Reflecting on ALES 204

Reference 1. Social Media

Throughout the semester in ALES 204, I have learned so much in the field of social media and professional communication. As a young, somewhat tech savvy university student, I thought I knew my way around the online world but this class gave me a better idea of the different types of social media and it changed my opinion on many of them. For example, before this class I was very anti-Twitter; it seemed self-indulgent and unnecessary. However, in the first few weeks of ALES 204, I quickly realized the useful purposes of Twitter and how much easier it made connecting with the class. I had immediate updates from our professor and could read how other students in the class interpreted certain lectures or labs. There was an article (Johnson, 2009) I read that discussed similar skepticism regarding Twitter. He soon realized how important and innovative it was when he attended a conference and everyone was tweeting so that others who were not invited could know what was going on. This article somewhat parallels my experience with Twitter. I was against it at first, however when ALES 204 taught me how it can be used to share information, I quickly changed my mind. This is only one of many things I have discovered through this class and I am excited to learn more on my own.

My favourite assignment for this class would have to be the Wikipedia assignment. I have always used Wikipedia and always wondered what it would be like to create or update a page. This assignment allowed me to explore the site that I used frequently and understand how few pages would receive "good article status." I enjoyed researching the topic of my choice (EDNOS) because eating disorders have always interested me and I was shocked to see the limited amount of information on the Wikipedia page. It was fun to research and create the Wikipedia page and then also reflect on the experience in my blog. Although this was the most enjoyable assignment for me, the most useful thing I learned in ALES 204 would be the Pecha Kucha style of presenting. This innovative and simple form of presenting information is something that I can use in the future with school or work. It reminded me that long, dry and heavily worded power points are quite ineffective and the best way to catch someone's attention is to have simple slides that are engaging and thought provoking.

Reading other students blogs throughout the semester has really helped me understand concepts better and see them from different perspectives. For my final blog comment I was reading Lindsay Gervais' blog and I appreciated her message about this generation being more careful about how we conduct ourselves online. We tend to forget that what is said on the internet stays on the internet and that one inappropriate tweet may cost you a job. I think that taking a course similar to ALES 204 should be mandatory in university to give students tools for appropriate and professional online behavior. I have commented on four other blogs besides Linday's because I felt that these ones caught my attention and triggered critical thinking:

• Lindsay G.
• Danielle L.
• Jenna P.
• Sarah H.
• Rosie T.

To conclude, I have learned so many valuable tools in ALES 204 that I can carry on to the future. I am able to communicate better, more efficiently and more professionally.

References:

1. Social Media (Digital Image). 2012. Retrieved on April 12, 2012 from http://www.youneedwebtraffic.com/social-media/
2. Johnson, S., (2009, June 5). How Twitter Will Change the World. Time Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine

"Hold on, I'll Wikipedia that!"

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I can't count how many times I've used that phrase before. I would be sitting around the dinner table having a friendly argument with my family and after a hearty discussion I would say "Alright, time to Wikipedia the answer." Wikipedia has become an everyday tool for the online generation. It provides quick answers to an unlimited number of topics. Whether you want to look up a virus strain, a political figure, or a TV show - Wikipedia probably has a page for it. The great thing about Wikipedia is that it can be edited by any user. If you write a few paragraphs on a subject then someone else can come in and add or edit existing information.

However, you have to be careful about the information posted. Yes, Wikipedia is useful if you need a general idea of a topic but it would not be appropriate to use as a reference in an academic paper you're writing. Because it can be changed by any user, the information might not be accurate.  While reading through some fellow classmate's blogs I came across Kelsie's. She makes a great point saying how Wikipedia can be a reliable source if you verify the references and only use it as a starting point. I completely agree with this. If you can critically read the page and determine whether it can be given "good article" status then I think it would be acceptable to use. Kelsie also quoted a TA (Erin Dul) who gave a lecture recently saying that "using only Wikipedia is like eating only a diet of Big Mac's" It's fine once in a while but don't use it for lots of information all the time. To obtain more accurate information, I would suggest going to the references and using the articles or websites that the poster used. This is why Wikipedia is not the best source for academic work but is great for general knowledge.

I was really excited when we were given the assignment this week in ALES 204. We were supposed to find a Wikipedia stub of our choice and add information of our own. I chose to do my entry on EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified). This refers to any eating disorder that is not classified as Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia Nervosa. EDNOS is often overlooked because it has wider parameters for diagnosis than the other categories of eating disorders and isn't considered as serious. I noticed this even when looking up eating disorders on Wikipedia. Anorexia and Bulimia had long entries with lots of links and headings while EDNOS had around a 150 word paragraph. I was really excited while I was researching EDNOS because it is related to my field and I'm particularly interested in mental illnesses and eating disorders. The first part was easy; all I had to do was research my topic and write a well-written short article on it. However, once I finished the article in Word, I realized I had to use a bunch of mark ups to format the entry properly. This is where I started to like the assignment a little less. It was difficult to figure out how to make headings and link to other pages. In order to do this, I looked up other Wikipedia pages and found aspects of the page that I liked. Then I would click edit and this would show me how the previous poster used markups to format the article. This portion of the assignment probably took the most time but I think my page turned out alright.

Photo Reference 2

I think that doing this assignment really helped the class understand the reliability of Wikipedia. It's one thing to say in lecture that anyone can update stubs and change information but it's another to see it first hand yourself. When I began to add my information to the stub, I noticed that I could have changed anything the previous poster had posted very easily. Then, I began to worry that someone else would edit after me and they could have changed my information! I would be pretty angry if I put all this time into a writing a well written, accurate article just to have someone edit it and add false information. I also realized how few Wikipedia entries have "good article" status.  This will definitely change how I use Wikipedia in the future. I will be cautious of the information and only use it to gain background knowledge. If I want to be more informed, I can use the references posted on the page.

Photo References:

1. Wikipedia Logo [Digital Image]. 2012. Retrieved on March 22, 2012, from http://ohinternet.com/File:Wikipedia-logo.png 

2. EDNOS Wikipedia Page [Screenshot]. 2012. Taken on March 22, 2012 by me

Kony 2012: Make Him Famous

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Although there is no blog post due for this week, I wanted to bring attention to something that has a direct connection to what we are learning in ALES 204. As most of you have probably seen, the Kony 2012 campaign has blown up over all forms of social media. This post is not meant to promote or defame the campaign; my sole intention is to mention how social media has been used in such an extraordinary way.

For those of you who don't know, the Kony 2012 campaign's mission is to make everyone aware of Joseph Kony - a Ugandan warlord and leader of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). Invisible children, the organization who created this campaign, wanted the mass population to support their cause so that the US will continue to keep troops in Uganda and help their government capture Joseph Kony. Despite your position on the organization and their cause, there's one thing that is difficult to refute: the large scale use of social media to connect the youth and raise awareness.

A few weeks ago I'm sure most people my age were not aware of Kony or the organization Invisible Children. However, through Facebook and Twitter, the campaign's video was broadcast worldwide and shared numerous times. This was the intent of Invisible Children. They wanted to connect with the youth of the world and social media was the best platform for them to do this. This is exactly what we're learning in ALES 204. We have used social media for many purposes and we have discussed the scale at which information can be shared. We have also discussed how fast information can be shared. Whether it's sharing your research about a new virus strain or raising awareness of a Ugandan warlord, social media provides an extremely efficient vehicle to reach mass audiences.

My friend Brenda makes a very good point in her blog. She mentions that Twitter enables people to share their passions worldwide. This is exactly what the Invisible Children organization intended to do. Brenda also mentions how hashtags are a great way to group information. Perhaps someone watched the Kony 2012 video and wanted to see what more people were saying about the cause. They could search #Kony2012, #InvisibleChildren or #JosephKony and see much more information to become more informed. I think the use of social media in this campaign was well thought out and very successful. I have added the video here, however before you decide to donate I highly encourage you to look into the cause more and educate yourself!

Photo References:

1. Kony 2012 Poster [Digital Image]. 2012. Retrieved on March 19, 2012, from http://www.sabotagetimes.com/life/kony-2012-why-im-opposed-to-the-campaign/

Hey Tweeps!

This week for ALES 204, we had a choice as to what our blog post topic was. After spending hours thinking of a nutritionally relevant topic, I realized that I should write on something we use everyday in class that I know a lot of students had a hard time adapting to - Twitter! I will never forget chatting with my classmates in lecture and labs about how ridiculous it was that we had to join Twitter. We didn't want to know what everyone in the class was doing every second and we definitely found it uncomfortable connecting with our professor in such a casual, non-professional way. I will admit that I may have been one of the biggest former anti-Twitter advocates. However, after joining it for the class, I came to realize that I didn't have to use Twitter as a way of sharing mundane activities but instead as a way of gathering information, learning new things relevant to my program and sharing my own interests with others. Although I have lightened up to the idea of Twitter, I still have my reservations. There are many benefits and also many downfalls with Twitter that I would like to share with you all.

Photo Reference 1

A main use of Twitter has definitely been companies promoting their products and celebrities promoting themselves. As shown by this graph, the largest group of Twitter users both in November 2010 and May 2011 have been 18-35 years of age. As of March 2011, Twitter had 175 million registered users. You can't pay for better advertising than that! Twitter has become an essential way to market both products and people because real-time updates and advertisements can be posted for millions to see. Let's take, for example, the famous singer/songwriter Adele. Her Twitter page has approximately 4.5 million followers. If she wants to let everyone know that she has a brand new album coming out she simply types less than 140 characters into a box and in seconds 4.5 million users now know about her new album. Not only is Twitter a great way to market products and celebrities, but it's also a great way to receive lots of information about specific things you're interested in. When I first joined Twitter, I knew I would be using it as an educational tool more than anything so I followed numerous nutritionists, science bloggers and students who are also interested in Nutrition. This allowed me to receive recent articles and opinions regarding things I was actually interested in. I found Twitter to be a wonderful way to gather together many different opinions and scientific articles which a simple Google search just can't do.

It may seem like I've completely jumped on the Twitter bandwagon but don't be so hasty! I definitely do have my concerns surrounding Twitter. Social media as a whole has taken away the concepts of privacy and conversation and Twitter may be the most guilty culprit. It has become a platform for people around the world to share private details about themselves (both intimate and mundane) and it definitely has catered to the laziness of our society. Instead of having a nice personal conversation with someone, you just click a button and everyone who is following you know how you're feeling or what you're doing. Instead of calling up a friend and talking for twenty minutes, you just type 140 characters and that's enough. The concept of conversation is slowly fading away and I don't want to see it go. I want to talk to my friend about how she's feeling, not read it online along with hundreds of her followers. I want to have a lengthy conversation about something meaningful, not 140 characters of misspelled words ending with "LOL". This brings me to another point regarding the English language and Twitter; it's hacking away at grammar and spelling! Even I have been guilty of throwing a "u" instead of "you" into a tweet because it's hard to fit a thought into 140 characters. Well-written, thoughtful things can definitely be found on the internet and can be linked to through Twitter, however I rarely come across a well-written tweet itself. However, before I come across as cynical (too late?) I was reading some fellow classmates blogs and I think that Cassandra makes a good point in her blog. She mentions that shorthand is useful in some situations such as note-taking. Our generation as become so accustomed to the texting and online shorthand that it's second nature to us and we can use it to be more efficient. I agree with Cassandra in that shorthand doesn't have to be something that we fear. It can be beneficial and I know that I use it lots when taking notes in class. However, I think a social media site catered towards short, choppy thoughts and misspelled words is taking away from well-written thoughts on blogs or in newspapers. 

Although I was extremely skeptical of joining Twitter at first, I have discovered how useful it can be and I enjoy using it daily to find information and share information of my own. I also have realized that the concerns I have with Twitter are not things that I have to deal with in ALES 204. This class uses Twitter to find relevant scientific information and to share it with one an other. I came across this article that talks about how College students can use Twitter to their advantage. It covers the etiquette of an appropriate Twitter account and I think that all University Twitter users should read it and learn how to be professional and appropriate while using social media.

Photo Reference:

1.Twitter User Demographic Chart [Digital Image]. 2011. Retrieved on March 1, 2012, from http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/06/pew-study-shows-who-uses-twitter.html