Access Database

The Access Database Project was a hugely valuable lesson. As a graduating senior potentially looking for jobs in the digital marketing field, many job descriptions recommend or require experience with databasing and SQL. I feel like the project covered all the basic utilities that I would need to use in Access. My favorite use of Access was in form mode. Once the skeleton of a database is created, I really think that most widespread use would be through forms. I imagine creating a data collection tool to be distributed throughout an organization for use (I can dream can't I?).

If I were to change or improve the database I would like to analyze the frequency of someone using their membership. I understand that this data was not included in the initial members.csv file, but I think it would be a truly interesting analysis. If you were to combine that data with the members who left within 6 months, you can better try and understand why they left or did not renew their membership.I would break down the usage data by check-ins per month. That way you can see whether their usage increased, decreased, or stayed constant over a period and group members into high, medium, and low usage groups.

Week Twelve:

Voice Over Internet Protocol

For the most part, I considered working with VoIP and Skype a real pleasure. My first experience with Skype was while I was studying abroad in China. I was there for three months and I longed for the opportunity to see the faces of my loved ones. I hooked up my Hi Def Logitech web cam and like magic, I was talking with my parents! The next time I used Skype was when my cousin was deployed to Iraq. He has a terrible internet connection, a dial-up line or maybe worse, so the call often cuts out after just a minute or so. But even being able to see his face and to know he is ok is relief enough.

The only time I have ever had trouble using Skype and VoIP was for this project and trying to record the call through Jing. I started my call before I started recording and I worked like usual, but once I started recording the call the video and sound would chatter. When I went to stop the recording, it froze the whole computer. After four attempts to record the conversation, I finally got a workable recording. The conversation recording was saved and ready for upload to the web hosting site for Jing. After waiting for the 265MB file to upload, it told me there was an error and could not upload. I tried this again two more times but the same result after each attempt. I looked up troubleshooting online but that was of no help. So I hope that by the time you review this blog, I was able to get the video fully uploaded. And if not, I'm sorry!

http://www.screencast.com/t/MWJmNjlk

Creating My Avatar

My experience in creating an avatar was pure fun! I chose to use the "Build Your Wild Self" tool from the New York Zoos and Aquarium Wildlife Conservation Society. The avatar builder started with choosing my sex and then let me go through picking different features including hair, eyes, mouth, clothes, etc and then I got to add animal characteristics to my avatar. That is the "Wild Self" part of the avatar. I chose to have giraffe ears and octopus legs. In the end I set myself in an ocean scenery.

I feel like the tool let me build a very accurate digital representation of myself. The only thing I wish I could have changed that they did not have an option for was the nose. The default nose was a cute little turn-up nose, but a combination of heritage and genetics did not bless me with such a cute little nose.

Week Eleven: Muddy

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Week Ten: Clear LAN and WAN

LAN and WAN. It sounds like a progressive band name. While they were progressive in their time, LAN and WAN is not a band name but area networks of connected computers. Nearly everyone who has interacted with a computer has accessed a LAN, and most people have encountered a WAN without even realizing it. 

A LAN is a local area network and connects network devices over a relatively short distance. They can typically be found in office buildings, schools, and homes. As the term implies, a wide area network or WAN spans a large physical distance. The Internet is the largest WAN, spanning the Earth. A common interaction with WAN's is through bank ATM's.

Excel Project

Working on this Excel project truly was a pleasurable experience. I have always enjoyed working with Excel but have never learned to work with pivot tables. I think that having this skill in my bag of tricks will help me out immensely in the long run.

 

The project required me to manipulate and analyze data from a study of men and woman's heart rates while exercising. I added rows, created formulas, edited fonts and sizes, and created two pivot tables. As I mentioned before, I am new to pivot tables so I spent the grand majority of my time understanding the utilities of this tool and finessing the results shown in my tables. 

 

 Screen capture of a pivot table

This past summer, I did a lot of work in Excel with data of a research study conducted. I spent hours crafting complex functions to get specific results out of the information. If I had know pivot tables existed, I would have saved myself hours of racking my brain! With pivot tables, nevermore will I struggle with data analysis!