Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Before and after




I used levels, saturation. rotated the picture, burned the photo to add color.

Pictures for Online Journalism




I cropped the photo, burned the trees, changed the saturation and added color to the leaves to bring out the colors. The photo was turned and so had to rotate the photo.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Friday, October 10, 2008

Gaming the Search Engine, in a political Season

I had never heard of a link bomb and was quite informed when reading this article. I never realized how people could mess with the system to try and fix peoples searches. I always figured that when I searched for something online with a search engine that I was directed to the most important, correct and most visited site. I was amazed at the example of the pranksters who were able to get people directed to sites where negative information was given regarding republican candidates. I felt bad for the link bomb which directed users who searched for "miserable Failure" to "George W. Bush's official white house Biography." I found it very interesting that fewer than one percent of internet users use advance searches. I really enjoyed this article and felt that it was very informative. I would suggest others read this as well.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Spoof, Spam, Lurk and Lag: the Aesthetics of Text-based Virtual Realities

This article was really confusing for me and made it hard for me to follow. I tried to understand it but became really bored with most of it. I didn't understand a lot of the terminology that they were using. Spam was one that I kind of understood and was informed that people could use three types of spam when it comes to typing a message:playful, ambiguous and pernicious. I can see why people would use the first one. After reading over the article a few times I can better understand the article. I see that a "spoof" (unattributed communication) something that shouldn't be said but is said for just because. "spam" (excess of communication) and is often takes up space and time for people to read and often will slow things down for everyone, "lurk" (refusal to communicate)This would be hard to deal with when trying to have a conversation with anyone online.

Conversational Terrorism

These are some great ways to annoy a lot of people and make some people very mad. Some of my favorite ones that I think would be great to use are....

COMPLIMENTARY INSULT:

"You're looking less repulsive than usual today."

DISTORTED ACTIVE LISTENING:
"If I hear you correctly, your point is... (get it all wrong)."

"It sounds as if you are saying that torturing children is a good idea...."


I KNOW BETTER:
"Johnny, the reason I can't give you permission to go to the party is because I know that deep in your heart you'd rather spend the time here with me."

SELECTIVE MEMORY:
To bring up a past event and GET IT ALL WRONG, or even to make up a past event. The intent is to get the other person confused, angry, and defensive.

"You never admit defeat. Remember that chess game I beat you in?" (The one you lost.)

"But last week (or a minute ago) you said the opposite! Make up your mind!"

"Remember last time we had an argument, and you turned out to be wrong and wouldn't admit it? Now we're in the same spot we were last time."

KNEE JERK:

"I would like to answer your question directly, but considering your past reactions / ability to cope with the truth / emotional instability, I feel that to do so would be a disservice to you at this time." [Other person gets (justifiably) upset.] "See, what did I tell you. You are flying off the handle already!"

LOOK AT YOU:
After using any of the previous ploys, point out any physical manifestations of the other person's irritation as further proof that they are wrong.

"You seem to be sweating a lot. Of course, I would be too if I had to try to support your flimsy position."

I can see how a lot of people would be really bugged by all of these great tactics for any conversation.