Introduction

Hello, my name is Xinru Ye. This is my second year, majoring in Nutrition and Food Science in the faculty of ALES. I am planning to do a minor in Marketing starting fall 2012. Though I am not very sure which career path I am going to eventually choose, communication will play a crucial role in all the area of work related to my major. Being a Nutrition counselor is one of my plans. It requires you to communicate with people who have nutritional concerns to help them to understand their problems and give advice on how to maintain a healthy life style. Modern communication techniques like blogs, twitter and Facebook will enable me to provide more helpful information to people and answer their questions. Other mediums, such as email and skype (provided security measures are in place to protect patient confidentiality), will also help me to communicate directly with my patients no matter where they are in the world.

Communication mediums can also provide more learning or practicing opportunities while studying in university. For example, organic chemistry 261/263 lab website of our university provides videos of experimental techniques. Viewing these videos help me grasp the ideas of the techniques better. I also receive emails from my professors and TAs every week. Shannon’s email raises my awareness of CSL lab. As a student in CSL lab of ALES 204, I will be working for Green Hectares creating some communication mediums for the industry. I am very exciting to practice what I will learn from our class.


Modern communication mediums are very important to my life. I was born and raised in China and came to Canada at the age of 18. Living alone in an unfamiliar place was 

                                          In Kunming, China (Yuchun Li, 2010)

hard for me. Skype, emails and Facebook allow me to chat with my family and friends on another side of the earth. I chat with my parents and friends every week and this eases their worries for me. Chatting with them also makes me feel I am still close to home. I can also see what is going on with my friends through these communication mediums. For example, I like to see what my friend Patrick wrote on her blog.  


The creation of these new communication technologies also provides various new careers for people. One of my friends suggested that I run a clothing store with her using blogs and twitter. Since uploading pictures of products onto a blog does not require paying rent, it is an ideal business for people who cannot get a job and cannot afford to rent a place in malls. I can add descriptions of the products to the pictures on blogs and twitter. Furthermore, without the limitations of having a set location, I can sell products all around the world simply by mailing them to destinations. Customers can comment on blogs and twitter or rate them to help us improve our products and service.