Time for Reflection

I can't believe a whole semester has passed. I always feel a little bit sentimental when a semester ends because I become so attached to my schedule. However, one cannot change the inevitable and the end is inevitable. I bet this has already been said a HUNDRED times but I'm going to say it again "ALES 204 has taught be a lot this semester." Coming into this course I didn't know what to expect. I didn't even read anything on the course details or what this course was about. All I knew was I needed this course for my program which I recently transferred into and that was it. The biggest shocker in this class I remember was hearing that there was not midterms or final exams. "How could a University course not have any exams," I remember thinking. After understanding the projects and assignments required for this course it made more sense. If it weren't for ALES 204 I never would have gotten Twitter. After learning about Twitter I have realized that it is more than just a place where people post useless information about themselves. Twitter is a powerful international communication tool.

ALES 204 is a class where you can sit out with zero notes on you desk with a phone in plain site and not get in trouble for it. One of the largest take home messages that I personally will take from this course is the power of social networking and the evolving nature of communication. We learnt about Google Docs, LinkedIn, Audioboo, Podcasts, uses for Facebook. how to write a professional email, how not to write a professional email, peer review and the list goes on. Technology has made communication and knowledge sharing so much easier and I think it is something that should be taken advantage of. If you ever want to learn about modern day communication, skills and tools that will help you to survive the real world I would suggest taking ALES 204. Thank you Dr. Laccetti!

...so long



Here are the links to my 5 comments:

Kelsey Rolof
Long Tran
Ben Lee
Linda Phan
Tanya Boyko

Vlogging on YouTube

A new and common phenomenon that I am starting to see a lot of is something called vlogging, especially on YouTube. Today there are individuals on YouTube with a YouTube partnership which allows them to make enough money to sustain themselves just by making videos. With all the adds on YouTube these days, this allows profit for YouTube and the YouTubers who make the videos. Obviously if you can achieve more views you can make more money. Vlogging is the act of making a vlog which is a video log. Vlogs are very similar to blogs. They can be used to talk about anything, but of course a blog is in the form of words and a vlog is a video. Most of the vlogs that I see are on Youtube.

Many big name YouTubers (ones with many subscribers) vlog on YouTube. From the vlogs that I have seen, the YouTuber vlogs about their daily lives and add commentary, and it can be considerably entertaining to watch. Vlogging doesn't have to be someone sitting at a desk in front of a camera. Vlogging can be anyone talking to a camera anywhere. I think vlogging gives viewers a little bit of insight into what a person does on a regular basis. Vlogging is definitely a form of social media where a vlogger can make announcements, talk about feelings and entertain viewers with their daily lives. One of my favorite YouTubers is TimothyDeLaGhetto and I always enjoy watching his vlogs. Of course on Youtube, viewers are allowed to make comments which the Youtuber may read and respond to just like Twitter, Blogger, Facebook etc.

For someone who makes a living by making videos on YouTube, vlogging would be a great way to attract more fans. Watching a person vlog can give you a better sense of who this person is, their personality traits and this allows for a better connection from a fans standpoint. I think vlogging is a great way to build a fan base. For example on YouTube I stumbled across Jeremy Lin's YouTube channel. Jeremy Lin is an NBA guard for the Golden State Warriors. Jeremy had a few videos on his channel where he vlogged about a day in his life. After watching his video I realized that he was a hard working and humble individual which made me respect him and made me a fan of him. Long Tran from my ALES 204 class also talks about how vlogging is very important in the shoe collecting domain. I think vlogging can be a more interactive way of expressing yourself, sometimes more than words can describe.

Vlogging is something anybody can do. You take a camera and just talk into the camera as if you were talking to a crowd of people. Even I have tried vlogging. When I went to California this summer I pulled out my digital camera and I would just talk into the camera saying where I was, how I was feeling and what I was doing. Of course I did not post these vlogs on YouTube and I wasn't expecting a lot of people to be watching my vlogs. However, vlogging was fun to do and watching them again is amusing and it brings back the feelings I had at that moment I was vlogging. Not only do I think vlogging is a form of social media but it can also be on a more personal level where you don't have to post it on the internet for everyone to see. Vlogging has many benefits from a social media perspective and entertainment to a more personal expression perspective. With growing technology and the increase of portable cameras with better quality I think vlogging will become a lot more popular in the years to come.

Editing a Wikipedia Stub (Module 10)

A lot of times when you go onto Google to search something just for curiosity's sake, the first result from your search is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is almost always at the top of the list when you are searching the web for casual information. Wikipedia always gets a bad rep especially from your teachers and peers telling you "Anyone can put information on Wikipedia it's not accurate." It is true that anyone can put information on Wikipedia because...I just did today. I researched Kashin-Beck disease from peer-reviewd journals and I edited the Kashin-Beck disease page on Wikipedia. I wrote and posted the first two paragraphs on the Kashin-Beck disease Wikipedia stub. Have a look! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashin%E2%80%93Beck_disease

Because I got all of my information from primary literature I can assure you that information I added is accurate. A lot of the information on Wikipedia today do have citations and you can usually find the original article(s) that the information came from if you wanted to verify its validity. Although Wikipedia is not the first place you should go when doing a research project, it is an excellent place just to gather casual information and become more informed on different subjects easily and quickly. Remember if you ever encounter a Wikipedia page with information that you do not agree with, you can always "change it." You are not however, allowed to spam, or you will get banned from Wikipedia. 

This was a very interesting assignment editing a Wikipedia stub. I have to agree with http://fancynancyales.blogspot.com/ who says that editing a Wikipedia stub allows you "to contribute to a large body of knowledge." I do feel a little bit accomplished after updating the Wikipedia stub knowing that potentially thousands of people may read my addition. I am not sure how long my post on Wikipedia will last before somebody else decides to edit it. I at least know that for a small amount of time I made a small difference on Wikipedia. I shall sleep well tonight.  

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Uses of Facebook for Business

Contrary to popular belief, there are more uses for Facebook other than just maintaining a social life. Facebook may have started out as just a regular social networking site just as Friendster, Myspace or Nexopia, but it has grown exponentially in terms of users as well as applications. Facebook is the modern day business card. Employers are turning to Facebook as a way to not only audit some of their employees but also to hire them. Many people put their whole lives on Facebook with pictures, videos, status updates, comments and personal information. It is quite easy to get a perspective of an individual based on their Facebook profile. Some may argue whether it is a good or a bad idea to have this much information about yourself available to too many people, such as http://ales204-laura.blogspot.com/. I would have to agree to some extent, however Facebook can be an extremely useful tool for marketing yourself as a potential employee.

I have created a Facebook page that allows employers to easily access from a simple link. It is my online business card and it is my way of marketing myself as a potential employee. On my Facebook page I have posted information about myself including personal interests, a biography, education, past work experience and a professional photo. I feel that when an employer takes a look a my page he/she will be able to get a quick and accurate representation of what kind of person I am, my values, background and maybe even some of my personal characteristics. There are plenty of resources one can put on their page to allow an employer to look at, when hiring for new employees. It is important not to add anything to your Facebook page that may make an employer think twice before hiring you. Inviting friends to join or posting statuses about your weekend are pointless for a Facebook business page. Also information such as relationship statuses are also better to leave out.

Facebook has revolutionized the world of social networking. It has changed my perception of a social network drastically. Never would I ever have thought that I would be adding my parents on Facebook when I first started using this site. Obviously my thoughts have changed and so has Facebook...constantly. It will continue to grow and evolve to adapt to the ever growing technological society we live in.

Here is a link to my Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brandon-Dang/141414289288465

Introducing Myself

Hi everyone, this is officially my first blog EVER! My name is Brandon and I am a third year student studying at the UofA taking Food Sciences. I recently just transferred into this program and already it is very interesting, just as I expected. So far I would say that I am enjoying myself very much in this program.

 Many students who go to school, sometimes worry or wonder about what career they may end up with when they graduate. For myself some of the possible careers with Food Science is obviously becoming a Food Scientist, Food Biochemist or a Food Microbiologist. I am mostly interested with food microbiology and becoming a Food Microbiologist would definitely be a preference.

 As with pretty much all careers, communication plays a huge role in everyday work (unless your job is to stand on a rock by yourself for no reason). Being a Food Microbiologist, some of the duties I would have are performing tests on water or food and trying to detect any harmful microorganisms present. If I were to sample a food a find that there are high amounts of a pathogenic bacteria not deemed safe for human consumption, there would be a huge responsibility for me to communicate to someone about this problem. If I didn't communicate to anyone that the food being shipped out to grocery stores was not safe, it would be my fault if an outbreak occurred. All these issues would arise all because of my negligence to communicate a problem which would lead to an even bigger problem. As it is quite evident communication in my field of study is very important.