Many times, I feel like I am required to take classes that seem more or less useless (at the time, anyway). I always wonder how and in what context I'll ever need to know the information...luckily, this was more true in high school and undergrad, though there have certainly been a few grad classes like that as well...
I thought this class was extremely practical, and one of the first that was actually worth the cost of 3 credits. I now feel prepared to create a web page for my own personal endeavors, or for whatever school I work for. The class has given me a whole new skill set, which I think has made me more marketable in the industry. I think I am going to buy a domain name and publish this webpage as my own personal site. I think I'll include this link on my resume, which will not only let prospective employers get a better idea of what I'm about, but might also impress them to know that I created the page myself.
I'm really happy with all I've learned this semester, and I can't wait to apply it to my professional life!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Comments on Classmates' Websites
I looked at everyone's webpage, and a few really stood out to me as really impressive. First was Kristina Walton's. The home page design was very sophisticated and advanced. It seems like she had some prior experience with HTML, because she incorporated elements into the page that we didn't learn in class, like embedded Myspace videos. It looks like she added a background, but had all of her text and embedded videos in a table? When I looked at the source code, I saw she used things like "div" and "sidebar", which were definitely beyond the scope of this class. The page looks great, though, and I hope I can learn to make my page look as fresh and new as hers.
https://files.nyu.edu/kjw298/public/
Kimberly Gower's webpage also caught my eye. It also looks extremely clean and fresh, but is much less complicated in design. I saw her page a few weeks ago and decided to steal a few of her ideas. My home page was very full of information, but I decided to simplify it like hers because it was much more inviting. I like her use of font and color, and her Tech Resources page is very straightforward. Her decision to keep the background black made it very simple, clean and easy to maneuver.
https://files.nyu.edu/kng235/public/
Cynthia Brown's page was also very appealing to me. The homepage was extremely inviting, and her main image is beautiful. She also uses a really nice font throughout her pages. Each page had her own personality in it, which I could tell from her selection of photos and text. I especially loved the photo she chose for the images assignment, because the colors lend themselves well to alteration in Photoshop. Overall, it's a great looking page!
https://files.nyu.edu/crb355/public/index.html
https://files.nyu.edu/kjw298/public/
Kimberly Gower's webpage also caught my eye. It also looks extremely clean and fresh, but is much less complicated in design. I saw her page a few weeks ago and decided to steal a few of her ideas. My home page was very full of information, but I decided to simplify it like hers because it was much more inviting. I like her use of font and color, and her Tech Resources page is very straightforward. Her decision to keep the background black made it very simple, clean and easy to maneuver.
https://files.nyu.edu/kng235/public/
Cynthia Brown's page was also very appealing to me. The homepage was extremely inviting, and her main image is beautiful. She also uses a really nice font throughout her pages. Each page had her own personality in it, which I could tell from her selection of photos and text. I especially loved the photo she chose for the images assignment, because the colors lend themselves well to alteration in Photoshop. Overall, it's a great looking page!
https://files.nyu.edu/crb355/public/index.html
Evaluation of Blackboard
I think Blackboard is an excellent educational tool. Not only does it allow students to have constant access to documents and Powerpoints from class, but it allows a student to catch up quickly if they're absent for class one day. It's also a great communication device, which I've used in two ways: first, the professor or any student in the class can email all students enrolled in the class at once, which is very convenient and efficient. Second, the discussion board is a great tool for students to share their ideas and discuss questions or issues.
Blackboard is far from perfect, though. Personally, I think it takes too many steps to log in to Blackboard. I also think the layout is somewhat inefficient at times. If I do have issues, there is no customer service help; I have to contact NYU itself, which rarely knows how to fix the issue (such as a class not showing up or my login being blocked).
I also think the discussion board is one of the most powerful tools but currently is not used very efficiently. First of all, it's far removed from the Blackboard home screen, and its physical layout is sometimes difficult to maneuver. I also have to manually check it to see if anyone posted anything, or if someone responded to my post. It would be a great addition if they added an email notification feature, so that I'd know immediately if someone responded to my post.
Overall, I think Blackboard is a great tool. But I think since it was invented, technology has increased greatly. I think Blackboard can benefit from looking at some of these technological improvements, and incorporating them into their software.
Blackboard is far from perfect, though. Personally, I think it takes too many steps to log in to Blackboard. I also think the layout is somewhat inefficient at times. If I do have issues, there is no customer service help; I have to contact NYU itself, which rarely knows how to fix the issue (such as a class not showing up or my login being blocked).
I also think the discussion board is one of the most powerful tools but currently is not used very efficiently. First of all, it's far removed from the Blackboard home screen, and its physical layout is sometimes difficult to maneuver. I also have to manually check it to see if anyone posted anything, or if someone responded to my post. It would be a great addition if they added an email notification feature, so that I'd know immediately if someone responded to my post.
Overall, I think Blackboard is a great tool. But I think since it was invented, technology has increased greatly. I think Blackboard can benefit from looking at some of these technological improvements, and incorporating them into their software.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Reflections on the Final Projects
Wow! I was truly blown away by some of the creative ideas and sheer talent of my classmates. I felt really proud of our presentation, and thought it might be one of the best, but I was really surprised. I felt like almost everyone did an excellent job. I thought some of the classmates would have slacked off because of the lack of guidelines in the project, but that absolutely wasn't the case.
I was really impressed by many of the ideas, specifically the use of body parts to lead dance and to augment the use of hand signs when doing solfege in class. The videos were also very clever and interesting. I was especially surprised by Peter's group's project. I knew they were being secretive about the reason they were asking us such odd questions, but I never considered that they'd switch the meaning of our statements. I thought it was kind of funny, but I can see how some might take offense to it. Still, it was a meaningful message: with all the capabilities of technology these days, anything can be altered however the media wants. We saw it done with speech, but it can easily be done with videos and pictures as well. It makes you wonder how much of what you see and hear is really true....
I was really impressed by many of the ideas, specifically the use of body parts to lead dance and to augment the use of hand signs when doing solfege in class. The videos were also very clever and interesting. I was especially surprised by Peter's group's project. I knew they were being secretive about the reason they were asking us such odd questions, but I never considered that they'd switch the meaning of our statements. I thought it was kind of funny, but I can see how some might take offense to it. Still, it was a meaningful message: with all the capabilities of technology these days, anything can be altered however the media wants. We saw it done with speech, but it can easily be done with videos and pictures as well. It makes you wonder how much of what you see and hear is really true....
Final Project Update #2
So I composed a 3-minute composition on Garageband and sent it to the girls. I wrote three different sections that were completely unrelated....I wouldn't quite consider it a great piece of music, but I wanted to give the girls a few different moods to dance with.
We also filmed all the dance numbers by this point. The girls got access to the dance studio and played my composition over the speaker. We used a point-and-shoot camera to film everything, and we started with the group choreographed section. Then, each of the girls got to do their interpretation of the dance in front of the camera once. For some other shots, all three girls danced together at the same time while I walked around with the camera, changing focus between the three of them.
Sabrina did the editing in iMovie, and we realized that because we picked up the camera each time to check the video, the camera angle was slightly different each time, which made the transitions a little rocky. I wanted to add some animated transitions to hide them, but the girls liked the amateur effect, so we kept it.
Sabrina sent the file to me because her old version of iMovie didn't have all the color schemes that I did. So I edited it again, putting the entire thing in vignette, and then switching to B&W when it came to the slow section. At the choreographed scene, I changed to a blurry, somewhat dreamy filter, which mirrored the dreamy feel of the music. I think it looks great, and I can't wait until we present!
We also filmed all the dance numbers by this point. The girls got access to the dance studio and played my composition over the speaker. We used a point-and-shoot camera to film everything, and we started with the group choreographed section. Then, each of the girls got to do their interpretation of the dance in front of the camera once. For some other shots, all three girls danced together at the same time while I walked around with the camera, changing focus between the three of them.
Sabrina did the editing in iMovie, and we realized that because we picked up the camera each time to check the video, the camera angle was slightly different each time, which made the transitions a little rocky. I wanted to add some animated transitions to hide them, but the girls liked the amateur effect, so we kept it.
Sabrina sent the file to me because her old version of iMovie didn't have all the color schemes that I did. So I edited it again, putting the entire thing in vignette, and then switching to B&W when it came to the slow section. At the choreographed scene, I changed to a blurry, somewhat dreamy filter, which mirrored the dreamy feel of the music. I think it looks great, and I can't wait until we present!
Final Project Update
We threw some great ideas around for our final project. I suggested that maybe I should compose something that they dance to, as a very rough idea. I thought composing something using GarageBand exclusively would be an interesting way to show the potential of the software for everyone (even those who have never composed before).
With my GarageBand composition as the basis, we decided to film the three girls in the group doing their own improvised interpretation of my music. We thought we could use iMovie to cut between each interpretation in an interesting way. The girls then had a great idea to have all three of them come together at the end to do a choreographed section. It sort of morphed into this interesting juxtaposition of composition and improvisation, using my composition as the medium. I'm excited to see how it looks once we film everything and get it into iMovie.
With my GarageBand composition as the basis, we decided to film the three girls in the group doing their own improvised interpretation of my music. We thought we could use iMovie to cut between each interpretation in an interesting way. The girls then had a great idea to have all three of them come together at the end to do a choreographed section. It sort of morphed into this interesting juxtaposition of composition and improvisation, using my composition as the medium. I'm excited to see how it looks once we film everything and get it into iMovie.
Mars Group First Meeting
The Mars group met for the first time to discuss potential ideas for the final project. I'm the only music ed major, and there are two dance ed majors and one theater ed major. I think this will be a good experience because our arts concentrations are very well spread across disciplines.
We didn't get very far with any ideas so far, but we seemed to agree that we should probably focus on something involving music and dance - since 3 of the 4 of us dance at at a semi-professional level (myself being the only one who doesn't).
I'm usually cautious about group work because I often end up doing the bulk of the work, but I feel confident that we all will contribute equally to the project.
We didn't get very far with any ideas so far, but we seemed to agree that we should probably focus on something involving music and dance - since 3 of the 4 of us dance at at a semi-professional level (myself being the only one who doesn't).
I'm usually cautious about group work because I often end up doing the bulk of the work, but I feel confident that we all will contribute equally to the project.
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