Thursday, August 27, 2020

Are humans becoming too dependent on technology

What occur if any of your gadgets slammed? These days individuals getting excessively needy of technologic they can't envision their live without innovation. We losing the capacity or readiness to thing and retain, we can't work or accomplish something on the off chance that we have not web or study, ascertain or take care of issue without PC or different gadgets. With the quick development of innovation, there has been a discussion on how we are utilizing innovation in our life. Numerous individuals believe that we are presently manhandling current gadgets to help for our own life; while others figure that utilizing innovation brings us simply beneficial things and make our life simpler. As per what I have watched and experienced, I accept that individuals, these days, have been excessively reliant on innovation What about on the off chance that you lost any of your gadgets? On the off chance that simply contemplating these situations give you nervousness, you’re not the only one. The majority of us depend such a great amount on innovation nowadays that losing it, in any event, for a day, would be incredibly badly designed, and for a few, life changing. As a general public, we have gotten substantially more reliant on the innovation available to us. For example, numerous individuals no longer remember telephone numbers in light of the fact that their PDAs have a magnificent contact list which makes that remembrance superfluous. On the off chance that these individuals didn’t have their phones in a crisis, they would not have the option to contact the individuals they would require. It’s truly conceivable that you have your husband’s number retained. It’s additionally truly conceivable that he’s recorded by name on your telephone and you haven’t the faintest thought what his number is. In the event that you lost your cellphone and the entirety of your contacts, it’s truly conceivable you’d have no clue about how to get in contact with anybody, not to mention somebody imperative to you. What's more, you can’t even find it since cellphone numbers are unlisted. On the off chance that the web is down we can't work in light of the fact that many activity in our days depend of web. I don’t think about you, yet I’ve been at employments where in the event that the Internet isn’t working, at that point work grinds to a halt. How might you work in the event that you can’t send an email, correct? Truly, I was sent home one day at my last employment in light of the fact that the Internet was down. Without a doubt, I halted to talk with an associate in transit out. What's more, during that discussion, we concocted an approach to successfully handle a business related issue. In any case, in any case, work was over for the afternoon. The reliance on the innovation is an excessive amount of that individuals are losing their capacity to think and even read as individuals have all theâ information they need on the web. Their capacity to think has been lost because of the utilization of PCs as they generally give all of us the data we need and furthermore our spelling errors can be remedied by the PCs. We additionally don’t produce our own nourishments as creations of bundled nourishments have been automated People are gradually losing those capacities and letting machines or PCs accomplish the work for them. Individuals are not, at this point required to think. Whenever presented with a troublesome or even basic issue individuals will just Google it on an iPhone and the appropriate response is found in no time. Understudies are likewise getting excessively subject to adding machines. Rather than utilizing a diagramming number cruncher to tackle complex numerical recipes, understudies go to adding machines for even straightforward computations. In spite of the fact that adding machines are significant in a developing world, it is as yet significant for educators to show understudies how to do mental math and thinking (Metz). While the facts demonstrate that innovation can generally rule our lives and it isn't phenomenal to stroll into the normal family’s house and see each sitting before a blasting TV yet on isolated electronic gadgets it can't be said that we would not get by without it. The innovation we apparently rely upon today is all generally new. Innovation is certainly valuable, and without it the world would most likely not be what it is today. From PCs the size of a fingernail to clinical headways, malignancy passings for instance have diminished by 20% over the most recent 20 years because of advancements in innovation. Innovation by and large advanced at a quickened rate in the twentieth century, a period that started with the development of planes and vehicles and finished with space transports, cell phones and remote web. Saying that we are excessively reliant on innovation is too obscure an announcement. It doesn't determine whether it alludes to people all in all or explicitly to western culture. Despite this, a unimportant 4-5% of the world’s populace possesses a PC. Taken outside of any relevant connection to the subject at hand this figure appears to be disgracefully little and it is critical to take note of that lone 30% of the world’s populace are well off enough to have a financial balance anyway it despite everything implies that about 95% of individuals get by fine and dandy with no sort of PCs at all. A considerable lot of us routinely express a desire to escape from the entirety of the innovation we experience regularly, affluent VIPs like Johnny Deep venturing to such an extreme as to purchase an island without any telephones or web. Most likely this isn't the characteristic of a race that relies totally upon this equivalent innovation forever? The facts confirm that we rely upon it, what number of us are ever without an electronic gadget in our pocket, the way that I’ve composed this on a PC is demonstration of that reality, yet I don’t figure we will ever arrive at a point where we can't get by without it. Homo sapiens have been around with in or around 250,000 years and we’ve had the web since the late twentieth century. In the event that there was a monstrous sunlight based flare in the first part of the day and you lost everything in your life that ran on a microchip how you would endure? Pretty effectively I anticipate. Individuals use innovation for playing out their family unit errands just as for fathoming even the least difficult science. The customary method of composing and sending letters is currently being supplanted with correspondence by the mobiles, messages, SMS, and so on. In the relatively recent past, our past ages got the most recent updates on their time through papers. These days, we stare at the TV or peruse the Internet for the most recent news. We additionally can't go by walking for just 50 meters. We have to go on vehicles since innovation makes us too sluggish to even think about walking for even a short separation. With each new creation, individuals become progressively reliant on innovation to think for them. It is difficult to see the world without the pervasive mobile phone, PC, and mp3 player. What's more, it would be inconceivable totally get rid of these contraptions. The issue is individuals are letting their devices assume control over their lives and they are not giving an exertion any longer. Perhaps John Lennons verses should peruse take a stab at less belongings, its simpler than you think†. How we use innovation that is the key Technology was made to improve our lives. Today the sky is the limit due to innovation. Today we are present day individuals and we find out about innovation. The fact is that we, as a general public, must have the option to work on an essential level without innovation. Truly, innovation makes our lives simpler and speedier, however this should be thought about while taking other factors into consideration. We should live our lives with the guide of innovation since we need to, not on the grounds that we need to.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Top 10 Albums of 2014 by Various Artists free essay sample

Top 10 Pop Albums of 2014 With 2014 formally behind us, the time has come to recognize the astounding year in Pop music. From breakout Brit Sam Smith to acapella bunch Pentatonix, Top 40 radio has been loaded up with appealing ensembles and exuberant tunes. Right away, here are my picks for the best 10 collections of 2014! Number 10: V, Maroon 5 Maroon 5 has been gradually deserting their stone roots and advancing into a pop band since the time their first collection, Songs About Jane, was discharged in 2002. While just a couple of the melodies in V will let you experience the feelings found in Songs About Jane, pretty much all of them could be found under the meanings of â€Å"catchy† and â€Å"dance-provoking.† V shows an assortment of tunes, from the crazy â€Å"Feelings† to the profound number of â€Å"My Heart is Open,† which mirrors â€Å"She Will Be Loved.† What makes Maroon 5 extraordinary is the stratospheric falsetto of frontman Adam Levine, which is overstated in â€Å"Sugar. † Maroon 5 likewise delivered three enormous radio hits with this record, more than any other person on this main ten rundown. These mid year crushes included â€Å"Maps,† â€Å"Animals,† and â€Å"Sugar.† This collection just has one drawback, however a significant one: inevitably, every one of these tunes start to sound irritating and like one another. For instance, I have tuned in to She Will Be Loved over and over and each time I have felt something other than what's expected when I tuned in to every tune. At the point when I re-tuned in to this collection, in any case, I felt that I had just heard everything the first run through. Generally speaking, V is an incredible impact of popular music with snappy snares, yet it isn't as ground-breaking as a portion of their past works they have done or any of different collections on this rundown. Number 9: My Everything, Ariana Grande My Everything highlights numerous infectious tunes that feature how Ariana Grande is apparently the most skilled female craftsman in the business. Modest yet ground-breaking, her verse soprano belting range is so easy to her, and she demonstrates that in the pre-melody of â€Å"Problem.† â€Å"Just A Little Bit of Your Heart† is an ageless pop number that exhibits the enthusiastic side of her voice and her head (delicate) voice is as smooth as ice in â€Å"Best Mistake.† However, this collection neglected to one-up Yours Truly, her past collection, and didn't rank in the top portion of this rundown. This is because of the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) course she picked. My Everything needs feeling, particularly contrasted with Yours Truly. Additionally, probably the visitor rappers were pointless, particularly those in anthems, as they upset the progression of two or three tunes. This still doesn’t thump Grande out of the main 10, in any case, as she convey ed reading material pop hits with â€Å"Break Free† and â€Å"Love Me Harder.† â€Å"Bang Bang,† which highlights powerhouse vocals from Jessie J and a stellar rap stanza from Nicki Minaj, is likewise completely energizing. My Everything can not measure up to Yours Truly, yet Ariana figured out how to convey an extraordinary pop collection with her sensational voice. Number 8: Ghost Stories, Coldplay In the event that I needed to pick single word to portray Coldplay’s seventh collection, it would be â€Å"magical.† Every melody has an instrumental that appears to be so extraterrestrial, making Ghost Stories the ideal soundtrack for a night with the stars. Chris Martin’s frequenting voice finishes in private gloriously, especially when he advances into his bewildering falsetto. The album’s special factor is how much feeling it conveys, a piece of music that Top 40 radio is frantically inadequate. Troubled from losing his better half of 10 years, â€Å"True Love† is an unavoidable tragedy because of the emotions delivered by Martin. He argues from the channel of his heart; â€Å"Just disclose to me you love me/If you dont then untruth/Lie to me/And call it valid/Call it genuine love.† The whole collection is certainly â€Å"haunted† by the part, and Coldplay have gotten one of the main groups that can convey the genuine sentiments of adoration. Every tune centers your brain to tune in to each word conveyed by the heart-broken frontman, additionally demonstrating prevalent songwriting and tune creation. Coldplay enjoys a short reprieve from the distress with â€Å"A Sky Full of Stars,† the album’s solitary hit. The tune is an uptempo move tune, yet your brain will in any case contemplate the extraordinary verses for quite a long time. On the off chance that you have as of late experienced an awful separation or you simply need to quiet your psyche for a brief period, give up an hour to the mystical Ghost Stories. Feel much improved? I suspected as much. Number 7: Black Star Elephant, Nico and Vinz â€Å"Am I Wrong† for imagining that Black Star Elephant beat the Queen of high school stars? No! Every melody on the collection is an immense wheeze of outside air from the super auto-tuned pop that the radio has been continually booming. Why? While amazingly unordinary for Top 40 radio, pretty much every tune has a one of a kind African impact. Their style is straightforward as glass in â€Å"Intro,† which includes no English words and an African beat, however you can likewise hear follows in their pop melodies like â€Å"Am I Wrong.† obviously, an inborn sounding collection would not be finished without the consideration of innate instruments, reciting, and various dialects! Beside the one of a kind sounds, the collection incorporates numerous important verses that are hardly found in popular music. For instance, â€Å"Arrival† lectures â€Å"Dont look outside yourself/You have everything/You have everything inside there/Trust/Have confidence/And be fr ee/My child/Use the information/And sing your song.† Vocally, Vinz’s profound baritone voice and Nico’s Chris-Brown-like-tenor-voice fit flawlessly together. Finally, one couldn't talk about Black Star Elephant without referencing that it accomplished more prominent graph achievements than some other afro pop collection in quite a while. â€Å"Am I Wrong† crested at #1 on Billboard’s Top 40 diagrams and â€Å"In Your Arms† was another Top 40 radio hit. At last, Black Star Elephant is reviving to tune in to each time you hear it, from the pop head-bobbers to the ancestral serenades! Number 6: No Sound Without Silence, The Script Maybe the most misjudged collection of 2014, No Sound Without Silence is an ideal mix of the delicate pop/awesome music that The Script produces so delightfully. The main radio hit was â€Å"Superheroes,† which sounds a terrible parcel like the main hit on their last collection, â€Å"Hall of Fame.† However, the money boxes were shrouded well under the outside of the Top 40 graphs. â€Å"Army of Angels† conveys an alleviating tune with magnificent similarity filled stanzas: â€Å"This world’s a combat area/But I’ve got a shield/And I won’t give up/Cause your affection feels/Like an Army of Angels.† The Script kicks the force up a score with â€Å"The Energy Never Dies† and later detonates with the all out Irish stone melody â€Å"Paint the Town Green.† This tune will cause the audience to feel like they are having excessively much fun in the bar on Saint Patricks Day! Notwithstanding, the best tune on the collection is th e sincerely charged â€Å"Flares,† which incorporates a delightful piano backup and an awful falsetto beat melody. The solitary drawback to No Sound With Silence is the way comparable it sounds to their past collections, which is the reason its Billboard top situation in the U.S was a measly 10 and just conveyed one hit. On the off chance that the Script ever need to make another â€Å"Breakeven,† they’ll need to begin investigating more classifications. Number 5: Shakira., Shakira Shakira has demonstrated herself to be the top Latino pop craftsman in the game, and she gets the chance to keep her crown subsequent to discharging her self titled tenth collection. Shakira remembered numerous sorts for the collection, from the bubblegum pop tune â€Å"Spotlight†, the reggae jam â€Å"Cut Me Deep† which highlights â€Å"MAGIC!,† and the electronic â€Å"Empire.† Dauntless and daring,Shakira even teamed up with Blake Shelton for the nation western two part harmony, â€Å"Medicine.† The Colombian conceived artist likewise showed her ethnicity with the number â€Å"Loca por Ti† and the Spanish remix of her hit tune â€Å"Can’t Remember to Forget You.† While the collection appears as much assorted variety as a movement station, she additionally gave a healthy measure of radio hits to praise the record. Despite the fact that Shakira didn't exhibit as much vocal capacity as the vast majority of different craftsmen on the rundown, her innovation is the thing that sticks her in the main five. Number 4: That’s Christmas to Me, Pentatonix Pentatonix, the victors of season three of the Sing Off, advised the open that they weren’t simply some other acapella bunch with their new occasion collection, That’s Christmas to Me. Their perfectly woven harmonies sparkle all through the collection and are joined exclusively by the brilliantly gifted beatboxer Kevin Olusola. That’s right: the main instruments Pentatonix utilized on the collection were their voices! Pentatonix modernized exemplary tunes â€Å"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing† and â€Å"Santa Claus is Coming to Town.† They remained increasingly customary with their other-worldly front of â€Å"Silent Night.† Pentatonix even incorporated a ravishing unique Christmas tune, â€Å"That’s Christmas to Me,† and a reward front of â€Å"Let it Go† from Frozen. In the event that you like acapella music, this is the gathering to tune in to! From the bass to the countertenor, every individual from Pentatonix is superio rly capable and they mix together better than some other acapella bunch in the business. That’s Christmas to Me serenely asserted the #4 position in my best pop collections of 2014, and it without a doubt won’t be the last you’ll get notification from them! Number 3: X, Ed Sheeran Ed Sheeran’s X increased everything we’ve se

Friday, August 21, 2020

How to Write My Term Paper?

How to Write My Term Paper?If you're faced with a term paper topic that you're unsure of how to begin to write, then I hope you'll consider asking for help. In this article I'm going to be discussing a few ways that you can ask for help when it comes to your term paper topic. The key to this is to know where to look.One of the first places that you can start is simply asking for help with a particular type of question. If you have a question about grammar or style, for example, it's probably best to ask an instructor or an academic advisor for advice. It's not always possible to obtain this type of help, but if you can find someone who's considered to be in the same field as your subject will be able to help you with their expertise. This is a good way to save yourself money and also your time by doing the research yourself.If you feel that you're struggling with a topic and it's getting a little too complex for you to understand, it's also a good idea to do a bit of research on the topic. Take a look at the internet and look for books that have already been written. If there are any that come highly recommended, then you should seriously consider reading them. However, do bear in mind that if you pick a book that's not very informative, that there may be something missing that would have made your topic more accessible to you. Your advisor will be very happy to tell you if there's anything you can learn from reading an unadvised book.One thing that most students don't realize is the importance of personalizing their papers. Having some kind of header on your paper can really help the reader to get a better understanding of what they're looking at and can make it easier to write your term paper. Simply put your name, email address, and details of the paper under the heading. By putting this on your paper you'll be able to update your studentID (or you can use your school name and your home ID) whenever you're writing your term paper.It's also important to write about your term paper on paper. Any information that you're asked to write about needs to be written down in a clear, clear and concise manner. It's also important to write something that your professor needs to read, such as if your supervisor asks you to write an annual report or an audit. While it's common knowledge that term papers need to be written on paper, it's also important to remember that it's not only important to get your work printed on paper; it's equally important to get it written on paper correctly.Don't forget that once you have your term paper written up and ready to send out, you still need to attend the presentation. When you're presenting your term paper, you should remember to keep your enthusiasm and focus, as well as to listen to your instructor, and to be polite and respectful of the people around you. Remember that while you're there, your project may need to be reviewed, so be polite and respectful towards your teacher and others that may be reviewing your work.Remember that there's nothing more frustrating than watching your term paper sit there in the inbox, which means that the editor may not even look at it until the last minute. So try to make sure that you're constantly following up with your editor to see when your term paper will be accepted or need further revision.Finally, once you've submitted your term paper, if you're lucky, you'll have an essay prompt that can help you polish your writing skills. While there's no guarantee that your essay prompt will be accepted, it will at least help you to sharpen your writing skills and provide you with an opportunity to exercise the skills that you have.

Monday, May 25, 2020

To Kill A Mockingbird Essay - 1219 Words

One person. Two worlds. Impacting the lives of others. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee, uses the main character, Scout, to demonstrate an idea that as you grow up, you gain greater understanding of the world. For this to be portrayed, Harper Lee brings in the character Calpurnia. Calpurnia is a black woman. A mother figure to Scout. The Finch’s maid and a person that exemplifies moral lessons and themes of the book. Scout views these moments to shape her â€Å"coming of age†. First, throughout the book a common theme was, respecting people s differences. As well as the idea that you are not better or worse than anyone. This is shown in many ways. One way is through Maycomb County’s social hierarchy. In their social†¦show more content†¦So she doesn’t respect the Cunninghams and doesn’t think of Walter as company. Calpurnia responds in dismay, â€Å"Hush your mouth! Don’t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in the house’s yo’ comp’ny, and don’t you let me catch you remarkin’ on their ways like you was so high and mighty!† (33). This shows Calpurnia is someone who treats everyone the same. Just because someone is a different race or has more economic status, does not determine how she will treat you. These quotes are an example of how Scout is learning to look beyond everyone s differences. Everyone has their faults and no one is higher and more powerful than anyone else in M aycomb County. Second, Scout and Jem going to church had a great impact on the book and how they view others. When they went to the First Purchase with Cal, Scout sees how the African American community helps each other. All of them came together to support Tom and his family. They also notice Calpurnia resides in two different worlds. This is expressed by Scout after she gets back from the church. â€Å"That Calpurnia led a modest double life never dawned on me. The idea that she had a separate existence outside our household was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages† (167). Calpurnia has the ‘white world’ and the ‘black world’. When she is with the Finch’s and part of Maycomb County, she is educated, a mother-figure,Show MoreRelatedTo Kill a Mockingbird Essay892 Words   |  4 PagesLindsey Congdon Mrs. Peterson Period 7 December 1, 2009 To Kill a Mockingbird Essay The Dictionary defines prejudice as, â€Å"an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.† There has been prejudice known throughout history, mostly against the blacks during and before the time of Martin Luther King Jr. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee there is clear evidence of prejudice against the blacks. InRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird Essay921 Words   |  4 PagesContent within Books To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Assignment ENG 1D1 03 Alex Gardner December 2010 Mr. Przemieniecki Inappropriate content within books There are many different books that are studied in schools, but one should be removed from shelves. Students should not be reading about certain subject matters until they are fully invested into that specific subject. Certain inappropriate topics are racism and dated subject matter. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, should beRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird Essay1076 Words   |  5 PagesTo Kill A Mockingbird Essay In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird a major theme is the loss of innocence. Whether from emotional abuse, racial prejudice or learning, Boo, Tom, and Scout all lose their innocence in one sense or another. The prejudice that each character endures leads to their loss. Through the responses of Boo, Tom, and Scout, Harper Lee shows how each character responded differently to their loss of innocence. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird the character of Boo Radley is theRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird Essay1615 Words   |  7 PagesTo Kill A Mocking Bird Essay Wednesday December 19th, 2012 The valuable lessons that Atticus teaches and demonstrates to his children (Jem and Scout) in the novel To Kill a Mocking Bird are very crucial. Atticus teaches Jem and Scout to put themselves into other people’s skin before they pre-judge a person. Atticus also teaches the two children compassion and forgiveness. The children learn an important lesson not to kill a mocking bird during the novel from Atticus. Throughout the novel severalRead MorePrejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay1549 Words   |  7 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird: GCSE Coursework The theme of prejudice is central to the novel. A number of characters are discriminated against. Making close reference to the text discuss what you think Harper Lee wants us to learn about society as illustrated in her novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ set in 1930’s America. In this essay I will give my opinions on why in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Harper Lee included a lot of prejudice and controversial issues in the 1930’s. Also I will explore the ideasRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird Essay571 Words   |  3 Pagesways in which one is prejudged such as gender, age, race, religion, the way one dresses etc. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the lesson the author portrait the most was prejudice in the town and how it can happen anywhere and at any time. â€Å"To better understand a person you have to climb up inside their skin and walk around in it.† The quote stated by Atticus in the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is an unveiling of the upcoming times when prejudice is present in the novel. The setting forRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird Essay1407 Words   |  6 PagesLearning lessons is a very important part of growing up. Children learn new things every day of their life. Even adults learn something every once in a while. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the character Scout is very adventurous and loves to learn; she has many experiences that lead to her being taught many different things about life. On page 12 of Cliff Notes for this novel, John Sova writes â€Å"each experience is designed to give Scout a further understanding about certain thingsRead MoreThe Mockingbirds in Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird Essay680 Words   |  3 Pagesstore To Kill a Mockingbird is the expression mockin g bird appears in the story lots of times. Also the most significant novel in this whole book is the mockingbird symbol. Another significant part of the story is the definition of a mockingbird and it is a type of Finch, it’s also a small bird who likes to sing. It got the name mockingbird because when it sings it is mocking other birds. (http://www.allfreeessays.com/essays/The-Significance-Of-The-Title-Of/21174.html) The mockingbirds in theRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird Essay1152 Words   |  5 Pagesare many different types of symbols in our world today; in English literature as well as all around us on a day-to-day basis. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird we follow a little girl, Scout, as she faces the truth about the world and its injustice. The central and most obvious symbol of this novel, as well as the title of the book, is the mockingbird. It represents the innocence and injustice in this story, represented by Tom Robinson and the events surrounding the trial, but also sets the themeRead MoreTo Kill A Mockingbird Essay1505 Words   |  7 Pagesteaching experience for Atticus to provide to Scout and Jem. These laws followed the Southern societal ideas of the separation between races, but also demonstrated a division between a community where individuals held different moral ideas. To Kill a Mockingbird explores human morality from the perception of a six year old child, pro viding a different perspective on important issues of this time period. Scout’s understanding of morality develops from her once simple idea of an individual being either

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Gender Roles A Doll s House - 1807 Words

Rabab Abouahmad Dr.K.Zelinksy English 201 Section 09 17 November 2015 Gender roles in A Doll’s House Gender roles are socially constructed and direct a specific group to conform to roles that are expected of them. In A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen draws attention to the roles set towards women during the nineteenth century and demonstrates society’s expectation that women are inferior and dependent on a male figure. In the novel, women are portrayed as being in a vulnerable position, and have no choice in deciding whether or not they want to be in this position. In Patricia Collin’s essay â€Å"Race, Class, and Gender as Categories of Analysis and Connection,† Collin’s emphasizes that â€Å"gender oppression is structured along three main dimensions- the institutional, the symbolic, and the individual† (678). This observation is demonstrated in Ibsen’s novel through Nora and Torvalds’s life which is framed by multiple systems of oppression that are not mutually exclusive. Collin lists the ma sculine attributes that are considered to be superior to feminine attributes; and these qualities are described as men being: â€Å"aggressive, leader, rational, strong, intellectual† (678). Collin then defines the inferior qualities as being the following â€Å"passive, follower, emotional, weak, physical† (678). Collin is correct in the way that she concludes gender differences through observation but fails to provide new insights into gender discrimination. In A Dolls House, Ibsen explores the genderShow MoreRelatedGender Roles Of A Doll s House And Ghosts Essay2281 Words   |  10 PagesGender Roles in A Doll’s House and Ghosts Throughout much of English language literature, gender and sex are equated with specific human traits. Strength is male and weakness is female. Men are stable and women are capricious. Logic is masculine and imagination is feminine. Ibsen uses stereotypical gender attributes in his characterization of Nora and Torvald throughout A Doll House, and then abruptly reverses the stereotypes in the final moments of the play to show that inner strength and weaknessRead MoreGender And Gender Roles Have Radically From The Time Henrick Ibsen s A Doll House1203 Words   |  5 Pages The idea of gender and gender roles have evolved minimally from the time Henrick Ibsen â€Å"A Doll House,† was first published. In the late 1800s, just before the beginning of the first wave of feminism in the United States and Europe, women were looking for ways to gain independence from their â€Å"duty† to marry a man, have children, and live a life to home and yearned for the freedom to choose wh at kind of lives they wanted to live, what they wanted to do, etc. In the beginning of the play, the viewsRead MoreHenrik Ibsen s A Doll s House1302 Words   |  6 Pages A Doll s House by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen is a play about the story of Nora Helmer, a childish woman who once borrowed money from a worker named Krogstad for the sole purpose of saving the life of her husband, Torvald Helmer. Her husband treated her like a child throughout their entire marriage due to his gender superiority and due to this treatment she leaves him at the end of the play. Most people view Nora Helmer as a feminist heroine due to her ability to stand up and break free fromRead MoreChanging The World : One Play At A Time1644 Words   |  7 Pagesabout one hundred years ago, gender roles were still very specific and consisted of the man working and supporting the family, and the woman taking care of the home and the family. Women had very little voice in that time and were often treated wit h little respect due to the cultural norm that men were superior. Two historically influential plays that were written during the birth of feminism are quintessential to the rise of free expression among women. A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, and TriflesRead MoreToys Are Not Pop Out Of The Womb With Ideas Of Gender Roles797 Words   |  4 PagesChildren do not pop out of the womb with ideas of gender roles, nor do they have any expectations about their future careers. It is of interest to many that the gender stereotypes and gender roles seen in toys marketed for children highly resembles those seen in adult life. At an early age, many children, especially those in the western world, have already developed ideas about careers and lifestyles suitable for boys or girls. It is obvious that these ideas can be learned through interactions withRead MoreA Woman s Prison By Henrik Ibsen Essay1410 Words   |  6 PagesPrison Ibsen’s pla y, A Doll’s House immediately encountered a spectrum of reactions--ranging from strong support to harsh criticism--following its premier in 1879. Controversy came about over Nora’s role as an independent woman who makes her own decisions. The public’s immediate response to Ibsen’s play reflects the shift occurring within society, centered on gender roles and women’s place in the mid to late 19th century. Ibsen’s portrayal of women through Nora’s role explores the ideas of equalityRead MoreHenrik Ibsen Thesis Paper1049 Words   |  5 Pagesstressed by one of the mid to late 1800 s best problem play authors, Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen spend most of his writing career exploring the human mind. He had a passion for the truth, and due to this he conveyed his thoughts through writing. His time period offered many scenarios for him to write about which still apply to today s society. One of these scenarios is the societal roles that given to people. Ibsen stressed the importance of societal and gender roles in his writing, hopin g to convey his messagesRead MoreA Doll s House : Henrik Ibsen962 Words   |  4 PagesDrama Analysis A Doll’s House (Henrik Ibsen) And Trifles (Susan Glaspell) In comparing both dramas, the overwhelming aspect of convergence between both is the open discussion of gender identity. Both dramas make similar points about what it means to be a woman. Modern society in both dramas is constructed with men holding power over women. This is seen in Trifles in how men like George Henderson and Mr. Hale are myopic. The premise of the drama is how women worry over trifles, and the dismissiveRead MoreHenrik Ibsen s A Doll House1288 Words   |  6 PagesHuman rights are women s rights, and women s rights are human rights, says Hilary Clinton. The message was clearly portrayed in the famous literary work of 1879 in, â€Å"A doll house† by Henrik Ibsen in artistic way. Henrik Ibsen brings up one of the aspects of gender role and society norms as it was during the nineteenth century. The ideology in the nineteenth century of Norway’s was that men are hypothesized to be a breadwinner, where women need to take care of their children and stay ho me. IbsenRead More Societal Views of Women in the Victorian Era in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House887 Words   |  4 PagesVictorian Era in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, creates a peephole into the lives of a family in the Victorian Era. The play portrays a female viewpoint in a male-dominated society. The values of the society are described using the actions of a woman, Nora, who rebels against the injustices inflicted upon her gender. Women’s equality with men was not recognized by society in the late 1800’s. Rather, a woman was considered a doll, a child, and a servant. Nora’s alienation

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Gap Inc Financial Statement Analysis LR - 1493 Words

Financial Statement Analysis for Gap Inc. Company Background Gap Inc. is a leading global apparel retail company offering apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, Athleta, and Intermix brands. Having distinct brands across multiple channels and countries allows Gap Inc. a strong competitive advantage. The company currently has 375 stores in 41 countries. Products are also online through Company-owned websites. Merchandise is purchased from more than 1,000 vendors having factories in approximately 40 countries. No vendor accounted for more than 5 percent of total purchases in 2013 and approximately 98 percent of purchases are from outside the United†¦show more content†¦The next set of ratios evaluate solvency, which is the company’s ability to meet its long-term obligations. The first ratio, times interest earned, represents a margin of protections for creditors. Gap Inc. generated $35.23 in income for each $1 of interest expense, which increased quite substantially from 2011 and 2012. The next ratio to evaluate for Gap Inc. is the debt-to-equity ratio, which decreased from 1.69 in 2011 to 1.56 in 2013. This tells us that Gap Inc. has $1.69 in liabilities for every $1 in stockholders’ equity. Gap Inc. v. J. Crew Group One of Gap Inc.’s biggest competitors is J. Crew Group because they have similar branding strategies and product offerings. J. Crew Group is an internationally recognized brand that offers apparel and accessories and differentiates itself through high standards of quality, style, design, and fabrics. The company operates stores and websites both domestically and internationally, and designs, sells, and markets products under the J. Crew, Crewcuts, and Madewell brands. Their customer base includes people who are affluent, college-educated, professional, and fashion conscious. They operate a total of 451 stores located in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. By comparing the profitability of the two major international retailers, we see that J. Crew Group has a lower return on assets at an average of 5% for 2011-2013 compared to Gap Inc., which has an average ROA of 16% forShow MoreRelated7-Eleven8138 Words   |  33 Pagesresearch projects. Case Study: an in-depth description of a firm’s approach to an IT management issue (intended for MBA and executive education). Technical Research Report: a traditional academically rigorous research paper with detailed methodology, analysis, findings and references. About the Center for Information Systems Research CISR MISSION CISR was founded in 1974 and has a strong track record of practice based research on the management of information technology. As we enter the twentyfirstRead MoreFinal Mngp4155 Words   |  17 Pages 24th May 2012 MNGT2001 Alixandara Sutherland Laura Tumbers Katie Horne Laura Field Executive Summary Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Strategic analysis 1. External analysis 1. General environment 2. Specific environment 2. Internal analysis 1. Competitive strengths 2. Competitive position in the market 3. Weaknesses 3. Conclusion on organisations competitive position Read MorePediatric Safety and Quality11531 Words   |  46 Pagesexpertise that health care professionals require enhance the health services they provide to children and families. IPPC is a health program developed by the Center for Applied Ethics and Professional Practice, a branch of Education Development Center, Inc. The Education Development Center is a charitable organization that comprises over and above 600 specialized employees, operating on more than 300 educational programs all over the United States and in roughly 27 other nations. Education DevelopmentRead MoreArticle: Performance Appraisal and Performance Management35812 Words   |  144 Pages6|Page IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSRJBM) ISSN: 2278-487X Volume 3, Issue 5 (Sep,-Oct. 2012), PP 07-12 www.iosrjournals.org Studies on the implementation of System Application Product (SAP) Materials Management (MM Module) for financial support in Sugar cane cultivation 1,2 S. Chandraju1, B. Raviprasad2, C. S. Chidan Kumar3 Department of Studies in Sugar Technology,Sir M. Vishweshwaraya Post graduate Center, University of Mysore, Tubinskere - 571402,Mandya, Karnataka, IndiaRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pageslamentable. Taken together, the key themes and processes that have been selected as the focus for each of the eight essays provide a way to conceptualize the twentieth century as a coherent unit for teaching, as well as for written narrative and analysis. Though they do not exhaust the crucial strands of historical development that tie the century together—one could add, for example, nationalism and decolonization—they cover in depth the defining phenomena of that epoch, which, as the essays demonstrate

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Auditing and Assurance Services Integrated Approach

Question: Discuss about the Auditing and Assurance Services for Integrated Approach. Answer: Introduction: Auditing is the verification of accounts and it includes the activity of examining and inspecting of the process and the system to ensure that they are in compliance to the requirements. The report prepared by the auditor is the integral element for the audited financial statements of the business. The process of auditing should be performed by the auditors by integrating the principles, rules and regulations of Generally accepted accounting principles. The auditors issue two types of audit report after performing the audit process that is qualified and unqualified audit report (Alvin et al. 2014). The auditors present the qualified audit report when they have not dealt with all the issues and there is a limitation in the audit work. The qualified opinion of the auditors conclude that the financial information is limited in scope and company has not appropriately maintained the GAAP principles. On the other hand, in the qualified audit report the auditors conclude that the business p resents its financial statements fairly in all the material aspects. The auditors has the responsibility of maintaining the certain aspects when performing the audit operation of the company (Arens et al. 2012). In the given case study, King and queen being the auditor of Impulse Pty ltd has presented the unqualified audit report for the year ended 30th June, 2012. Impulse Pty Ltd was suffering from the liquidity problems as there was a drop in the inventory turnover and debtors turnover. The company was running out of liquid assets. The above facts was well known to the King and Queen and despite this it did not take any additional audit regarding the valuation of these assets. No additional work was conducted for valuing the inventory and debtors which shows that auditors has not fairly presented its report (Beasley et al. 2012). The Impulse Pty Ltd was granted a huge amount of loan for its working capital from the finance company, Easy Finance Limited. The loan was provided on the basis of unqualified report issued by the auditors, which stated that the financial position of the company is sound. The company liquidated in December and the firm was unable to recover the loan amount and thi s was due to the negligence of auditor. The company did not make any adequate provision for the fall in the inventory value and regarding the doubtful debts. This is the case of Negligence of the auditors responsibility as the auditors did not consider the important aspect of the financial position of the company (Crous et al. 2012). The EFL provided the loan on the basis of the audit opinion and therefore, King and queen would be liable to Easy Finance Limited. The specific case reference relating to the above answer is provided by the given case. The case that can be considered for this purpose is the case of Hedley Byrne and Co Ltd v Heller and Partners (1964) AC 465. The negligence of the auditors impacted the company being audited. The court stated that the audit report would have an impact on the decision making process of the parties being audited (Eilifsen et al. 2013). Another case is about the auditing done by KPMG. The case of Law Society vs. KPMG Peat Marwick and Others; CHD 3 NOV, 1999. The auditing firm was very well aware that the compensation fund of the society would depend on the auditors decision. The malpractices in the accounting could not be discovered early because of auditors negligence. The auditor was held liable for neglecting his professional responsibility (Glover et al. 2014). The above two case discussed that the negligence of the responsibility of the auditors is a serious offend which damages the reputation of the organization being audited as well as hamper the third party. The loan provider that is EFL informing the King and Queen about the loan advancement made on the basis of the audited report prepared by the auditor. In this case, it is required to consider two different situation where the answer will be different based on the audited party consent. There is a need to maintain the confidentiality between the auditor and the audited party. The auditors cannot disclose any information to the third party as per the policy concerning confidentiality (Hayes et al. 2014). However, in special case, the auditors can disclose the information to the third party if it is instructed by the company being audited. The report of the auditor forms the basis of receiving the loan. The King and queen would be held liable to EFL if the Impulse has instructed the auditors to disclose the audited information. If the King and Queen do not disclose the information, then they would not held liable to EFL. On the other hand, if the King and Queen was not instructed to disclose any of its confidential information to the third party, then the auditing company cannot be held liable to the third party (Louwers et al. 2013). If the King and queen do not disclose the information about the financial position of the company as instructed by impulse Pty Ltd, then it cannot be held liable to EFL. The disclosing of the internal information would also be against the GAAP regulations and in this regard, Kind and Queen would not be held liable to EFL. The independence of the external and internal auditors from the parties having the financial interest in the business of firm which is being audited refers to the auditors independence. Independence is regarded as the cornerstone of every audit being conducted. An auditor is regarded as an independent when he does not have any dependency on the clients and is not under any undue influence. There are two types of auditors independence that is discussed below: Actual independence Actual independence is the real independence and it mainly concern the way of dealing in the specific situation and the state of mind of auditors. The auditors who are actually independent is capable of making the independent decisions even if the auditors is placed in a comprising situation by the directors of the company there is a perceived lack of independence. The auditors might face many situations where if would have to compromise with the principle of effective auditing. The actual independence will help the auditors in taking the effective decisions in many compromising situation. The actual independence is essential to achieve the goal of independence (Messier 2016). The independence is needed to assure and validate the reliability and credibility of the financial statements that are being audited. The principle of actual independence needs to be maintained to value the opinion made on the financial statements by the auditors. Actual independence is regarded to be straight forward for the accountant who is across the requirements. This helps the auditors to perform the task in a very objective manner. The opinion of the audit would not be influenced as the actual independence are expected to give an unbiased and honest opinion on the financial statements (Moroney et al. 2014). Perceived independence Perceived independence is the perception of the auditors in solving and tackling with the different problems of the process of auditing. In other words, it can be said that it is the view point of the auditors and the way the auditors perceive various kinds of problems of the audit process. The perceived independence helps in arriving at the optimal solution as the auditors perceives different solutions to a single problems. The perceived independence cannot be judged using any particular process because the perception varies from auditors to auditors. It is the area where the shade of grey creeps into the world of audit. The professional judgment comes to the fore where the arrangement are perceive differently by users. As per the guiding principle, perceived independence is the consideration of the auditor independent form the client by the third party looking into the arrangement (Reding et al. 2013). The auditors facing the issue of the perceive independence, then materiality is the appropriate consideration. In the scenario one, Bob is an audit assistant of Club Casino and at the same time he is undertaking university studies. Bob needs to complete the assignment of University and he came across certain financial information which would assist him in completing the assignment. The act of copying the information by Bob and using in the assignment by removing all the references is an act of breaching the fundamental principles of confidentiality. According to the confidentiality principle, the auditor should respect the confidentiality of information which is acquired as a result of business relationship and it should not be disclosed without any specific authority (Redmayne 2013). By using the financial information of Club casino, Bob has disclosed the information and thus he has breached the principle of confidentiality and integrity. Bob should know the regulation of confidentiality and maintain it. In the second case, Wendy has been the audit partner of Ace limited for quite long time. In the absence of permanent company secretary, Wendy was asked to perform the duties of company secretary for a period of six month. According to the establishes regulations, the entity is required to maintain the professional behavior and it needs to comply with the rules and regulations and should avoid doing any action that would discredits profession (Stuart 2012). As per the section 130, which requires to maintain professional competence and due care. The principles of professional competence imposes the obligation on members to act diligently in accordance with the professional standards when providing the professional services. The entity needs to maintain the skills and professional knowledge to provide the clients with the competent professional service. Appointment of Wendy as the temporary company secretary of the Ace limited audit is breaching the principles of maintaining the profess ional competence (Thibodeau and Freier 2013). The entity is not complying with the fundamental principles and as per the guideline, the act is considered as the offense. Wendy should be immediately removed from the profession of the company secretary. In the third case, Leo is the eldest son of a factor foreman of Precision Machinery Limited and he has been assigned to the auditing of the company. Leo is entitled to test the internal control of the system of cash payments. As per the guidelines of auditing, the employee, son, daughter and relatives of the company cannot become the audit partner of the same company. Precision machinery Limited has breached the regulation. The course of action that needs to be taken is that Leo immediately needs to be removed from the position of the internal auditor (William et al. 2016). Another remedial action that can be taken in the interest of the Precision machinery limited is the removal of father of Leo who is also a member of the entity. Classic Reproduction have not been paying their audit fees to their auditors, Chan and associates. The organization received threat from the audit company if they would not pay their audit fees. The classic reproduction in an attempt to clear off their fees offered new furniture to the Chan and Associates. The furniture was worth only 50% of the outstanding amount of fees and despite this fact, the Chan and Associates accepted the offer. The act of accepting the fees in kind is not morally acceptable on the part of the audit firms. The Classic reproduction also offered 25% of shareholding in an unrelated listed company. The acceptance of shares and being the partner of their client is not considered to be acceptable as this would represent that the audit company has some special interest in the Classic production which might lead to bias judgment. The audit firm would breach the established principles concerning the audit fees and acceptance of furniture and shares would be regarded as unethical and breaching of the fundamental principles (Arens et al. 2013). The course of action that could be taken is that Chan and Associates should not accept furniture as the replacement of fees. The audit firm should not accept the shares of the unrelated listed company. Reference: Alvin A.. Arens, Randal J.. Elder and Mark S.. Beasley, 2014.Auditing and Assurance Services: An Integrated Approach. Pearson education Limited. Arens, A.A., Elder, R.J. and Beasley, M.S., 2012.Auditing and assurance services: an integrated approach. Prentice Hall. Arens, A.A., Elder, R.J. and Beasley, M.S., 2013.Auditing and Assurance Services Plus NEW MyAccountingLab with Pearson EText: Access Card Package. Prentice-Hall. Beasley, M., Elder, R. and Arens, A., 2012. Auditing and assurance services. Crous, C., Lamprecht, J., Eilifsen, A., Messier, W., Glover, S. and Douglas, P., 2012. Auditing and Assurance Services.Berkshire: McGraw-Hill. Eilifsen, A., Messier, W.F., Glover, S.M. and Prawitt, D.F., 2013.Auditing and assurance Glover, S.M., Prawitt, D.F. and Messier, W.F., 2014.Auditing assurance services: a systematic approach. McGraw-Hill Education. Hayes, R., Wallage, P. and Gortemaker, H., 2014.Principles of auditing: an introduction to international standards on auditing. Pearson Higher Ed. Louwers, T.J., Ramsay, R.J., Sinason, D.H., Strawser, J.R. and Thibodeau, J.C., 2013.Auditing and assurance services. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Messier Jr, W., 2016.Auditing assurance services: A systematic approach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Moroney, R., Campbell, F., Hamilton, J. and Warren, V., 2014.Auditing: A Practical Approach. Wiley Global Education. Reding, K.R., Sobel, P.J., Anderson, U.L., Head, M.J., Ramamoorti, S., Salamasick, M. and Riddle, C., 2013.Internal Auditing: Assurance Advisory Services. Redmayne, N.B., 2013. Auditing and Assurance Services and Ethics in Australia: An Integrated Approach.Journal of Accounting Organizational Change. Stuart, I., 2012.Auditing and assurance services: an applied approach. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Thibodeau, J. and Freier, D., 2013.Auditing and accounting cases: Investigating issues of fraud and professional ethics. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. William Jr, M., Glover, S. and Prawitt, D., 2016. Auditing and Assurance Services: A Systematic Approach.Auditing and Assurance Services: A Systematic Approach.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Date Social work theories Essay Example

Date Social work theories Essay Social theory was to liberate the thoughts and thus aid social groups in deposing domination and repression. This formation of critical social science and social theory stands stridently at odds with the moderate positivist professionalism of mainstream sociology in the sense that it envisions human liberation as the highest rationale of intellectual commotion. Habermas has taken pains to argue that this decisive outset of social science and social theory is not opposed to what he calls the project of modernity, which commenced with the Enlightenment. Certainly, he contends that critical social theory, conceived as communication theory and ethics, accomplishes the project of modernity by further rationalizing social life in ways estimated but not completed by Weber. Though Habermas needlessly divides instrumental and communicative rationalities, much as Kant did, thus limiting the field of human liberation to communicative projects but leaving technology and its dominion of nature untouched, he masterfully reconceptualizes Marxism in ways that provide it empirical and political purchase in the present. Far from deserting modernism and modernity, Habermas argues that Marx was a modernist and that the project of modernity can simply be fulfilled in a Marxist way, although in terms that deviate drastically from the Marxist and Marxist-Leninist frameworks of the early twentieth century. Habermas supports the Enlightenments program of common liberation and rationality through (a reconceptualized) Marx. We will write a custom essay sample on Date Social work theories specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Date Social work theories specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Date Social work theories specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This assurance to the Enlightenment and modernity must absolve critical social theorists such as Habermas of the inductions that they are Luddites, antimodernists, anarchists. Far from inadequate academic life, including social science and social theory, to be abridged to didactic political education, Habermas wants to open academic life to genuine debate and diversity, which he theorizes in terms of his communicative ethics. though the characterization of left academics as bigoted supporters of political correctness is largely hype promulgated by eighties neoconservatives, many critical social theorists are especially hard on purveyors of multicultural identity politics, particularly those who derive from postmodernism (Denzin Norman. 1986). Professionalized liberal positivists, including numerous U.S. sociologists, conflate all theoretical heterodoxies, particularly where they argue that one should defend the disciplinary project of sociology against the wild men and women who would politicize sociology and social science at a time when reputable sociologists are fighting a rearguard action against budget slashing university administrators. These professional positivists marginalize all thought and research that do not kowtow to the strictures of supposedly value-free quantitative empiricism. This obliterates nuances: Habermas (1987a) takes postmodernism to task; Fraser (1989) urges Habermas and Foucault to be more overtly feminist. It also fails to distinguish that critical social theories hold rigorous analysis, objectivity, professionalism, even disciplinarily. Critical social theorists vary from professionalized positivist sociologists most sharply in arguing that the aim of knowledge is illumination and hence liberation, not the development of personal professional credentials or the progression of ones discipline. Critical social theorists snub Comtes model of the hard sciences as a symbol for their own work as they believe that positivism eradicated historicity and hence the possibility of large-scale structural change. Critical social theorists are unashamed to be seen as political, particularly when they agree with Horkheimer and Adorno in Dialectic of Enlightenment that the charade of freedom from values is the most invincible value position of all, taking up th e present as a plenitude of social being and contradicting utopia. It is sarcastic that positivist sociologists in the United States who attempt to establish their discipline in the university by stressing its resemblance to the hard sciences, including both positivist quantitative process and grant-worthiness, also argue that sociology should eloquent what are called policy implications, particularly now that a Democrat is president. Applied sociology proposes state policies in realms such as health care, aging, social welfare, work and family, and crime. Positivist sociologists assert that sociology pays its own way by underlining its real-world applications suggested in the narrow technical analyses propagating in the journals. numerous positivist journal articles formulaically conclude with short excursuses on policy in this sense. This segue into policy investigation both legitimizes sociology in the state apparatus (e.g., public research universities) and helps sociology evade a more fundamental politics the notion of policy implying moderate amelioration of social problems and not methodical change. As well, the discussion of policy enhances the grant-worthiness of sociological research, which has turn into a trademark of academic professional legitimacy. Thus, the shift from the sociological to the social on the part of significant social theorists who support interdisciplinary is intimidating to disciplinary positivists because it augurs the politicization of social theory and social science at a time while some believe sociology should put definitive distance between itself and its sixties engagements. The tired stand-up line of sociologys critics that sociology alliterates with socialism, social work, and the sixties symbolizes this preoccupation with the legitimating of sociological disciplinarity and explains why interdisciplinary approaches to the social are so threatening. The interpretive disciplines and sociology are moving in contradictory directions: Interpretive scholars and cultural critics acclaim the politicization of the canon, whereas positivist sociologists want to subjugate politics. Leading U.S. literary programs such as Dukes are awash in these new theoretical movements that hassle the obsolescence of canonical approaches to the study of literature and culture. In these venues, politics is not a afflict to be eliminated but an opening to new ways of seeing, writing, and teaching. Suddenly, with the invasion of these new European and feminist influences, traditional approaches to representation (depicting the world) in both art and criticism could no longer be trusted. Postmodern fictional and cultural theory blossomed in a post representational era, specifically the opposite of what was happening in positivist sociology, which clings more obstinately than ever to representation -achieved through quantitative method as the supposed deliver ance of an embattled discipline (Ann L. Ardis 2002). Not all versions of postmodernism are eligible as either social or critical theory. However, as Fredric Jameson (1991) has argued in Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, postmodern theory has the potential for new forms of neo-Marxist social and cultural investigation pertinent to late capitalism. Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, and Derrida make means for critical theories of the social, especially where they make possible the critical analysis of cultural discourses and practices that intimately resemble and deepen the Frankfurt Schools analysis of the culture industry. And postmodern theory has made it nearly unattainable for people in interpretive and cultural disciplines to approach texts as if the meanings of those texts could be revealed to presuppositionless, really positivist readings. Postmodernists drive home the point that reading is itself a form of writing, of argument, in the sense that it fills in gaps and contradictions in texts through strong literar y practices of imagination and interrogation. Few today can approach the act of reading or writing concerning reading in the same secure way that they could read texts before postmodernism, before representation was quizzed as a severely theoretical and political project in its own right. A momentous number of sociologists and anthropologists (Richardson 1988, Aronowitz [1990], Behar and Gordon [1995]) draw from postmodernism in reformulating both social science research and theory in light of postmodernisms influential challenge to positivist theories of representation, writing, and reading. However, it is clear that most American sociologists and others in neighboring social science disciplines not only distrust but deplore the postmodern turn for its alleged antagonism to science and hence objectivity, rigor, disciplinary legitimacy, quantitative method, and grant-worthiness. The new scholarship in humanities departments enlightens critical social science in that it reads cultural discourses and practices as ideological and commoditized and helps formulate more general hypothetical understandings of society. For example, the work of Jameson, the author of numerous vital books on cultural and social theory from Marxism and Form (1971) to Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991), clearly puts in to the project of critical social theory. Jameson is in dialogue with critical theorists and postmodern theorists. He develops a postmodern Marxism that learns from but does not give in to the detotalizing implications of postmodern theory. Although many of Jamesons references are from culture and literature whereas Habermass, for example, are from social theory and communication theory Jameson in effect does postmodern critical theory in his readings of works of literature, architecture, music, painting, and philosophy, presenting not simply close textual analysis but expanding his readings into oversimplifications quite similar to those of postmodern social theorists (e.g., Aronowitz, Luke) in social science disciplines. Cultural studies is intrinsically a pandisciplinary project in the sense that culture, as the Birmingham theorists conceptualized it, is not simply found in everyday life as well as in museums and concert halls but also disquiets a wide range of disciplines in the human sciences or human studies, broadly conceived. Almost no social science or humanities discipline falls outside of the potential purview of cultural studies, which could be seen as a theoretical perspective, a discipline, a corpus of writing, and even an investigative methodology. Like the Unit for Criticism at the University of Illinois, in which Cary Nelson, Lawrence Grossberg, and Norman Denzin had part-time faculty appointments, the CCCS at the University of Birmingham has brought together scholars from a variety of disciplines. Like interdisciplinary projects such as cognitive science, cultural studies is a perceptible interdisciplinary project collecting scholars who believe they cannot practice their interests in cultural studies within their home disciplines or who want to claim an individuality somewhat diverse from their disciplinary identities. By and large, scholars in humanities departments have been better able to do and teach cultural studies within their home disciplines, particularly where their home disciplines have embraced the new postcanonical, postcolonial, feminist scholarship. Social scientists have had a greater tendency to identify their interest in cultural studies outside of their disciplines proper, many of which have been indisposed to abandon their relatively narrow concepts of culture in favor of a more inclusive one or do not acknowledge the need to practice the study of culture outside of a discipline for which the study of culture has always been central, such as sociology and anthropology (Lorraine Y. Landry 2000). This distinction between the ways that humanists and social scientists build up their identities, affiliations, and academic practices as cultural studies scholars is also replicated in their respective attitudes toward the matter of politicization. Although most scholars around the campus who do cultural studies are leftist and feminist, social scientists lean to position cultural studies as an empirical and theoretical contribution without close ties to politics, therefore legitimizing their work within fundamentally empiricist and objectivist disciplines. Humanists lean to embrace their close ties to politics, as the Birmingham scholars did, even arguing that curricular politics, including the politics of the norm and the resist to define and implement multiculturalism, is an important place for social change today. nbsp; Post-modernism teaches the compression together of the objective and the subjective. Everything comes around full circle sooner or later. To laugh at the world is to laugh at yourself. There is no external platform upon which you can stand and view the outlandish antics of the human race. No matter where you stand you are always looking at yourself in a mirror. Like the bent blade of a crazy sword or the twisted barrel of a weird rifle, the point of every joke is always twisted around so as to come back upon the comic. The joke is always on ourselves (Paul Poplawski 2003). The great classical comic writers and the great classical philosophers have at least this much in common: They always plagiarized reality. The contemporary comic, however, reflects our newly nihilized world. There is no reality. Everything is mere verbiage. What the Theatre of the Absurd is to the intelligentsia, current popular comedy is to the less educated people in society. Hence the predominance of the one-liner, which reflects the disintegration of everything, rather than the well-developed and drawn out satire. Moreover, special effects replace plot; short shocking scenes substitute for story line; and the public keeps buying it. How can anyone remain sane in such a world? This is also mirrored in popular comedy. The present-day comic is always walking on the edge; always, like John Cleeses comic characters, just on the verge of going over the edge, of going completely insane. The fact that he doesnt actually go off the deep end, but instead continues to teeter on the brink, is precisely what makes his characters so believable and pertinent in post-modern times. We can empathize with such beleaguered characters, because that is the kind of world in which we ourselves live. The influence of post-modernism also holds in financial matters. We dont literally worship money today, but it is revered as the sign of what is of greatest importance in an anthropocentric world-view. Social consensus decides what the culture holds up to itself as its highest value. And in our contemporary world, taken as a whole, the general consensus is that the business of the world is business. We have decided that business is best for us. This is now, throughout the world, the great new religious myth of our times. Descartes wanted to make the world safe for science. Today we are much more interested in perpetuating our comfortable life-style by making the world safe for business. Because this is what we want, it must be right (Sieglinde Lemke 1998). To summarize, post-modernism has become in effect the unofficial new state religion, the new salvation myth, with universal validity, to which every good citizen must adhere. In effect, someone who fails to follow the liberal consensus is guilty of treason. The common standard of good behavior is no longer some inspired scripture, such as the Bible, but the pragmatic rules and regulations required for carrying on profit-making businesses. The governments business is to keep businesses going and profits flowing. To this extent, and only to this extent, it must be concerned about social welfare and stability. This takes money, the new means of salvation. Hence the central importance of the tax collector. In more ancient times heretics were burned at the stake; today the uncooperative dissident is grilled by inquisitors from the IRS, the new Holy Office. Philosophically its roots lie in the rejection of Greek Being, that is, in the rejection of anything which is self-identical, immutable, unchanging, and absolute. The foundation for this attitude was laid down by the Epistemological Idealism of Descartes and Kant, and has reached its culmination in the twentieth-century Phenomenologists such as Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and their many followers, including many nominally traditionally religious thinkers. They see being and becoming, essence and existence, tradition and novelty, object and subject, science and history, and so on, as absolutely irreconcilable. Truth to them means mainly internal coherence. There is no Truth, only local truths. There can be no correspondence to reality because there is no reality. The most we can ever expect to find or discover is reality. Everything is human-generated, anthropomorphized, and historicized. Moreover, there is a moral dimension to the scene. The postmodern is good; the opposition is bad. Whereas post-moderns are avant-garde, liberal, and progressive, the uninitiated are fundamentalists, reactionary, and static. While the traditionalist is a medieval witch-hunter, the trans-modern is open-minded and tolerant. Where the backward ones are institutional, hierarchical, rigid, object based, conservative, and unidirectional, the intellectually and morally superior ones are egalitarian, freedom-loving, process-based, subject-oriented, contextual, symbiotic, and self-transcending. Certainly the dogmatic ones cannot experience pathos, sympathy, and open-mindedness to the same high degree as the super-moderns. Cultural studies increasingly splits into politicized and apolitical camps, through the former group deriving from Marxist cultural theory and joining the influences of the Birmingham School, feminism, and Baudrillard. The latter group includes scholars who do not view cultural studies as a political project but somewhat as an occasion for deepening their own disciplines or working across disciplines. Much work on popular culture, such as that of the Bowling Green group mentioned, comes from this second group. Humanists are more probable than social scientists to belong to the first group. This is satirical in that left-wing and feminist cultural studies grew out of Marxist social and cultural theory and only later were modified by humanists such as Jameson to their own projects. In this sense, critical social theorists involved in culture tend to cluster in humanities programs, or if they work in social science departments, they are typically isolated among their colleagues. It is m uch more common to find gathers of culturally oriented critical social theorists outside the social sciences, for instance, in English and comparative literature departments and programs. Though these comparative literature students and faculty are more obviously and blatantly politicized than most of my erstwhile colleagues and students, they approach society through the text. This peculiarity is far from absolute. Nevertheless, much of the best critical social science and social theory is being done in humanities disciplines. Sociology, for instance, sought greater institutional authenticity by attempting to imitate and integrate the methods of the natural sciences. Disciplines such as English, comparative literature, womens studies, and media studies were concerned with culture as well as politics and thus were usual gathering points for faculty and students interested in the politics of culture.

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Authors Tone Worksheet 1 Answer Key

Author's Tone Worksheet 1 Answer Key Stop! Before you read on, have you completed the Authors Tone Worksheet 1, first? If not, go back, answer the questions and  then  head back here and find out what youve gotten right and what you may have missed.   If youre curious about what authors tone really is and wondering how to figure it out, here are  three of the tricks you can use to determine the authors tone when you dont have a clue. Feel free to use these free printable pdf files for your own educational use, too: Authors Tone Worksheet 1 | Authors Tone Worksheet 1 Answer Key Passage 1   1. What does the author most likely want to convey through the use of the phrase â€Å"ready consent to terms and a couple of coins flung upon the table?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A. The strangers lack of manners and thoughtfulness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   B. The strangers desire to quickly get to his room.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   C. The strangers greediness in bartering.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   D. The strangers discomfort. The correct answer is B.  The stranger is desperate for warmth. We know that because hes covered in snow and asks for human charity, which we can only assume is because hes cold. So even though we know he is uncomfortable, the correct answer is NOT D. The author uses the words ready consent, which means eager or quickly willing consent and coins flung upon the table to indicate a hurried pace. Yes, we know its because hes uncomfortable, but the phrases indicate speed.   PASSAGE 2  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 2. The authors attitude toward mothers trying to arrange marriages for their daughters could best be described as: A. accepting of the notion B. irritated with the notion C. astonished by the notion D. amused by the notion The correct answer is D. Even if we read nothing beyond the first line, wed get the sense that the author was slightly amused by the subject matter. The author further makes the scene amusing by pitting a complacent husband against his busybody wife. Austen depicts the mother as meddling, gossiping, and impatient. If Austen were irritated by the idea, shed make the mother more unlikable. If she were astonished by the idea, then shed make the husband act aghast when Mrs. Bennet brings it up. If she were accepting of the idea, then she probably wouldnt have written about it in a witty way. Hence, Choice D is the best bet.   3. What tone is the author most likely trying to convey with the sentence, It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A. satiric   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   B. scornful   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   C. reproachful   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   D. weary The correct answer is A. This speaks to the tone of the excerpt as a whole. Shes sarcastic about societys notion of marrying young women off to wealthy men. Her overreaching statement, a truth universally acknowledged is an example of hyperbole, which is an exaggerated statement not meant to be taken literally. And although she may personally be reproachful or scornful of the idea, her tone does not convey it in this satire. PASSAGE 3 4. Which of the following choices provides the best answer to the authors final question posed in the text, while maintaining the tone of the article? A. It could be that Id fallen into a nightmare without knowing it.   B. It had to be the dreariness of the day. Nothing about the house itself was particularly depressing. C. The solution defied me. I couldnt get at the heart of my displeasure. D. It was a mystery I couldnt solve; nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as I pondered.   The correct choice is D. Here, the answer must closely mirror the language in the text. The words used by Poe are complicated, as is his sentence structure. Choice B and Ds sentence structure is too simple and Choice Bs answer is incorrect based on the text. Choice A seems logical until you place it up against Choice D, which uses a complex structure and language similar to that already in the text. 5. Which emotion is the author most likely trying to rouse from his reader after reading this text?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A. hatred   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   B. terror   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   C. apprehension   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   D. depression The correct choice is C. Although the character feels depression upon viewing the house, Poe is trying to make the reader feel apprehension in the scene. Whats going to come up? If he were trying to make the reader feel depressed, he would have spoken to something more personal. And he wasnt trying to terrify the reader in this scene, either. He wouldve used scarier content instead of relying on the dark, depressing words and phrases he does. And Choice A is completely off! Hence, Choice C is the best answer.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

The good life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The good life - Essay Example d companies that take part in industrialization and manufacturing should take responsibility of controlling the effects of climate change by bearing the negative external costs associated with climate change.1 The richer nations and large manufacturing industries get involved in massive industrial manufacturing, hence leading to massive emissions and pollution that are responsible for the ever increasing amount of green house gases. To maintain normalcy and good life, the discounting rate concept must be proportionately applied. The rich countries that account for the larger share of the global emissions must bear the greatest costs associated with environmental degradation. In order to save the future generations from suffering the harmful effects of the present global climatic change, they must learn to reduce such risks by avoiding activities that negatively affect the environment.2 This can only be achieved by seeking expert advice from economists who would advise them on the cost-benefits analysis of their industrial and manufacturing activities. From an ethical point of view, the economists must take into account the discounting rates that are payable by the environmental polluters. Economists will, therefore, always advice on the importance of reducing the possibility of adverse effects such as environmental pollution from spreading into the future. This implies that the present generation must sacrifice part of its consumption in order to mitigate the impacts climatic

Thursday, February 6, 2020

The growth of Starbucks Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The growth of Starbucks - Case Study Example (Marios Theodosiou). The rise of multinationals such as Starbucks came with the advent of globalization, where trade restrictions were eliminated. Doing businesses in most countries abroad became much easier than before. Government regulations are more relaxed and tariffs were reduced or totally eliminated. These developments have given chance to big companies in the developed countries to capture bigger markets including the Third World. This has given rise to the issue of how to standardize product internationally and at the same time adapt to the individual idiosyncrasies of each country. Multinational firms such as Starbucks face this type of dilemma. Product standardization is the introduction of domestic products internationally with a little or no modification (International Product Decision). Product standardization is done in commodities such as shoes. Multinational shoe firms such as Nike, Adidas and Reebok release shoes that are sold across different countries. The other way of marketing product is through adaptation. If the firm spouses this marketing strategy, it adapts domestic product to suit the foreign market. Product modifications are done. They can be specifically designed for foreign markets. It is believed that 'global marketing of standardized products can, however, lower operating costs, and with effective coordination exploit a company's best product and marketing ideas" (Powers). One of the benefits of standardization is it allows current technology to adapt products and services to the local needs and wants. "It is also possible to tailor standardized strategies for different worldwide segments that exist cross-nationally" (Powers). On the other hand, there are doubts on the standardizing domestic products. Some concerns raised against standardization are national prejudices (Powers). Buzzel posited that "it is a mistake to assume that product standardization is possible without careful consideration of the idiosyncrasies of each market, such as physical environment, the stage of economic development, cultural characteristics, the stage of product lifecycle, competition, distribution systems, advertising media, legal restrictions, and finding the right balance between local autonomy and central coordination" (Powers). There is a need for both. Both have advantages and disadvantages. At this point, we will specifically be analyzing how Starbucks was able to make a decision on choosing between product standardization strategy and product adaptation. The Starbucks' Case Starbucks is known for coffee. But people around the world know that it does not only offer coffee or food, it offers experience, tranquility, and class. This is something that the company has standardized. Covering three continents, the green and white emblem has dominated various countries. Starbucks management has decided to standardize the product all over the world. Its cozy interior, plus

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Online Education vs Traditional Education Essay Example for Free

Online Education vs Traditional Education Essay Have you ever enrolled in an online class and a traditional class at the same time? Kaleb has tried both unfortunately one was more successful than the other. Kaleb is taking Anatomy and English, Anatomy is an online class and English is a traditional class. He excels in his English class due the face-to-face interaction and swift feedback from the instructor and his peers. The online class on the other hand was the total opposite; here he is sitting in front of the computer dazed and confused trying to figure what to do next. Kaleb is an auditory and tactile learner so he needs physical contact and interaction. The online class did not provide that physical contact and feedback he needed so he was not very successful in it. Although online and traditional educations are both forms of learning, traditional education is more informative due to the availability, discussion/communication, and structure. Traditional courses have availability to its advantage considering that some students often fail online courses because of lack in availability. In a traditional course you have that face to face interaction and physical contact. Your professors are available on hand for you to ask questions about things you do not understand. Your classmates are physically available for you all to interact with each other questions. Online courses lack the swift feedback you receive in a traditional classroom. When learning something new you need that immediate availability that the traditional classroom provides. Class communication and discussions are very helpful when taking any type of class. Online courses do have discussions, because the communications for online courses are not definite. Online communication is somewhat unreliable; communicating with a peer online will not always receive a response. Traditional class’s communication and discussion are beneficial; if you have information or responses for one of your peers you will immediately receive a response. Unlike online classes, in a traditional course you have class discussion where you are graded to participate. Having discussions during class gives you an opportunity to give your input on the discussion taking place, it also gives you a chance to voice and concerns you have. Also when you have the face to face interaction that I mentioned in the last paragraph you are able to get a response right away without having to wait on an electronic response. Structure in the classroom is very important. In order to have a successful class you have to orchestrate some type of order. Traditional courses have rules that you must follow if you would like to continue the course that you are enrolled in. Traditional courses have rules such as attendance policies and assignment due dates. Unlike online courses, traditional classes have required participation and presentation you have to perform in every course. Whenever you have these rules and requirements you perform better and excel in your class. Last, even though online and traditional educations are both forms of learning traditional education is more beneficial and informative due to availability, discussion/communication, and structure. Online courses may be preferred by some students, but when enrolled in such a course you have to be prepared and able to teach yourself and learn accordingly. Although, Kaleb tried both online and traditional courses, he realized that traditional courses are more informative especially for him considering that he is a hand on learner. Now Kaleb will think twice before he enrolls into another online class.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Original Definition of Art Essay -- Art, Definition

My definition of art is imagination and passion expressed by creating a visual feature. I consider art to be a figurative of the imagination because everything starts with thought. People create life by thinking of ways to develop; this then creates art. It is as simple as watching a child draw a picture. I can recall imagining a picture in my head and expressing my thoughts on paper. The drawing did not come out as I imagined but it took me to a place and every time I saw the picture I thought about the vision I had created in my head. Although art involves imagination, not everyone has passion to create art. Art can be created through anger and frustration. I think that is the best way to create art. It can show passion to the person that will see this visual aspect. Art can be viewed through many perspectives. An example can be of a chandler that hangs in my grandmother’s house. My grandmother loves the chandler and brags about it every chance she gets. Living with her and imagining the image of the chandler falling on my head has created a negative view towards it. She looks as it as art on a good perspective while I take it in as art that I have a passion for destroying; in the end its always considered to be art. I consider art a visual feature because it is look at and critiqued by people. I feel that art can be expressed through many things such as dance, painting, riding a bike, etc. It is considered art when the image and passion is seen through the audience. Many may criticize my thoughts with the visual meaning towards art. This can be summed up by stating, art is something seen that shows passion and imagination. ï‚ § Chicago Foundations of Modern Architecture Definition The Chicago Foundations of Modern... .... 03 Dec. 2009. . Hunter, Marnie, ed. "Chicago: Tracing Modern Architecture." CNN. Cable News Network. Web. 12 Oct. 2009. . "Paleolithic and Neolithic Art." The Alamo Colleges. Web. 03 Dec. 2009. . Teacher resource science biology chemistry at cartage.org. Web. 03 Dec. 2009. .

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Internet Technology, Marketing, and Security Essay

Social Media Marketing: The use of internet and social networking in the workplace has grown substantially over the last few decades. Because of this, individuals are now using the internet in various ways. Technologies such as social networking sites, blog sites and other innovations give individuals a chance to interact with one another (Apigian, Ragu-Nathan, Ragu-Nathan, & Kunnathur, 2005). Social media marketing is the process of marketing through the methodical use of technical concepts and techniques toachieve specific goals for a company. This is a form of internet marketing which used to achieve branding and marketing communication goals by participating in various media networks (Major, Pennisi, & Riese, 2010). There has been a steady incline in the use of internet and social networking in places of work over the past decade because of the web-based technologies that are being used for work and work related activities. Although social media is a relatively new trend, it is becoming a very important part of any business’s marketing and client base development platform. What could once be accomplished by a traditional website now needs to be supplemented by a vigorous and responsive utilization of the tools social media offers (Bosari, 2012). Due to the increased use of internet technology, a business cannot survive without the support of social media. Social media marketing increases the exposure and traffic of a business, and the businesses use this as a tool to gain marketplace intelligence, to generate leads and to develop loyal followers (Stelzner, 2012). Some of the important reasons why social media marketing has become exceedingly important to businesses of all sizes are: * Today’s consumers are more tech savvy and have started taking time to research online before making a purchase. With the presence of social media, the business can engage with the clients and reassure them about the product and as well as the company, thus giving the business a chance to reach out and actually connect with their audience, and making the product mor e real and reliable. * The social media sites also act as platform for a virtual social life, and having a presence there is a smart business move, especially for small businesses. This shows that it is smart to take the business to the target audience where they will come across one’s brand and product. * When many different people on a social media refer to a company’s content, then the articles related to the company, the search engines pay attention to this and in turn use this factor to provide better search engine placement for the content in your website (Stelzner, 2012). * Social media also provides the kind of transparency needed for a business. When someone likes the website, product or services provided by the company, everyone in the person’s social circle can see it, thus helping in creating a higher brand exposure. Advantages & Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing: The use of internet in day to day life and the number of people using internet everyday has changed the way many businesses think about advertising. Many of the businesses direct customers towards their social network pages than their own websites. There are definitely many advantages to this, but at the same time, there are a few drawbacks as well (Hoffman, 2010). Advantages to businesses through social media are: * The biggest advantage is that the businesses can connect with networks that are full of potential customers that they may otherwise never come across through traditional marketing methods. * Social media networks are the best platform for word of mouth marketing, the most effective way increase one’s sales. These sites also allow the customers to voluntarily promote the services and products within their network of friends, thus increasing the brand awareness. * Social media sites are perfect for communicating with customers and understanding their questions and concerns, and are also the best platform for market research. * These sites also help a business to keep close watch on what the competition is doing and how are they being received by the people, and plan their strategies accordingly. Disadvantages of social media marketing for businesses are: * The biggest drawback of social media networking is that advertising violates the users’ privacy policies. This is because, in order to provide the businesses with the information about the target audience, these sites gather personal information of the users and sell them to businesses, thus violating their privacy. Many also debate whether this is an ethical practice or not. * Businesses will have to invest money as well as other resources in order to keep themselves up to date, and to keep track of all the activity happening on their network. This could sometimes also be more time consuming than traditional marketing. * Social media can also have a negative impact on the productivity of the employees if they waste valuable time using these channels for personal use, and may also have a negative effect on the company’s reputation. Use of Social Media Marketing by Pepsi: The rise of technology, which is reshaping the world drastically, even the well-established brands have to play by the digital rules. No major industry in America immune to the need to adapt to today’s more â€Å"connected† world, where companies have to harness evolving relationships between technology, customers, and suppliers (U.S. News, 2012). While many brands are still cautious about the use of social media for business, Pepsi understands that cyberspace is a fertile ground for building relationships with customers who might not be reachable through the traditional marketing methods, and thus making Pepsi one of the most â€Å"connected† companies in the U.S. according to the U.S. News (Hatch, 2012). For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi did not place an ad in the Super Bowl, but instead, chose to spend the money on their new experiment: The Pepsi Refresh Project. This was not only an innovative strategy for brand marketing, but also ground breaking in regards to using interactive methods and social media on a new level. Pepsi has launched a digital dashboard which features a lot of references to pop culture which will help them bring in more of their target audience of 18-35 year olds, and the content being a part of Pepsi’s â€Å"Live for Now† campaign (Hatch, 2012). Brian Solis, a principal analyst at the Altimeter group and author of The End of Business As Usual: Rewire the Way you Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution says that â€Å"today’s connected consumers are getting groomed and conditioned to expect the world to come to them†, and Pepsi has already taken the first step in that direction by trying to connect with them, and trying make t hem feel like they want to be a part of the brand (Hatch, 2012). With this strategy, Pepsi showed how an established brand can effectively utilize five critical aspects of social media marketing in gaining more customer insight: consumer engagement, user-generated content, data aggregation, geo-local, and inbound marketing (Horton, 2012). i. Consumer Engagement – by launching the digital dashboard, Pepsi has encouraged the visitors of the website to comment on different TV shows which are related to pop culture. It has also encouraged them to select songs and encores for a Pepsi concert series in the summer featuring major artists, who will be selected by voting through Twitter by both live audience as well as the ones watching online. ii. User-generated Content – in social media marketing, customer reviews, comments, or other inputs from customers play a very important role. In order to keep track of this, Pepsi has started using a tool called SocialFlow which ranks the content within the audience segments, what the customers are interested in. By doing so, Pepsi is able to understand its consumers’ wants and needs, and in turn act accordingly in order to gain their loyalty. Moreover, by keeping track of the consumers’ views about its products, Pepsi is able to manage complaints before they can escalate (Horton, 2012). iii. Data Aggregation – with social media, a company has better access to different statistics of the consumers, which would be very hard to gather in the traditional marketing methods. This data helps Pepsi understand its consumers better and also tells them how they can attract new ones. iv. Geo-local Reach – with the increase in the usage of smart phones, Pepsi can now incorporate social media with location-base mobile marketing. v. Inbound Marketing – today’s consumers want to be listened to an d social media networks give them the perfect platform for them to communicate with the brand. Other Businesses Using Social Media: Ford Motors – The once great American automobile company, Ford Motors, was on the ropes in 2009. But it has now reported its biggest annual profit since 1999. There are many reasons for this turn about like: the closure of about quarter of their plants, the reduction of its labor and health care costs, and the sale or retirement of underperforming brands. Along with all of the above, Ford has also been engaging in first-time conversations with its customers (Roman, 2011). Ford invested around one-quarter of its marketing dollars on digital and social media, which was double the amount spent by any of its competitors. Ford now has â€Å"social media agents†, who openly converse with their customers on forums, message boards, enthusiast sites that are not owned by Ford, as well as through official Ford Twitter and Facebook accounts. They use customized search engine tools to find and respond to customer queries, comments or concerns, including about new product arrival, warranties and repairs (Tellem, 2012). Social networking sites have allowed Ford to meet customers where it might not have been possible previously through traditional advertising, and allowing them to go where the customers go. For example, Ford created the Fiesta Movement using social media, before the all-new fiesta went on sale in North America, to create a buzz about the car and as a way to introduce it to the market. This campaign inspired tens of thousands of people, not only to merely listen to the advertising, but also to engage in an ongoing dialogue with the company through channels of their own choosing: to post videos, to share feedback, and stay engaged and in touch with â€Å"The Ford Story,† very often via multiple feeds (Roman, 2011). Ford employees respond to an average of 2,000 people weekly via social media and the interaction have continued to rise from a year ago. Also, rather than dealing with the issues the traditional ways shows that the Ford is being proactive in resolving the consumers’ issues rather than wait for their calls and then react. This is win-win situation for Ford or any other company that proactively reaches out to consumers who have issues (Halliday, 2012). Whole Foods Market – Whole Foods Market believes that customers who are more knowledgeable about food are more likely to be their customers, so the company makes efforts to help people learn more about ingredients, locate recipes, etc. Keeping this in mind, and taking this policy to heart, 5% of Whole Foods Market’s tweets are promotional and 10% are content-based. The rest 85% are responses to customers. Rather than controlling everything from the headquarters, most of its Twitter activity comes from staffers in local stores, who know their local markets and can respond to local issues much faster. This also shows how Whole Foods has made social media a part of each and every one of its stores (Eckhouse, 2011). Not all the customers shopping at Whole Foods are serious foodies. Many treat Whole Goods as a supplemental grocery store – where they pick up special items or pre-made meals. Whole Foods uses social media to give these occasional shoppers more reasons to connect by announcing flash sales on seasonal items, and also to promote gift boxes (Friedman, 2011). With the help of social media, Whole Foods strives to: * Provide something to the customer – Whole Foods works hard to answer questions about recipes, wine, cheese, ingredients and health tips. The company found that customers who are more knowledgeable about food are more likely to be Whole Foods customers, so helping them learn more about food helps make the store more appealing as a destination (Eckhouse, 2011). * Serve all the customers – Whole Foods believes that everyone who enters a store should be respected irrespective of how often one visits the store. The company wants its staff to interact with each and every customer, and give them more of a reason to come and they will. For example, Whole Foods tweets out flash sales on seasonal items that will only be in the stores for a single day. Whole Foods also uses social media to promote its gift boxes as another way to reach its occasional customers (Eckhouse, 2011). * Encourages conversation – To use Twitter as a two-way communications tool, Whole Foods works diligently to get its followers to respond and interact. For example, it holds contests with questions about food and healthy living. Nor does it take itself too seriously. It posted cooking tips for insects on its website as an April fool’s spoof as well as a YouTube video making fun of an incredibly crowded and despised parking lot for one of its Los Angeles stores (Eckhouse, 2011). Future Impact of Social Media: In the current competitive world of global business, a company needs to make use of every tool available to gain an edge. One such tool is social media, which includes websites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as blogs and forums. Social media has a direct impact on key areas such as marketing, transacting business and customer relationships. Some of the ways in which social media will affect businesses are (Edge, 2012): * Business performance driven marketing – with the help of social media and the various platforms it provides, companies have a better opportunity to interact with and understand consumers across multiple networks, and drive them to purchase. With so many options available and opportunities to understand performance, businesses will be focusing more on how social media drives business and marketing performance as opposed to just â€Å"getting the word out†. * Demand for innovations – with the increase in the usage of social technology and mobile integration, more agencies and brands will hire technology and innovation managers. They will be responsible for staying on top of trends in marketing technology and will be the digital leaders spearheading such projects. * Increase in consumer experience – along with technology, there will also be a change in the experience that takes place between brands and their customers online. Relations will become both more data driven and more interactive. Ideas will be bigger and brands will have to find innovative ways to create consumer driven brand experiences to woo their customers. References Apigian, C. H., Ragu-Nathan, B. S., Ragu-Nathan, T. S., & Kunnathur, A. (2005). Internet technology: The strategic imperative. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research , 6 (2), 123-145. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.csulb.edu/web/journals/jecr/issues/20052/paper4.pdf Bosari, J. (2012, August 8). The developing role of social media in the modern business world. 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Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanhalliday/2012/03/27/ford-taps-social-media-for-customer-service/ Hatch, D. (2012, May 15). Pepsi measures online pulse with social media strategy. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://money.usnews.com/money/business-economy/articles/2012/05/15/pepsi-measures-online-pulse-with-social-media-strategy Hoffman, D. L. (2010, October 1). Can you measure the ROI of your social media marketing? Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/2010-fall/52105/can-you-measure-the-roi-of-your-social-media-marketing/ Horton, C. (2012, May 17). 5 Ways Pepsi’s Use of Social Media is Right On. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://socialmediatoday.com/synecoretech/509355/5-ways-pepsis-use-social-medi a-right Major, A. L., Pennisi, L. A., & Riese, M. (2010, November). Using social media to market your business. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from NebGuide Web site: http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g2029/build/g2029.pdf Roman, E. (2011, February 1). Lessons from Ford’s brilliant use of social media. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ernan-roman/lessons-from- fords-brilli_b_816605.html Stambor, Z. (2011, November 21). Wal-Mart’s Facebook page is a relative hotbed of conversation. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/11/21/wal-marts-facebook-page-relative-hotbed-conversation Stelzner, M. A. (2012). 2012 Social media marketing industry report. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from Social Media Examiner Web site: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2012.pdf Tellem, T. (2012, September 9). Do you use social media? Ford does! Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://social.ford.com/our-articles/suvs/explorer/do-you-use-social-media-ford-does/ U.S. News. (2012, May 15). America’s most connected companies. 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