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.

I am a great lover of Wikipedia. Don’t get me wrong–I recognize it has a lot of shortcomings. I just hoped everyone was honest like me. We could all utilize Wikipedia and never doubt its vast knowledge of the world. Afterall, it is freely sharing with us information about everything with a simple click of a mouse. So why do people have to be so mean to it?

Today I edited a Wikipedia article. I’ve done this twice in my life (now three) and both times were additions that were both accurate and helpful.

A. When Natalie Portman won her Oscar in 2011 I changed the article (for her!).

B. There was a grammar mistake (wrong use of “an”) on The Airborne Toxic Event’s page.

I’m a huge fan of Stephen Colbert (like, I would convert to Catholicism and marry him if he asked), but when he encouraged us all to change the Wikipedia article on elephants, I DIDN’T DO IT!

Today, I did it. I changed the page on Manassas’s National Battlefield Park.

Here is the original.

Note: Please enjoy noticing what other tabs I had open at the time. A glimpse into my personal life.

Here is the new page, with my additions.

Just one line! It’s all I could manage! And I still feel dirty. I just hope someone changes it back soon. I’m a horrible person. I should create a Tumblr as punishment.

     Exploring Flickr this evening, I came across this statue of Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate hero. This statue stands in Manassas Battlefield Park and it piques my curiosity, because I heard a myth about it not too long ago.

     Observe the statue momentarily. The man features a broad chest and bulging biceps; the horse ripples with muscles and strength. Except, compare it with the real Stonewall Jackson.

     OK, first off, I am aware this is not a real picture. But this is a portrait of Stonewall Jackson, who is clearly not built like the Hulk. So here is the myth.

     The statue in Manassas Battlefield is not actually Stonewall Jackson. It’s some golem with Stonewall’s face on it.

     The contributors to the park wanted to build a statue of Stonewall Jackson, but couldn’t afford to have one built. Conveniently, Mussolini statues go for pretty cheap since the results of WWII (and his subsequent torture). So they bought a Mussolini on a horse, cut his head off, and slapped on a bust of Stonewall Jackson (early attempts at Photoshop!).

     So is it true? Who knows! It’s just something I could investigate when I visit the park this summer.

As told by monotone narration and black and white animation.

This is what I came across today, and to save you eight minutes I offer you this.

A History of the Internet: The Abridged

1. Sputnik has just launched and we hate the USSR. It’s 1957.
2. Carrier pigeons are put out to pasture and information stored in one database.
3. ARPANET (the internet’s grandfather)
4. Mainframes were invented so hackers would have something to say in heist movies.
5. Computers are basically electronic carrier pigeons.
6. The script for Thirteen Days is inspired driving the need for improved file sharing.
7. France saves the day (funny, I know).
8. Phone companies get rich (remember dial-up?)
9. Nirvana’s first album Bleach is a commercial failure and that year the internet becomes a stable technology in the world
10. Cat videos

#10 is not in the video, but I assume it will be in the sequel. It’s already in A History of the World.

Historians Love Black and White Script I Suppose

So maybe I’m infected with the apathy of my generation, but here are things I don’t particularly understand or care about: ARPANET, mainframes, and dial-up internet.

My only question is, what was the Soviet Union up to while the United States worked so hard to develop the internet? Why did America have so much success developing this technology before the USSR? I wish there were a boring Youtube video on that.

I really think electronic carrier pigeons would be neat.

In Tuesday’s class we discussed how the vast collection of knowledge available because of the internet is damaging the structure of higher education. Many critics claim all that information deters a person’s ability to actually learn. I wish we could have had more time to discuss  where education is going; we touched on how George Mason wants to suck tuition money out of people and should probably change this model, but I was curious to how the model would reform. Would Mason pick an area of specialization (like engineering or athletics) or remain broad? And if it does remain broad, what will encourage people to keep attending universities like Mason if they can just get the credits and information elsewhere for less money?

For my final project, I will probably do Manassas Battle Field because I actually do an internship there and really enjoy the park. I would love a chance to explore it more.

I would obviously consider the Civil War as my historical topic, but the Battlefield is also a crucial watershed, hosting important wetlands within the Chesapeake. In the 80s the area was paved over and I’d love to discuss how it was restored for the environment.

My final option would be to discuss the preservation of the area. There are several protests to widen 29/Lee Highway and there are severe traffic congestion issues at the Sudley intersection. However, due to the historical importance of the land, there is major friction between important people on whether or not the roads can be widened or improved at the risk of losing some of the battlefield.