Nov 2007

 

‘Tis the Season

by Cheryl Marshman, Editor

As we head into the holiday season, which to me is the busiest time of year, I find myself already busier than I’d like to be. I even had trouble getting this newsletter out on time!

Halloween has already come and gone and Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. Soon it will be time to start the holiday shopping, unless you’re one of those that start before the official season kick-off. Then before you know it the New Year will be here.

What are you doing to prepare for the holidays? I’m so thankful I have my computer. I plan to spend lots of time doing my holiday shopping online. Why fight the crowds when I can shop in my warm slippers and PJs, in my own home, while sipping a hot chocolate with schnapps. Now that’s the way to shop!

I am also going to use my computer to make some gifts for my family and friends; maybe a scrapbook or calendar using some of my digital photos. There are many free craft ideas and projects online. Take a look at page 5 of this newsletter for some websites with great ideas and projects to create your own special homemade gifts.
Before you can say ‘happy holidays’ we’ll be ringing in 2008. I hope you’ve all given some thought to your New Year resolutions.

This year was one of the few years that I actually kept at least one of my resolutions. For 2007 I had resolved to continue my involvement with the GCCLC and here I am, still an involved Volunteer. I’ve added Instructor to my GCCLC volunteer activities and I’ve continued to enjoy my involvement. My New Year resolution is to do it again in 2008.

I would love to see some of the GCCLC students that have become comfortable with their computer skills resolve to become volunteer coaches in 2008. If you don’t feel quite up to volunteering, how about resolving to continue taking classes? Once the Computer Basics classes are completed there is still more to learn.

The fall classes in process now will be coming to a close right after Thanksgiving. I know there is work being done now to setup the class schedule for the next sessions so keep your eyes and ears open for the announcement early next year.

Happy holidays to everyone and I will be back in January. I hope to see you next year as a student, coach, or instructor.

Computer Tips & Tricks

WINDOWS XP DISK CHECKING FOR ERRORS

By Doug Worthy

This is a fairly simple task to perform occasionally and if you’re a frequent user of your computer, it might be done every six months or so. If never done, you could experience slowing boot up (start up time). This task will clean up and perhaps even fix errors on your main hard drive (C). This is not the same as a Disk Cleanup! Here’s the procedure and some information on what to expect.

• Double left click the MY COMPUTER icon to open.
• Right click on LOCAL DISK (C) you see.
• Left click on word PROPERTIES
• Left click word TOOLS (on the tabs shown)
• Left click words CHECK NOW
• Place a check mark in BOTH boxes you see
• Left click START

Here’s what will happen: you’ll probably get a message that the next time you start your computer this Disk Check will begin. That’s OK and just allows some time for that to happen since there are five stages. You could experience as much as 30 minutes for this to complete. Watching your monitor will keep you informed of the progress.

• STAGE 1, 2 and 3 only takes a few minutes to complete
• STAGE 4 will take the longest (probably 15-20 minutes)
• STAGE 5 will take around 14 minutes

When done, a REPORT will pop up on your monitor to inform you that your DISK C is now clean. That’s your goal.

NOTE: This information represents a hard drive capacity of 30 Gigabytes, so it’s reasonable to assume a larger capacity hard drive would take longer. The first time you do this, you might wish to stay around your monitor and observe the stages and how long each one takes, so you know what to expect in the future.

Lab use reminders

By Doug Worthy

All the volunteers recognize that lab use is critical to the learning process and studying at home by students isn’t always possible for students. We have discovered that once a student uses the lab, they become quite comfortable with this benefit and return frequently. Our friendly, knowledgeable monitors have played a key role in this.

The lab use has definitely increased from earlier years, but many computer stations are left empty on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. Now that we have more very dedicated lab monitors willing to share their knowledge, we should all strongly encourage the use of our Open Lab. Some students hesitate to use our on line sign up procedure and what appears simple to us; can be quite difficult for students. Of course the solution is to demonstrate (more than once if necessary) or actually sign up with them. Coaches, as well as instructors play an important role in this. Think about spending some time after the class with a student or two.

We recognize that some instructors are much more experienced in areas they teach, so students may be more inclined to attend the lab knowing their instructor will assist. Please consider helping in the lab if you teach a more advanced class or if you notice an individual student is struggling with the class material. Benefits to stress when mentioning the lab are:

• There are 2 days and 2 time periods to choose from. One hour blocks of time are available.
• There is time to take notes.
• No pressure to keep up with the group.
• Individual help with specific problems & questions answered.
• Homework can be done in the lab with the use of our printer.
• FORMER students can use the lab.
• Lab is FREE but donations to GCCLC are always welcomed.
  

GCCLC Tech Update:  The Classroom Goes Wireless

by Roger Thornburn

All the computers in the Learning Center  have been changed to a Wireless connection for Internet access.  This will make set up and tear down a lot easier and enable a lot of the wiring and Ethernet switches on the walls, as well as the wooden tunnel, to be removed.

The Center now has 3 separate Local Area Networks (LAN subnets).  One is for the Community Center, one is a secured wireless connection for all the GCCLC computers and one is an unsecured wireless network for visitors to use.  A computer on any of these subnets cannot see or access any of the computers on either of the other subnets. Any visitor with a wireless laptop can now connect to the internet via the GCCLC-Public connection, without the need for a password.

Visitors to our website will now notice that we have some Google sponsored ads. GCCLC will receive a small income when people click on these ads and even more if someone goes on to make a purchase.  If these prove successful, then more will be added.

To enable online, secure donations to be made to GCCLC, using a credit card, a PayPal button will soon be added to our website.

Volunteer Forum

Council Meeting Update, Meeting Held October 15, 2007

Discussions with Ed Scofield - Bob Reeves and Roger Thronburn reported that they met with Ed Scofield to discuss the possibility of the Computer Learning Center leasing the lounge area beginning July 1, 2008.  While the exact details of any such lease could not be decided this far ahead of time, it was agreed that such a lease would be in our mutual interest.  With this in mind the Computer Learning Center plans to stay in the lounge teaching computers for a long time.

Filing Status paperwork- paperwork preparation for the IRS for filing for 501c(3) is nearing completion, but not there yet.

Class Signups -Carol reported that student enrollment is down this fall from previous years for numerous reasons.  Steps are being taken to increase the enrollment for the winter session, more articles in paper, more flyers, enhanced classes, enhanced descriptions etc.

Publicity - The lack of someone to lead our publicity effort is affecting our student enrollment. If you or anyone you know has the skill and desire to work on publicity, please get in touch.

Classes offered - The classes that will be offered in January are being discussed by Martha, Carol, Elinor,  et. al.  The material for the flyer has to be gathered soon.

Digital Photography - The direction we should be heading in Digital Photography was discussed, but no decisions were reached.  We're missing some golden opportunities here.

Computer Tables - The tables our student computers are on belong to the Fairgrounds and they want them back.  Paul Weir has ordered 4 sturdy, good looking, brand new tables that he is donating to us.  Thanks, Paul.

Wireless - Discussions were held about connecting all the students and instructor's computers to a wireless network.  This would eliminate the Ethernet cables now going to each computer.

Policies and Procedures - Work in progress

Inactive Volunteers - Three inactive volunteers were removed from the Volunteers list.  We have 65 Volunteers.  We need more volunteers.  Would anyone like to take on more jobs?  Call me.

Website - Discussions were held on the website design and layout.  Roger will make some improvements.  Roger will also work on our logo design.

User Group and Seminars - It was announced that Joan has submitted her resignation as of end of the year.  Joan has been the pivotal person in User Groups and Seminars since we began.  Thanks, for 7 years of hard work, Joan.  You are irreplaceable!

Financial - Our account balance is $12669

Next meeting is November 12, 2007.

Refurbished Computers

Howard Klein is still refurbishing older computers for use by GCCLC students that don’t have access to a computer.  If you have computers to donate or if you know of a student that needs one, contact Howard @ 271-2253 or hklein@theunion.net

Digital Photography

by Bob Reeves

Digital cameras are dramatically expanding the ways we can display and share the photographs we take. A group of us got together the other day for a brainstorming session on digital photography classes at the Computer Learning Center.  We explored what has worked for us, what hasn’t worked, and by looking at what our student needs and interest are what our classes and workshops should be offered for Digital Photography.

It was decided that a progression of courses and workshops should be offered to help the student take their camera out of the box, load photographs onto a computer, and instantly share and display them.  More in-depth courses and workshops must be provided where the student can learn the intricate workings of the digital camera and how to organize and edit their photos and share them with others.

The progression of courses and workshops planned is:

Digital Camera Class 1 (DCC1) 4 weeks: Camera theory and functions will be explained including resolution, compression, manual and automatic settings. A digital camera, the camera’s instruction manual and an empty flash card should be brought to class.

Advanced Digital Cameras Workshop: This workshop will explore more detailed camera operations and functions such as:  Manual modes; White balance; Pixels; Saturation. This will be geared towards the photographer who wants to get the most from their camera.

Digital Camera Class 2 (DCC2), 4 weeks.  This class will cover basic photo editing including resizing for emailing, redeye removal, cropping, straightening, color and light correction, etc.  The class will use freeware programs, such as Freestone, or others such as Irfanview.  Digital camera instructions are not included in this class.

Slide show Production 4 weeks: Workshop Using Photostory, free software from Microsoft. You can turn your photos into a dazzling production. You can add stunning special effects, soundtracks, and your own voice narration to your photo stories. Then, personalize them with titles and captions.   

Advanced Editing Workshop:  This workshop will explore advanced editing techniques to compensate for digital photo imperfections. This class will explore cloning, fixing blemishes etc. by using open source software such as Gimp.

All of these classes and workshops won’t come about quickly.  A lot of work lies ahead.  But, we thought you’d be interested in getting a glimpse of where we think we’ll be going with Digital Photography.  If you’d like to help us put these together, please let us know.

Computer Crafts

Now is the time to think about computer crafts for holiday gift giving. Checkout these websites that offer free ideas and plans for digital photo projects, digital scrapbooks, jewelry, and many more craft projects.

http://h30240.www3.hp.com/index.jsp

http://www.allcrafts.net/computer.htm#freeprojects

http://www.scrapbookflair.com/index.aspx

http://www.craftown.com/xmas.htm

http://www.thecraftark.com/project.php?projectcategory=1

Computer Humor