Last Post!

And so another school year comes to an end. And what a hectic year it’s been. When I wasn’t studying for a midterm or writing a paper, I was making blogposts and tweeting. Through this class, I have been exposed to such a wide range of social media, some I had never even heard about before. I have tweeted on Twitter, posted on my blog, written on Wikipedia, posted on Flickr, created a professional page on Facebook. I learned about the brilliance of Pecha Kucha, discovered resources like the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and learned about the uses Tag Clouds. Aside from the technology, I learned about the traits of a good oral presentation, email etiquettes, and professionalism during an interview. The variety of social media I was presented with in this class really opened my eyes to how much the world had changed. Almost everything can be found on the internet, whether it is from Wikipedia or a tweet someone had made. The extent to which social media has affected the world really surprised me.

Among the many discoveries I have made in this class, the one that interested me the most was the usefulness of Twitter. I had, like many of my peers, maintained a bias towards this mass culture craze; I had thought that it was just a place to be self-centered and to complain. But as I began exploring and following, one interesting organization led me to discover another. Following one person allowed me to see who and what inspires him or her. The organizations and people I followed made me realize just how professional and informing Twitter could be. Yes the ramble and drone of the everyday lives of all the other users is still there, but if you know what and where to look, Twitter can become a very informative place to find concise information. The 140 character limit challenged me every time to critically think about the content of my tweets and be as precise and concise as I can be.

Another very valuable discovery I had made in this class was LinkedIn. This social media allows you to place your resume directly online and accessible by all other LinkedIn users. It facilitates the dissemination of your resume to a much wider community of professionals than handing out paper resumes and allows you receive faster feedback from your potential employers. The ability to allow users to view the events their potential employers are attending is a great way to make connections and increase their odds. But what is personally the most amazing aspect about LinkedIn is the possibility of connecting to potential international employers and organizations that would have otherwise been incredibly difficult. With this tool, I am no longer limited to my resident country; the possibilities have become almost endless!

The many aspects of interpersonal communication. Joy Ying Zhang. Retrieved April 13, 2012 from http://mlt.sv.cmu.edu/joy/research/. 

Apart from Twitter and LinkedIn, the interpersonal and oral communication skills were fairly valuable however not as in-depths as I would have preferred. As important as it is to be aware of the existence of the vast form of social media online, the skills obtained from good interpersonal and oral communication is irreplaceable. These skills require much more extensive training and can only be attained with a great deal of time and practice. While it is one thing to practice tweeting concisely, it is a whole other to prepare and deliver a speech or presentation.

As a whole, ALES 204 has opened my eyes to the immensity and effectiveness of social media in not only facilitating communication informally but also on a professional level. The extensive reach of its capabilities is one I must take advantage of and no longer ignore.

Jenn, a fellow peer in ALES 204, has also blogged about her conclusions about this course. Her experience with CSL was a very enlightening one so please give her post a look!

Here are the 5 blogs I have commented on throughout the course:

Technology Hurts My Head (Jami Frederick) – Introductory post

Adventures of an Aspiring Vet (Jenn Wheeler) – Reflective post

Kendra’s ALES 204 Blog (Kendra Hilsentger) – Professional Facebook Page post

The Bacon Enthusiast (Lauren Bradshaw) – Social Networking and Charities

Becky Bohlender – ALES 204 Winter 2012 (Becky Bohlender) – Choice Blog: ProMED-mail 

All Things Oral

Oral presentations. When I heard those words in elementary school, I would freeze and just start panicking before I had even heard about the subject of the presentation. The idea of standing in front of my whole class and seeing their faces staring at mine was really quite terrifying. 

But situation completely changed in Grade 8. My teacher encouraged me to participate in an 8 minute speech competition held by a national French speech competition within my school. I was terrified and so began practicing every night in front of the mirror until my mouth and throat were dry. When the time came, I stood in front of the judges, presented my speech and answered questions. I had surprisingly enjoyed listening to the other participants (who were also my classmates) but was grateful when it was over. However that was not the end. I would soon be chosen, along with a classmate, to compete in the regional and then the national. 

This is the logo for the Concours D'art Oratoire held by the Canadian Parents for French (CPF) I participated in.

Havergal University (2011). Retrieved April 13, 2012 from URL http://www.havergal.on.ca/page.cfm?p=402&newsid=146

Although cheesy but true, this experience had really changed me as a person. I discovered that preparation was the key to confidence. Practice alone was not enough; you had practice in the same nervous and anxious mindset. Even though I was still extremely nervous in front of the judges and fellow presenters, practicing in front of my teacher and other classmates subconsciously eased my nerves. Practising with an audience also provides you immediate feedback on your performance; your audience can tell you if you spoke too quickly, too quietly or too hesitantly. This immediate feedback allows you to make the required changes to further improve your overall performance. If an audience is unavailable, substitutes such as voice recorders, laptops and social media like Audioboo are great ways to evaluate yourself. By recording your speech, you can assess your own tone, intensity, volume and breathing. In a way, it is like editing your own oral presentation.

As Jami has phrased, oral presentation “is an art”. She was referring to interviewing but the same concepts can be applied to any kind of oral communication. The tone, pitch, volume and pleasantness of your voice are crucial to an engaging presentation. The content of an interviewee’s answers must, like a speech, be insightful, thorough, and involve critical thinking where necessary. In other words, what you present needs to be as appealing as how you present it. A website called Six Minutes also has some very useful tips concerning speaking and presenting skills. The article titled Speech Preparation #8: How to Practice Your Presentation provides insightful and practical tips corresponding with practicing and feedback. 

Wikipedia and the Barton Spring Salamander

My assignment this week was to find a Wikipedia stub and add to the article. Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia containing articles on everything from cheese to bioinformatics; the selection is truly encompassing. However, anyone in the world can create an account and write an article so precision and objectivity are very hard to analyze. I chose an article on the Barton Spring Salamander. I must admit that this task had seemed quite daunting to me as I am, once again, not the most knowledgeable when it comes to technology. But after the lecture, I realized that perhaps it wasn't as complicated as I had thought. When I saw the edit page that was full of codes, my fears came back; but with a bit of patience, I began spotting patterns and making connections between the codes and their respective functions. As I started linking the words from the article I was editing, I began realizing just how large the Wikipedia data base really was. I had known this before but I grasped more of its immensity during this assignment. Within one sentence, there could be 3 links. If the specific word had no link itself, it was often bridged to a similar word. The amount of information that is now in Wikipedia truly is amazing. 

Here is a picture of the article on Barton Spring Salamander I edited on Wikipedia. My part was the environmental impact section. Annie Li (2012). Retrieved from Annie Li computer March 23, 2012.

But this widely used media has a few downsides. The most obvious one is that the mass number of users complicates the screening process. By screening process, I mean the the correction of mistakes and prevention of vandalism. The most data that is added, the harder it becomes to sort through it all, eliminate mistakes, and catch abusers. But the invention of bots has eased the process a great deal. These computer-based "editors" are coded to recognize basic errors; in this way, accuracy is increased. Even though machines can be cheated, there are so many users on Wikipedia that mistakes are quickly caught and removed. Another problem is the conciseness of the articles themselves; if everyone can write in it, how can you be guaranteed relevant and updated information? The answer lies in Wiki's philosophy; the idea is, not to make it easier to make mistakes, but to make it easier to correct them. There are more people on the internet that take these forms of social media serious than there are not. Thus the very "problem" is the solution.


As for social media, Wikipedia provides another means of getting your work known, even if it's anonymously. This Flikr page shows someone who's picture was put into the Wikimedia Commons and then placed on the cover page of Wikipedia. This man's work is a good example of how the different social media we have learnt in class connect and interact with each other; the man placed an attribution and and share alike condition on his work using Flikr, someone placed it within Wiki's version of Creative Commons and now, his work has made front page!

All in all, it was a somewhat stressful but oddly satisfying experience of leaving my mark on the internet. Lauren also update a stub article on Wikipedia. She edited the article on Dourine in horses and has used many references to maintain credential within her article. Please have a read! 

Professional Facebook Page

As technology continues to advance and with it, the continuing evolution of social media, simple resumes and interviews are no longer the only items on an employers checklist. Thus, I've decided to make a Facebook page containing my resume and other pertinent information an employer might want to know should they search me on the internet. Although the resume page is on Facebook, it is nonetheless a potential boost that could allow me that certain foot-in-the-door opportunity into the field I am so passionate about. Therefore, I had to maintain a certain formality throughout the page. 

I have heard that as part of the selection process, some employees have to provide the number of followers they maintained on Twitter. I cannot confirm the amount of truth in this statement but it still seems like quite an intimidating piece of data to ask for. Then again, it is practically the same idea as asking an artist on Youtube how many subscribers they have. Employers are taking advantage of the basically free information floating about on the internet which provides me greater chances of potentially "showing myself off", albeit in a subtler way. Since this "resume" is a Facebook page, the global public will be able to comment and subscribe to what I post. It appears that positive comments and increasing subscribers are, nowadays, just as good, if not better, than the passing of information through "word of mouth". 

Here is a link to my Flickr page. 

Becky's extensive posts are perfect examples of how blogs can also be used to present yourself to potential employers. 

Here are some more creative ways to "write" a resume: 

My first ever blog post!

Hiya :) My name's Annie and I'm currently doing my bachelor in the Animal Health program at the University of Alberta. Animals, hiking, nature, travelling, friends, family, music, photography among others are my passion and inspiration. I love a great, big juicy watermelon in the summer and a nice, hot cup of tea in the winter (yes food is my lover).

Sundown on Mt. Mariepskop, South Africa :D I'm the bright green one. 

I'm not a complete tech-illiterate but I'm definitely not a computer person either. I didn't create an email account until Grade 9 and I didn't get a cell phone until high school. I was slow on getting Facebook and was bugged at constantly to download Skype. However, these mediums do make it easier for me to connect and share pictures and information with my friends especially when keeping in touch with international friends. I can appreciate those who use these mediums to market products, raise awareness, inform and persuade but it bothers me sometimes that others seem to view it as a method of parading themselves. It seems to encourage people to become more self-centered and ignorant. But that is just my opinion :) Kendra's post demonstrates another way social media can be used within a medical profession, which is quite interesting so check her blog out! 

http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/01/19/schooled-social-media 

You know times have changed when social-media based courses are being offered at high schools while high schools in my time banned Facebook and MSN use.