'm thinking I may have to use PowerPoint. Flash would be nice, but if PowerPoint gets the job done, so be it. Just trying to be realistic. I'm planning on spending time with the Internet Technologies book and the Webquest tonight.

In my Design Essentials class this week I've read chapters on Texture, Color, and Using Color. I've also created a drawing of a basketball, very detailed to show texture.

I've also compiled my essential notes for Geometry into one "Geometry - Quick Guide", which will help me keep up with the everything we have learned so far. With this guide I think I'm starting to understand the subject a little more. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish my homework tonight with 100% correct. Wish me luck!

More of the Same

This week has been challenging, due to a very full schedule. It was interesting to see a video in the Internet Technologies class called Cyber War. It's unfortunate that war is so prevalent on this planet. It's in the media everyday. 'Cyber War' is specific to warfare on the Internet. As humans we could hope to have a place with no war and the Internet seemed an ideal utopia with free exchange of ideas, but humans are waging war there, too.

I went to New York City this weekend, so that was cool. My girlfriend had a nice room at the Hilton on 6th Ave. and 53rd St., and she invited me to stay for the weekend. I'm from New Jersey originally and I had worked in Manhattan for almost four years, so it was nice to hang out in some of my favorite areas. I must have walked five miles, so I had some good exercise. I shopped a little on 8th St. by 6th Ave, saw my friend who lives in the East Village, and had a wonderful dinner with my girlfriend at an excellent Indian restaurant called Dawat on 58th St. between 2nd and 3rd Ave.

I drove the rental car down to New York from Boston Friday morning and drove back on Sunday afternoon, so I'm a little tired, but it was worth it. I didn't study as much as would have liked, but I'm feeling very relaxed now and will get a lot of homework accomplished this week. It's important to have a little break from working hard all the time!

Pouring Information

Greetings. I'm pouring information into my brain this week. I think it's overflowing. I'll just keep pouring though. Between all my classes I've had nine chapters of reading to do, plus a few assignments.

I finally spent time reading the Internet Technologies book and I have to say I like it so far. I thought the first chapter featuring the basics of the Internet was informative and helpful. I appreciate learning everything I possibly can about the Internet and this book covers a lot. I have mixed feelings about the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox portion, because it seems very familiar. I am confident the rest of the book will continue to impress me. I'm looking forward to chapter two, which I plan on completing before class on Wednesday afternoon.

I was happy to learn about TLDs (top level domains) and URLs (uniform resource locators) in Tutorial 1, Browser Basics. After looking at URLs for so long and not knowing what they really are, it's a great revelation to understand them properly. I also thought the relationship between ICANN and TLDs was interesting. Learning about the relationship between IP addresses and Domain Names was great, too. I guess all this will fit together and make sense as a whole someday.

I broke my hand in the beginning of July and it's been healing pretty well. I thought I would test it today and tried to shoot a few jump shots at the basketball court at the local YMCA. I heard my wrist make some cracking and popping sounds when I was shooting jump shots. Those troubling noises along with a little pain was enough to make me stop immediately. It still feels a little sore. I'm hoping I'll only have to wait one or two more months before I can play basketball again. We'll see. I just want it to heal properly.

Internet Technologies / Design Essentials / Geometry / Image Design

I'm looking forward to learning more in the Internet Technologies class. I know I will feel more comfortable posting to my blog. I've been thinking about a few specialized topics to post about, but that will be a secret until the time is right. I have enough homework to keep me busy and I have taken on an extracurricular project, which I may reveal in a few weeks when the project's focus is more organized.

I'm trying to keep up to date on Internet Technologies and New Media. It's interesting to see some talk about federal regulations for telecommunication companies which would mandate every Internet user be allowed an equal share of bandwidth, regardless if they are extreme downloaders, file sharers, bandwidth hogs, etc. For example: currently Comcast will limit your bandwidth if you utilize to much causing a strain on the network. Supposedly Silicon Valley companies are in favor of the regulation and telecommunication companies are not. I've seen reports that President Obama is open to this regulation, but there is no clear winner yet.

My Design Essentials class has a great teacher and we are using a great book to learn from; Design Fundamentals for New Media by James Gordon Bennett. The writing and focus is pretty strong, and the graphics are outstanding. I see this class being a great benefit to my education.

I'm starting to get my feet wet with Geometry and I'm actually enjoying it. I've only started looking at the first chapter of our book, but so far so good! In addition to our Geometry text book our teacher has recommended an outstanding book called Squaring the Circle: Geometry in Art and Architecture by Paul A. Calter. This book is fascinating to me, featuring all kinds of cool designs like cubes, fractals, pointed arches...I know I will enjoy it.

Image Design has been keeping me busy with in depth Photoshop instruction and a photomontage project. I'm learning a lot from a great teacher and lots of my own hard work. I have some strong ideas for my project and will post updates as it moves along.

I'm looking forward to working with the website aspects of the Internet Technologies. I have a few ideas so hopefully this will help them to fruition.

1st Week of School Round Up

Greetings All!

It's been a great start for the fall semester. I have some great teachers and classes. Marlyn has been excellent in the Internet Technologies class. I am already feeling more comfortable using forums and have started this blog with her guidance.