Maurice McMillian
Second Year SMASH Scholar

WELCOME TO MY TECH PAGE.
HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.

When I was younger, the media that I came in contact with the most was video media on TV. As I grew older, I came more in contact with internet media on sites like Gamespot.com and Myspace.com as well as more video media. I first came in contact with TV media at a young age. When I was younger, I watched a lot of shows on Nickelodeon or Disney Channel, and as I got older I watched things on TV like South Park and Family Guy instead. I first came in contact with the internet when I was about ten years old and ever since, I’ve gotten more engaged in the internet until the point where I’m online more than I watch TV. In place for TV, I watch funny things online instead. I do things like photoshop pictures out of boredom and talk on AIM a lot. These types of media’s are very effective because they can get to all age groups (not so much with the internet) and all types of people. If I were a businessman, I would use tv advertisement to get my message out easier. Now, I use websites like Myspace.com and programs like AIM to talk to my friends and family through the computer. If I were a salesman, I would most like advertise on websites and TV or I’ll make my own website to spread the message of my company.

Assignment One - Personal Profile & Statement: Media & Me

This assignment wasn’t that hard for me at all. Typing the statement wasn’t too hard but the only thing that slowed me down was thinking of 10 words to use as my hyperlinks. Once I got those, I finished writing it with no problems. When I started using the hyperlinks on Dreamweaver, it wasn’t hard because I already thought about what link to use for which hyperlink so it was just a matter of finding them. This whole assignment wasn’t hard and it didn’t take too long to do either.

Assignment Two - Montage: What's In A Name?

I have never been in a situation where I was stereotyped by name. I think my name is a very neutral name that doesn’t have any stereotypes and can’t be used to determine anything besides who you’re related to. I have no real problems with my first and last name, but I hate my middle name. My grandma always tells me that they named me that, (I won’t say my middle name because I hate it that much), because my deceased uncle loved the name. I think it only has one interpretation, which is Maurice D. McMillian.
Apparently, my last name, McMillian, is originally Scottish. My last name was used as a nickname for bald people. I don’t know of any notable people who share the same last name as me because my name is spelled weird compared to the regular way, McMillan, and a couple of athletes and celebrities share the same first name as me though. I’m the only person in both sides of my family that I know of with the name “Maurice”.
The only image associated with my name in my opinion is just my family crest. It’s Scottish and it’s from my last name. My name doesn’t reveal much about me except that I’m part Scottish. My interest affects my identity by making me who I am. I think the most appropriate imagery for my nicknames would either be a Big Mac sandwich from McDonalds or a Reese’s peanut butter cup because I have the nicknames “Big Mac” and “Reesey”. I think brown, black and red are the colors that represent me because my skin is brown, I’m referred to as black, and my favorite color is red.
If I took the name out of my montage it would still represent me because most of it is just a collage of my personality and interests’ rather than fully focusing on my name in it.

Assignment Three - Flash Presentation: What's In A Word?

I was first eager to learn how to do this project. This was my first interaction with Flash and it seemed challenging, but I knew it was manageable. When I first started, I didn’t get a lot of it so I constantly asked questions on how to get unstuck. Once I got the hang of all the functions in flash it moved along a lot quicker than when I first started. I plan on using flash a lot out of SMASH but I have to get my hands on the program first. You could most likely use Flash for presentations in a company, animations, and even video games. You could sell these types of presentations for advertisements or websites in the future if you got these to the right people.

Assignment Four - Flash Poll: "Mulit-Poll" Choices

I was first intimidated by this project because they first told us this was the first time we were going to use a lot of code in this class. When I first actually started it was very simple because this wasn’t my first time with Flash. I finished it pretty quickly and since I had experience on the previous project with flash, it wasn’t that hard. I had a few problems with the extra stuff like music but besides that it was almost problem-free. In real life a lot of people make polls and put them on places like quizilla and a lot of people put their results on their myspaces.

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