Reflective Blog Post: Communication is Key

Communication is key.  If there was anything that I took away from this class, it was the overwhelming importance of communication with present and future acquaintances.  It is also not just simply the very basics of communicating but how you communicate. 


First, one should communicate in a way that is professional and respectful.  Individuals will notice right away if a letter is colloquial or if an Internet profile is “unkept” or even if a presentation is stilted and rushed.  First impressions are key in communicating so that your message or intention will not be lost because of other distractions that can be present.  In one of the lectures, an example was given that simply having a female consciously lower her voice would help the listener to focus on the presentation or issue that is being discussed.  This is a prime example that the small things that surround communications are not as inconsequential as one might have originally thought.  Many well-known people and businesses make good presentations of their knowledge of topics at  TED events.  These are some really good presentations to go through and pick up different aspects that characterize a presentation as being “good”.

Photograph taken by Aragga. Retrieved from Flickr on April 6, 2012.  

Secondly, one can communicate in a variety of different ways.  In this class, Internet profiles such as LinkedIn, Facebook pages, and Twitter were discussed and shown as good advertising devices for businesses but also for career minded individuals.  From a job seeking perspective, if employers have never heard about you, how can they know that you are looking for a job?  This is where specific sites like LinkedIn give individuals the chance to showcase their skills to more then one specific community.  Businesses that are a part of this also get to advertise their business and then the individuals will have a chance to contact them.  The same idea comes with a professional Facebook page.  You are able to put your resume on a site that has millions of users and then you are instantly exposed to a much larger community.  At the very beginning of the ALES204 course, there were some statistics given about the increase in email and social media sites throughout the world.  Having a physical newspaper is less and less popular as people will find out what is happening in the world through a news site or in some cases simply going on twitter.  It was told to the class that the Library of Congress has even started to record things that people are saying on Twitter because there has been quality information and news that has been shared on this Internet site.  Communication is changing and us as individuals need to be sure that we are taking advantage of these opportunities.

Last of all, this blog has been a really neat way for me to learn about the different forms of Internet communication.  Here are five other blogs of people in the ALES204 class and some of the comments I have posted. The blogs that I commented on are Stephanie's, Kelsie's, Sydney's, Annie's, and Becky's blog.  Through looking at these multiple blogs it shows just how much we have either learned about communication techniques or about how to present ourselves in the best possible way to ensure good communication.  I hope to take some of the things that I have learned into my everyday life, as most of these skills are very practical to have.

Want to Collaborate?: Wiki

A “wiki” is a type of document that is on the Internet where everyone and anyone can collaborate idea’s to work on a common project.

The most well known wiki online is an encyclopedia called Wikipedia.  Wikipedia is where millions of topics have been researched and collaborated on from scholars to the general population.  Anyone can create an account and edit any article they want.  The hope of creating Wikipedia was to gather information that would be free to anyone.  There are many people that criticize Wikipedia because they are wondering about the validity of the information.  Though, many studies have been done to show, that while we must be careful when looking at the information, it is almost as reliable as any print version of an encyclopedia.   

Danielle, in her Facebook blogpost, talks about the importance of social media in achieving our goals.  Like Facebook, Wikipedia is interconnected with the internet social community.  However, what may make Wikipedia more valuable for some, is the wealth of information that has been documented.  Both, however, are great example of how a website can take advantage of its Internet community.

As a class assignment we were to take a Wikipedia “stub” and edit it using sources to make the article valid and to increase the quality of that topic.  I researched the topic of synthetic and natural Glazing Agents.  Information on this topic was harder to find then I had imagined.  Trying to incorporate valid information by giving credit to the authors and demonstrating that knowledge without plagiarizing, is in my opinion, a fine art.  Multiple sources were used and cross-referenced to be sure that the information could be brought across to the reader in the most coherent way possible. 

Why is Nutrition such a Big Deal?

Science has proposed the theory that ones characteristics are affected by their pure biology, which is relatively stable, and ones environment.  Diet is one factor in someone’s environment that can be controlled and affect their state of health.  One example is the health concerns that come with being obese.  When an influx of food is thrust upon it, there is an unhealthy environment that is created with can lead to many health complications.  Some examples are when there is a high amount of sodium in the diet it can lead to things like hypertension in the blood and a high fat diet can lead to excess fat pushing on the lungs that can cause sleep apnea.  One fastest growing health concerns is diabetes that can be genetic or brought on by a high sugar diet.  Due to this growing health concern there have been many studies looking at sugar and its effects.  One article was but on the ALES 204 class blog at http://ales204-2012.blogspot.ca/2012/02/labs-module-5.html.

Due to the fact that the importance of our dietary environment has such great health effects, there has been a recent popularization of nutrition topics.  The game show on NBC called the Biggest Loser is a great example of this popularization.  It started airing on October 19, 2004 and grew quickly in popularity and it is still airing on TV eight years later (Wikipedia). 

 

The show encourages the contestants and others to go and change their lives by loosing weight to become healthier.  The drastic changes in the contestants from start to finish keeps viewer interested and inspires many by having this game show approach to nutrition and health.

Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels were the two original trainers on the Biggest Loser and they have greatly benefitted from this popularization.  They have both sold workout DVD’s, self-help and nutrition books.  Some may argue that this popularization is only benefitting a few but in reality health knowledge is getting out to the general public faster then it ever has before.  Learning about nutrition can be a key factor in creating a better living environment for the individual.

The Biggest Loser (U.S. TV series). n.d. Retrieved on March 17, 2012 from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Biggest_Loser_(U.S._TV_series).

Biggest Loser Logo. Retrieved March 17, 2012 from fitness tips for life at http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/biggest-loser-250x249.jpg. 

Harnessing the Strengths of Social Media

screen shot, a photo by Juliamd on Flickr.

Over the last several years there has been an increase in the ways that people will communicate.  The biggest way has been through Social Media tools such as Facebook.   The popularity of Facebook has grown beyond what most people could have imagined.  With increased number of users, the makers of Facebook have come up with more uses for the site.  Businesses are now able to advertise on Facebook through "side bar" advertisements.  They can also advertise through the creation of their own pages.  An example of this is a bakery in Edmonton, Alberta called Bon Ton Bakery.  They have been able to show their current and new products being offered through simply uploading pictures onto their page
( http://www.facebook.com/bontonbakery?ref=ts ).

Another use of Facebook that has been brought to my attention, is the ability for a person to put a professional business resume on Facebook.  Above is a picture of a screen shot of my Facebook resume page.  On "Evelyn's blog" they also discuss resumes being posted on Facebook ( elycheng1992.blogspot.com ). Pages like this can spread awareness to more then one employer about his or her resume.  This is a great opportunity to use Facebook because when you usually  submit one "paper form" of a resume it usually only goes to one possible employer.  With my page on Facebook it can be submitted to employers that I have not found out about.  This also benefits employers because they have a wide variety of possible employees.  For people that are unemployed it gives them a platform to show skills that may benefit different companies that are not advertised well.

In summation, I believe that Social Media, specifically Facebook, is a wonderful tool to create awareness of career seeking individuals and different companies.  If this technology is utilized well it can give great opportunities to many people.

My Facebook resume page is at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julia-D-ALES-204/337771032913011?sk=info .

Introductory ALES 204 Post: How We Communicate

http://cheezeworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/pen-paper.jpg

Hello! My name is Julia D. and I am currently in the nutrition major at the University of Alberta.  I did not grow up wanting to go into the nutrition major but rather it was something that I stumbled into.  I have a love for people and I also enjoyed science in school.  I am also, what I like to term as being a “foodie”, which just means that I have a love for food.  The nutrition major was an amazing way for me to bring my passions together.  My hope is to get into the dietetic internship and then to go on to become a dietitian.

Outside of Facebook I have not used social media as a valuable means of communication.  However I have been given many examples of how it can be a great asset to use things like twitter accounts and running a blog to create more awareness about my interests and aspirations.  Future employers may use the social media sites that I am a part as part of their hiring criteria. Last semester there were some of my peers that also started blogs.  Emily started her own blog that also talks about the communication aspects of nutrition.  She talks mostly about how the different communication tools help to share new nutritional information between health professionals as well with the general public. http://emilyshand.blogspot.com/

Over the last several years is seems there has become a growing concern for an individuals nutritional needs.  This may come from different connections that have made about our diet influencing illnesses such as diabetes.  Diabetes has become more common over the years and there have people that have been able to create awareness through things like journal articles and more recently there has been websites and blogs started.  The dietitians in Canada have set up a website to bring nutritional information to the general public and this is a very useful communication tool. Their site is http://www.dietitians.ca/.  This method of communication allows for information to get out to the general public and not just be contained within the professional health community.

Well here is my first attempt at using a blog as a means of communication and I look forward to learning more about the technology as I go.