Thursday, December 4, 2008
IT 100 - My Experience
The thing I liked the most about this class is Microsoft Excel and Access because I feel that as a business major these two programs will be the most useful to me. I was not a big fan of assignments such as creating a blog or the Jing project because I feel that they will not be very useful to me even though they may help other people. Another topic covered that I feel is unneeded it learning about the Library. Yes a quick overview of what the library has to offer is helpful, but I feel that we spent too much time on the subject. What I would like to have learned more of in the class is Microsoft PowerPoint. Though it may not be professional, PowerPoint has many actions it can perform such as adding animations, buttons, and sounds, which I feel can help keep the attention of an audience viewing the slideshow.
Since IT is a class about technology and computers, it makes sense for it to be a hybrid course. Going to class two times a week would just waste time in my view. I would rather have more work and less class time in this course because I feel that it is a subject where you can teach yourself many of the things you learn just by using the book.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Search Engine
If you want to strengthen your search engine ability you should play Live Search Challenge. In this game you must use your own skills that you learned from the Keyword Challenge to answer a question that the game will give you. The answer to the question is somewhat hard to find using a search engine, and this is how the game shows you that keywords are important when searching for information.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Anti-Phishing Phil
After playing the game Anti-Phishing Phil I could understand how the game was much more effective in teaching people then traditional resources like eBay's spoof e-mail tutorial etc.. The reason I think that the game is much more effective is because it is a game; when people play a game they want to win, so after the first round when most people can not identify web site spoofs, they actually read and try and remember who to identify them so by level 2 they can identify them in the game and they can win. Also the game made it very simple to identify phishing scams because it would break apart URL addresses and show you what each part is, and in doing so teach you the basics of what a URL is, and then the game shows you what phishing scams do to the URL so they can steal information.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Symantec Internet Security
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Job Search
In my search for job in the business management field I have come across a few positions that require computer literacy. One of these jobs was a general manager position with BP. Under the skills & Experience category they require a "Basic computer/systems literacy (e.g., Back Office System, Word, e-mail)", and all of these topics we will be covering in IT so it looks like I would be prepared. Another job I found was as an assistant branch manager with Regions Financial. Though they do not provide specifics of what kind technology skills are needed, they do require you to have computer literacy. This basically means you should know your way around a word processor, spreadsheet, e-mail etc.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Status Update: Your College Is Checking Your Facebook.
So next time you post that picture up of you and your firends drinking at a party, think twice because that picture can affect you in ways greater then you thought they could, such as applying to college.
FORUM 10: More To Life Than The Office
Instead of buying Microsoft Office, consumers also have the options of buying other programs such as IBM workplace, OpenOffice, or ajaxWrite. Office has a 95% market share and 400 million copies in use. These figures are probably so high because Office’s toughest competition is none other than, well, Office. That is, older versions of Office. This is because people have grown accustomed to their older versions of Office and don’t really see the need in upgrading to the newer versions.
OpenOffice is described as a clone to Microsoft’s Office because it works in the same way that Office does and the documents made in one of the programs can be viewed in the other. While documents made in OpenOffice can be viewed in Microsoft’s Office, it isn’t necessarily true the other way around. Not all documents made on Microsoft’s Office can be seen on OpenOffice, which is one of the main drawbacks for OpenOffice since Microsoft’s Office is still a widely used program. This may only last so long though because the International Organization for Standardization approved a new technology standard. This new standard is called the Open Document Format which assures that any word processor or spreadsheet application must communicate freely with any other.
The government, such as the executive branch of Massachusetts has decided to adopt the new Open Document Format standard. This means that no one company will be able to can bind their customers to one Word Processor. Microsoft will not have this though. Their plan, make their own new file format which they will license for free to all comers. This creates a new competition of document format standards. Though it may sound unfair to Microsoft that the government is adopting a new standard, this makes it better for the market place. If they adopt a new standard then it will create competition in the marketplace and that will give the average consumer more options of what word processor they want to purchase. The government it not stopping Microsoft from selling its product, they are just making them adapt to others needs, and not the average consumer have to stay up to date with Microsoft’s applications.
Even though there are more online applications for word processors being developed, I personally don’t think that Microsoft has to worry. Even though the applications online are available for free, some people may feel that it doesn’t provide as much security or simplicity as Microsoft Office; this is why many people are still sticking with their Microsoft Office programs. Just because young users are the people who are becoming more online savvy does not mean that they will be creating all of their documents on these free applications.
I believe that Microsoft Office may become integrated in the future. Some people may find it necessary for the different programs such as word and spreadsheets to be separate, but others may find it easier if these programs were all in one. This is why I think Microsoft Office will develop an application where you can choose if you want all of the applications integrated or not. If you want to see what an integrated program looks like go to Evermore Integrated Office. EIOffice is software that is Word Processor/Spreadsheet/Presentation Graphics, and Macro Editor integrated into one application with the look and feel of Microsoft Office.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Email: Love It Or Hate It?
When should you communicate through email?
Effective email can be a great method of communication between 2 or more people. Emails are effective when it is information or a question that you need to send or ask and the receiver doesn’t necessarily need to read or respond right away. If it is an asynchronous email, meaning that it does not require a reply in a set amount of time, then it could be done though an email. If it is an email that needs a reply immediately or both people are exchanging information back and forth, then it is best to use a telephone to quicken the action. Also if it is a delicate communication or a message that is more personal, it is better off to use the telephone or write the message in a letter and mail it to add that extra bit of personalization.
What do I do in the subject line?
Writing an effective subject line can make it easier for the receiver of an email to respond or read the message. When writing a subject line you want to keep in mind the 4 key points of writing; clarity, simplicity, brevity, and humanity. You want your message to be very clear and simple to understand, but short enough for the reader to be able to scan through many emails and find what he/she is looking for. You want to be very precise when writing a subject line, not broad. The reader should be able to read the subject line and know exactly what is in the email. Also you can write key words in the subject line such as “[URGENT]”, but if it is extremely urgent then use a telephone, not an email. Other key words such as
Who actually reads their emails these days?
Many people that use email as a main source of communication don’t have the time to read every single piece of email received, so instead they may just scan through what they receive. You want to be able to send an email that the receiver can read without actually “reading” it. The most basic way to send an email that has many different topics is to do in list form and in each number topic. Write the information needed for each topic and any action needed to follow it up afterwards. If you don’t want to send a list because one topic is more important than the other, then you can send each topic as an individual email. To do this have each message with the same subject line, but after the subject write (1 of 3) i.e. if it was the first of 3 messages. To save time from writing the subject line over and over, it may be easier to copy and paste the subject then add the message number after the subject.