Tram Le

Is it week 10 already?

letra — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 08:50:55 +0000

I did not know what to expect going into the term, but I am glad I had sign up for this course. This class has made me more aware of how technology and gender roles relate together. Before this class I never knew why people love to blog so much or why people would even bother reading them. Now I know it is very informative and can be interesting. I enjoyed this class and hope everyone else did as well. Have a great summer!!

Setting up and using RSS

letra — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 05:39:49 +0000

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and by no means does the name elude the ease it takes when getting the latest news. The RSS is a function within your browser that lets you access periodically updated articles, blogs, videos and audio. Somewhat like a feed of information and updating you on what is currently being said or written about. Like a live ticker in a sense, that can be customized to your liking.

I have used the RSS functions awhile back when surfing through my internet browser and it being pre set up already. I saw that is showed the current headlines and was easy to access the latest news articles and even had videos. With RSS you can simply set it to put updates in anything you may be interested in, from world news to local news to sports to celebrity gossip. From this exercise I did learn that you can subscribe to people’s blogs, which I didn’t know you could do. Not only can I know see classmates blogs now but see when they update and what the latest thing they wrote was about. Seeing this and setting it up was very easy, just clicking on the bookmark pulldown and clicking the subscribe button. Very simple to set up and very simple to use.

With my new found knowledge of knowing I can subscribe to blogs, I will definitely use that for my own pleasure in the blogs that I try to keep up with now. It is a great way to organize and bookmark blogs and articles. This is also easier then going to a news website and scrolling through all the news and finding the ones you are actually interested in.

A screen shot of the WS320 class RSS subscriptions:

Screen shot by Tram Le 2012

Listening to Web Pages

letra — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 06:46:42 +0000

This was really mind blowing!

I never knew such an option even existed on my computer. It was very easy to set up and extremely simple to use. I am using a Macintosh (Apple) computer running operating system X snow leopard, so it was really a few clicks away. No additional programs were needed in this process. Simply clicking on the apple icon on the top left corner, then system preferences. Once in there under the system categories, clicking the speech icon. Once in this menu I was able to check the “speak selected text when key is pressed”. I was then able to set the key stroke to activate the text speech, I set my key stroke as “command + s”. I also went through the different voices to see which I enjoyed listening too and selected the voice named “victoria”. So to make this work, when on a webpage or program with text, highlighting the text you wanted read then pressing the command keys, the computer will then read the highlighted text.

I have used the text speech option a few times now and have found it quite useful. I have used it when reading articles and it has helped me multi task. One thing I have found is that, when I am letting the computer do the reading for me I tend to be doing other things, which may distract me from actually absorbing all the context. I do feel however it is very relieving on the eyes after a long day of looking at the computer. Also it is helpful when takings notes and continuing to listen or read what is on the computer. So I guess its a give and take and how much attention to put into this. You can definitely make it work for you and it could make your life easier. This will be a great tool for me in the future and I am excited to share this with my friends as well.

Teach Project Idea

letra — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 06:08:45 +0000

For my final project I want to teach people something important that anyone could benefit from knowing. For those who owns a car or have a driver license, sooner or later, flat tires are bound to happen to most people. One moment your are driving along with your mind on some important agenda, and suddenly your car pulls to one side and you hear that dreaded flapping sound of a flat tire. Even though, nowadays, many drivers have roadside assistance services that will come fix you flats, but it is always smart to know how to change a flat yourself.

I will be using a step by step instructions format including pictures and a video at the end on how to change a flat tire.

Other articles on how to change a flat tire: Edmunds and wikiHow.

Dreams do come true!

letra — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:22:19 +0000

I have just finish working on the final touches for my financial analysis project and am now in the process of choosing what I should do for my Teach project.

While working on my financial analysis project I have learned that studying abroad in Japan can be a very costly dream but at least after all the research I have done I now know how to prepare for the study. I now understand the process of applying for studying in Japan, how much money I would need to start saving up, and what my budget needs to be. Now all I have to do is start saving money to put aside for the trip. I can’t wait for Japan!

Dream Big, Dream on.

letra — Mon, 21 May 2012 06:09:32 +0000

Growing up and going through school, everyone has their dreams of what they want to become, where they want to be in “x” amount of years, and what they want to accomplish. Besides the biggest dream of becoming successful and rich beyond my desires, I feel there are a few dreams I hope to accomplish soon and feel it is in my grasps.

- finish school and open up boutique selling clothes and shoes

- travel abroad for a semester to Japan, study abroad learning about fashion and culture

- culinary school, my love for food has created a great interest in how its made

Though these dreams are very different from one another I feel though as if my love for each of these categories, will embark me on a journey of happiness, and though I may fail at one I feel as though I will proceed to the next until I find true happiness. I will be very interested to dive a little deeper into one of these topics and research to see if this dream is even plausible and how i will be able to make it happen. Im excited!

More cultural site

letra — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:56:28 +0000

Continued working on the culture site and finished it up. I finally got the pages of the culture site to show up on the side menu. As for the culture site I definitely learned a lot about the industry of bio energy and sustainable energy. One thing that was shocking to me was how one person can have such an affect on the world. Imagining if Dr. Hong Liu’s work would in the future expand and become of world-wide use could change the world. This is definitely an inspiration to me and how finding something you enjoy in life and working on that weather it be technology or music or art could change the world in many ways.

Pages…where are my pages…

letra — Mon, 07 May 2012 06:39:46 +0000

So as I am still working and writing on my culture site pages, I am also working on how to create the pages. I have set up the pages by using the “add pages” and putting them under the correct parent page but the pages are not showing up. I am not sure if it is because of my computer or something I need to do through here, maybe a change of theme so it will work correctly? I figure I will spend more time writing the actual content and finishing that up then trying to figure out the pages. Hopefully all this will be completed here shortly in the next couple days as I have dedicated more time to this after a couple finals I have been studying for and projects I have been working on last week.

Research

letra — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:22:15 +0000

I was pretty new to the whole library system here at Oregon State, so jumping in head first was very educational and resourceful, something I will remember for future research projects/papers/etc. Having someone to reach out to for my first experience was definitely a plus. Since I didn’t find much time between classes and before 5pm, I was unable able to utilize the library chat function but that is something I would like to do in the future and find that option to be very handy.While researching for the cultural site project, trying to find information on not only the person I had selected but cultural outlooks from another country and focused topics, I found that utilizing the school’s library network was on the beginning to how far the network actually expanded too. I was able to find videos, news articles from magazines, local newspaper writings as well as books and more educational resources that I am more familiar with. The network has an amazing amount of different resources to pull from. Research through here has definitely expanded the horizon for my research ability, rather then the normal “googling” of topics, which will of course still be used but now I have options!

Dr. Hong Liu

letra — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:04:16 +0000

Dr. Hong Liu is an assistant professor at Oregon State University. In the past few years Dr. Liu has been working on microbial fuel based technologies, specifically trying to harness electricity from waste water. Coming from a different country (Republic of China) to adapt and make such a great impact (technology wise, as well as well as educationally to others) is quite the achievement and amazing all on its own. Coming from a culture that took great leaps and bounds to get past gender issues and segregation definitely played an affect on women who grew up in China. Being that the furthest I have ever really traveled was from Portland, OR to Corvallis, OR to change my living situation and doing so mainly to get an education has me definitely looking at the scope of things quite differently, seeing others take such strides is very inspirational. Dr. Liu’s technology expands to the category of Biological and Ecological Engineering, a subject that affects everyone because these are the fundamental resources of modern civilization (water and energy). Being able to explore and connect with such an individual would be amazing, having Dr. Liu in such close proximity at the university as well as her contact information would give the opportunity to potentially interview her via in person, phone, or email.