Copyright

Some people may believe that the internet is a free web base where everything and anything is fair game to be used and duplicated. This is a common myth when in reality the internet possess many strict copyright laws.

For example, let's say that a student wishes to publish a web page and is shopping around for images to enhance their page. Their are some websites out there that allow users to search through a database of photos with no copyright restrictions. Luckily though students fall under what is the 'fair use' policy. Under the 'fair use' policy students, teachers, and journalists may use images or words for private use as long as they give a citation. Unfortunately, if you are neither of the three you have to get specific permission from the author to use the image.

There are other regulations such as spontaneity. For example if you just run across an image on the internet you can print it out and make copies to distribute it to a class, giving credit where credit is due of course. If you know in advance what image you will be using it is necessary to ask the author for permission.

Internet images, just like essays, contain many copyright laws that users must be aware of.

Can I Facebook That?

I read the article titled "Can I Facebook That?" written by Mary Ellen Bates. This article first caught my attention because I happen to be one of the millions of college students addicted to facebook. Our lives are all put in that little space of ether. Our past, our pictures, our friends, our future plans, our relationship status, and our families.

In this article Mary Ellen Bates discusses that the millenium generation has this idea that everything they could possible need is out there on the web. That all you have to do is 'google' it. And when our search engine produces no results we change the question instead of our method of reaching the answer. She even says that students keep their heads on their desk because if they don't understand something they'll just bypass their teacher and take their questions straight to Jeeves.

I thought this article was interesting and spot on. Our generation is not used to thinking for themselves but we are very good at googling those who do.

Microsoft Office - the basics

When reading through the first chapters of A Guide to Microsoft Office 2007 I realized that I'm pretty well versed in the basics. This is my first experience working with the 2007 version but it's all basically the same. The 2007 version is actually just easier to use. For example, I always knew about the "find" and "replace" function but could never find it, but now it is conveniently located in the home ribbon.

I feel that any student of the 21 century is well acquainted with almost everything these three chapters discuss. I have never had anyone of my fellow classmates ask me, "How do I save/print/type/open a document?" For us, it's like breathing, it's just second nature. Sections such as using the "world wide web" seemed so elementary and laughable to me. We can all use the world wide web we can even probably tell you the color of your car by using "Google World"". Most students have written many essays using the MLA format so we can indent our paragraphs, add footnotes, write a bibliography, and find the print preview command.

I'm not saying though that I am a self proclaimed Microsoft God, even I have to admit that there are somethings I just don't understand. Something always seems to go wrong when I try to attach a document to an e-mail and I'm sure that's just user error. I'm also curious about the new 'research' button located in Review ribbon. I have never used a template before and wouldn't really know where to start when creating one. Additionally, I don't always have the best luck when creating a hyper-link or html file.

In conclusion, there are things I still need help on but I feel confident when navigating through Microsoft Office.

- Alexandra Chambers