A Reflection of ALES 204

Ever since taking ALES 204 I've not only learned how to use social media as a way of communication but I've also learned how to use it in a professional manner. In the beginning I was unsure about how I felt about this class, just like fellow classmate Clara Tran, because the professor encouraged us to bring our laptops and Smartphone and said that we would be “tweeting” a lot. I had no idea how to tweet and how to even navigate through Twitter, but after a few classes I found myself not only engaged in Twitter but I also learned how to write critically literate tweets. I learned that because our tweets are not only showcased to our friends but also to the public, it is important that your tweets are short enough but gets the information out at the same time. Another topic I was unsure about this course was how to use Facebook to connect to thousands of people and also potential employers. It was confusing at first because I thought you had to use your personal Facebook page. I knew that a lot of people wouldn’t get hired and sometimes even fired because of the content that was on their Facebook that was found by employers so I was skeptical of this idea. Later I learned that we could make a Facebook business page aside from our original profile that acts as a business card, resume, and even cover letter to showcase our positive qualities.

Social Media Bandwagon
Retrieved on April 13, 2012 from
http://linxonesolutions.com/blog/?p=246

For me the most interesting topic was about public speaking. There were so many neat tidbits that I learned that week. For example, women should try to talk in a lower voice to make the audience more engaged in them and their presentation. Another interesting thing I learned was the purpose of tag clouds. I knew that I had seen them on random websites before but I had no idea what the purposes of them were until this class. I really like the idea of grouping a whole bunch of similar ideas together and making a cloud of words with it and having the most relevant word being the largest text size. This makes searching for things much easier and it’s also kind of fun.

With creating this e-portfolio I can see why blogging is becoming more popular today. It first started off acting as a journal but today it can be found commonly used as a resource center, such as our ALES 204 class blog. I learned that blogs could be professional too. For the future if I ever find something neat to research I will consider writing a blog about my progress and my findings. Not only will writing a blog allow people to see what my views are and understand me better, but also because blogs can reach out to so many people that it can create some good discussions or comments which may give me new ideas for new research. 

In conclusion the role of technology and social media can end up playing a huge role in my future career and others as well and having this class to teach us how to use it appropriately is really going to help. Even though there will be more different kinds of social media coming out in the future I still feel that I have a better understanding of how to use them to my advantage now than I ever did before thanks to ALES 204.  


Five Blog Comments:
Clara Tran

Danielle Lu
Brenda Le
Daniel Schwenk
Vanesa Flynn

Is Twitter better than Facebook?

Before starting my ALES 204 class I didn’t have a Twitter account and I wasn’t even slightly interested in getting one. But ever since I got one for the class because it was mandatory, I have found so many interesting things on there that helped me gain more knowledge in different areas of life. For example, something that really caught my attention was the number of farmers that use Twitter. Their tweets and pictures helped me become more knowledgeable of where the food I eat comes from and all the hard work that has to be put into the process of making those foods. By following those farmers I also found neat webpages such as Feedstuffs Foodlink that discusses interesting agriculture and food topics. Twitter also helped me find some professionals such as human ecologists who I can follow and keep myself updated on the topics that are being studied by them now.

Twitter is different from Facebook in a way that it is more professional based whereas Facebook is more personal based. Although with that being said, Facebook can be professional based. Because of the popularity of Facebook, many people now have a Facebook page for their business and some even have a page that acts as a resume like fellow classmate Christine L for example. The other unique thing that distinguishes Twitter from Facebook is that you only have a limited number of characters that you can write for your status so everything is to the point whereas on Facebook someone’s status could be a paragraph long.

What I personally like about Twitter is that you can follow anyone to see their status updates and you don’t have to wait for them to authorize anything whereas on Facebook you have to wait for someone to accept your friend request first. This allows me to follow people of my interest such as human ecologists, fashion designers, and textile scientists. Another thing I like is that people can use hash tags in their statuses and that helps to group things together such as in our ALES 204 class. Under that hash tag people can find others who are talking about the same topic.

Although Twitter has so many benefits to it, many people may not find it useful because it doesn’t help one connect with friends and family like Facebook does. Each social network has its advantages and disadvantages and it is up to the person to decide which social network works best for them or if both of them are useful. The bottom line is that Twitter is better from a professional standpoint whereas Facebook is better for personal uses.  

Wikipedia

Online image retrieved on March 23, 2012 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_diet

Ten years ago if someone wanted to find out more information about something quickly they might use a book called an encyclopedia to look it up. Today Wikipedia is probably the most widely used electronic encyclopedia. As it states on the Wikipedia website, Wikipedia is basically "a free, collaborative, multilingual Internet encyclopedia supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 21 million articles (over 3.9 million in English alone) have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site." (Wikipedia, 2012). It's simple, fast and provides more information than the original book style encyclopedias. Of course with something this amazing available to us, there is always some pros and cons.

The major con about Wikipedia is that the public writes it so basically anyone can go in and write information about a certain topic. To protect them, Wikipedia has a general disclaimer page clearly stating that their articles are not necessarily reliable. Most of the topics on Wikipedia are pretty close to being accurate but there are certain topics where some writers or contributors may write something in their own opinion. It is up to the reader to decide whether or not that information is valid and useful to them. For my ALES 204 class I was required to update a "stub" on Wikipedia. This allowed me to realize how easy it was to create or change the information on Wikipedia. The only thing that I found difficult was using codes called Wiki markups to get certain words in a certain font or adding a reference. Nonetheless I was still able to figure it out and contributed my findings to the topic called the Hallelujah Diet. The thing that I had to keep in mind when writing for the Hallelujah Diet was that I needed to keep my information neutral so that it wasn't going to sound bias. When writing a Wikipedia article one should never put their own opinions in it. Because of this reason we would never see an academic article cite a Wikipedia page or use it as a reference because there's always that chance therefore making it an unreliable source.

Aside from the con that Wikipedia doesn't provide 100% correct information, the website is still monitored for accuracy in information. So if someone did write something bias about a politician for example, other people or Wikipedia administrators will take that invalid information off the page. Another good thing is that it is free so anyone who has Internet access can use it and it might help broaden some people's knowledge. For some people, such as university students, Wikipedia is a great place to get some background information on a topic. Like a fellow classmate Daniel Schwenk says, "Wikipedia should be used only as a starting point when writing scientific or research based papers due to the uncertainty of credibility." Most Wikipedia articles also provide sections such as references, further readings, and external links so one can follow those links to find a more valid source that they can rely on for that topic.

Even though I have learned how easy it is for anyone to go in and write something on Wikipedia, I also know that a lot of people will use it regardless of its flaws. For example, when Wikipedia went offline in January to protest against SOPA a lot of people realized how much they relied on Wikipedia and I was definitely one of those people. So although Wikipedia is not 100% reliable people will still continue to use it because they know that its intentions are good and it is there to provide general information about millions of topics for millions of people.

Wikipedia. (n.d). Retrieved March 23, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

Facebook Business Page

Online image obtained from Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jacinta-Lin/270619709672064?sk=info

Thanks to my ALES 204 class I finally started a professional Facebook page! Go check it out! This page is different than a normal personal Facebook account that most people have because it is more circled around the idea of professionalism. Here is my friend Christian MacNeill's real estate business page as an example. The purpose of his business page is to attract business and customers. My professional Facebook page was created to promote to the working world who I am and why they should hire me. It includes things that would normally be on a resume such as academic history, work experiences, related skills, personal information and so on.

A professional Facebook page is not only a different approach to hand out resumes; it is also a form of professional networking whereas a normal Facebook account is used for social networking. Because technology in today's world is so advanced, "public resumes" are now becoming so common that it is almost necessary to have one. Ever since Facebook became a hit in the social media world, employers started looking up applicants on the Internet and seeing if they can find any extra information about them whether it is good or bad. By having a professional Facebook page that serves a purpose as a resume, it allows employers to look you up and find out more about you before you go for an interview or even if you get a chance to be interviewed. It is also good in a way that it makes it easier for employers so they don't have to go through piles of paper resumes to find the right candidate for the job.

The unique idea of a professional Facebook page is that you can showcase all your skills and background that might not be on a normal resume.  For example, you can have pictures of things you've created or designed in the past for a school project that could be relevant to your area of expertise.  If the employers like what they see from this extra little bit of information about you, you'll have the chance of getting approached by the employer with a job opportunity. Choosing the perfect details and information to display on your Facebook page is one of the key things to a successful page. All details and information should be kept professional and clean because the goal is to draw positive attention from potential employers to your Facebook page.

Another benefit to having a professional Facebook page is that you can "Like" a specific company's page from your Facebook page. By doing this you have made your page even easier for potential employers to find you. Also, because you "Liked" this company or business it shows that you are interested in them and the work that they do and probably follow up on their updates that they display on their Facebook page.

It's All About Me

online image obtained from
http://www.ftmcmurrayabrealestate.com/?page_id=177

Hello all and welcome to my blog! My name is Jacinta (pronounced Ja-Sin-Ta) and I'm from Fort McMurray, Alberta. I've lived in Edmonton for 3 years in total now but I moved away to Kamloops, BC for a year in between. I don't really miss anything about home other than the amazing northern lights and the insanely high wages. Right now I am a second year Human Ecology student majoring in clothing, textiles and material culture but aiming to switch into nutrition major. I know it's two totally different things but I have a passion for both food and fashion. If the nutrition path doesn't pan out for me then I think I will finish the degree with a minor in material culture and design studies to try my luck in fashion design.

So far for this program I have just done all my elective classes because I transferred from Arts so I haven't actually done any human ecology or textile courses yet. Although I think if I were to pursue a career in the area of fashion and design, communication using social media would play one of the biggest roles for my success in both my undergrad and my future career. I am glad that my program requires me to take this ALES class because it will definitely be very helpful in helping me learn how to properly use social media as a source of communication in a professional manner.

online image obtained from
http://stylebyladyg.com/2011/10/29/style-icon-twiggy-the-worlds-first-supermodel/


I think that communication is very important for someone who is in my program especially if I decide to minor in material culture and design because I will have to advertise my ideas and creations to as many people as possible around the world and the internet is a very effective way in doing that. Because there are so many resources, such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs, that we can use today to communicate with people, there is always a way to catch someone's attention. For example, if I decided to start a business selling clothes that I've made then starting a blog or a business page on Facebook would be an ideal place for me to kick-start my career and raise awareness to my line of clothes. With a blog I could post pictures and drawings of my creations and ideas that would help describe my products to consumers. The good thing about blogs is that they are open to the public so anyone can make comments on my blog and I would hopefully get lots of comments and feedback because feedback is what helps us learn in order to be successful. The downfall about advertising your ideas on a blog or any kind of social media is that people can easily steal your ideas. But then again I like to go online and look for fashion ideas myself. Here's one of my favorite DIY websites.

During my undergraduate studies I can use social media to communicate with classmates and professors to seek updates for certain courses or events that might be happening in my program. It is also a good way to build socializing and interpersonal relationships, which I feel is crucial for me to be successful in my program and especially my future career. Social media is also a good way to share information, ideas and opportunities such as an internship that could lead to a career. I feel that in order for me to build a good foundation for myself to be successful in my area of studies, social media is definitely one of the key components.