Response to Powerpoint Articles.

For my next assignment for Computer Mediated Communication, I had to read to articles about Microsoft PowerPoint. One article linked here explains how PowerPoint has a surface simplicity that hides a deeper medium that can be used to express artistic ability. The other article, linked here explains that PowerPoint is evil for its over-simplistic design and function. It also states that the use of PowerPoint to replace effective presentations ends up damaging the overall effectiveness of the information at being well-received.

My thoughts on the subject are as follows:

PowerPoint has a capacity to supplement a decent presentation and make it stellar. The artistic and creative freedom that is allowed in the seemingly restrictive application can create visually stunning slides with attention-grabbing music to accompany it. At the same time, however, the program can be used as (and is often used as) a crutch for the entire presentation. In this way the presenter usually does little work instead letting the program take the reins. The downside here is that PowerPoint is fantastic and generating generic templates that the presenter should BUILD UPON, not just rely on. Lacking any real creativity the user will create a completely bland and uninteresting slideshow that waters down the information so the audience either doesn't get the whole picture or they just don't care about it.

PowerPoint, like many programs, is as effective as a person wants it to be. It's up to the individual to understand that they have to put the effort in to make PowerPoint really shine as a teammate rather than try to make it the star athlete. I've seen some of the best and worst the program has to offer, and both are stunning in their own way.

Reasons for the Name

As anyone who may have found this blog or skimmed over it at my request might figure, the blog and the URL have odd names for a personal blog. This post's purpose is to explain where they came from.

For about a week I had a series of odd dreams that I would consider "episodic" in that they skipped from "scene" to "scene" with completely unrelated circumstances happening in each one. The one thing that connected them all was an incredibly large shopping center, as each sequence ended I found myself in this shopping center, with very strange stores or just strange renditions of stores I've been to before. The roads and parking lot were extremely hard to navigate but whenever I finally found the exit I would immediately be in another dream sequence. This happened enough times for me to consider that my mind in a dream state considers its hub like a large shopping center. From that the name for the blog came as a sort of window into my central hub, or the shopping center itself. Odd, and a bit on the silly side, but it works for me.

Ideas for Website.

I'm not all too sure what I would want to make a website for. I suppose the most practical thing I could do would be game reviews. Not only could I base the website around something I enjoy, I could use it in my portfolio for both game review writing and web design. If I'm allowed to, I think that is the best option.

EDIT- After longer consideration I have decided not to do a game review site. The reason I changed my mind was that a review website would only be relevant for a set amount of time, until the games became less and less high in demand. Without permanent access to the programs we will be using to create the websites it would be very hard to update the website. Instead I'm going to create a "Introduction to Video Games" website. The site will be designed to inform people about the various genres, ratings, systems, etc regarding video games, as well as cite examples. This will be a fairly low-maintenance website and if/when I get access to the programs needed to modify the web page I can add more information, including reviews. 

Expectations for New Class

I have recently enrolled in a computer mediated communication course here at Shepherd. The bulk of the class is going to be in web design. This is both exciting and a bit intimidating for me because I've never really done much when it comes to web coding (or any coding for that matter). I'm hoping to get a better understanding of how coding works from this course as well as be able to design a personal website I can include in my portfolio.