Khylan's World

For my first resource I chose to find a source on YouTube for how to convert a color image into black and white in photoshop. The video I chose is relatively recent, and was posted about a year and a half ago. Considering this is software, it could be slightly outdated, but in this instance it is okay. The video was posted by a channel called “PHLEARN”, which I found out hosts their own photo editing website. The site seems to contain good lessons and information, and could be considered a good teacher but maybe not quite an authority. I would imagine in this instance the video and its information had to go through a gatekeeping process. There was most likely an editor and a script writer, and somebody to approve all of this, seeing as the information has to meet the standards of the normal lessons that are on their website and YouTube channel. The information is easy to follow, being able to see both the instructor and their screen at the same time. They take you through the process step by step both explaining what to do and showing you how to access these tools. I typically prefer to watch YouTube videos if I need a tutorial on something software related, so I would be very likely to use this source again. 

For my next source I chose to find an article explaining how to retouch and correct images within Photoshop. The article I found does not have a post or edit date, but is actually a resource on the Adobe website, so it is up to date. Adobe would be considered an authority on the matter seeing as this is explaining their own software to users. There would be a longer gatekeeping process, having to be written by somebody who understands the software, going through multiple editors and checks before being posted. The information is well written with step by step explanations and images to accompany them.While I prefer to watch videos typically when learning software, I would use this resource again because it was easy to follow and very informative. 

For my last resource, I decided to go to YouTube again to learn how to use the blur tool in Photoshop. The tutorial was posted in 2016, so it is somewhat outdated. The information is good however, but issues may arrive if any of these tools have been altered at all in the last few years. The poster is not considered an authority in my opinion, seeing as it is just a single YouTuber posting tutorials, but he does have a large following leading to believe that his information is good at least. The video would not need to go through checks, seeing as he is recording and editing the video himself and posting them to his own channel. The information is well presented and easy to follow with him showing examples of how the different tools work and how to use them. I would use this source again, but I would be cautious seeing as it is outdated. 

Resources:

Black and white conversion in Photoshop : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lykFo-R-0_o

How to retouch photos in Photoshop: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/retouching-correcting.html

How to use blur tool in Photoshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpU5vg2fvOM

Content management systems are allowing for people to publicate and share their own personal articles, blogs, essays, and more on whatever topic they please, without having to go through a gatekeeper or even any kind of process of checks. This allows for both more honest journalism but also an abundance of false information to be spread. It can be useful for more niche subjects and topics, allowing for more specified sites to arise, such as fangroups, game clubs, blogs and more.  

 Content management systems are affecting web design due to its ease of access. There are plenty of CMS’s that are based within your browser, meaning that you simply have to go to a website and from there it will guide you through designing your own personal site. This means anybody could create a personal website without any knowledge of programming. It also means easier collaborations, because another individual with access can log on through their own personal computer or device and make edits to the site as well. 

Creating a website in a program like Adobe Dreamweaver greatly contrasts creating one in a CMS. When creating a website in a CMS, you simply build websites by using pre-existing templates and adding your information. With a program like Dreamweaver you are creating the website from scratch by coding, which gives you more possibilities for features if you know how to program. A CMS is better for a smaller group or an individual site, as it is easily accessible and allows for easy updating and maintenance, while a website created in Dreamweaver should be used by experienced coders and larger companies who can hire web designers. 

SOURCES:

“Content Management System.” Optimizely, www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/content-management-system/.

“Dreamweaver vs. Content Management System (CMS).” Ty the Web Guy, 10 Nov. 2017, www.tythewebguy.com/dreamweaver-vs-content-management-system-cms/.

As the IT supervisor at one of the top clothing stores and websites along the east coast, we deal with all sorts of cybersecurity. As for the summer of 2020 we have to be on the watch for phishing scams,ransomware,employee data breaches,cloud storage breaches, and safe transactions for customers. Phishing is when an individual or group attempts to compromise a business through email, by posing as another business. Typically, they target businesses who send large sums of money through wire transfers. Ransomware is any virus that attacks your computer and then claims a specific program or application needs to be installed to fix this. An example of this could be clicking a bad link on a website, and then your computer is locked up except for a link for the virus, which claims you must install it to fix your computer. Employee Data Breaches is any breach of data caused accidentally or deliberately. The two main causes are not enough training to watch out for phishing or avoid ransomware, or it could even be a disgruntled employee selling data after being fired, or leaking data. This data can include anything from clients to account information. Cloud storage is a newer front people are facing, and must be used with caution. Cloud storage is the act of saving data on non-local servers. Strong security needs to be set so that people cannot access and information you have saved within a cloud storage system, and distribute it. We have seen this with celebrities having personal pictures and information leaked due to cloud storage systems being breached. And lastly, you need to be wary of hackers trying to obtain customer information when purchasing items. 

At our company we already have some practices in place to protect our cybersecurity. We have set up a firewall, anti-malware software on our devices, regular data backups, safe passwords, and employee education. We have in place a firewall to manage the network traffic. This can be faulty if employees do not pay close enough attention to the information. Anti-malware is important to have in case an employee accidentally opens an email with a virus in it, as it will work to detect and remove any malware from your computer. Anti-malware could fail you however if you do not keep the program up to date and the subscription paid for. In order to prevent information loss, we will do weekly data backups to external drives. It could be problematic, however, if the drives were lost or became corrupted, and they need to be organized to keep track of what data is where. We encourage our employees to use safe passwords, things that are not cliche or simple, typically number and word combinations. This could be faulty though, as all it would take is one employee not taking this rule seriously and using a weak password on their work devices. Lastly, we try to provide good employee education on how to safely use the internet at work. During orientation we try to provide good information and booklets on how to identify phishing attempts and other threats to our cybersecurity, and we incorporate any new information at our weekly briefs. This could prove ineffective if some threat pops up before we have had a chance to address it with our team. 

There are plenty of different possible measures you could take to increase cybersecurity.  To improve our security, I believe we should increase our firewall to have both an internal and external firewall, to truly have a better watch over our cybersecurity. Secondly we should have training on how to quickly react to and report any new cybersecurity issues, and have a way to inform the rest of the staff, possibly something like an important notice email detailing the issue. Thirdly, we should secure our WiFi by making it a private WiFi only accessible by work devices and set up an alternative WiFi for personal device use. Fourth, we start making multiple copies of backup data, that way if one goes missing or becomes corrupted, we still have the other on hand. Fifth, we need to come up with a way to make any data inaccessible to anybody who has been fired or left, and a system to track who is copying what information, that way if any information is leaked that person can be held accountable. And lastly, we need further education on how to read the firewall logs and how to spot phishing.

References:

Lobert, Chuck. “The Top 5 Digital Security Threats to Business.” Vision Computer Solutions, Chuck Lobert /Wp-Content/Uploads/2017/11/Vision-Logo-Large.png, 19 Nov. 2018, www.vcsolutions.com/blog/the-top-5-digital-security-threats-to-business/.

Mathews, Lee. “Phishing Scams Cost American Businesses Half A Billion Dollars A Year.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 5 May 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/leemathews/2017/05/05/phishing-scams-cost-american-businesses-half-a-billion-dollars-a-year/.

Segal, Chelsea, and Chelsea SegalChelsea Segal. “Chelsea Segal.” Cox BLUE, www.coxblue.com/8-cyber-security-best-practices-for-your-small-to-medium-size-business-smb/.

Many people have varying favorites when it comes to social media, seeing as how many different platforms there are, but these are the most popular overall. Excluding messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, and WeChat, the most popular social media sites are Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. If you are curious to how each of these sites work, here is how. Facebook is used to both keep in touch with people you know, and interact with different businesses, especially locally. YouTube is used to share videos, anything from short Vlogs, to How To videos, to news and other media. Instagram is used to upload pictures to upload images and view others images. What are demographics and how do they impact social media? Demographics are a specific group of people. Social media is affected by demographics in how it must appeal to theirs, and how they cater to these age groups. Here is how demographics apply to our top three social media platforms. Facebook’s major demographic is made up of middle aged women and generally older users. YouTube is used by a much broader spectrum of people, anywhere from young children to middle aged men and women. Instagram is usually used by teenagers and young adults. Here is how much time users spend on these sites on average. Most adults spend 38 minutes a day on Facebook on average. People spend an average of 40 minutes watching YouTube. In 2018 Instagram users will average around 53 minutes of use per day.Out of these three, this site is growing the fastest. Instagram is currently growing the fastest out of all these social media platforms. I believe this is due to Instagrams easy access nature, with you mostly looking at images and reading shorter length captions for information or entertainment.Most people are accessing these sites through these devices. For Facebook, most users access it through mobile devices. YouTube is accessed mostly by mobile devices as well. Most people access Instagram by mobile devices. 

References:

Lua, Alfred. “21 Top Social Media Sites to Consider for Your Brand -.” Buffer Library, Buffer Library, 4 June 2020, buffer.com/library/social-media-sites/.

“92% Of YouTube Viewers Use a Mobile Device to Watch When at Home.” Klick Health, www.klick.com/health/news/blog/social/92-of-youtube-viewers-use-a-mobile-device-to-watch-when-at-home/.

Southern, Matt. “Instagram Has 1 Billion Monthly Users, Now the Fastest Growing Social Network.” Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Journal, 21 June 2018, www.searchenginejournal.com/instagram-1-billion-monthly-users-now-fastest-growing-social-network/258127/.

Metev, Denis. “How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media in 2020?” Review42, 19 May 2020, review42.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-social-media/.