Power Point is easy, convenient, and sort of fun. It’s zen for me to arrange pictures and text around in bullet points.

Here’s some quick info in just three slides.

Manassas National Battlefield Park

In this particular power point, I’ve created an area for quick information. But if it were something I were to orally present, the bullets would be shorter and there would be more pictures. Power points shouldn’t be able to stand alone (as mine, admittedly, does). They should be a way to display visuals that help with a lecture or emphasize a topic.

Critics (like Edward Tufte) say they impair the way students are processing information–contributing to the modern generation of incapable writers. And we’ve all heard that argument: kids today can’t write. But perhaps it’s the way power points are being used.

I stand by them. My power point is a quick summary of an event in history, but I could use these two slides to expand and broaden the subject for any audience. It comes down to the second P, Presentation.

This is the Order Designating the Manassas National Battlefield Park as a word cloud.

I think it demonstrates with clarity how bureaucratic the park was–how even then it was focused on acquiring more lands and expanding its boundaries.

Here is what I have. It’s still an infant, but I’m definitely looking for some feedback. How accessible is the content? Is anything hard to follow? Is it the greatest thing you’ve ever seen?

Updates pending!

http://74.220.207.112/~mrreedne/manassas/index.htm

I visited the Manssas Battlefield this morning! Most important stage of the project. I got plenty of information, and I am finally able to stage my historical question.

Ahem. Drum roll, please.

What exactly went into the preservation and restoration of the Manassas Battlefield Park to create the national outdoor monument that stands today?

Pictures say a thousand words so I leave this with you. More on my project later.

The facts are these: I grew up with a very prying overprotective mother (who I love) but always needed to be kept away from my personal life. She is one of those strict Southern Baptist women who, to this day, thinks I am getting too old to be married.

This woman would go through the cookies on the computer every night and read anything you’d stayed logged into. And trust me, if you wanted to keep using the computer, you’d make sure everything was clean. This has led me to be pretty paranoid about my internet usage in general.

Step One: Facebook patrol. I scan every photo that goes up. Anything even slightly scandalous gets put on private. Any swearing gets blocked almost immediately. The only time my mother sees a status from me is if it involves Jesus or loving my family.

Step Two: Twitter and blogs. I have a few blogs and a Twitter, both only used for school. So I keep it school appropriate. I want a career one day. So if my mother ever stumbles across them, I’m not embarrassed.

Step Three: Passwords. Passwords are important, and my main point here. They speak directly to security, and not necessarily overprotective mothers.

We’ve all seen this one.

Once my mother found out my password in 9th grade, because I had written in the very back of my diary (which she also loved reading, so I soon learned never to keep a diary). She found out that my password was the same for my Facebook, email, Instant Messenger (back in the days of AOL), etc. That day she discovered I am a convinced atheist, rampant Democrat, and have a severe swearing problem. That night, dinner was not a friendly affair.

I’ve been living away from home for only two years now, but I’ve relaxed a lot, especially where passwords are concerned. I used to change them every month. But yesterday I got an email from GMU’s IT service, reminding me I needed to change my student password, as it has been 180 days. Then I realized not only had I not changed any of my passwords in almost a year, but all my passwords were the same (a lesson I should have learned in 9th grade).

Today I have a lot more to conceal than my love of four letter words. I’ve got bank, Microsoft, and Amazon accounts all directly linked to my credit card. I’ve got a Twitter feed that is completely public to anyone, and it has to stay appropriate (again with that career thing). I save all my files online, novels and essays and important documents for school. My computer is directly connected to my phone, which holds every person I’ve ever cared about or need to reach.

In this day and age, losing my internet identity would not only be a hassle, it could ruin my life.

When considering the necessity of paper documents vs online documents it seemed relatable to the argument over grammar on the web.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/sirajdatoo/ways-it-pays-to-be-a-grammar-nerd-9o1f

Open up your Twitter account. Chances are there are a 10 billions Tweets on that site that don’t have any capitalization or punctuation. So the question is, are we moving away from the rules of formal writing?

Consider the Constitution:  yellow, aged, paper cracked. The document itself is full of history; a source of pride for everyone in this country.

But if you’re doing a project on the Constitution, are you going to go to the National Archives and read it behind Plexiglas? No! You’ll Google it and read it online.

The internet has entirely changed the way we view primary sources for research and enlightenment. I just wonder if it’s doing the same to how we view our language as a whole.