Final Post (Reflection)

This unit has taught me a lot about how important communication really is. With my area of study being film making, this was definitely a ‘need to know’ subject which already has aided me in how to successfully take on this type of career.

Room for Improvement?

Looking back in this subject there are improvements I have made over the course of the 10 weeks. One would include most obviously my knowledge about the importance of communication. Then there are the subtler ones, like how I am able to write an essay and report much better than what I could in the beginning of the term. Furthermore, I now send emails with more thought and effort put behind it, whether it is to a lecturer, friend or work partner.

There are improvements however that I would like to make in the future and do differently next time. This mainly being time management and organisation. At times, it felt like there was stress when really not necessary, so with teaching myself how to plan out work with personal and study times would surely improve how I tackle assignments and projects in the future.

Obstacles and Challenges

There were definitely some challenges in this unit, for example how to structure an essay or report with hardly no previous experience, however there was one big challenge I seemed to struggle with. This was all the research involved along with the APA referencing. Since these two are so important when it comes to proving a point or talking about anything in an essay, making sure all references were reliable and trustworthy proved to be a challenge. Moreover, the APA reference list has many rules, therefore if something as simple as a full stop or comma was misplaced or missing, this could impact the overall grade when unnecessary.

I enjoyed expanding my knowledge on the importance of communication and how much it spans over many careers. Although creating my first blog was definitely a highlight, since this was something that has been brought up previously as an idea but never actually fully committed to. Additionally, being able to communicate with an audience weekly about certain topics makes it feel less like an assignment and more like a fulfilling conversation with strangers. Overall, I enjoyed the unit and would most certainly recommend it to anyone starting off a new career.

Jargon Language. Good or Bad?

Jargon is common throughout many different cultures. This can be more so noticeable when individuals from different countries refer to something as different names. An example would be that Australians refer to someone without any class as a “Bogan.” However, for Americans they would refer to them as “Trailer Trash” or even a “Redneck.” There are many different examples though in today’s blog post the main focus will be based in my field of study. At the moment that consists of four different subjects.

Digital Video & Audio

Each one has its own sense of jargon language depending on what the subject covers. Firstly, Digital Video and Audio is a class that covers film making. Majority of the time jargon in this subject will be noticed when talking about tools. For example, a ‘Boom’ is a large fuzzy microphone at the end of a stick that picks up dialogue from the actor/s. Another common example is a dolly, which is best described as a small platform that holds a camera. It rolls along a track to give a nice and smooth stabilized movement without causing the camera to shake.

Figure 1 – Jargon Buster

Web Design

The next subject is web design which consists of many examples of this kind of language. This subject consists a lot with coding which turns out to be another language in itself. Terms like ‘CSS’ and ‘HTML’ (which both stand for Cascading Style Sheets and Hypertext Mark-up Language) are the most common by far. These two are the core tools when it comes to building web pages which is why they are mentioned many times (W3C).

Communication in Professional Context

Lastly there is the Communication in Professional Context subject, which is the most formal out of all. When talking to each other in this class, it is recommended to speak as if in a business environment. In other words, there is no sayings mentioned such as ‘G’day Mate’, or ‘What’s up?’ However, this subject still has its own sense of jargon language. This includes a lecturer, which is a university teacher or staff member. A ‘Q&A’ which in other words is Question and Answer for short, is a small test or a group to discuss certain issues.

Jargon is common and has its place in almost every field of study, however it is important to understand when to use professional communication. It is not just about steering away from slang and such however, but also trying to speak intelligently and correctly depending on the situation (Berger, 2007).

References:

W3C. (n.d.) Extensible markup language. Retrieved from https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/htmlcs

Berger, J., (2007). Watch your language at work (importance of workplace jargon and soft skills). Ward’s dealer business, Feb 1, 2007, Vol.41(2)

Figure 1. Calvium. (2015) What does it all mean – jargon buster. Retrieved from https://calvium.com/mean-jargon-buster/

Advantages & Disadvantages of a Report

Why Reports?

Reports are very important as far as research and valid information goes. The main purpose of these are to investigate and gather a better understanding of a certain problem/situation (Cenere, Gill, Lawson and Lewis, 2014). They can provide deeper insight to how the business is effective or not, any issues that may need attendance and more. Certain reports stand out over others for certain reasons, however in today’s blog we will be looking at one in particular and discuss the advantages and disadvantages shown.

The following 2017 report is from Coca Cola (which can be found at the following directory: https://www.ccamatil.com/-/media/Cca/Corporate/Files/Annual-Reports/2018/Annual-Report-2017.ashx)  that starts of discussing the people high in charge such as the board of directors, chairmen, group leadership team and so on. Then leads into the information of what they have done throughout the year and how they have been financially. There are some advantages and disadvantages to this  report though.

The Advantages

First off, the advantages are all the information is split into its relative sections. Nothing is spoken about more than once unnecessarily and seems to deliver all the pivotal points correctly. It even goes as far to show diagrams, tables and etc. This aids in the reader understanding the information while also backing it up. Furthermore, it is aesthetically pleasing, with graphics and images being displayed without taking over the report and being to interruptive.

The Disadvantages

The main disadvantage in this report however would be that there is no executive summary. The purpose of an executive summary is to explain the main features covered in the report and give an overview the entire plan (Chron, 2017, para 2). There will be times when people don’t have time to read a full report, especially if it is the length of the Coca Cola one here. So therefore, this is where it would come into use so it makes it easier for the readers like us to just have an idea of what is being talked about.

References:

Cenere, P., Gill, R., Lawson, C., & Lewis, M. (2015). Communication skills for business professionals. Cambridge Port Melbourne, Vic.: Cambridge University Press.

Chron. (2017). What is an executive summary business plan. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/executive-summary-business-plan-2587.html