Characterization of Curleys Wife Of Mice and Man

Curley’s wife has no name and seem to not be givien no importantance. As the only woman on the ranch, Curley’s wife is lonely and sad. In the novel they don't portray women in the best matters. They treat women with despite in the whole novel. Women seem to drive them mad and only bring trouble towards them. In curley's wife case she seem to be all those charactierisctics. She reminices of unhappiness in her marriage because her husband seems to care little for her, and is really more interested in talking about himself than anything else. Which seems like something she is impossible to intake. She is so self-obessed and loves to talk about her self whenever possible. She flirts deliberately with the ranch hands and does little to hide these flirtations from her husband. Knowingly causing the ranch hands to suffer Curley’s hot-headed, glove-wearing wrath. Even though she is a very pretty her attitude isn't close to it. She was very vulnerable always being seen and called a â€Å"tramp† and â€Å"tart† it must be hard to be her. Which is why I feel like she preys on weakness, it's the only time she feels empowered. She is always picking on Candy’s incapacitated age, the color of Crooks’s skin and Lennie's mental handicap. Curley’s wife, like Lennie, has no ability to self-evaluate. Unlike Lennie, she doesn’t have the excuse of being mentally slow. She is a women who thinks of more than her surroundings has a dream even though she's deeply dissatified with her life. Curley’s wife likes to talk about her lost opportunities. She always tells about her encounter with a traveling actor who told her she could join their show. Also likes to talk about how she got an offer to go to Hollywood but swears on her life that her mother stole the letter. She would never realize that men weren’t really interested in her talent at all. She’s just self-obsessed, and unable to judge herself and her position honestly.  It is not coincidental that she ends up losing her life because she didn’t want Lennie to mess up her hair.

Legal System and the Social Construction of Childhood

In 1924 the League of Nations promulgated the first international agreement setting out the principles, which should inform the universal treatment of children. The underlying image of the child contained in the Declaration of Geneva was thoroughly imbued with a modernist concept of childhood. In particular children were seen as incomplete, non-social, weak and dependent. The Declaration, therefore, placed its emphasis on the duties of adults towards children. The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), agreed in 1989, took this a stage further by making its provisions legally binding on national governments that ratified it. By 2003 this included all governments of the world except the US. The UNCRC, however, surpasses the modernist notion of children as a cultural other. It raises children's social participation as a goal alongside protection and provision. Children's participation has become an international rallying point for child advocacy. It is seen as capable of transcending differences in the social, cultural and economic conditions of children's lives around the world (Davie, Upton and Varma, 1996; Flekkoy and Kaufman, 1997; Franklin, 1995; Hart, 1992; Lansdown, 1995). From one point of view the UNCRC represents a benign attempt to bring enlightenment and humane standards to all children. It has been used in this way and it is on these grounds that it draws enthusiastic support and even evokes a certain amount of zealotry. It has also been characterized as high in rhetoric but low in intensity. In this sense it is a highly suitable instrument through which declarations of lofty principle can be made but about which little needs to be done in practice. However, it is also the case that the children's rights lobby is, for good or ill, on the forefront of the global spread of norms about childhood. As Boyden (1997:197) notes, these efforts have their precursors in the ‘civilizing mission' of colonialism: â€Å"As the twentieth century has progressed, then, highly selective, stereo-typical perceptions of childhood – of the innocent child victim on the one hand and the young deviant on the other – have been exported from the industrial world to the South †¦ It has been the explicit goal of children's rights specialists to crystallize in international law a universal system of rights for the child based on these norms.† The effects of this, she argues, are not always positive. Rights is a concept which is ultimately tied up with cultural values. Their successful implementation depends upon the existence of a compatible framework of meaning and an infrastructure of social and economic supports. The right to protection, for example, may translate well into practice when agencies, such as the police, are reliable upholders of law. When they are reliably corrupt it can be a recipe for oppression. Furthermore, some aspects of the concept of childhood contained in the UNCRC might also depend for their realization upon a level of economic wealth that many countries do not possess. As we have seen, for some countries international economic policy has led to deepening poverty, ill-health and inequality at the same time that social policy is urging the adoption of the rights of children. Perhaps, though, this is to underestimate the subtle processes that the UNCRC is enmeshed within. The different ways in which it (or part of it, Article 12) can be interpreted illustrate well how cultural globalization creates both diversity and homogeneity. It is, as Lee (1999) has pointed out, a document that has effectivity only because it is ambiguous. It is framed in such a way that its general principles are given a great deal of space for local interpretation. In fact, such was the level of disagreement among those who drafted it that this was the only way to make it acceptable to a wide range of countries with different cultural traditions about childhood. As Lee (2001a: 95-6) comments: â€Å"If the Convention had been intended to clarify children's position, it would indeed crumple under this burden, but the Convention operates in a rather different way. Having generated childhood ambiguity, it then lays the responsibility for managing that ambiguity on the legislatures and the policy-makers of the states that have ratified it.† The representation of childhood found in the UNCRC has become more complex and ambiguous than the earlier Declaration. The protection and provision articles of the Convention still emphasize children's need of adult support but, at the same time, especially through Article 12 of the Convention, children are pictured as social actors, not outside but inside society, not passive recipients but active participants. Role of the Legal System in Regulating children However, the contradictory effects of globalization do not all flow in the direction of self-expression and rights. From another point of view the twentieth century has witnessed increased levels of institutional control over children. The introduction of compulsory schooling and children's formal exclusion from paid work signaled a historical tendency towards children's increasing compartmentalization in specifically designated, separate settings, supervised by professionals and structured according to age and ability. Nà ¤sman (1994) has called this process the institutionalization of childhood. Throughout the twentieth century schooling has gradually been extended both ‘upwards' (for example in incremental steps towards an older leaving-age for compulsory schooling) and ‘downwards' in the growing emphasis on pre-school education and nursery provision (Moss et al., 2000.) Even leisure time is often framed in this way for many children because activities such as sport or music increasingly take place within some kind of institutional setting. It can be seen in the provision of after-school and holiday clubs that organize and regulate children's activities under an adult gaze, channeling them into forms considered developmentally healthy and productive. Such phenomena have been noted across European societies. German sociologists, for example, have used the terms ‘domestication' to describe the progressive removal of children from the streets and other public spaces and their relocation in special, protected spaces. They use the term ‘insularization' to describe the decreased levels of children's autonomous mobility around cities and the creation of special ‘islands' of childhood to and from which they are transported (Zeiher, 2001, 2002). Within these institutions, but with significant variations according to national policy, it is possible to discern a struggle to tighten the regulation of children and to shape more firmly the outcomes of their activities. Schooling is a good example of this. In the last decades of the twentieth century the rather instrumental schooling regimes of the ‘Tiger Economies' of Southeast Asia were held up as the model for producing economic efficiency and were widely influential in changing educational systems in Europe. I have argued elsewhere that this phenomenon represents a refocusing of modernity's drive to control the future through children (Prout, 2000a). This tightening of control over children derives from a declining faith in other mechanisms of economic control, combined with increasing competitive pressures from the world economy. The intensification of global competition and the intricate networking of national economies erode the state's capacity to control its own economic activity. In such circumstances, shaping children as the future labor force is seen as an increasingly important option. This, after all, is exactly what supply side economics is about but, as far as children are concerned, it often leads to attempts to regulate and standardize what they learn and how they learn it. References Boyden, J 1997, ‘Childhood and the Policy Makers', in James, A and Prout, A (eds), Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood (2nd edn), Falmer Press, London. Davie, R, Upton, G and Varma, V (eds) 1996, The Voice of the Child, Falmer Press, London. Flekkoy, GD and Kaufman, NH 1997, The Participation Rights of the Child: Rights and Responsibilities in Family and Society, Jessica Kingsley, London. Franklin, B 1995, Handbook of Children's Rights: Comparative Policy and Practice, Routledge, London. Hart, R 1992, Children's Participation: From Tokenism to Citizenship, Innocenti Essays, Florence. Lansdown, G 1995, Taking Part: Children's Participation in Decision Making, Institute for Public Policy Research, London. Lee, N 1999, ‘The Challenge of Childhood: The Distribution of Childhood's Ambiguity in Adult Institutions', Childhood, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 455-74. Lee, N 2001a, Childhood and Society: Growing Up in an Age of Uncertainty, Open University Press, Buckingham. Moss, P, Dillon, J and Statham, J 2000, ‘The â€Å"Child in Need† and â€Å"The Rich Child†: Discourses, Constructions and Practices', Critical Social Policy, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 233-54. Nà ¤sman, E 1994, ‘Individualisation and Institutionalisation of Children', in Qvortrup, J., Bardy, M., Sgritta, G. and Wintersberger, H. (eds), Childhood Matters: Social Theory, Practice and Politics, Avebury, Aldershot. Prout, A 2000a, ‘Control and Self-Realisation in Late Modern Childhoods', Special Millenium Edition of Children and Society, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 304-15. Zeiher, H 2001, ‘Children's Islands in Space and Time: The Impact of Spatial Differentiation on Children's Ways of Shaping Social Life', in du Bois-Reymond, M., Sunker, H. and Kruger, H.-H. (eds), Childhood in Europe: Approaches – Trends – Findings, Peter Lang, New York. Zeiher, H. (2002) ‘Shaping Daily Life in Urban Environments', in Christensen, P. and O'Brien, M. (eds), Children in the City: Home, Neighbourhood and Community, London: Falmer Press.         

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

Environmental analysis - Essay Example Taking into consideration the facts, stated above this article seeks to discuss the business environment and will focus more on environmental analysis and its importance to every business organization. Several experts and scholars have come up with various definitions of environmental analysis. Environmental analysis, according to Marketing Intelligence (nd), involves studying the organization’s environment with an aim of pinpointing the environmental factors that impact the operations of the organization significantly. While some scholars prefer to divide the business environment into three major categories (operating, internal, and general environment), most experts prefer to categorize the business environment into two; the internal and external environments. Environmental factors may work for or against the business and hence they must be accorded due consideration if the business must remain in business according to Armstrong (1996). There have been developed quite a number of business environmental analysis techniques by several different scholars and organizations. Some of these techniques include PESTLE, SWOT, MOST, CATWOE, Five Whys, De Bono 6Hat, MoSCoW, and VPEC-T among others. However, the most common techniques commonly used include SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis. During a SWOT analysis, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization are considered according to Hill and Westbrook (1997). The strengths of the organization include its competitive advantages, while its weaknesses are those aspects that it needs to improve on. Opportunities are those openings that the organization has for potential growth while the threats are those obstacles that it faces. A PESTLE analysis on the other hand involves the consideration of political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors that impact the organization’s performance (Marketing Intelligence, nd). The

Learning from our success and our failure Essay

Learning from our success and our failure - Essay Example He thinks that he won because nobody else deserved it, which is often not the case because the most hard working do not necessarily make it to the top. This attitude defines such an individual as a selfish, proud, and morally degraded person. On the contrary, let’s suppose an individual who becomes more thankful to God upon becoming successful in achieving his goal. His success makes him more down-to-earth and modest. Instead of thinking of himself as a superior being, he guides others so that they can also achieve their goals. Success of such an individual defines him as a thankful, caring, and modest person. Now let’s consider the cases of failures. Let’s suppose an individual who fails to achieve his goal. He becomes so dishearted that he gives up and never tries again. Such attitude would define this individual as an impatient person who is also not very hard working. On the contrary, let’s consider an individual who fails to achieve his goal but does not give up until he finally achieves it. This person would be defined as a determined, focused, and hard working person. People’s tendency to learn from their successes and failures varies from one person to another. Some people learn from their successes and failures whereas others never learn any lesson. However, the tendency of an individual to learn from his/her failures is more compared to his/her tendency to learn from his/her successes. This is because of the fact that when an individual fails, he/she tries to identify the factors that caused him/her to fail if he/she is wise. Identification of these factors makes this individual learn a lesson. On the other hand, successes are just celebrated and many people become so overwhelmed with the joy of success that they do not care to learn a lesson from it. However, there are always some wise people who reflect upon their experiences to identify the strategies and

The Quality Movement Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Quality Movement - Article Example Others define quality on bases of facilities in the hospital like vehicles (ambulance), scanning machines and other health care equipments (Hickey and Brosnan, 2012). In respect to MGH, quality is the ability and efforts made by professional to provide health care services to individuals with an aim of achieving the desired outcome through application of the current professional knowledge. MGH is determined to provide the combination of patient care services that optimise the health of the surrounding population. MGH is also determined to provide an effective, efficient care of high quality to the patients all the time (Massachusetts General Hospital, 2015). MGH monitors outcome by assessing the effects of the health care provided to patients and population. The hospital monitors the ability and efforts made to diagnose, treat and prevent health problems. MGH views the monitoring process as the bottom line since it gives an evaluation of the quality (Institute of Medicine, 2001). MGH performs condition specific approach in which professionals examines the outcome or end results of an individual in a certain diagnosis. The hospital also performs generic approach in which it monitors outcomes like patient satisfaction, mortality and change in status (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2011). Related Data in MGH is collected by use of questionnaires filled in by patients and members of public. The patients respond to questions about the services obtained in the hospital. The patients also rate the hospital’s service. The forms filled by patients are then checked by the department of research in order to understand the areas to improve and note the hospital’s weakness (Institute of Medicine, 2001). Technologically, MGH has advanced because it utilizes the use of new technology in service provision. The hospital fills patient’s data in computer unlike other hospital which uses hard copy papers

Virus paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Virus paper - Essay Example The smallest are barely larger than ribosomes or other internal structures found inside normal cells; the largest (e.g., variola) are almost the size of small bacteria. Some viruses can be detected under a sophisticated light microscope, but for most only an electron microscope will serve. For generations, therefore, even the best scientists were essentially guessing about the structure, nature, and functioning of viruses, entities they could observe only indirectly (Bookchin and Schumacher 68). The first actual sighting of a variola virus-the first virus of any sort so visualized-came in 1947, under an electron microscope. The smallpox virus capsid is often described as ellipsoid or brick shaped. Many viruses, including variola, are often enveloped, with the capsid housed inside an outer membrane made of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids, which provides, in the case of variola, an overall spherical appearance (Imperato 390). The infection process begins when a virus approaches a t arget cell; forcible entry into the cell may then be accomplished in several different ways. Some antibacterial viruses mechanically drill a hole in the cell's outer structure and inject the viral DNA through it, much like the operation of a hypodermic syringe, with the now empty capsid remaining outside. Viruses that afflict plants often enter passively through a microtear in the cell wall (Imperato 390). The defenses that the human body-and modern medicine-erect against many other types of infections are often less effective against viruses. But viruses pose exceptional challenges to the immune system. Some of these aggressors undergo very frequent mutation, altering the external configuration of those glycoproteins, and thereby fooling or evading the antibodies (Strohman 169). Dear Granny the main problem is that scientists have not yet come to conclusion concerning a question whether viruses are alive or dead. On the one hand, a virus is nature's ultimate parasite: it is incapable, by itself, of undertaking the usual array of biological functions. It cannot produce or consume energy, move, grow, or reproduce without first invading a living cell and usurping the host's internal mechanisms. For this reason, many scientists do not consider variola or any other virus to be truly alive, even in the sense that other simple microorganisms, from bacteria to rickettsia (another family of infectious microorganisms) are considered so (Strohman 169). Other authorities would, perhaps more generously, consider viruses to be minimal "living organisms". At the same time, there is surely something about a virus that makes it different from a conglomeration of inert chemicals. It has at least a kind of life potential, a dormant biological presence, that is undeniable. The recent discovery of categories of even smaller, and even less lifelike, infective entities has further obscured the question of deriving a meaningful definition of life (Strohman 169). Prions, proteinlike particles devoid of any nucleic acid, have been implicated in a variety of degenerative brain diseases, such as scrapie in sheep, mad cow disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, although their precise operational mechanisms are still unknown. Viroids are a cluster of similar plant-invading creatures, containing a snippet of RNAbut none of the other

Environment analysis of Germany and Expansion of BYD Co., Ltd 03013 Essay - 1

Environment analysis of Germany and Expansion of BYD Co., Ltd 03013 - Essay Example The Third section is based on the recommendations of market entry strategy, and Section four includes marketing mix. The last section is based on the conclusion. Environmental factors have a huge impact on businesses; therefore, organization before taking start conducts the environmental analysis. Firm that are involved in systematic environmental assessment is more effective than those that do not conduct or analyze the environment. Environmental analysis is the study of factors that make impact on business and helps in identifying the opportunities for the organization and guide organizations to take actions that are appropriate in order to have the full advantage of opportunity (Jain, Trehan and Trehan 2009).Environment analysis can be divided into two segments macro and micro. The best common tool that is used to conduct the macro environmental analysis is PESTLE analysis (Bensoussan and Fleisehr 2012). 1) In Germany political conditions are in favor of the automobile industry, the government has policy to support the car industry through funding. In 2013, according to the estimates, the government made $1303 funding on per vehicle produced (The Conservation 2013). 2) The Country has policy to give a political response to the industry in case of crisis. For example, in response to 2008 crisis, a significant downturn in the European market by 11% was encountered; in response to the downturn, Germany introduced several scraping schemes that helped in increasing the demand of cars (OECD 2009). 3)The Governmenthad significant policies to encourage the electro-mobility initiatives and had introduced a â€Å"national electro-mobility development program† with more than 500 million euro investment (Germany Trade & Invest 2013). 4) The Government has policies to invest in new technologies and committed to spending EUR 70 billion on research and development on annual basis. Germany is the

Apples Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Apples Strategic Management - Essay Example This study outlines that the company has exhibited growth, focusing on high-quality products. This paper will discuss the industry conditions in which the Apple Company operates and highlight its position in the market as well as the outstanding strategies. The electronics, phone, and computer industry is highly competitive. Numerous dominant economic characteristics determine the level of profitability in the industry. Some of these characteristics include the market size, which has been increasing in the recent years leading to more customers. Initially, the industry did not have many companies. However, there have been a remarkable number of companies in the industry recently. There is a high level of competitive rivalry because many of the products have similar features and each company is struggling to produce differentiated products. Technology and innovation cannot receive any form of underestimation in this industry because they determine the rate of launching new products in to the market. The market is full of technologically perceptive customers, a factor that compels the companies in the industry to invest in innovation. Moreover, the industry requires a high level of capital and immense investment in research and development. Other economic factors critical in this industry include scale economics, learning and experience defects. A combination of these economic factors determines the profitability in the industry. There is competition in the phone industry between existing firms such as Apple, Samsung, Nokia, and other emerging companies. On the other hand, the computer industry has competing firms such as Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard (HP), and IBM. There is minimal chance that new entrants will emerge considering the numerous barriers that exist in the industry. For example, a high level of capital is mandatory for any entrants into the industry.

Niki Caros Whale Rider - An analysis in relation to journeys Essay Example for Free

Niki Caros Whale Rider An analysis in relation to journeys Essay The inner journey is one which involves the hurdling of psychological barriers, as well as cultural and social obstacles, rather than just a physical trek. The novel Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe and the film Whale Rider (2002) by Niki Caro both address the overcoming of emotional boundaries, while following the progress of the main characters. Issues such as cultural differences and gender equality are presented by the composers through the clever use of devices appropriate to the medium, while using the post-colonial context to accentuate these issues. Similar to Things Fall Apart, the film Whale Rider by Niki Caro explores the breakdown of Maori culture in post-colonial New Zealand. It follows the journeys of Pai, a young girl, and Koro, her grandfather, who both seek to uphold and preserve the Maori tradition, which has been negatively influenced by the European culture. During the film, Pai transforms from an unwanted child to the new village leader, while challenging the Maori customs through her curiosity, for example when she learns the sacred art of the taiaha. Koro, who disapproves of her actions, smashes a cup in his anger. Koros wife, Flowers, reprimands him, saying, You might be the boss out there, but Im the boss in this kitchen. Caro is addressing the gender barrier which exists in the Maori culture, an obstacle which Pai overcomes in her journey. Despite being reprimanded by Koro, Pai still retains great love for him, as seen in her speech on her ancestors, where she dedicates her words to Koro. The initial long shot places emphasis on Pai, while the camera is positioned at a low-angle, suggesting that she has gained authority and leadership. This scene symbolises one of the many emotional hurdles she has had to overcome in her inner journey. Moreover, her catharsis can be related to Okonkwos moments of compassion, thus highlighting the similarity between their journeys. Similar to Okonkwo, Koro progresses on a journey, beginning at the height of power, with Caro using several symbols to signify this, such as the whale tooth. The use of sombre music and close-up shots of Koro in the scene where he loses the tooth emphasises his sorrow. In the following scene, Caro  employs dark lighting to highlight Koros melancholy, while he strokes the staff, symbolising that it is his last shred of authority. Pais voiceover informs the audience on Koros plea for help and indicates a shift in power and authority as Pai begins to assume her role as leader, But they werent listening, so I tried. Koros discovery of the whales allows him to undergo an epiphany and continue on his journey. Caro has positioned the event during the night, with its dark connotations enhancing the negative atmosphere of the scene. Furthermore, Koros staff is washed away, symbolising that he has lost all of his power. Koro later realises the error of his ways and acknowledges Pai as their leader, Wise leader, forgive me. I am just a fledgling new to flight. Koros epiphany is thus one of the greatest differences between the two texts, as he is able to surpass the greatest obstacle in his journey and move forward, whereas Okonkwo is unable to change, leading to his death. Works Cited: Whale Rider. Directed by Niki Caro (2003). [Film]The Whale Rider. Ihimaera, Witi (2003)

Centralia No. 5 Essay Example for Free

Centralia No. 5 Essay The obvious problem with Centralia No. 5 is that an explosion killed 111 people. However, prior to the actual explosion, the problem is less obvious, especially since Centralia No. 5 was similar to so many mines that did not explode. In this analysis, I will examine the possible roles and responsibilities of Driscoll O. Scanlan, the mine inspector, given the corruption of modern administrative enterprises prior to the accident. From this perspective, the perspective of a public official in the field, the problem is that a potential danger exists and the regulatory machinery in place to address the danger is ineffective. As an expert, Scanlan recommended that the mine be dusted with non-explosive, pulverized stone to diminish the possibility of the coal dusts exploding. However, his expert advice alone was not enough to motivate a response. History The chronology of the case shows a progression of appropriate action within the existing law and according to organization or bureaucratic norms. On an organiza ¬tional level, the players include the State of Illinois, the U.S. Government, the Centralia Coal Company, the United Mine Workers of America, and the miners themselves, who could hardly be said to have been well represented by any of the others. Beginning in 1941, Scanlans reports of excessive coal dust in the Centralia No. 5 mine were sent to Robert Medill, the Director of the Department of Mines and Minerals, and handled as routine by Robert Weir, the Assistant to the Director. All three positions were appointed by the Governor, Dwight H. Green. Also in 1941, the U.S. Bureau of Mines began making inspections of mines. The first inspection of Centralia No. 5 was in September 1942. However, only the State of Illinois had any power to enforce compliance, and reports from the Bureau there ¬fore had primary significance as further documentation in the hands of the Department of Mines and Minerals and the Governor. Scanlans reports were forwarded to the Centralia Coal Company, owned by Bell Zoller, with a letter requesting that the Company comply with the inspectors recommendations. Needless to say, the Coal Company did not comply, which is predictable given the lack of any attempt to enforce the requests and the high demand during the war. The mine workers eventually began working  through Local Union No. 52, led by William Rowekamp, recording secretary. Throughout the course of events, the mine workers sent correspondence to the State of Illinois, at first to Medill and then directly to the Governor. The letters consistently and emphatically requested attention to the danger present in the mine as documented by Scanlans extensive reports. The seriousness of the situation seemed to fade within the bureaucratic and political routine within the Department of Mines and Minerals. Alternatives Scanlan was faced with several logistical alternatives, but the motivations behind action were of two sorts. As I said before, all of the players followed paths of appropriate action within the existing law and according to organizational or bureaucratic norms. The only exception, perhaps, was the Centralia Coal Company. But the coal company clearly recognized a difference between a routine infraction and a serious infraction, at least as it concerned the correspondence from the Department of Mines and Minerals, and they had no indication that Scanlans reports on Centralia No. 5 were anything unusual. Scanlans performance was no exception. He did precisely what was required of him by his position. Even the Department itself complied with the letter of the law. Because the Director of the Department of Mines and Minerals has some discretion, it is not a requirement of law that every technically enforceable infraction actually be enforced. This is a matter of judgment. Scanlan was clearly motivated by attention to law and bureaucratic norms, but he was also pulled by an obvious obligation to the public welfare, in this case the miners lives at Centralia No. 5. The problem confronting Scanlan was not so much a moral conflict as the need to recognize that compliance with his designated role was inadequate as a response, both as public official and as expert, to the greater responsibility to the public. And because Scanlans reports were extensive and thorough, including every infraction, he had a responsibility to make sure that the decision makers understood the gravity of the danger, perhaps by highlighting the more serious problems. However, given that the system failed to recognize the danger, there were two possible paths of action: (1) work within the system, possibly in ways beyond the designated role of mine inspector; or (2) work outside the system and mobilize public concern, through the union or otherwise. There is a sense in which staying  within the system would preserve Scanlans conformity with legal and organizational norms while still addressing the public welfare. However, there is ample evidence that the organizational players would be unresponsive or at least politically difficult. Solution I think that Scanlan could have effected a response within the system, although he would certainly have had to abandon a passive stance. First, the obligation to the general welfare clearly trumps any mere compliance with organizational norms and in this case the spirit of the law, never mind the letter of the law, is in the name of such general welfare. Second, the role of mine inspectors is to police the mine operators. This could be construed as a responsibility to report infractions and leave enforcement to the Director of the Department. However, because the Director allows his subordinates to handle so much of the routine, it seems reasonable to expect the inspectors to handle cases like Centralia No. 5 more pro-actively. Third, there is a responsibility left on Scanlans shoulders as an expert and a professional. His technical expertise allows him to distinguish apparent and real dangers. And because his role in the field puts him in close proximity to the mines, he is perhaps the only individual with such responsibility in a situation where serious problems are apparent. Costs/Benefits The costs for Scanlan are evident. Because his position is a political patronage job, any aggressive pursuit of his responsibilities runs the risk of getting him removed from his position. Of course, this is as much a matter of how one negotiates the political terrain as of what one is trying to accomplish. I have no doubt that interesting correspondence, emphasizing the prudence of avoiding deaths in the mines, could have been sent to Governor Green, with the assistance and political experience of the Director of the Department of Mines and Minerals, of course. Even if Scanlan loses his job, the clear benefits are 111 lives. There are hidden benefits as well, though. By generating a relationship with the Director and the Governor, Scanlan is creating a mechanism for handling this sort of issue—a sort of policy formation from below. Given that Centralia No. 5 appears no  different from the other mines, this may be the more pressing issue anyway.

The Convergence Of Television Networking Media Essay

The Convergence Of Television Networking Media Essay The long-indicated convergence of broadcast TV and internet is reaching a tipping point. Viewing TV text via internet has changed PC savvy TV viewers expectation dramatically. The rise in synchronized use of internet and TV has resulted in a unique off screen and on screen relationship of users with TV content (Grady, 2010). Gradys view of Television describes onscreen engagement of audience with online TV content and off screen interaction amidst peers and friends that Jenkins (2006) terms as water cooler conversations. The onscreen and off screen experience together brings the sociability factor among viewers that supports the water cooler conversation. TV cultivates sociability in many ways (Lull: 1990) for instance, TV plays a vital role in constructing and maintaining interpersonal relationship amongst family and social units. Likewise, when TV content is viewed on websites and other networking sites, it sparks sociability amongst users that influence users to react in numerous ways. For instance, Spoiler fandom of TV shows Survivors was one of the forms of users that used sociability to spoil the show. Although, fandom is not the only form practiced on networking sites, but many more that influences users to build a community around a specific TV content. Online TV content cultivates sociability in networked communities and gives a platform to practice Mc Luhans (1874) living room experience. But online sociability has charted changes in traditional concept of TV and audience. As Fiske (1987: 63-4) states revaluation of viewer requires a revaluation of text. Hence such a convergence needs to be studied in context to dramatic changes in TV industry such as changes in production, distribution and content management. This section of my literature review highlights dramatic changes in TV and TV entry in a post network era. The section also makes a general understanding about TV culture and TV (content) flow. A separate section discusses proliferation of TV text across social networking sites and social use of technology with relevance to online viewing. 1.3.1 Television Concepts Fiske (1987:1) defines TV, a bearer/provoker of meanings and pleasures, and of culture as the generations and circulation of variety of meanings and pleasures within the society. TV as culture is deeply interwoven in our society that it persistently produces and reproduces; meanings and pleasures and their distribution influences audience to behave in a desired way. Meanings are interpreted differently by audience and are part of flow of TV that are experienced by viewers ( Fiske: 1987,15). Audiences are makers of meaning; consume TV text as readers that are capable of producing meanings and pleasure with respect to socio-cultural frameworks ( Fiske: 1987,17). Therefore, to understand audience, TV needs to be understood as culture and a flow that extends meanings and pleasures to meaning makers in social structures. TV as Culture Culture is complex and difficult to understand, it signifies set of values acquired by set of social groups that results in patterned behavior. Theorist like Richard Hoggart (1957), Raymond William (1958) and EP Thompson (1968) has contributed much to the concept of culture. Hall Jefferson (1976, hall.et.al) states, culture is multi-faceted and plural that contains element from past and layers within it. A culture is a culmination of past and present that shapes existing ideas and insights in a society. Culture is diverse, versatile and contains popular forms of dominant culture in a society (Matthew, 1869). As Turner, explains culture is part of our lives that are so powerful and unquestioned that it almost goes invisible and unnoticed (Turner, 1990). Similarly TV and its text has become integral part of our culture that induces viewers to become readers. Television, its content and the industry forms significant aspects of our culture that affects social structures in many ways. TV has become one of the primary forms of culture in most industrialized society (Kompare, 2002). TV as flow Williams (1958) determines flow; a technology and a cultural form. Flow in context to TV, refers to the movement from one program to other or from one segment to the other. Network channels (producers) hold audience via flow of TV text from one interesting segment to another interesting segment making flow continuous. Kompare (2002) explains flow, a broadcasting property that constitutes the overall experience of broadcasting on the minds of audience. Network channels use flow as a strategy to overcome gaps created by commercials and public message; to grab the attention of audience to fill up those gaps and breaks by moving to another program or a segment of a program making viewing experience as effortless endless experience. Gaps are the visible characteristics that define television experience. Williams (1958) believed gaps are not mere gaps but are planned breaks that happens because of interaction between television and audience, he termed it as planned flow. Flow relates to th e appointment based television that involves audience to experience, TV as an endless narrative flow that intensify their continuity. Continuity engages and sustains audience that results in economic exchange, gratifying needs of network channels (advertisers) and audience. Engagement with TV results in cultural capital where as financial front releases economic capital that is necessary for TV to function as culture good andeconomic good. Flow is an essential concept for the growth and survival of TV as culture in a social structure. John Ellis, John Fiske, Jane Feuer, Richard Dinest, John corner and many others have challenged the operations that Williams described in the process of contributing to the formation of discursive field of flow (Urichho, 2004). Corner (2003) argues flow is a pessimistic discourse of TV culture that disregards television characteristics as a diverse medium. Ellis (1982) discusses the scheduling of different genres of programs that are organized in a TV network should be focus of study. His argument focuses on schedule (time) other than programs (flow) as determined by Williams and emphasizes how a different genre of programs gets fit into scheduling of television by organization of time is more relevant than movement from program to program. His way of determining flow underlines the concept of audience that engage themselves in different ways, provided what has been offered to them. This signifies not only how time handles text but how time passage in the text has imbrications on the life who viewed a particular content. Thus, time is an important factor in the study of TV flow. Flow to be understood in present TV culture, it needs to be studied in relation to current advancement in technologies and new digital systems that has converged different mediums at a single platforms. With introduction of converging technologies, so called mass communication mediums , including TV does not always flow ( Kompare : 2002). TV has come long way from traditional form of viewing TV text that was time based and continuous. New media offers content as flexible package than continuous narrative wiping away factors such as when, where and how that has charted changes in the identity of television as culture. Urichho (2004) sketches flow, a fundamental shift in the interface between television and viewer and so in the viewing experience. He describes flow as an interface and explains how the introduction of metadata system and filter technologies has resulted into a new kind of interaction that suggests TV has entered to a new phase. New devices have provided tools to capture television text and produce ways of asynchronous viewing that has altered the interaction of medium with the culture in many ways (Lotz: 2007:35). New mechanism to view varied TV text has charted changes in the concept of flow making it flexible and malleable. The current phase shows us deepening convergence of technologies at single platform and TVs shift from broadcasting to other modes of carriage like VOD, cable, satellite has given an opportunity to distribute content to wider platforms that reaches beyond the audience of broadcast TV. Recent BARB figures of 2009 indicated that most of the people in UK, recorded the first episode of fifth series of Lost (Guardian, 2009). The distribution of TV text to various alternative carriers has affected TV, its identity and TV as a cultural form. TV as culture is transformed by recurring changes in its components such as TV text, changing preferences of audience, advancement in technologies and network channels stance to produce relevant content in accordance with socio-cultural frameworks. For instance, a popular broadcasting network like BBC or CBS when started uploading programs on their websites, audience discussion rise from dinning room to virtual communities, effecting culture in a different way. As discussed, Television is still evolving; its identity is unstable (not fixed). Its difficult to define what television is and what it will be in near future and what changes it will pose to the culture. Urichho (2004) discusses the difficulties approaching TV as he cites Heath (1998; Urichho : 2004,165) who states increasing inadequacy of existing terms and standards of analysis bounds TV with a specific bound of representation, a certain coherence of object and understanding TV in a complex social-political-individual meaning. TV as flow has been transformed by everyday technologies, economy and by network channels posing specific bearing on culture. To conclude, flow is an essential concept for the growth of television as a culture in a society. Although, many scholars has interpreted flow in different ways, but the concept of flow remains vital to the critical understanding of the medium. . 1.3.2 The changing television The convergence of broadcast model and broadband has defeated traditional appointment based television and has produced a new avatar of the medium. The series of transformation in the medium has changed television over the time, changes in terms of distribution of TV content across different media platforms due to technological convergence and changes in TV content to gratify entertainment needs of varied niche social sets of audience. The broadcasting model in no terms can be stated as single technological medium, thereby affecting social and cultural practices that have grown around the medium over the time (Askwith: 2003). Mc Luhans( 1978) living room experience refers to the culmination of social experiences among family members (audience) lasting an evening. When TV became a product of convergence culture, TV audience discovered new ways to engage with TV content via internet, mobile phones and I phones. Personal computers when added to techno mix convergence; TV audience got a platform to expand their social experiences across variety of channels and engaged themselves with TV content as never before. Loyal viewers used these platforms to contemplate about and discuss varied things about TV content such as characters, plots, locations etc resulting in a never ending collective intelligence (Jenkins: 2000) that engage users in different ways across different social platforms. The distribution of TV text to different channels (mediums) and platforms has designed content as malleable packages in accordance to varied media outlets. Jenkins (2000: 95) describes such a phenomenon as transmedia storytelling, as he explains TV content in the present era is more of a story telling experience involving viewers in different ways. He discusses about popular media franchises such as the matrix, Harry potter, Star Wars and states that such media content are entertainment for convergence age that integrates multiple texts to form a single narrative where each text lays its own individuality and originality. In other words, a transmedia content when unfolds to different media outlet, each text (medium) should be able to contribute solely to respective media franchise, for instance in Matrix a film offers a more immediate rapport with audience where as matrix game would involve players in much different way as experienced in film. Thus it reveals that each medium has got different characteristics and engage audience in different ways. Distribution of TV text across different channels gives rise to new experiences and new ways of engagement with the medium. Not only changes in modes of distribution have contributed much to the changed broadcast model of TV, but also its content has transformed over the years. Mapplebleck (1998) describes a general shift from general formats of TV shows such as current affairs, daily show to a more factually based light entertainment programs. This shift was a direct result of changes in culture -media and popular culture, and the space shared by media and social publics. Although, network channels produce TV text in accordance with the entertainment needs of the audience, but experiments on new ideas and concepts play a vital role in gratifying entertainment needs of existent audience and grabbing new audience. The biggest implication of convergence has been the distribution of national identity content to global media markets thereby removing the boundaries of exclusivity and availing content on multiple channels has resulted in cross-cultural interaction ( Jenkins : 2000). Indian Idol much on the lines of American Idol (reality show on Sony TV India) has become a hybrid format in many countries, with a tint of socio-cultural frameworks practiced at each place. Such experiments with the broadcast model have lifted audience from the monotonous everyday routine soap operas to range of interesting formats that are completely new to them. This phenomena has been described as a shift towards first person media (Dovey: 2000) and a post documentary culture (Corner: 2000). With changes in content, there have been major changes in the production techniques to engage audience at different levels of pre production, production and post production. New production practices with TV literate fans have fo stered changes in the way fiction series construct story world (Scones: 2008:67). Sometime various textual strategies are employed for a direct interaction between producers and audience to build rapport with audience. Network channels apply strategies like distribution of content to various platforms, content management and changes in production techniques to engage audience in different ways at different levels, for instance, CBS has become the most viewable network by telecasting some formulaic crime and drama series like survivors and early days of CSI (Lotz: 2007:215). Jenkins (2000:25) adds Survivor is a TV for internet age-designed to be discussed dissected, debated, predicted and critiqued. Survivors (reality show on CBS) brings a new lively format where contestants competes in side the show and show lovers (audience/fandom) competes outside as spoilers to leak the information inside out. The transformation in TV content has affected audience activities and engagement with the medium in numerous ways, moving to a lean forward approach other than sit back approach as practiced by passive audience (Urichho: 2004). Fiske (1987:73) confronts the concept of TV audience as passive consumers and states; television audience might be incapable of influencing the content of TV programs, but the involvement with medium requires significant forms of audience engagement, such as individual viewer interpret TV text in accordance with socio-cultural frameworks to construct meanings to the text, social viewers (set of social group ex family, friends) that discuss TV text with friends and peers to find shared meanings and insights of cultural significance. Corner (1999) explains the pleasure of para-sociability, the enjoyment and excitement we derive from discussing TV content, Jenkins (2000) terms those discussion as water cooler conversation, a natural desire to discuss, express and exchange ideas. However, varied content appears on living room screen and all must not be relevant to an individual or a set of social group. Content must do more than to appear on TV to distinguish itself for better cultural relevance. ( Lotz, 2007:35). She suggests phenomenal TV that lays on the foundation of selected themes and topics that appears on multiple or varied outlet. Programs that achieve special conversation and break the cluttered media are relevant; they gain attention by word of mouth and resonates culture in many ways. As discussed in this section TV has come long way from traditional broadcast model and activities such as distribution, malleable content and changes in production techniques has changed the medium and has produced a new avatar. Transmedia storytelling has distributed content at different platforms with varying technology (specific medium with specific technology ex matrix film {different technology} book {different technology}) and national identity content to be transformed and adjusted in accordance with socio-cultural framework (American Idol in US Indian Idol in India). 1.3.3 TV in the post network era L.A. Times cites post network era as age of fast food TV.(Times, 2005).As Amanda describes, Television as a medium to be organized around networks(Amanda D lotz,2007:5)Lynn spigel cites a more comprehensive phase of TV in the post network era, ( Spigel, Lynn and Olsson,2004:2) indeed, if TV refers to the technologies, industrial information, government policies and practices of looking that were associated with the medium in its classical public service and three network age, it appears we are now entering the phase that comes after TV. Lynn Spigel notes TV to be reinventing in numerous ways, new platforms, channels; multiplicity of visual text at alternative medium has given many ways to think, what TV will be? The way we are experiencing TV needs to be addressed and how we will perceive TV in future needs to be defined. The social aspects clubs with the cultural, economic and institutional aspect to define the broadcast model which vary from place to place. TV cultivates sociability in many ways, Lull (J.Lull:1990) described TV as a vital force in constructing and maintaining interpersonal relationship between family and social units interacting normatively. Antonio(2008) adds audience decodes message on the basis of their identity and background, he adds Media are hegemonic institutions that work to secure social consensus by incorporating dissent and conflict(Antonio Gramsci,2008) Lull and Antonios argument can be seen with reference to the potential social and cultural environment within the medium context, that facilitate sociability among the viewers in the post network era. Technological innovations and society as a whole have been affecting the ways and means viewers experience TV and entertainment in general. As Amanda D lotz cites websters (Amanda D lotz,2007:15) who argues programming multiplicity resulting in audience fragmentation and polarization as new media make content available at different mediums. Cable networks creat es audience loyalty by associating themselves with a kind of genre combining with old genres to niche demographics of TV(Turner, 2001:4-6). Necessary modification and adjustment in digital transition technologies has shifted TV in to a new horizon. Henry Jenkins (Henry Jenkins: 2000, Amanda D lotz :2007:7) calls it a post network era where convergence is intersecting the broadcast model and revolutionizing the society. But I argue TV is certainly not loosing its grab, but the ways and means which are employed by the viewer as in how and where to view has convoluted, how we think and understand TV. I would rather call it a hybrid medium, whose offerings are becoming unique and platforms to showcase those offerings are versatile. Though many contemporary TV scholars tried to figure out TV in the post network era, many relates it to a cultural experience others technology. William Urichhio, maps broad changes in TV technology from old TV console to smart TVsystem. (Urichhio,2008:163) . Michael Curtin relates TV on more cultural grounds and argues that TV needs to be studied cross culturally to understand how TV has evolved in different cultural, economical, and industrial and regulatory conditions.( Michael Curtin,2008:272-275). The entire culture to view TV has been transformed. During the network era (before post network), sources were scarce and no alternative ways were available to receive TV content other than the network channels. With the emergence of the post network era, the restricted access reduced and more options got available to choose from. Technical innovations ranging from recording programs on DVD to downloading videos has brought up a change, with new ways of distribution. Networks delivered content irrespective of what, when and where at a minimal cost resulted a revolutionized way to view content. Lynn Spigel notes changes in programming and sponsorship are met with similar changes in the entire culture of watching TV.(lynn Spigel,2008:5).Jenkins transmedia storytelling, explains TV content is so designed that appear on various media outlet subjects for a flexible consumption (Henry Jenkins,2000:25). Convergence among TV, phones , social platforms offered at internet, presents a limitles s expansion of television presence by enabling reception of TV content almost anywhere. (Amanda D lotz,2007:50). Social platforms such as daily motion and you tube has redefined the role of networks by harnessing online video content. You Tube, when launched streamed about 35 millions video a day and drew the double size of audience (Los angles times.com:2006). As Amnda T Lotz cites Adam Berry, VP of bright cove, who explains online videos as treasures, its not only meant to watch your favorite shows, but to watch whole bunch of stuff which you havent seen. (Amanda D lotz,2007:137). Convergence culture(2000) proposed by Henry Jenkins offers distribution of national identity content for global distribution limiting the boundaries of exclusivity resulting in availability of visual text on multiple platforms and resultant trans media culture. TV in the post network era has offered flexibility in what, when and where to view and has opened up a vast arena to the audience, to practice TV viewing in different ways. TV text fuels a dominant way of thinking among its viewers; it communicates social beliefs and value of the society. I argue TV reincarnates with every technology, with every effort of Network/TV channel content to present diverse text across globe; making it available at different medium and viewers to make sense of visual text within the context of social, economic and cultural condition. The three elements which I described above; technology, Producers and viewers, moves in a cycle and has set the conditions for POST NETWORK era. 1.3.4Network/TV channel content on social network Social element might not be new to TV as J. Lull says, TV cultivates sociability in many ways (J.Lull:1990). But the concept of watching network/TV channel content online on social platforms has added a new social paradigm to television studies. Experiencing TV text with other functional tools embedded in social software like voice chat, peer ratings and integration with social media (networking sites) has engaged viewers in a unique innovative way. In past, many ethnographic researches have shown that people enjoy watching television as a part of socializing in groups. According to an ethnographic research conducted by Lora Oehlberg, Nicolas Ducheneaut, James D. Thornton, Robert J. Moore, Eric Nickell (2006), TV can foster multiple forms of sociability. To analyze the patterns of interaction of TV text, they categorized TV sociability as : direct (e.g. when chatting with friends and family while watching network channel content) or indirect (e.g. when discussing previously viewed programs). Mc luhans (1874) global village conveys the sense of synchronicity created by the electronic medium(TV radio) and the living room,he depicts an event where Television is ON, so as the sharing and continuous participation of members of living room, who discuss, debate and experience TV text in many ways. Mc Luhans(1874) global village highlights two factors that has formed the basis for communication in the current age: sociability in groups and simultaneity between the group and the medium. The idea of sociability and simultaneity in the internet age is same, what has changed is the positioning of participants and members, which has introduced complexities in the current communication process. Castells(2000) visionary idea of culture of real virtuality, explains this phenomenon better in which he explains we are not living in a global village, but in customized cottages globally produced and locally distributed. (Castells 2000: 370). Kitchen(1998) cites that one of the major outcome of internet is the interactivity of online relations based on reception of TV text. (Kitchen,1998:15). Henry Jenkins(2006) explains in convergence culture television provides fodder for so called water cooler conversations and online forums offer an opportunity for participants to share knowledge and expression (as original;Henry Jenkins, 2006:21). TV content leverage and integrate the wisdom of social networking, the combination of duo has resulted into a new type of interactive, participative and user-directed environment. Jenkins cites young people, forming communities using popular (social) media to expand their collective wisdom and from many types of publics (groups) to interact in an innovative unpredictable ways. For instance, in his very first chapter he takes us to the secret world of spoiling survivors, where he outlines the impact of reception of TV show survivors. He analyzes survivors fandom interaction with spoilers of the show calling it collective intelligence in practice.(Henry Jenkins, 2006:28).As he cites Pierre Levy who argues that one person might not know everything, everyone knows something that can bring some relevance to the discussion and leads to participation. (Henry Jenkins, 2006:26). In another case study, Jenkins(2006) discuss American Idol (a reality TV show made for audience participation). He cites participation in such communities not only leads to brand affiliation but empowers a control to assert their demands, which influences the show to move forward.( Henry jenkins:2006:80). American Idol popularity shows us the diversified context adopted by the network/TV channel producers to shape the programming and distribution to suit the consumption patterns of consumers. This reminds me of Derek Compare(2002) who says media content comes as malleable packages other than a seamless continuous narratives. The kind of changes introduced in programming gives a platform for interactivi ty and participation. Analyzing interactivity and participation jenkins writes, Interactivity refers to the ways that new technologies have been designed to be more responsive to consumer feedbackParticipation, on the other hand, is shaped by the cultural and social protocols (Henry Jenkins, 2006:137). So, the creators (content producers) decide interactivity, and users (content consumers) may interact with what is given where as participation allows users to become creators and consumers of the content. In this way both network operators and non network players create and capture value while dramatically changing how consumers interact about TV text on social platforms. With the rise of social platforms and new technological innovation, TV is changing. How we are experiencing TV is also transforming with introduction of online virtual communities (social publics) accessed by personal devices like mobile phone, I phones etc. Social publics form communities that extend beyond friends and peers, neighborhood, cities, countries, and across the continents. As Natalie Klym and Marie Jose Montpetit(2008:2) cites Robet putman(2000), who explains the phenomenon of social as a function of consuming and engaging in amusing activities in public spaces experiencing TV as Mc Luhans(1874) living room experience. Personalization of media device leads to granulation of media space where publics practice Mc Luhans(1874) living room experience on castells(2000) social morphology of networks. Putmans(2000) idea of social engagement contributes well to the TV experience on social networks and explains how individualization of technology enables contacts on social media. Emerging social platforms like joost , Hulu and many other embeds functional features like blogs, discussion forum , chat session and program rating to make online videos more meaningful and interactive. Facebook, orkut and Myspace has recently added video applications to adjust and adapt with more user generated environment. As Natalie Klym and Marie Jose Montpetit(2008:7) adds social network becomes a virtual operator performing a customized and personalized programming habits based on what a user or a community may like. For example, you tube automatically share an individual ratings, favorites, and more on Face book, Twitter, and Google Reader with YouTube Autoshare. (You tube). You Tube, a user generated social platform has grown accustomed to watch video on personal devices. Personal devices are paired and networked and results in a global virtual community, where every individual is interacting with every other. In this sense, personal devices (PC, laptop, I phone) etc and its personalization can be viewed as the foundation of new way to access TV content. Though still at early stage, but this new frontier of TV is evolving at a very faster pace and needs to be researched more. 1.3.5 Technology and social framework Technology has transformed the way, TV is today. Not only the structure, but TV as a medium, culture, industry has lot been changed since its inception. Though, TV has a long standing history with reference to technology; but my area of study concentrates on contemporary social technological innovations and models appropriate for understanding Tv text in relation to social media. Technology in simple terms: is by the people and for the people. As, Liela Green (2002:3) suggests that society is responsible for the development and deployment of particular technologies. Social determinism counters the notion of technology determinism and states society develops technology for the benefit and progress of human kind. I agree to Liela greens view and present an account Mc luhans technological determinism theory to mark the flaws that disturbs the ways in which society and technology interact. The appeal and problems can be viewed in light of a technological determinism theory by Mcluhan(Mc,luhans,1964) where he attempted to explore how culture is affected through various types of media? McLuhan believed that advances in technology of a medium will lead to change in a culture (Mc luhan,1964). From this, McLuhan states that a culture is affected by a kind of medium are being employed, that can be TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. Each medium defines, it own kind of standards like, in order to get information one can turn on TV, which is the most dominant form and can easily be absorbed by ear and eyes where as obtaining news over the Internet on the other hand can make the process complicated for those who are not computer literate. And in that case, if a person cannot translate experiences into the conscious then those experiences will be repressed and the message will be lost. Such was the case with, Alltop, which launched its Personalized Feed Reader. Alltop is an online magazine rack that

adventures :: essays research papers

B orn in a liberate and democratic atmosphere, I as well as people around me take freedom for granted. In our eyes, freedom is innate, coming hand in hand with the very first cry. The seeming God ¡Ã‚ ¯s truth obviates the endeavor to obtain it, thus incarnating the equality of all inscribed in the Holy Scripture, which even in some part of the world today is still Arabian nights, let alone in turbulent climate then. The period during which the author Mark Twain lived could be called tumult itself when the legal rights for Afro-Americans had not yet been granted and the antagonism to slavery was in the prime. The uprising of John Brown brought the anti-slavery campaign to its zenith, promulgating the idea to numerous blacks who were enlightened only at this time. Their resistance to the planters, namely the interior force, together with exterior one from peace-loving people contrives to emancipate tens of thousands of slaves from the claws of racial discrimination. Living in a social background as such, Mark Twain, the advocate for democracy for all, embodies his noble thoughts in the novel. Jim, the maroon, escapes from the plantation and seeks his way to Cairo where a newly impartial life can be anticipated. For him, or rather, a host of fugitive slaves like him, freedom is not like air or sunshine that is ubiquitous, but like almost a catch-22. Great efforts should be made if they are to get freedom. The road to paradise is bestrewed with brambles. Throughout his hegira, Jim wades through difficulties and setbacks now and again. The same applies to the abolition of slavery, and later the elimination of racial discrimination. There is no social progress but is at the expense of some of its components. The emancipation of black slaves undoubtedly impinged the interests of planters who reckon themselves on the cheap labor force of these slaves, so it is understandable that they bitterly oppose the Act. Apart from freedom, another central theme of the novel is friendship, which is also vital to social well-being. As the saying goes, a father is a treasure, a brother a comfort, but a friend is both. In the book, true friendship between Jim and Huck is represented on a higher level. Albeit Jim is black, Huck simply pays no attention to that. Admittedly, there were millions of anti-slavery people then, I don ¡Ã‚ ¯t bracket Huck with them.

The Iliad of Homer and Greek Heroes Essay -- essays research papers

The Iliad is an epic tale of war and hero’s within the Greek way of life. A predominant and consistent theme of honor and glory reside throughout the poem. The motivation for any Homeric Greek is glory, or â€Å"Kleos†, that is to be honored and respected among their people. Emphasis is put on living by the heroic code. Honor is essential to the Greeks and life would not be worth living without it. When a warrior or hero is advised to avoid risking their life in battle it almost drives them even further towards the deed. It is better to be killed in action rather than to live and be thought a coward. By our rational standards one would certainly not be thought a coward if they didn’t rush into battle to almost certain death, the Greeks however, live by a different set of rules, a different set of standards and a different set of goals. The objective of attaining Kleos was the centerpiece of life. Kleos could only be attained beating your opponent, it could not be won if it’s offered voluntarily or as a dowry . On the flip side of the pursuit of glory and respect, is the avoidance of shame and humility for not taking part in war or not risking your life. To be shamed in life is far, far worse than to be killed in battle. A Homeric warrior would be greatly shamed if he were to turn his back on a battle or confrontation even if he is certain that if he fights, he will die. To you and I, this seems ridiculous and outright offensive to common sense and logic but such thoughts didn’t exist in those days, it was all about glory, it was all about respect. If you ran from battle you might as well keep running because you will be looked upon as a failure, as a scab, as an embarrassment to the native land and your family. You could be disowned, you could be exiled, or you can even be killed. It’s unfortunate in fact that such high standards were placed of the hero’s in this poem. Many great men perished during the Trojan war because it was not in their wishes to conceive defeat and fall back, they had to fight to the death, it was the only way. The hero often finds himself in â€Å"kill or be killed† situations where they are fighting their opponents will and desire for glory and their loathing and unacceptability of shame. When a battle took place, it was one on one. One hero vs. another, one man and his resume of victorie... ...willingly sacrifice the chance to live a long life for the opportunity to attain Kleos and their desperate desire to avoid Shame. Burial rights are taken especially seriously in Ancient Greek times, and Hektors family would feel particular shame if he was not to be taken back to his homeland and cremated properly. They went to great length and expense to retrieve his body after Achilleus allowed it. Shame and Kleos ran their lives, and the lives of those around them. These heroes pledged to a life long ambition to bring honor to themselves and avoid any smearing of their good name. The moral values were based on this acceptance and the society adapted. There was nothing more important than these two aspects of life; it was all that was important, and all that was on the agenda. This is how the Ancient Greeks and Trojans fought this war; by the very fabric of their lives they would do what they deemed necessary to satisfy their need for glory. And thus, a select few, till this day have their name sketched in history books as great warriors, and great men. That is precisely what they hoped for, and precisely what they got. To the victor, go the spoils.