Author: Jennie’s site

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Final Project post and link

Accessibility

For my final project I made sure to make my page accessible to everyone.   All of my images have alt text attached.  I made sure that the alt text was descriptive enough to convey what they image is but not too “wordy”.  I wanted to ensure that the colors of my page stood out, but were not so vibrant that it was offensive to the eyes or hard to read.  I did this especially when it came to the headers and the font size and color.  I wanted it to make the different sections obvious so it made it easy to find each specific topic.  I tried to make my descriptive text clear and that it showed what the link was going to lead to.  Although some were more difficult than others.  All of my audio was transcribed and has captions.  However, I had difficulty getting the caption timing to line up with the audio of the video.

Polished and Complete

I would like to think that my site is “polished and complete”.   I have my header with my site logo as well as a favicon.  I have a landing page that is clear, friendly, and easy to read, understand, and follow.  I have my footer with my “lorem ipsum” information.  However, I feel that it even if it were “perfect” it would still be wrong.

Information Accuracy

When completing my research and my interviews I spoke with subject matter experts in the field.  I wanted to ensure that what I was sharing was true.  Although there were some things that I had to use the internet to find, the majority was done through the interview process. 

Copyright and Attribution

To determine the copyright I wanted, I chose to use the Creative Commons License Chooser.  It was very easy to navigate the site to figure out what you wanted.  I knew that I wanted people to be able to use my work but I feel that credit needs to be given.  I also knew that I didn’t want my work to be used for commercial purposes.  I know that by choosing the next one, I was making it difficult for my work to be improved upon, but I chose that my work could only be used in an unadapted form.    That meant that the license that was recommended to me was

RECOMMENDED LICENSE

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

This license requires that reusers give credit to the creator. It allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form and for noncommercial purposes only.

  • BY: Credit must be given to you, the creator.
  • NC: Only noncommercial use of your work is permitted.Noncommercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation.
  • ND: No derivatives or adaptations of your work are permitted.

Media Used

The audio and video that was used in my project was taken with an iPhone 13 ProMax.  I do not have access to or the ability to get more sophisticated equipment.  However, since I am not majoring in anything that pertains to film making, I felt that this was acceptable and did a pretty good job with both the audio and visual recordings.  I also felt, with the topic that I chose, using my phone to take pictures, videos, and recording made people more comfortable.  As well as making it safer for me to go into some of the places I did to get pictures and video. 

AI

Although I have really enjoyed playing around with the features that AI offers, I wanted to use actual pictures that were taken of the homeless in my town.  I felt that doing this drove the point home more than using computer generated images.   

Final Thoughts

I came into the start of this semester and this course hopeful.  I was hoping to learn something that I didn’t know how to do, that I did, but I wanted to gain more.  Although I did enjoy the class I felt that I was a “bothersome” student.  I know that I am old school, but I feel that if a student reaches out to a teacher, they shouldn’t be told to contact someone else, the Digital Center.  Like I said, I am sure that I was bothersome but I was and am trying to understand what we were doing.  I grew up before the internet started and have watched it grow and progress.  I can do some things but this was more difficult that I thought it would or should be.  Again, I did enjoy the class and I did learn quite a bit so please don’t think that I didn’t. 

Project link

https://only6creditsleft.fastorangecar.net/blog

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Final Project

Idea

For my final project I would like to continue with my Podcast. 

cartoon girl with blue hair who seems very stressed thinking the thoughts in the thought bubble are colorful but jumbled.

image created through Canva AI Dream-Lab

individual sitting thinking but smiling and the thought bubble is colorful and jumbled seems to be becoming clearer

Image created through Canva AI Dream-Lab

Proposal

I would like to be able to re-do/re-configure my original podcast video.  I have the first podcast talking about homelessness and affordable housing.  I would like to continue on that same track and have my next one talk about homeless shelter “living”.  The final podcast I would like to have discussing the likelihood of shelter residents finding and being able to maintain housing and the challenges that come with it.  I would conduct interviews with shelter personal and their case manager to find my information. 

cartoon image of excited or happy woman interviewing 2 people and writing down their responses to her questions.

Image created through Canva AI – Dream Lab

Conclusion

I look forward to heraring your thoughts on my project proposal during our Zoom meeting on Monday.

this is an image of a cartoon male and a cartoon female meeting over Zoom and discussing their ideas

Image created through Canva AI – Dream Lab

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Data-driven Storytelling

Information used

The information that I used was the information that we had to find last week for the project. The information that I found last week was the number of undergraduate students enrolled at UMW as of December 2023. I took the programs with the highest and lowest number of students enrolled. This information was obtained from the University of Mary Washington website.

chart with a black backtround and red bars showing each of the departments for course of study at the University of Mary Washington and the nubmer of students enrolled in each department.

Information presentation

I chose to do a short video. There are many occasions that when you are attempting to share data it can be BORING!! I know that I personally have had to sit through meetings or presentations that during that time all you could think is…this could have been an email. I chose an option that with images and “ear catching” background music would keep the attention of the viewer.

How it was made

Although I did not use video footage, I did use photographs, still images, and factual information sheet within the presentation to show the information I was trying to share. The video was made in Microsoft Clipchamp. I believe, for me at least, that is the easiest format to use to create and share your video creations.

Presentation

Credit for informatio used

Images of the University of Mary Washington

Student Enrollment

Course InformationSample Page

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Data Project Checkpoint

UMW Institutuinal Analysis & Effectiveness: Grade Distributuion Report: 2023-2024 Grade Distribution Summary

Grade Distribution Report 2023-2024

Undergrad Students per Department

Letter Grades per Department

Sherrill_Jennie-9.6 Data Project CheckpointDownload

What I found

While looking through the grades that were earned for the Spring semester of 2024 and the number of students that are enrolled in the different departments I noticed that Business has the largest enrollment of students. However, they do not have the hightest average grade point average. What also needs to be evaluated though is the fact that the CLPR department has a substancially lower nubmer of students than the Business Department. This causes the data to be greatly different and possibly ineffective.

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Homelessness & Affordable Housing – Project 8

Making of the video

I used my iPhone 13 ProMax. The iPhone has an exceptional camera and is easy to handle and use. It does not require a lot of equipment that needs to be carried around and is discrete.  The most difficult part of filming was around town.  Setting up a tripod and attempting to shoot any video coverage was interesting to say the least.  Everyone wants to know what you are doing and what the video is for.  Unfortunately, a lot of the individuals that I would have liked to get into the video footage did not want to cooperate without some sort of “payment”.

I used ClipChamp to edit my video.  It was easy to use and understand.  The most difficult part was figuring out how to get it saved so I would have the correct link to embed within my blog post. 

Video

Transcript

Hi, this Jenny and I’m here with Faith from New Beginnings and we’re going talk about homelessness in Culpeper. Faith. What can you tell me about homelessness in Culpeper? homelessness, in Culpeper is definitely a bigger problem than what people realize. There are many individuals that are chronic have homeless for five, 10, 15 years, and then there’s a large population of people recently, experiencing homelessness due to the job economy. The housing market, not being able to find affordable housing and availability or becoming evicted because they’re unable to Maintain their rent. What is? A housing. So, affordable housing is supposed to be housing that does not exceed about 33% of your monthly income. However, most housing in this area for low income, for one bedroom apartment runs. Starting at about 1100 dollars, and for someone that may be like on disability, that’s only making about 900 dollars a month. They don’t even make enough to make the payment. Let alone only a third that. So do you think Affordable housing will help the homeless population. Think affordable housing will help the homeless population if actually becomes affordable if they base it more on a sliding scale based the individual individuals income rather than on percentages of the national average or the regional average. And the actual population of this area is right. Well, thank you, faith. For enlightening us on homelessness. You’re welcome.

Attributions

David Roberts for his outreach and misinterial message that he gives to the homeless in our town.

Faith Smith from New Beginnings Outreach for her continuing support and for all that she does for the community.

Music by Pixabaycom

Information about Culpeper Crossing

Image by Canva.com

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Checkpoint Assignment: Video Shotlist & Test Recording

Why I chose my images

Although I live in a “sma ll town” the number of homeless or “unsheltered” individuals would probably surprise you. I have chosed to shoot some of the most popular “hang out” spots, a “tent city”, and one of our most popular locals who directs traffic for tips.

Equiptment Used

I am choosing to use my iPhone 13 ProMax. It has excellent recording ability for both audio and video. It is easy to find attachments to secure it to a tripod. For the topic I have chosed this is the most discret and unformitable device that I could chose.

Shot List

list of video locations and shots selected

Video

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Homelessness and Affordable Housing

image of happy families in the common yard of an apartment building on one side and homeless individuals in the same common area on the other. The photo is divided.

photograph generated by Artificial Intelegence.

Homelessness and Affordable housing

Podcast Transcript

Hi, this Jenny and I’m here with Faith from New Beginnings and we’re going talk about homelessness in Culpeper. Faith. What can you tell me about homelessness in Culpeper? homelessness, in Culpeper is definitely a bigger problem than what people realize. There are many individuals that are chronic have homeless for five, 10, 15 years, and then there’s a large population of people recently, experiencing homelessness due to the job economy. The housing market, not being able to find affordable housing and availability or becoming evicted because they’re unable to Maintain their rent. What is? A housing. So, affordable housing is supposed to be housing that does not exceed about 33% of your monthly income. However, most housing in this area for low income, for one bedroom apartment runs. Starting at about 1100 dollars, and for someone that may be like on disability, that’s only making about 900 dollars a month. They don’t even make enough to make the payment. Let alone only a third that. So do you think Affordable housing will help the homeless population. Think affordable housing will help the homeless population if actually becomes affordable if they base it more on a sliding scale based the individual individuals income rather than on percentages of the national average or the regional average. And the actual population of this area is right. Well, thank you, faith. For enlightening us on homelessness. You’re welcome.

The Podcast Process…

I have never created a Podcast, and quite honestly, I never thought that I would. I found that the Soundtrap website was the easiest to used. After watching the “how to” videos it was very easy to navigate through and manipulate your recording to have them the way you want them. I did my original recording on my iPhone. I am not “tech savy” so using my phone was the easiest way for me to be albe to record audio files and send them to myself for editing. The only time I used AI was for the image that was included. In all honesty, I think that I enjoyed this project the most of all that we have done so far.

Attributions

David Roberts for his outreach and misinterial message that he gives to the homeless in our town.

Faith Smith from New Beginnings Outreach for her continuing support and for all that she does for the community.

Music by Pixabaycom

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Checkpoint Assignment: Podcast Outline & Test Recording

Idea

I would like to do a short interview/ have a conversation about homelessness and lack of affordable housing within our community.  The goal of my project would be to inform people about the homeless and that it isn’t always for reasons that you would think.  I know this is a topic that has been discussed before but there is always so much more to it. 

Part of my research has come from I will be using information provided by the Rappahannock Rapidan Regional Commission 2024 Point In Time Count (PIT count).

Recording

For my audio project I will be recording with my iPhone 14.  I am going to be recording outside.  There will be the sounds of nature and possible traffic in the background.  I believe that the background noise will be minimal.  

Here is a snippet of the quality of the recording

Tentative Outline

0-20 seconds –Topic introduction of the podcast, myself, and the guest speaker

20-40 seconds – Background on affordable housing and homelessness in Culpeper

40-60 seconds – What are the main factors of homelessness in Culpeper?

60 – 80 seconds – What is affordable housing?

80-100 seconds – How would affordable housing help our homeless population?

100 – 120 seconds – Conclusion of the conversation, thanking the speaker and signing off

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Digital Image Creation

front end of an orange Ford Mustang parked on Skyline Drive. The rain had just finished and the fog was beginning to move in
rear of an orange Ford Mustang that is parked in a parking lot.

I chose two images that I had previously used, I think. This time however, I have changed them to SVG files. When you are putting images into a blog post or onto a website you are enabling the person or persons that is looking at your site or reading your thoughts to understand what you may be seeing or trying to convey at the time.  You could try to describe an image in a hundred different ways but never really get someone to see it as you see it. 

I chose to use Vectr (https://vectr.com) to create my image.  I attempted to use some of the others discussed in class but for someone who has never created any type of digital imagery other than just inserting a photograph that I have taken onto social media, this was the easiest for me.  I felt that it was to most user friendly to navigate through so that I was able to achieve the desired result at the end.  I did not however feel that it was the most user friendly with WordPress. This could be completely a user issue though. 

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Copyright and Attribution

My thoughts on copyright and licensing

orange Ford Mustang with hood open and engine showing
Ford Mustang – Photo by Jacob Moore from Pexels

I agree to copyright and attribution. I think that if you have done the work for something that you should get credit for it.  As I scroll through the photo library on my phone, I am reminded of the memories of each and every picture.  They are images that I produced.  They could be something as simple as a flower that is getting ready to bloom or something with more moving parts and complexity, like a family photo.  Whatever it is, it is mine.  I did the work for it.  I am more than willing to share the images for others to see and to use but I believe that I should get credit for doing it.  That is why I chose what I chose for my licensing.  I am more than happy to let anyone that would like to use my information use it.  I do believe however, that I should get credit for producing it.  I also am a firm believer that personal information and images should not be allowed to be used for commercial use without the credit or permission of the producer.  Hence my decision.  I am glad to share and very glad that others are willing to do the same, but give credit where credit is due.

front end of a black and orange Ford Mustang Shelby.
Ford Mustang GT500 Shelby – Photo by Hemz from Pexels

Ethics and copyright

Every semester we are required to sign an ethics statement saying that we will only use our work and if we do used someone else’s, we will give them the accreditation for it.  Every research paper, PowerPoint presentation, and speech, all of them have a works sited page and the originator gets credit.  I think that thoughts and words should remain the property of the person that originally said them as well. If you look back over history, I am sure that there have been many instances where it wasn’t properly documented and then credit when to whomever documented it.  There is a standing phrase at my office, if you didn’t document it, it didn’t happen.  I have seen too many times where someone takes credit for someone else’s work. 

The creator, of whatever it may be, went through a lot of work to create whatever they created.  It is only fair to them that if we use whatever it is we give them the credit for creating it.  I think that is part of what makes the internet so amazing.  It gives everyone the ability to find anything and, in most cases, use anything.  You just have to give credit where credit is due.    

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