The 2005 Student Academy on Information Technologies Program and Schedule of Events
All Sessions held in Combs Hall, Mary Washington College
9:00 – 10:30 |
Welcome and Keynote Address “The Online Workplace” Liam Cleaver ‘92 Program Director, Workforce Enablement IBM’s on Demand Workplace |
10:30 – 11:45 |
Password Hueristics: You Are So Predictable Alex McGeorge Psychology 491: Individual Research - Dr. Roy Smith Password security is a continuing problem for systems-administrators and users everywhere. While many studies have been done on password content, reasons users create weak passwords and ways to compel users to create stronger passwords, this study is unique in that it examines the relationship between users’ listed interests on a social networking site and their password content. This presentation proposes the relevance of psychology in the computer security field by proposing a new type of security vulnerability, one not rooted in technical exploitation but observation of user behavior. “Social engineering” is not a new concept however this study goes a step further by proposing what the next generation of password recovery utility may look like based on results from psychological testing of user behavior. |
A Case Study of Arlington Housing Prices in 2004 Daniel Grantham ECON 462: Economic Forecasting - Dr. Robert Rycroft Property values in Arlington County jumped to 35.3 billion dollars in 2004 - over 11 percent - as estimated by the real estate tax base. To ascertain what factors contribute to housing prices, this study uses a hedonic price index. The study set the price of a residence as a function of various housing characteristics. Studying the determinants of housing prices serves investors, homeowners, and those considering homeownership. According to Christopher Thornberg, an economics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, “The market isn’t acting rationally, it’s now an emotion-driven market where people are buying on the expectation of future appreciation.” This study provides empirical evidence on which people can make rational decisions. The estimated coefficients of the explanatory variables allow participants in the market the ability to make choices at the margin. |
Analysis of Ford Motor Company Eric Rose BUAD 381: Finance - Dr. Galen DeGraff This presenter will show how he used Excel tools, including time series regression, to analyze Ford Motor Company's financial statements, as contained in library accessible SEC Form 10-K statements, for the fiscal years 1998-2003 compared to industry averages. |
Poster Sessions 11:45 – 12:30 |
Stuck on 95 John Clark Video Production - Dr. Joseph Dreiss This is a music video that was written, produced and directed last summer for Dr. Dreiss' Video Production class. It shows the problems and frustration of commuters as they are stuck in traffic on I-95. |
Black and White: The Construction of a Website for Artistic Purposes Megan Moroney CPSC 104: The Internet - Dr. Ernest Ackermann http://nairobi.umw.edu/~mmoro1ew/photography.html This site was created as a final project for Professor Ackermann's course, The Internet (CPSC 104), during my freshmen year in 2002. In order to create a site that was not only user-friendly, but beautiful and intriguing as well, I chose a subject matter of particular interest to me, black and white photography. My site gives a basic introduction to photography and why I feel it is a simplistic yet emotional art form. The site then expands into three core areas: the gallery, how to take black and white photographs, and instructions for developing black and white film. The gallery displays photographs taken by a variety of artists. They are divided into five categories: landscapes, people, architecture, foliage and animals. The section on how to take black and white photographs includes information on using a manual focus camera, how to purchase a camera, and the differences between manual and automatic cameras. Finally, there is a link for instructions on developing black and white film. The process is different from developing color film and is laid out in 10 basic steps. I have received emails from two of the artists whose works are displayed on my site: Alexandre Beltes and Manolis J. Kazamias. Both photographers were from Athens, Greece and wanted to know the purpose of my site and how I received their photographs. Mr. Beltes and Mr. Kazamias authorized my use of their photographs on my website and were glad to have their work noticed outside of Greece. |
Nike Commercial Christin Connors ARTS 0281K: Digital Video Production - Dr. Joseph Dreiss The assignment for this class was to complete a commercial. I was responsible for taping and editing the entire thing. I knew right away that I wanted to make a Nike commercial. They are my favorite types of commercials. They are simple but at the same time the viewer has to think about the images which they are seeing. The images which I included in my commercial include children, teenagers and adults all being athletic and enjoying what they are doing. I also included shots of Nike shoes to continue illustrating the commercial product. The music which I included is called "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart. The reason for chosing this piece is to illustrate and stress the importance of enjoying life. |
Laramie Project: Scenic Design Matthew Lawson THDA 390: Theatre Practicum - Prof. Gregg Stull The Laramie Project implemented digital media (live and preproduction) as an element of the scenic design. It consists of three developmental stages (1) research and layout of the multimedia elements, (2) construction of the multimedia elements using imovie and quicktime pro, and (3) production display on five suspended televisions. |
12:30 – 1:30 |
Lunch |
Filmmakers’ Panel Elise Tobin, Matt Kirchner, Andrew Stone, Whit Varner Moderated by Laura Ramsey - 2005 Film Festival Committee Student filmmakers will introduce and screen their prize-winning entries from the second annual UMW Film Festival. Films shown are Elise Tobin’s The Nutcrackers, Andrew Stone and Whit Varner's Two Fish, Dead Fish: Vol. 2, and Matt Kirchner's No Shirt No Service. At the conclusion of the movies, Laura Ramsey will moderate a question-and-answer session in which the filmmakers will discuss their techniques, the process of making the films, the inspiration(s) for the films, and other topics of audience interest. |
1:30 – 2:45 |
Untitled Carlisle Brigham ARTS 231: Sculpture II - Prof. Carole Garmon "Untitled" is a video showcasing an eclectic collection of shoes set to the music of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. This work is derived from the play between the regal and the ridiculous. The pedestal, on which the shoes are displayed, is a replication of a Roman column, implying a sense of grandeur, yet is barely large enough to stand on. There is also a certain sense of absurdity in the shoes themselves as, over time, they have evolved from completely utilitarian objects into their own bizarre and impractical art forms. |
Lyrics Locater Eric Holscher Independent Study This program gets lyrics from an array of websites on the internet for a song. The song is automatically updated when it changes in the music player xmms. The lyrics are displayed in a text area and it has other features as well, including writing id3 tags and a search feature. |
Robotbox & Cactus: The Animated Series Matt Czapiewski ARTS 231: Sculpture II – Prof. Carole Garmon Robotbox & Cactus is a weekly animated webtoon which I produce for keentoons.com. There is a new cartoon every week and they are usually one to four minutes in length. They are written, voiced and animated by me. I also compose all original music for the series. Using Macromedia Flash, I am able to store symbols and save drawings for future use. This allows me to make episodes in a very short time. What I wish to showcase is a collection of three upcoming episodes. They total about six and a half minutes in length and took about a total of eight days to produce. Being able to create a weekly cartoon requires a broad base and well rounded knowledge of Macromedia Flash. Quick decision making and problem solving are critical to producing something of good quality in such a short time. |
2:45 – 4:00 |
Shakespeare Online: An Interactive Analysis Charmayne Staloff ENGL491: Independent Study - Dr. William Kemp Shakespeare Online: An Interactive Analysis is the product of an Independent Study I designed and completed in the Fall 2004 semester. It is a website aimed at undergraduate students studying Shakespeare and is designed to assist them in close textual analysis with extensive glossing and explanatory notes. With the use of hypertext, the user is more in control of their learning experience, thus allowing them a degree of interaction not available in printed texts. |
Latin Tutor Lindsey Frazier LATN 102: Latin 102 - Dr. Angela Pitts As a Latin foreign language student, I am developing the Latin Tutor in my spare time as a helpful learning tool for my fellow Latin students here at Mary Washington. I implemented the program in MS Access and Visual Basic 6.0, which I have taught myself over the past 2 years. Some of the key features of the program are a dictionary that can be sorted, searched, and filtered by any category, a word parser to give all possible forms and translations of most words, an onscreen random flashcard generator and printable vocabulary lists. Two of my classmates have “beta tested” the program and given me positive feedback and other ideas. Their test scores are already much higher in Latin than last semester after using the program for only a week. The program is extremely flexible and gives students plenty of options, so it performs in every way desired. I have considered extending the application to other languages such as Spanish, French, Italian, and other “Romance Languages.” The Latin Tutor goes hand-in-hand with Wheelock’s Latin 6th Edition textbook; I will be contacting the book’s publishers for possible incorporation with the sale of the book once the program is complete. Latin students in any institution at all educational levels will find the Latin Tutor is the perfect study aid. |
Visual Strategies in the Construction of Political Ad Campaigns Maura Pond SPCH 370: Visual Rhetoric - Dr. Anand Rao A number of ads focusing on different political issues were constructed as strategic parts of hypothetical larger ad campaigns. The ads were constructed with an emphasis on the importance of the visual element on the persuasion of a specific audience. |
4:00 – 4:45 |
Panel Discussion: IT @ UMW- The Students Speak (and Are We Listening?) Moderated by Charmayne Staloff and Dr. Gardner Campbell This group of students will talk about their experience with information technologies (both in and out of the classroom) at UMW. They will share their thoughts about successes, concerns, and challenges that have emerged from their use of technology at UMW |
4:45 – 5:00 |
Closing Remarks – Prizes! |