I actually liked this project. It was a little difficult due to the fact that the step-by-step instructions were for PC users, but I was grateful for the conversion of commands listed in the discussion by the professor. It was really neat to send encrypted messages, use keys and secure the e-mail from everyone else. Sort of spy-ish!
It's very useful in a business to keep records confidential. Secure information so it is not leaked. In searching for an article I came across a press release about a company in Brazil that decided to use secure e-mail for exchanging documents within the Board because information had been leaked that could have affected their stock value.
However, the article that I chose was about Germany. The article posted on The Wall Street Journal on Nov. 17, 2010 and on Big News Now, which summarizes it, because WSJ online is a subscription service, says that Germany moved their national postage mail to secure email. A person still has to pay for each letter being delivered through secure email by Deutche Post, but they can pay a flat rate of $87 per year. Germans are climbing on board with about 1 million already signed up. About 100 companies have signed up for the service as well. I assume that secure mail has the feature of encryption and digitally signed e-mails, but it did not say so in Big News Now. It could have in the WSJ.
I think that this is fascinating with a whole country moving to email for regular mail. It uses less trees, is probably more secure for people and it is moving the country/ businesses forward in this "digital age."
All of the concepts presented this week in lecture were clear. I am a multimedia journalist. Let's face it, every journalist today must be, or will be in the future. Especially the photographers. I am photojournalist first and foremost, however, I have to be adept at videography, audio and putting journalistic multimedia packages together for the Web. The College of Journalism and Communications just recently just opened its multimedia portal for students called CMIR.
I normally upload my photographs in iPhoto, however I want to get Aperture and I have heard great reviews on Adobe Bridge as well. So, I may switch over. I edit in Adobe Photoshop, which you can buy as a student and get the student discount. The format I mainly use is jpg. Even though it is a lossy format, which compresses the image and loses a little bit of data every time, it is still the standard format in the photojournalistic world. For audio Audacity is a great, free software program. I have used it many times to edit audio for slideshows, to make recordings and to produce some great audio for my multimedia projects.
In video I am the least proficient, so it was interesting to learn about the inter-frame compression. This is a lossy format that transfers only the moving data from frame to frame. It is quite efficient because it does not transfer that static pixels. If there is a stationary object, and someone jumping around. The pixels are not moving around the stationary object so they are not transferred but the jumper is. It is called macroblocked. Only one block of moving data is transmitted. This helps in sending compressed videos. Also, the standard now is to save your videos with the H.264 format so that it can be viewed more easily on mobile devices. Let's face it, we are a mobile world and businesses are mobile as well. So, you must cater to clients and partners who want to view your videos with ease.
Businesses rely on multimedia heavily. If it is only a slideshow on their web site or a commercial slot in the SuperBowl multimedia represents a company in today's world. It shows who they are, it can demonstrate a product, aid in a presentation, land that giant client or allow them to expand their markets. The journalistic world relies on multimedia now more than ever. Our world is compressed just like the photos, video and audio because of the way we share things through multimedia. Think if the news didn't use multimedia. We would still be sitting down every morning to go through the print newspaper. Multimedia enhances our productivity and allows us to reach across the globe.
The Video above demonstrates what multimedia is. You have probably already watched it, but I thought it was useful to demonstrate all the amazing things that can come out of just photos, video and audio.
So, this post is all about George Frideric Handel. He was a German-English composer, who was born in the same year as Bach actually. He is remembered in Dublin for composing the Messiah. It was first performed in the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street Dublin, on 13 April 1742, with 26 boys and five men from the combined choirs of St. Patrick's and Christ's Church cathedrals participating, according to Wikipedia.
So, every year the Temple Bar Cultural Trust (Fishamble Street is considered the old area of Temple Bar) puts together a Handel's Day with festivities for young and old. I attended this event for The Liberty, to put something online for our viewers. You can view the above slideshow larger here. I will be posting a video either tomorrow or the next day. There was also a kids choir's performance, workshops, other musical events and a movie on the square.
This event was of Our Lady's Choral Society performing works of Handel's with Proinnsias O'Duinn conducting. This was the same street it was performed many years ago. It was actually a lovely day in Dublin. Only a light jacket required, if that. Later, I just lay in the grass at St. Patrick's park next to the cathedral and actually got some sun! Who would have thought in Dublin!
So, I have been neglecting the posting for a little bit. But will post everything that has happened in the past 2 weeks up very soon. Including photographs from my trip to Donegal with Molly, my roommate, her mother and her grandmother. The trip was fantastic and cannot wait to narrate the story with photographs. I also will put up more pictures of the Aran Islands, no doubt.
Click on the image and you can view it on Cooliris' Wall. It is a great feature thanks to Cincopa!
This week Jonathan, my boyfriend, came to visit me! He came for his Spring break and his 21st birthday on March 11th! It was fantastic to say the least. We went to Howth, a coastal town in County Dublin, about a 30 minute train ride from Dublin. It cost 8 Euro for a train ticket for a day. We got this ticket because you can hop on and off the train at different points the entire day. So we figured we would go to a couple locations. We wanted to go to Portmarnock, which is a strand (beach) area on the Dublin coast, and also Malahide, where a castle is supposed to be. We went to Howth (pronounced Hoth - long "O" sound) and walked around a bit. We saw live, wild seals! The humans would feed them fish bought at a store/market nearby and the seals would pop up by the edge. You couldn't see them until they got a couple feet from the surface, so it looked like they were coming out of nowhere. They were also huge! We saw a cliff in the distance and Jonathan decided he would get to the top of the cliff. So, we set out in search of a way to get up the cliff in the distance. We found a couple trails on the way that led down to some cliff faces a couple hundred feet above the water and Jonathan beckoned me to come. The trails were narrow and steep and made me extremely uneasy. However, I went. We crossed one point where the trail was so narrow that the next moment you realized you just step on the side of an open edge that completely fell off into the depths below. It was intense for me, because I think one of my biggest fears is being unstable in height situations. We found a fresh stream that ran into the ocean and stepped across slabs of rock. Jonathan decided to go out on a ledge for a photograph, but I refused to go and get my picture taken.
So we went back up to the main road and walking up steeply is easier than going down steeply.
So, we eventually found the main trail that went around the mountain/cliff and there was only one warning sign relatively medium in size and it just told us to stick to the main trails. That's it. I love Ireland for this fact. No railings in nature just a warning. In America, every precaution would be taken not for your safety but just not to get sued for the littlest things!
So, we walked the trails and it was magnificent! Gorgeous scenery, real cliffs, thorny brush, flowers, etc. Families even took their children up there. You were literally walking a couple feet from the edge of cliffs. It was beautiful and definitely worth the trip. So, to say the least, we didn't make it to the other places, but that's okay Howth was an amazing adventure. Jonathan definitely pushed me to my height limit, but it was amazing!
Check out the slideshow to get a taste of what it was like.
Also there are great seafood places and also markets there.
A fantastic find!
Blarney is gorgeous. The Blarney Castle is truly wonderful. We arrived on a day when the sun was shining and even though it is still winter the grounds seemed to shine with the green and life of Spring. The grounds has a couple arboretums with so many different trees. I personally love trees, their shape, color, height and even their biological makeup. The Castle is gorgeous but monsterous in height. The dungeons have tiny places you can crawl through, but the ground is muddy and damp and me and Molly decided not to go down that way. The caves are more spacious but a big puddle blocked the pathway so we climbed along the slippery rock for a while and then turned back. I had my camera bag on my back the entire day and with the weight it is extremely hard to maneuver in small spaces. Speaking of hard to maneuver, once you are ready to kiss the Blarney Stone, which gives you the gift of gab. It is at the top of the castle and you must climb a winding stairwell to the top. I believe it is around 100 steps. This is the most nerve racking part because the stairwell is extremely small, like obese Americans would not fit. A rope runs along the side which you have to hold on to to feel secure in the least. I had my camera bag on my back and it was scraping the wall. Once you get to the top it is gorgeous though. The Blarney Stone which is a slab of rock given to Cormac McCarthy (one of Ireland's greatest chieftains). To kiss is you must face a fear of heights. You have to lean back while laying down and hold on these two bars to stabilize yourself and then you kiss the rock. A guy is there holding you so you don't fall because there is a gap below yourself that you can see all the way to the ground, however there are two bars that prevent people from dying. The rock is also cleaned every once and a while. I will upload my picture kissing it soon. A photographer is there taking everyone's picture to sell in the giftshop for 10 euro a piece. We took a picture of the picture, even though that's not aloud As for the rest of the grounds. It is beautiful. You can have a picnic, walk around for hours. Visit the gorgeous Blarney House which looks like a mansion and has its own private grounds. I cannot describe the beauty you will see on a clear day. It something you have to feel, have to experience, because I could write forever on the topic. Look at the soundslides posted to get a small sense of it.
I am currently in Dublin, Ireland. This blog will be of the people, places and life of the Irish. I hope to document my travels and enlighten the world of the many things that make this country beautiful. Follow me on my journey...
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