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I am a student at the University of Mary Washington located in Fredericksburg Virginia. I’m currently studying to get my degree in computer science and minoring in cybersecurity. What got me most interested in this topic was the thought process and development of programs and wanting the knowledge and capabilities of creating one of my own. The goal is to create as many projects as possible before I graduate to have an exceptional amount of experience when I receive my degree.
The main purpose of this website as of right now would be to post mini projects that I am completing up until graduation. After graduation I want this website to serve as a resume displaying all my finished projects for future employers or businesses. If I ever want to take jobs of my own for businesses, then this will help display my capabilities and what programs I can create. Also, it will be helpful if I want to be employed in any big companies because it will also show employers my project history and information about me.
Digital Engagement #3
Images I want to place on the website have to Computer Science related. Every image that represents software or programming would fit into the theme of the website.
For example images that have computers, programming languages, futuristic themes, “0s &1s” to represent code, & other images related to those themes.
Example Website landing page:
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This image represents all the applications that are run by programs which are in need of programming by computer scientists. This would show the people clicking on the site all the everyday applications they use that are run by programs created by computer scientists.
Without Computer Science those programs and applications would not be available. Communicating and interacting with others on social media is all made possible by complex algorithms that show users information that are most likely to interact with. Even your device like phones or computers need programs to run which is why Computer Scientist work hard to constantly update algorithms and optimizing performance. This image shows a human hand shaking hands with a virtual hand which represents the connection between humans and computers signaling how it makes lives easier.
Digital Engagement #4 Generative AI
Generative AI is the use of artificial intellengence to generate text, image, audio, or videos using its database of information. The use of AI has lots of positives but each positive has its negatives. One positive is the ability to generate any images or videos you want, this allows for a more quick and cost effecient process for business that are in the graphic design or entertainment industry. However this has its downside, once business catch on to the AI trend it will realize that it can start laying off workers due to AI being faster and more cost efficient. This can be dramatic for people who just came out of college with a degree in graphic design because it would make it very difficult to find job opportunites. Another important disadvantage is the ability to create deepfake videos that could be used to spread misinformation. An examlpe of a deepfake is using a celeberity or imortant figure and making them say or do things that they never said or did. Another positive things from AI would be the ability to get quick facts from a simple question search, for example if you want to know the capital of all 50 states in alphabetical order AI would generate that answer in text form. However, the downside to generative AI text is plagerising, AI text could be used to plagirise and cheat. An example would be someone using it for completing an essay assignment or using it to get answers to a test. Its also important to note that AI text isnt always correct, there are still major reforms and updates that need to be done in order to ensure 100% accuracy.
Blog Post Written Anaylsis
The goals of these pictures is to create a nice, creative, & organized representation of the purpose of the website. All the images I have made all represent something about the topic of my website. The image to the left shows a person programming on a laptop, this image will be used to introduce the requirements for someone to become a computer scientist. Will also include text on what fields require degrees and what dont and average salary data. The image to the top that displays 1s and 0s will be the favicon, this is because I think it is a great way to distinguish this site from others because people will know what the meaning of it is. The image to the top right is almost like a web diagram associating all topics and key words that have to do with the computer science and software field. Some key words include algorithms which is the way programs are produced, another key word is data structures because programs store data in a unique way called data structures and those make sure every data field is in the correct place. Artificial intelegence is another big word because that is the latest trend and hot topic right now with its massive and rapid changes and updates its one of the most talked about subjects. Lastly, we have the bottom left image which I intend to put it as the center picture of the landing page, this is because it resembles us as a society connecting with technology. Almost 70 percent of people around the globe have access to some sort of technology which is what the hand touch the globe made up of a network.
The main tools I used to create this website is photoshop and the web. The web allowed me to look for the photos that matched my needs and photoshop helped me resize or edit the photos I picked. There was very little challenges I face with the only being making sure the file type matched the ones suported by WordPress but other then that everything else was straight forward. For the most part these images reached the goals for the first step of my website preparing it for the future add ons, links, and interactions.
Digital Engagement #5
This blog post includes a 30 second audio clip describing a few key tips you learned for getting started with audio projects.
Digital Engagement #6
The TV show I chose is a Netflix series called The 100 which takes place on a space station housing hundreds of survivors from different parts of the world after the Earth has become inhabitable for nearly 100 years ever since a major nuclear world war. Due to the space station almost losing all its oxygen supplies the president and lawmakers decided to send the juvenile prisoners from the space station to earth to see if it was habitable after all these years. This Show has 7 seasons but the first couple of seasons display how earths technological advancements led to its nuclear warfare destruction. These kids landed on earth and were able to breath and explore but their main task was to visit mount weather which was a military bunker. However, to the kids surprise they weren’t the only people on earth they was other people who have inhabited and adapted to the radiation levels. Getting past the threat the kids where kidnaped and taken to mount weather by people who have been living in the bunker since the beginning of the nuclear warfare that took place 100 years ago. The space station kids later then discovered that these people aren’t able to go outside due to radiation levels and had to extract bone marrow from the people that could. While all these events were taken place the Space station president and this other juvenile were on the quest to discover other parts of the earth, and they found a house that had an AI character named ally. It was then that they discovered that 100 years ago a scientist named ally made an AI chip that could replicate her and wanted it uses to be positive. However, the AI later started developing on its own and started taking control of other people by forcing an AI chip into their neck to mind control others. This AI would then launch nuclear missile from China to the USA and ultimately launch all the nuclear weapons around the world leading to the annihilation of almost all humans. This show started in 2017 but looking at where we are now with AI technology I can see how and what the TV show was trying to depict of AI and how dangerous it could be.
Digital Engagement #7
Everyday people use IoT devices, and I documented 24 hours of my day and how these devices affected my life. When I wake up I have my alarm go off and have a application on my phone to turn my car on and cool or heat the car to my preference. This is becoming a more and more common thing with new cars, these features are even coming to lower end affordable cars because of the evolving technology. Throughout the day while taking notes in class I can take pictures of PowerPoint notes and transfer them to the laptop I have. This tool is especially useful because it saves time and makes taking notes in class more efficient. In my house I have smart lights which can activate through phone or vocal commands and can change colors also. But other than that I didn’t really use other IoT devices throughout the day but doing this journal made me realize that sooner or later more IoT devices will be incorporated through our everyday lives. With new AI features coming to the phones and other devices that reality, I think is coming soon
Digital Engagement #9
Creating digital art with AI is very interesting and fascinating, with just a quick type up of any sentence you can create an image. This works by using high level algorithms that behaves like a human brain and uses the text from your writing to generate an image. For example, as shown in the picture to the right, if I want to make a dog pilot image, I can generate one by just typing a sentence into an AI program. You can also create video and audio using AI which is becoming more and more popular. However, with this new innovation comes lots of people around the world taking advantage and distributing misinformation with the help of AI generated media. You should always do your research before trusting things you see online because AI technology is only going to get smarter and more realistic from here.
Digital Engagement #10
The learning process into digital studies this semester was very interesting and I enjoyed learning about it. Starting from editing images tweaking their quality and creating unique digital art images. Another cool thing I really never went into was audio development, creating a podcast type project then using software to edit it was something I was new to and haven’t done before. Using the software took a couple of minutes to get used to all the tools but that then it got much easier. Creating a video project was also a fun project to do but that one took the longest due to editing. What was unique about my video project was that I decided to use AI to create it. Learning about these digital technologies and studies this semester will help me further on my design for my future personal website.
