2. Software and Websites
Here are some of the software and websites that I used to
help plan and create my final product:
•Internet Explorer
•Blogger
•Slideshare
•Survey Monkey
•Adobe Photoshop
•Adobe Bridge
•QR Reader
•Microsoft Word
•Microsoft PowerPoint
3. Hardware
Here is some of the hardware I used to help plan and
create my final product:
•Camera
•Laptop
•SD Card
•Memory Stick
•Computer
•Sound Recorder
4. Where did I use technologies?
Research Planning Production Evaluation
Software and •Internet Explorer •Internet Explorer •Adobe •Internet Explorer
Websites •Microsoft •Microsoft Word Photoshop •Blogger
PowerPoint •Microsoft •Blogger •Microsoft
•Survey Monkey PowerPoint •Adobe Bridge PowerPoint
•Slideshare •Slideshare •QR Reader •Slideshare
•Blogger •Blogger
Hardware •Sound Recorder •Laptop •Laptop •Laptop
•Laptop •Computer •Computer •Computer
•Computer •Memory Stick •Memory Stick •Memory Stick
•Memory Stick •SD Card
•Camera
5. What technology couldn’t I do without?
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer was essential for completing my product, without a web browser it
would have been virtually impossible to do any of the research or planning that was
needed. This web browser allowed me to use search engines such as Google to find
information that I needed for planning; for example, when I was researching music
magazine publishers like Bauer Media and IPC Media. I could go directly to their
website and find accurate information. It was also necessary for my Evaluation,
allowing me to access Blogger to upload all of my work and check that I had all my
posts online.
A good thing about the Internet is that you can use it to find lots of information that may
not be available elsewhere; it is unlikely that you would be able to find out about a
magazine’s target audience by only using books. It allowed me to use Slideshare so
that I could get all my PowerPoint presentations onto Blogger and display them in an
effective way.
A negative side to this is that you do not know how accurate some of the web pages
are; for instance we had to be careful not just to rely on information from Wikipedia
because you do not know who has written it.
6. Blogger
I used Blogger to upload all my research, planning, final product and
evaluation, so all of it could be viewed online. This saved paper and
made it easier to check all of the individual components.
Although Blogger was not essential to the course, it made displaying all
of my planning and evaluations much easier. I could potentially have
handwritten the drafts and the photography plans etc, but being able to
type them up using Microsoft PowerPoint and uploading them all to my
Blog saved a lot of time. It also meant that there was less chance of
misplacing work; if there are a lot of hand written sheets of paper then it
could be very easy to lose one somewhere along the line.
I have never created an electronic blog before, so I learnt how to make
and edit posts, as well as how to change the titles of the posts, the layout
and the colours.
A negative of using Blogger is that it does not support certain file formats,
such as Word and PowerPoint documents, which meant that I had to find
different ways on converting them. There is an upload limit of 1MB per
page on Blogger, so I had to reduce the file size of my contents page
because it was too big.
7. Slideshare
Slideshare was a vital piece of technology
that allowed me to upload of all of my
PowerPoint presentations to Blogger, as
Blogger does not support these files. I
have never used Slideshare before, so I
learnt how to set up an account and how to
upload the presentations. I also learnt how
to embed the files into my Blog, using the
HTML code and pasting it into the HTML
section when creating a new post.
Slideshare was great because it was an
easy way to upload PowerPoints, and they
are an effective way of being displayed on
my blog. However it could often take a lot
of time to upload and sometimes the files
weren’t converted straight away.
8. Hardware
As there was not enough memory for all the large files to be saved in my user space
on the school’s computers, I used a memory stick to save all my work onto. Although
this meant that I had to remember to bring it to each lesson and not leave it in the
classroom, it was a much more effective method then emailing all the work to myself.
I used a bridge camera to take all my images, which developed my photography skills.
This taught me how to change the exposure on some pictures that were too dark. I
learnt about lighting, for example when the flash did not look right and when it was
needed to bring the picture into focus. I also learnt to use the zoom, to get close ups
and medium close ups of my models. I used a tripod when taking the pictures to avoid
camera-shake and blurry photographs.
Without
Exposure flash With flash
9. Photoshop
Although there are alternative programmes that you could potentially use to create a
magazine, like Microsoft Publisher, I think that this project would have been impossible
without Photoshop. I had a basic knowledge of Photoshop before but only when it came
to editing images, I had never used it to create such a project before. Here are some
skills that I developed:
Pen tool
Gradient
Colour levels
Bevel and Emboss and balance
Stroke
Character Spacing Text Tool
Line tool Layers
Shape tool
10. What technology could I have done
without?
o I think that I could have done without Blogger, because it would have been
possible to have hand written the research, planning and evaluation: it did
not have to be presented electronically.
o Similarly I could have done without Microsoft Word and PowerPoint,
because it was not necessary to type up my findings.
o I could have completed my project without using Survey Monkey; it would
have been possible to just ask my peer group some questions and note
down the responses.
11. What are the positives of using
technology?
o The most significant reason for completing the project using technology was the
factor of time. Without certain software and hardware, some of the processes
would have taken a much longer time, therefore the execution would have been a
lot less effective. For example, Survey Monkey meant that I could add a link of
my survey to Facebook and Twitter which ensured that I got lots of quick
responses. If I had had to ask each person individually, then I would not have
been able to collect as many responses, therefore the information would not have
been as reliable.
o In addition, technology made it easier to access a variety of information at any
time of day; there were no constraints to when you could undertake any research.
o A final positive of using technology is that it is easy to download pictures or
transfer photos from one device to another, ensuring that work could be
completed anywhere. This was especially useful in the production stage.
12. What were the negatives of using
technology?
o One of the negative points of using technology is that it cannot always be
relied upon. Often software and hardware crashes, which can be frustrating
and wastes valuable time.
o Sometimes there are problems with file size and converting between
different file types: it can be difficult to find the correct solution.
o In regard to finding information using technology, not all websites are
accurate and it is not always possible to tell who wrote the source and where
it has come from.
