Post 3: Documenting a Day

          

          

 

 Documenting a day requires a bit more thought than I expected. We're so used to just going through the motions of our day and not thinking about all the tasks we accomplish during that time. Along the way, I took advantage of multiple programs. I used a word processor to organize my thoughts, a spreadsheet with formulas to calculate time spent on activities, and I created a visual presentation of those activities.

Microsoft Word is the application I’ve used the most out of the three. The word processor application is easy to navigate and provides various text formatting tools to help me put together papers for many occasions. Formatting text can include making words BOLD, ITALICIZED, UNDERLINED, COLORED, or even LARGER & SMALLER FONTS to make them stand out on the page (Vahid & Lysecky, 2017, Section 5.1 Word processing basics). There are options to insert pictures as well, when necessary. Word is great for putting together papers for school or work and bulleted lists for keeping track of tasks. While this program is great for written text, it doesn't have the best toolset for representing visual data or media.

Microsoft Excel is one of the applications best used for spreadsheets. A spreadsheet's functions can include graphs, charts, tables, and other ways of representing data (Vahid & Lysecky, 2017, Section 5.2 Spreadsheet basics). I don't have much experience with Excel, so I had to watch videos and dig around in the different settings to find what I was looking for. An advantage of Excel is the ability to input data, then also input formulas to calculate that data. This type of tool can help the user save time and prevent mistakes when working with large amounts of data. While Excel is great for calculations and charts, it’s not the best option for displaying a wider range of visual media to an audience.

Microsoft PowerPoint is an application best used for visual presentations. The tools provide the ability to display data alongside images, animations, videos, sound effects, and backgrounds to help make the data stand out and be more visually pleasing (Vahid & Lysecky, 2017, Section 5.3 Presentation app basics). PowerPoint is great for business or school presentations, especially when you have a lot of visual media to showcase. However, it wouldn't be the best for putting together a written essay or calculating numbers.

While these applications have their own benefits, I'd say that PowerPoint has the most potential for showcasing one's day. That phrase, "a picture is worth a thousand words," says it all. An experienced creator can put the appropriate visual elements and text into each slide to give the best visual representation of their information. So much can be customized with color, text boxes, and media in order to tell the best visual story.

Thanks for letting me share my new experiences with each of these programs, and I look forward to learning how to utilize more of their tools as my projects continue! 

References:

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). INT 100: Fundamentals of Information Technology & Literacy. Zyante Inc. (zyBooks.com). https://learn.zybooks.com/zybook/ASHFORDINT100AcademicYear2018/chapter/5/section/1

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). INT 100: Fundamentals of Information Technology & Literacy. Zyante Inc. (zyBooks.com). https://learn.zybooks.com/zybook/ASHFORDINT100AcademicYear2018/chapter/5/section/2

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). INT 100: Fundamentals of Information Technology & Literacy. Zyante Inc. (zyBooks.com). https://learn.zybooks.com/zybook/ASHFORDINT100AcademicYear2018/chapter/5/section/3