A Brief Overview

This semester, I've learned to appreciate all that social media has to offer. My ALES 204 class has introduced me to some handy new pages and reintroduced me to some of the classics in ways that I had never imagined. When ever my friends from nutrition and food (who had previously taken the course) ask me what the new ALES 204 format is like, I've found the best way to describe it to them is, "experiencing social media, rather than observing it". Personally I've found it to be a much more effective way to learn about social networking in respect to what works for me and what doesn't. As well I know that I'm using these tools properly rather than just diving in head first and hoping for the best.

Honestly, I'll admit it, I had a twitter account before I began the fall 2011 semester, and I was not using it like I should have been. I frequently tweeted about the most pointless things! In July, a lot of it was about the weather I was experiencing on my way to work. I honestly don't know who would care about that. Fortunately though after a few lectures focused on Twitter I decided to smarten up and use my profile at least in a slightly more appropriate manner, because I will admit that pointless tweets do get tossed up on my profile every now and then. However I have been able to use it for good, and intend to do even better things in the future. I hope to soon be able to use it for business purposes when the semester is done because in retrospect I should have changed my username to something a little more professional before submitting it to the class list. Having a more professional username would have allowed me to start promoting the catering company I work for in a manner where I could be taken seriously. Unfortunately "veg_sasquatch" lacks that professional edge and I have to hold off until the semester is out.

I am also incredibly grateful for the lectures we had received on proper citations, effective writing, and proper research because of it is knowledge that I can apply throughout my university career. Nobody had really taught me how to write effectively for a science degree. The one thing I had learned in my first year was never to use the word "significantly" unless you were discussing a statistical value, otherwise I was pretty much lost. Being introduced to refworks and the OWL website though has made citing in APA style so much easier for me. I rarely was 100% sure that I was using the proper format on my assignments in previous years and always had to consult my TA, but now that I actually understand the format and have had practise using it, I am much more confident about citations.

All in all, I have benefited from taking this class and can see why it is a mandatory course for all ALES students. It's not enough to graduate with a degree, whether you're top of your class or somewhere in the middle. If you cannot present yourself to the public or any future employer in a professional manner you will never be taken seriously. As well if you cannot keep up with the times and make sure that you are a clear stand out from the rest of the competition, you are not necessarily going to be as desirable a candidate as they would like, and any employer may miss out on what you have to offer them.

A lot of my classmates seem to really have gotten the same results from this class. One of them is Naomi, who I had the pleasure of meeting in my lab on Wednesdays.

Here are some more of my class mates blog posts and my thoughts on them:
Tania's final post
Brandon's post about vlogging
Sydney's post about CC
Naomi's post about Google docs
Nicole's Wiki stub post

Testing: 1, 2, 3...

I decided rather than write about Audioboo, it would be a much better idea to talk about it! Here is my newest podcast where I breifly discuss my thoughts about Audioboo and podcasting:

Communities Within Social Media

I realize this post is a little lengthy but please bear with me! It all started with Twitter for me. At the end of my second year in university a couple of friends had convinced me that it would be a worth while venture to get an account and start following celebrities that I was a fan of. I started by registering with the very "witty" Twitter alias @veg_sasquatch and began to follow various celebrity accounts, while occasionally updating my own Twitter status as well. After about a month or so I decided to actually venture out into the Twitter-sphere since none of the celebrity accounts that I had been following really pleased me at the time. Fortunately because of this I happened to find some Twitter accounts that I actually wanted to receive updates from! Along with following a new set of users, I decided to update my profile and make my tweets a little more purposeful. Since then I have been quickly looped into both the veg*n and longboarding communities on Twitter and am able to keep up to date with all the latest news in both of those worlds and meet new people who share my interests.

From Twitter came Tumblr. Having followed my cousin on twitter for a few months and constantly seeing tweets about her new Tumblr posts I decided to check it out. At first I wasn't exactly sure of what it was. Is it a blog site? What are notes, and how did this post get 35 000 of them? I decided to investigate further into the concept, and what better way to do so than to sign up and take a look at it from the inside? So I created an account and wrote a few minor posts in order to make my Tumblr page appear a little less barren. I'd spent an hour or so afterwards browsing through the different accounts and results that came up on tag searches and began to gain my own understanding of how the website is used. I was inspired by some of the blogs I started following and created What Vegans Eat, which is a blog dedicated really, to my diet (which as a  nutrition and food student, I tend to pay a lot of attention to). Now this blog isn't just this showcase of what I eat, so much as an attempt at opening peoples minds in respect to the vegan diet, because I'm often asked "what can you eat?". Since starting this blog I've gained 31 followers (as of Nov.15, 2011) and hope to expand my audience. I also have my Twitter hooked up to my Tumblr so every time I create a new post, it will send out a tweet. It's helpful for anyone following me on Twitter that want to see any new recipes or food facts that I may have posted, without having to create their own Tumblr account.

Finally from Tumblr I have now created a channel for YouTube (I will get to that in a bit, but first a little background information is at hand). After seeing too many posts about one, charlieissocoollike on my cousin's Tumblr I decided I had to see what was so great about this guy (my cousin clearly has too much of an influence on me). After watching a few of his videos, it would suffice to say that I was hooked. Due to a combination of actually enjoying his videos and the need to procrastinate a little bit I delved even further into the YouTube phenomenon and ended up discovering that YouTube is so much more than I had expected. Originally, my idea of YouTube was that it was just a website filled with junk videos, posted by people assuming that they are funny, and that they really weren't worth my attention. Instead it's a huge network of people, just like Twitter or Tumblr. In fact, many vloggers on YouTube have developed friendships with one another (regardless of geographical barriers) and have created multiple projects together, some to even help benefit others. One example of these projects is Stickaid, which is a 24 hour live stream where vloggers and other people get together to raise funds for UNICEF.

So due to my new found love for YouTube and my connection to communities that exist on other websites, I have created a channel where I intend to post videos about food (naturally)! My videos will feature how to cook food, various nutrition information, and any general knowledge that I feel is important to share. Of course, in the theme of keeping my accounts connected, I will be posting my video uploads to my Tumblr so that my followers on both Tumblr and Twitter will be able to see when a new video is up. As well I hope to be able to connect with other like minded YouTubers and maybe start a couple of projects of our own. Perhaps even someone in my class such as Annalise who recently posted a video reply via YouTube and our class blog. Considering that she is studying nutrition, I don't think finding a common a project idea between would be too hard.

Thanks for reading!http://thatfreakyveganfood.tumblr.com/

Wiki Stub-born

Quite recently I'd spent a good couple hours updating a wiki stub article on the topic of folk medicine. Being that I've always had an interest in this topic I felt that it would be the best topic to research. However I found that finding trust worthy information was a tough task being that many articles related to the topic were not open source articles or else the content of the articles was very narrow and talked only about specific chemicals found in products used in folk medicine. This lack of information forced me to look towards secondary sources that may not be as reliable as primary source journal articles.The best article I had managed to find was a sociology article about how folk medicine is slowly gaining popularity in Western culture and why.

I had previous attempted updating other stub articles in their data base but was unsuccessful in either finding new information or any information at all for some of them. After so many failed attempts I definitely felt discouraged and having had a bit of success with the folk medicine route, refused to change paths.

At one point I had actually seen stub-sub articles about two of my friends who had competed in the 2010 winter Olympics. However I knew that I would not have gotten the same learning experience out of asking them for information over doing extensive research to complete a stub article that more people may be interested in. Although I'd found it quite hilarious to see their names on the Wikipedia database and will definitely make a point of asking if they know who started the stubs.

Screen shot of the editing box for folk medicine

Fortunately enough I didn't find the Wikipedia coding to be too tough. I guess having previous experience with other forms of coding online made it a lot simpler for me because after reading the blogs of other students in my class there seemed to be a bit of an issue with coding. One of my many classmates who participated in this assignment was Julie and she edited a stub about rainscald. Which fortunately she figure out the coding in the end because he article turned out well!

The Book of Faces: More Networking Than Social

For years Facebook has been identified as "just a social networking site" where you can poke your friends and set up events (which will later result in some people posting statuses along the lines of "OMG Soooo druNk at thee bar! Best night everrrrrr!!"). As well with drunk statuses, within a few days of the event people tend to post drunk pictures or statuses about how angry they are with a nameless person who "knows what they did!!!". When it all boils down to it, for many people Facebook has become a very tell-all website, and letting their current or future employers access their pages would be career suicide.

However, little do people of my generation seem to realize, Facebook can actually be beneficial for your career life! By starting a professional profile, it is easy to allow possible employers to get a more personalized and intimate look at who you are as a person but also as an employee. You can create yourself an eye catching e-resume for the world to see. By linking to certain groups and events on Facebook as well you can start networking with the public to see if anyone knows of job openings that you might be interested in. By "liking" certain pages you can show the people viewing your profile where your interests lie and the organizations you may follow or be involved with. For more tips on keeping your profile professional check out Online College's 25 Common Facebook Faux Pas

I will admit that, thought I was originally skeptical about professional profiles on Facebook, I now see the advantages that come with them. When you look at a profile versus a paper copy of a resume, the profile has so much more potential and individual flair! The colour scheme you choose, the photos that you post, and the groups that you like are very telling about a person. As well it's an easier way to fit a lot of information into one compact space. Most resumes are only supposed to be two pages long. In a lot of cases I have found it hard to keep my resume within two pages without removing information that I found important. With Facebook though I can put in as much information as necessary without the page looking too full! To see what my professional profile looks like just click the image!

Another great example of a professional Facebook profile that you should check out was done by one of my classmates Amanda. In her blog post she discusses her own ideas of the professional profile, and links you to hers as well.

A Quick Introduction

My name is Kristin, and I am currently enrolled in my second year of the Nutrition and Food program, although this is my third year at a post secondary institution.

In my field of study, communication allows me to keep up to date with the latest news about anything and everything that has to do with nutrition and food. On twitter there are many accounts dedicated to keeping the public updated with new research findings that are written in plain English so that everybody can understand them such as @nutritionnews and @mnt_nutrition. As well there are twitter accounts created by dieticians also giving out information on new research and things you can do to be healthy in your every day life.

In terms of science journalism, many of the blogs and journal entries written, I see getting linked through tweets, that way the public can easily pick and choose which articles they would like to read rather than tirelessly scrolling through a list of articles to find one they are interested in. Which, admittedly I am not interested in scrolling through huge lists of articles, especially if not all of them will peak my interest.

As well it is important to keep in touch with researchers and other people in my field of study because it creates a network of people who can strive to do better with either the ways they communicate with the public, or how we communicate with each other. By bringing research findings together we can create a clearer image of proper nutrition, and eliminate the confusion that is seen in the general public. When things like new fad diets are released, people start to get confused on what is healthy and their idea of nutrition may radically change. However with clear communication we can work to eliminate that.

In summary, the role of communication in my field of study is to bring to the public resources about tools they can use to better their health based on new research, in a format that is quick and easy to understand.