Culture Poster

Your final project is to design a poster that represents yourself and your culture. This can be your cultural heritage, your interests or both. You will use Adobe Photoshop to create this project, so will need to learn some basic techniques. As we only have five days to work on this, it is CRUCIAL that everyone pays attention to instruction and does not waste time.

Requirements:

• Your name
• Four images
• Size: 8.5 x 11 inches
• Post the image to your blog
  

Due Date: Thursday, June 24

What's you dream job?

With the economy the way it is right now, many people are thankful to have a job at all. But lets dream a little bit. What is your dream job? If you could become anything right now in the blink of an eye, what would it be?

We are going to work backwards here. Once you've thought of you dream job, find a real job description or posting. Find out what kind of experience and education is required. Determine what major you would need to focus on in college (maybe there are a few options) and find two or three schools that have the program you need.

Getting Started:
1. Determine your dream job. Write this in your blog. (If you are really stuck, try this: career exploration guide)
2. Search the web for jobs similar to your dream job.

Try the following sites:
cragslist.org
idealist.org - nonprofit jobs
monster.com
hotjobs.yahoo.com
careerbuilder.com
journalismjobs.com
mandy.com - film and TV

Writing the Blog Entry
Once you have the pieces together, write a blog entry in paragraph form, including the links.

My dream job is to be a radio DJ. I found a job posting on craigslist.org. The job requirements are a BA in Communications or Radio Broadcast, and 2 years of experience. I looked for schools with Radio Broadcast programs and found Emmerson College, Berkeley and Full Sail.

Oil Gyser in the Gulf

If you've been watching the news - or if you're alive at all - you've probably heard of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Find an article about the spill. Using the article, answer the following questions and post a link to the article you used.



1. How big is the spill estimated to be?
2. What company is in charge of cleaning up the spill?
3. What are some of the methods they have tried to stop the "leak".
4. Is there oil on the beaches on the Gulf Coast?
5. How are the surrounding communities affected?
6. Do you think we should allow drilling in our coastal waters.

Design Your Own Custom Sneaker!

The Assignment:

• Use Gourmet Kickz Creator to design your own custom Nike kicks.
• When you're done, save your design and embed it on your blog!
• In a few sentences, describe the user interface (how does it look? how does it work?).
• Tell us what your favorite feature is, and why it made the over all experience better for you.
  

Posting Your Prezi

Our Eco Footprint on Prezi

To post your Prezi slideshow on your blog:

1. Click your Prezi to open
2. In the pop-up window, click "Share" from the left side navigation
   
3. Copy the "embed text"
4. Paste this into your blog post

Once it's posted, you may notice that your Prezi is cropped. To fix this, you need to edit the HTML code.

• In the code, the dimensions of your prezi file are specified: "width=550, height=400"
• Change this to 420 x 305 in each instance.

Boston's Temporary Water Crisis

On Saturday, a pipe burst in Weston, MA, disrupting the clean water supply to Boston and its surrounding communities, forcing residents to boil water or buy bottled water.

Some people found out from police officers with bullhorns, others from phone calls from the city. Many more got the word from online social networks like twitter and facebook.

How did you hear about the water emergency?

How have you and your family been coping with the situation?

10 Ways to Go Green!

Last week was Earth Week, which is filled with activities focused on environmental issues. Were there Earth Week celebrations in your community?

For this activity, we will create animated slideshows offering tips for environmentally friendly living using prezi.com.

1. Take a look at the follwing webpage, which offers 40 tips for "going green".

http://simplemom.net/tips-to-go-green-at-home/

2. Choose ten tips for you slideshow. Make a comment on this post with your list.

3. Find or create an image for each tip. Save in your images folder.

4. Sign up for Prezi and create your show!

April Vacation

Hope you all had a good April break...welcome back! I spent some quality time in upstate NY and Connecticut and enjoyed sleeping in. I'm also looking forward to seeing footage and picture from the New Orleans service trip and black college tour.

For this blog entry, write a paragraph about what you did over the break!

Posting your screenshot

Taking and cropping a screenshot:

1. Press the "Print Screen" Key on your keyboard.
2. Open MS Paint. (Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > Paint)
3. Paste the image. (Edit > Paste, or Ctr + V)
4. There should be a dotted line around the image. If not, press Ctrl + A.
5. Drag the screenshot so that only the content of the website is showing. When done, click on the white area outside the screenshot.
6. Find the bottom right corner of the white space. Click and drag to the edge for the desired area.
7. Save your image!

Posting and linking:

1. Click the image button.
2. Pick a layout option (right, left, center)
3. Browse for the image on your computer.
4. Choose a size. Click Upload.

Linking:

1. In compose mode, click on the image.
2. Click the link button.
3. Paste in the URL. (you will need to copy it from the address bar first)

Homepage Study

Go to your favorite website and take a screenshot (press "print screen" key and then paste into MS Paint). Looking at the screenshot, answer the following questions and post them on your blog.

1. What is the point of this website? How can you tell from the homepage?
2. What is featured on the homepage? Are some features more important than others?
3. What are the different sections of the navigation? Can you tell how the website is organized from the navigation?
4. Who is the target user? Who is most likely to use this website?
5. Describe the overall look & feel of this site (colors, images, vibe)... list descriptive words.

Design Your Own iPhone App

The future is now. The Internet is no longer tied down, it's with us wherever we go, on our phones. More than ever, a phone is a tool, and not for just making calls. It's a camera, a compass, an encyclopedia, cookbook, portable TV or gaming system. There is an "app" for everything. Apps, little programs you can download from various online stores, all solve a specific problem, whether it's getting directions, being entertained or finding the name of that song that's playing in the supermarket.

Take a look at some examples in these lists of top iPhone apps:

Time's Top 10 iPhone Apps

Wired's Coolest iPhone Apps

Mashable Top iPhone Apps

Assignment:

Now that you've seen some of the stuff that's been rolling out, it's time to use your imagination and come up with some cool app ideas of your own. Remember, you don't have to make this work, so the sky's the limit. You can use this template to sketch out your ideas. On the iPhone screen, draw a screenshot of your app. In the lined section below, describe what the app does. You will need to design three apps to complete the assignment.

iPhone App Template

Digital Nation Essay

In the film Digital Nation, the filmmakers look at how digital technology and being wired all the time effects each slice of our population. The film jumped from MIT students to South Korean youth, a middle school in the Bronx to online gamers, corporations to the US Military, where drone pilates can blow up targets thousands of miles away, only to drive home later for dinner with their families.

Now that we've viewed and discussed the film, I want to know where you fit into all of this. What is your relationship with digital technology? How do you use it to interact with other people? Do you feel that it's healthy, unhealthy or somewhere in between?

Write a paragraph in your blog answering the above questions.

Digital Nation

We are watching the PBS documentary Digital Nation in class. There will be a quiz on the film, so if you missed any of it you will want to watch it on your own.

Watch the movie here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/


1. What university is the seeting for the beginning of the film?

2. What Asian country embraced the digital revolution heavily and is now dealing with the fallout?

3. An urban school was featured in the film. Where is the school located, what is the age group, and what are they doing there?

4. What is the name of the virtual world where players can do almost anything you do in real life, as well as fly?

5. A virtual representation of yourself is called a(n) ________.

6. How is the military using digital technology?

Power Point

Black History Power Point

Pick a black Historical figure


• Title Page with Picture

• Introduction – one picture with one sentence about the person.

• Birth, growing up

• Influences – picture and list (or background info on time period)

• Major accomplishment/movements/events
• 3 slides minimum

• Influence – how has this person influenced those who came after them


Picture on each slide – lots of pictures – keep words to a minimum

Black History Power Point

Due Date:
Friday, March 5th

Presentations will be next week

Directions:

1. Pick a black historical figure, do research & take notes
2. From your research, create an outline. Include what type of media (pictures, video, audio) you plan to include.
3. Refine your outline & organize it by slides. Collect your media.
4. Start building your Powerpoint presentation. Plug in info & media.
5. Pair up and revise your presentations.
   
6. Finish and present your project to the class.

Structure:

When structuring your presentation, think of how an encyclopedia article would be organized.

1. Summary - who was the person, his/her most well-known accomplishments
2. Early life - birth, family and childhood
3. Influences - what people and/or ideas inspired and influenced your subject (for Martin Luther King Jr. - Ghandi, the Black Church, populism...)
4. Accomplishments - list your subject's accomplishments in chronological order
5. Assasination or later life
6. Legacy - what influence has your subject had on future activists, our society and culture?

Requirements:

• Must have at least 10 slides
• At least 5 pictures
• One piece of multimedia (video or audio)

Grading Breakdown:

You will be given multiple grades for different aspects of this assignment:

• Your outline
• Content of your Powerpoint
• Asthetics of your Powerpoint (design, flow of information, bells and whistles...)
  
• Your presentation - how you deliver your presentation in front of the class

Black Historical Figures:

Rosa Parks
Marcus Garvey
Malcolm X
Thurgood Marshall
Louise Bennett
Frederick Douglas
W. E. B. DuBois
Nelson Mandela
Emmit Till
Martin Luther King Jr.
John Hope Franklin
Dick Gregory
Jesse Jackson
Barack Obama
Black Panther Party
Booker T. Washington

Blast from the Past!

On the website retrojunk.com, find a commercial from your childhood. Post a link to it on your blog, along with a still image from the commercial.

Write a short paragraph about your memory of this commercial, and how it fits in with your childhood.

For instance, I remember this commercial for frosted cheerios with a creepy dude looking into the box and raving about the frosted O's.

Getting the screen-shot:

1. Pause on the frame you want to capture.
2. Press the "Print Screen" button in the top right of your keyboard.
3. Open Microsoft Paint.
4. Paste the screen-shot into your paint document.
5. Crop the image:

• Select the frame
• Drag to the top left corner.
• Drag the bottom left corner of your document to crop.
• Save as a JPG file.

Make a Resume

Note: This Assignment is Postponed

Why make a resume?

If you haven't already, the time will come soon when you will need to apply for a job. Having a clean, impressive resume can give you an edge in the hiring process, as it is the first impression potentials employers get before they even meet you.

On your resume, you can list your work experience, skills, and extracurricular activities. This is your chance to talk yourself up a bit.

The Assignment:

Many word processing programs offer resume templates. We will be using Publisher to make ours.

1. Take a look at some of the example online listed below.
2. Then open Microsoft Publisher, find and choose a resume template.
3. Plug in your iformation to the designated places.
4. List the computer skills we have learned in this class. We will continue to add new skills as we learn them throughout the year.

This assignment is due by the end of class on Wednesday.

Examples:

Generic Resume

Web Design Resume

Auto Mechanic Resume

Mr. L's Resume

What to include:

• Your name and contact info
• Your work experience
• Computer programs you are comfortable with
• Skills
• Extra-curricular activities (sports, after-school programs, community volunteering, NSA, etc.)

Make a Poster with Sumo Paint

Note: This Assignment is postponed until further notice.

Use the online graphics program Sumo Paint to create a poster celebrating you. You can to the web to find images of things you like or that describe you (music, sports, cultural heritage, cars, etc.)
Your poster must have:

A minimum of 5 images
Your name

To add images from the web:

Copy the images URL
Click File > Import to Layer > From URL

Obama-ME

Assignment: Create your own Obama poster parody! Go to Obama-me.com and follow the simple instructions to create an image of your own. Post it on your blog and write a short paragraph about why you chose the image.

Customize Your Blog!

It's time to give your blog the makeover it deserves and add some cool features.

1. Write a Welcome Message

• Once logged in, click the "layout" link below your blog title, or, if you are looking at your blog, "customize" in the top right navigation menu.
• It will automatically be on the "Page Elements" tab.
  
• You will see a representation of the layout of your blog, with boxes for each content piece.
• Click "add a Gadget"
• From the list, choose "Text".
• Write a welcome message for your blog, and click "save"

2. Add Some Links

• Click add a widget
• Choose "links"
• In the title field, type "Cool Interactive Websites", or "My Favorite Websites" or another appropriate title
• For the number of links, types 5
• In the bottom two fields, type the URL of the site and the name of the site as you would like it to appear
• Click "Add a Link" to add more links
• Repeat until you have five or more links

3. Add one other Gadget

4. Pick New Colors

• Click the Fonts and Colors tab under layout.
• Try out different fonts and color scemes until you find a winning combo. You can always click "reset to default" later if your don't like what you've done.

4. Back in the layout page move things around a bit and experiment until you have a layout that you link.

Natural Disaster in Haiti

By now we've all heard of the catastrophic disaster that occurred in Haiti. The earthquake left an already impoverished country devasted, with millions killed and/or displaced.
Far worse than the massive tsunami that hit Southeast Asia a few years ago, the response from the US and the world has been quick, unlike that of Hurricane Katrina. However, there are many obstacles standing in the way of getting aid to the people who need it most.

Assignment:

• Find an article on the earthquake and it's aftermath from a news source (NY times, Boston globe, cnn.com...).
• Read the article and write a one paragraph summary of it in your blog.
• Post a link to the original article below your summary.

Wordle your favorite song

Even if you don't know what the word "visualization" means, we've all seen them before. The first example that comes to mind is a pie chart or bar graph. Basically, a visualization is a way of showing information visually.

Visualizations can make a website or blog more interesting. One type we see a lot today are word clouds, basically a collage of words that are used in the site.

Assignment:

1. Find the lyrics to you favorite song. Highlight the text and copy.
2. You will need to edit out any profanity. To do this, paste into a word documented and get rid of the naughty words. Copy the newly edited text.
3. Go to www.wordle.net
4. Paste the text into the text field and hit Submit.
5. Play around a little bit!
6. Click "Publish to Public Gallery" in the bottom right of the page.
7. Highlight and copy the code (text) below your word cloud
8. Paste the code into a blog post. You will have to delete the extra spaces in order to get the picture to show up when you publish.