Write Stripes

About the class website: Sarah -- The timeline at this point has most of us finishing up our pages at this point, and I apologize for not getting around to this sooner. However, I think transfering layouts would be easy enough that most groups would be willing to do it for sake of lucidity. If you are willing to share the design for your page, then our group would be willing to adopt our content to it. Your design is great and the layout is very easy, and no one else has submitted a design as of yet.

I would be happy to even convert the old site over to any layout, if we can just agree on one. If anyone wants to have a different type, can they submit a counter-proposal, and we can just have a vote? I really just want to get this done before it becomes totally irrelevant.

Also -- Remember how our guest speaker said that his documents are edited so that it looks like one author wrote the entire thing, I think that maybe we might want to at least try for this on our page. For example, looking at Sarah's draft is seems clear that humor is your main form of communication, which is probably more appropriate and is certainly alot more enjoyable to read, whereas my group's (social security) reads more like a straightfoward article or editorial; could this be disorienting or irritating? This may seem like a bad idea to some, but the best way to resolve and get this best page would be to just discuss it

While we're on the issue of class coordination, maybe we should discuss how we're going to advertise. I think pretty much everybody has selected flyers as at least a supplementary form of advertising. Should we have 3-4 flyers together advertising the same webpage, or do you think maybe we should divide the campus into sectors that each group aggrees to cover? I really don't know which is best - I think double coverage in some areas would be desireable, but maybe we could spread out for low traffic areas.

We've pretty much reached the limits on what we can do without these decisions being made -- it'd be great if they could be made by tuesday or thursday -- isn't launch right after spring break?

Adam -- I tried to do the same thing before I started on my group's webpage design, but didn't really get anywhere. I think most everyone has already designed their site, and no one would want to go back and redo all of their hard work. But I do agree that some uniformity is necessary. Here's the WOT group's site: www.clemson.edu/~speck/votersWOT.html. (Keep in mind we don't have any real information up there yet. It's just the layout that's done.)

Well...I e-mailed every professor in the geology department, at least every one listed on the department page. The results were not what I was hoping for, but a few did respond. In particular Dr. Larry Murdoch expressed interest in helping to update or make better the website. I asked each professor what one aspect of the geology department was unique from other universities across the nation. Murdoch has been the only prof to respond so far. He said that the Hydrogeology aspect of the Geology that Clemson excels in. The hydro geology camp that Clemson operates is praised as one of the few of its kind. I think that finding aspects of the department such as this would promote new students to enter the major. Murdoch said that he was open to help and Dr. James Castle. These two professors may be good resources that our class can utilize. This is all that I have been able to get so far. Ill keep trying.

About the class website: I wanted to address this to everyone -- I am a little concerned that while we are coordinated in time and in terms of purpose for the website, we do not have a uniform layout decision. So if we could find some way of coming to a concensus on a page layout to follow (and maintain conformity throughout the site) that would be terrific. Perhaps students who have already started on their own could submit a rough copy around, and thereby let us decide together in which layout to follow.

To justify a uniform page format, I would like to remind everyone how difficult it is to navigate a page that has constantly changing colors and fonts.

Thanks,
Adam Griffis

) First off, the website for the geology club needs to be enhanced. Very disappointed with the information, or lack there of, that is provided. There is no information about how to join the club, who is in the club, what the club does, when the club meets, etc...hardly anything of any value there. Most people don't even know that we have a geology club.
2) As far as what the geology department could do to attract more students and possible improvements: If the geology major wants to attract more students, maybe they should get the students that they have now more involved. In the food science department, students are doing a lot, and there is a lot of advertisement so that people know that the students are involved. This is also true in the psychology department. There are constantly emails to students, flyers and notices of ways to get involved. The geology club, and the geology major in general, needs to make people aware of what is going on in their department. They need to be more active on campus. They need to be more in the public eye so that people take notice.

Amy, Suzy, Andrew, Sarah and Cortney

We chose to look at the webpage for the geology department critically and analyze its strengths and weaknesses in addition to what could be changed. The first thing I noticed when I went to the geology webpage was the last time it had been updated was November 11, 2003. This is rather outdated and not very impressive to a prospective student. Also, when you click on the different links such as 'academics' or 'geology staff', it brings you to very informative webpages, but there is nowhere to click to return home meaning you must use the back and forward options of your web-browser to navigate the page. This is rather difficult and makes it hard to concentrate... frustrating the prospective student can not be good! The pictures are good and interesting and makes someone visiting the webpage believe that geology is a relatively fun major at Clemson with much done outside of the classroom.

We chose to look at the webpage for the geology department critically and analyze its strengths and weaknesses in addition to what could be changed. The first thing I noticed when I went to the geology webpage was the last time it had been updated was November 11, 2003. This is rather outdated and not very impressive to a prospective student. Also, when you click on the different links such as 'academics' or 'geology staff', it brings you to very informative webpages, but there is nowhere to click to return home meaning you must use the back and forward options of your web-browser to navigate the page. This is rather difficult and makes it hard to concentrate... frustrating the prospective student can not be good! The pictures are good and interesting and makes someone visiting the webpage believe that geology is a relatively fun major at Clemson with much done outside of the classroom.

I was attracted to Clemson because of stories I heard in Pittsburgh about football season, the weather, and the students. I knew Clemson had a pretty good reputation as a regional school and among some national universities. I determined it would be the best place I could get good grades and have fun. I also happened to watch Animal House too many times.
I was attracted to my major, Economics and Political Science, because I am interested in going on to law school. As a freshmen, I didn't know what to take and I had been an engineer. I decided it wasnt for me and chose Econ instead. Later on, I added PoSc because it was recommended to be a good preparation for law school.
When I think of Geology I only think of people sitting around in a class room looking at rocks and talking about how great they are. I will be completely taken aback if the geology department offers a course different than this.

I have emailed three geology professors (Dr.Wagner, Dr. Brames, and Dr. Scott), but I just emailed them today, so I haven't heard back from any of them yet. I also emailed a friend of mine who is majoring in geology. I basically explained our class project, and asked them what a Clemson student could do after college with a degree in Geology. I think the biggest weakness of the geology department (in terms of failing to attract students) is that students don't know what they can do with a degree in geology. And, of course, everyone is hesitant to major in a subject where they don't see any "practical" uses or applications. So, if we can find out from these professors what exactly you can do with a geology degree, and post these findings in a way that is easy for prospective students to find, we could really increase the attractiveness of the major.

I was attracted to Clemson foremost because it is a good engineering school. There were other things that attracted me to Clemson as well, such as it is close to home, I have always been a Clemson fan, the campus is beautiful, and it is not too expensive. I was attracted to my major, which is biosystems engineering, for various reasons. First of all, I was attracted to engineering because I like science and math. Choosing a specific type of engineering was a little hard for me. I chose biosystems engineering because I found it the most interesting type of engineering. I also plan to major in biomedical engineering. When I think of geology, I think of rocks.

Sorry this post is late. I did not even see it because it was not in bold. I really have not had any problems with the project. My teammates are very helpful and willing to work and do their part. The only problem I have had is validating the information I have found about my candidate. Since I have used the internet for all of my research, it is sometimes hard to distinguish between fact and opinion.

Our group was supposed to look at the Geology departments website. I found that it is pretty thorough. It had lots of pictures and talked about field trips and other interesting events, which students can participate in. The one area where the department could expand would be where they tell about each course in geology. The descriptions came straight from the undergraduate catalog. A more in depth description or even quotes from students who have taken the course may give a prospective student a better idea of what they are in for. Also, the news and events page was blank. By adding more about why geology is currently important they may see larger numbers of interested students. Finally, they may want to consider talking more about careers and current importance of the field of geology. They do mention degree path, but lack information on career path.

There were many things that made my decision to attend Clemson University very simple. The initial attraction to Clemson was that I needed to stay in South Carolina to receive a particular SC resident scholarship but I needed to attend a school with a good reputation for engineering. I also had to base my decision on money so I had to see which schools offered me money, therefore my choices were narrowed down to USC and Clemson. I then decided upon Clemson because I loved the campus setup better and it was further from my home in Columbia.

The attraction to my major stemmed from an engineering course that I took in high school. My engineering teacher said that I would be good at it and since I had not decided upon a major at the time, engineering seemed to be a pretty good idea. Also the fact that math and science were my favorite subjects helped in the decision.

When I think about geology I tend to think about the study of rocks and minerals. I also think about the earth’s layers that we had to learn in my earth science class from the 8th grade.

The main thing that I am having trouble with for this project is trying to figure out what to focus on next. For the most part my group is practically finished with the website. There are only a few minor things that are lacking and will take no time at all to finish. The problem is that I don’t know what else to do with all of the time remaining until the due date. I’m not sure if I should expand on the website or begin to work on flyers. Either way I am sure that our group will have no trouble meeting the deadline. This is very definitely a blessing for me because I normally wait until the last minute to finish a project.

Are we posting individually or as a group?

For the second post this week, you should 1) adopt the role of a student considering majoring in Geology at Clemson. Working in your groups, 2) investigate the Geology major and post your finding here. Be critical of the information, the availability of information, and the way it is presented. 3) Think about ways that the Geology major could better attract students and 4) begin to discuss possible improvements.

What attracted you to Clemson? What attracted you to your major? What comes to mind when you think of Geology?
I was attracted to Clemson because it was fairly close to home (Charlotte, NC) and because it is the best engineering school in SC.
I am a math major now and I was attracted to my major by a couple professors I had here my freshman year.
When I think of geology, I think of my mom because she is a jeweler and she knows about all that kind of stuff. Other than her, I have never known anyone to study rocks (well, except for one earth science teacher in Junior High that supposedly ate rocks).

This is in response to last week's blog prompt. I didn't see it until just now because it wasn't in bold letters like the others, and, quite frankly, I am pretty blind and depend on those dark letters to single out when we have a promt... :)
The hardest thing for my part of the project has just been trying to decide what info to include and what to leave out. I am doing stem cell case studies, and there are about A MILLION different "personal stories" of stem cells being used to save someone's life. So, it was hard sifting through all of the stories, and trying to find the best and most representative stories to include, and what to leave out.

I was definently attracted to Clemson because of the location. I grew up here, and going to college here was a good opportunity to stay in touch with friends and family that I had, which I realized was really important after spending a year in Chicago at Northwestern as a freshman! I was attracted to the English major because I always loved to read growing up (I can't remember a time when I wasn't engrossed in some book or poem), and all throughout school my english classes had always been the funniest and easiest classes for me. When I think of Geology, I think of the rock mueseum on campus near the Botanical Gardens, and the extensive rock collection I have from when I was obsessed with rocks growing up.

1) I was attracted to Clemson mostly because of its great value as an in-state student and the Life Scholarship. Then, I found that Clemson had a really "laid back" vibe and people seemed to be really nice and welcoming. Also, I really enjoy big football games, so naturally that aspect of Clemson was exciting.
2) My major is health science. This major attracted me because I want to enter the health care profession. In health science, we learn a lot about people, their behaviors, and how to work with them to basically keep them healthy. I think these are very valuable skills for anyone entering into the medical profession.
3)When I think of geology I think of the study of rocks and the earth. Basically the only geology I have ever had was in my 8th grade earth science class...

1)I was attracted to Clemson because every member of my family came to school here except for my brother. I was also attracted to Clemson because it was free. That was probably the main reason.
2)I was attracted to my major because I want to go to med school and every class that I need for the MCAT is covered in the requirements. I also heard good things about the Biology department and so far I am pretty impressed.
3)When I think about geology I think about rocks. People use geology to try to figure out how old the Earth is, where we came from, and what happened before we got here.

The number one thing that attracted me to Clemson was affordability. I realize that this probably will not be an original answer, but it really is the main attraction to Clemson, and it certainly seems to be something they embrace ( see the Kiplingers spot on mainpage ).

I chose computer science mainly because I had already had a few programming classes and had really enjoyed logical thinking and the discrete mathematics behind it. I had heard all the stories about getting rich but even before I was starting to apply for colleges that was a thing of the past, and outsourcing was well on its way to becoming what it is now. I chose computer science anyway mainly because I felt (and continue to feel) that the superior skill of American Universities and the reduced glut of CS majors will swing the job pendulum back our way.

I've actually had a Geology course so my answer may be different from most's. The main thing that geologists these days are employed to do is study groundwater, because it is quickly becoming an issue due to pollution and overuse. Although if I were a student considering Geology my number one concern would be the opportunities is explatoritary Geology (finding oil reserves) which can have an exorbidant salary.

The weather was definitely the number one attraction for me at Clemson as I was coming from freezing cold New Hampshire. Also, the 'southern hospitality' was something I wanted to experience firsthand, in addition to realizing a different way of life. My major is International Political Science and I actually kind of fell into it when all else failed. I knew I wanted a career in the public sphere somewhere where I could make the most difference, hopefully in a developing third world country in North Africa, and when all was said and done political science seemed to be the best way to help me reach my goals. Geology makes me think of rocks... all different kinds of rocks! I'm sure it involves much more than this, but in my slight geology education, I learned about rocks.

1. Clemson? Well i'm from Simpsonville, and if you haven't heard of it, you've definetly heard of Greenville, which is close enough. I wanted to be close but not too close to home, and I knew Clemson had a pretty good reputation for their computer science department AND they had Russian classes offered. Plus I got Palmetto Fellowes, which I didn't get with my other main choice, Ga Tech.
2. Major? I took some computer classes in high school and it just clicked. I knew that I should be a programmer.
3. Geology? Rocks. I don't know how anyone could find studying rocks interesting, though I suppose that studying rocks on Mars would be cool.

The first thing that attracted me to Clemson is it's location in the southeast (the weather!) and what kept me interested is it's beautiful campus and it's college-town atmosphere. The town really does not exist without the students. What attracted me to my major is that I have always been interested in psychology in both academic and everyday settings. It seemed natural to choose it for my major. Also, I want to attend law school after Clemson and used this in deciding my major. Law schools do not really factor major into admission decisions, so I went ahead and stayed with psychology. When I think of geology, I think of rocks, soil, fossils and such. I really don't know much about geology and honestly wonder what that major would be applied to.

1) I got offered a singular, large scholarship. I was told by my father I would receive aid in no way for college, so this was the most important issue for me at the time.

2) I just feel like doing it. The only other things that are tempting me are math and history. However, I am uncertain how I would utilize a math major, and I fear I would be labeled a dissident and discarded if I perused history.

3) The first thing that comes to mind is my RA from last year telling me about his father, a geologist, who advised him to do anything except geology, as finding a job was extremely difficult.

1) Graduating high school in three years and being extremely close/dependent on my family, I needed to move far away to grow up and be independent. I was attracted to Clemson because of its reputation, warm weather, and athletic involvement. I knew I wanted to go to a challenging school with a decent student body, but outside of education I wanted to be immersed in a new culture (which I definetly found). Growing educationally and culturally was/is a huge point of finality in my life - and attending Clemson seemed to push me closer to means to satisfy the ends.
2) Being a biology and spanish major I was attracted for two, maybe three reasons - first I want to be a doctor, second I grew up in a Spanish household, and third I wanted to help the Hispanic-American population while practicing as a doctor and take relief projects to Latin America annually. I now wish that I had chosen microbiology or genetics as a major because biology concentrates too much on plants and ecology, which I am not interested in at all.
3) When I think of geology I think of earth science, rock patterns, evolutionary evidence, rock formation, and tectonic history of the earth.

1) I was attracted to Clemson because it was close to home (Atlanta), but not too close. And also because it would be a change. Most of my friends went to UGA, GA State, or GA Tech. I wanted to get away and meet new people.
2) I was attracted to my major (Health Science), because it puts me on a great track for medical school and the way that the medical field is moving. We focus a lot of our research and curriculum on preventative health services/care (exercise, vaccinations, diet) and why people do or don't utilize such services or practices. The answer to these questions could save a lot of people a lot of money. Plus, it help remind me everyday of what I should and should not be doing with my body, eating habits, etc.
3) I don't know much about geology, just that it involves rock, dirt, etc. I guess I will learn soon!

The hardest part of this project is getting accurate information. Alot of the information on gay marriage is a little gray, because very few candidates have a very clear opinion. It seems like everyone want to please as many people as possible, which is the idea if you want to get votes. For example, Edwards has made many public statements that are very different than the information he sent me in response to my email.

1) Three major things attracted me to Clemson. First of all, I've lived in Greenville all my life, and I wasn't ready to make a huge transition right after high school so the fact that Clemson was literally down the road was very important to me. Clemson is just far enough so that I feel like I've left home but close enough so that I can stop by my house anytime I need to. Clemson also has a great engineering program that I planned to major in. Finally, Clemson was extremely financially pleasing to my parents and me. I knew it would be a good idea to avoid getting into large amounts of debt.
2) I think my parents initially put the idea of becoming an engineer into my head because it's a practical and challenging major. Industrial engineering appealed to me because of the range of jobs open to industrial engineers.
3) I honestly don't know too much about geology because I haven't taken an in depth course on the material. Rocks, layers of the earth, and stuff of that nature comes to mind when I think about geology.

Answers to the three questions:
1) Several things attracted me to Clemson. I liked the atmosphere of the college town and I really enjoyed the campus. Financial concerns also had a lot to do with my decision. The location was a plus for me. Clemson is close to home but far enough away that I never actually go home, but I know that I can if I need to.
2) I am majoring in Computer Information Systems and many factors helped me decide on that major. Both of my parents work with computer systems, so I have been surrounded by it much of my life. I got to take a computer science course in high school and realized that I enjoyed it and was pretty good at it. It is also a pretty good field to be in in terms of getting a good job.
3) What comes to mind when I think of Geology? Rocks. That and the physical composition of the earth. Not much else comes to mind since I know very little about it.

This post is a little late. The snow had me a little distracted. Overall I have not encountered many difficult tasks in this project. I have been responsible for finding information about John Edwards's stance on same-sex marriage as well as researching the opposition to same-sex marriage. The most difficult thing to find thus far has been voting records on the issue, since the controversy has been more recent and since the U.S. Senate has not directly handled any legislation since it is being addressed mostly on a local level right now. Collaboration among our group has been good thus far. I don't really have any broad areas that have been difficult, since I have been mainly focusing on research.