Pictures That Lie

The mugshot of OJ Simpson that made the cover of Time Magazine in 1994, was altered to make it seem more dark and evil. This was right after OJ Simpson was arrested on murder charges. I chose to look at this picture first of all because it is of a very recognizable sports figure in OJ Simpson. The Simpson case was one of the biggest in the sports world. What I found most interesting was the ability of the modification to completely change the meaning of the photo. In the Newsweek edition with OJ's picture on the cover unaltered, it still apears to be a mugshot, but not for something as serious as murder. One can look at the Time cover and know that this man did something terribly wrong. This brings me to my next point of whether or not this picture was harmful or not. I think that it could be very harmful to OJ Simpson, and can be seen as an attack from Time magazine. It is one thing to portray these messages on someone who has proven to do terrible acts, but OJ was just arrested, not yet convicted of anything. OJ Simpson would go on to be proven innocent as well. So although I do not condon the alleged things that OJ Simpson did, and despite there being much controversy in the verdict, I think it was wrong to alter the photograph to portray his character being a certain way, before he is even proven to be that dark and evil.

Visit to CLT

There are many cool features and resources down in the CLT that I might otherwise not have know about. I didn't really even know what was down on that story of the library. Some of the assets of the CLT that I think I will be able to use for both this computer skills class as well as many other classes is the photo and video editing stations. There are numerous computers located in this section that have all of the newest software to edit photos and video.
The second area of the CLT that I found particularly interesting was the sound studio area. This room has all of the necessary devices and software to enhance or edit soft files. If any project arises where it is necessary to make a video or some sort of audio, the CLT can accommodate all of the needs.
The final aspect of the CLT that I will most likely be using is just the knowledge and availability of people who know everything you need to know about computers. This is a place where one can go if having any questions about how to work a certain program.

Jason Hardin's discussion addressed the issues surrounding copyright laws. Before, I didn't really understand copyright laws, only that it gives ownership to someones work. Through the presentation I learned that the copyright holds for the authors life plus 70 years and that the copyright can be given to a company or family member after the original holder passes away. One issue that is growing daily with regards to copyright is the illegal downloading of music and movies. This is an especially big issue on college campuses because college aged kids are the ones who are doing the most downloading, and therefore are being targeted the most by companies to sue. Being a college student, I know that the high price of movies and music, in addition to the ease and convenience of downloading, make it hard not to download music and movies. Hearing the are cases of someone getting sued for over ten grand scares some college students but by no means makes them stop downloading. It is important to consider who is being affected by illegal downloading though. It could be hard to see with big name music and movies, but with underground or upstart artists, downloading their music can mean basically robbing them of significant CD sales. In my opinion, there should be increased government intervention to work to prevent illegal file sharing, because if simply left up to the person who is downloading, it is most likely not going to change. The illegal downloader should also realize that they are not supporting the artist that they are downloading but rather potentially harming them.

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