Pandora: disintermediator or disintermediated? Essay

For Pandora, one of the biggest players in Internet radio, figuring out the future is both challenging and intimidating. If the regular challenges of growing a new company aren’t enough, Pandora also faces a market that is reeling in turmoil. In the new digital world, the way people listen to music continues to change dramatically. It seems likely that Pandora will either lead the changes or fall victim to them. Pandora was founded just over a decade ago. At that time, a vast majority of music listeners were still getting their groove on in one of two ways: They either popped a CD into their home, car, or personal CD player or they turned on the old AM/FM radio. But the advent of digital formats like MP3s has had a huge impact on CD sales and has drawn people away from what is now called â€Å"terrestrial radio.† Moreover, like the music business, the radio business has faced major changes of its own. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 reduced limitations on the number of stations that one owner could hold. This led to huge ownership groups that consolidated and standardized listening formats. The result is less diversity on the radio, with shorter playlists and fewer artists represented. From one city to the next, all across the United States, radio stations have started to sound more alike. Both these trends – combined with the explosion of Internet usage and changes in online technologies – have led to a deluge of companies trying to capitalize on the future of music distribution. This includes download services such as iTunes, subscription services such as Rhapsody and eMusic, an endless number of Internet radio stations, and even satellite   radio network SirriusXM. Today, with an ever†growing list of listening devices and cloud music services that store personal music libraries so they can be accessed anywhere by any device, listening trends continue to evolve. But one thing about the future is certain: The business of listening to music is full of disruption and confusion. Things are changing fast and the winning products and services—indeed, the survivors—are yet to be determined. The Power of People Amid the chaos, Pandora has carved out its own niche, setting itself apart as an automated music recommendation service. It isn’t a play†on†demand service, where members can simply choose the exact song and artist they want. Rather, listeners enter an artist or song suggestion. The playlist starts with a track by the r equested artist and inserts additional songs by that artist every once in a while. But in between, Pandora cues up songs by other artists similar in nature to the requested material. If an unliked or unwanted song plays, the listener can click the â€Å"thumbs down† icon or just skip the song and it will be removed from the list. Users can also create stations by browsing artists alphabetically, or they can tune in to pre†made genre stations or to other users’ stations. Listener’s can create as many stations as they wish, each oriented around the initial input. Lots of online services employ similar recommendation features (think Netflix and Amazon). But Pandora has set a precedent by the predictive power of its recommendation software. The Pandora software is amazingly precise at choosing material that fits with what the user wants. According to Tim Westergren, founder and Chief Strategy Officer for Pandora,

Critical Thinking and Potent Drugs Essay

Statement 1: It is pretty obvious that smoking marijuana causes people to crave more potent drugs, such as cocaine or heroin. Statistics show that almost all people who become addicted to drugs smoked marijuana before they began using more potent drugs. Answer below– This statement does comply to the guidelines of critical thinking. To start, I feel this statement shows a lot of uncertainty. The words used in the first sentence, â€Å"pretty obvious,† show a lot of uncertainty. If the person was certain, he or she would have used the word â€Å"obvious.† Another way this statement complies to the guidelines is the reliability of the evidence provided. The use of â€Å"almost all people† in the statistic instead of a concrete number shows that the statistic in the statement isn’t all that reliable. This also shows some uncertainty in the statistic. This statement is a mixture of an opinion and an unreliable statistic. There is no proof that marijuana makes you desire or â€Å"crave† more potent drugs. What about others factors such as genetics, familial, or environmental factors influencing drug use? I feel that the reason more people try marijuana before other hard drugs is by chance, because it is more readily available at a young age. Critical thinking is important in everyday life, especially when having discussions with peers over controversial issues, such as racism, gender difference, and homosexuality. It is important in this instance to think critically to come up with alternate explanations for events or problems, without using emotional reasoning or previous bias and beliefs.

Conventional High Rise Buildings in Hong Kong

Introduction Modernism ever emphasize that the signifier of infinite to be developed based on the nonsubjective conditions of the external environment, the architectural signifier can be to the full reflected as a consequence of its map, nevertheless, such type of architectural signifier which dominated by functionalism was progressively being questioned in modern times, some of the designers attempt to happen new waies from the abstract philosophical idea, and developed the alleged deconstruction. The Godhead of the theory of deconstruction was Jacques Derrida, he was a philosopher who questioned against the tightness of Manichaean thought in Western idea, and stressed the uncertainness of the text in ideological looks, he thought a deconstructive reading can analyse the binary resistances in metaphysics, and a new construction can besides be generated though the dismantlement processes. The Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College is situated at the junction of Hung Lok Road and Hung Lai Road, Hung Hom, Hong Kong. The edifice is developed on a brown field site which was antecedently utilized by KCRC as a workshop. The adjacent edifices of the premises is the Royal Peninsula residential belongings in the North of the site ( near Hung Hom South Road ) and the Hung Hom Peninsula residential belongings in the sou'-east ( near Hung Lok Road ) . The designer of Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) attempted to reflect upon the development of the urbanism of Hong Kong while the construct was in development phase in order to look for new possibilities. Attempted to research the function of deconstruction theory though analysis of the edifices in the metropolis. In Hong Kong, a metropolis with a high edifice denseness, institutional edifices are nevertheless usually low-rise. The Hong Kong Community College ( Hung Hom Bay Campus ) introduced a new alone construct in high-rise institutional tower typology, solid and null beat was applied in the high tower ; it besides introduced a new manner for learning and larning by spacial agreements of the edifice and provided gardens in the air, to supply a big figure of common infinites for sharing and interaction of the instructors and pupils. Background Conventional high rise edifice in Hong Kong With the growing of architecture design and edifice engineering, the skyscrapers are built higher and higher. Hong Kong, as the richest and fast working velocity metropolis in the universe, covers 1000s of skyscrapers and high-rise edifices in its limited land. In Hong Kong, the designers used to utilize light steel to build the edifices. And the exterior wall is covered by glass drape. This sort of design is beautiful and modern, but has some possible restrictions. Some analysis of the architecture exterior lift design in the universe reveals that the glass drape wall introduces successful solutions for the modern issue in the modern-day architecture. Yet, at the degree of architecture individuality and metropolis image, concrete exterior wall was non popular in the architecture design. Some inventive but frankly chilling signifiers of utmost urbanism were emerging as engineers invent constructs for of all time larger and more dumbly populated metropoliss like Hong Kong, but their signifier was merely for visual aspect and could non semiotically represent it ‘s map. With the building engineering developed, glass drape wall has become a necessary architecture design in the universe. Particularly the high-rise edifice and skyscraper all prefer to utilize the glass drape as the exterior wall. In Hong Kong, there are more than two thousand edifices that use the glass drape wall. However, there are some jobs to this architecture design particularly the light pollution which affects human life. The ornament of glass drape wall is like a elephantine glass mirror standing beside the street. This architecture design is really modern and beautiful, it could promote the city’s value and set it to a higher place. Some celebrated skyscrapers like International Finance Center, Central Plaza, Bank of China, The Center, Nina Tower etc. topographic point Hong Kong among the first metropoliss. But as the Hong Kong occupants mentioned, they do non prefer the edifice decorated with the glass drape wall merely, it is non healthy and causes many problems for the people who live inside and outside. The designer of Hung Hum Bay Campus attempted to dispute these conventional high rise edifices in Hong Kong, and to develop a new typology of high rise tower by interrupting down the elements in skyscrapers through deconstruction and reorganise it by his analysis, alternatively of merely utilizing glass drape walls to finish the design.The typical â€Å"Millennium† schoolsHong Kong was holding a bound of land, most of the land was in a incline and merely little figure of them are level. The population in Hong Kong requires a batch of institutional installations, therefore, it was wasteful and non easy to plan every school campus unambiguously. In the twelvemonth of 2000, most of the building of Hong Kong ‘s public schools were harmonizing to the authorities ‘s standard design, those campus called the criterion â€Å" millenary † schools, and this â€Å" criterion † besides reflects the changing of clip, turning of the importance of societal instruction. A typical â€Å" millenary † campus occupies six thousand square metres, with a sum of 30 criterion schoolrooms and 16 particular suites. in add-on to common music room or art room, the campuses besides provide information and engineering acquisition centres, linguistic communication acquisition room, etc. The pupil resort areas are at the land floor, staff suites are at the top ( 7th floor ) , and the criterion schoolrooms are separated separately. Although the installations of the â€Å" millenary † campus were doubtless more comprehensive than in the yesteryear, it ‘s basically was still a â€Å" shaped â€Å" design, it reflected the inflexibleness of â€Å" shaped â€Å" instruction in Hong Kong. Mr. Patrick Lau, the caput of Hong Kong architectural, appraising and urban Planning section who has been involved in a figure of international schools edifices, said that an designer should understand the demand of infinite, educational doctrine and learning methods of the school in order to plan a corresponding campus for the school.The designer of Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College had questioned about the ground of utilizing â€Å" millenary † design. Since the authorities said it was convenience, and it can accommodate every schools. But it had really affected the instruction policy which both the building of the campus and the survey classs are â€Å" shaped â€Å" . Although the standard â€Å" millenary † campus allowed School patronizing organic structures to affect in the design, the result were still stereotyped, and the designs did n't let pupils to interact since the resort areas, schoolrooms, activities suites and staff suites are seperat ed. So the designer of Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) broke down and reorganized the points and maps of the traditional â€Å"Millennium† campus and worked out the new design.Polytechnic University SemioticsHong Kong Community College is a subdivision of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to analyze how the Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) to be semiotically acknowledging and stand foring Polytechnic University, this paper surveies the semiologies of other campus of Polytechnic University.MAIN CAMPUS:The chief campus was the earliest reinforced campus of Polytechnic University, it was situated in the denseness metropolis of Hong Kong, the series of edifices were designed in simple regular forms and cylinders, no curves or irregular form was in the signifier of the edifices. They are all appeared in ruddy bricks lift, it was an alone and representative acknowledgment for Polytechnic University. Stripe patterns besides appeared on it ‘s facade design as a acknowledgment.West Kow loon Campus ( HKCC ) :West Kowloon Campus was another campus of Hong Kong Community College, both Hung Hom bay campus and it were designed in simple rectangular boxes faculties and applied solid and nothingness in the design while West Kowloon Campus was seting rectangular blocks together, and Hung Hom bay campus was undermining rectangular nothingnesss out ; they were both seting the gardens in the air which exposed to the lifts.Discussion Deconstruction means anti-structure, to defuse the nucleus of the construction ; which is characterized by anti-centrality, anti-dualistic resistance and anti-authority. The design of the Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College had semiotically defused the definition of a high rise tower, there was no Manichaean resistance significances between the plan of the design, different installations can be connected to portion. The designer had understood the educational doctrine and learning method of the Hong Kong Community College before the beginning of the design, he studied and referenced the learning methods in American instruction, which accent on unfastened look, esteeming the pupil ‘s thoughts, and to mix with the relationship of instructor and pupils. The design of the campus besides provided more infinites for pupils to sit down to chew the fat with the instructors. This paper will discourse the significance of it ‘s spacial agreement, the semiotic of it ‘s lifts and the signifier, the representation and semiotical significance of it ‘s material, in order to happen out how the edifice still be able to understand as a campus, and stand foring Hong Kong Polytechnic University through deconstruction. It can be perceived from the exterior lifts of the campus, a uninterrupted spiral concatenation of communal sky gardens along the tower block fringe was widening from the lower land floor to the seventeenth floor, they created loosen uping and pleasant infinites, which can be semiotically understood as a topographic point for larning. Alternatively of those, the agreement of the sky gardens besides re-interpretated the designer ‘s apprehension of out-of-door acquisition infinites and public infinites. Growthing workss on the sky gardens can be used as afforestation and enhanced sunlight acquiring in, a batch of afforestation embodies greening consequence and on the other manus brought out a feeling of daze and wonderful. Meaning of Space Throughout the deconstruction took topographic point in the design procedure, the Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College provided new significances to the institutional edifice by spacial agreements. The designers of Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) , AD+RG ( Architecture Design and Research Group ) , had created a modular planning design for the edifice, they developed a flexible â€Å"modular system of spacial combination† in the design, it was capable of future transmutation to ease the demand of adaptability or flexibleness. The premises target to provide of all time altering learning demands in hereafter every bit good as developing engineerings. In order to use a upper limit of available infinites above a limited country of land, Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) had designed a new spacial layout, it broke down the conventional resort areas or gardens on the land floor, and put them onto the tower to do it go sky gardens. Then insert popular assemblage activities adjacent to the gardens such as canteen, Student Union installations, etc. , in order to convey the popularity together to the upper steps of the campus efficaciously, which could follow the architectural design construct of perpendicular development. In add-on, the sky gardens on the edifice was non merely for making an ideal environment for the campus, it encouraged pupils to be inaugural to larn, besides heighten the pupil ‘s sense of belonging, and even made it a good topographic point for pupils treatment and to interchange their cognition. The campus design had made good usage of spacial layout, it used high rise building for perpendicular development, roof gardens was set nearby the populace installations such as schoolrooms, canteen, coffeehouse and library, unlike the criterion â€Å" millenary † campuses which the installations were separated without any connexions and interactions, it provided a new visual aspect for higher instruction establishments. In order to forestall congestions and holds occurs at the lift anterooms and chief entrywaies in this multi storey high rise campus at the extremum times, therefore, the spacial agreement, distribution and place of lifts, and escalators had item considerated when planing the edifice. All major talk suites were located at the lower block beside the platform, it can assist pupils get away efficaciously. Classrooms and installations for staffs was situated environing the public infinites, it means the designers encourage the communicating between instructors and pupils. Two big places were peculiar featured on the land floor and 4th floor as chief outdoor activities infinites, with the talk theatres, pupil brotherhood activity Centre, and providing countries environing, increased the Cohesiveness of the place. Elevation semiologies The coiling communal infinite organisation in the modular lift design was articulated by square shaped be aftering faculties to fit the communal infinite organisation and enhance air flow across the edifice mass. The design had integrated verdure into the lifts, characteristic trees and thenars were located at the semi unfastened communal infinites to heighten natural airing and besides as a focal point to make a alone landmark for orientation. The frontage design besides complied the semiotic characteristics of the chief campus of Polytechnic University, which stripe forms was applied to the exterior lift design of the solid parts as a acknowledgment of campus of the university. Semioticss of Form Unlike other modern-day high rise edifices or skyscrapers, the signifier of the Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) was non merely designed for overdone or unnatural to pull attendings, it composes of assorted learning blocks stacked spirally in the air, which are separated with sky gardens at different degrees. The uninterrupted spiral concatenation of communal sky gardens could be perceived along the tower block fringe widening from the lower-ground floor to the upper-most floors. The gardens enrich the edifice lift with a natural, pleasant environment and aid to make a different unfastened acquisition and communal environment. In order to do good usage of all available infinites within a limited land, the Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) was composted with a lower platform and a high rise tower connecting by lifts at the centre of the edifice, it provided the natural airing and allowed adequate sunshine or daytime traveling into interior on the one manus, it could besides forestall the next edifices barricading the position of the architecture. The indoor garden without glass drape wall enhanced the interior position and permeableness. By seting sky gardens into different floors and places, beside supplying public acquisition infinites for pupils and instructors of the college, the semi unfastened sky gardens besides made the campus semiotically became an alone landmark in the metropolis. The public green place located at land floor and 4th floor were the nodes of the campus, achieved the organic combination of both unreal afforestation and natural ecology. The workss growing on the sky gardens were non merely for afforestation, in add-on, they were allowing Sun visible radiations get into the inside and supplying a natural and peaceable ambiance for survey. It had complied greening consequence to the perpendicular development of institutional edifice, provided much fresh air to the inside, and even provided a comfy ocular enjoyment for pupils, instructors, and other users. Material representation The material choice of the Hung Hom Bay Campus ( HKCC ) had been through a careful consideration, in order to accomplish a entity and crystalline ocular contrast between the solid and nothingnesss of the campus. The lift attempted to utilize two different stuffs, high transparence glass walls and the extremely entity traditional ruby colored bricks of Polytechnic University, which did non merely created different transparences, but besides benefits to command the strength of sunlight entries alternatively of merely utilizing â€Å" beautiful and modern † drape walls. Decision It was concluded that the Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community College can be semiotically understood as a new type of high rise institutional tower through deconstruction, and it can be easy recognized as a campus of Polytechnic University in consequence. The design broke down the elements of modern-day skyscrapers and high rise edifices and the conventional standard typical â€Å" millenary â€Å" schools campuses which was popular in Hong Kong through deconstruction. After analysis and reorganise those elements, the signifier of the edifice can still pull attendings from public, but it was in a simple manner but non in exaggerate or unnatural irregular forms ; schoolroom, staff room, gardens and resort areas still exists in the new campus, but became everyplace and synergistic, it provides a pleasant ambiance for both the users and the edifice lifts, which made the edifice semiotically understood as a campus for acquisition ; the traditional ruby colored bricks of Polytechnic University and the modern glass drape walls had still used, but they were looking in matching places, it enhanced the entity and crystalline ocular contrast between the solid and nothingnesss in add-on. The chief construct of Hung Hom Bay Campus of Hong Kong Community college was to bring forth an alone landmark of green edifice and present a new type of high rise institutional edifice through deconstruction, it was to the full demonstrated that a high rise building can still be successfully integrated with the elements of natural environment in a metropolis with extremist denseness. The campus shows the multiple benefits of a high rise green tower. This design non merely heighten the public presentation of the edifice and bettering the environmental comfort, on the other manus it provided a greening consequence as an oasis to the complex urban environment in Hong Kong. The advanced design uniting with the environmental mark of the undertaking was effectual and resulted as a favourable consequence. As a public architecture, the semi unfastened sky gardens and green place provided an Significant, impressive and gratifying green infinite in the metropolis. BibliographyKate Nesbitt. Speculating a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965 – 1995. Princeton Architectural Press. 1 Mar 1996Mallgrave, Harry Francis. An Introduction to Architectural Theory: 1968 to the Present. Wiley-Blackwell. 2011What is post-modernism Website, hypertext transfer protocol: //home.educities.edu.tw/tsuiyh/go/ depo01007.html ( Sourced 5th October, 2014 )Peter Chow.Green Building Case Study.( 2011 ) BEAM Society: Hong KongBernard V. Lim JP.The Hong Kong Community College.( 2009 ) The Hong Kong Institute of Facility Management: Hong KongLin Yunfeng.Urbanism and Architecture| Works of design.( 2009 ) AD+AG Ltd. : Hong KongLiu Wen Tao.Compare the difference of architecture design in Hong Kong and Penang.( 2014 ) University sains Malaysia: PenangZhang Weiping.City in Extreme—As the Prototype of † Asiatic Congestion Culture †.( 2007 ) World ArchitectureAD+AG Website, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.adrg.com.h k/magamedia.html ( Sourced 7th October, 2014 )College of Professionals and Continuing Educations Website, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cpce – polyu.edu.hk/cpce/content.php? cms=905 ( Sourced 7th October, 2014 )

Leadership and jopsatisfaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadership and jopsatisfaction - Essay Example Leadership is â€Å"an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes† (Draft, 2005 quoted by Ying & Ahmad, 2009, 54). There have been a significant number of literatures covering the nature, theories and applications of leadership and its effect to job performance and satisfaction. The diverse patterns of behavior and actions that leaders exhibit over a period of time and perceived by followers have been identified as the dominant style of leadership. This style is developed utilizing an interplay of factors which shape leadership development. Leadership seeks to bring people and groups from where they are to where they have not been. It enables people to go beyond the confines of mediocrity and tread into the realm of excellence. In the process, it induces people to define their desires and to pursue them with passion. Ultimately, leadership transforms potential into reality. In any organization, the influence of leadership in its operations of has evolved from a simple theoretical framework to the complex structure we have today. The development of leadership theories opened a whole spectrum of information which enhanced the interaction and interrelationships among personnel, especially its effect on job satisfaction. Leaders are concerned with the creation of an environment for performance. They integrate tasks, structure, technology, resources, and people into a productive configuration. They achieve goals through the efforts of other people. They have to influence the behavior of other people in order to get things done. The essay aims to present two sides to the argument that stipulates the critical role of leadership in creating job satisfaction in an organization. One side of the argument supports that an effective leader would create an environment where the subordinates would be satisfied in the accomplishment of their tasks.

Behavioural Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Behavioural Finance - Essay Example Fair distribution 8. How can fair distribution of resources be achieved? 9. What factors are to be considered in ensuring fair distribution? 10. How is inequality a challenge in fair distribution? Inclusion criteria Inclusion of the material for literature was based on relevance to the research questions and its relevance to the research topic Exclusion criteria Any material that was deemed irrelevant to the research topic was discarded; the relevance of the material to the research topic was determined by reviews of its title and abstract Relevance of research questions to the topic The view has been taken that a progression through the research questions will provide an in depth overview of the research topic. The research questions have been designed to capture all views of the new economic paradigm and the different aspects of the new economic paradigm that scholar have identified. Despite the limited literature that is available in this area, the research questions have helped t o conduct an exhaustive literature review. Table of contents Abstract 2 Table of contents 5 Introduction 6 Happiness and Well-being 7 Efficient allocation of resources 9 Ecological sustainability 11 Fair distribution 12 Analysis of the literature 13 Conclusion 14 References 15 Introduction The world has for a long time yearned for a change, the people recognise that the social, political and economic conditions in the universe are not at par with the needs of the society. Ancient economists such as Adam Smith in his ‘wealth of nations’ argued that competition would be used to distribute good and services in the world as individuals were taken as rational beings. However, it has been discovered that human beings are not rational... However, despite these advancements, the variation gap between the wealthy and the underprivileged has been rising, both in nation-to-nation comparison and within the countries. Adverse and extreme climatic conditions have increased in frequency and severity and adapting to these changes has now become a reality. Due to the rising population, the demand for natural resources has risen which has led to overexploitation of natural resources and degradation of the environment, food and oil prices have skyrocketed and debt crisis in most countries has reached an alarming levels. This paper will deal with the new economic paradigm and all the perspectives that are associated with it. These trends shows that the world has no option but to act; however, there are more benefits that come with change than just avoiding the negative effects that may result due to failure to change. Change and innovation through testing and advancement of new models are key determinants in human advancement, for instance, the global financial and European debt crisis does not only require people to imagine of a better world, but rather, to act and create that world. The need for a new economic paradigm was boosted when the 193 member states of UN general assembly adopted a consensus resolution 65/309 on happiness: towards a holistic approach to development, this resolution characterised happiness as fundamental human goal and a universal aspiration.

Writing to Evaluate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Writing to Evaluate - Essay Example The blog makes the life of Apple managers an easy time. The paper discusses the various categories found on 9 to 5 Mac blog. The paper also discusses the blog design as well as writing and the content found in the blog. Additionally, the paper outlines the history of the blog, its readers, creators, and followers. Discussion. History 9 to 5 Mac was established in 2001 when the launch and the announcement of iPhone was made. The launching and announcement was made at Paris apartment (Seth Weintaubs' residence). Weintraub supervising the work of Mac IT development while the wife secured a fellowship to further her studies in France. The blog was established to keep up with developments in technology and bring up a writing career that had gained ground at an IDG publication in Computer world. The team was joined by Mark Gurman when the logo of the blog was still a coffee mug. The blog then became a career in 2011 as soon as Weintraub stopped working with Fortune magazine. He started 9 t o 5Google.com and 9 to 5Toys.com. He continues interacting with additional reporters and editors. 9 to 5Forums.com with assistance from VanillaForums.com was started in 2012. It served as both community of vibrant users and systems of comment. Currently, has over five hundred thousand viewer daily. The other 9 to 5 sites do not have much traffic. According to the author, writing on issues of technology is a greater achievement. Author The author of the blog 9 to 5Mac is called Seth Weintraub. Seth Weintraub is an award winning blogger and journalist. He secured awards in Neal when he covered Apple and Goggle from 2007 to 2010. Developing the blog 9 to 5Mac was his hobby and favorite. In 2011, he decided to take blogging as his full time job. He added his followers to 9 to 5Google.com and 9 to 5Toys.com deals and gear site. Weitraub was an IT director of Global and web developer for various companies. He had experience in branding and multimedia agencies in New York, Madrid, Sydney, and Madrid before becoming a blogger and a publisher Reviews and tags. The reviewers of 9 to 5 review the blog for free. The blog always receive review units for free and comprehensive instructions on usage. The blog run reviews for software and hardware that seem interesting to the audience and worth appealing. The blog "9 to 5 Mac has tagged adobe, client, iPod, Macintosh, rumors, and server. Consequently, the blog tags administration, iwork, open directory, nano, and iphone. Affiliate linking. The blog uses affiliate links if possible. The blog runs software that increase the number of affiliate tags to any external linking as a mechanism to generate revenue. It uses the strategy of supporting the link y buying the products. 9 to 5Toys is news and shopping deals where they aim to post credible and original news on notable drop in price and new update, Delanewa.com, and stack Social. Design. The blog uses the Grunge style on the wall of their website. The blog has employed a bigge r trend in grunge design including the minimalist grunge, where the theme of the blog is minimal. The grunge elements are bigger and are more defines. The blog design is not messy. 9 to 5mac has a design style that has space for individual and creativity expression. Content and Objective. The blog has options for apple, IOS devices, Enterprise, tips, Apps, reviews, 9 to 5 Forums, and products. The blog sells Apple products to Gazelle. Some of the apple products that the blog advertises include iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro, Mac Book Air, iPads, iPod, iPhone, and other products such as Airport Base Station, and Apple Thunderbolt Displays. The site quotes the recommendation status and the time product was released. On the Enterprise section the

Art World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Art World - Essay Example It is this position that Danto (1999) saw as misplaced and lacking basis to consider art as coming to an end. Indeed, the basis for revisiting the subject of the end-of-art thesis in the present seminar is to compare the validity of the arguments presented by the two writers in today’s era of art world. The opinions that are going to be expressed on the article will therefore be broad enough to capture the entire relationship between the artist’s power of innovation and the influence it has on art world. Much of the argument would also focus on modern day art so as to have an understanding of the power of the artist in using some of the world’s modernity to transform the art world. In the article, Danto (1999) identifies two modes of thought in art. These are subjective and objective spirits. According to Danto (1999), subjective spirit deals closely with the artist’s cognitive interpretation of the world around him, based on which themes of art world are presented. Largely so, Hegel (1975) had argued that in the application of their subjective spirits, artists have refused to have an awakening of thought that is based on the need for the output of their works to be based on genuine truth about human reasoning. This is a notion that Danto refuses to accept because in the opinion of Dante, generational dynamism is necessary for giving the artist much room to try out more innovation that presents the art world with an era of social thinking that is based on the artist’s own cognitive empowerment. Indeed, taking the arguments presented by the two writers on subjective spirits of artists and presenting it in modern social art, one would say that the new era of artist subjectivity where genuine truth of life no longer exists as the subject matter for most forms of art has been accepted as being fairly befitting for the changing society. A very typical example that can be cited of this is the use of sci-fi art where artists create i deas from their subjective reasoning that are not based on original human reasoning. Indeed, record sales of sci-fi movies and books such as Inception and Men in Black glorifies the point by Danto that the trend of subjective spirit in modern art does not necessarily mean an end to art. There is also the second mode of thought that has to do with objective spirit. Under this mode of thought, Dante (1999) explains in his article that it has to do with the reasoning of art that is taken from a broader social perspective such as political institutions, moral codes and forms of family life. From this score, Hegel had argued that artist are no longer doing society much good from their themes of art work because they had taken new position in the art world where sensationalism had become the order of the day. Yet again, Danto does not see eye in eye with Hegel. In the opinion of Danto, â€Å"It is from the perspective of objective spirit that any institutional theory of art is credibleâ €  (p. 4). This means that once a piece of art that is produced from an objective spirit becomes accepted by society and judged as credible, not much can be said against it in terms of whether or not it is contributing to a dying art world. Clearly, any modern day artist who takes up an objective perspective of art

Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tourism - Essay Example The government should ensure that there is a maximum security for both domestic and international tourists. This will automatically increase the number of tourists visiting the region because they will feel safe. The government can also spread a good word about the destination by holding conferences both locally and internationally. B. The private sector should not be left behind in the promotion of tourism. This is because the benefits of booming tourist activities will not only benefit the government, but also the private sector. Therefore, through seminars and other forms of publications, the private sector can also play a vital role in the promotion of tourism. A. The whole process of promoting a region, though cumbersome, has a lot of reward. Advertising is one of the most effective ways of promoting a region as a tourist destination. Using both local and international mass media to advertise tourism packages is one of the most effect ways of promoting Kenyan tourism. A. The city of Mombasa has a wide variety activities and towns that will definitely satisfy the visiting people. This ranges from the fringed coastal beaches to the many old Swahili towns that served as residential areas for the early inhabitants of the coastal city. A. Tourism can also play a vital role to rid the city of its negatives, for example, the arrival of tourists from antidrug agencies such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) can promote the fight against drug abuse in Mombasa though sports and holding of educative conferences. B. Eco tourism is also another tourist activity that will impact positively, tourists visiting the fragile and relatively undisturbed areas and providing funds for ecological conservation will lead to economic development. B. The economy of the region will also improve as the money from outside will be spent in local hotels, restaurants and other businesses thereby leading to the rise in the economy and development of the region. A. To ensure

Mean Streets Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mean Streets - Movie Review Example Charlie is involved with the local New York Mafia and is tries to move up the command chain. His efforts are frustrated as he takes responsibility of his friend Johnny Boy, who is a reckless and minor gambler, a habit that gets Johnny into a huge amount of debt from many local loan sharks. Charlie who collects debts from individuals who owe his uncle money is an inwardly conflicted man. He does not know whether to follow his Mafia ambitions or to devout himself to the church. After failing to receive liberation in church, Charlie excessively becomes reproachful and disrespectful, but gets it by forfeiting himself on Johnny’s behalf. The movie ends when a debtor, Michael demands his money from Johnny who insults him and draws out a gun. Michael leaves but pursues Charlie, Johnny and Charlie’s girlfriend Teresa (an epileptic woman), who have decided to escape town for a little while. Michaels gunmen fires shots that land on Johnny’s neck and Charlie’s hand. An ambulance and the police come to the scene and take them away as the movie ends (Iamb, 2012). Critique There are a number of pros in the film, firstly are the characters. Mean Streets characters are excellently cast as their roles are well executed and nicely edited. The acting is incredibly original, and the director has directed his actors to near- sound acts. Moreover, the characters have given the film a thoroughly, beautiful, spellbinding and memorable feel. The characters demonstrate the Italian- American experience in a groundbreaking way, as they are passionate and mature. The characters in Mean Streets film have portrayed extreme talent in demonstrating male amity in Little Italy in New York. With Charlie’s character the producer, Martin Scorsese picks two conflicting issues common with young men in New York, religion, and gangster life. The second pro in the film is the cast themselves who are skilled, thus make the film believable. Martin has appropriately cast the actors in Mean Streets. Since the film is based on real life experiences, the producer, Martin Scorsese, puts the pieces quickly. These pieces are well executed by the actors who have in the past, coincidentally, lived in little Italy and have had the same experiences. De Niro grew up in ‘Bleecker Street, the northern frontier of Little Italy’. The third pro in the film is in the use of camera. Martin Scorsese employs the use of camera, lightning, and space in a much-refined way, thereby showing the viewer only what he feels the viewer should see. In the opening scenes of the film, the key characters have scenes of their own, which introduces the viewer to the main characters (IMDb, 2012). Furthermore, the filtered camera angles usage continues with the director having scenes shot from above and sometimes from below. A hand held camera is used for dynamic scenes compared to the movable long shot cameras. The lighting creates balance and the intelligent editing ensur es the full capacity of the impact to the viewer. The fourth pro in Mean Street is the director’s, Martin Scorsese utility of color. The color used gives the picture an intense tone, which is incredibly striking. The light in the bars are red and outside have an over-exposed and monochrome color (IMDb, 2012). The director chooses to use popular music as the soundtrack in Mean Streets. In addition, the music is functional as it sets the mood for the film. The theme of the film

Canadian politics- Position paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Canadian politics- Position paper - Essay Example e of rising temperatures, which is the result of irresponsible human activity that are repeatedly appearing in different media (Environment a priority for more Canadians, poll suggests, 2006). Canada has 243,000 kilometers of coastline that makes it the country with the longest coastline in the country and already eight percent of it faces the threat of submersion due to rising global temperatures and the rapid melting of the permafrost (Global coastlines taking a beating from rising sea levels and storms). The melting of the Arctic permafrost due to rising global temperatures makes Canada one of the key areas in which the immediate effects of rising temperatures will be felt. Experiences of this are already occurring. In the recent summer part of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf above Ellesmere Island collapsed. In addition uniquely high temperatures in Baffin Island Park caused an unprecedented evacuation of tourists due to the threat from flash floods (Boswell, 2008). The growing awareness and experiences of the possible threats from rising temperatures has made environment a national issue of priority to the people of Canada. The importance of environment to the people naturally has an impact on the political parties in Canada. This impact on the political parties in Canada has resulted in their scaling up their agenda on the issue of Environment. Environment is turning out to be a key issue in the impeding election. A recently conducted opinion poll shows that for almost eighty-eight percent of Canadians support in the impeding elections will be based on the stance of the political parties in addressing their concerns on environment (Boutet, 2008). The political plank of the Liberal party on environment is based on the environmental strategy of â€Å"Green Shift† put forward by the leader of the party Stephane Dion. The essential feature of this environmental strategy of the Liberal party is to curb the rise in energy prices through reducing its demand by placing a

Conformity discussion Essay Example for Free

Conformity discussion Essay Conformity was first researched by Jenness (1932) who placed a large number of beans in a bottle and asked students to estimate the number and then arranged for them to discuss their guesses with a group, later when asked to give their estimates again; he found their individual estimates had converged towards that of the group. In Sherifs (1935) study of conformity, Sherif used the autokinetic effect in which a stationary spotlight in the dark seems to be moving due to slight movements of the eye. When participants were asked by how much and in what direction did the spotlight move they tended to make judgements that were very close to each others when placed in a group. The fact that a group norm rapidly replaced the personal norms of the members of the group indicates the existence of social influence. Asch questioned the results of Sheriffs study and claimed that participants only conformed because the stimulus was ambiguous. Asch (1951) set up a situation in which 7 people all sat looking at a display they were given the task of saying out loud which one of the three lines a, b or c was the same the same length as the given stimulus line all but one of the participants were confederates. On the crucial trials on which the confederates all gave the same wrong answer the genuine participant also gave the wrong answer on 37% of these trials. This showed that group pressures to conform were stronger then previously thought since the situation was unambiguous. This led to Deutsh and Gerard (1955) to identify two explanations for conformity, Normative and Informational influence. The latter occurs when an individual conforms because of the superior knowledge or judgement of others as in Sherifs (1935) study of conformity. Informational influence tends to lead to a change in private opinion. Normative influence occurs when an individual conforms because the person wants to be liked by the other members of a group, and also wants to avoid rejection as in Asch (1951). Normative influence is not likely to change private opinions but public opinions. However, since these studies it has been found that there exists a historical difference and cultural differences in conformity. One of the limitations of Aschs work was the background of the participants; obtained from the United States in the early 1940s, Americans were said to be more conformist than other people. Perrin Spencer (1980) conducted research in which they repeated Aschs study in England and found little evidence of conformity in comparison to Aschs study, leading them to conclude that Aschs study was a child of its time. In addition to this Smith and Bond (1993) carried out an analysis of a number of studies that had used Aschs task in the United States. They concluded that: Levels of conformity in general had steadily declined since Aschs study in the early 1950s. Still, Perrin Spencers study was criticized on the grounds that the participants they selected were educated to a high standard and therefore had more confidence in their opinion. This together with Smith and Bonds research suggests that the decline in conformity through time has been largely due to changes in education practices. Hence the aim of this study is to investigate levels of conformity amongst sixth form tutors at Moseley UK, it is presumed that there will be little evidence of conformity since the participants have been through an education system that supposedly promotes independent thinking, as well as the time difference between now, and the original conformity studies. It is also true that the participants experience of society will reflect that of an individualistic nature where the emphasis is on and around the individual to have a sense of personal identity, thus reducing the likelihood of conformity. This will be done by partially replicating the Jennes jellybean study. Experimental hypothesis: The participants will produce estimates that are close to the fake answers already written down in the high and low conditions.  Null Hypothesis: The participants estimates will be unaffected by the fake answers already written down in the high and low conditions.  The experimental hypothesis is based on previous research. Method  Design  Field Experiment design in that experiment was conducted within the school, this design was preferred as it was the most cost and time effective. Independent and Dependant variables included (IV= Condition, DV=estimate). There were 2 conditions High answer condition and a Low answer condition. Independent design in that each participant is selected for only one group. Directional Hypothesis was selected on the basis of previous research, the level of conformity, whether it was significant, was to be established using the Mann-Whitney U test at a significance level of p=0.05.

The Homo Erectus vs Modern Man Essay Example for Free

The Homo Erectus vs Modern Man Essay The 2002 discovery of a1. 77 million year old bones of an old man in Dmanisi, Georgia unveiled fertile grounds for a plethora of information about the Homo erectus. Dmanisi, a village characterized by its medieval ruins, is not far from Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. Dmanisi has been the focus of archaeologists’ explorations since the early 1990s. Findings up to 2002 were typically comprised of early human fossils. The latest evacuations of 5 Homo erectus vertebrae in 2005 was even more infinitive providing anthropologists with a unique opportunity to make instructive comparisons to modern human beings. Anthropologist Marc Meyer from the University of Philadelphia together with David Lordkipandize and Abesalom Vekua from the Georgian State Museum in Tbilisi said that the vertebrae were compared to those of modern man, chimpanzees and gorillas. It is possible that the ancient Homo erectus spoke to one another. The Homo erectus’ remains unearthed at Dmanisi in 2005 and compared to modern man, chimpanzees and gorillas reveal that the ancient remains were capable of supporting respiratory organs that are necessary for oral speech. Although Meyer notes that it is not possible to prove that prehistoric man spoke, the Homo erectus remains evacuated at Dmanisi did not exhibit respiratory constraints relative to speech. The vertebrae of the Homo erectus, although significantly smaller than that of modern man is vastly similar. The similarities in vertebrae structures are indicative of similar human physical traits in terms of posture, mobility and quite possibly communication. This might explain why there is a large debate over the characterization of a 1. 6 million year old skeleton unearthed in Kenya in 1984. The skeletal remains were small and similar to that of a chimpanzee leaving some scientists to conclude that it was the remains of Homo ergaster rather than a Homo erectus. The fact is, scientists are more inclined to conclude that the Homo erectus was possessed of a speech-friendly physique. Previously, all other Homo genus forms were devoid of the vertebrae supportive of speech and had limited speech range. References Beers, K. ; Odell, L. ; Arpin, G. ; Brinnin, J. and Hermacki, T. (2003) Holt Literature and Language Arts. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Bower, B. and Lobdell, J. (2004) History Alive! Teachers’ Curriculum Institute. National Geographic (April 2005) â€Å"Human Erectus Discovery†. http://ngm. nationalgeographic. com/ngm/0504/feature2/gallery4. html (Retrieved July 7, 2010). The Dmanisi Site (n. d. ). http://www. donsmaps. com/dmanisi. html (Retrieved July 7, 2010).

Internet The Prevalence Of On Line Grooming Media Essay

Internet The Prevalence Of On Line Grooming Media Essay The purpose of this short, provocative piece is to purport to the reader that whilst the Internet presents itself as a rich source of information, it also has the propensity to produce various dangers due to the nature of communication and identity construction embedded within the World Wide Web. Following Kapousiss (2010) conception of violence as a tool (Kapousis, 2010), I posit that the Internet is also a tool which deviant individuals are able to exploit through the construction of multiple identities and personas in an attempt to satisfy deviant fantasies whilst retaining their anonymity. My illustrative example of such dangers is the recent proliferation of the sexual on-line grooming of children. THE INTERNET AND THE NETWORK SOCIETY Without question, the Internet is a social phenomenon. The advances in technological systems which have made its emergence possible are the result of social production, and social production is culturally informed (Castells, 2001a: p. 36). The Internet has, in recent years, become the fabric of our lives, (ibid, p. 1) for work, for personal connection, for social networking, for information, for entertainment, for public services, for politics, and for religion (Castells, 2010: p. 64); as a result, it is becoming an integral tool of commerce, communication, and popular culture (Brignall III and Van Valey, 2005). However, despite its universality, a body of literature has emerged criticising the Internet for the de-humanisation of social relationships (Slouka, 1995; Kraut et al., 1998), media reports have linked it with increasing levels of loneliness, depression, and social isolation (McKenna and Bargh, 2000), whilst technopessimists have suggested that the Internet is endowed with t he capability to end civilisations, cultures, interests, and ethics (Berson, 2003: p. 6). Some commentators, however, have adopted a more optimistic standpoint and have defended the Internet arguing that through the performance of roles and construction of on-line identities users create a feeling of community (Rheingold, 1993; Turkle, 1995; also see Young, 2008). For the purposes of this paper, I will present the Internet as neither negative nor positive, but rather, as inanimate, a tool which entails various uses (Brignall III and Van Valey, 2005; Shannon, 2008; see also Kapousis, 2010). This position also mirrors that taken by Castells (2010) who suggests that both consumers and producers utilise the Internet as a tool through producers providing content and shaping the web (op cit, p. 382). The Internet forms part of a much larger, significant social change which has occurred over the past three decades the emergence of the network society (Castells, 2001a, 2009, 2010; van Dijk, 2006 Hardt and Negri, 2000). It is beyond the scope of this short paper to provide a comprehensive, all-embracing analysis of the network society and all of its components, therefore the emphasis will be positioned upon the changes which have occurred in communicatory practices. The network society emphasises the form and organisation of information processing and exchange, in this sense, we may define the network society as a social formation with an infrastructure of social and media networks enabling its prime mode of organisation at all levels (individual, group/organisational and societal) (van Dijk, 2006: p. 20). It is important to note that in Western societies the individual is increasingly becoming the basic unit of the network society, whereas in Eastern societies the basic unit remai ns to be groups such as the family, community, or work team (ibid, 2006). Within this paradigm the Internet can be defined as an integrated network (Castells, 2010; van Dijk, 2006). It is an integration of both data communication and mass communication (van Dijk, 2006), particularly since the emergence of the World Wide Web, which through an explosion of web pages created by organisations, companies, institutions, and user-created content (i.e. blogs, forums, bulletin-board systems (BBS), and non-profit sites such as Wikipedia.org), which has resulted in the mass communicative character of the Internet becoming increasingly visible (ibid, 2006). Consequently, the Internet has become a medium through which communication is mediated on a daily basis. However, the Internet does not replace existing forms of communication but, rather, it supplements them. In this sense, the Internet adds new forms of social capital to traditional ones, these forms may include selecting and contacting complete strangers with particular characteristics, types of online conversat ion, and the initiative to act both on-line and offline (ibid, p. 169). This is evident in a study undertaken by Katz and Rice (2002) which found that more than a tenth of Americans had established on-line friendships. Similarly, they found that over ten per cent initiated offline contact of which a significant majority (85%) described positive experiences (Katz and Rice, 2002). IDENTITY ON THE INTERNET Let me now turn to the issue of identity, particularly identity which is mediated and constructed over the Internet. My suggestion here, is, that the Internet functions as a gateway through which social beings are increasingly enabled to present themselves as they desire (Heyboer, 2007). Thus, any dangers which may result from the construction of anonymous identities which currently exist on the Internet are dependent upon the individuals application of the technology, in this sense, the Internet is a tool (Brignall III and Van Valey, 2005; Shannon, 2008; Kapousis, 2010). The construction of multiple identities, however, is not a new phenomenon. Writing more than half a century ago, Erving Goffman (1990/1959) suggested that individuals create various faces or masks which are applied depending upon the specific social arrangement. The subsequent experiences which the individual encounters help shape their reality and thus forms who they are. As Goffman (1959) suggests: In a sense, and in so far as this mask represents the conception we have formed of ourselves the role we are striving to live up to-this mask is our truer self, the self we would like to be. In the end, our conception of our role becomes second nature and an integral part of our personality. We come into the world as individuals, achieve character, and become persons (p.19) Despite the time period in which Goffman (1959) was writing, and that the identity construction he was theorising primarily occurred in face-to-face interactions, his insights are of high importance in relation to identity construction on the Internet. Of course, a central objection to the notion of self-presentation on the Internet is the importance Goffman places upon the physical setting of interactions, here the setting involves furniture, dà ©cor, physical layout, and other background items which supply the scenery and stage props for the spate of human action played out before, within, or upon it (ibid, pp. 32 33). However, applying the example of social network sites (SNSs) such as Facebook and MySpace, we can posit, albeit hypothetically, that the furniture is replaced by buttons and applications, the dà ©cor replaced by profile pages with varying designs (particularly for MySpace), the physical layout replaced by (in Facebook), communities and so forth, and stage props ma y include the instant chat function or messaging system which are embedded within the wider virtual social environment created by SNSs. Thus, it is possible to suggest that the presentation of self has become virtualised. An example of such virtualisation is present in the about me sections constructed within peoples profile pages. In doing so, users are indulging in a presentation of self whereby they paint a succinct picture of their persona, their self, as they desire; however, it is important to note that such personas may be exaggerated or completely constructed. The following quote, extracted from an about me section on social networking site Vampire Freaks tailored for gothic and industrial culture -, provides an eloquent example of such actions: Im a fucking human bitch! Im an epic nerd. I have no life. Im awesome and Im just that arrogant to admit it. Im also a vegetarian because eating animals is rude, would you go into someones house and slaughter there family because youre hungry? I dont think so. I like cute scene guys who make me smile 🙂 I love to tease my hair and draw my makeup wild. dont like it? I suggest you get off my profile now. I like to get drunk and piss on people, then blame it on the booze 😉 (16-year-old girl from Vancouver) Here, a unique form of self-presentation is present. We learn that the person is vegetarian, heterosexual, and abides to arguably widespread teen culture through the consumption of drugs and alcohol without any form of engagement with the actual person, be it virtual, face-to-face, or otherwise. Two studies have demonstrated the prevalence, amongst children and teens, of identity construction on-line. The first, conducted in 2001, found that 24 per cent of teens (12 17 years-old) who have used IMs (instant messaging) and email or attended chat rooms have constructed a false identity when communicating on-line (Lenhart et al., 2001), this finding was replicated in the second study, undertaken in 2005, which found that 40 per cent of minors (6 17 years-old) indulged in identity play on-line (Livingstone and Bober, 2005). Importantly, a third of teens (33%) reported receiving emails and instant messages off somebody who provided fake information about themselves (Lenhart et al., 2001) and 31 per cent reported receiving unwanted sexual messages (Livingstone and Bober, 2005). The findings which have emerged from these studies suggest that at the core of children and other youths use of the Internet is the formation of a culture in which minors are functioning as active social agents and consciously constructing identities on the Internet. Such actions increase the risk of victimisation considerably, the following section will consider the consequences of identity construction in relation to the on-line grooming of children and minors. WANNA CYBER =P? THE INTERNET AND ONLINE GROOMING Over the past decade, as a result of significant social changes in communicatory practices and the growth in electronic media used to supplement traditional forms of interaction amongst young people, Internet use amongst children and teenagers has grown exponentially. Reports suggest that a considerable number of children and young people (9 17 years-old) now access the Internet (74% at home, 92% at school) on a regular basis (41% daily, 42% weekly) (Livingstone and Bober, 2005), with half of 7 16 year-olds in the United Kingdom having access in their bedrooms (ChildWise, 2010). Meanwhile, in the United States, the number of teens (12 17 years-old) going on-line has now reached 93 per cent (Lenhart et al., 2010). Due to this almost ubiquitous use and increased interaction with the Internet, children are now at a considerably greater risk of deviant individuals who hide behind the electronic cloak of deviance (Di Marco and Di Marco, 2003) the Internet provides through retaining the anonymity of an individuals identity. Such risks are evident in the increasing number of global sex crimes which are committed over the Internet, particularly against children and youths (Leander et al., 2008), with as many as three million crimes reportedly occurring in 2006 (Kierkegaard, 2007). Thus, the purpose of this section is to illuminate the sexual on-line grooming of children, an increasing phenomenon (Shannon, 2008), as an unintended consequence (Merton, 1968 [1938]) of the social changes in our communicatory practices and the influence which technology has imposed upon such changes. The sexual grooming of children is not a new phenomenon, neither is the conceptual use of the term grooming. The term has been in circulation for a considerable period of time, for the most part applied by psychologists in attempts to analyse patterns of deviant sexual behaviour (McAlinden, 2006). However, the area has suffered from a lack of academic inquiry and thus the term grooming has become increasingly ambiguous, particularly in its application (Craven et al., 2006). Nevertheless, the most reliable definition is provided by Gillespie (2002) who defines grooming as the process by which a child is befriended by a would-be abuser in an attempt to gain the childs confidence and trust, enabling them to get the child to acquiesce to abusive activity (Gillespie, 2002: p. 411). Through avoiding the use of the term paedophile, this definition provides a clarity concerning the rationale of grooming and the systematic stages such processes are most likely to take. Traditionally, the process of sexually grooming a child with the intent to abuse them would require assuming a position of trust (such as a teacher, caretaker, or lollypop man). From this, the individual would form a relationship with his/or her victim before attempting to engage in sexual activity Traditionally, the sexual grooming of children usually occurred when an adult would assume a position of trust (such as a teacher, caretaker, or lollypop man) and build a relationship with the intention to ultimately abuse the minor (Finkelhor, 1984). However, the Internet has now offered itself as an application through which like-minded individuals can far easily access such social spaces where children hang and convalesce, such as social network sites or chat rooms. As Shannon (2008) eloquently states, (the Internet) has created a new and for the most part completely unmonitored interface between children and adults (Shannon, 2008: p. 160). As has been noted, research in this area is quite limited (McAlinden, 2006; Shannon, 2008). Nevertheless, a comprehensive study conducted by Wolak et al., (2004) incorporating interviews and data from 2,574 law enforcement agencies and 129 minors (13 to 17 years-old) produced important results concerning the study of the on-line grooming of children. The authors found that whilst offenders were frequently deceptive on-line (52%), only a small proportion falsified their age by claiming to be over 18 (5%) (Wolak et al., 2004). The study also supported Livingstone and Bober (2005) and Lenhart et als (2001) findings with a considerable minority of minors (9%) claiming to be over 18 (ibid, 2004). The findings demonstrate the dangers which the Internet enables through the formation of a culture whereby children and other youths are, in some cases, presenting themselves as adults without the constraints of the physical world, it is also important to note that this may be due to the impositi on of a consumerist culture whereby children are sexualised, for example, through the provision of shirts with quotations such as pornstar, lingerie and padded bras (Hennessey, 2010). As David Cameron suggests, Girls are encouraged to dress like women, wear lingerie and worry about what they look like (Cameron, 2010 cited in ibid: unpaginated). Important findings also relate to the nature of on-line interactions, for example, in a majority of instances sexual topics were raised and discussed with the victim on-line (83%) and a considerable number engaged in cybersex (20%) (ibid, 2004). Furthermore, a majority of on-line interactions transcended into offline meetings (74%), of which a frightening proportion (93%) resulted in sexual activity between the victim and offender, it is important to note, however, that a majority of sexual activity (79%) was consensual (ibid, 2004). Wolak et als (2004) findings raise considerable concerns regarding the on-line interaction mediated by minors. It appears, on the basis of the evidence, that children, whilst technically proficient, are culturally unaware of the wide-reaching, unintended, consequences of their actions on-line through the construction of identities and interactions of a sexual nature with older adults. However, put another way, one might suggest that as half of the adult offenders were deceptive (to some extent) a considerable amount of on-line grooming was conducted through the formation of intimate relationships, a hallmark of grooming practices. Indeed, in the study, 50 per cent of victims reported feeling close or in love with their offenders (ibid, 2004). Such evidence leads one to ask the question Is the Internet dangerous, particularly for children? My response to this is that the application of the technology, by both children and adults, provides the risks of victimisation and dangers for chi ldren. Thus, it is both a social and a public policy issue that is at hand. We must educate our children about the dangers of on-line communication, ensuring that they are aware and take the appropriate steps necessary to avoid victimisation. In fact, lessons in using the Internet safely are to become a compulsory part of the curriculum for primary school children, in the United Kingdom, from September 2011 (Fildes, 2010). In conclusion, the Internet has, without doubt, fundamentally transformed the way human beings communicate on a global scale. As Castells (2010) notes the Internet has posted the fastest rate of penetration of any communication medium in history: in the United States, the radio took 30 years to reach 60 million people; TV reached this level of diffusion in 15 years; the Internet did it in just three years after the development of the World Wide Web (op cit, p. 382). It is important that whilst we view the overall changes as positive, we are also aware of the dangers that the Internet poses, especially for one of the most vulnerable cohorts of wider society our children.

Today’s America Versus World War II America Essay -- patriotism, libert

There is a fine line between what American society looked like during World War II and contemporary America. The dilemma is that society has gone from patriotism and a fight for liberty to â€Å"everyone walking around with a chip on his or her shoulder† (Carr 2). This two distinct differences on America culture and society is manifested in, Howie Carr’s â€Å"Take $2000 and Call Me in the Morning† and Ronald Reagan’s speech, â€Å"The Boys of Point du Hoc†. Carr’s â€Å"Take $2000 and Call Me in the Morning† illustrates and criticizes the abuse of legal defense by citizens of the United States of America and how people feel like they are entitled to a lot of things. In contrast to that in Ronald Reagan’s speech, â€Å"The Boys of Point du Hoc† takes us back to a time back in American history where people fought and died for what they believed to be a just cause; while reiterating that America’s goal was to avoid what and conflict with the Soviet Union. In these two pieces of writing, both authors use different tones to get their message across to the public. Carr’s uses a sarcastic and humorous tone to poke fun at how American society and his humorous but important analogies to support his argument that people are abuses the legal system to get money. Regan’s main argument is that peace with the Soviets can be made, but war will always be an option if needed. Regan supports his argument w ith a serious tone, emotional words that evoke memories of America’s strength and determination. Using a humorous and sarcastic tone, Carr addresses how serious this â€Å"emotional distress† that the American people know seem to suffer from. Carr uses this sarcastic tone to show the people how pathetic and chronic this situation has become. Carr starts out the essay by, â€Å"Alm... ...ntouchable, and whomever touches America will not live for long. Life in America society is different, and while reading the two texts from Carr and Reagan, it becomes apparent that the society has evolved to the worst. Society went from a courageous â€Å"bagpipe player in the middle of a bloody battle†(Reagan ) to â€Å"A guy suing after his dog confuses a restaurant for a fire hydrant† (Carr 2). The two authors show a huge contrast while using different tones and analogies to catch the attention of the people they are trying to reach. Has American society decline that much from the World War II era? Carr seems to think so and reading Reagan’s speech shows how there is a clear difference. Works Cited Carr, Howie. â€Å"Take $2000 and Call Me in the Morning.† Boston Herald (March 1995): 1-2 Reagan, Ronald. â€Å"The Boys of Point du Hoc†. Course Packet. (June 6, 1984) 26-29

A Christmas Carol - Description Of Scrooge :: essays research papers

The true description of Scrooge first appears about quarter way through the book, before then there are only a few minor references to his character. The description begins metaphorically as it features the words â€Å" A tight-fisted hand at the grindstone†. Its metaphorical because it is trying to portray that Scrooge is literally as tight as the hand to the grindstone. Then soon after this seven adjectives follow, â€Å" Squeezing, Wrenching, Grasping, Scraping, Clutching, Covetous, Old sinner†. They are used effectively as each one has an individual meaning describing seven trates of Scrooges character, which begins to give the reader a visual picture of how the character may conduct himself. So far all qualities of Scrooge have been negative and so it continues. Then the writer brings in the object â€Å"flint† and states all the negative quality’s of flint then compares them to Scrooge. As soon as the writer gets across the way in which Scrooge conducts himself, he moves on to how Scrooge is happy to be by himself. Charles Dickens uses the word â€Å"Solitary† to great effect as it portrays that not only Scrooge stays alone it also gives a second meaning. It’s as if that Scrooge does not need anyone else. Then Charles Dickens attempts to compare Scrooge to the weather making him a very cold hearted character, and explains that even the worse weather can not match to how cold Scrooge is and how he cares not for anyone but himself. It mentions â€Å"The cold within him froze his facial features†, so it portrays that its not the weather affecting Scrooge its how cold he is inside. Its even to the extent that its as if Scrooge carries around a low temperature with him where ever he goes. Its not a physical effect he has, its more of a visual effect as whenever anyone would see him they would experience chills down the back of his neck. Scrooge is a very powerful character as whenever Charles Dickens attempts to describe him he uses words that seem to carry a visual picture giving the reader an idea of how truly nasty he is. He clearly states there is no positive trates Scrooge which also enhances Scrooge’s appearance. Charles Dickens continues with the theme of weather by finishing the paragraph with roughly, â€Å"The heaviest rain and snow often ‘came down’ handsomely and Scrooge never did†.

A Rose for Emily Essays -- A Rose For Emily, William Faulkner

Desperation for love arising from detachment can lead to extreme measures and destructive actions as exhibited by the tumultuous relationships of Miss Emily in William Faulkner's â€Å"A Rose for Emily† (rpt. in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2006] 556). Miss Emily is confined from society for the majority of her life by her father, so after he has died, she longs for relations that ironically her longing destroys. The despondency and obsession exuded throughout the story portray the predicament at hand. Miss Emily's relationship with her father is a key factor in the development of her isolation. As she is growing up, he will not let anybody around his daughter, particularly young suitors. The town assumes his decision is due to the idea that â€Å"the Griersons [hold] themselves a little too high for what they really [are]† to the point that â€Å"none of the young men [are] quite good enough† (559). Because Emily's father keeps her from everyone, she becomes very attached to him. He dies when she is nearly thirty, her only companion gone. Her strong bond to him is so severe that after his death, she denies he was dead at all and will not give his body up to the authorities for three days. The town observes that because she has â€Å"nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her,† meaning Emily is so desperate for a companion that when her father is gone, she has nothing left to cling to but him (559). However, he has a lasting effect on h er that contributes to her isolation. He instills the Grierson pride, so Daugherty 2 that she often does not interact with others. His influence is â€Å"too virulent and too furious to die† (562). Emily has a ... ...ther is concerned, he denies her the chance for love and detaches her from society. Partial blame can be placed on the attitude he instills in her so that she possesses the â€Å"dignity of the last Grierson† (560). She holds herself above others in the town, save Homer. The town's fickleness and disconnection towards her push her further into isolation. All of these factors finally result in the relationship with Homer. She is so desperate for contact and for love that when she finds them, she is terrified of their leaving. She is pushed then to kill Daugherty 4 Homer, so that love will never leave her again. Miss Emily is a desperate individual formed by the relationships that isolated her, which resulted in her extreme actions. Emily and Homer's short—yet long lived—relationship reveals a common effect of love denied and confinement from contact: destruction.

House of Scorpion Essay

Political corruption is one of the significant themes in the novel â€Å"The House of the Scorpion. † Political corruption is the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Everyday political figures and governments who we rely on to protect us betray us. Whether it is by bribery,extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, embezzlement, criminal enterprise, drug trafficking, money laundering or human trafficking, political officials or governmental systems we look up to have dabbled in corruption here or there.However, the corrupted governments inside the novel do not differ from our everyday government such as: the American government because both governments inside and outside the novel prevent people from leaving the country, make illegal deals with people and corporations for favours and both have become a country in a state of regression. To begin with, the American government relies on Opium’s border patrol to cease people from leavin g the United States of America because they live off the ever deteriorating population. Similarly, everyday people in the United States are prevented from leaving the country.Per year about 24 million people emmigrate from the USA, and 25% are prevented. However, the reasons why the people are prevented from leaving are not legitimate. The American Government â€Å"enraptures† most people into tax schemes, financial issues etc. that prevent them from leaving the country such as the mandate â€Å"ObamaCare† scheme. The mandate requires you pay up to 10,000 in fees before leaving the country which has caused a great deal of problems including the shutdown of the American Government. Furthermore, in America there were 2 recent laws waiting to be passed and 1 is still being discussed.The first law requires all citizens to have a passport in order to pass the border, even when driving into Mexico or Canada. Obtaining a passport, however, is neither free nor guaranteed. You must apply, pay an exorbitant amount of fees, and wait for weeks for the passport to be verified and returned. The second law that is still pending, states that recently, the State Department quietly proposed a new questionnaire as a part of the of the passport application criteria.The new form requires you to provide things like names,  birthplaces, and birth dates of your extended family members, records of blood tests and also and, where you got vaccines, the address of every place you have ever lived in your entire life, and also, the name and location of every school you have ever attended. Most people would find it impossible to provide such information, yet the form requires that the responses â€Å"are true and correct† under penalty of fines or imprisonment. If this proposal passes, then US citizens will have a nearly insurmountable hurdle to obtain a passport and be able to leave the country at will.Even if it does not pass, it is a clear demonstration of what the people who run the country are thinking. However, preventing people from leaving the country is just looking at the base of the tree. Pursuing this further, as we start to climb up our tree we encounter further resemblance of the American government to it’s counterpart in the novel. In the novel the powerful government officials help the people like El Patron stay in power by strangling most businesses in the market.In the same way the American government officials in our world do many dealings with big people or corporations in return for favours in terms of votes, campaign funding, discounts, or money. For example, in the book by law, clones must be given drugs at birth to stunt their intelligence, making them just a step above vegetables. Matt, avoided this simply because of El Patron's influence on the government similarly leading corporations and people have influence on the government officials by having a sufficient amount of money to bribe the politicians who let the m do bad things and then do it again.For example in 1997 around the time the Pentagon was converting its documents into digitized storage systems, government official Duke Cunningham proposed a document-digitization system which was 20 million dollars. The system was invented by a company called Wilkes, and it was later known that Wilkes had given Duke Cunningham $630 000 in cash, pre-owned Rolls Royce and a $2000 contribution to his daughters graduation party. Further more money laundering has become a significant factor in every American election.Another politician, who took bribes from people and corporations was government official Marcelo Co. To begin with, Co had taken bribes from co-conspirators in order to get his friends elected in his office. As a result Co was elected representative of Moreno Valley every year. Pursuing this further, Co had taken a $2. 36 million from a corporation in return for Co to vote for them on land zoning distributions. In spite of being involved in illegal activities, the most shocking occurrence was when FBI investigators discovered that he was siphoning publicly raised funds to his mother in the Philippines.Together, with Co taking bribes to elect his friends into his office, accepting bribes from corporations, and laundering money to foreigners Marcelo Co is now serving a 20 year sentence in jail. Finally, we reach the top of our tree only to realize all the branches have long been withered. In the book as said by El Patron â€Å"The United States has become the equivalent of a third world country. † America has dropped low in many rankings where it use to be the top competitor due to a government who places attention to a higher degree to weapons development or drug eradication.Thus, other problems such as education, and the welfare of the people are rarely given attention. Our tree has transitioned from a lively and full to a leafless and withered one. It has become much like the tree in the summer with leaves a nd beautiful branches becoming withered and leafless in the winter. In fact, a recent survey on where do Americas best days lies, uncovered that, 75% people think â€Å"Americas best days lie in the past. † These staggering statistics indicate how much America, has deteriorated from its former glory.Furthermore, statistics prove that in most categories America used to be a top competitor prove that America barely reaches the top ten. American participants rank 16th in literacy, 21st in math, and 14th in tech skills beforehand they were at the top of these categories. However, the reasons why the have fallen from these rankings is not because other countries like Japan or Finland advance precipitously, but because America regresses. The reason why America is a underprivileged country is because, it constantly worries about the uncertainty of the future and does not give attention to it’s present.As said by Dalai Lama, a buddhist spiritual leader â€Å"What matters is t o live in the present, live now for every moment in the future. † As a final analysis the American government portrays a bona fide resemblance to its counterpart in the novel â€Å"The House of the Scorpion. † This is due to the American government both inside the novel and outside preventing people from leaving the country, making illegal negotiations with people and corporations and by doing so, has become a country in a state of regression. However, like any other tree it has the potential to change as the seasons go by.

Cengage Learning Essay

After taking the survey regarding the climate of my organization, I gained interesting insight into my company’s position in the work/life area. The survey provided by the Work and Family Connection asked twenty questions, in which I enjoyed answering. 1. My manager/supervisor treats my work/life needs with sensitivity. Agree 2. It is usually easy for me to manage the demands of both work and home life. Agree 3. My career path at this company is limited because of the pressure of home life demands. Disagree 4. My job at this company keeps me from maintaining the quality of life I want. Disagree 5. My manager/supervisor is supportive when home life issues interfere with work. Disagree 6. My manager/supervisor focuses on results, rather than the time I am at my desk. Disagree 7. My manager/supervisor has a good understanding of flexible work hour practices. Agree 8. If I requested a flexible work arrangement, my manager/supervisor would support me. Agree 9. My manager/supervisor is often inflexible or insensitive about my personal needs. Disagree 10. I believe my manager treats me with respect. Agree 11. My manager allows me informal flexibility as long as I get the job done. Agree 12. My manager tends to treat us like children. Disagree 13. My manager seldom gives me praise or recognition for the work I do. Disagree 14. My manager seems to care about me as a person. Agree 15. I would recommend this company to others. Agree 16. The work I do is not all that important to this company’s success. Disagree 17. If I could find another job with better pay, I would leave this organization. Disagree 18. If I could find another job where I would be treated with respect, I would take it. Disagree 19. If I could find another job where I could have more flexibility, I would take it. Agree 20. I am totally committed to this company. Agree Since I scored seventeen, I am in the category that states that my organization is supportive and more flexible than most; however, there is room for me to grow (Snell & Bohlander, 2013). This scoring seems highly accurate to me. I do feel as though I have a very supportive and flexible place of employment; however, I feel that there is room for improvement. References Snell, S. , & Bohlander, G. (2013). Managing human resources. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Mathematics And Being Mathematical Education Essay

Are making mathematics and being mathematical separate thoughts? The reply lies in our apprehension of mathematics itself. Devlin ( 2005 ) explains that mathematics is ‘recognizing and pull stringsing forms ‘ while Barton ( 2009, p.5 ) describes being mathematical as prosecuting an question. When combined, the two thoughts represent the geographic expedition of mathematical constructs through the usage of problem-solving and logical thinking ( Baroody, Coslick, & A ; Wilkins, 1998, p.1-13 ) . Pratt ( 2006, p.52 ) supports this theory by claiming that in order ‘to ‘do ‘ maths†¦ we must hold a job to work out ‘ . He continues by proposing that the word ‘problem ‘ is replaced with ‘enquiry ‘ , making lessons that promote the acquisition of mathematics through the application and development of cognition and accomplishments. This, consecutive, should forestall the accomplishments from being considered as stray pieces of inf ormation. Fact-finding and question based acquisition can authorise kids ( Wassermann, 2000, p.14 ) by leting them to be actively involved in, and have control over, their acquisition. The usage of open-ended probe has ‘the possible to increase the math talk in the schoolroom ‘ ( National Research Council, 2009, p.246 ) , and with linguistic communication playing a critical function in cognitive development ( Vygotsky & A ; Bruner, cited in Stierer & A ; Maybin, 1993, p.xi ) , it is logical that the usage of mathematical linguistic communication is considered when judging the quality of instruction and acquisition ( OfSTED, 2010 ) . During a recent lesson observation, I witnessed students discoursing their responses to the inquiry, ‘The reply is 42. What is the inquiry? ‘ The kids were captured by the openness of the undertaking and enjoyed pass oning their thoughts and the logical thinking behind them. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ( 2009, p.3 ) discusses the value of interchanging thoughts when larning mathematics and suggests that it can, ‘help scholars sharpen their ability to ground, speculation, and do connexions ‘ . Teachers do, nevertheless, need to be able to ‘scaffold the treatment by [ utilizing ] careful oppugning ‘ ( Bottle, 2005, pp.122-123 ) in order to vouch that the treatment is valuable, develops understanding and remains unfastened. The usage of open-ended inquiring does, nevertheless, require that kids accept that there may non be an ultimate end to work towards ( Yeo, 2007, p.7 ) . This poses several challenges, including the possibility that unexpected acquisition may happen ( Yeo, 2007, p.9 ) . Good instruction, nevertheless, means being able to transform unexpected finds into chances for farther acquisition ( Idris, 2006, p.53 ) . I observed an illustration of this during a lesson [ Appendix A ] where students were invited to utilize a map to look into the distances of possible paths to given finishs. Students began their probe by specializing ; choosing a finish and so ciphering the distances utilizing a graduated table. The bulk of students focused, as anticipated, on the roads, nevertheless one group chose to compare pedestrianised paths with those of vehicles, ensuing in unexpected treatments that linked mensurating distances to clip and velocity. Their logical thinking was that they conjectured that so me finishs might be reached more easy by going on pes and they tested this during the probe. This illustration reveals that the kids, when presented with an open-ended question, were believing creatively, and showing their ability to inter-link mathematical constructs and present farther inquiries when presented with a existent life context. This illustration besides confirmed that students were utilizing and using in mathematics by practising the appropriate accomplishments identified in counsel by the TheA Department for Education and Skills ( DfES. , 2006a, p.4 ) . With these accomplishments besides being attributed to fact-finding work ( Yeo & A ; Yeap, 2010, p.4 ) , it is sensible to presume that mathematical probes will back up the accomplishment of the National Curriculum ‘s utilizing and using aims. Measuring the degree or accomplishment of the aims has the potency, nevertheless, to be debatable ( Klavir & A ; Hershkovitz, 2008, p.2 ) although this can be addressed by instructors working collaboratively with students to measure the effectivity of their probes ( TDA. , 2008, p.8, Q28 ) . I observed an illustration of students utilizing and measuring their fact-finding accomplishments during a lesson where they, when presented with a figure mystifier [ Appendix B ] , began by specializing utilizing a given illustration, and so formed speculations about forms that might look. This provided them with a focal point for their question, and the assurance to prove their thoughts which resulted in the bulk of students organizing generalizations about the forms created by the Numberss. Each group so explained the concluding behind their chosen methods and decisions with the remainder of the category pass oning their ideas on the effectivity of the chosen schemes. The pupils work [ Appendices C & A ; D ] clearly shows that they were able to organize speculations at assorted points in the probe, proposing that they were constructing on their bing cognition, a procedure identified by Piaget as indispensable for cognitive development ( Slavin, 1994, p.32 ) and besides a critical constituent to constructivist acquisition ( Boghossian, 2006, p.714 ) . The kids who were able to generalize, did so as a consequence of effectual communicating and following a systematic attack to their probe. Conversely, some students struggled to place any numerical relationships as a consequence of lacks in their ability to cipher expeditiously. This type of battle can, nevertheless, be good to larning. John Stewart Mill ( n.d. ) one time said, ‘The student, who is ne'er required to make what he can non make, ne'er does what he can make ‘ . This doctrine of instruction is supported by Vygotsky ‘s claim ( Slavin, 1994, p49 ) that kids need to travel out of their comfort zone if they are to accomplish their possible and theA DfES ( 2006a, p.8 ) upholds this thought by explicating that disputing undertakings are important when developing job work outing schemes. However, although outlooks need to be high ( TDA. , 2008, p.8, Q1 ) they besides need to be realistic ( Malone, 2003, p.239 ) and therefore it is indispensable that all instructors are cognizant of kids ‘s current degrees of apprehension and, as a consequence, program suitably differentiated activities ( TDA. , 2008, p.8, Q10 ) that enabled all kids to win ( Kendall-Seatter, 2005, p.3 ) . In drumhead, by uniting directed instruction of mathematical techniques with learning the procedures of fact-finding mathematics ( DfES, 2006b, p65 ) , kids can larn to utilize fact-finding accomplishments jointly to work out jobs and to research the universe around them. Using these accomplishments creates successful scholars who can utilize errors to assist them to come on and who enjoy larning ( Rose, 2009, p.34 ) . By developing oppugning accomplishments, kids can larn to organize insightful speculations that they will be motivated to prove and turn out. Communicating will let them to widen their thoughts ( Cockcroft, 1982, p.73 ) and unfastened, disputing and meaningful jobs will animate intrinsic motive ( Pratt, 2006, p.51 ) and let them to ‘do ‘ mathematics and be mathematical.

Urdu As A Modern Language In The Uk Education Essay

AbstractionThe survey was designed to look into the hereafter of Urdu in the UK. British born Asians were the population of the survey. The survey was a study type which was delimited to the schools of Lancashire, Midlands and West Midlands and one school from each was the sample of the survey. Questionnaire was used as a research tool and 40 five questionnaires were distributed to roll up informations from which 40 responses could be possible. Parameters of involvement were, ages, background ( Natural ) , mother lingua, gender, topographic points of survey, instruction degrees and usage of Urdu. After analysis of informations, it was found that hereafter of Urdu in the UK is bright and it enjoys still most normally used community linguistic communication among Asians. Finally, countries of consideration are suggested that will let us to heighten the survey of Urdu and besides do it an instrument of societal development ( wellness, societal attention etc ) .Research inquiry and conte xt:â€Å" Urdu is a living linguistic communication and has a bright hereafter in the UK † . During the writer ‘s PGCE arrangement at School, the caput instructor said and by and large believed that Urdu is losing its entreaty to British born Asiatic scholars as ; parents prefer to learn a linguistic communication other than Urdu to their Children. The writer besides realized and observed that students have had less motivation towards Urdu as compared to other linguistic communications. So, in the visible radiation of the writer ‘s observations and the caput instructor ‘s positions the writer conducted a study to acquire a better image about the hereafter of Urdu in the UK. There may be a batch of grounds behind this deficiency of motive but the writer focused on following inquiries: Why is Urdu less appealing to British scholars? What are the beginnings of larning Urdu in the UK? What are the involvements of British Asians for larning Urdu? How do British Asiatics use Urdu linguistic communication in their day-to-day life? Which composing book of Urdu is preferred by British Asians in the UK? How is it possible to advance and continue Urdu through electronic and print media? Does Urdu necessitate a modern teaching method to get by with modern demands?Literature ReviewLanguage seems to hold many utilizations like, a agency of communicating, an instrument of conveying cognition and an look of cultural and originative impulses of a community. â€Å" A linguistic communication is the emblem of its talkers. Each linguistic communication determines a alone manner of sing the universe. It encapsulates the Torahs and traditions and beliefs of its cultural group. † ( R.M.W.Dixen.1997:135 ) . So is the instance with the linguistic communication of Urdu as, harmonizing to George Weber ‘s article Top Languages: â€Å" The World ‘s 10 Most Influential Languages in Language Today, Hindi/Urdu is the 4th most spoken linguistic communication in the universe, with 4.7 per centum of the universe ‘s population, after Mandarin, English, and Spanish † . Urdu is a South Asiatic linguistic communication spoken in Pakistan as a national linguistic communication ( Qaumi Zabaan ) . Urdu is besides one of the officially recognized linguistic communications in India and has official linguistic communication position in the Indian provinces of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and the national capital, New Delhi. In Indian administered Kashmir, Urdu is the primary official linguistic communication. It is the lone province in India where Urdu has been given such a position. Harmonizing to Mehrab on line study on International Urdu Conference â€Å" Urdu has no boundary and has its roots all over the universe † . BBC Urdu website provinces: â€Å" Urdu is closely related to Hindi. Urdu is spoken as a first linguistic communication by over 60 million people ( including 10 million in Pakistan and 48 million in India ) † . Masica ( 1991: 22 ) describes â€Å" Urdu as holding no specific territorial base, in the sense that there is no vicinity or set of vicinities in the Indian sub-continent that can be pointed out at as an Urdu-speaking country. † However, Urdu is demographically important in another manner as good. It is widely used as a 2nd linguistic communication throughout the Muslim communities of South Asia. As Schmidt ( 1999:16 ) says, â€Å" Urdu is besides spoken in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal, and has become the cultural linguistic communication and lingua franca of the South Asiatic Muslim diasporas outside the subcontinent † .Urdu in BritainThe relationship between Urdu and Britain is non new ; it started around three and a half hundred old ages ago when the British entered into the sub-continent as a bargainer and established the East India Company. British studied in deepness the civilization, lingual, societal and economic background of the sub-continent and they realised that to obtain full political power they needed to larn the linguistic communication of the land. To carry through this intent they established Fort William College in Calcutta. It was founded on July 10, 1800. Harmonizing to Wikipedia â€Å" Fort William College was an academy and acquisition Centre for Oriental surveies established by Lord Wellesley, so Governor-General of British India † . Gilchrist was named caput of the college and he produced a batch of literature in Urdu. Queen Victoria hired an Indian Muslim to learn her Urdu and his portrayal can still be seen in the Royal Palace. Manama Afkaar Printed â€Å" Urdu in Britain † particular figure and on the rubric page there is a image of Queen Victoria with Munshi Abdul Karim ( the Queen ‘s Urdu Tutor ) . ( appendix1 ) John Joshua Keterlaer, the Dutch embassador to India, wrote Urdu ‘s first grammar circa 1715. Written in Latin, it was named ‘Grammatical Indostanica ‘ , as Indostan, Indostani, and Hindustani are among the different names Urdu has had through centuries. In 1741, Benjamin Schultz, a German missionary, wrote ‘Grammatica Indostanica ‘ in Latin. The first-ever grammar of Urdu in English was written by a MrGliston. John Gilchrist had besides written a grammar book of Urdu himself but it was a British military officer named Hadley who was credited with authorship and printing the first-ever grammar of Urdu in English. There were two national Urdu conferences held in the UK. The first was held at the SOAS on Saturday, 8th December, 1979. The 2nd Urdu national conference was called by the Urdu Majlis ( UK ) , the Centre for Multicultural Education and it ‘s took topographic point on April 24th-25th, 1981 in London. Both conferences were a immense success towards the function of Urdu instruction in the UK. Professor Ralph Russell was a British bookman of Urdu literature and his scholarly research earned him a unique and enduring topographic point among great names of Urdu literature. He did enormous work to advance and do Urdu popular in the UK. Harmonizing to Community linguistic communications in higher instruction study 2008 Urdu is top of the chart and it is most widely spoken community linguistic communication in the UK. See chart below: Beginning: Community languages in higher instruction study 2008, p11. Urdu is a linguistic communication spoken either as a first or 2nd linguistic communication by a subdivision of British Asiatic people, peculiarly those of Pakistani heritage. It is widely spoken in the UK by immigrants and their posterities. As stated by the BBC Urdu web site â€Å" The Urdu community in the UK Numberss about one million talkers. † The Urdu community in the UK is really much larger than the Hindi community. Most of those who identify themselves as Urdu talkers use a assortment of Punjabi as the linguistic communication of the place, and speak Urdu as a 2nd linguistic communication for spiritual and cultural grounds. The overpowering bulk comes from the West Punjab and the Mirpur territory of Azad Kashmir, but smaller groups of Gujarati Muslims from both India and East Africa besides use Urdu for spiritual intents as mentioned on the BBC web site. David Mathews mentioned in his address at the five-day International Urdu Conference held in Islamabad. â€Å" Urdu is recognized as the 4th international linguistic communication in the UK † . The version spoken in Britain is to a great extent laced with Punjabi and Mirpuri ( which is apparent in my study ) words and footings. The ground for this is that the bulk of UK occupants who are of Pakistani descent originally came from the Mirpur territory in northern Pakistan which is besides following to the Punjab. The Pakistani community is the 2nd largest of the three South Asiatic communities in Britain, with a population estimation of 899,000. Over 92 per cent of Pakistanis in Britain identify themselves as Muslim. Whilst a big proportion of the community is concentrated in London, it is more equally dispersed across the state than most other Muslim populations, with major colonies in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West. Harmonizing to CILT study 1995 Urdu is the most widely used community linguistic communication in England and 69 local instruction governments are offering Urdu instruction.MethodologyMethodology is a image of procedure which can be explained as suggested by ( Cohen et Al, 2003:44 ) , â€Å" the scope of attacks used in educational research to garner informations which are to be used as a footing for intervention and reading, for account and anticipation † For the intent of my research I have preferred to utilize a study as it can be â€Å" used to scan a broad field of issues, populations, programmes etc. In order to mensurate or depict any generalized characteristics † ( Cohen, 2007:206 ) . Harmonizing to Sapsford ( 1999 ) , readying of study involves four different phases ; of job definition, sample choice, design for measurings and concerns for participants, therefore I took into the history to provide all the four phases. The first phase of research involved the pilot study as it is â€Å" a preliminary piece of research conducted before a complete study to prove the effectivity of the research methodological analysis † . It was decided after the suggestions made by the Curriculum and Professional Mentor to transport out the Pilot survey which was accomplished in December 2009. A study was prepared to determine the chosen informations aggregation method and to derive some preliminary findings. I chose closed complete inquiries for my study as Fink ( 1995 ) urges that â€Å" they are easy to standardize, and informations gathered from closed terminal inquiries lend themselves to statistical analysis † . For this intent I produced a questionnaire utilizing the likert-scale, multiple pick and ordinal side of closed terminal inquiries which required attending towards trying every bit good as to guarantee that the information on which the sample is based is comprehensive. The research inquiries for this survey asked how people used Urdu in their day-to-day lives. After the suggestions to the pilot study, the development of the full study questionnaire was done together with the suggestions made by Stephen Toll ( Email, Appendix2 ) and Professor Itesh Sachdev ( Email, Appendix3 ) to formalize the pilot study questionnaire. In decision, the research will supply me every bit good as the readers with a clearer image of the Urdu ‘s Future as a Modern Language in the UK and will raise motive towards Urdu survey. The observations were made to verify the consequence of the research and proposals were made to increase the motive and popularity among Urdu scholars in the UK. The studies were completed towards the terminal of the winter term 2010. A sum of 45 questionnaires were sent out to three different schools, one in Lancashire, one in the Midlands and one in West Midlands. Of the 45 studies sent out merely 40 responses were received ( 89 % response ) of which 8 were over 16 ( 20 % ) and 32 ( 80 % ) were under 16.Findingss and AnalysisFigure ( Gender ) In footings of gender it is clear the sample is non declarative representative of population. Since merely 10 % of that population surveyed were adult females. It is apparent that the study needs to be modified and expanded since it is non conformist, i.e. merely 10 % of the surveyed of were female. From formal experiences it is apparent that a big population of females tend to show involvement in linguistic communications than males. So to acquire a more feasible image of the hereafter the study should hold been conducted in two stages: Females Males It is hence suggested that the present findings will be biased since 90 % of the group were males, who do non be given to demo involvement in linguistic communications study. Figure ( Location ) It is besides apparent that a disproportional sum of those surveyed were larning Urdu linguistic communication in a private constitution for illustration at a mosque. From these consequences it is clear that due to big figure of males surveyed the consequences are biased. From my ain experiences I find that more misss tended to analyze Urdu at school than male childs. Therefore, it is clear that of the study was extended a clear image of the figure of male pupils would be obtained. In footings of degree of Urdu being studied 98 % of these persons studied to GCSE degree with merely 2 % traveling farther to analyze A/S degree. Figure ( demoing Education Level ) Another factor which needs to be born in head is the age groups surveyed, since the present research took into history merely those analyzing GCSE ‘s ( i.e. – 16 ) . This needs to be extended to include a big figure of stations 16 ‘s. Since this is the group which will take to do greater usage of the Urdu makings. Figure ( demoing Mother lingua ) Use of Urdu linguistic communication in Daily lives Importance on a graduated table of 1- 5 with 1 is the most and 5 is the least. 1 2 3 4 Using it with members of household 15 % 20 % 30 % 5 % Using it in the community. 0 % 5 % 40 % 15 % Using it for travel. Visiting Pakistan and India. 50 % 7 % 3 % 20 % Using it for friendly relationship and societal networking. 23 % 13 % 0 % 14 % Reading newspapers, magazines and books in Urdu. 10 % 10 % 20 % 20 % Cinema, Television, cyberspace and Radio 15 % 10 % 10 % 15 % Figure for non Urdu talkers analyzing Urdu shows a broad scope of nationalties analyzing Urdu linguistic communication. These ranged from linguistic communications of the Indian sub-continent, Africa and Europe.These consequences are really interesting in that they show that the figure of pupils analyzing Urdu came from a assortment of backgrounds, in footings of their female parent tongue.It can be inferred that Urdu has same involvement in a assortment of nationalties and this can be extended further with exposure of the linguistic communication to other backgrounds. Consequences for How do you utilize Urdu linguistic communication in your day-to-day lives? The study asked to depict the usage of Urdu linguistic communication in their day-to-day lives and rank these statements in order of importance on a graduated table of 1- 5. The most interesting and stating set of informations are obtained from the ‘Use of Urdu ‘ ( Table 1 ) . From initial review of the information it seems that 50 % of the group surveyed do non give much acceptance to the usage of Urdu. However closer penetration shows some interesting tendencies, these are outlined below: 65 % of the group uses Urdu in the place, likely due to the fact that the parents and grandparents find it easier to discourse in Urdu instead than English. Besides the cultural facets of the communications are easy communicated in Urdu than English. From the usage of Urdu in the community it seems that most of the group members seem to give most importance to Urdu in the community. This may be due to the colored nature of the study, i.e. 98 % males. From a cultural point of position the male ‘s function in that of staff of life victor so if he is working all twenty-four hours there is small demand for him to utilize the linguistic communication to pass on in a manner as to acquire things done. I believe a more thorough study will demo that when female positions are taken into history this standard will demo different consequences. Traveling tendency will demo the highest usage of Urdu, and so this is the instance. Even here I believe the extension of the study to include more females will ensue in an even higher figure who use Urdu when traveling. Social networking has a important figure of surveyed groups who use Urdu for pass oning, but it should be born in head that the Urdu used is written in Roman book for on-line communicating! It is with some unhappiness that we note that usage of Urdu seems to be on the diminution in media and amusement. Therefore from an initial expression at the consequences it would look that Urdu is diminution in the UK, but one needs to convey in other factors and deficits in the study to to the full understand the province of personal businesss. Figure 5 ( analyzing Urdu as a topic at degree degree ) Of the 40 studies completed questionnaires answered 12 % responded positively to this inquiry whilst 35 % stated that they did non see to analyze Urdu at degree degree and 53 % were diffident to analyze Urdu at degree degree. Figure shows that 35 % of respondents want to analyze Urdu as a individual topic whilst 65 % expressed that they want to analyze Urdu combined with other topics. Survey of the possibility of analyzing Urdu at higher degrees shows that a really big Numberss would wish to analyze Urdu at higher degrees, in some signifier. I believe Urdu as its ain would be selected by really few persons, but when given a pick of holding under as a combined faculty a big figure showed involvement. This ties in with how Urdu can be made more available to the whole community in different country: wellness, instruction, societal services etc. Which Urdu authorship book is easy to read and understand? Figure 6 ( Which Urdu composing book is easy to read and understand: Traditional/Roman. ) An overpowering bulk found Urdu written in Roman book to be easy read and grok, whereas merely 65 % thought that traditional Urdu book was easy to read and understand.DiscussionThe present research has highlighted of import issues sing the hereafter of Urdu as a ML and the hereafter of Urdu in the community. On first glimpse it appears that Urdu is losing its grass root importance. This can be understood if one takes into history the continued changing of the population of the Urdu speech production groups. Obviously the first coevals group which give much importance to the Urdu Language since it is the linguistic communication of their family and it is a linguistic communication in which they have had their formal instruction or have grown up being surrounded by the usage of the linguistic communication ( i.e. their formative old ages ) . The 2nd coevals immigrants held on to the usage of Urdu in the place due to strong ties with their relation in the native states. As the immigrant population became educated their usage of Urdu at place and within the networking socialization circles decreased. This sidelining of Urdu has led to many British immigrants of â€Å" Urdu descent † non being able to talk Urdu fluently ; even within the place. However, initial basis suggests that Urdu still seems to be spoken widely among the male group for grounds of civilization and their functions. Thus Urdu is still being studied in schools but the bulk of the pupils analyzing Urdu are males or pupils in spiritual based schools of Indo-Pakistani beginnings. From my treatments in schools and the community it is evident that Urdu is once more gaining popularity perchance due to the fact that there are important alterations happening in the provinces of the immigrant population from India/Pakistan. First, there are a big figure of people making old age ( 60+ ) who have to set to a non-nuclear household. There has been a big addition in old people ‘s places lodging Urdu speech production immigrants. By necessity they have to set from populating off from their households which has reverberations for their callings. The aged prefer to pass on in their native linguas, so the wellness callings need to be able to understand and pass on consequently. This evidently means that these professionals who can understand and utilize Urdu can look after this population more efficaciously. This evidently means that the importance of Urdu can be enhanced by aiming persons who work in these countries. Restrictions of the present work of this papers ma ke non let an in depth treatment of all points, but the writer suggests the undermentioned points to heighten Urdu and procure its hereafter: Highlight the profusion of Urdu literature. A planetary market of present times can let enterprisers to utilize the assorted chances to spread out concern into countries where Urdu is still widely used. NHS will necessitate to provide for a turning population who will necessitate to utilize Urdu to pass on with a group which is now turning and demands health care. Social public assistance groups need to be ready for the clip when big figure of Urdu talking population will necessitate aided lodging and attention. The importance of higher instruction classs that offer survey of Urdu alongside the major topics. E.g. Medicine with Urdu, Pharmacy with Urdu, Dentistry with Urdu, Nursing with Urdu, Healthcare with Urdu etc.Evaluation and Implications for PracticeThis subdivision deals with the significance of chief findings of this survey for the writer every bit good as for others and, how the findings relate to the literature cited in the subdivision of ‘Literature Review ‘ . Actually the chief focal point of this survey was to look into the hereafter of Urdu as a Modern Language in the UK. The use of Urdu by British Borns Asians in their everyday affairs of day-to-day life was besides investigated and there was some focal point on to happen out their penchants of larning Urdu. The chief findings present a clear image of the hereafter of Urdu non merely for the writer but besides for future research workers carry oning some survey in this country. Harmonizing to this survey, the herea fter of Urdu in this state is really bright and use of Urdu may be enhanced with some schemes suggested in the subdivision of ‘Recommendations ‘ as, informations show considerable thirst for larning Urdu whether it might be as a individual topic or as a combined topic. In add-on to it, a big figure of participants desired to larn Urdu at higher degrees besides. The point of position may be supported by the mention quoted earlier in the subdivision of Literature Review which describes CILT study 1995. Harmonizing to the study, Urdu is the most widely used community linguistic communication in England and 69 local instruction governments are offering Urdu instruction. So, Urdu still seems to be an of import linguistic communication in this state. Significant first coevals Urdu talkers are still alive and are working, still necessitating wellness and societal attention advice. They will stop up in old people ‘s places due to alterations happening in the atomic househo ld in the UK. Where you need childs to look after them in footings of nurses and callings ( people around them ) and those childs must be equipped with Urdu linguistic communication to make a comfy ambiance. Therefore, it may besides be easy concluded acording to Community linguistic communications in higher instruction study 2008, â€Å" Urdu is top of the chart and it is most widely spoken community linguistic communication in the UK † . Beginning: Community languages in higher instruction study 2008, p11. In add-on to it there is found a positive attitude of childs towards Urdu acquisition and use. The writer ‘s ego created figure below shows the attitudes towards larning the Urdu linguistic communication in the UK. There are three interior thrusts which motivate the British scholars to analyze Urdu. Interest in the Urdu is due to its rich history and literature. Interest leads towards ability and ability brings good calling chances. Inner Drivers towards analyzing UrduInterestAbilityCareerThere will be some external influences besides which may play a critical function towards Urdu acquisition. Parents are the first point of contact or communicating and if they speak the linguistic communication at place, scholars will automatically pick up the linguistic communication. Parents besides can raise and heighten motive towards Urdu survey. Teachers besides influence the scholars and media besides plays an of import function to larn and do any linguistic communication popular. The writer ‘s above mentioned point of position is described in the ego created figure below: Still there seems some demand to heighten the involvement of immature coevals towards Urdu acquisition. If immature coevals appears non to pay any serious attending to the Urdu linguistic communication, it is due to miss of involvement and chances they do non cognize, Urdu has a wealth of literature and has produced great bookmans. External Influences towards Urdu SurveyFamilyTeachersMediaUrdu has fantastic poesy, Novel, Fiction and Prose. So, the procedure of larning Urdu may take topographic point in educational establishments. Here is the writer ‘s ego created figure which shows the function of school, instructor and schoolroom in the acquisition of Urdu linguistic communication.SchoolSchool Leadership Interest in Languages Relationship with community Motivational EnvironmentTeachersTeacher Academic Skills Teaching Methodology Teacher Experience Professional DevelopmentClassroomsCourse Content Teaching method Technology Class Size ResourcesStudent Learning of Urdu LanguageIn the visible radiation of above mentioned rating and deduction for patterns, there is a demand to do Urdu the linguistic communication of employment and professionalism. There is besides a demand to present higher instruction classs in Urdu combined with Historical Studies, Language and Linguistics, Film Studies, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Literary Studies and Drama and Sciences and Psychology, every bit good as medical professions and wellness and societal attention. In the visible radiation of above mentioned worlds, the survey may be declared really successful holding a considerable value for the writer every bit good as for others interested in the country to pull some decisions about the hereafter of Urdu in the UK. The worth may be due to some grounds in which the major ground describes a singular figure of childs holding Urdu as their female parent lingua and their motive towards Urdu larning even at their degree degree. The s urvey is precisely harmonizing to the outlooks of the writer and frights of the caput instructor and the writer about the worsening state of affairs of Urdu proved non to be true. However there is need to supply chances to immature coevals to larn Urdu. The writer was much focused during survey as the study was of personal involvement of the writer and so, concentration and focal point remained mark oriented holding no asides. This survey seems projecting really important influences on the writer as, now the writer is much determined to use such techniques while learning in schoolroom which may be more and more helpful to make involvement for pupils in Urdu acquisition. Equipped with the overpowering tendencies for Urdu acquisition, the writer may make and heighten gustatory sensation for Urdu larning better than earlier in schoolroom and therefore may lend to do Urdu a life linguistic communication in the UK.DecisionThe hereafter of Urdu is rather bright in the UK and it ‘s proved by my study. Majority of peoples took portion in the study considered Urdu as an of import linguistic communication. They think it ‘s of import for communicating with parents, for interaction with community and for being able to talk Urdu during going figure of states where you can travel to is rather big. The importance of Urdu can be farther enhanced by developing classs which incorporate the Urdu linguistic communication. The female parent lingua plays a really of import function in determining the hereafter of a kid. Determining the hereafter of the Urdu linguistic communication is in the custodies of the parents. If they realize this most of import responsibility and seed the seeds of the female parent lingua in the childhood old ages, the hereafter of the Urdu linguistic communication takes a promising form. The responsibility for continuing Urdu in UK falls onto the shoulders of parents, community, and bing pedagogues. As Gopi Chand Narang justly said in his address during International Urdu conference 2005, held in Islamabad ( Pakistan ) â€Å" Urdu is a functional linguistic communication and functional linguistic communications do non decease. Urdu yesteryear was glorious, its present is safe and its hereafter assured. Urdu is unstoppable exactly because this is the linguistic communication that quenches society ‘s cultural thirst. †RecommendationsOn the footing of this survey and study, I would urge the followers: The demand to develop an institute of Urdu research in UK. ( For employment and CPD ) . To heighten and foreground Urdu learning programmes for British Asiatic scholars through native British Urdu examples through wireless or cyberspace. The usage of non-commercial broadcast medium targeted to all and will heighten motive among Urdu scholars. Bilingualism is going progressively of import for economic invention and growing. Urdu concern classs should be introduced in schools and colleges. Train Urdu Language Teachers utilizing the cyberspace and ICT. E-Learning instructor preparation Courses should be launched in the UK. To salvage the hereafter of Urdu in the epoch of Computer engineering, there is a demand to run and present specially designed programmes to provide mundane life in Urdu and to do Urdu a linguistic communication of the cyberspace. To associate Urdu to the up-to-date research and use of Urdu to the modern information and communicating engineerings in instruction and concerns. To present Degree, Master, M.Phil and Ph.D makings in Urdu with other topics. To heighten Urdu popularity Urdu books should be readily available in Roman Urdu and Traditional Urdu composing books.