homework1

 

Here’s a check list for the things you have to do for this assignment:

1.)  A PowerPoint presentation as described below as an attachment to your email.

2.)  A majord confirmation email saved as a file and attached to the email.

3.)  Your yahoo email address as an activated hyperlink in the top of the body of the email.

4.)  Your hotmail email address as an activated hyperlink in the top of the body of the email.

5.)  The KurzweilAI.net news write-up as described below.

6.)  Make sure your subscriptions to majord and kurzweilAI.net work.

7.)  Learn how to attach a file to an email.

8.)  Learn how to use your student folder.

1.)  Create and use email folders to categorize and organize information and keep your inbox uncrowded.

Yahoo and hotmail accounts

Create a yahoo email account and a hotmail email account for yourself. Use only a yahoo email account to submit homework for this class. Create a PowerPoint presentation as described below and email it to me as an attachment at joecash@sol.csustan.edu

Sign up for the list server (majord)

Sign yourself up on the list server and for the news list at kurzweilAI.net by using a browser (e.g. Internet Explorer) to visit

http://majord.csustan.edu

When the site is rendered in your browser, put your yahoo email address in the text box, check the "All" option, then click on the "Go" button.

Click on the hyperlink for the course and section you are in. 

Click on the "APPLY" button.  Examine the message that you get, looking for any errors that might have occurred.  Click on the "Back" button on the toolbar on top of your browser.  Click on the "List Subscribers" option if necessary, and then click on the "BROWSE" button.  You should see your email address appear on the next screen that appears.  If you don't, you have a problem.  If you do see your email address in the list, then you should be OK.  Later you will be asked to send me an email with the subject line properly formatted and your email addresses in the body of the email.  Make sure your yahoo and your hotmail email address in the body of the email are "activated", i.e. that it will be underlined and appear in a different color than default text does; hitting return right after the address usually takes care of that. You will receive a confirmation email message from the list server (majord). Later you will save this email in a file on the hard disk; then you will create an email to turn this assignment in. The confirmation email that you saved as a file will be attached to the email you send me. Please note that I will be sending emails to the entire class through the list server (majord). These emails are sometimes considered to be spam by yahoo email and may be put in the bulk email folder or in the trash. You should check those folders to see if emails from me are being treated as spam, and use the “not spam” button (or the equivalent) to mark the email and the sender as trusted, or as “not spam”.

 

Subscribe to the KurzweilAI.net newslist

Now use your browser to visit the kurzweilAI.net web site and sign up for the news server there by clicking on the following hyperlink:

kurzweilAI.net

At the top of the left-hand column that appears there is a text box you can type into. There is a label above the textbox stating "Subscribe to our influential free e-newsletter (we keep your email address in strict confidence):" Put your hotmail email address in the textbox and click the "Go" button next to the textbox. When the new web page is displayed click on the "Update" button to accept the default daily newsletter. Each day you should receive email with hyperlinks to news stories relevant to developments in fields like artificial intelligence, bio-engineering, longevity and other technological developments. If you don't receive emails from kurzweilAI.net every weekday, there is something wrong and you need to re-subscribe by repeating the above directions. See me during office hours if you need help with this. Read the news stories from kurzweilAI.net that your think will be useful in writing a paper on how technology can be used to relieve suffering. Create a mailbox in your hotmail account and store the emails from kurzweilAI.net in that mailbox so you can reference them when you write your paper at the end of the term.

KurzweilAI.net news write-up instructions

Read at least three of the news articles from the KurzweilAI.net news list. Choose articles from more than one email from the KurzweilAI.net news list. When you send me the email for this assignment, in the body of the email below the hyperlinked email addresses you inserted write a minimum of 25 words about the articles you read. Describe which of the three you think will relieve suffering most efficiently (according to a “benefit-cost analysis” or a “reward/risk ratio and an analysis of the opportunity cost) compared to the other two you read, and explain why. Write enough about each of the three articles so that I can tell you actually read all three articles; i.e. use terminology from the articles. Look for articles about technology that will make the world a better place to live; i.e. technology (in any field) that potentially and practically can be used to relieve suffering in an affordable way. Think about the most cost-effective way of using the technology to relieve suffering. Think about how to implement a plan to distribute the technology effectively. Add the dates of the KurzweilAI.net emails that link to the news articles, and copy and paste the hyperlinks into your email as per the following format:

At the beginning of a new line put the date of the KurzweilAI.net news digest email where the article appeared (note that this is not the date on the article, this is the date on the email in your email inbox for the email with the hyperlink to Kurzweil’s website), then the title of the article from the email digest. On the next line paste the hyperlink to the original article (not the kurzweilAI.net summary, instead paste the link to the website where the complete original article appears so I can click and go directly to the original article to read it). After the above line will be two more lines like it for two other articles that interested you that you read. After that will appear a paragraph or more in your own words describing the articles you read as described above.

 

Scanning a photograph of yourself:

Use a scanner to scan in a photograph of yourself.  While you are at it, you might want to scan in another photograph that is not of you to put on your website.  Some students don't like to put their photo on the internet.  You may use any scanner, but I recommend one of the scanners attached to one of the computers in the labs on campus.  The equipment in the lab like the network, the scanners and the printers work; so if your equipment does not work, that is no excuse for late assignments.   Submit this homework early so that if you run into any problems you will have time to solve the problem before the due date.  Try to be conscious of the size of the file that contains your photo after you save it. The JPEG that I scanned in is 152 Kilobytes. Lately I have been using the highest quality option when I save the file to ensure the file will have a high enough resolution, but the file may turn out to be too large. If that happens, then you can use the "image" menu in Photoshop to change the size of the file.  You can use the drop down list box to change to "percent" and save at, e.g. 35% of normal size to reduce the size of the photo.  You can also reduce the quality if the saved file is too big.  Save the scanned image as JPEG file with the type and extension ".jpg".   Send the JPEG to your web based email account as an attachment to an email so you will have access to it later for homework5, and save it to your student folder on the university's network.

 Using MS PowerPoint, create a presentation like the one shown in class.  

Insert a photograph in the presentation that you have scanned and saved to disk.  I want this presentation to be distinctly yours and about you.

    Turn this in to me as an attachment to an email before midnight on the due date.  The subject line should look like this: 

cs2000_1:homework1:lastName,firstName 

or

cs2000_3:homework1:lastName,firstName 

or

cs4000_1:homework1:lastName,firstName 

depending on which class you are in. 

The PowerPoint presentation should be at least five slides long and it should be about you.  At least one of the slides should have a recognizable photograph of you inserted and your name should appear as the title of that slide.  You should use a design template, a variety of slide layouts, slide transitions with sounds, clipart and custom animations.  Use WordArt for the title of your presentation on the first slide.   It should be informative, but slides should not be so crowded or small that an audience might not be able to read them clearly.  It should also be able to hold an audience's attention.  It should use the space available on each slide appropriately.   You should hide any sound icons so the audience will not see them and the sounds should play appropriately.   There should be an audible sound, slide transitions and custom animations for each slide in your presentation.  When you save your file, make sure you save it as a presentation(*.ppt or *.pptx), not as a slide show (i.e. not as a *.pps or *.ppsx).   Delete any objects you are not using, like title boxes or text boxes.   You may use any other feature of PowerPoint you like.  Please show me in this assignment that you can use all of the features mentioned above.

 

Please note that all the above must be sent in one email; that means that if you have to re-submit for some reason, the re-submitted email must contain everything required for this assignment.    Important: Don't forget to send a copy of the email to yourself.  Save the copy until you have received your semester grade for the class.