Oh Clarence...

My picture is about the confrontation of the individual and reality. It encourages accepting yourself for who you are as unique amongst the majority, and to not fear the differences.

snaps.

Academic credibility...say wha?

Tuesday, 8:30 A.M., Sleep deprived college students. Go.

Chris Nolan, a Trinity University Librarian came into our CSCI class to preach the power of website evaluation. He showed us just how easy it is to find credible scholarly sources on public search engines like my old pal Google. Though we've been close friends for what seems like a decade...or actually a decade, I found out through Mr. Nolan that Google has a smart twin, Google Scholar. The website searches for specifically peer evaluated articles from venerated journals and such, making research a little bit less hectic when trying to find sources at 3 A.M. without caffeine. Even more surprising are the capabilities of Google's cyber twin and its connection to local research networks, including Trinity Library! I can now look up an article online and then see if Trinity has it in stock! I also didn't know prior to the info session what the "cached" link was beneath every Google search result (displays a screen shot of what the webpage looked like the last time Google indexed it) or that when typing in the search bar you can specify the type of domain or even what country you'd like information from, and all you need is a colon. I plan on using Google Scholar the next time I write a paper, it's legit.

Transformed Photos: More Than Meets The Eye

I chose to evaluate the above photo of Clement Hurd, the illustrator of the beloved children's book Goodnight Moon. When the book was originally published in 1947, Hurd had a cigarette in his raised right hand, the photo was edited when the publishing company, HarperCollins, republished the book in 2005. Their reasoning for such alteration was for the harmful influence it could have on young children to see an adult in the children's book industry smoking, essentially to promote lung health. Though HarperCollins may have doctored the photo in more ways than one,

I don't see it as harmful or helpful, mostly because children don't generally look to the personal habits of children's book illustrators of the past for life lessons. Oh, and it makes him look like he's trying to impersonate Marlon Brando in The Godfather.

CSCI:CLT (and other acronyms)

Previously on CSCI,

The class was given a tour of the AT&T Center for Learning Technology, guided by Robert Chapman. Nothing too dramatic, definitely interesting.

The CLT is home to many computers, of both the PC and Mac varieties, allowing users of opposite technology styles to become apt in Apple and proficient at PC. However, it is the software available to the student body that was previously unbeknownst to me that was most shocking...they have everything. If ever I need to edit a photo, video, or music, or pretty much anything my little heart desires, the CLT is the place to be. Before our formal introduction, I had taken quick glances in awe and wonder on my way to hole up for exam study sessions on the first floor, but never before did I know its capabilities! I plan on becoming a regular in the CLT, my Mac skills are lacking and I have a yearnin' for some learnin'...too much?

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Copyright

People don't like to be copied, we seem to have an imagined grandeur in our head that everything we create is entirely original and because of that, we are unique. Yet, our uniqueness truly isn't all that original, we tend to...borrow. For instance, my previous blog entries are examples of my self-proclaimed originality, but their very existence prevents them from being unique. There are an endless supply of bloggers on the internet who display the same type of sass, and inevitably someone also used Webster's format to define themselves. This isn't to sound pessimistic, as we are all entirely different combinations of a lot of different experiences but also a lot of shared sources. Though for the most part unintentional, we can't help but copycat. Enter legal system.

Copyright was first created to enforce individual rights, the idea being that larger quantities of ideas would disseminate because persons felt secure knowing that their intellectual property would be just that, theirs. Cultural development ensued and the world was better for it...in 1790. Nowadays, it has become supremely difficult to create much of anything as there is a vast amount of copyright red tape inhibiting growth and change, a lot of which covers really common ideas. Musicians often are confronted by this, as there are only so many chord progressions within the musical realm, and so many protected by law from use without payment first. Though the Fair Use Provision act has allowed many to overcome this difficulty, many still struggle in achieving self expression, persecuted by a lower case letter C. I think that through the creation of new regulations such as Creative Commons, we can once again become a developmental society, not worrying about impinging or infringing but just creating.

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Copyright by Moira Allen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

wordle

Yay Wordle!

My Trinity Network Diagram

Though one may think a tour involving staring at stacks and stacks of computer equipment is boring, the CSCI tour of Trinity's Server room was quite a trip...I found out how copper wiring and glass tubes allow me to update my Facebook status. In all seriousness, the tour was very informational and gave me insight into the complexities of modernity. Plus, being surrounded by all the technological machinery made me feel like I was on a space shuttle...or in the Bat Cave. Essentially, the tour was great because it made me feel like Batman in space. Grand success I'd say.