Week 14: clear

     The concepts of this week were about enterprise computing. Basically, the lectures handed out the ideas of how to tackle using computers in a large environment, and how to do it cheaply. First we talked about RAID and new technologies on it, such as RAID 5 and it's capabilities. Next we talked about different ways to store the data and efficiencies, such as HSM and SAN's, these ideas are of great use and are of the many options to tackle efficient storage. Next we talked about Virtual clients and thin clients. Both are similar enough, but with some major differences. I happen to have some experience with a virtual client, by owning a mac with parallels and VM.
     These concepts are very important for a computer engineer in the business environment. I'm not sure that most of this would be completely useful to the average person, but stuff on virtual computing and thin clients surly would. Thin clients are an awesome idea, yet this is the first I have ever heard of them. I could see them being a huge part of computing in the future.
     Here is a link to an article on thin clients. (http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/pc_expertise/article/thinclients_consider.html) This shows when a thin client would be necessary, or a good alternative. I think that this clearly shows that there is a large use for these clients and they are becoming more resonant in our daily life. I'm excited to see businesses switching over to use these clients, because it seems exponentially more efficient than to use a desktop for everyone.

Secure email

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/companies-look-to-work-with-secure-email-as-prediction-made-that-it-will-be-the-first-application-to-be-cloud-based/article/162905/

                This article is all about secure emails. Emails have always been a large part of our society, in the last twenty years, and they have very little protection. Gary Steele, an advocator of secure emails, thinks that because more and more companies are using it, it will become more accepted and even the norm.

            Secondly, with the invention of the internet, people are being more and more mobile with their work, and precautions need to be taken. New technology that will allow an ease of using a cloud is becoming more readily available and emails need to be secured. In the article, it stated that secure emails will grow rapidly as networking rises within companies. With emails being secure, this is just one aspect of keeping a cloud secure. 

           In summation, this article shows how secure emails are becoming a necessity in the work place. However, not only do we need this ability at work, but we need it at home to, like when we email doctors or Lawyers. Most of our things need to be kept private, and secure emails is the way to do it.

Week 13: Clear

     Well this week was a weird one. I didn't realize we had any assignments until Friday, which today is. The weeks lectures were on security and protection on computers. The first concept to note is that of threats to a system. There are many types of viruses and hackers that can infect your computer, and that there is a distinction between the lot of them. There are a few types of viruses, or as some may call it, malware, and there are differences between each. Another topic that was interesting was when we talked about "why do hackers do what they do?' This was particularly interesting because in most cases the hackers only do it for the fun and thrill of it. The next topic was on protection. There are many ways to keep your computer protected, and they are cheap and easy. The main thing to note, is to always keep your computer protected in one way or another.

     Knowledge of viruses is a very important skill; that most people don't have. I know, for myself, I haven't got a virus (that I know of, haha) in a few years. Having a good knowledge about websites and emails that could potentially have viruses is essential. Businesses don't usually train for stuff like this, but showing that you understand how to protect yourself and the company is highly attractive.

     Here is a link to computer viruses on Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus) This clearly explains the history of the virus and the many ways it has been used. This relates to the clear concept because understanding how to work around and with viruses is very easy, it just requires a little experience. I think also that this topic is very straight forward and relatable because most people have has a virus at least once in their life.

Second Life

    I wasn't really sure what to name this, so I went with Second Life. I have been acquainted with video games for a long time, so second life wasn't to shocking to me. I have played many games from xbox 360 to Nintendo, but I would say my most palatable, and regrettable, experience that is closest to this was World of Warcraft. I will never touch a game like that again because the demands on time are outrageous... I'll stick to my little games. Although I wasn't really quite sure what people do in the game. It seems as though most people just sit in the chat areas and talk, which I don't normally do. Later I saw the UF island, where they made scale replicas of some of the law buildings and others, it was pretty impressive. That being said, I could see how the building could be pretty fun.

     For the most part I spent my time editing my character. I had fun with this and made him interesting. I went with a cyborg outfit with a wolverine claw. Also I had a gun mounted on my right shoulder, so I could look like a predator. I was pretty pleased with the final product, even though he looks nothing like me. In summation, I don't think I will play second life that often, because I would need something a little more grasping and goal oriented to hold my attention.

Week 12: Clear

     This week we learned about servers and the interaction between people over the internet. The concepts were pretty basic because it was mostly just stuff to memorize and little actual theory and understanding. I enjoyed seeing some of the stuff I hadn't known before, such as the group software. Group software and other related things are programs designed to help people work together cohesively, which couldn't be done previously without computer. Other topics included how much bandwidth you would need for certain programs, which most people don't think of. Lastly, servers were another main topic, in which we learned the best ways to keep servers and have them be safe from hardware malfunctions as well as software.

     I think learning these things is quite important for business. Not to say that this is essential to get a job, but more than likely you will be using servers, group software or other things once in a while, if not daily. No matter where you are, you will have to use the internet once in a while if you are in a company, and understanding how it works, and proper procedure to make sure things run smoothly is essential. Lastly, having an idea of precautions with servers is a great tool too. There are millions of dollars worth of data on most corporate server, so spending an extra $4,000 to keep it safe is well worth it.

     For a web link, I found this link on Wikipedia about Lotus software (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Software). When I heard how early lotus software came out I was blown away. The idea behind group technologies is amazing, and the development of it was so fast, relative to other things on the internet. I think this provides a clear concept of what we learned because Lotus embodies a large portion of "what" can be done even with a limited internet, as it used to be. Lotus showed that using the correct software, servers and internet growth can be exponential.

Week 11: Clear

     Well, after using database to do this project, I have realized how much can be done with this software that I never knew. Initially I thought database meant like a server of some sorts but now I know what it really is. The data base project taught me that Access is like an evolved form of Excel, taking great features from it and also coming up with its own things, such as the use of external software. This project has also showed me how to relate this information for a presentation or to gain information about what is going on in a business.

     There are many ways to enhance the functionality of this database, but one thing comes to mind. Some sort of sort ability for users accessing the base. I know that there is a sort, but if there was some kind of button that would drop down on a report to make it able to be sorted easily so we can look at tenancies and patterns would make the data even more valuable. Only until data is organized does it become information.

Week 10: Clear with a hint of mud.

     This week we learned about databases with Microsoft Access. At first I was skeptical because I had never learned it before, but after watching the lectures, I got a good hold of what it is. I felt that the lecture was relatively clear in what we had to do. The basic concept was that databases are like an evolved form of what Excel is. It works very similarly but with much more power. It has to same uses such as functions and calculations, but with more things such as using external links and forms as well as reports.
     Being familiar with a database is very useful for the business world. Databases are used more often than not in companies today and being experienced in them can only help. We also deal with databases daily, going to websites to buy things and entering our addresses on different mailing lists. Here is a link to a website that has a PDF that talks about the necessity of Databases. Obviously the course administrators share some of these views or we wouldn't be learning about databases. (http://whitepapers.zdnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=236014)
     On the other hand, I thought that there was some "mud" in this topic. Not so much in the way it was taught, but in the scavenger hunt. I felt that the questions were very ambiguous and weren't being answered very clearly. On top of that I saw that a lot of times the questions were jumbled with the presentation and didn't flow as the lecture did. Also, I had times where I couldn't even find the correct answer and had to watch it a few times and almost guess what the answer was. Other than that, it was a fine week.

PS: The scavenger hunt I did was the corrected version too.

Week 9: Clear

A link to my presentation -  http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/227011/Stephen-Difato's-Resume

    This weeks we learned and did presentations. The first thing to note is what I have learned in critiquing someone else's project. I learned that flowing is key, because the person's that I viewed did not flow very well. When this happens, you lose interest and your mind starts to drift. Having a constant flow of information is vital, with no large gaps. Also I noticed how the quality of photos and audio could be a huge factor. When people don't have to focus on listening or viewing, they can spend more time focusing on the main point at hand (hopefully the one you are trying to get across). Here is a critique by me of my presentation.

	Missing or lacking	Meets the minimum but could be improved	Excellent
Is there a logical flow and sequence of content? How could it be improved?			There was seamless audio, as well as the author gave an outline of the presentation.
Does the presenter anticipate questions and answer them in the right place? At what points did you have questions that were not answered?		There weren’t many questions to be asked, but he did explain everything that he brought up thoroughly.
Did the presenter grab your attention in the first 30-60 seconds?		Did an okay job.
Did the presenter ask questions and spark your curiosity?			Yes, initially he made me want to know what was so special that was being offered.
Did the presenter set the context with a concise explanation? Is it clear what the presenter is trying to share?			Yes
Did the presenter validate any claims?			Yes, he showed the website of his employers with contact information.
Did the presenter avoid inconsistencies and errors, typos and unbelievable claims?			Yes
How well did the presenter avoid clutter?		There wasn’t much clutter, maybe some more typing and less pictures.
What did the presenter do to ensure readability?			The reader spoke for a majority of the time, and allowed pictures to grab attention.
Did the presenter say it, and then show it or did he/she read the slides?			He spoke most of the time, with little written text.

  

    What I learned from this project was awesome. I first learned how to effectively use power point. I have done a few presentations in the past, but none as extensive as this. I can see how power point can be a super useful tool and how it is often under utilized. Also I learned the many different functions of power point. I learned that I could use it almost to make a movie. Lastly, I learned how hard it is to find photos that I could use freely on the internet. I can't believe how much time it took to find a few simple pictures.
     Lastly, this week was clear. Although there were a lot of directions and a fair amount of work, it wasn't difficult. I also enjoyed it and had some questions that were answered fairly quickly on the website. All and all, it was a good week.

VOIP extra credit

     Being a regular computer user, I have used voice over IP many times. On this occasion, I was pleased to learn of Jing. Jing is a pretty cool tool I have never sued before and is very easy to use. Here's a link to my conversation with my friend, who's voice is very weak in the recording.

http://www.screencast.com/users/silverace/folders/Jing/media/2209d586-71b6-4731-b3a6-c1d13beeb320

My avatar

     For my avatar, I chose the use the "your wild self" site. I kind of just chose randomly, but I got into it after. I initially set it up to look like myself then realized that I was then supposed to incorporate other animals into myself. From there I chose. For the arms I chose gorilla arms because lets face it, gorillas are awesome and super strong, so why wouldn't you want gorilla arms over the other lame ones. Next I initially chose spider legs for my feet so I could run super fast and climb walls but then remembered I would most likely be swinging from vines above ground. So I weighed my options and went with the shark body so I could swim super fast, hopefully I get the gills too. Next I chose a dog/wolf nose rather than the others because I would love to have that keen sense of smell. Lastly, for the body I chose the wings, I think that is self explanatory. I guess that kind of contradicts the gorilla arms as well.

Week 7: Clear

     This weeks class had to do with power point and presentations. I know those two aren't synonymous but it seems like they are. The basic concepts were easy, but I feel like for the most part people usually don't pay attention to the ideas presented even though they know them. Some of the topics I particularly enjoyed, especially about presentations. I have sat through millions of presentations that lost my attention so the idea of grasping your audience in a "sticky" thought is really interesting. I guess that presentation was sticky by itself, haha.

     One of these concepts I learned, and is probably one of the most important is signal to noise ratio. Having a strong signal (main idea) is very important, and rather than going off on tangents, drive that point home with examples and ideas making the audience want more of it. Another idea I really liked was when talking about how to gain the audiences attention. The best way, I thought, was by providing visual examples the audience could related to. By doing this the audience can see the ideas and grasp how they could effect their life!

     Lastly, I think the section where I explain how this is important in the business environment is completely obvious. Being a great dynamic speaker will not only make you a great business asset, but it could also by itself get you a job. Speaking is one of those tools that is highly underdeveloped. Also, being able to make impressive power points is another tool which is highly used. For example, my brother has excelled highly in his job solely because of his ability to use power point and impress investors with it.

     A good website that shows how to use power point and make awesome presentations is http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint101/PowerPoint_101_How_to_Use_PowerPoint.htm. This website shows how easy it is to use, yet is such a powerful tool. This website shows a clear concept of how to use power point to make a presentation pop and be very sticky to an audience.

Excel Project

     For this weeks assignment, we had to do an excel project. Excel is super tricky but very useful. In the project we were required to complete multiple tasks. First, we had to make some new rows. In these rows we had to use basic formulas, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to get data such as percentage hart rate increase, change in heart rate and others.Next, and the part that got me, was calculating the percent heart rate increase. This was difficult for me because I could not get the division to work. After about fifteen minutes of trying I realize the column is in a percentage format and that's why it wouldn't give me an appropriate answer.
     After that we were required to make some pivot tables. I was fairly familiar with excel functions, but pivot tables are something completely foreign to me. I had to re watch about half of the first lecture on the tables to finally understand how they worked. After that the first table required you to show how many men and women reached their target heart rate. The second table showed the demographics and how well the reacted to the course.
     The skills I learned during this project were mostly attributed to the pivot tables. I'm not really sure how long these have been around, but they are very useful. They can give very important data, summarizing many rows and columns in one cell block. Also, it was nice to get a refresher on the functions. All in all, I thought the project was perfect, just enough to teach you what to know, but nothing overboard and super difficult.

Wekk 5: Clear

       This weeks assignments and topics were more interesting than some of the previous. We learned about Excel and it's many uses. I'm pretty familiar with excel, but I always seen to forget the command aspects that it has to offer. The commands in excel are super powerful but so underutilized in todays business. 
    
      For an explanation to a new user about what we learned in this segment would be as follows. Imagine you had rows and rows of data, but no way to calculate it. Excel offers the ability to manipulate the data to give such outputs as averages, summations and even amounts of days. To do this, you would need to learn some simple commands and have a basic understanding of math. If you can do this, the skills you have would be highly desired by businesses just about anywhere.
    
      I find for my self, the largest piece of information that I learned was getting a refresher on the commands. I learned them once in CGS when I was a freshman, so it's nice to learn it again, because I never get a chance to actually use them. On top of this, the commands offered in excel are very powerful for computing large amounts of data. I could see this being very important in many different fields of jobs. Of instance, I was interning at a law office over the summer and I had to use it, good thing I was somewhat familiar with it.
    
      A website that I found an easy reference is this (http://www.vtaskstudio.com/help/action_excel.htm) excel command site. It easily lists the commands and also shows you how to use them. Also, by showing this website, it further proves the easiness of this program. Excel is fairly basic, but in the right hands, could accomplish what ten people would have to do. 

Week 4: Muddy week

    So I guess for me I have just been struggling with following directions correctly. I'm just getting what "to do's" down. I didn't get full credit on the last few posts, and hope to change that here. The lectures this week weren't very hard, in fact they were quite the opposite, and I struggled to pay attention during the lectures. In a descriptive way to tell you what I learned, it would have to be some names and how they applied, which I will explain.


    For instance, I always knew that when something got upgraded, patched and fixed, they number associated with the name would change to 1.2.3 to 1.2.4 but never actually knew what to call each fix. Now I know the associated term with number, in this case, it would have been a patch. Another thing I learned is horizontal vs vertical software. I always knew the difference between the two, but never the actual name. Also, I was pleased to see that my reading paid of when during the quiz they used the alternate names of packaged and custom.


    All and the main muddiness in this week was not really of this week but in the previous weeks that I precoded to screw up. I guess I was really unaware that I was supposed to really go in depth about what I learned and I hope I did this week. I also felt that this weeks subject really could have been condensed and was, in my opinion quite dry in comparison to the previous week. That's just my opinion, maybe some people really found this interesting! Lastly, to explain to other people on how to do this better is just to read the directions over every time you make a blog post and make sure you fully understand the syllabus, because it's easy to skip things over in an online class.

Week 3: Clear

    Well, as the week ensues I find myself making another post on my blog. This week was a relatively good week for this class. The class lectures this week were based on the basic hardware and software of computers. The lectures, also, were basic. The concept that we needed to learn is what are the parts of a computer that makes it run i.e. the CPU, memory, hard drive and other components. On top of that, we needed to learn from the videos some understanding of how a computer starts up and preforms basic functions.


    Coming from a technologically savey background, these lectures were very easy for me to grasp. I have built maybe ten or so computer,s with my dad, from scratch. Also, I was very familiar with the basic functions on computers starting, formatting and commands. I found the stuff most interesting to be little odds and ends I didn't know, such as the concept of defragmentation and names of components such as legacy ports.


    I feel that knowing computers today is highly essential to success. Most people neglect the operations of computers and if things don't go exactly according to plan they collapse. Also, the idea of teaching people the basic components first, and more complicated things later is ideal for teaching. By teaching people what things are, initially, then they can learn their many complicated functions. 


    Here is a link to a website (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/345529/6_hottest_IT_skills_for_2010) that lists the 6 most sought after computer jobs. These jobs are highly specific, yet very sought after. People in these departments stand to make a lot of money by taking advantage of the simple supply and demand that takes place in this market.


    P.S. I figure with the idea of crystal clear being the basis of todays post, I went with some blue font to compliment the scenery behind the crystal.

Week 2: Muddy

    Well, now we are in our second week of school. ISM has given us a light load of a few readings. The concepts in the three readings are not at all muddy, but rather I've been discovering new things that are requirements to get full credit. In doing the course work, initially early in the week, I began to fear that I might not have seen all of the concepts that we will be quizzed on.

    Later in the week, I went around the website looking for information on what was due and decided to do everything before the quiz. So here I am, doing the blog post, procrastinating the quiz that I want to get full credit on. For better information on the topic, I basically didn't fine a better site because I don't think one exists. I basically read through the syllabus a few times and through the PDF's concerning the things due.

    Lastly, I also had some confusion with the syllabus and due dates. I was concerned that I had a few more things due this week than realized and maybe a second quiz; but I was wrong. So my link to further understanding is the syllabus (https://elearning.courses.ufl.edu/webct/urw/lc955889.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct) I read a few times over. Also, in an explanation to someone, I would say look at the syllabus due dates and read the required materials posted. That's it, and the subject is actually laid out well. I guess I have just had to many bad experience with missing things in past online classes.

Week 1: Clear

    Well school has started and as an attempt to keep my Fridays opened I pick up ISM. Seems like a decent class, but I have never been a fan of on line classes. For the most part, week one has been pretty clear. The basic concept that the program has instilled this week is to read the syllabus and find out about the course so that we don't miss any of the dates.

    After failing the quiz once thinking I could assume I know the answers, I read the required material and got a 20/20 on the first quiz. I guess that the importance of this lesson and it's application in the business world is that taking the time to prepare before you start something will end up saving you time in the long run.

    In summation, the course was very clear in telling me what I had to get an A on the quiz. Contrary, I feel that there may be some muddiness in knowing what is needed for future stuff and am a little nervous I will miss something before I take a quiz. Lastly, seeing how this is the first week and there isn't much to link this to I have a link (www.faqs.org/faqs/)to a web site that has frequently asked questions about the internet.

PS: In an attempt to have proper grammar, I can't figure out how to indent paragraphs. I guess I will just use 5 or so spaces