human ecologist/ journalism

Oct. 17 Human ecologist: I was reading the Edmonton Journal that had an “Edge” education section on Oct. 11, 2013.  There was an article about being a human ecologist.  That sounded like someone in a lab and scientific.  I then read the article and it’s more psychological and helping people.  I went to OCCinfo:

Duties

Human ecologists use a holistic, preventative approach to help people optimally manage their daily lives. For example, they may develop and deliver programs on a wide range of topics: parenting intimate relationships financial management community leadership meal planning and food choices small business development marketing and public relations textiles and clothing production and consumption life skills and lifestyle management career planning.  Human ecologists may: provide leadership for organizational and community development advise and coach individuals on career development, lifestyle management and personal image conduct research on the impact of public policy on children and families link individuals and families with community resources provide leadership in delivering family and youth support services work as specialists in nutrition education and promotion, food preparation and food safety specialize in fashion merchandising, protective clothing design, apparel design or production, interior decorating, textile science or quality control testing  teach and advise adults and children regarding life skills.

Then I looked at more of the education requirements and it’s a Bachelor of Science.

Alberta College of Art and Design: There was also an ad for this school.  It’s in Calgary.  There are lots of art programs in Edmonton like at University of Alberta and Grant MacEwan University.  NAIT has more like Digital Media and Graphic Communications.  The website does look good.

http://www.acad.ca/

Oct.18: Today I dropped off my resume at a Halloween costume store.  They said they were hiring.  There’s a couple of weeks of Oct. left.  I always ask myself: “Am I doing enough?”  As in am I achieving enough?  I work 30- something hours a week, I can probably do a little part-time job.

What am I afraid of?  A lame job experience.  If it’s bad, well then again it’s only temporary.

Journalism: Maybe I should go into journalism.  It’s probably because I’ve been reading so much of the newspaper since I got laid off in 2010.  Then I got a job at my restaurant and I just kept reading the news.  It’s not too much of a stretch for me because it’s still writing, and the Journalism program is a companion program to Professional Writing at Grant MacEwan.

What am I afraid of?  I think The Simpsons joke puts it best:

News reporter: I’m from the newspaper.

Grandpa Simpson (laughs): What?  The newspaper?!  That’s going to die before I do!

Lol.  Yes, the lack of job security.   I did some research on Grant MacEwan.  There are a few courses that seem to about news online and on TV.  The courses listed here seem to be 3^rd yr courses.

“BCSC 311: Online Journalism

This course examines the production of knowledge within the field of online journalism. It builds on students’ experience of creating online news in other courses and compares it with the challenges and realities of professional journalists around the world. Students examine the production processes in newsrooms and the evolving impact of technological developments on those processes such as verification of fact and inclusion of user-generated content. They examine the ideals and values of journalism and contrast them with actual journalistic practices, questioning whether those practices reinforce dominant cultural/social/political/economic influence.”

“BCSC 312- Multimedia News Production

This course introduces students to the best practices and principles of multimedia news production. Students create interactive stories and engaging online news features under deadline and working in a convergent newsroom environment. They analyze online readership behaviours to design user-friendly multimedia news products. They also manage and deploy user-generated content.”

http://www.macewan.ca/wcm/SchoolsFaculties/FFAC/Programs/BachelorofCommunicationStudies/Majors/Journalism/index.htm#2

Feelings: Now I’m getting a flashback of the days when I used to watch Dr. Phil.  In his opening credits he says: “I want you to get excited about your life!”  Now that I have gone to the journalism website and read this, I’m getting more enthusiastic.

“Journalism is a huge field with loads of career options. Here’s just a few of the cool things you could do:

Columnist
Columnists write regular features for newspapers and online publications often on specific topics such as:

• arts and entertainment
• fashion
• sports
• current events
• civic affairs

Reporter
A reporter’s job is to track down the facts on a news story and then present those facts to the public. Reporters will sometimes specialize in specific areas such as:

• features
• financial
• investigative
• network
• foreign affairs
• cyberreporting

Critic or reviewer
Critics and reviewers specialize in the evaluation and appreciation of literary or artistic works, forming an opinion and then sharing that opinion with the public. Works can include:

• books
• music
• movies
• art
• film

Broadcaster
Broadcasters share news and information over airwaves and through networks such as radio, television and websites. Broadcaster roles include:

• news anchor
• news analyst
• radio commentator
• foreign news correspondent
• sports announcer
• website and blog writer”