These are the Instructions for the Third module of this course:

Download and read the file "3_compressed_graphics.doc"
It is a handout in Word format (click on the file name to download).
It contains information about web graphics.
It differentiates between the main compressed file formats: gif and jpeg.
It also gives information about a more sophisticated one called PNG.
24 bit PNGs contain an alpha channel, what gives the possibility for soft-edged transparency areas in images compressed with that format.

I have prepared 2 pages on how to compress jpegs and gifs in Photoshop:
http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/ajarabo/intro_Multimedia/save_jpeg.htm
http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/ajarabo/intro_Multimedia/save_gif.htm

When preparing gifs with transparency it is important to know how to use Photoshop to isolate graphic content on a layer with no background.
Using the pen tool to create a perfect selection is an excellent way to isolate content towards a transparent gif. Here is a turorial on how to do so (it uses an older version of Photoshop but the technique hasn't changed).
http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/ajarabo/WEB_authoring/Cuttinghippo.htm

Once you have your artwork prepared you can go to the "save for web" page. Here is a link on specific issues, specially how to define the "matte" color(that would be the background color of your web page and the color of the last line of pixels in your gif, before you hit a transparent pixel)
http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/ajarabo/WEB_authoring/SavingTgif.htm

You can also consult this page that let's you change the image size and printing resolution in Photoshop:
http://soma.sbcc.edu/users/ajarabo/intro_Multimedia/imagesize.htm

Make your post in the Forum Post on Web Graphics.
To answer the questions in discussion 3, you might have to do some web-research to clarify concepts.

Complete this module's assignment on web Graphics.
You are going to compress an image for the web on 3 different sizes.
You need to use Photoshop to complete this assignment.

You can scale the same image down several times or crop different areas of the image to complete the requisits of the assignment.
You can use an scanner to get the image into the computer or download it from your digital camera.
If you don't have acces to any of those two, you can do a search over the web for a high-resolution image and scale it down to the right sizes.
Remember that all web graphics have to be 72 dpi.

Make your post in the Forum Intro to McLuhan following the guidelines.

Reading ahead. On week 5 we will work on the writings of Marshall McLuhan, one of the fathers of Mass Media analysis (and patron saint of Wired magazine)

You should begin reading and underlining text 1.a, which is the introduction to the book "Understanding Media, the extensions of man".

This text wan not written by Marshall McLuhan but by a professor from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
The author, Lewis H. Lapham places McLuhan in the time he lived and pinpoints the importance of his thesis in today's Mediatic world.

Reading McLuhan, or anybody around him is NOT easy. Don't try to read it like a newspaper or a textbook: it will not work.
Seat down to read with a pencil and several high lighters. Underline, notate and highlight as you go. Use the dictionary to understand the meaning of obscure words.
(highlight in different colors terms, main ideas and points you don't understand about the text)

At the end of each paragraph, make a mental synthesis of what the paragraph is about and write it down in a few words if you need to.
Notice that the subject matter can change dramatically from one paragraph to the next. That is typical of McLuhan's NON_LINEAR style of thinking.

McLuhan wrote using a literary-structure called aphorism. Do some research about what is aphorism to help you understanding his texts.
There is another main author of the XX century that used this formula: Friedrich Nietzsche.