April 2004 General Session Review – Eric Johnson

Multimedia On A Shoestring: or How I Got Rid Of My Slide Projector, But Still Annoy My Friends When They Come Over.

     By Bill James          

Our April OKCPUG monthly meeting featured a presentation by Eric Johnson. His topic on multimedia alone was enough to generate interest since multimedia is hot among PC users. More importantly his insightful overview of what free tools you can install on your computer to capture pictures, music and videos made his presentation particularly appealing.

Eric has been using, programming, consulting, and teaching about computer hardware, operating systems and applications for the last twenty years. He is a freelance technical editor of the Office XP (including VBA), Win XP, XML, and Dreamweaver MX manuals for Course Technology. He holds the following certifications: MOUS - (Microsoft Office User Specialist) Certified Master - (Expert) in Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint. COMPTIA A+ - Certified Technician. BrainBench Certified – Technical Writing, Word 2000 Expert, Excel 2000 Expert.  He recently started writing a computer advice column in the FYI weekly newspaper. 

His presentation was divided into parts. Part I covered digital pictures, the formats, and programs that manipulate them.  Part II delved into music, including the formats, and programs that manipulate them. Finally, Part III married the music and pictures into something presentable. He brought a CD that had all of the downloaded software he used in the presentation. He covered some tips and tricks that he had learned over the years and shared them with the audience. Eric provided the group with a great handout then explained the various file extensions used by multimedia products. It also contained websites where you can acquire free software. He demonstrated that you do not have to have expensive software to get the job done. There is plenty of free stuff around that suit most user’s needs.

You can have a copy of Eric’s cd’s by contacting David Robbins at the Resource Center. You will need to bring with you 3 jewel cases. There is not a charge for the CD.  There was lively discussion between Eric and the group on all the topics. His answers to the individual questions underscored his knowledge and of his work. If you missed this presentation, get the CD. It is well worth it.

Winners of the evening’s drawings were: