Hacking and Omeka Site

Posted on April 24th, 2014 by

Our online activities are not as secure as we think! After the speaker presented his information, I found out a lot about internet safety. Passwords are easily hacked and it is easy for hackers to get private information about our lives.

So far I only have a few items on my Omeka site. I did, however, add a map a few days ago. I also added a really useful chart that can be found here. This chart is helpful because it allows me to see a bunch of statistics on the crime rate in D.C. I am able to see any correlations with the population and amount of crimes as well. I still have a lot of work to do on my Omeka site. I would like to look for more journal articles. I also think a video or some sort of youtube video would be a great touch to my website. I am also not having any problems with my website. Once I sit down and focus on my site, I will be able to gather more information  for my final project. In addition, I need to add my exhibit and a collection which will not cause any problems once I get the information together.

 

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Exhibit

Posted on April 15th, 2014 by

As I create my project, I have to start planning the exhibit I plan on creating. The topic of my exhibit will be statistics of crime in DC during the 1960s to 2000. I found a really helpful website, which can be found here. This website is found on disaster center and is an extremely helpful spreadsheet. With this spreadsheet, I am able to look at when crime was at its worst and what crimes were the most dangerous. I will then create an ichart from www.ichart.net to display this information in a visually appealing way. In my exhibit, I also want to include some sort of map of where the crime is the worst. This will show the reader or visitor of my site where these places are in relevance to other places. For my research question, this all ties together because it will show the visitors of my site visual statistics and where they occurred. I can’t wait to get started because I have a feeling it will turn out really great!

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Progress

Posted on April 7th, 2014 by

Text-mining tools are not that valuable to my research project just because it does not give me data or statistics. For example, Wordle is a great tool that is visually appealing. But for my topic, it would only be visually appealing rather than having an informative meaning. Google Ngram is only helpful in the sense that it searches for books. However, I don’t think I will use either for my project. I learn that text analysis is difficult to work with and you need to find the right project in order to use it. Unfortunately, I don’t believe these will be helpful for me. Although, I did really like learning about them and using them.

For my project, I finally narrowed down my research topic. At first, I was having trouble narrowing down my topic because it was too broad and it was not in the right time period. It was more present than past. I am also learning how to work with Omeka more and more every class. Today was really helpful. I learned how to add headers and how to create exhibits, etc. The most challenging thing is putting everything together and gathering interesting data. I am trying to find information that is appealing to possible viewers of my site.

 

 

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Washington DC: The Murder Capital of the US

Posted on April 4th, 2014 by

Murder Capital of US

 

The URL to the map I created can be found here.

I did not run into any problems while creating my map. I actually found it to be very useful! By creating this map, I am able to see where the different neighborhoods, parks, etc are in relation to one another. I also found a lot of information on these areas. For example, on my map, I labeled Adams Morgan neighborhood. I learned that this was once a dangerous neighborhood in the DC area. I also learned about the Rock Creek Park, which is a public park located in DC that I never heard of before.

My topic is focused on how DC was once the murder capital of the United States. Therefore, I added locations on my map that were once considered dangerous. I also added places like the justice department and United States Capitol because they have extreme importance when talking about crime.

 

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Calvin and Hobbes Cartoon

Posted on March 3rd, 2014 by

Copyright is the right of the owner to reproduce or permit someone else to use copyrighted works. Things that can be copyrighted include articles, pictures, lyrics, sound recordings, etc. The Calvin and Hobbes cartoon images placed in page headers of the syllabus do violate copyright regulations. This is because the editor of the syllabus page did not create this cartoon image, which means that the editor would need permission from the owner before you are able to copy it onto the web page. If you use an image on your web that you did not create, you have to get permission from the owner. On the weekly schedule page, there are no indications that the editor asked for permission to use this cartoon.

 

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Topic

Posted on February 25th, 2014 by

The topic that I really want to look into, and will probably do my research work on, is focused on the crime and murder rate in Washington DC. The steps I am going to take is to do a minor search on google, then once I get a good understanding, I’ll then move to the library resources. I find it really interesting how there are crimes happening everyday in Washington DC because it should be one of the safest places in the nation, considering that’s where the President is. Additionally, I’m having a hard time figuring out how to use Diigo so I do not want to use this for much research project, although I do think it is helpful when trying to keep resources together.

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Research Questions

Posted on February 16th, 2014 by

The first topic that interests me is crime and murder in Washington DC. This interests me because one would think that D.C. would be an extremely safe place, but there are always crimes going on in this area, such as auto theft, robberies, etc. William Cronon’s process for creating questions really helped me think outside of the box! Three questions I have about crime and murder in the DC area are, what are the rates/ percentages of crime compared to other places in the nation? What types of crime are most common and why could this be? What are ways to reduce crime in DC? Each year, does the crime rate increase, stay about the same, or decrease? I will look for this information in books in the library, and a lot of other library resources that they have to offer.

Another topic that interests me is the development of the monuments and the architecture in DC. If you’ve ever been to DC, you’ll find that the buildings have astonishing architecture. It’s truly amazing how beautiful every building is! The questions I have for this are do architects have a certain way of building these monuments and other buildings? What were the dates that the buildings were built? Could this have something to do with it? Are the buildings planned out and put in certain places for a reasons? Just like the other topic, I will use library resources to answer my questions and come up with a conclusion.

After reading William Cronon’s article, I found it helpful that he mentioned that we should look for correlations between questions. I think this is great because it could really tie together a research question.

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Topics of DC

Posted on February 15th, 2014 by

My first topic that really interests me about the history of Washington DC, is the monumental architecture. Why did they build the buildings the way they did? Was there a certain reason? The Capitol, Union Station, US Supreme court, and the White House are all huge with white designs. Also, could there be a reason the Washington Monument is built skinnier and taller than others? This really interests me because I am curious if they build certain buildings and monuments for safety reasons. I think this could be really important to know because we may be able to find out information that not many people know about the architecture!

Unknown

Another topic I would like to research is slavery in Washington DC. It would also be interesting to learn about the Emancipation Act and the different steps it took to abolish slavery. It is hard to believe that a few hundred years ago, there were slaves. I couldn’t imagine today’s society with them. This is important to know because it is part of our past that is still being taught in schools. This is definitely a topic that we cannot simply forget about because it shows how much the US has changed.

Finally, my third topic that I’m interested in is crime and murder in the area of Washington DC. Many people would agree that Washington DC should be one of the safest places in the nation. I mean, that is where the president lives! However, is it truly safe? In 2001, terrorists wanted to fly planes through DC. Also, when you go to DC, often times there are homeless people right around the corner of the White House. Why is this? The Nation’s Capital should be a safe place, but some believe that it isn’t. I already did some research, andWashington DC is above the average crime rate in the US. This is not how it should be! Researching this topic and finding reasons as to why there is crime really catches my attention.

To research these three topics, I will google key words and I will also use ProQuest and the other resources that the guest speaker showed us.

 

 

 

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My Two Primary Sources

Posted on February 5th, 2014 by

The first primary source I found was a picture of Washington D.C. This picture can be found on flickr.

Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 3.13.03 PM

This photo is great because it shows the entire landscape of Washington D.C. You are able to see the amazing surroundings of Washington D.C, which, to me, is really interesting. The photographer of this photo is Rob Shenk, who seems to capture a lot of historical landsites. On his flicker page, he has numerous photos of pirate ships, old planes, lighthouses, and many other beautiful pictures. It seems as if Rob Shenk just wanted to simply capture the beauty of DC all in one photo. In the picture, the sun is shining and the sky is clear. This photo really makes me want to visit DC because of how beautifully captured it is. Additionally, this photo was taken in October of 2010. Therefore, it’s definitely recent and up to date. There was not anything important going on at the time of this photo, so it doesn’t correlate to any vital pieces of information. This photo is intended for anyone who was wondering what Washington DC may look like.

 

The next primary source I analyzed is a map that can be found here. It’s a map of Washington DC. This map is extremely out of date, considering it is dated to 1909. A lot has changed since then. There’s been wars, and many new presidents have been inducted. On the upper left hand side of the map is a list of all the presidential inaugurations. Roosevelt, being the last name mentioned. This map is over 100 years old! The contributor of this map is M.I. Weller, which I can’t seem to find any information on. Therefore, he may have been a reliable source back then, but currently he doesn’t seem like he has credentials. A good thing about this map is that it tells us what direction everything is in. For example, it shows us where NW, NE, SE, and SW are. That is an important piece to have included in a map!

 

Overall, I found that the photos are much more easier to work with. Not only do I like photography better, but it is also a better visual of the piece. Between maps and photographs, photographs capture all the landmarks whereas a map will just tell you where it’s located. Also, since the map was outdated, it was harder to work with and analyze.

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Website Evaluations

Posted on January 31st, 2014 by

9/11 Memorial

The first website I reviewed was www.911memorial.org, which is a museum website. This is because it is a site about a memorial and provides us facts about the 9/11 memorial. The purpose of this website is to give readers an insight on 9/11. It not only shares information on what the 9/11 memorial is, but it also gives us information on how to go visit this memorial and the hours of accessibility. On this website, Google can give you a 3D tour which is awesome because if you never have the chance to see it in person, you can see it exactly how you would see it in person, but at home on your computer. Another interesting thing about this website is that it gives us the names of all the victims, which is about 3,000.

The creator of this website is the National September 11 Memorial and Museum,which makes it definitely credible. Before visiting this site, I knew what the 9/11 memorial is. I believe this website is designed for anyone who is willing to learn more about the 9/11 memorial and victims, or for someone who would want to visit this memorial.

This website is extremely organized. The links on the page include, “Plan Your Visit,” “Memorial,” “Museum,” “Teach and Learn,” “Get Involved,” and “Donate.” Under each of these categories are more links that can take you to exactly where you want to go. This website does not leave any information out about the 9/11 memorial and museum. This also makes it easy to navigate.

On this website, one aspect that I valued was the online tour, provided by Google Earth. This is really beneficial for someone who does not have access to see the memorial and museum in person. I also think it’s really helpful that you can donate to this memorial. This is important because 9/11 is something that will never be forgotten by many families. Unfortunately, it was a traumatic event that caused a lot of damage so it’s great that people are able to give back.

911-Memorial

The picture above is a picture of the 9/11 memorial, which is located at the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York.

 

American Photography: A Century of Images

The second website I reviewed was http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/, which is an archive because it has a lot of older images and photography form the past and present. The purpose of this website is to give viewers an insight on art and photography during the war, presidential image-making, and the digital truth. It shares information about old art pieces and how art can be sold for six figures. Wow!

This website revolves around one question. What kind of art is photography? The art of photography is continuously changing as the world changes. Artists and photographers are taking new perspectives on the images they wish to capture.

The creator of this website is is PBS so it is credible. There are links to the image credits, as well. Before visiting this site, I did not know what it was about, however I like photography so I wanted to check it out! This website is designed for someone who is interested in learning the history of art and photography.

This website is organized because there are different links that navigate you throughout the site, which makes it easy for us to view. There are many features to this site giving information on social change, being one example.

I really valued that you were able to see some sample photographs from the past. It is amazing how art photography is rapidly changing throughout each century.

 

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