My Website

LINK TO WEBSITE: http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~hsayrs

I had a lot of fun creating my personal portfolio website. I intend to keep adding to it over time. My contact information is available on my website as well. Feel free to contact me if you ever need anything or are wondering about things happening next semester with the SOS and TU Fit clubs.

Also, please visit my website and leave comments here about improvements and or questions!
See you guys around campus :)

Dear Newbies

This tech class covers so much more than the basics. Coming in, I expected to not learn as much as I did. Surprisingly, this class has pushed me to new levels and has allowed me to try new things such as website design and photoshop. I never thought I would be able to create my own website from scratch! Friends always ask me what project is that for? I tell them the EIT class and they are shocked. This is the kind of class that you can take to whatever level you want. Ms. Belisle creates an environment in which all of her students can succeed in and feel confident about their work. There is nothing to fear! Sit back and enjoy your EIT experience :)

Gazing upon the Wasteland

Gazing upon the Wasteland

For my photoshop assignment, I took the opportunity to express an environmental concern that has been building up globally and primarily in the United States: Waste. Waste and pollution are directly correlated to overconsumption, something quite prevalent throughout the West. Specifically, the consumption of plastic and plastic waste is what truly upsets me. Plastic is toxic (contains BPA), most of it cannot be recycled, and over 80% of all non-recycled plastics end up in developing nations (such as the one used above from India) who suffer the consequences of our first world consumption. This week (today and tomorrow in Coates), SOS is promoting a school-wide "Bag the Plastic" campaign. We are asking students to be aware of their plastic use and try to limit it as much as possible. How to combat this global issue is by starting with the self: Reduce, reuse, recycle, in that order.

I chose to place the landfill photo in a spherical shape, which represents the earth. The idea of a higher power represents the hand holding the earth among the heavenly backdrop (clouds and light). Both the landfill and the clouds photos were not distorted, which I find truly fascinating [See original images below]. I use the image of the child in the gas mask to provoke a feeling of an uncertainty and fear for the future generations that will be dealing with the waste and pollution problems our generation and the one before us have created.

Preliminary Photos Used in this Work:

Photo Fakery: How Food Images Influence Taste Perception

How Images of Other Consumers Influence Subsequent Taste Perceptions

This article addressed photo manipulation from a very specific perspective on food images. These images are seemingly everywhere, and yet the influence that such images have on consumers outcomes is not well understood. The authors propose that the effect that image exposure has on taste perceptions largely depends on the interaction between the type of food (healthy vs. unhealthy) and whether the image shows the food alone (food image) or the food being consumed by a person (consummatory image). Specifically, the authors show that exposure to consummatory images that have been distorted with tools such as photoshop of unhealthy (vs. healthy) foods, also manipulates taste perception relative to food images. The author proposed that the effect of seeing an image of someone else engaging in unhealthy food habit makes it seem socially acceptable, and therefore the audience will perceive it as such. 

Interestingly, this argument would be useful in reform of fast-food (unhealthy food) commercials. Obesity is an epidemic in the United States. Part of this epidemic directly relates to how the average US citizen interacts with the market. We are a consumerist nation and companies that market and promote unhealthy foods are partially responsible for the consumption and obesity problems prevalent throughout the country. If we can change the norms on food consumption in the United States perhaps we would see a decrease in obesity rates.

Works Cited

Poor, Morgan, Adam Duhachek, and H. Shanker Krishnan. "How Images Of Other Consumers Influence Subsequent Taste Perceptions." Journal Of Marketing 77.6 (2013): 124-139. Business Source Complete. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

Class Presentations

My Presentation

Before presenting, I had a sequenced plan of how I wanted to present my topic. That plan sort of just went out the window when the person going right before me also chose yoga as a topic! Because of this, I was forced to adapt my presentation. Ironically, the most important thing I learned with this presentation was to allow for more flexibility in the outcome of the presentation. Flexibility is a key component of yoga, as well as life. If you fall out of a posture, you are told to get right back in it and to keep persevering and not to worry about how your posture looks (especially compared to others in the class). Flexibility is key in the outcome of poses: both physically and mentally.

Class Critique

Wow. The assortment of topics was most interesting to the say the least. Everyone's presentation was extremely different and unique. I was most surprised by the amount of personality and individuality that came through with each presentation. My average class presentation rating was a 9.167 and in my opinion, every presentation was well done. However, there were some that stuck with me more than others. One of the presentations that I have not stopped thinking about was texting and driving ( by Andrew).  Not only is it a pressing issue, but the topic was presented in  a heartfelt and informative way. Another presentation I though was very well done was on the topic of couch surfing. Will brought a lot of experience and enthusiasm to his subject and truly made me want to create an account on couchsurfing.com. His information was very clear and the presentation was graphically pleasing. I enjoyed the presentation from start to finish!

Google: Searching for the Right Results

Today in EIT...
Chris Nolan raised some interesting points about the structure of Google's database and how it makes money as a monopolistic firm in the market. Statistics show that Google is the most popular search engine today, and is used by over 66% of all U.S citizens. Not surprisingly, over 90% of all of Google's revenue is from advertising. There is some controversy around this idea because Google is so widely used. Although Google claims they do not alter searches based on advertising (i.e. type in a search and get first page of results), there are a lot of things that slip through the cracks. Google tries to prevent spam but because the database is so large, there is a lot more room for firms to manipulate the database.
How It Works
Ever wonder how search results come up? The mechanisms used to find information are very complex and highly technical. Strategic algorithms, page quality and "web crawling" are all used to compute a result from the search engine. Web crawling defines how sites have links from page to page. There is also an invisible algorithm that is being developed on social networks as well as Google. For example, the more information you provide on these various networks, the more they tailor to your interests. All of these mechanisms work together to produce a result from your search. Ranking algorithms are evolving every day. Today, there is an occupation called search engine optimization (SEO), where firms try and research the best ways to advertise a product based on search results in Google.
NEW TERMS 
 "internet junk food" defines pop culture information that floods websites and is fun to read (usually false information)
"information bubble" is defined as the bubble that social networks and other internet filters place around you based on your personal interests and frequent searches

Next time you type a search, ask yourself: is internet is telling you what it wants you to see? Or are you telling it what you want to see?

5 Reasons Why Powerpoint Can be a Drag....

TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH TEXT

• Presentations should not be overwhelming with text. If you want the audience to read it
• Text can be distracting and taking away from the overall point of the slide

NO Interaction

• It is important to interact with audience rather than just talk at them
• Bring visual aids, conduct demonstrations and ask questions to engage the audience

Linear/ Lack of Unique Mediums

• Dynamic presentations are always better than static ones
• Include transitions, videos and cool graphs to change up the flow of the presentation

Irrelevant

• Presentations should be focused as if you were presenting a paper. 
• It should be formatted with a beginning, a middle and an end!

Unorganized

• Organized presentations are easier for the audience to follow and stay tuned in
• avoid tangents and unnecessary info.