I am a true Floridian born and raised. Traveling is one of my passions, but to me Florida will always be home. I am proud to be attending the University of Florida...go gators! My biggest hobby is acting, and I enjoy the challenges associated with the business. I also enjoy singing, reading, spending time with my loving boyfriend, and the occasional aimless walk, laughing, making other people laugh, eating (I'm Italian), and dancing like no one is watching.
A web presence is essential for all businesses today. Ways of communication are continuously changing. A web presence can enhances a business in many different ways. Today, people can use the web to view and study products/services before purchasing. Sites can educate customers by presenting free advice about their services/products to maximize products’ benefits. A lot of sites have a section for customer feedback. This allows customers to leave their compliments and suggested improvements. I believe that when the customer has the opportunity to get involved, he/she is overall more fulfilled with the buying experience. A well-developed web presence can increase productivity by being available 24 hours a day, even when the store is closed. Also, it can reach beyond the store’s location to a world wide level. A good web presence can improve any size business’s communication to its customers/potential customers by expanding the pathway of communication.
ReferenceI believe podcasting is great asset to the business environment. The internet has become a major way of communication these days, and podcasting enables us to keep a more personal touch with customers/viewers. Although, the internet is a great way to communicate quickly on a large scale, I think at times it can be less personable, and becomes too detached. Podcasting allows you to connect better to the source, when you can hear an audio of their voice. This brings a personal touch back to the communication process. Podcasting enhances the way we communicate over the internet.
Recording my first podcast was an enjoyable and educational experience. I followed the directions given to us, and used podomatic.com. I was pleasantly surprised when the whole process was easier than expected. I am excited that I now know how to creates podcasts, and am looking forward to creating some more. My computer literacy and skills have grown tremendously since the start of this class, and so far I’m enjoying every new part in the Computing Portfolio Project.
In the last week, I learned how to create security email. After watching the security email lecture, I started learning how to create my own. First, I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and MozillaThunderbird. Then, I walked through the setup process, and sent my first signed email to Professor Hairston. After a reply was sent back to me, I was able to send my encrypted message.
Secured email contains two parts. First, you receive an email certificate. The email certificate identifies who you are. It is given by a trusted third-party. When the email certificate is issued, public and private keys are created. Next, you create encrypted messages. To create an encrypted message you use the public and private keys. You encoded with the public key to make it almost unreadable to anyone without the private key. Security email may not be one hundred percent protected, but it is extremely difficult to break encryption.
Secured email is an asset to the business environment. It’s a great way to keep sensitive documents private. With secured email, businesses can send documents, data, etc. knowing that only the people intended can read the email. Viruses can be deadly. If you are not properly protected, a virus can wipe out email systems and corporate networks in minutes. It’s important to be safe, and security email can be that safety.
The collaborative computing project was an informative and rewarding experience. It enabled me to learn about Microsoft Sharepoint, work in a group setting with my classmates, and create an ad. Two of the three tasks were completely new experiences for me. I was excited to explore them.
This was my first time ever using Microsoft Sharepoint. For the most part, I thought it was a helpful program. I am use to using email to upload documents. The shared documents feature allowed our group to easily upload documents to each other a lot faster and easier than through email. We easily could edit and add to one another’s documents. This holds true with pictures uploaded too. Also, I liked that we could create surveys. This enabled the decision making process to run smoothly. Everyone got to vote on the main topics in our ad. I found creating a survey extremely helpful when decided on an ad. Our group created two complete ads, so in the end we voted on which to use as our final ad. The only thing I found frustrating with Microsoft Sharepoint was the setup of the general discussion page. I didn’t like that you had to click on the plus sign repeatedly to see the responses to a discussion post. I feel like this could have been setup in a simpler format. I would prefer every post being easily viewable from the main discussion page. Overall, I found Microsoft Sharepoint to be a useful program.
I enjoy working in a group situation in a class. It’s a change for the norm, and can be fun. Also, working side by side with my classmates simulates a real work environment, so it’s good practice for the future. Working on a project alone limits you to your own point of view. Working in a group opens the doors to different views and opinions. In our project, it was nice to see some of the pictures I posted in an ad someone else created. Then, I used some of the ideas from the first ad posted to create a whole new ad. One person’s ideas can help spark someone else’s ideas. I like the variety that working in a group brings to a project.
This was also my first time creating an ad. Looking for pictures was fun and fast. It was easy to search and find pictures of the 2006 Florida Gator team. I did struggle a little with the layout. I fussed with sizing the pictures, margins, and textboxes. After a little while, the page began looking like an ad. I was pleased with the end result, and my group seemed to be as well. I know my design skills are very basic, but I am interested in learning more.
Overall, I was pleased with the whole collaborative computing project. I felt like I learned a lot, and my group worked well together. I have truly gained so much knowledge in this class with each new project.
Gator Video Ad
Starting the Excel program was a little rocky. I had to repeatedly watch the video flash on text-functions. After several watches, it finally started to sink in. I played with the different text-functions until I found the right ones to plug into each formula. I easily found the Regions worksheet, and renamed the data. The video flash on pivot tables and goal seek were very informative. After watching the video a few times, making my pivot table, and using goal seek ran smoothly.
Overall, I enjoyed this part of the Computing Portfolio Project. At times I got frustrate when I could not figure something out. That is when I referred to the Excel Help discussion broad. The discussion broad gave me hope that I could get through the project. In the end, I feel good about what I accomplished, and what I learned from the experience. Before this project, my knowledge of Excel was very minimal. Learning about Excel text-functions, and how to use them was a beneficial skill for this project and future use of Excel in the business environment. Prior to watching the lecture on pivot tables and goal seek, I didn’t even know they were available tools in the Excel program. Understanding how to use them largely increased my skill level in Excel. I am no longer overwhelmed when using Excel. I really feel I better understand how to use the program, and how I can personally use it in the future.
Previous to this project, my knowledge of Microsoft Access was extremely limited. The database project was definitely the hardest project to get through. I had moments filled with complete frustration. Repeatedly, I would get stuck on one step for hours. In the end, persistence paid off. I completed the project, and created a database! More importantly, I now understand how a database works.
First, I learned about tables. Tables are probably the one thing I have used in Microsoft Access. In the past I have just listed information in the fields. With this project I learned what a primary key, data type, Lookup Wizard, Validation Rule, Validation Text, Input Mask, and more are, and how to use them.
Next, I learned about relationships, queries, and reports. Relationships and queries were completely new to me. Relationships sections offer me a good graphical way of looking at and viewing the different relationships. I learned how to choose the fields I wanted to match up, and how to create a one-to-many relationship. I find out the queries allow you to pull specific information from the tables to categorize the information you want. By specifying want I wanted in the criteria section, I could quickly update a table. The report section is a great feature. It quickly allowed me to create a printable version of my information in the database. I discovered that using the Report Wizard, I could pick specific information from the database to put into the report.
I feel that many of the applications I learned can be applied to my career in the future. As a business major, I will be working for a company one day. When you know how to correctly use applications in Microsoft Access, it enables you to save so much time. This is huge in the business environment. Time is money. With Microsoft Access, information can be stored fast, accessed fast, and altered fast.