ALES 204 - A comparison from the beginning until now...And Beyond!

Twitter Clip Art

At the beginning of the semester, I was really dreading having to create a Twitter account. I felt that Twitter was only really used by celebrities posting about their up coming movie premieres, or pictures of their extravagant meals. I never thought Twitter would be so useful until this class! By learning how to use Twitter for academic reasons, one can search via hash tags or aliases to follow individuals who are contributing scientifically to a relatable area of study.  Although I did follow a few celebrities, I found following the CBC news to provide a relevant source of communication and up to the minute tweets of adverse weather conditions or local events.

When it came for the class to look in to the reliability of information of Wikipedia, I was blown away by the results of my research. Previously, I had taken everything seen on Wiki's to be true fact. It wasn't until our ALES lecture that I began to realize that we, as individuals are authors. And as authors, we can make a lot of inaccurate statements. For this assignment we were asked to locate a stub on Wikipedia, being a wiki that either has little to no information or citations on the topic. In my blog post about Wiki's I mentioned that I had troubles even locating a topic to improve upon. And since that assignment, I find myself obsessed with checking Wikipedia to see if the higher authorities have removed my published revisions. As of today, so far so good. To view my still intact stub, simply click here.

The face behind "Knitwit Abner"
my cat Abner

For my optional blog post, I discussed how I used a professional Facebook page to promote my side hobby of knitting. In lab, we created professional Facebook pages for employers to view. I took this idea one step further and created a page to upload pictures of completed knitting projects, as well as post an order form. Since opening Knitwit Abner to the world of Facebook, I have been quite successful in networking with people who are interested in purchasing items. Before ALES, I wouldn't have known how to portray myself online in a business sense. Keeping pictures professional and "clean" has improved my sales significantly. Using Facebook to promote Knitwit Abner, rather than a different source allows me to control who gets accepted on my mailing list, and separates e-mail pertaining to the page from my university e-mail.


Overall, I have greatly improved my knowledge on how communication affects business, first impressions, and presentations. After ALES is over, I might keep Twitter since I now see it as more of a resource than a "celebrity app". I will keep Knitwit Abner up and running on Facebook in hopes to create a small empire in the knitting world. And I might even keep this blog going, unless I get accepted to WCVM this fall of course!

Xinru Ye also summarized the work done in both lab and lecture well in her Ales 204 blog

Comments on Blogs:
1. Sara Hughes Wikipedia Post
2. Susan Enielse Introductory Post
3. Loana Valdez Optional Post on Viagra Use
4. Sara Hughes Facebook Post
5. Xinru Ye Reflective Post

Promoting a Hobby with Facebook

During stressful exams times, I try to find activities that keep my mind and body active to reduce all that pent up nervous energy.  Since the Edmonton weather sometimes prevents any venture outside to exercise, I had to come up with something else. It was this cold snap snowfall which prompted me to start knitting, as I was hopeless in finding any fun-looking mittens.  I found a really neat owl pattern (click here if you would like to try it for yourself) and thought I could handle the challenge. Once finished my project I posted a picture on my Facebook page, and almost instantly received messages about making more for friends.

Red Owl Mittens, so festive

With this opportunity presenting itself, I was curious as to how to promote my crafting hobby. I had tried selling items on Etsy, a website where individuals can create hand-made items for sale or sell supplies for crafting. I posted a few items on Esty and yielded a minimal sales result. Frustrated, I was not sure how I could keep promoting my finished projects. It wasn't until the ALES 204 lecture which taught us students how to make a professional Facebook Page. Since I could make a page listing my talents for possible employers, I extended the idea and made a page for my knitting.

And Knitwit Abner was created! By using Facebook, I can control what potential clients view as far as available colours of yarn, price list, and separate e-mails from my personal account for orders. Since creating this page, I have collected almost 40 clients above my 176 friends, including a few individuals from ALES lecture! Pleaser feel free to view my Knitwit Abner page for yourself! 

Wiki-This, Wiki-That....Wiki-What?!

Wikipedia is a website that allows one to search almost everything known on Earth. From what is the plot line of the Game of Thrones series to what political party won in the Cambodian Presidential Election in 1972.  The upside of Wikipedia, as well as its downside is that users are allowed to edit articles found on the website. In some instances, especially for research this is a beneficial aspect; leaving room for the most current information on any given topic. However, the addition of information does not entail that the information came from citable sources, or even that the statements were correct.

Entire Animal Wiki Stub

The search for a stub, or an article lacking serious content and citations as Wikipedia calls it, was more of a challenge than I had originally anticipated. At first I thought I would just be able to search for something that I knew about pertaining to school, for example, Hardware disease in cattle. It wasn't until actually looking at the stubs that needed some assistance did I fully realize that I knew nothing about anything on the stubs list. After searching the lists under "An" for Animal,"Zo" for Zoology....but alas no topics that I could use for this assignment. It wasn't until I was aimlessly browsing did I find a stub that had a couple paragraphs of information, which looked to be almost complete, did I find that the information was misleading and for the most part incorrect. At last! Something I could edit for this assignment, and increase the reliability of this one article.  My article of "Entire Animal" is about the pros and cons of leaving animals intact, meaning they are not spayed or neutered. The information I found for this article was properly cited and highlighted the advantages and disadvantages for the procedures in both large and small animals.

Overall I really see the benefit to doing this assignment. Rating the reliability of information, especially found on the internet will not only benefit me on a personal level, but researching information for a school assignment will be much easier. Using Wikipedia as only a last resource of information, and instead looking at the citations within the article to find information will be a change from how I was researching before. Caitlin also shares similar experiences and woes in her blog as she tried to find information on the coffin bone in horses.

Using Facebook for business

Through this journey in going back to school, I find myself constantly fantasizing about where I will work when I one day. Seeing that I will be living in a completely different city, I often wonder how I will know what clinic would be good to start in. My first thought is that WCVM would have a list of potential clinics that would allow openings for new graduates. But what if I'm wrong? How will I know they won't just overwork me, the new grad who is a green-horn in the field? What if the hours of the practice are really unreasonable? How will I know?

Well these days, social media really closes the lid on the "What if?" questions. Since my quest to find a clinic that would offer a position to a new graduate in the future would start on the internet. I would be quite surprised if it didn't have some sort of social media page. Since knowing the clinic hours, who is the office manager, and whom, owns the practice is all elements to consider when looking for work, finding this information all in one location is quite a benefit. And I'm sure once my resume has been looked over by the manager, looking for me on social media sites, like Facebook is the first step of the interview process.

Meaghan Byar - Ready for hire!

Having a Facebook page that offers a listing ones previous employment, special training and personal interests offers a little insight into a potential hire. Seeing pictures of all night partying in skimpy outfits versus photos in proper work attire, or even in the workplace really reflect the first impression an employer has of an interviewee. Keeping a Facebook page professional and concise leads a potential employer a chance to see if you will be an adequate fit into the practice. On a personal note, I found that making this Facebook page really allowed me to reflect back on all the additional training I've had since NAIT. Adding these additional skills to my page might just give me a leg up on the applicants applying for the same position! I found this fun article about employers increasingly using Facebook to scope out applicants and tips on keeping your page work appropriate.

So see what Sara had to say about her social media page click here

Growing up, my dream wasn't always to go into the field of Veterinary studies, I thought I wanted to be an interior designer. The idea of transforming rooms or entire buildings into something completely different than it was initially, was something I would daydream about for hours. Over my high school years I realized that in order to make this fantasy a reality, specific pre-requisites were required, and it included several math and physics classes. With these topics not being my strong suit, I slowly but surely realized that I wasn't ready to go through so many painful exams and lectures in those subjects. By the time graduation rolled around, the shocking discovery that I was about to enter my adult life with no direction or initiative was terrifying to me. So I did what any normal graduate would do, I took a year off to discover what I really wanted to do with my life.

Over that year I was working as a cashier at a pet store in the city, and over the course of many months I made plenty of friends who all had similar interests in animal health and husbandry. I always had the train of thought that in order to work with animals, one would have to go through at least eight years of school to become a veterinarian; I never thought there were different avenues in this field of work. That was until I met Kelly, who was in her second year of the NAIT Animal Health Technician (AHT) Program. She lent me a few of her course packs to see if the material was of any interest to me. After a weekend with her books, it was instant career love, and that fall I was enrolled at NAIT for the AHT Program. To see if this career is something you might also be interested in, check out the NAIT AHT website at: http://www.nait.ca/program_home_76035.htm

Lady Sarah and Myself

Equine Lab while at NAIT, 2007

Since graduating, I have seen the importance of communication in the field and more importantly in the workplace. Numerous times a day, calls are passed through reception to the technicians working with patients. With high priority put on patient care, important information such as prescription frequency and dose is critical to the treatment of the animal. Missing key details such as these result in phone calls back to the owner, which are not only inconvenient for them, but makes the technician appear to be "dropping the ball". Other clinics in the city have started to use aspects of social media to promote events in their area. From things like pet pictures with Santa or alerting clients about changes in office hours, I can see the benefits. Although, with having to keep postings up to date and appointments filling up; one would predict that updates would be sparse. Finding a way to have frequent updates, would make using social media for a business a more interactive experience with the clients as well. I hope that though the ALES 204 lectures, I will be able to learn more effective ways to integrate social media in with my (hopefully, one day) Veterinary career.

For another ALES 204 student blog on communication, check out Caitlyn's blog here: cerickson-ales204.blogspot.com