reflection post - adieu ALES 204

Before taking ALES 204, I had little interest in expanding my knowledge about social media because, from my experience, it seemed as though it was used for communicating with friends and keeping up with celebrities mundane updates. Now however, my opinions about social media has changed significantly. Moreover, I have learned about a variety of social media sites that I didn't know had existed. Through the lectures and assignments, I have learned how to utilize social media in an academic and professional manner.


What have I learned? I have learned how to create and online resume with a Facebook page, how to connect to researchers through Twitter and LinkedIn, the usefulness of Twitter to engage in intelligent discussions, finding career opportunities via LinkedIn, editing a Wikipedia stub, creating a blog, writing an e-mail with etiquette, creating PowerPoints that won't put people to sleep (ex. Pecha Kucha presentations), creating academic posters, how to create sound clips with Audioboo, and using Creative Commons and citing references properly so that I don't risk an infringement of copyright law. It's a lot of information to stuff in one term, isn't it? I guess, in a nutshell, I have learned how to take academic and professional communication online and how to connect to academia, professionals, and prospective employers.

From baddog_ (2008), [digital image]. Retrived on December 7, 2011 from
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liamdunn/2683642114/.

Although social media is somewhat of a newer concept, it is growing in popularity and will only continue to grow; therefore, it is important to learn how to use social media to its best potential. After all, the world will soon be highly reliant on technology, and employers will require people who are able to utilize social media sites for business, professional, and academic purposes. Thank you, ALES 204, for preparing me for the way of the future!


Featured Students' Blog
This here is a list of students' blogs that I have commented on: 
- Suzanna's "Future of the Food Industry"
- Kelsey's "Social Media Revolution"
- Cara's "Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life"
- Benjamin's "The Obesity Epidemic"
- Lindsay's "Resume 2.0"

Wikipedia stub: hair dye stripping

Writing and editing articles on Wikipedia was a new experience for me. I was already starting to feel the tension when scrolling to find a stub, that I could work on, without having anyone else in the class claim it. The stub on "hair dye stripping" (found under "fashion stubs") had little information written on the topic, and more importantly, the information was not even referenced. Therefore, my main focus was to expand the content of this topic and to establish a list of references so that the information was plagiarized. 


It was particularly frustrating and disheartening to create a proper reference on Wikipedia at first, but the Wikipedia Cheatsheet and the templates for citing and referencing external sources were extremely helpful. Finding more information on colour correction was also another obstacle because many of the links were discussion panels on how to remove dye colours at home. Searching via databases, sadly, yielded fruitless results. On an optimistic note, it was a challenging but not an impossible feat to find additional information to enhance the previously existing content. 

Screenshot from Wikipedia, (2011), [digital image]. Retrieved
on November 11, 2011 from personal computer files.

Featured Student's Blog
Read up on Suzanna's ALES blog. **Note: I left a comment on her blog titled "Future of the Food Industry" - an interesting discussion. 

cow nipples in full bloom

The runway starts the primary introduction of new styles and innovative fashions. Perhaps it also serves as a purpose to make a statement about global issues - or to spark controversy. 

From ecouterre.com, (2011), [digital image]. 
Retrieved on September 29, 2011 from 
http://www.ecouterre.com/rachel-freires-cow-
nipple-dress-sparks-controversy-at-london-fashion-week/. 

Rachel Freire showcased a dress made of... um 3000 cow nipples during London Fashion Week, and many people were outraged by it. Her counterargument was that she was reducing waste, for cow nipples were normally considered as waste products. She also mentioned that it came from the same source as the leather used to make fashion goods anyway. 


Read the full article here.


Although I was taken aback by the use of cow nipples to construct the dress, I did not feel upset about Rachel's unique choice of material. Cows are used for food, and the leather from the cows are used to make various fashion items. As Rachel mentioned, the nipples are just leather that goes to waste because people don't know what to do with it. Therefore, I think it is a creative approach to reduce leather waste, and I admire her attempt to find purposes for things that are considered as "waste products" - as unorthodox as that cow-nipple dress might be. 


What's your stance on Rachel Freire's "controversial" gown?


Featured Student's Blog
Although it's rare to find Clothing and Textiles students in ALES 204, take a look at what Katy is doing with her e-portfolio project. 

plastic surgery has become "fashion" too

With an increased interest and popularity of cosmetic surgery to fix less-than-desirable parts of the human body to create an ideal (and what I would consider as highly unnatural) appearance, I think it's safe to say that plastic surgery is increasingly becoming a part of fashion. Even though it hasn't formally made it under that category yet, it is becoming more widely accepted in society. 


Of course, there are always risks to surgical procedures. I came across this article that commented on some less commonly known risks to such procedures. Yikes. Perhaps my somewhat invalid chest and button nose aren't too appalling. 

From totalbeauty, (2011), [digital image]. 
Retrieved on September 29, 2011 from http://www.
totalbeauty.com/content/gallery/plastic-surgery-risks.

"10 Plastic Surgery Mistakes No Ones Talks About" 


Maybe these points won't scare you as much as it did for me, but perhaps you'll learn something new from it as I have.


Featured Student's Blog
And speaking of fashion, check out Julianna's (another Clothing and Textiles student) ALES 204 blog. 

just to practice uploading images from a url

From hoa_n_ng (2011), Victoria, BC, [digital image]. Retrieved September 28, 2011, from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67836408@N06/6192414104/in/photostream/. 

I'm using Flickr to upload images via url. 


In case you're curious, this is one of my favourite pictures, that I snapped, at the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC a few years ago. Gosh, that place is flora heaven!

Facebook page as an e-business card

It's probably important for me to establish myself in the social networking world, as it has become an increasingly popular tool for connecting with family and friends, making new contacts with others, keeping up-to-date with current events and/or research advancements, and to introduce oneself to the job market. Social media has revolutionized how the global community perceives the world as well as how people communicate with each other nowadays. Social media has also changed how companies promote themselves and how employers are searching for prospective employees.

From hoa_n_ng (2011), Edmonton, AB [digital image]. Retrieved September 22, 2011 from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67836408@N06/617292546/in/photostream/.

Hence why I have just created a Facebook page. It serves as an online resume for prospective employers or as a resource to find general information about me such as my academic studies, work experiences, and volunteer experiences. This Facebook page is another one of many social networking sites that I am using for ALES 204 to introduce my personal brand in an academic and professional manner.

So yes, that is pretty much why I have a Facebook page. I may not be interesting now, but hopefully someone will be interested in getting to who I am. Hopefully, I will also become a more interesting figure in the future. 

Come visit my page on Facebook (not profile, sorry)! 


Featured Student's Blog
Check out my friend, the nutrition-savvy Michelle's, blog here to view her academic endeavor in utilizing social media sites for ALES 204. 

quick intro

Welcome, dear prospective readers, to my blog for ALES 204. My name is Ann, a third year student in the University of Alberta's faculty of Agriculture, Life, and Environmental Sciences (ALES), working towards my BSc in Human Ecology. I am majoring in Clothing and Textiles with a minor in Design and Product Development. If I'm lucky, this will be my second last year before I graduate, and if I'm luckier I'll be a designer someday. 


So far, the role of communication (more specifically, communication via social media) for me is to keep in contact with friends and family, and (painstakingly slowly) creating networks with people involved in the fashion industry. However, I am extremely interested in learning how to utilize social media in a more professional manner. I find that establishing my own "e-business card", via social media, may be of use to my future career since social media is increasingly becoming a more popular tool for job-seeking and for hiring purposes.