Manon’s Blog

So this past week we have really been working on our advisors site. There is not much else that I have focused on besides making the site as user friendly as possible.

One important aspect to creating a popular site, however, is increasing the internet community on the website. I may sound strange, but interactions between a internet users is very important. By allowing communication lines to open, a reader may feel more “at home” per say on the website. The users will then have a say in what they are seeing or reading, making the site much more user friendly, a key aspect of a successful website.

This week we learned about one more way to making our site more user friendly. We went to the www.polldaddy.com website to create polls and surveys for any viewers to fill out. We could make the poll or survey about any topic. The type of response method (multiple choice, ranking . . .), choices themselves, and skin of the poll or survey was completely determined by us, the creators of the website.

Personally I found this website to be very amusing, by creating a poll I could find out if people online had similar interests as myself and perhaps learn some new activities or hobbies.

In other words, the creation of a poll or survey directly linked me to my viewers. Now I could see what might interest my audience and how I could improve my website.

So, I’ve barely had any time to work on my website this week. . . I know, what a disappointment. However, the one day I did do something, it was with Google Calendar. I’ve got to admit I’m not to much of a calendar girl, I prefer to forget what day it is. However, by embedding Google calendar onto my website I can keep track of any activities I need to do in my daily life, or what to do to make my website better.

The google calendar can be categorized/color coded to make all appointments or reminders easier to view and read. By having these reminders, you are sure not to forget an assignment for class or an important date for school or work. The best part is that the google calendar was easy to use.

In the future, I will know an effective way to keep track of everything I do. Perhaps the calendar will take away some of the stress I often experience. With college nearing, any way  I can become more organized will only be beneficial.

This week was all about learning how to make our profiles more attractive to the public. Though looks may not be everything, understanding the importance of aesthetically pleasing appearances is esssential.

However, creating a unique, yet attractive page is not simple. Sometimes it is necessary to add a personal touch to show a little bit about who you are as an individual. There are many ways to express this. In class this week, we learned about how to create a picture in paint and then add it in the sidebar of our blog.

I chose to draw a rose, as can now be seen in the side of my profile. Though there is no specific reasoning behind the rose, I always find myself drawing them. Therefore, I attempted to draw one for my blog. Personally, I am impressed that I could draw anything in paint, so that’s why I kept the rose.

O and just to keep up, I have also begun working on my project for Mr. Vitelli. He has been very excited about the idea and has often confronted me to discuss its advancement.

***THIS POST WAS SAVED AND NOT PUBLISHED THEREFORE THE DATE IS INACCURATE.

The time has finally come to commence my work on the Foran Athletics website. So far I have only created an agenda on what I must do to make my website a success. Below are a few of the ideas I have to make the website informative and understandable by all.

1. Creating an Athletics Calendar
2. Uploading information on each of the sports teams.
3. Writing all the past and current successes of the Athletics department.
4. Having a photos section to show the teams.
5. Contact information for any question on the athletics department.

Though only five solid points are what I plan on focusing on at this moment, with the help of my Athletic Director, Mr. Anthony Vitelli, I plan on making the website more in depth and interesting. At this point, the website still has a lot further to go and I am awaiting the response of my AD to help further work on the website.

Most importantly, however, I feel the need to explain why I chose to help out the athletics department. I realize that helping a teacher may be more beneficial and educational, but sports are a large part of high school and they seem to have been put to the side at my high school. Sports bring confidence and enjoyment to almost all athletes. They present an opportunity for a student to always challenge themselves, though not always mentally, but physically as well. However, sports are also about realizing that though helping yourself is important, it is important to never forget the importance of a team. Alone, not as much can be achieved and surely not conquered. Yet, the inspiration a team carries with it is also contagious. The more successful a team is, the more school spirit that comes along with it.

My goal for this website is to help encourage students to participate or support the athletics teams. Hopefully, my website will be a great help to Mr. Vitelli.

As time continues, I am starting to realize that my knowledge of the internet has greatly grown. I feel a lot more comfortable with the blog than when I first started. The addition of small details to my blog has personalized the blog to reflect me. The past week was all about the voki.

Before this past week I had never heard of a voki. To be honest, I probably would have guessed it was a type of toy maybe made by Apple since they seem to love unique names. Yet, the voki turned out to be a very valuable tool for my website. Just as I would in real life greet a customer (which I am constantly doing at work), my voki character greets anyone who enters my blog. My favorite part, however, is that I could make the voki into whatever I wanted. As a blond myself, I found a blond character and added small details I felt made her more attractive. After all, appearance, as I have learned, is very important on a website.

Personally I’ve always enjoyed British accents. With the help of the Voki site, my character was able to gain the British accent! I must admit, I greatly enjoyed that aspect of the voki.

Yet beauty wasn’t everything this week. I also spent time discussing the negative uses of the internet in class. Certain people have begun abusing the internet for purposes that are not beneficial to all. Unfortunately I am scared to say that the actions of these few people may hurt the average user as well. If violence is spread throughout the internet, some users may find that their internet usage may become limited. Though not practical, necessity overrules practicality. Please remember to stay safe on the internet! Having the internet is a privelage and it should not be abused.

These past few weeks have all been about understanding the true value of blogging. I mean, I’m not going to lie, blogging has never been something I ever imagined myself doing.  Perhaps I resembled the man below.

I found this picture to be very appropriate at the moment since I am reading Hamlet in English Class at the moment. I realize that I too must, like Hamlet did, get through my main struggle. I must not worry about being too open and just sharing what I think others may enjoy as well, just like this cartoon.

Before I begin my reflection on the course thus far, I wanted to quickly mention that lately my blog has had a few problems. At times my blog cannot upload and a message appears stating that there has been an error and to try again later. I am in the process of trying to fix this and I hope that soon there will be no more problems. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

On a more positive note, this week I completed working on my group tutorial! My group (Matt M and Brandon L) and I explained how to create a graph using Microsoft Excel. Originally Matt had recorded the tutorial, but due to some minor complications at the start of the video we had to rerecord the tutorial. In the end my voice was used. I know I have a rather soft voice so I hope it will appeal to any of our tutorial users.

The process of creating the tutorial was fairly fun. It was nice to work with other classmates on a project. Using all of our background knowledge on Excel made the tutorial even easier to understand. Though some days people in my group were missing we managed to create an informative tutorial.

I look forward to any future group work. Group projects not only create a more up-beat and lively atmosphere, but allow me to get to know some people better.

These recent days class has been about learning to create the tutorial. When you are teaching someone something new, though words can be very beneficial, visual presentations are much more alluring. Many people find visual displays are more memorable and therefore effective. Using such logic, my group and I realized that we must use some sort of visual, video display.

Microsoft Encoder has the ability to memorize and then display all that one does on the computer. It follows every movement of the mouse making it possible to show exactly where to click and what to type. Furthermore, the program can record sound while you move your mouse around. The sound clip and video clip will therefore automatically be saved together making the process simple and effective.

Matt, Brandon and I plan on using the Microsoft Encoder to create our Microsoft Excel tutorial. The encoder will make the data entry and graph creation process simple to understand and use. The tutorial user will also be able to see how a graph made on Excel actually looks to see if it fits what they need. Since Excel is used to create a visual product, a visual tutorial is very beneficial. As we continue to make our tutorial I look forward to perfect my Encoder using abilities. I know that I will be able to use this program in the future.

For further information on the Excel Tutorial, my group members also have corresponding sites.

Matt M

Brandon L

This week was all about getting in touch with our wiki. Like the sound of the word itself, wikis are fun to talk about and work on. My group and I were successfully able to add multiple links to the wiki to share extra information on our webpage. My group is comprised of Matt, Brandon and myself. We plan on making a tutorial on powerpoint presentations in hope to aid Mrs. Lavery and her classes. With the aid of the newly discovered wiki this should be possible!

Once again, this week was focused on working on my websites. I have officially began working on it. I know what questions to as Mr. Vitelli and I can see where the project is headed. I want to be able to display the great feats our athletic department in general has accomplished and would like to gain support for it. Since athletics are so important to me, I feel that it can only benefit others. In a time when the board of education has begun focusing on the health of its students, I feel it is the opportune moment to display the need for more focus on athletics. I can only hope that my project will be beneficial to Mr. Vitelli.