Wikispaces Evaluation

Paragraph on the Uses of Wikis (How can they be used?)

On a wiki website, you can create your own account really easily, which can be very helpful. Basically, the whole site is a collection of different homepages and such, that anyone with an account can access. It’s very useful for planning trips, or for work. Anyone can go onto your page, give you ideas, or edit the actual page for you. It’s very useful for finding information about things on a wiki too.

Paragraph on problems encountered with wikis

There are many problems you can come across while using a wiki account however. Because ANY one with a wiki is able to access your pages, this means they can write whatever they want on it, whether it’s irrelevant or not. People can sometimes write rude comments on other people’s pages, but also, they can also write false information about that topic.

Paragraph on how to improve the look of wikis

I think wiki would look much more appealing if there were just a few changes made. For example, myspace and bebo have an application where you can change the backgrounds of your page to whatever color or theme you like. This would make wiki much better. Also, on site’s such a blogger, you can change the fonts and the colors, this would also be a good quality. One more thing that would create a better look for the wiki websites is if you could add your own borders to your page, to give it a more personal look.

Paragraph on what might replace wikis for sharing information in the future

There are many other sites today. Some of the most popular now are myspace, and facebook. On both, you are able to leave comments to each other. But in the future, if ever you need to contact someone, facebook would be quicker. There is now a new application called facebook chat. It allows you to talk to anyone that’s online facebook at that time. If wiki had these types of applications that you could add yourself, they may get more viewers.

WikiSpaces

Wiki spaces is a great site for anyone to use. It allows you to easily sign up, for free. Then, you can create your own webpages. The cool thing about this, is that anyone can access this page for you, and edit or make it better if they want. You can do the same for other people's pages. Another cool thing about this, is that you can add videos or games or anything to your homepage, so that their always there, and you never have to go online and look for them. Now in IT, Tooba, Erin, Francesco and I are making a project. It's all about entertainment in Qatar, including Malls, Food, and Clubs. We each are making a seperate page on wiki about our topic, and we will combine them all later on, when they are completed. Wikispaces is a very convienent site to use for this type of project.

Photoshop Project

For this project, we were supposed to create an advertisement for any company or brand. I chose H&M. It is a clothing store that I particularly like. Our aim, was to make an ad that is eye-catching and creative. I think I have succeeded in those two areas. To do that, there were a few things I had to do, including using different tools. The first thing I did was the background, just a plain black. For this I used the ‘gradient’ tool, and dragged along the screen. After that, I just started adding all of the pictures, and the logo, and checkerboard design. Then I started to customize each image individually. I started with the models. Some of the pictures had a lot of white around the background, and other colors. So I used the crop tool to get rid of as much as I could. Then I used the magic wand on the rest, to delete and parts I didn’t want. I also used the magic wand tool for the logo, for the same reasons. Once that was done, I decided to decorate the background. I used one of the stamping tools. The shape I used was checkered, and I put it all along the bottom of the ad. After, I put all the models in place, and created white/gray dashes in the background from using the healing brush and clicking multiple times. The last thing I had to do was edit all the pictures, and place them on the ad correctly. I used the rotate tool to turn the models in different directions, and place them nicely. Then I wanted to create more eye-catching effects on all pictures. I used the sponge and dodge tool to make them brighter or darker, so that some stood out more than others. And then I used the magnetic lasso tool to get rid of the flower on one girl’s head, and to trim around any bits of white I missed with the magic wand tool. And finally, I used the filter tool, to give almost all of the pictures different textures and styles, to make them look unique in comparison to each other. I really enjoyed working on this project. It gave me a better idea of how Photoshop works, and I can use this knowledge for future assignments.

Abstract Art

This is a picture I made on photoshop. It contained many different colored and textured shapes. the colors are all very bright, which draws attention to it. This is one of my brightest pieces!

Repair Create

For this picture, I used two different tools for the editing. I used the healing brush tool, and the patch tool. With the patch tool, I copied certain horses, and pasted them in other areas of the picture to give it that kind of ghost effect. With the healing brush tool, I used the color of the green grass, and blotched it all over the ground, to cover all of the shrubs and dirt, to make it all look like grass.

Create 4

This is a poster I created about Endangered Animals all around the world, mainly Canada. I feel really strongly about this issue, which is why I chose it. I basically took many different picutures of animals from the net, and pasted them into the photoshop document to begin with. I placed them all in order, so it looked neat. Then I added the title I came up with "Defend to the End." It basically means that we have to keep trying to save these animals and protect them, otherwise there's no hope...

To make the pictures stand out, and look more effective on the dark background, I used certain effects such as filtering, brightness and contrast, and the dodge and burn tool. Each of these tools made the pictures more unique. For the filter, I chose a neon typed outlining for the picture, to make only their outline stand out, and you cannot see their fur or eyes. You really have to look at it closely. The other four pictures were edited with the burn and dodge tool, mainly to make them the brightest of the poster.

The text I chose to use in my poster is called "Broadway." It's my favorite font. For the title, I decided to make the first and that last words (Defend, End) larger, because they are the most important in the sentence. To make it stand out in contrast to the black background, I chose a bright blue color. It's the first thing you notice when you look at the poster. For the writing in between the rows of pictures, I used a few sentences to let people know that animals are like people, and we should treat them with respect, the same way we would want to be treated, which is why I included "How would you feel?", because honestly, how would we like to have our environments destroyed, and to be hunted for our skin? We wouldn't. The yellow font I chose really stands out with the blue title, and they don't clash with the pictures, or with each other. I think the poster is really well done, compared to my other pieces of work. It's definitely the best yet.

Create 3

For this picture, I used the filter tool. I used a neon type outlining to make the people in the picture stand out, compared to the black background.

For this picture i used the brightness and contrast tool to make it lighter, and make the black stand out.

For this picture, i experimented with the Dodge and Burn tool. I made it light in the middle, but darker around the edges. This makes the middle part the center of attention.

Design 1

This is a logo I created for the Wildlife Humane Society. I used a variety of different animals to show the variety of animals that need to be helped, and that are recieving help today. I used a bold background, with black blue and yellow to represent "strength" and "power". It makes the pictures stand out, and immediantly attracts the eye. It's a suitable logo for this cause.

Create 2

Create 1

This image has been created for IT class. It is a quote, with a background and image.

Investigation 1

This example of graphic art, I like in particular. It really drew attention to its’ self, mainly because of the bright color green background. The other colors on it, such as other greens, and oranges and reds give it an earthy type look, almost as if it’s autumn. The different shapes and such give it a slightly more complicated look, but not too much. Things aren’t spread out and scattered all over the picture, so it looks neat, and organized. The tool this person has used gives the picture a more graphic and realistic look. The background looks computerized, while the tape in the center of the picture looks like it was actually taken, and pasted into the picture. This makes the picture stand out slightly more than it would if the tape was a graphic too.




















This picture is really amazing. The horse is the main character in this graphic, but the clouds really stand out too. The artist used very realistic looking colors, almost as if they wanted to make the picture look real, which it does look like it. The horse looks very realistic especially. It’s very easy to understand the picture too; it’s clearly a horse on a basic day to day landscape. It’s not too complicated, which is good, and the way the horse is in the center of the picture, immediately draws attention to it.

Introduction