We also learnt how to do a screen shot in class today, which i had not known how to do before… so just to brag about my new found skill, here is a screen shot of my mac at home!
So first blog, even though at the moment, no one related to the course I am meant to be writing for can even read this cause I am not really in the class!
This Tuesday you will have the oportunity to vote for the future President of the United States of America. A privilage not granted to alot of people around the world, and not some in your own country. The right to vote is something that wars have been waged over, even still today.
In 1999 only 12.2% of Americans between the ages of 18-25 voted in the US election. In 2004 20 Million young Americans voted, which was an increase on the 12 Million in 2000. Historically, only 54% of all those eligble to vote in the United States of America Vote in the US Presidential Election. Why am I reciting all these figures? In Australia it is compulsory to vote, and I am a staunch supporter of this. I believe you should have a say in how your country is run. Neither Australia nor the USA are Dictatorships, we elect the people we feel will represent us justly. Being that the case is in the US it is not compulsory to vote, the mojority of voters are 40-65 year old white males.
Do all those older white men know whats best for you? Do they know what issues affect you and your friends? Are they interested in support for young families, college students and young people struggling to cope in the current financial climate?
Get yourself as educated as you can in the next 24 hours on who you think represents you the best, sure you probably won’t agree with everything they stand for, hell, you may not even be able to relate to them, but you have a right to make sure the best person fills the job. Vote for the person who is going to have you, your kids and your grandkids best interests at heart.
I don’t propose to tell you who to vote for, I only implore you to be part of the process and vote on Tuesday. You may not think so but the choices your country makes affects the rest of the world, including (and quite majorly) Australia.
If you aren’t interested in the way your country is run, if you couldn’t care less if your President was an white guy or a black guy, even if you have something more important to do then helping decide who will be the leader of the free world, vote for us, the rest of us who give a damn. Vote for me, a 20 year old female living in Canberra, Australia, who cares about the state of the world. Vote for all the young people in Autralia who will now not be able to retire till they are 65+ because of the US Market crash, vote for my friends who can now not afford to buy a house because of the current economical crises. Vote for my dad, who is living in the middle east sorting out the mess over there. Vote for a Leader who is going to lead your country into better times.
Just go vote, its not that hard. Do it for us, the rest of the world. I implore you.
1. Build a data visualisation: scientific, sociological, ecological, personal (your own life,
for example, is a trove of data: blog posts, browser history, last.fm, iTunes, books
read, TV watched, meals eaten…). If the data is not your own, ensure that it is used
under an appropriate license. The visualisation can be either algorithmically
generated or hand-crafted, but consider how its design can help the user discern
patterns hidden in the “raw” data. Demonstrate an awareness of how different types
of visualisations are more or less useful at achieving their aims. Consult with your
tutor on possible techniques and forms to present your visualisation.
a) I have chosen to build a datavisualisation of the time I have spent overseas in the 20 years I have been alive. This is a personal datavisualisation, but could easily be the same for any other young person who has taken a gap year or travelled extensively. I chose this topic as it is one that I know a great deal about, and could be useful to another person who is preparing, or thinking about travelling overseas.
b) The theme I have chosen is (I believe) clear and easily read. I chose ‘Century Gothic’ as my font because I felt it was a clear and easily read type, that felt young and fresh. The color scheme is bright and eye catching, but hopefully does not take away from the text or graphs.
c) The visualisation is algorithmically generated using the graph generator on microsoft excel, then tailored to my specifications in photoshop. I chose a pie chart, a flow chart, a map and a bar graph because I felt that these were charts that younger people encounter frequently and would be able to read. I chose to display ‘facts’ from the charts or from data I gathered from my computer because it seems that people like ‘facts’ that they can recite to other people. These do not nessesarily tell you what you do not already know, but display information in a way that is easily recited.
Overall I am happy with my work. If I were to do it again I would print it off as the piece is meant to be veiwed on A3 Paper, and some text will be small when veiwed on a computer screen. Also, I would use only 5 or 6 colors.
I have two blogs, my tumblr blog and my wordpress blog. today I am going to compare the two, riveting stuff huh?
tumblr
my first impressions of tumblr were that it was very minimalist, there was not alot of personal information on there. the basic set up is a one column blog with no side column links or calenders etc. there is one theme option with a 3×3 column/row option, and of course the site allows for html so you can change the page however you want. however, the majority of tumblr’s i follow do not use this option.
due to the lack of ‘blog roll’ in a sidebar, there is the option for you to ‘follow’ someones tumblr blog. this means every time i log onto my blog, the dashboard comes up with my entries, and the latest entries from the people i follow. you should visit some of the ones i mostly keep track of:
njmcgee: one of the tutors from this unit, Nathan McGuiness. Lots of satire, cynicism and NMP related links “Intertwingled”
kari-shma: young woman (i guess) posts ALOT of images, photography, borrows from weheartit and other tumblr users “twentythree”
jess-with-spaghetti: my tumblr, mostly post images relating to my mood. still trying to get the colors how i want. “wendybird wonderings”
i think the thing i find most appealing about tumblr is the lack of writing. there are no long blogs, just one or two lines, an image, a song, some dialogue, one thing. you also cannot post more then one picture in a single entry, which i like, but i am not sure why. i think it is very easy to be personal on tumblr, people share alot about themselves with the types of things they post. when someone blogs something cool, there is also the option for you to ‘reblog’ it on your own page, for example, this post about marilyn monroe girls vs. audrey hepburn girls (written by a dude) has been reblogged ALOT. go visit.
for the record… don’t really care much about either of those women, but i would like to hope i was audrey hepburn type of girl
tumblr is super basic, it only offers you minimal post options, but with the html option there is alot of freedom for those who know how to use it. it is a great blog site.
9/10
wordpress
my wordpress blog is the one i set up for school. i made my own banner, using photoshop, and tried to make the theme a little tiny representation of myself. the blog is like a typical blog, single column for posts, left hand side bar for archive, blog roll, tag cloud (my favorite feature) calender, etc. i can also import my del.ici.ous. links and flickr photos so they appear on my the sidebar.
i have 13 links on the side of my page, 11 of which are blogs, 3 are tumblr blogs, 5 are uni students and unit staff blogs. these are great to have because i can keep up to date on whats going on.
i post LONG blogs (sometimes) on wordpress, so when i am in a longwinded mood this suits me just fine. i love the fact that with some themes you can post your own header, and you have alot of freedom with how the site can look. i like the fact that there is a comments option, however, i find it hard to get back to the person who commented, to go visit their blog. i also like that you can embed videos, audio and images into your posts.
the dashboard is very cluttered however, and my ’status’ bar rarely if ever works. there is alot of information on the welcome page.
all in all i like wordpress for the freedom i have to post essays etc, but it does not suit my lifestyle like tumblr does. i want a blog where i can post one thing and go, i have barely enough time to eat before i leave the house for uni everyday.
