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Five Fraser Valley writers are visiting UFV’s Abbotsford Campus on March 12 to talk writing with students, graduates and others. Here’s a taste of what they’ll share at the event.

Kathleen Rake is founder of Click Media Works. She has more than 20 years of professional experience writing and editing for social media, magazines, newspapers, industry, government, non-profit, small business, and the web. I asked her about the valuable advice she learned from her mentor(s).

Some important advice from one of my mentors, paraphrased is:

“Write to express, not impress”.

Heidi Turner is an award winning writer who specialises in business writing and grant proposals. She has published on CBC.ca, Just Dance Magazine and Business Fraser Valley. I asked her what advice she’d give to people starting out their careers as professional writers.

Know what you are worth. By graduating from a writing program, you are already more prepared than 90 percent of the people out there who call themselves writers.

When you’re applying for a job or setting your rates as a freelance writer, don’t sell yourself short. Charge what you’re worth, even if you’re just starting out.

Janet Love Morrison’s writing has appeared in publications including the Pique Newsmagazine, Ski Canada, The Globe and Mail. I asked her to tell us something about her writing process.

Before I start to write, I meditate and become clear on my intent – what I want to share. It’s not about me, it’s about how my writing serves the bigger picture.

I feel we have to be careful with the word “influence”. Are you writing from another’s beliefs or your own? I don’t seek anyone’s approval.

Lynda Grace Philippsen’s reviews, essays and feature stories have appeared in various journals, newspapers and magazines nationally and internationally. She is also the current president of the Fraser Valley chapter of the Professional Writers Association of Canada.  I asked her what she loved most about being a professional writer?

Living the dream, in the Joseph Campbell sense:

If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.

Nothing can touch that.  And sometimes somebody pays me to do that. Bonus.

Ronda Payne is a full time copywriter, freelancer and creative writer. She is a regular contributor to a variety of publications and also has a number of books and stories on the go. I asked her if she had a favourite quote that sustains her through her writing.

“Look then into thine heart and write” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow .This has been one of the quotes that sustains me and keeps me going. Just write.

When that isn’t doing the trick, I’ll go with one I created. You know the song “It’s a pirate’s life for me” they play in the pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland? I modify that to sing: “It’s a writer’s life for me”

And then, when all else fails, I remind myself of what sports columnist Red Smith said, “You simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed.”

All students and recent UFV graduates who love writing are welcome to attend the March 12 event. This is your chance to make connections with people who share your passion.

• Date:     Wednesday, March 12, 2014
• Time:     6:30 – 8:30 PM
• Place:    UFV Campus A225/229
• Cost:      FREE! Admission by pre-registration only. Wine and refreshments will be served at intermission.

To pre-register contact Michelle.Riedlinger@ufv.ca by Friday March 7, 2014.

Pre-registration prizes include:

• Lunch at Restaurant 62 with Andrew Holota, Editor of The Abbotsford News
• Three one-hour coach and connect sessions with a PWAC member
• Lunch at Restaurant 62 with UFV Writer-in-Residence, Daniela Elza

….and more!

 

University of the Fraser Valley students and graduates interested in careers as professional writers will be treated to some free advice from local writers next month. Members of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) will be on the Abbotsford campus to talk about Writing for a Living.

Designed to help participants find the paths into professional writing, the March 12th evening event features panelists who will answer questions and network “speed dating-style” with writers who are just starting out.

“We’ve all been there,” said Lynda Grace Philippsen, President of Fraser Valley PWAC. “We all relied on mentors and know how important this is. Networking is a huge part of success as a professional writer whether you are beginning or established in your career. We’re excited about the chance to work with UFV students.”

This community-based event is a first for Fraser Valley PWAC but support for the event has been generous.

Lynda confirms, “The energy is great. Student organizations, the Alumni Association, and UFV Departments have come together with us to create the Writing for a Living event and provide sponsorship.”

The Abbotsford News has also stepped up to offer its support to the event.

Since its foundation more than 25 years ago PWAC has welcomed student and associate members who receive most of the benefits of full membership without being required to meet the criteria for publication. Those benefits include a press card, mentoring, networking, references, professional development, information about job opportunities and much more.

“Students get all that for the price of one calorie-rich specialty coffee a month. Really, it’s all win-win,” notes Lynda. As an added bonus, students who are already PWAC members in the year that they graduate can continue their student membership at the student price one full year after graduation.

All students and recent UFV graduates who love writing are welcome to attend this event. This is your chance to “get lucky” and make connections with people who share your passion.

• Date:     Wednesday, March 12, 2014
• Time:     6:30 – 8:30 PM
• Place:    UFV Campus A225/229
• Cost:      FREE! Admission by pre-registration only. Wine and refreshments will be served at intermission.

To pre-register contact Michelle.Riedlinger@ufv.ca by Friday March 7, 2014.

Pre-registration prizes include:

• Lunch at Restaurant 62 with Andrew Holota, Editor of The Abbotsford News
• Three one-hour coach and connect sessions with a PWAC member
• Lunch at Restaurant 62 with UFV Writer-in-Residence, Daniela Elza

….and more!

Guest posting by Russell Arbuthnot:

We all interact with someone (or something) on a daily basis – it isn’t a new or groundbreaking concept. Social media, however, has allowed us to break free from the traditional methods of interaction. In the past, interactions between customers and businesses would typically be face to face or over the phone. Now, with the many social media platforms at our disposal, oftentimes we don’t even have to speak to anyone (in the traditional sense). We tweet our thoughts, we “like” Facebook posts and we “pin” stories and pictures with businesses all the time.

Companies have discovered how to latch on to the social media phenomenon and create an online presence with their content. Twitter and YouTube have pushed the concept of viral marketing into hyperdrive – if a marketing strategist comes up with the right idea, at the right time, on the right platform, exposure and attention directed at their business can increase dramatically.

For example, after Oreo stole the show during last year’s Super Bowl, JC Penney tried to cash in on some free marketing of their own. They interacted with their audience, who in turn interacted with their peers, leading to a successful marketing campaign. Here’s what the company tweeted on during the Super Bowl:

Exhibit 1:

 This was followed by:

Tweet 2

And finally:

Effective? Judging by the amount of retweets, favourites and attention they received, I’d say it a marketing ploy well executed. I certainly don’t follow JC Penney on Twitter, but I was made well aware of their social media presence on Sunday.

This is just a brief example of interactivity on social media. Of course we can observe many instances of customer service and public relations type interactions over social media as well. A company’s ability to resolve customer issues and complaints through social media is one of the most effective ways to build and maintain a positive reputation. The truth is social media is still in its infancy and companies and consumers will continue to discover and innovate with new ways to interact through the medium.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can watch my Prezi and tweet me @RussellAcademic.

September 18th has been designated as a “Day of Learning” by the University of the Fraser Valley, not only about the residential school experience of Canada’s First Peoples, but about the long-term and long-ranging effects of the experience of colonialism and the oppressive/degrading attitudes of the colonizers of North America. I am excited about being able to involve all my Fall 2013 students in some aspect of this learning as well as learning for myself and how I can use materials in future years.

Here are some of the ways I will be engaging in the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) dialogue with my students in my introductory CMNS courses: 125 and 155 Online, and in 180 (Intercultural Communication).

After doing some in-class orientation to the Day of Learning all students will have a related assignment:

– a choice of a) participating on campus in either Abbotsford or Chilliwack on September 18, b) engaging in an online activity related to the residential school experience (for online students) c) traveling to Vancouver to participate in the learning events taking place on the PNE grounds, d) participating in the walk from Coqualeetza, and e) volunteering to assist with the Sept. 18 events at the Abbotsford campus.

– For CMNS 125, 155 a requirement to write a workplace memo about their experience and learning

– For CMNS 180 to write a personal reflection essay

Most of all I am excited that the intercultural communication regular class time actually falls on Wednesday September 18 and will allow those students to participate in preparatory work, volunteering and a learning session designed specifically to fit into a topic they would be studying in class: identity and values. They will be helping to host a campus-wide learning session from 6-8 PM on that evening.

Have you thought about how you can get your students involved? It would be great to see some comments here about your ideas. Maybe they will spark other instructors to get involved as well in all disciplines and departments.

*****************************

Dr. Marcella LaFever (University of New Mexico, 2005) is an Associate Professor in the Communications Department at the University of the Fraser Valley. She specializes in intercultural communication and brings that expertise to various subjects such as communication for workplace, instruction, social media, team and public speaking contexts.

What do group decision making, professional human guinea pigs, natural disasters, and scientific misconduct have in common? These were the topics that stood out to me at the Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards 2013 National Conference: Fifty Shades of Research Ethics.

Presenters on these topics spoke passionately about the role of communication and language practices that can help or hinder researchers from conducting research in ethical ways.

Making decisions is complicated

Ivor Prichard from the US Department of Health has conducted research investigating why different Research Ethics Boards (REBs) respond differently when presented with identical research ethics applications.

Drawing on Barry Schwartz’s work from the book, The Paradox of Choice, Ivor highlighted some of the communication-related factors that may influence these different decisions.

“REB members, like all humans, tend to make decisions based on loss aversion,” he said.

“When people are faced with situations that are framed in how many people will survive, they are less likely to make a decision involving increased risk. But when situations are framed in terms of the number of deaths that could occur, people are more likely to accept increased risk.”

Ivor also found that words like ‘should’ and ‘shall’ in review guidelines invoked the desire for more deliberation in some REB members, in comparison to words that reflected ‘reasonableness’ or ‘a favourable balance’ of benefits and risks.

REB members can also influence each others’ decisions through processes such as reciprocation.

“If I agree with you now, you might feel obliged to return the favour and agree with me later on,” he said.

“Social proof, also known as ‘monkey see monkey do’ influences decisions. You can see this mimicry in practice when you watch street crossing behaviour. One person goes and the rest follow, even though a light may not be green.”

Ivor also discussed the human tendency for people to defer to authority and agree with people they like (or like the look of) as issues for REBs to be aware of.

Selling their bodies for science

Roberto Abadie, author of The Professional Guinea Pig spent years tracking people who make their living as volunteers for human drug trials in the United States. He found that these ‘professional human guinea pigs’ could earn a good living by ‘selling their bodies’ in clinical drug trials in comparison to what they could earn in other professions available to them.

“The financial benefits outweigh most of the perceptions of risks for these professional guinea pigs,” said Roberto.

He found that some of the professional volunteers saw the Ethics Consent Form for these trials as their job contract, rather than an informative document (describing the risks and benefits for participating in the research).

“Once it [consent form] was signed, they [volunteers] would be paid to work in the study. They would essentially know their job conditions.”

Roberto also found that some of the professional guinea pigs saw the consent form as a hurdle to jump. The form described the expectations of the researchers in relation to the participants as well as the risks but once it was signed, participants could forget about it.

These attitudes to Participant Consent Forms were a surprise to me. Participants need to be fully informed about the risks and benefits of a study to give truly informed consent. But if large sums of money are involved then this seems to override almost all other considerations. I was so impressed by this talk that I bought a copy of Roberto’s book (just published by Duke University Press).

Putting the community first

Anna Pujaidas Botey from the Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research spoke about research she was involved in after the Slave Lake Fires in 2011. She and her collaborators visited the Slave Lake community in August 2011, only three months after one third of the town was destroyed by fire.

The team were interested in researching community resilience and rebuilding after the event, but received some initial resistance from a Slave Lake Council member to conducting the research.

“We spent a few weeks in the community, talking to people and working with Councillors and Emergency Planning staff, before starting to interview anyone,” she said.

“The needs and priorities of these affected communities have to come first in this research. Without direct benefit to them [community], it [the research] is not ethically sound.”

Anna and the team also invested research funds into making sure that the findings of the study would contribute to future emergency planning in the community—and involved those who would be most affected.

The group gave public presentations, wrote pieces for the local paper and other media outlets and posted the study findings on a website.

Retracting science

Adam Marcus, a journalist and cofounder of Retraction Watch, has been tracking scientific misconduct since 2010. He said he started the site with Ivan Oransky, MD as a way to give people a widow into the scientific process.

“Science takes pride in self correcting but it has no process for talking about that when it comes to the demise of a paper,” said Adam.

Adam and Ivan decided to create a blog rather than a print publication on retractions because they thought the blog was “more nimble”, less expensive, and more transparent.

Contrary to what researchers have believed, the majority of research paper retractions are due to misconduct rather than mistakes. Adam supplied examples of researcher misconduct ranging from plagiarism and falsifying images to poor graduate student supervision and ‘losing’ data once a paper has been published. Some researchers made up research participants or ignored the need for ethics approval.

“Researchers are under enormous pressure to publish, but we all need to represent ourselves fairly and honestly to people who are actually paying us and supporting us,” said Adam.

Not everyone is pleased with what Retraction Watch is doing. Adam said he has encountered resistance from some journal editors when he has inquired into the nature of a retraction.

“Just because we are seeing a rise in retractions doesn’t mean science is crumbling,” he said.

“The numbers of retractions are still small compared to output. Scientists are human, with human desires. Perhaps we are looking more closely at this issue than we were in the past.”

Retraction Watch is read by scientists and policy makers but is also useful for Research Integrity Officers, funding bodies and REBs.