A Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Nicole Freche Mr. Ontiveros World Literature – 2nd period December 5, 2010 Friends Forever! â€Å"Trust is like a vase†¦ once it’s broken, though you can fix the vase, it’ll never be the same again† – Author unknown. Almost every person has had at least one person who he or she can confide their secrets. Over time one can learn whether or not he or she can trust or believe another will hold that confidence. If that certitude is shattered, it takes time again to reconcile and to earn it back.In Michael Dorris’s novel, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Ida is a girl who entrusts in her young Aunt Clara with secrets from school to boys. When Clara reveals Ida’s hope about Willard Pretty Dog, the trust is broken; despite this, Ida still helps Clara and also creates herself a new certitude through Clara’s daughter, Christine. Clara comes to live with Ida and her family to take care of Mama and instantly Ida becomes infatuated with he r. Clara is the opposite of Ida: pretty, little, and neat. Ida acts very friendly and giving towards Clara.After a while she admits that she â€Å"confided my secrets and sought her advice† (Dorris, 303). Ida even felt â€Å"encouraged by her sureness† (304) with what she has told her; especially when Ida tells Clara about her crush and hope of Willard Pretty Dog. Clara makes Ida feel good about herself with the advice she gives her. Ida feels as if she has a friend that she can trust and a person who can be a role model. Ida has created her certitude through Clara. Clara has brought shame to the family and is pregnant with Ida’s father’s child.In order to hide this shame Clara came up with the idea of Ida pretending to be with child. Clara mentioning this hurts Ida but what hurts Ida even more is the reason behind the story that makes it more plausible to Mama and Papa. Clara tells them that â€Å"No one would be surprised. Everyone’s aware sheâ €™s after Willard Pretty Dog† (309). Ida is shocked at Clara’s betrayal of revealing her hopes. Clara’s remark does not only break Ida’s certitude in her, but also shows the low inclination Clara has on Ida.

Nature and culture

The advances in the understanding of nature in terms of scientific knowledge has been tremendous especially since the mid-1950’s with the discovery of the DNA structure, which precipitated more advances in molecular biology, genetics, and biochemistry.   However, in the end of the 20th century until now, our modern society has seen more and more debates about how nature has been altered and/or destroyed by our progress in technology, in particular biotechnology.Yet, one may wonder if the debate over technological progress affecting nature or more specifically, natural laws that govern our existence, does reflect a cultural bias in the general comprehension of technological progress in our society.   Consequently, three questions may be asked to completely analyze the problem.   First, is there a nature/culture problem to be discussed?   Second, if there is, how has it affected our global society with respect to a cultural shift caused by particular developments in scie nce and technology and when?   If there is a global effect, is there a tangible effect on our personal life?   This paper will deal with each of these questions.The amazing characteristics that humans possess, is to learn from previous generations, to improve upon their work, and to establish a momentum to human life and culture that has taken our civilization from cave art to quantum physics, and into the space age.   In addition, other scientific advances bring about technological progress in our direct environment and society, more so than being in space.   Even more so has biotechnology been altering the nature of our humanity, not only in terms of ‘programmed’ physical changes based on scientific discoveries, but also in terms of environmental changes.   Unfortunately, people’s understanding of what science is capable of either to benefit our society or destroy it, has been undermined since the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century.How do we kn ow that?   Simply consider the history of our society until now with the debate over cloning and stem-cell research that have come under fire in our western part of the world.   In both cases, a further division has taken place within the world scientific community.   Some countries allow the research whereas others do not.   Consequently, what can we draw from this chiasm, is it due to a cultural difference?   If it is, then do we really understand what the meaning of culture is?   If we do, can we reconcile differences?   Raymond Williams tells us that there is a great difficulty in even defining the concept of culture. (Williams, ) Is it a division of the whole into parts (the individual) like Latour claims or a whole global entity like Tarde thinks? (Latour, Social in Question)   Furthermore, Williams is not even sure himself of what nature really means.   On page 78, he does tell us that there is a general confusion or disparity of what different people mean b y nature.   Is it either the nature of man (biology), the natural nature of our environment, or both?   Latour seems to agree with Williams that there is a problem of defining the context of nature and culture.Latour uses the illustration of one simple event like using an aerosol can after which people are taken on a journey to Antarctica, to touring scientific labs across the world, and the chemistry of inert gases. (p. 2 Crisis) (Latour, )   This implies that the complexity of the division is based not only on the science of the natural environment, but also first on how people are affected by the effects of the ozone problem, and second how different people or the world as a single cultural phenomenon perceive the problem.   The conclusion is that the division exists but its very existence is very confusing to any person from any part of the world or the whole world, perhaps minus the scientists.   Rabinow’s expose supports this idea of confusion when she claims using Michel Foucault’s and Gilles Deleuze’s arguments that there has been a shift caused by this division, particularly on how we as a species comprehend ourselves and our environment.   Specifically, on p. 91, she states:â€Å"In the modern form, finitude establishes a field of life, labor, and languagewithin which Man appears as a distinctive being who is both the subject and object of his own understanding, but an understanding that is never complete because of its very structure.† (Rabinow, )Toxen is convinced that this magnitude of this shift has actually been more like a revolution with respect to science and technology in our society. (Toxen, 1983) On p.1, he emphasizes that there is a total reshaping of â€Å"industries, companies, universities, and laboratories to sustain the present mode of production.†Ã‚   He adds that the cause of this shift seems to be linked to a push for biotechnological advances, especially in our time (he wrote this ar ticle in 1983).So, how do this shift and the nature/culture division affect our own existence?   Callon speaks of auto engineers in France becoming sociologists in order to manufacture the first electric car.   As a consequence, engineers define what society will be like and how it will be changed because of the introduction of such a new mode of transportation.   Their resulting conclusions motivate their work while reshaping our ideas or shall we say our cultural acceptance. (Callon, )   In the same vein, biotechnology has been hailed as the only way to remedy problems that our society faces.   For example, Lappe and Collins cite the example of how biotechnology is supposed to solve world hunger but people are starving more than ever. (Lappe-Collins, )An illustration of this idea is cited by Pollan with Monsanto genetically engineering a bug-killer potato that may be hazardous to our health so we would not be able to eat it anyway! (Pollan, ).   In the context of ecolo gy, Schwartz and Thompson speak of â€Å"Nature benign gives us global equilibrium.† (Schwartz, Thompson, 1990) This idea implies that science and technology cannot help the way that is propounded.   The reason is simple: there is not enough comprehension of us as individuals and as a civilization (culture) to solve the mostly self-inflicted obstacles encountered with our nature as a species as well as our environment (nature).In conclusion, there is a real doubt whether science and technology can help our society.   Since there is a fuzzy picture of how we understand the division between culture and nature, science and technology cannot claim that they understand what shapes our society for the better while they certainly do not understand how they can shape society for the worst.ReferencesCallon, ?. (Year?). Engineers as sociologists. Publication? 210- 216.Lappe, ?, Collins, ?. (Year?). World hunger: twelve myths.   Publication? 48-66.Latour, B. Joyce, P. (editor). (Y ear?). The social in question. New bearings on history and the Social Sciences. London: Routledge.   (year?). Crisis. Publication? 2-12.Pollan, M. (date and year?). Playing God in my garden. The New York Times. 1-12.Rabinow, P. (Year?) Artificiality and enlightenment: from sociobiology to biosociality. Publication? 91-110.Schwartz, M., Thompson, M. (1990). Divided we stand: redefining politics, technology, and social choice.   London: Harvester & Wheatsheaf.Toxen, L. (1983). The life industry in gene business: who should control biotechnology? London: Association Books.Williams, R. (Year?). Title? Publication? 68-84.

Trade Case Studies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trade Case Studies - Assignment Example The models of trade developed by Paul Krugman can also explain intra-industry trade as an outcome of economies of scale, monopolistic competition, and consumer preference for product diversity. The development in the field of geography led to his work crediting especially since it helps to explain the core periphery pattern of urbanization and migration as witnessed in much of the world. Also, Paul Krugman has made noteworthy contributions to the research on strategic policies of trade and currency crises. The trade businesses which have trade patterns that conform to Krugman’s theory are clothing, shoes, restaurants, and service businesses in major cities. The trade patterns conforming to Krugman’s theory exhibited by these businesses show that the costs of production reduce with increasing market prices resulting in lower equilibrium prices for the products. Globalization can have challenging drawbacks to some countries in the world. First, the importation of cheap products from developing countries could lead to high levels of unemployment in developed countries due to the high costs of production. Secondly, the specialization in particular products by some countries could lead to unemployment in other non-prioritised sectors of the economy. Finally, globalization has led to intense competition for upcoming businesses in developing countries and the ‘Dumping’ of goods below the cost of production price harming the businesses in those countries (Perloff, 2004, p.7). Globalization as a world issue of concern has had a positive effect on my life due to the creation of a free trade zone, elimination of trade restrictions such as trade tariffs, a wide range of products and services to choose from, and reduction of transportation costs, for example, the cost of shipping for goods The ignorance of the possible job losses in the

ENG 101 Final paper for college Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

ENG 101 Final paper for college - Essay Example However, it accomplishes this in certain situations. The immigration and citizenship legislation involves relatives’ reunification prerequisites, for instance, which permit U.S nationals to petition for relatives from other nations to join them. The immigration and citizenship legislation involves relatives’ reunification prerequisites, for instance, which permit U.S nationals to petition for relatives from other nations to join them. Moreover, there is a provision for illegal aliens to remain in the U.S if their removal would cause extreme suffering to their siblings. Many immigrants travel to the U.S to fund their kid’s education in their home nations. This has devastating consequences on the children. Mother’s division from their kids is the worst of the devastating consequences. The main quandary is that most immigrants are not able to return to their nations to visit their kids and relatives. Many children tolerate long divisions from parents during m igration procedures. These kids confront issues such as anguish, loss and lack of connection. Their parents endure an analogous experience guilt and apprehension (King, p.3). Immigration to the U.S is an extremely contentious topic. When individuals leave their nations, there are implications on their relatives. Most immigrants relocate to other nations to obtain an excellent life for their relatives, especially for their kids. This discourse is an exploration of the significance of mothers immigrating to the U.S while leaving their families. It delves into justifying why this is crucial to many individuals from impoverished nations. Moreover, it illustrates why these individuals should be permitted to immigrate. There are numerous explications regarding people’s immigration into the U.S. The main explication regards searching for employment. Mainly, this immigration concerns impoverished nations and families. Mothers, for instance, relocate so that their kids can obtain a perfect

The Significance of Lyrics in a Song Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Significance of Lyrics in a Song - Essay Example The significance of words in a song is very well known. Indeed words are the building blocks of the songs. Any song writer will know the relevance of the words for its composition. It is the words that cause a stir in the minds of the song composer and as a result of this kind of effect; the song takes its birth. The song writer often uses special techniques so as to blend the words, to make the song quite unique and at the same time inspire the listeners. Indeed this could be considered as the real history behind the production of the songs. It is through this process by which the great song composers have been able to produce the greatest songs, ever known in the history of mankind. The power of the words is so much that, it can make the mind of the composer as well as the listener to get motivated and boosted up and take oneself to an elevated magical platform, where the inner meaning of the words can be visualized and realized. For this reason they are extremely choosy about the words and feel that a song’s whole power lies in it. ... Thus based on the song written the music is composed in such a way that, the tune fits very well with the words or lyrics and gives a unique experience to the listener. (www.scribd.com ) This technique is most commonly used in the case of popular song creation and very well seen in the case of the national anthem, where the tunes and the melody composed is made to fit with the text that is being written. It is always seen that in a majority of cases the music composers are not expert song writers due to which, they rely heavily on the lyrics and the poems written by others. This has been the common practice among the music composers down the ages and belonging to different nationalities. Almost in all the countries like England, Germany and America this system has been practiced. Examples are Franz Schubert who had been a very well known German music composer, very well relied on the poetry of many famous German poets like Heinrich Heine and many others. Aaron Copland the American mu sic composer was very much attracted to the poetry, that was written by Emily Dickinson and almost all the major musical works were based on the verses of this poet. (www.poets.org ) Thus history has been filled with several such cases which very well prove that, the greatest music composers the world over have been very much inspired by the verses of poetry written by the great poets. They get inspiration from them and tune their music based on the settings and text of the poems. It has been seen that in the modern day, it is not only the traditional music composers who tune their songs based on the poetry works but also the various rock bands and pop bands also compose the music, taking direct inspiration from the poetic

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 35

History - Essay Example Religious Concepts: The religious concepts of this region are also very unique as compared to the rest of the world. This is again due to the lack of access to this region from foreign powers. The main ancient religion in this area was Shangdi. This was the worship of one Supreme Being or power known as heaven or god. Other religions such as Confucianism and Taoism were developed later. Culture: The highlight of this region’s culture is their association of philosophy and religion. The Chinese culture is inspired by Confucianism, with calligraphy being their most prominent art from. Development of Political, Economic and Social Organizations: The development of an economic organization can be detected to more than a thousand years in this region. The political organization however is still new and is marked by the recent communist ideology of China which dominates this region geographically. Religious Concepts: The two main religions of the region are Hinduism and Islam. Hinduism is practiced mostly in the subcontinent. As a culture this region has always shown close association to religion. Culture: The culture of this region is rich with art, poetry and architecture. This region has produced some phenomenal poets like Mirza Ghalib. The art and poetry of this region is reflected strongly in the local religion Hinduism. Development of Political, Economic and Social Organizations: Due to a very long occupation by Britain, the region has not yet developed in terms of social or political organization and therefore is in the initial stages of development. Some progress has been shown both in economic and political organization by

Brief Case analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Brief Case analysis - Essay Example Switching cannot be done since Varsity team had an unblemished and recognized physical gain over Junior Varsity boat and could still beat the Junior Varsity team. An essential issue arises as Varsity boat is decelerating down because of employing individuals in the boats. A fundamental query worth noting is whether this was an obligatory undertaking and why it had to happen. No one was a leading light while several others were team disrupters. Rowing on the water as a team is yet another question that arises. What should the two teams do about it? Finally the last issue that arises is whether the army crew team can be likened to an organizational team. The answer is certainly no due to incapability to substitute hastily each of the team members. A good decision needs to be made by evaluating the situation at hand, assessing the different options available and coming up or deciding on a solution that will affect the long-term performance of both teams in a positive way. In regard to promoting junior team to a varsity team, one crucial question arises that needs to be addressed i.e. whether this will have an effect on the performance of the team as a whole and whether the all the junior varsity team members qualify to join the varsity team. Making a wrong decision can heavily impact negatively on the performance of the crew and as a result, special attention has to be given when deciding on this option. The junior team members cannot be promoted to Varsity team. Keeping the members in their original teams and trying to intervene to improve on the performance of both teams seems pleasant as it ensures that both teams add in serious effort towards attaining their key goals and objectives. When it comes to switching a small number of team members of each group, a significant question has to be taken into consideration before making the step i.e. which

GCC trade agreement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

GCC trade agreement - Research Paper Example , the trade agreement encourages intraregional mobility of capital, technology, goods and capital; hence allowing member countries to easily access resources and goods that they don’t have comparative advantage. The monetary union also allows for easy economic exchange between the countries through the use of a single currency. There is also a trade agreement between GCC and European Union (EU). This trade agreement also affects the economies of GCC member states by expanding trade into new regions of Europe and improving the economic and social welfare of the people of the member states. Specifically, the FTA between GCC and EU enables member states to acquire imports at internationally competitive prices. This is achieved through reduced tariffs and other trade barriers between GCC member countries and the member countries of the EU. In article 1 of chapter 1 (Trade) of the 2001 economic agreement of the GCC, a common external tariff and a common customs regulation was established to enhance trade among members and prevent unfair competition from external corporations (GCC, 2001). Goods produced within any member country were also considered as the national products of each country. Furthermore, tariff and non-tariff barriers were eliminated. Article 2 provides rules on international economic relations whereby member states are required to negotiate collectively as GCC in order to serve the negotiating positions of member countries (GCC, 2001). Economic agreements with external trading partners should also be collectively concluded to serve the interests of member countries. Export and import rules and procedures, and commercial exchange policies of the region are also unified to enhance its collective negotiating power with international partners. Bahrain is one of the six members of the GCC which is affected by the trade agreement among the GCC member states. Unlike other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Bahrain does not rely on oil. The country

3.Deaths and serious injuries at work could be cut dramatically if the Essay

3.Deaths and serious injuries at work could be cut dramatically if the penalties for breaches in the legislation were higher and individual managers and direct - Essay Example of injuries and deaths that could happen in a industry, as well as the reasons why the injury and deaths happen, how can it be addressed and finally what are the changes that will be visible, if the causes are addressed. Unison of humans with an urge to usher an organization into a leading ‘utopia’ will be a successful endeavor, if the humans show unified, undaunted, unabated and unabashed conduct. And, if all the ‘parts’ of an organization, which include the workers and the departments, conduct this way, they can be fully utilized to have ubiquitous presence all over the world. So, it is similar, to how all the body parts or organs function unison ly to help a human survive, study, search, succeed etc. But, ironically when the body parts of the worker itself gets affected including the physical body and the mental part, due to the events that take places inside an organization or in a workplace, then the concept of unison will be unfulfilled. This could happen when the tragedies of injury and death takes place in the workplace. Nichols (1997) has shown how the term ‘industrial injuries’ should be preferred to the term ‘industrial accidents’ since variations in their rates are not random, but vary with determinant conditions, particularly with changes in the intensification of labour. The injury and the resultant death can be classified into four types aaccording to the nature of the injury. That is, how the injury or death happened is crucial and based on the frequency of the injury and death, it is classified. The classification comprises of injury and death due to fall from heights, injury and death that happens when workers are struck by moving or falling objects, likewise by moving vehicle and finally by the trapping that takes place due to collapse and overturning. â€Å"There is a small but important corpus of work on the sociology and social history of industrial injury and illness† (Bloor 2002). From the table given, one can understand

Decision making software Essay Example for Free

Decision making software Essay The choices we make in our lives play a major role in whom or where we are going to be later in the future. There may be a time in our lifetime where we are faced with two or more choices. That is where we have to use the right judgment and decide what is more convenient. Two of Robert Frost most famous poems â€Å"The Road Not Taken† and â€Å" Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† demonstrates several similar subjects. The main two similarities in these two poems are choices and the love for nature. In â€Å"The Road Not Taken†, the speaker comes across two roads. We can see this when he states in the first stanza â€Å"two roads diverged in a yellow wood† (Robert Frost, 2013, p. 613) but then says â€Å" Had worn them really about the same† (Robert Frost, 2013, p. 613) in the last line of the second stanza. One that the majority had taken and one that was less taken. He makes the decision not to go with the majority, but to be himself and takes the path less traveled. â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† talks about stopping on a property that was someone else’s, but the speaker wanted to watch  the snow fill the trees. The conflict for each speaker in both of Robert Frost poems was that they had to make a concrete decision. In â€Å"The Road Not Taken†, the speaker resolves his conflict by taking the road less taken. Although we can see that in the last stanzas he rethinks his decision on what would have been if he had taken the other road. After observing them he came to the conclusion that they were both equally the same. In â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† the speaker bases his decision  when he says, † but I have promises to keep† (Robert Frost, 2013, p. 611) which might have been promises he made to his village. 3 POETRY ANALYSIS Both of these poems are similar in a way that they both relate to nature and decision making. Reading them together, gives you the impression that choices are important. We should choose every decision we make in life wisely. What we choose today will reflect on us the day of tomorrow. We might think back at the time when we made the decision at that precise time, but know that we cannot go back in time and therefore  made the right choice. Positive or negative we cannot blame destiny or others for our choices we do, make or have made through our life time. 4 POETRY ANALYSIS References Frost, R. (2013). â€Å"The Road Not Taken† † Pearson Custom Library of American Literature , Introduction to American Literature. Boston: Pearson Publishing. Frost, R. (2013). â€Å"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening† Pearson Custom Library of American Literature , Introduction to American Literature. Boston: Pearson Publishing. 5 POETRY ANALYSIS.

Overview Of Colgate Palmolive Company

Overview Of Colgate Palmolive Company Colgate Palmolive, a company where its headquarters is in New York operates in the business of care within the consumer goods industry. In an Annual Report released by Colgate Palmolive Company (2010), it is reported that the company is a $ 15.6 billion global company serving people in more than 200 countries and territories with consumer products that makes life healthier and more enjoyable. The core businesses of this company are Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition. Among some of the worlds most recognized household brands produced by Colgate Palmolive Company are Colgate, Mennen, Palmolive, Ajax, Softsoap, and Hills Pet Nutrition. Colgates business strategy is to Win on the Ground by focusing on its three core strategies: Driving Growth, Funding the Growth and Making Colgate the Best Place to Work. Its corporate values of Caring, Global Teamwork and Continuous Improvement acts as the foundation for its business strategy and are reflected in the way the company conducts its business worldwide (Colgate World of Care, n.d.). Colgate Palmolive Corporate Structure Led by its current Chief Executive Officer and President, Mr. Ian Cook, Colgate Palmolive Company is staffed with a team of talented and dedicated employees. The companys corporate structure has been assumed to be shown in Appendix 1. Streaming in to the Global Information Technology (GIT) organization itself, this organization is divided into three main sub functions which are Global Development, Enterprise Center and Shared Services Organization. The Shared Services Organization is further divided into four main divisions which are Global, Americas, Euro Americas and Asia Pacific. Colgate Palmolive Malaysia, founded in 1957 where the company office and plant is located in Petaling Jaya is supported by Asia Pacific division which is better known as Asia Pacific Shared Organization (APSSO). APSSO serves approximately 3500 employees in terms of Information Technology and its infrastructure in over 35 manufacturing sites throughout the Greater Asia and South Pacific division. Colgate-Palmolive Business Strategy and Relationship with Business Entity The main mission of Global Information Technology which is also cascaded down to APSSO is to operate on the same system, providing the same information to ensure the same performance and processes throughout the Colgate Palmolive Companys global operations worldwide. To achieve this mission, APSSO focuses on a 5 years strategy plan which is driven by a grid like Casita. This grid is derived from a stringent process which priorities the projects according to the GITs mandates of Performance, Reliability and Regulatory, Utilization, GIT Grid Strategic Portfolio and Global Projects. The Global Information Technology partners five global external entities to ensure the success of its businesses. Colgate partners one of the worlds most renowned enterprise software developers, SAP. Aside from SAP, Colgate partners IBM and Lenovo for providing the company computer hardware, Verizon for networking and telecommunications, CISCO for LAN equipments, Wipro for consulting and resource management as well as Comvault for data management and storage. The details of Colgate Palmolive infrastructure will be discussed in Part 2: IT infrastructure: Issues and Challenges. Colgate Palmolive specifically in Malaysia does not partner any government entities for its IT infrastructure. The homepage URL of the Colgate Palmolive Company is http://www.colgate.com. Part 2: IT Infrastructure: Issues Challenges 2.1 Colgates IT Infrastructure Information technology infrastructure today is composed of seven major components (Laudon Laudon, page 203) and Colgate is not exceptional in investing in a comprehensive array of hardware software to help with its daily operations. The below is a list of IT infrastructure that Colgate is currently having: 1) Computer Hardware Platforms. Colgates permanent employees are given laptops while temporary employees are provided with desktops. a) Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad 410: Intel i5-520M, Intel QM57 Exp, 14.1 XGA, Intel HD Graphics, 160GB 7200rpm, 4GB (2x2GB), N6200 11a/b/g/n (22), 6 Cell. b) Desktop: Lenovo ThinkCentre M58p: Intel ® Core 2 Duo Processor E8400, 2GB, 160GB 7200RPM S-ATA HDD, PCI/PCIe SFF (23),Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500,DVD Rble, Intel Gigabit Ethernet. 2) Operating Systems: Colgate is currently using Windows XP Professional but they are planning to rollout Windows 7 Professional in the 4th quarter of 2011. 3) Enterprise Software: Colgate uses SAP R/3 Enterprise for virtually all its departmental business units. 4) Networking/Telecommunication: Colgate enlists Cisco Systems and Verizon Communications respectively as its business partners for their networking and telecommunications needs. 5) Consulting System Integration Services: Colgate recruits Wipro Technologies to assist with new technology building as well as managing new projects. 6) Data Management Storage: Colgate counts Commvault as its business partner to manage its data management and storage. 7) Internet Platform: Colgate uses Microsoft.net to support its website. It uses the 2.2 Issues and Challenges in the management of IT infrastructure Even though Colgate has a relatively stable IT infrastructure in place, there are bound to be issues and challenges that the organisation faces in the management of its IT infrastructure. One of the most prominent challenges would be to keep abreast with the technology advancement. As Moores Law suggests, the number of transistors on a chip roughly doubles every two years. (Moores Law, whitepaper from Intel). Colgate has a strict workflow when it comes to implementing new hardware, which includes going through the many layers of manual approvals from the upper management, most of them scattered throughout the globe. By the time IT department is ready to implement the new hardware, newer version would have already been introduced to the market. Security is also a major challenge for the IT department in Colgate. As with any multinational corporation, Colgate takes pride in their products secret formula, new product launches and confidential employees information. Hackers and PC infections are a big risk to the company. This is due to the many software that Colgate uses. Although each laptop and computers are linked together via the Colgate network, these software are independently installed into the computer, and this making it difficult for the IT department to monitor the health of each hardware. Another challenge is to manage Colgates business partners such as Cisco, Verizon, Wipro and Commvault. As the business partners are vital to Colgates success in managing IT, they have to be exposed to Colgates culture and its ways of managing business. Perhaps the biggest challenge of all would be to manage the internal cost. The IT department is given a budget of 1.5% of net sales for software hardware acquisition, installation, training, support and maintenance. This budget also includes downtime as well as space and energy needed to keep the technology running. IT has to play its role in maintaining Colgate to be the leading consumer products company in the world. The above IT infrastructure has be to integrated seamlessly in the running of daily business activities, and this would require the IT department to be the ultimate business partner to Colgate worldwide. Part 3: Cloud Computing and its business benefits and costs 3.1 Overview of cloud computing Cloud computing is defined as a model of computing where firms and individuals obtain computing power and software applications over the Internet, rather than purchasing their own hardware and software (Loudon Loudon 2010, p. 196). The five essential characteristics of cloud computing are assumed in Figure 1 (Mell Grance 2011) On-Demand Self Service The on-demand self-service characteristic of cloud computing allows employee to use cloud computing without human interference with the cloud provider. Employees can login in the network by keying in a unique password given to them. Broad Network Access Ubiquitous network access is available to employees via cloud computing. The network can be access by all employees through a standard mechanism. Employee would only need to key in their password and once the system authenticates it, employee can access to all resources available in the network. Resource Pooling Resource pooling allows employees to access cloud computing without having to bind to location where they are. All employees within the Colgate world would be able to access the same database and same network from even their homes. This is also a step taken to encouraged employees to strike work life balance in their workplace. Rapid Elasticity Cloud computing promises elasticity where resources can be scaled both up and down as required. This will allow standardization and for Global Information Technology to achieve its mission of operating on the same system, have the same information for all its employees, which in turn ensures the same performance and processes throughout the Colgate world. Measured Service The number of employees accessing the service is measured and monitored to ensure that the cloud is able to optimize its service and to sustain the agreed service level for all employees. Figure 1: The five essential characteristics of cloud computing There are three main types of cloud computing which are public clouds, private clouds and hybrid clouds. Public clouds are usually operated by a third party company where more than one party or customer can be mixed together and can access the servers or storage system at once. Private clouds are usually on demand infrastructure owned by a single customer who controls the applications run On the other hand, hybrid clouds are the combination of both public and private cloud models which usually offers high sustainable on-demand and externally provisioned scale however adds complexity to the distribution of applications throughout the different networks (Isse 2010, pg 18). 3.2 Current trends in cloud computing In a cloud computing survey done in 17 countries in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific by Kelton Research in 2009, the results shows that technology is used to cut cost in 54% of the companies surveyed. One of the technologies discussed was cloud computing which allows companies to quickly react to market conditions and competitors. By having cloud computing, companies can use this ability to immediately tap computing power and software which in turn help company focus on its core business. 99% of its respondent also claimed that they are discussing or implementing public and private cloud computing solutions. 3.3 Benefits of cloud computing Information Weeks Thomas Claborn reported (Calburn, 2008) on a presentation by Thomas E. Hogan, senior vice president at Hewlett-Pakard, at the 2008 Cloud Summit Conference: Some 87 billion emails are drafted per day around the globe, the digital universe doubles every 18 months, and the number of network-attached storage devices double every two years, he said. Yet, some 80 percent to 85 percent of IT budgets goes to operational maintenance. ..Cloud computing promises to help IT organisations dial back maintenance cost so they can spend on creating business values. To ensure sustainability and competitiveness of Colgates business, cloud computing can be an option to reduce cost, maintenance complexity and ease of management. Among some other of the benefits of cloud computing are discussed as below. Availability of standardized data Cloud computing plays a vital role in ensuring that Global Information Technology achieves its goal to providing the same information at the same speed to Colgates entire employee. This allows managers to make decision based on the same set of data irregardless of where they are located. It also ensures data integrity and allows more decision collaboration between countries as they have access to all sets of data. Business Agility Cloud computing allows managers to have access to data anywhere at any time. The benefit of cloud computing not being device and location dependence allows managers to make faster decisions to gain competitive advantage by responding rapidly and reducing time to market. IT efficiency Cloud computing increases the efficiency and allows ease of management of information technology. For instance when they is a need for a system upgrade, cloud computing allows managers to push the updates at the backend through the server and all employees will receive the auto run update at the same time. This reduces time of IT personnel to individually install updates on each computer, ensures that all computers has been upgraded simultaneously and increases efficiency as updates need not be bonded by boundaries and time zone. Implementation of one system for all concept The implementation of cloud computing allows standardization in term of systems processes and speed. This will reduce the maintenance cost, ensures data security and provides every employee an equal opportunity to obtain data to make quality decisions. For example, an employee in India will be using the same system as an employee in Russia. This facilitates knowledge sharing among employees and also transfers of talent throughout the Colgate world. It allows our global customer (ie: Tesco, Carrefour) to make business decisions on a global basis based on the availability of standardized data and the way of doing business with Colgate. 3.4 Cost of implementation of cloud computing It is crucial to determine the return of invest and total costs of ownership to senior management before being able to influence them to make decisions on whether or not an organisation should invest in the system/infrastructure. The total costs of ownership looks into nine areas which are: Hardware acquisition The cost for purchasing of computing power might be higher at the initial stage when setting cloud computing however the return of investment in the long run might justify the initial investment. Software acquisition The licensing for software used within Colgate might decrease if the company decides to subscribe to Software as a Service (SaaS) applications such as Salesforce.com. SaaS applications allow users to pay as they use. This decreases cost of purchasing licensing for the whole package of software but employees only use partial applications within the package. Installation Installation cost remain constant with or without cloud computing. Colgate advocates providing the same infrastructure and computing power in terms of both hardware and software for all its employees. Training Trainings for implementation of cloud computing can be done via three methods. Firstly, the company can deploy collaboration tools to allow virtual training. Secondly, training can be deliver via an online knowledge portal (ElementK) which the company has subscribed to and lastly via classroom trainings for more technical personnel. The cost of training (in terms of travel) can be minimized by having power users within subsidiaries of Colgate to train employees of their own division. Support The implementation of cloud computing allows a standardized support of IT employee for every employee. By having a standardized system and processes, IT employees now need not have different sets of manual to provide differing system support. Maintenance Cloud computing eases the maintenance of systems and upgrading of both hardware and software. By implementing cloud computing, all upgrades can now be push from the backend of servers to each computer. Infrastructure Investment in specialized equipment and network at the initial stage is required. However the yield in the long run surpasses the cost of initial investment made. It also allows business to replough back the cost used to maintain IT systems to the core of its businesses after the implementation of cloud computing. Downtime The downtime of servers that support cloud computing can be managed internally. Although downtime cannot be eliminated, it can be minimized to ensure minimal disruption to the business. Downtime can be planned and communicated to employees at earlier so that employees can plan their work accordingly. Space and energy Part 4: Recommendations of cloud computing adoption/adaption Based on the issues and challenges that have been discussed in Part 2, it is vital that Colgate adopts a technology that will enable the company to move forward in the era of information technology. However, due to sensitive and confidential information that Colgate has to protect, they are not able to outsource to external providers such as Salesforce.com. Hence, it is recommended that Colgate invests in a private cloud which only employees of the organization can access, with the option of having their business partners obtaining a certain amount of information from the cloud. With the use of the cloud, the IT department will no longer need to go through the manual layers of approvals needed to implement new technologies. By creating an approval system that links to the email system, approvers will need to simply login into the cloud to sanction the requests, regardless of time zone and location once they receive email notifications. This will further simplify the approval process and the IT department will be able to rollout new technologies, thus enabling Colgate to be, if not in the forefront, at least keeping up with the latest technology compared to their competitors. Colgates IT departments objective is to have the same systems, same information, same processes and the same performance everywhere across the Colgate world. With the implementation of a cloud, a series of commonly used software can be stored in the cloud. Employees laptops and desktops will merely be terminals to access the cloud. Hence, using the method of single sign-on username and password, this would allow the IT department to have further security measures as well as enabling them to monitor the health status of each of the terminals. Business partners can be given limited access to the cloud, thus exposing them to Colgates workflow, processes and cultures. This in turn would assist them to understand how Colgate manages its business and how they are able to contribute more efficiently towards Colgates success. Cost has always been a challenge to most organisations. A resourceful firm can fully make use of a budget of 1.5% of net sales to stay ahead of competitors by investing in a cloud. As mentioned in Part 2, Colgate currently has independent software installed in each computer. By implementing a cloud, instead of having the IT personnel physically installing the software in each computer, which may take a few weeks, depending on the location of Colgate offices, they simply need to load or upgrade the software into the cloud, enabling employees to use the latest software within days, if not hours. On top of that, the cost of travelling for IT personnel to install these software will be very minimal. In line with business needs, the speed of change will be beneficial not only to Colgate, but also to their employees as they will be exposed to newer technologies/software in order to be more efficient in their daily tasks, thus reducing time needed for business to wait for processed information from the employees. Currently Colgate in every location around the globe has their own set of servers and data storage system within each subsidiary. With the implementation of a cloud, Colgate will only need to have these hardware investment and maintenance in one particular site only. IT departments can be much leaner, more efficient and more focused in their areas of expertise. Colgate has always been prudent in investing in any type of technology. The local IT department refers to a grid that lists the yearly initiatives that they will need to implement in every subsidiary. This grid consists of requests and is essentially an approved wish list from each business unit on implementing certain technologies within the department. Colgates business strategy to balance both technology and the demand from employees on the ground is important to achieve strategic goals. The yearly resource of 1.5% of net sales has always been the budget that the IT department has to adhere to. Given this allocation, the IT department has to be judicious in spending, balancing the business needs, keeping the current technology abreast with the market as well as being ahead of competitors.

Mahatma Gandhi vs. Mao Essay -- Compare Contrast, Comparison

Gandhi vs. Mao Mao and Gandhi became key leaders in each of their countries, India and China. Although they both wanted very similar things to happen to their countries, they used very different tactics. The main points in their rules where economical, political and social. And all points affected their people in many ways. First, to make each of their countries stronger economically Ghandi and Mao changed laws and broke rules. During the British rule in India there was a salt tax, which made it very hard for the people of china to buy salt, but it was illegal for them to make their own salt. Because Ghandi did not think this tax was righteous, on. In 1930, March 12th, he and eighty other people walked in the "salt march." The salt march was a walk of approximately 240 miles to the Arabian see where they could make salt, illegally. Many people found the "salt march" meaning full. And Ghandi became a larger economic leader. Another way that Gandhi made India more powerful economically was spinning and wearing the traditional clothing of India. By doing this all people of India did not purchase and western clothes, which knocked a chunk out of the British economy thus adding to end of British rule in India, and making the country of India wealthier because they were not buying western clothes owned, buy B ritish shopkeepers. On the other hand Mao did not have a government to battle against to make china more powerfully economically. When Mao and his followers where on the long march they would go through small villages and towns taking the land away from the land owners and give the land to the peasants who worked on the land, who had been kept in poverty by the landowners for many years. This made Mao well known through out c... ...estern and made a student army that killed and destroyed anything western. Mao and Gandhi made a great impact on their countries socially by getting rid of things like the caste system. But Gandhi has been looked up to by other people and has passed on what he did to make the world a better place. But Mao brought death when he thought that his country was getting out of control and that is not something to look up to. Both Mao and Gandhi made their countries what they are today socially, economically, and politically. Both by taking the same things and using them in different ways. Gandhi on one hand was more peaceful and did not believe in war. And wanted the whole of the country to unite as one. Mao on the other hand, was more military induced and used war to sometimes get what he wanted. China and India could not be what they are today with out Mao and Gandhi.

Rabbits in Australia :: Rabbits Animals Australian Herbivores Essays

Rabbits in Australia Introduction Coevolution is a natural phenomenon that has affected all habitats throughout the world. In general, it encompasses the interactions among different species within a general population and the adaptations each species makes to survive in such a diverse environment. The mere presence of all species that are currently in existence is proof that those species have adapted over thousands and millions of years in such a way that allows them to survive and reproduce. Through millions of years of evolution, well-balanced habitats have co-evolved to provide for the wide variety of species and their needs. Trees have adapted to weeds, weeds have adapted to the predation from herbivores, and so on up the food chain. Similar scenarios are seen throughout the world. Through the process of natural selection, specific species or broad species families will go extinct. However, these occurrences have largely been due to the natural flow and evolution of time. It wasn’t until recently that dominant species, such as humans, have taken the course of nature into their own hands. Throughout history, humans have had an increasingly profound impact on the areas in which they inhabit. Human population has increased in a slow yet exponential pattern since their evolution. These growing populations, along with species evolution have directed humans such that they have domesticated themselves and the things around them in ways that are both functionally and aesthetically pleasing. Plant species were transformed into useful crops, wild animals were converted to willing (and sometimes not so willing) companions, animals were hunted for food and for sport, and man's surroundings were modified as were seen fit. However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As the environment has become modified, harmful consequences have resulted causing many of the natural coevolutionary processes to fall out of balance. Slowly, the disruption of these delicate balances are taking their toll on the native habitats and transforming small temporary changes into permanent problems. The area of environmental modification that will be emphasized in this paper is the introduction of non-native species to new habitats and the resulting effects on that habitat; specifically, the introduction of the European Rabbit to Australia. History of rabbit origin in Australia It all started in 1859. Australia was slowly becoming populated with European pioneers who sought the newness of the great, unsettled continent. However, there were a few things from home from which they just couldn’t part.

Urban Government and Private Development :: Public Policy Politics

Urban Government and Private Development in Postindustrial Urban America ABSTRACT: As revenue-deprived cities in the United States depend more on developments aimed at attracting visitors, the governing bodies controlling this infrastructure play a larger role in urban government. This paper explores the case of one such development, Chicago’s Navy Pier. The author argues that the Pier’s redevelopment as a festival marketplace, which was based on public rhetoric and space, necessitated the creation of a public authority that compromised this vision. The paper begins with a description of the postindustrial city, then outlines the history of Navy Pier and its redevelopment, and closes with a discussion of the role of public authorities in the contemporary city. In 1986, Chicago and urban America generally, were in decline. The bedrock of federal urban funding had disappeared, middle class residents continued to flee the city for suburban enclaves, and manufacturing jobs that had once employed large portions of city dwellers were suddenly much scarcer. While cities searched for strategies to reverse these trends, most found great trouble in doing so. An urban regeneration seemed unlikely at the time, but cities would soon find ways to attract dollars, residents, and visitors back within their limits. Seventy years earlier, Municipal Pier, a mixed-use development for shipping and entertainment, was constructed near the mouth of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The initial uses of the structure known today as Navy Pier symbolize the industrial and leisure activities taking place in a rapidly growing, and at times, carefree urban setting. In the decades to follow, the pier served as a Navy training base, the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois, and finally, as a landmark used intermittently for municipal gatherings and public events. During the era of urban decline, however, Navy Pier sat idle amidst a city on the verge of rebirth; plans for renovation had come and gone and it looked as though the Pier might never be of use again. The ever-changing currents of urban America provided a different outcome. In 1990 a plan that would redevelop the Pier was accepted, and in the previous year, two factors ensured its success. The first was the plan’s use of public rhetoric, which stood out from other festival marketplaces that had embraced private development exclusively. This can be attributed to the fact that throughout the city’s history, Chicagoans have treasured their public space along Lake Michigan. A phenomenon best represented by Daniel Burnham’s 1909 plan for Chicago, which placed an emphasis on beautifying the lakefront and rejuvenating the residents and city (Hall, 2002, pp.

Analyse the Political Implications of Concentrated Media Ownership and Control Essay

The media is primarily used to disseminate information. It is a platform for communication between the people and those who hold authority. In today’s world the media has an immense role in the functioning of society and has the ability to reach a mass audience through technologies such as print, Internet, television, film and radio. There has been increasing concern over the growing concentration of media ownership as well as how this increased media control influences and shapes democracy. Concentrated media ownership refers to the number of individuals or corporations who control an increasing share in the mass media market, which at present is very few. For example, eleven out of twelve major Australian Newspapers are owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation or John Fairfax Holdings (Independent Australia, 2011). Society has seen media moguls, such as Rupert Murdoch, dominate cross-media ownership with companies in print, television, film etc. The media and politics are closely intertwined and with an increase in concentrated media ownership and control, issues such as political bias; the trivialisation and sensationalism of political issues in the pursuit of profits; and the decreasing amout of editorial diversity and expression, have become issues of concern for the consumers of this mass media. Street describes bias as â€Å"the idea that the practices of journalists and editors result in articles and programmes that favour one view of the world over another, providing sustenance for one set of interests while undermining an alternative† (Street, 2011). Bias is a large issue within all media, and authorities enforce a myriad of regulations and restrictions on media corporations to try and eliminate it. With an increase in media concentration, and the power that the media yields, eliminating political bias within the media has become an important issue. Since most of the media institutions are owned by corporations, such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, the most common assumption is that the media as a whole may be influenced by its owners. For instance, there are times when the owners’ decision may affect the kind of information that media would disclose to the public. Wagner makes the point that â€Å"the news media distribute much of the information we receive about the world around us. Thousands of politicians, policy researchers and opinion makers wish to transmit information to the public at large. The news media serve as intermediaries in this information market, selecting to transmit a fraction of the millions of potential messages to an audience† (Wagner, 1997). For example, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News channel was been criticised for its right-tilted news coverage. Murdoch has always been seen to favour the conservative side of politics and the Fox News channel has been seen to show preference toward the Republican Government in America. Fox Founder and president Rodger Ailes was a republican political operative in Washington. He helped with The Nixon and Reagan campaigns as well as the elder Bush’s media strategy for his presidentiary campaign in 1988 (Ackerman, 2001). David Asman, The Fox News Channel’s daytime anchor was known for his association with the right- wing Wall Street Journal. Another anchor for Fox News, Tony Snow, was a conservative columnist and also the chief speechwriter for the first bush administration (Ackerman, 2001). The Fox News Channel also hosted employees and presenters such as Eric Breindel, John Moody and Bill O’Reilly, all of whom were known for their conservative, right wing views (Ackerman, 2001). Rupert Murdock stated, â€Å" â€Å"I challenge anybody to show me an example of bias in Fox News Channel. (Ackerman, 2001) However, looking at the individuals that were in charge of disseminating the news at Fox, it is hard to believe that none of the political stories covered by Fox did not favour the more conservative side of American politics. Media conglomerates, such as News Corporation, have the ability to sway public opinion and with the increasing control they have access to, it is naive to think that they would not use this power to influence and sway public opinion to fit with their own agendas and ideologies. The size of the enormous media firms of today exceeds the size of the largest firms fifteen years ago by a factor of ten. (McChesney, 1999). With this increase in the size of the major media corporations also comes the increased pursuit of profits by these firms. Sometimes, this pursuit of profit can be to the detriment of information and in turn democracy. Corporations look for stories that will attract and entertain readers and viewers, sometimes neglecting stories that hold high information content and reflect political policies and agendas. McChesney refers to this need to aximise profits when he states â€Å"With the tremendous pressure to attract audiences but to keep costs down and not take chances, the standard route of the media giants is to turn to the tried and true formulas of sex and violence, always attention getters† (McChesney, 1999, p34). With the increased emphasis on profit maximisation and the commercialisation of news media, there is a risk that consumers of news media will cease to have access to information regarding smaller issues in society such as local political policy/s and other more localised issues. Because these issues are small and aren’t seen as revenue earners, or important issues, they may be sacrificed to make way for big stories and scandals. In other words, profit and revenue may become more important, in the eyes of media conglomerates, than information. The pure size of the media and its influence over information has huge impacts on democracy and politics. Meier (2011) sites Giddens in his work. Giddens talks about the trivializing of political issues and personas and states â€Å" The media†¦ have a double relation to democracy. On the one hand †¦ the emergence of a global information society is a powerful democratising force. Yet, television, and the other media, tend to destroy the very public space of dialogue they open up, through relentless trivializing, and personalizing of political issues. Moreover, the growth of giant multinational media corporations means that unelected business tycoons can hold enormous power† (p 298). In essence, Giddens is stating that while news media and media corporations may broadcast political issues and policies, these views are somewhat destroyed with the constant emphasis on the politicians themselves. Because of this a great deal of emphasis is taken away from the real political issues. An example of this is the constant criticism of Julia Gillard and her lifestyle. For example, she is an unmarried woman; her partner is a hairdresser. There is also constant evaluation of her hairstyle, wardrobe, her figure and her voice. Gillard is constantly known for stabbing Kevin Rudd in the back. She has also been portrayed as untrustworthy as well as a liar. Instead of the media evaluating and critiquing her policies and looking critically at her as a leader, we see the media sensationalising the above trivial issues instead of concentrating on what she is doing for the country politically. As Media concentration and control increases, diversity of expression decreases. In all healthy democracies, a wide range of assorted opinions are offered, and media offer a large variety of different positions, values and biases. No individual is obliged to accept any particular position or argument, but they are encouraged to have put their own views and criticisms forward. The core problem that comes with media concentration is that it diminishes ideological diversity within the media system. Studies have been conducted that show that although there may be more media outlets, there is not necessarily more information or diversity in media. â€Å"Rather than the new platforms leading to a diversity of voices, voices are in fact being snuffed out†¦ An analysis of independent media showed that 96 per cent of stories simply came from recycling stories found in the mainstream press. However, The study also showed that the mainstream press was producing 73 percent less information than 10 years ago† (independent Australia, 2011). Curran states that â€Å"they can use their financial power to drive new entrants out of the marketplace by launching expensive promotional campaigns, offering discounts to advertisers or buying up key creative personnel† (Curran, 2005) Because of the increased power of media corporations, they have the ability to eliminate their competition and therefore decrease the amount of diversity available to the consumer. Robert W. McChesney outlines in his book Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy that there are three factors that allow democracy to work at its best. The first is â€Å" it helps when there are not significant disparities in economic wealth and property ownership across the society† (1997, p5). The second requires there to be â€Å" a sense of community and a notion that an individuals well- being is determined to no small extent by the community’s well-being† (1997, p5). Finally McChesney states â€Å"democracy requires that there be an effective system of political communication† (1997, p5). Media concentration and control works to the detriment of each of these factors. Firstly the multi billion dollar media corporations, do not represent economic equality within the society, in fact they help to make the gap between the working classes and authority increase. Media concentration disputes McChesney’s second factor as media moguls and corporations have become increasingly focused on the pursuit of large profits and personal gain, and are not heavily influenced around society’s wellbeing. Finally, an effective system of political communication should be based around diversity of news coverage and diversity of political issues, both locally and nationally, large and small. However, with the increasing size of corporations the diversity of expression has steadily decreased. Australia has one of the highest media concentrations in the free world. With the increasing control held by mass media conglomerates various political issues arise such as political bias; the trivialisation and sensationalism of political issues in the pursuit of profits; and the decreasing amount of editorial diversity and expression. The above issues threaten democracy and the media must be regulated and controlled before it threatens how the political system in Australia functions. Governments need to manage media moguls, such as Rupert Murdock before they gain too much power, and control, over political issues and coverage. The key to a democratic society is freedom of information, positive political debate and communication. These key functions of a democratic society are being threatened by concentrated mass media and the increasing control held by these corporations.

Digital Advertising vs Print Advertising

Advertising is the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements. This has been accomplished using a variety of mediums that have evolved through the use of new technologies. Approaches to advertising include television, radio, online, product placement, billboards, newspapers, and magazines. Digital advertising has become a more accessible and effective form of advertising than press advertising in our growing society. Digital advertising promotes ads through technologically advanced means, such as the internet, television, and telecommunications. It is not to be confused with digital signage, which is a form of electronic display like LCD, LED, and plasma screens. The internet now offers ways to reach an unlimited number of consumers and innovative ways to narrow this selection. A customer can be chosen based on the sites that they surf. An ad for designer perfumes is likely to appear on a website for someone shopping on an online department store. Press advertising uses spreads in newspapers, spaces in magazines, and flyers. Slower societies without electricity rely on newspapers which is responsible for its success in the past. Therefore, there is no way to be selective in the people you are trying to cater to. Newspaper stands and subscription magazines gain loyal customers allowing press advertising to be an ideal form of communication for small businesses. Globally known products that are commonly purchased in a local area are often advertised using print advertisements. Advertising is a single component of the marketing process. It's the part that involves getting the word out concerning your business, product, or the services you are offering. It is not to be confused with the whole of marketing. Marketing consists of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. Moreover, advertising is a multibillion dollar industry that businesses use to promote the image of their company, which in turn sparks interest and increases sales. Although, advertising is not limited to a profitable business, it is also used by individuals, organizations, and political candidates. Persuading someone to share a common idea, to utilize services, or to buy something is the main goal of advertising. This has been since 79 A. D. when Romans in Pompeii made billboards to exhibit their testimony on the state of society. A more commonly known advertisement in history is that of Volkswagen, â€Å"Think Small†. The simplicity and use of white space in the campaign gained great response from the German people. Thomas Jefferson was one of the first persons to acknowledge the power of white space around headlines to catch ones attention. This aspect has been modified and has led to the use of bright colors, flashing lights, and shocking phrases. In the present day there are ads like Nike’s â€Å"Just do it,† and â€Å"Got Milk. These very campaigns have developed over the last twenty years. Changing from ads on the back of milk cartons to magazine spreads to television commercials, they have grown in their versatility. In a sense, they have grown with their generations and the technological advances that came with them. The invention of the television, telephone, and internet extremely changed the advertising industry. In the United States, the first television commercial recorded is that of Bulova Watch Company. They aired an ad on New York’s News Channel, WNBT before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The ad featured the slogan â€Å"America runs on Bulova time. † Commercials frequently use slogans, jingles, humor, and animations to promote and idea or product. The use of these aspects allow for it to grasp the audience’s attention, be remembered, and depicted in ways that through the mere use of actors could not be accomplished. They range in length from a few seconds to a couple minutes. The telephone was an invention that many also took advantage of to advertise. This is more commonly known as telemarketing. It is a salesperson directly soliciting to customers over the telephone. This form of advertising leaves more up to words instead of a created image. DialAmerica Marketing Inc. was first company committed to telemarketing for sales and services. Telemarketing techniques are increasingly used in political campaigns. Because of free-speech issues, the laws governing political phone calls are much less strict than those applying to commercials. Many people find these calls to be annoying; subsequently, some states have banned political calls and initiated â€Å"Do Not Call List†. The internet has a caused a massive influx in the change of advertising form. Online advertising is disguised in well-known search engines like Google and Yahoo that are used on a daily basis. Rishad Tobaccowala, the â€Å"chief innovation officer† of Publicis, one of the world’s biggest advertising groups, says that advertising in this form allows advertisers to â€Å"make lots of spearheads and then get people to impale themselves. † The advertisements that show up are in some context related to what is entered in the search bar. The first online advertisement was the ad banner created by HotWired for AT;T on October 25 1994. The thing that these forms of advertising have is that they employ direct-response marketing. This allocates customers to contact advertisers directly and immediately. Direct-response advertising consist of four primary elements, an offer, sufficient information, an explicit â€Å"call to action,† and multiple means of response, like toll free number, web link, or e-mail. Technological innovations have depleted the once thriving ways to communicate products, and promote people and ideas. The technology formerly used is the printing press. The rapidity of typographical text production, as well as the sharp fall in unit costs, led to the issuing of the first newspapers. In 1704, the first newspaper advertisement, an announcement seeking a buyer for an Oyster Bay, Long Island, estate, was published in the Boston News-Letter. In 1810, Frederick Koenig invented the improved printing press. William Carlton of J. Walter Thompson advertising company was the first to begin selling advertisement space in newspapers in 1864. Newspapers began using digital production processes and using computers in 1967. Newspaper advertising has gone a long way over a longer period of time, opposed to online advertising which was almost overnight. In society today, the use of billboards, classified ads, coupon mailers, fliers, and radio are known as small-budget advertising. All of these except radio are forms of print advertising. Whether driving by a billboard, listening to the radio or flipping through the TV channels, every advertisement has dot. com present. A comprehensive advertising campaign is the only way to make a web site successful. The evolution of the Internet has business taking a new direction. Print newsletters require time and effort, while E-newsletters are the easiest, quickest and cheapest newsletters to produce. Each issue is produced electronically and can be sent to all subscribers through Email. Digital and print advertising are in competition, and so far digital is in the lead. According to Voice of America News, advertisers in the United States are spending more on ads on the internet than in newspapers. The internet passed newspapers in 2010 U. S. ad revenue, making the internet the second-largest ad medium behind TV, according to Interpublic Group of Cos. ‘ MagnaGlobal. One newspaper after another is going out of business across the United States, and the ad revenues of traditional print media, even of highly respected magazines, is declining. Pushing a message at a potential customer when it has not been requested and when the consumer is in the midst of something else on the net, will allow it to fail as a major revenue source for most internet sites. Better targeting of ads using individual interests and individual behaviors ensure that people are not bored or annoyed with each ad. As for paid search, it is closer to other mechanisms that allow a website to sell access to potential customers. It works effectively as a revenue source for Google. Online advertising poses as a threat to traditional print advertising because it contains a wide range of people it could possibly reach, products can be purchased immediately, and a product can be described in detail through testimonies, pictures, and reviews. If an ad is placed in a newspaper or magazine, and someone likes it he or she will have to come to your store or office to know more. But if the same ad appears on a website the visitor can click it and come straight to the website and get the full information about the product or service. The immediacy of the feedback is very high in case of internet advertising. Page views can be kept track of and effectiveness can be determined. Consumers are receiving messages through numerous forms but research models aren't accounting for this, they are only giving conversion credit to one medium. Someone who received a flier follows a link and is targeted with digital display ads for that product or related products; the way they interact with the advertisement determines how advertisers reach them. Many believe that scams are most ubiquitous to the internet. This is true but only because so much private information is transferred and communicated over the internet. Such as passwords and credit card information. Computer hackers cause this fear of purchasing items online which consequently makes people go for the â€Å"x† on advertisements all the time. When consumers use the internet to view online news like on CNN, ABC, SKY and BBC News, it is not uncommon for phoney misleading advertisement promoting a scam product to come up. Don’t let the internet scare you, because scams are also subject to printed newspaper advertisements. Waiting in the classified section of the newspaper, con artist target job seekers on a personal level. Much of the unemployed are desperate and willing to give information to have the chance to apply for a job, and sometimes this is by mail-in or over the telephone. This could by far be the worst way to try and obtain an occupation, given addresses and phone numbers can all lead back to your location. Newspaper advertisements do have a higher credibility than online advertisements, but it is easier to distinguish an online scam. The threat present in society today is that of Tivo and DVR, which record programs and also allow you to fast forward through commercials. This will allow for a discrepancy in the advertising industry for television. Maneuvers have been taken to prevent this, for example product placement and DRM’s. DRM’s are encryptions that don’t allow certain actions at certain points like on DVD’s when the FBI warning appears. New regulations could possibly be able to forbid the playback of television shows without commercials. Only new technology and time will tell. Watching shows and movies online impede on the viewing of commercials. This benefits online advertisers who pay for spaces on these web pages. That is why digital advertising is flexible, if it can’t reach you one way, it will try another. Print advertising has accomplished this also by the posting of billboards on buses, etc. This is less proficient though because advertisements cannot be updated as frequently and cost-efficiently. In the future, ads themselves will be engineered to obtain information on its audience, with the mined data immediately fueling message customization. Improvement by using new technologies will enhance the visibility, portability and impact of messages Holosonic, a US technology company, is taking the idea advertising technology to the edge. It has developed the Audio Spotlight, a system that fires a beam of sound onto a small area from a distance of more than 60ft. The company claims, the effect is to â€Å"startle and entertain† pedestrians without being audible to anyone outside the zone. Ad campaigns must become favorable interruptions which anticipate consumer needs by being exceedingly relevant. Digital advertising wholly completes this task and through the application of better developing technology will work to break any barriers or misconceptions. Print advertising is unlike digital because it uses press promote a product, organization or idea. Print advertising has reached far more impediments than the use of television, telecommunications, and the internet. Although useful in its unique, economic way, print advertising is slowing in production, not only because of new technology, but because of a change in the audience’s daily lives. Works Cited http://42explore.com/advertis.htm http://ezinearticles.com/?Print-Advertising-Vs-Online-Advertising—Whats-Better?&id=2385320 http://www.economist.com/node/7138905 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brett-king/digital-versus-traditiona_b_563732.html http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/printing_4.htm

Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology

Culture plays an important part in one’s life as it relates to the field of psychology. Culture enables one to define him or herself and differ from one to another, and helps one survive. Culture facilitates self-expression, through language, appearance, and behavior. Culture exists everywhere and is a product of one’s environment. The significance of culture and its influence by oneself and others will be explained in this paper. In addition, the role of critical thinking in cross-cultural psychology and the scientific method involved with cross-cultural research will be addressed, and defined.Definition of Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology Culture is learned, passed down, from generation to generation and strongly influences individual behavior. It is an existing element in one’s environment, shaped by oneself and many others. Culture either shapes or influences one and is what makes one human. Psychology is the study of human behavior and performance; the refore, it is vital that the cultural and cross-cultural aspects are considered in determining the cause of one’s actions.Behavior is affected by sources both biological and environmental in nature but these do not entirely explain human behavior. There must be an acknowledgement of the social-cultural conditions, in which behavior occurs. Thus, cultural psychology looks to identify the link that between culture and psychology. This recognition allows one to perceive that cognitive operations are variable products occurring between culture and oneself in the kind of environment by which one is surrounded (Segal, Dasen, Berry & Poortinga, 1999). Culture is two-fold, either bringing people together or pulling people apart.This newer discipline of cross-cultural psychology, acknowledges important factors and considers many cultures when defining the actions and behaviors of individuals. Culture should be not confused with society, race, and ethnicity. Though these factors contri bute to individualism, they differ from culture itself. For example, culture is a shared experience within a group and leads to specific behaviors among the group, whereas society is made of people. Cross-cultural psychology uses various approaches to facilitate one’s understanding of how human behavior varies in diverse cultural settings.These include evolutionary, sociological, and ecocultural. The evolutionary approach, for instance, considers biological factors contributing to one’s behavior whereas the ecocultural approach considers that a person cannot be acknowledged without considering one’s environment (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). The Relationship between Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology Cultural psychology interfaces with other disciplines, including philosophy, and anthropology. While other disciplines permit a wider perspective, cultural psychology focuses solely on how one’s culture affects his or her behavior and how this connection comes i nto existence.G Cultural psychology is aware that human energy cannot be solely explicated by other factors including one’s genetic predispositions. Instead, cultural psychology sees one’s mind and culture forming a unity that should be not separated when trying to explain behavior. On the other hand, cross-cultural psychology, despite interfacing with other fields such as anthropology and history, prefers to compare various cultures against each other while discovering more about differences and similarities and their effect on humanity.Both disciplines clearly consider the aspects of culture; therefore, their starting points do not differ much. However, they also deviate from each other in that cultural psychology is mostly concerned with understanding the relationship one has with a culture, whereas cross-cultural psychology is mainly interested in the comparison of various cultures (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). The Role of Critical Thinking in Cross-Cultural Psychology W hen used correctly, critical thinking can, and will benefit one in countless ways.Life, just as humanity itself, is very complex and at times, difficult to understand. Being able to go through life with a certain purpose and sense, and being able to understand human nature is not an easy task, often requiring specific knowledge and experience in doing so. Critical thinking provides the necessary tools to enable one to navigate through the fog of life with the determined intent. However, critical thinking is not something one is born with; rather, it is something that needs to be learned and trained.Thinking abstractly, being able to decipher problematic puzzles, coordinating thoughts accurately and intentionally, and being able to communicate succinctly require the use of critical thinking. Thinking critically means asking the right questions and solving problems. If one is unskilled and unqualified using the tools provided by critical thinking, then one most likely is not developin g to his or her fullest. Part of being able to apply critical thinking also means one can learn, and learn even more.Various characteristics describe a critical thinker and are, for instance, the correct use of language, the ability of organizing, and patience when making vital decisions (Hunter, 2009). All these above mentioned factors matter to the field of cross-cultural psychology. For example, language can be at times very tricky and therefore, lead to discrimination. The correct translation is very significant so that one can understand someone else in the way he or she wants to be comprehended. However, interlingual rendition is not easy and translating one word to another does not entirely mean the purpose of the word used is understood correctly.One clearly must know that language can be applied in many ways and can traumatize, be incontrovertible, and inspiring. Another way critical thinking supports cross-cultural psychology is in the research performed by this discipline . Being able to overlook biases, leave out emotions, chose right from wrong, and acknowledge the validity and reliability of research requires critical thinking skills. In addition, critical thinking becomes a necessity whenever a comparison is made of different groups and therefore cultures.These are just few of many examples of how critical thinking helps cross-cultural psychology. Without it, one’s understanding of how culture affects diverse behaviors could become affected leading to wrong impressions (Segal, Dasen, Berry & Poortinga, 1999). Methodology Associated with Cross-Cultural Research Research is very significant to the field of cross-cultural psychology. Without the implementation of research, the subjects appealing to cross-cultural psychology would mainly rely on assumptions. Cross-cultural psychologists are very interested in examining commonalities between cultures.He or she is occupied with how they interact with each other resulting in certain behaviors and psychologists do so by describing, explaining, foretelling, and managing. Doing research means carrying out a scientific investigation and using suitable methods. Cross-cultural psychology uses a research methodology that can be divided further into two subcategories, the quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitative research, which is done through observation, measures human behavior by utilizing the mode, the median, and the mean (central tendency).In this process, four different scales can be used to measure, which are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Alternatively, qualitative research is preferably done in unconditioned settings, also referred to natural settings. This kind of research method is chosen when measuring variables are impossible to collect, measurement tools are not on hand, and when specific scales cannot be read. Further, there are two different strategies, the application-oriented strategy and the comparativist strategy, from which a researcher can chose when conducting research.In addition, a researcher can also utilize and benefit from various strategies to collect samples such as through convenience, systematic, or random sampling (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). The psychological methods available to a cross-cultural psychologist to investigate are â€Å"observation (naturalistic and laboratory), survey (direct and indirect), experimental studies (independent and dependent variables), content-analysis, psychobiography, meta-analysis, focus-group method† (Shiraev & Levy, 2010, pp. 35-40). When conducting cross-cultural studies, certain obstacles may appear.For instance, language can create additional problems when research is done; therefore, the correct translation is essential. The researcher should be capable of translating a specific method as authentically as possible. In addition, a good researcher should also pay attention when comparing two phenomena (acknowledge similarities) and avoid biases of generalization at all times (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). Conclusion Because culture plays such an important part in one’s life, it is crucial to acknowledge it when determining the causes of one’s behavior.Culture is something appearing at all times and is manmade. Clearly, cultural and cross-cultural psychologies are two essential disciplines, which help one comprehend the affect culture has on an individual and his or her environment. Through cultural psychology, one can see the connection between culture, psychology, and therefore, behavior. Existing parallel to cultural psychology, cross-cultural psychology helps one acknowledge the differences and similarities existing between cultures and the affect they have on one’s action. Without it, one will never entirely understand the complex nature of humanity. Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology Culture plays an important part in one’s life as it relates to the field of psychology. Culture enables one to define him or herself and differ from one to another, and helps one survive. Culture facilitates self-expression, through language, appearance, and behavior. Culture exists everywhere and is a product of one’s environment. The significance of culture and its influence by oneself and others will be explained in this paper. In addition, the role of critical thinking in cross-cultural psychology and the scientific method involved with cross-cultural research will be addressed, and defined.Definition of Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology Culture is learned, passed down, from generation to generation and strongly influences individual behavior. It is an existing element in one’s environment, shaped by oneself and many others. Culture either shapes or influences one and is what makes one human. Psychology is the study of human behavior and performance; the refore, it is vital that the cultural and cross-cultural aspects are considered in determining the cause of one’s actions.Behavior is affected by sources both biological and environmental in nature but these do not entirely explain human behavior. There must be an acknowledgement of the social-cultural conditions, in which behavior occurs. Thus, cultural psychology looks to identify the link that between culture and psychology. This recognition allows one to perceive that cognitive operations are variable products occurring between culture and oneself in the kind of environment by which one is surrounded (Segal, Dasen, Berry & Poortinga, 1999). Culture is two-fold, either bringing people together or pulling people apart.This newer discipline of cross-cultural psychology, acknowledges important factors and considers many cultures when defining the actions and behaviors of individuals. Culture should be not confused with society, race, and ethnicity. Though these factors contri bute to individualism, they differ from culture itself. For example, culture is a shared experience within a group and leads to specific behaviors among the group, whereas society is made of people. Cross-cultural psychology uses various approaches to facilitate one’s understanding of how human behavior varies in diverse cultural settings.These include evolutionary, sociological, and ecocultural. The evolutionary approach, for instance, considers biological factors contributing to one’s behavior whereas the ecocultural approach considers that a person cannot be acknowledged without considering one’s environment (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). The Relationship between Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology Cultural psychology interfaces with other disciplines, including philosophy, and anthropology. While other disciplines permit a wider perspective, cultural psychology focuses solely on how one’s culture affects his or her behavior and how this connection comes i nto existence.G Cultural psychology is aware that human energy cannot be solely explicated by other factors including one’s genetic predispositions. Instead, cultural psychology sees one’s mind and culture forming a unity that should be not separated when trying to explain behavior. On the other hand, cross-cultural psychology, despite interfacing with other fields such as anthropology and history, prefers to compare various cultures against each other while discovering more about differences and similarities and their effect on humanity.Both disciplines clearly consider the aspects of culture; therefore, their starting points do not differ much. However, they also deviate from each other in that cultural psychology is mostly concerned with understanding the relationship one has with a culture, whereas cross-cultural psychology is mainly interested in the comparison of various cultures (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). The Role of Critical Thinking in Cross-Cultural Psychology W hen used correctly, critical thinking can, and will benefit one in countless ways.Life, just as humanity itself, is very complex and at times, difficult to understand. Being able to go through life with a certain purpose and sense, and being able to understand human nature is not an easy task, often requiring specific knowledge and experience in doing so. Critical thinking provides the necessary tools to enable one to navigate through the fog of life with the determined intent. However, critical thinking is not something one is born with; rather, it is something that needs to be learned and trained.Thinking abstractly, being able to decipher problematic puzzles, coordinating thoughts accurately and intentionally, and being able to communicate succinctly require the use of critical thinking. Thinking critically means asking the right questions and solving problems. If one is unskilled and unqualified using the tools provided by critical thinking, then one most likely is not developin g to his or her fullest. Part of being able to apply critical thinking also means one can learn, and learn even more.Various characteristics describe a critical thinker and are, for instance, the correct use of language, the ability of organizing, and patience when making vital decisions (Hunter, 2009). All these above mentioned factors matter to the field of cross-cultural psychology. For example, language can be at times very tricky and therefore, lead to discrimination. The correct translation is very significant so that one can understand someone else in the way he or she wants to be comprehended. However, interlingual rendition is not easy and translating one word to another does not entirely mean the purpose of the word used is understood correctly.One clearly must know that language can be applied in many ways and can traumatize, be incontrovertible, and inspiring. Another way critical thinking supports cross-cultural psychology is in the research performed by this discipline . Being able to overlook biases, leave out emotions, chose right from wrong, and acknowledge the validity and reliability of research requires critical thinking skills. In addition, critical thinking becomes a necessity whenever a comparison is made of different groups and therefore cultures.These are just few of many examples of how critical thinking helps cross-cultural psychology. Without it, one’s understanding of how culture affects diverse behaviors could become affected leading to wrong impressions (Segal, Dasen, Berry & Poortinga, 1999). Methodology Associated with Cross-Cultural Research Research is very significant to the field of cross-cultural psychology. Without the implementation of research, the subjects appealing to cross-cultural psychology would mainly rely on assumptions. Cross-cultural psychologists are very interested in examining commonalities between cultures.He or she is occupied with how they interact with each other resulting in certain behaviors and psychologists do so by describing, explaining, foretelling, and managing. Doing research means carrying out a scientific investigation and using suitable methods. Cross-cultural psychology uses a research methodology that can be divided further into two subcategories, the quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitative research, which is done through observation, measures human behavior by utilizing the mode, the median, and the mean (central tendency).In this process, four different scales can be used to measure, which are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Alternatively, qualitative research is preferably done in unconditioned settings, also referred to natural settings. This kind of research method is chosen when measuring variables are impossible to collect, measurement tools are not on hand, and when specific scales cannot be read. Further, there are two different strategies, the application-oriented strategy and the comparativist strategy, from which a researcher can chose when conducting research.In addition, a researcher can also utilize and benefit from various strategies to collect samples such as through convenience, systematic, or random sampling (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). The psychological methods available to a cross-cultural psychologist to investigate are â€Å"observation (naturalistic and laboratory), survey (direct and indirect), experimental studies (independent and dependent variables), content-analysis, psychobiography, meta-analysis, focus-group method† (Shiraev & Levy, 2010, pp. 35-40). When conducting cross-cultural studies, certain obstacles may appear.For instance, language can create additional problems when research is done; therefore, the correct translation is essential. The researcher should be capable of translating a specific method as authentically as possible. In addition, a good researcher should also pay attention when comparing two phenomena (acknowledge similarities) and avoid biases of generalization at all times (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). Conclusion Because culture plays such an important part in one’s life, it is crucial to acknowledge it when determining the causes of one’s behavior.Culture is something appearing at all times and is manmade. Clearly, cultural and cross-cultural psychologies are two essential disciplines, which help one comprehend the affect culture has on an individual and his or her environment. Through cultural psychology, one can see the connection between culture, psychology, and therefore, behavior. Existing parallel to cultural psychology, cross-cultural psychology helps one acknowledge the differences and similarities existing between cultures and the affect they have on one’s action. Without it, one will never entirely understand the complex nature of humanity.