Podcast: WXPN 88.5 FM

Growing up, my family had music playing throughout the house from the early morning hours until bedtime. We listened to an array of music ranging from the likes of Bob Dylan, CSNY, Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell to classics such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Billie Holiday and a myriad of underground eclectic alternative rock bands from all over the world. You could always guarantee that there would be music playing in the McDougall house.

When I was young, my parents discovered an alternative radio station called WXPN 88.5 FM, which was located in nearby Philadelphia. WXPN played a wide range of music - so many genres that I cannot begin to name them here. WXPN was essentially the soundtrack to my life. When I left home, to head out to Indiana for college, my WXPN days were over...or so I thought. After a year or so of WXPNless life, I stumbled upon the WXPN podcast. The podcast played all the music as well as the news. I downloaded a number of programs to my ipod and it continues to be a favorite of mine today!

Slideshow: Networking 101

Networking 101

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Slideshow Reflection

My slideshow focuses on some essential tips to remember when networking professionally. As a college student myself, looking to get out into the professional world, I have come to understand the role of networking in personal and professional endeavors. Networking is absolutely crucial for creating and maintaining good personal and professional relationships and opening new avenues for potential opportunities.

My slideshow reflects what we have covered in Web Communications. Using few words and placing an emphasis on images and graphs, I have created a slideshow that requires the human connection to understand. For my presentation, I will explain the meanings behind the images and text – this is done so that the audience will have a richer experience listening to the presentation, instead of reading words from a screen. The speaking portion of my presentation is crucial to an effective delivery of the information on my slides.

The process of creating this slideshow was must different than ones I had done in the past. I have been conditioned to write key facts as bullet points and to use few images. In fact, the whole concept of this project is entirely new to me. It will be interesting to present my supporting information and facts in front of the class without having bullet points. This method, however, will require that I know my material well and that I will not rely on a slide to read. I am looking forward to the challenge!

Flowchart: Networking 101

In order to effectively organize my thoughts and ideas for my networking slideshow, I used a great webware flowchart creator called Lovely Charts. Lovely charts allows you to map out a flow chart so that you are better able to plan your presentation.  It is a great resource, easy to use and very intuitive! Just remember to watch the 90 second tutorial before beginning - it has some great tips and helpful advice.

Check out my Networking 101 Flowchart to see how I have mapped out my presentation!

FATP: Slideshow

It is time to start thinking about and planning my slideshow.  To help organize my thoughts, I have completed the "FAT P" process...here is what I am thinking:

• Form - The information conveyed will be in the form of a slide show. I will likely use keynote or powerpoint, depending on my access to either
  
• Audience - I will write for my class (18-22 year old female college students)
• Topic - I will focus on simple ways to network when you arrive to a new city (either to get a job or build a network)
  
• Purpose - to inform my audience (mostly people who are looking to start careers soon) of the best way to go about building a great network!

An example of a good slideshare

Visceral Sustainability

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The presentation above stood out to me as one that is quite informative, interesting to look at and generally well-designed.  While some images are a bit grotesque (i.e. the road kill!) the images are really what gives the presentation depth in terms of visual stimulation. The speaker moved along nicely and everything he said connected to what was on the slide at the time. I liked how the slide show was not completely informative - it challenges the reader to question. By simply stating words or phrases, the listener wants to know what it all means. Therefore, they will tune into the speaker who holds the information.

Further, I really liked the speakers tone of voice and pace of speech. He was informative, interesting and energetic. He engages the audience (me) constantly and it is easy to pay attention to his voice.

The design of the slide show was simple and clean - two important aspects of a good slide show. I liked that the slide designer used sans serif font because it is easy to read from a distance. I will definitely use sans serif in my upcoming slide show!
  

Picnik

Picnik is a web-based photo editing site which allows the user to upload, edit and add items to photos in a snap.  The webware is incredibly easy and so much fun to use!!  I initially learned of Picnik from people's uploaded photos on facebook (all of which were bedazzled and decorated with hearts and wild fonts).  I was surprised to find that so many of my younger friends (the ones decorating their photos like so) were competent in photoshop!  Little did I know, and later learned, that they were doing these impressive photo edits on Picnik. I thought I would try it out.. The image tbelow is the original photo. I took this photo in the summer of 2008. I always wanted to edit it and fix it up but never really had the time to learn how to really fix it up.

I uploaded the photo into Picnik and in a matter of 8 to 10 minutes, I had a finished product! (see image below) All I did was change the exposure, soften the background, highlight the flower in the foreground, zoom in a bit on the foreground flora, and add some fun text. It was incredibly easy and I had to peel myself away from the computer to stop myself from spending all of my time editing old photos!!

What do you think? Try out Picnik for yourself!