My Reflection on the Winter '12 Semester

Retrieved from google.com/images on April 13, 2012

 So this semester in ALES204, Communication Theory and Practice, I learned how to use many different social media websites, as well as navigate around Wikipedia and edit stubs, and upload professional information to LinkedIn. The main focus of this class was to teach us how to be profession but maximize the number of tools available to use to stay connected and up to date in our future careers. Until registering in this course and starting it in January, I did not have a twitter account and I didn't understand how and why it would ever be useful in my day to day life. It finally sank in this morning, when explaining to a friend, that there is much more to twitter than just posting new tweets about whats going on in your life. Twitter is a resource, it is a field of information that is available at your fingertips, and at the click of a hash-tag. Hash-tags, for those of you who don't know, is a way of connecting tweets related to a specific topic, for example, all tweets that are related to this course get #ALES204 linked to them so that it builds a forum type page of all tweets that people have made related to ALES204. Whether you like it or not, social media is becoming a huge part of our everyday lives. Businesses are starting to advertise deals on Facebook, and update customers via Twitter about upcoming events.

Since the beginning of this class I often find myself analyzing different professors, both on how they speak while they are presenting and how their presentations (power points) are put together. I think a lot of professors at the University would benefit on a presentation surrounding Pecha Kecha, and even just a simple "do and don't" about power points. There is nothing worse than sitting through an hour and a half lecture where the power point is hard to read and crammed with words. 

This class has done a fantastic job of bringing to light many different resources that were available on the Worldwide Web. There are so many tools, like Audioboo for doing voice recordings, and LinkedIn for posting things like your resume and staying in touch with your field of work. Not only did ALES204 teach me how to use these resources, it also taught me how to remain professional while still staying in the technology loop. This image below demonstrates a perfect example of someone who could benefit from registering in ALES204.

Retrieved from Failbook on April 13, 2012

 Throughout the semester we were required to view and comment on some of our peers blogs. The fellow students whose blogs I commented on have a range of programs and add some different incite about what we learned this semester. Alex B ,Jen V ,Angela Z ,Andi C ,Erin A  are the five blogs I decided to comment on. With some guidance from Jess and our TA's, the writing of everyone appears to have improved greatly, and I know I have learned some valuable lessons about how to critically analyze not only fellow students work, but I also understand that not everything I read on the internet has been peer reviewed and edited. Everyone has to be careful about what they read on the internet, and not every website is going to be a reputable source for papers, always double check the sources credibility.

I can honestly say I value what I have learned in this class. I will always remember to think twice about what gets posted online and what a potential employer will be able to  find about me out there on the web. For more information regarding social media and professionalism on the internet, refer to the class blog!


Until next time, keep smiling!


Kelsie

Social Media, Video Games, and Personal Interactions

Gone are the days where kids ring the door bells of their neighbors to go outside and ride their bikes. I remember when my neighborhood friends would ring the doorbell to ask if I could come out to play and I was heartbroken if I wasn't allowed. Cops and robbers was the neighborhood favorite, which has now been replaced with a more demeaning, MUCH more violent video game version called Grand Theft Auto. Today, the only interaction I see around my neighborhood is when someone is passing in their car, or the kids are out selling something for a fundraiser. The generation that is growing up now seems to only know the world of technology- unless their is a video game, or a social media website at the end of the tunnel, they aren't interested. Whose fault is it that kids today sit on the couch and play video games right up until dinner and then again until bedtime? Is it the parents fault? Is it corporations and businesses like Apple,Microsoft, and Playstation who have continued to evolve the technology? I'll let you answer those questions for yourself.

This illustrates almost perfectly how the gaming world has evolved over time.
Retrieved from google.com/images

Growing up I never owned a game console, no Nintendo64, no Gameboy, nothing. Do I feel like I missed out on anything? No. I do not resent my parents for not letting me have any of those gaming machines. My family didn't even own a computer until my dad needed one for his return to University. I never got sucked into the technology like the generation today has. To be fair though, the older I got, the more I got interested in understanding how it all worked and I started spending more and more time on the computer and the Internet. I was one of the first of my friends to have an MSN account, and let me tell you, my parents objected until the cows came home. I also claimed I would never fall into the trap of Facebook, but that did not last for long and once I signed up, into the endless rabbit hole I fell.

Image retrieved from google.com/images on April 13, 201

So much of our technology has continued to evolve over the years to "make it easier to stay connected" but are we really staying connected with one another? Angela Zimmerman wrote a fantastic blog entry on the disconnect of connection that is occurring in our world today. One of my good friends made a good point when we were out for dinner one night; I was replying to an "important" e-mail and she pointed out that we could be eating dinner on our own and just text each other, but instead we are sitting together, so we should value our time together. Ever since that meal I have made a conscious effort to keep my phone in my purse or my pocket when I am out with friends. I frequently find myself observing others when I am out in public and more times than not I find that too many people are out with friends, but really they aren't, because they spend their time on their phones doing something that does not involve personal interactions. A perfect example of this was last weekend. I was out for breakfast with my family and at the table next to me, every member of the family was on some sort of technological device. The infant, maybe she was 3, was on and iPad, dad was texting away on his iPhone, and mom was doing the same on her Blackberry. Before we know it we will all interact with each other via computer screens while we sit in our bedrooms in our pajamas all day. This picture, to the right, demonstrates the direction our world theoretically is going in if we don't start interacting face-to-face with one another. It is not just my fellow students and I who feel this way about technology. Take a look at this blog posted about how technology and social media are really effecting our relationships. 

The way technology is going, in 10 years I'll be able to just think of this post and my computer will type it out for me. Is all this technological improvement for the better? Or are we setting ourselves up for a very lonely future.

Thanks for reading, check back soon for my reflection on ALES204 and what I've learned.


Cheers,
Kelsie

Wiki Article: Updating a Stub

This is a screen shot of the WikiPost I made in Lab and pasted into my paint program

In this weeks ALES class, we were assigned to find a Wikipedia article that needed some work and additional research. Choosing a stub that was both interesting and appropriate for this class proved to be slightly difficult. A stub is a Wikipedia article that has been posted but that either does not have academic references or it is not written very well, or both. The wiki stub I chose to do was called Pregnant Patients' Rights.

This assignment was set up to not only show us how to work on some academic research but to learn how unreliable certain Wikipedia articles are. The presentation that was given in class today was helpful in a sense that it showed us that with some time and effort, Wikipedia posts CAN be reliable and useful but it is your responsibility to look in depth about the references they have used. Wikipedia can be a good starting point if the topic you are looking into is a foreign topic, and it can lead to good articles. Erin, TA, stated in class today that "using only Wikipedia is like eating only a diet of Big Macs".

Sydney and I have spent our past labs working together and getting to know each other. She has decided to do her Wikipedia stub post on The Royal Alberta Museum, you can view her post here. Her and I both found it difficult to find a stub that had enough information to run with, but not enough information that it was a "good article". "Good Article Criteria" is a Wikipedia article that has been posted that is well written, has verifiable facts and covers multiple points surrounding the topic.

Though this assignment was tedious and a bit time consuming for the final product that came out of it, I did learn how to edit a Wikipedia stub. There are different kinds of updates, the main one that you want to avoid is vandalism, like you want to avoid with everything in life. Vandalism of a Wikipedia page will result in not only the post being deleted but your account being disabled as well. Once I read through the wiki: how to, page Wikipedia became fairly easy to navigate my way through and get my stub updated and well referenced.

I hope you enjoy my post, and take a peak at Sydneys blog as well!

Until next time, cheers!

Kelsie

Facebook, Science, Business & Professionalism

Image Source: Google.com/images and
their source was from Forbes.com

Since Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook, with three of his friends, in 2004 it has grown to become the largest social media tool used by the vast majority of the world. Over 800 MILLION people use Facebook to stay in contact with friends, family, employers, coworkers, clubs and much, much more.Zuckerberg created Facebook originally for use just around campus, like we use it today, but it quickly caught on and he slowly started to expand Facebook outside the Harvard campus. Anyone can sign up for Facebook, permitting they agree to the terms and declare that they are over the age of 13. Photos from anywhere, of anyone, can be added as the user pleases and they can also post about anything they choose. Not everyone has discretion when it comes to what should and shouldn't be posted on Facebook though.

Personal Screen Shot of my Facebook Page

Yes, Facebook can be used as a communication tool between people the users know, but it also can act like a reference for future employers. Despite high profile security settings, there is always a way to see what people are hiding behind the lock and key. Often times an employer knows someone that is friends with the applicant and it takes a simple engine to find your page and start learning. I personally have my security settings set to the highest possible, but I am also very conscientious about what gets posted to Facebook with my name attached to it. One of the tools Facebook offers is the ability to make a separate page from your profile; it is sort of similar to Google docs but it has the functions to personalize it a bit more than a normal Google doc. To the right is a screen shot of the page I made separate from my profile but with the same account. My page contains information about myself, past employers, volunteer experience, and any interests that would be relevant to employers who would be hiring me in the future.

The demographic of Facebook users ranges widely from Jr.High students to Powerful and well known politicians and corporations. This social media tool is a great way to get advertising out to the public, as well as keep the public informed of upcoming dates and activities that are going on in their communities. For large corporations you can almost be guaranteed that if and when you apply for a job with them, you will be searched on Facebook at some point before you get hired. If you are lucky enough to not be "crept" during the hiring process, you can count on them searching you at least once while you are employed with the company. As explained in this article, there is a level of professionalism that needs to be maintained, but at the same time, what is wrong with 'being real'? Facebook offers lots of great tools for both our social lives and our professional lives, but we all need to keep in mind that we can only be so safe when sharing our information on the WWW because if someone wants to find dirt on you, they will.


For the time being, don't drive yourself nutty about changing your profile settings to ultra security; don't go deleting those pictures of you holding a beer at the local pub with friends, and don't go deleting the people you have barely talked to because your being paranoid; just be mindful of what your next status is going to be about.

Until next time,
Kelsie

Intro to Social Media

Hello Everyone!

Source: Tait Photography. I did a volunteer
photo-shoot for a friend who has just finished
her certificate for makeup artistry.

My name is Kelsie Gilks. I am a 2nd year Family Ecology Major with a Community Nutrition minor. It is my fourth year of university but only my first year at the University of Alberta. I am from Calgary but over the last four months Edmonton has become my new home. I recently became a member of Alpha Psi, a local sorority on campus, and am loving every minute of it.

Social media plays a huge part in my daily life. I currently use Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. All of these social media tools help to keep in touch with my sorority sisters about upcoming events as well as keeping up to date with friends and family all over the world. Facebook consumes a large majority of my time because I am constantly checking for updates from friends, about events, or posting new status' for myself.

Alpha Psi has become a big part of my life and I enjoy all the time I spend with my sisters doing a variety of different events. There are four basic founding pillars that help us grow as women, philanthropy being a big one of them. Below is a picture we took when we went down to the river valley to collect garbage in early November.

Source: Sorority sister. This is a picture of my pledge class after picking up garbage in November.

When I am done my degree at the UofA I hope to be working interactively with families in organizations like the Blue Flame Kitchen. Though it has been around since the 1930's not a lot of people know what it is or how it works and social media can play a huge role in marketing the organization so more people learn about it and the great tools it can provide to people who want to learn the hands on approach to cooking. You can check out their website here.

Social media has helped me to network myself more around campus and get to know the people who are in my class. So far the people I have met in class are fantastic and I can't wait to use social media to get to know them more. Hilary Baker is one of a few people I have had the pleasure of meeting and she is taking Animal Science; though our paths are very different we get along very well and twitter has been a tool to try and help break the ice that comes with meeting new people. Check out Hilary's blog for more information about her studies! I can't wait to see what the rest of the semester brings in terms of teaching more about social media!
Thanks for reading, take care!
Kelsie