Avatar

In my ISM3004 class, my latest project I completed involved my creativity, and so far has been one of my favorite assignments. My task was to create an Avatar. Before I started, I was already worried thinking that it would be difficult. However, it turned out to be rather simple.

I began my assignment by accessing www.doppelme.com. It was there I got to pick the sex of my Avatar, and work my way from there. As I went along in my creation, I was able to choose my Avatar's eye color, hair color, outfit and accessories. I admit, my creativity did take the best of me as I began to have fun as I made it. Shown before is my Avatar, hope you enjoy it!

Database Project

My latest task I completed in my ISM3004 class is my first ever attempt at creating a database. Like the previous Excel project I completed, I again was working for a local gym. The name I created for this gym was "Kristi's 24 Hour Fitness." My task for the project was to create a database storing information about the gym's members. More specifically, I had to take existing member data from a spreadsheet and transform it for greater data management and reporting power of a DBMS. I was able to transform this information from the spreadsheet into a database as the spreadsheet was exported to a CSV file.

(http://www.tech-faq.com/what-is-a-database.html)

My next step was creating the database. Because I own a Mac, I could not use Access which is the common database program used for Windows, so instead downloaded a trial of FileMaker Pro database software.

(http://www.thewwwblog.com/filemaker-pro-application-for-mac.html)

On FileMaker Pro, I began by importing the data in a FileMaker table and changed the data to a Field Type of Date. I then, created my own custom layout to make my database more user friendly. From creating my database, I learned how helpful they are for businesses are you select your own criteria for your records and organize everything. I never noticed how much of a difference it makes from an Excel spreadsheet through organizing large quantities of data and having everything easy to find all in one location. I was able to create a form which allowed me to display the data in a more user-friendly format. I also, through FileMaker "Find", was able to select a specific criteria (in my case Individual Membership types) from the whole database - therefore allowing me easier management of my DBMS.  Over all, through creating my database on FileMaker, I became absolutely amazed on how you can automate tasks through one quick command. 

With this being said, while in the project I had to make a "Departed Member Report" to allow the fitness center (Kristi's 24 Hour Fitness) owner follow-up with people who have recently left the gym to see why they left the gym and try to entice them to return. Personally, I think looking at registration dates to see if there is a trend on when most people join the gym could potentially help with knowing the best time to advertise and run promotions to entice even more gym registrations. I think focusing on people leaving is a weak tactic and instead, I would dedicate on trying to gathering more memberships rather than applying a focus on earning them back.

All in all, thanks to the database project, I was introduced to a whole new method of organizing and maintaining large volumes of data and enabling myself to organize it much easier than I could have with a spread sheet and seeing how helpful it can be for a business.

Tutorial Blog 3

As I begin to make my way towards the end of my Spring semester ISM3004 class, I figured it would be important for my third blog posting to discuss one of the fastest growing mediums, the Internet. By definition, the Internet is a world-wide network of networks, connecting businesses, government agencies, educational institutions and individuals. While most people call the Internet the Web interchangeably, the Web is actually just one of the sources available to the Internet.

(http://www.designswan.com/archives/9-popular-internet-browser-icons.html)

Before ISM, I had absolutely no idea how the Internet is actually accessed, or how it was run. There are actually two types of computers connected to the Internet, there is "the client" which asks for data and "the server" who receives requests from the client and finds the data and serves it up to the client computer on a browser. Shown here is a quick YouTube clip about the history of Internet and how it has progressed:

YouTube

Then, to access the Internet there are two ways to do so: Dial-Up and High Speed (Broadband). Dial-Up, which has recently become close to extinct, is a modem connected to a standard phone line which is infamous for being slow as well as requiring a new connection each time it is used. The most common method is High Speed (also known as Broadband), which incorporates DSL, Cable, Wireless and Satellite - providing users with faster connections as well as always being accessible as long as the computer is on.

Even more recent to Broadband, there is Wi-Fi - a wireless technology brand created by InterBrand and owned by the Wi-Fi Alliance (mistakenly short for Wireless Fidelity). Wi-Fi uses radio waves to transmit signals.

Going back to the Web, the Web is most commonly used for searching for, sharing and using information, as well as viewing and sharing media and chat services. With this being said, Search Engines are encompassed in the Web and there are three parts to them. The first is "the Spider" which seeks out data, second being "the Index" which organizes data and finally the search engine software the user reacts with and how the results are given.

Next to navigating the Web, the web runs off of IP and Web addresses. An IP address is an internet protocol address with a number that uniquely identifies each computer/device to the Internet. It consists of four groups of numbers separated by periods. Web Addresses, which sound a little more complex, consist of a protocol, domain name, TLD, path and file name. They run with a Domain Name System (DNS) which translate domain names to IP addresses so that computers and devices can find each other and data can be routed from one computer to another.

The Web site link we are all most commonly used to seeing is known as a URL. By definition, a URL is a uniform resource locator, or in other words a unique address for a web page leaving a web server to deliver the content to your computer. A URL has four parts: (1) a Protocol (which is the http), (2) a Domain Name/TLD (which would be for example www.ufl.edu), (3) Path (which are subdirectories), and finally (4) the File Name (which would be the index.html).

We then, view the Internet through Browsers, which are programs used to view web pages. A few examples of browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape, Safari and Opera.

All in all, the Internet is a fast-growing device which is becoming more popular and accessible each day. Close to every household owns Internet and the amount of time people spend on the Internet is becoming longer and longer.

For more information on the Internet, you can also go to: History of the Internet and More.

GFW2011.

For my Presentation project for my ISM class, I chose to write about my current internship I have had for the past two years with Gainesville Fashion Week. Gainesville Fashion Week is a four-day long series of events focusing on fashion, art, music and culture. Gainesville Fashion Week shows both local and national designers and was lucky enough this year to receive recognition from Southern Living magazine as "one of the best fashion shows of the south."

While I chose Gainesville Fashion Week due to my accessibility to media for it, I did not receive the extent of work in creating a Presentation. I had to begin by first establishing the event as well as finding what I thought was most important of all the information I have gathered about the event to describe. I chose to focus the attention on this years' event as it is most recent.

The next difficulty I came across was incorporating my voice to the presentation as this is something I have never done. To do this, I created a powerpoint presentation which I then focused on each slide, grabbed as a JPEG image on my MacBook and had to transform them into an iMovie on my MacBook which I could then process with my voice and upload to a YouTube.

I incorporated bright colors and tried not to make my presentation too long or to ramble to not bore the viewer, as well as tried to use the brightness to draw attention. I also included multiple pictures so it was not all just wording.

Here is the YouTube link to my Presentation, hope you enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWo2OqDrOYo

Also, if you would like to see each slide (without the voiceover), I also created a slide presentation which you can view here:

http://www.slide.com/s/DLAtieXK6T-GQMSdZt9jFwXZJ7mHqH52