Scratch is a programming language that allows people to create stories with animations. It was created by The Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT. The Scratch website includes video tutorials and a step-by-step set of instructions that explains the basics to the user. In addition to video tutorials, you can view videos made by other users. Scratch is also educational, it promotes creativity and computer programing concepts.

I personally think scratch is an excellent idea; it appeals to a large audience because it is easy to use, and it is free. Scratch doesn’t use code, eliminating annoying text-errors that can discourage people from using computer programming editors.

I played around with scratch for over an hour.My first project was based off of the “Getting Started with Scratch” instructions, then I created my own animation.

Wizard vs. Troll

I was really impressed with the Time Magazine Corpus of American English. Time is probably the most iconic magazine ever published, and has been in print since he 1920’s. I played around with the site for awhile, typing in people from Al Capone to Ronald Reagan to Adolf Hitler. Just by typing random keywords that had some historical significance over the past century you are able to find a good amount of information.

The following are some facts I found to be interesting in my searches

Kennedy: 10,078 uses in the 1960’s. I’m not too surprised here, with a president and a senator (who was running for president) who were both assassinated.

Computer: mentioned more in 1980’s (2302) than in the 1990’s (2032)

Negro: In the 1960’s, it was used 4,383 times, more than any other decade. The next decade had an enormous drop off with only 196 uses.

Vietnam: was only used 47 times in the 1960’s but in the 1990’s it was used 999 times.

The results for “negro” shows the dramatic change from the civil rights movements of the 1960’s very well. The decline in the words usage was immediate, which to me highlights an increased awareness of racial issues in short period of time.

In addition to seeing the amount of times a word was used,  you can see the context the word was used in. In my opinion this is what takes Corpora from a interesting database, to a database that is very useful for research.

In 2003, Wired magazine ran an article called “PowerPoint is Evil” by Edward Tufte. In the article, Tufte made a couple of solid points, but as a whole, it was over-the-top. My opinion on Microsoft’s PowerPoint is the same as it was before I read this article. I agree with Tufte in that students and teachers alike have become increasingly reliant on PowerPoint’s bulleted format. This format can hurt a students understanding of using complete sentences, especially those students in grade school. However, PowerPoint presentations like research papers in general can be redundant and boring. These factors are relative to the audience and the assignment, not the format of presentation. They should be used in addition to a research paper or essay, not as a replacement for them. A PowerPoint slideshow is beneficial in that it is easier for the audience to maintain interest as well as understand the information presented.

In his conclusion, Tufte agrees that PowerPoint is beneficial as an aide to an essay or paper, but goes on to say, it isn’t used that way. I completely disagree with his generalization. Like many of my peers, I’ve been using PowerPoint for about 15 years. I have made and seen more slide shows than I can remember. In these countless presentations, PowerPoint was almost always used a supplemental part of the assignment. It allows the audience to see major points and/or important photographs, helping them understand the material better.

In addition to disagreeing with Tufte’s main argument, his analogies make him seem like a lunatic making me question his legitimacy. He attacks PowerPoint and Microsoft as if it is a ruthless totaliterian regime, whose aspire to brainwash Americas young. He compares it to an addictive perscription drug, with frequent side effects causing stupidity and a bunch of other non-sense. His claim that Microsoft, a major corporation, is essentially getting rich by devaluing education, is certainly a rational thought. Unfortunately his intensity and over-the-top examples make him seem like a lunatic.

if he focused more on the facts and less on his over-the-top analogies.

I think he sees microsoft as a major corporation that is exploting cchildren  that a major corporation is adertising its product as a means of educating and at the same time is exploting

The idea behind his argument, that a major corporation, Microsoft, is advertising PowerPoint as an effective way of presenting information

-Look Ed, we get it, you don’t like PowerPoint.