American News Media

Being two of the top newspaper publications in United States, New York Times and the Washington Post have been maintaining such competition through the years that evermore raises the quality of American journalism. Raising the bar can have fatal consequences as this requires an even greater pressure, and involves politicking among themselves and their contenders not to mention maintaining its integrity as institutions.This is a fact that the major media companies are aware of, and therefore take such precautions to avoid them damage and at the same time bring them profits and glory. Being representatives of the most powerful country in the whole world, they can easily become prey to the critics as they are constantly being examined under the microscope. And this is when the media’s generals take their positions in the field, taking whatever risks to gain them the lead. The Washington Post’s story on the Watergate Scandal is probably one of the best investigative stories in the recent decades.It was the story that would have not been published without the blessing of its executive editor Benjamin Bradlee who chose to oversee the investigations being run by his writers Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein rather than stay away from the dangers and pressure brought about by the frenzied situation. His trust on the amount of impact of the story won him the gamble. The evidences dug in the story later on contributed to President Nixon’s eventual resignation.After three more decades came the tragedy that shook the world- and the moment the New York Time’s executive editor Howell Raines had been waiting for, successfully commandeering his team of journalist amid the chaos of the September 11 bombing. The stirring portraits and stories of the publication delivered a powerful emotional blow to its readers across the country and helped shape the people’s minds in supporting Bush’s war against terror as they believe that it will bring justice to the dreadful acts of the country’s enemies.His aggressive leadership has brought many changes in the organization despite the criticisms he had received. These are only two of the cases of media’s great battles won, two of the battles that will not have been won without the fortitude and confidence of Bradlee and Raines, for otherwise America will have been seeing a different picture. Today, there has been a growing number of critics since Bush’s failing war on terror with accusations that the media is being used by Bush to spread his propaganda.The public watches and waits for the media’s next move as it enters a new stage. It has also been very influential in the last few decades since the advent of cable television and the internet which allowed them to serve a wider range of audiences and sequentially earn them more profits. It involves itself with war, controversies, scandals, clashes in political beliefs, religion and all the other things vital to people just to be able to deliver what the people need to know that journalists are sometimes even dubbed ‘muckrakers’.The Watergate scandal is probably one of the most unforgettable triumphs of American news media when the investigative reportage from Washington Post’s Woodward and Bernstein triggered public outbursts which largely contributed to President Nixon’s resignation. It proudly displayed its power and steadfastness to America and to the rest of the world. And it is these media’s capabilities that make it one of the most successful industries in America, earning billions of dollars per annum from advertisements alone.But their prominence nonetheless comes with a price. And such sentiments are a lot common nowadays since Bush failed to capture Osama Bin Laden in Al Qaeda followed by his unpopular war in Iraq. Although media has played a large part in both these wars, people still remain skeptical on its real agenda. Most people be lieve that the media is only being used for propaganda.First, it should have been able to expose the truth and determine if Iraq was indeed capable of manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. It is quite arguable if media should even be blamed for it, for the people might simply be too disillusioned to even consider media’s side. American media is being put under more pressure as Bush also struggles to answer every question on why he failed, why he continues to fail and what he will do to avoid future mishaps.

Paper VS Electronic Media Essay

Paper vs. Electronic Media: Work Efficiency and Environmental Impact Hirohito Shibata; Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., 6-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 220-8668, Japan Abstract Table 1. CO2 emissions per unit quantity for each product This presentation quantitatively compares paper and  electronic media from the perspectives of CO2 emissions and work efficiency. Should we reject paper out of hand based on  environmental considerations? Can electronic reading devices replace paper books for leisure and work? I discuss these issues based on various analyses and experiments. Product Introduction Although the paperless office has been repeatedly dismissed  as a myth [1], since 2008, the consumption of office paper in Japan has actually declined. With the advent of electronic reading devices such as Apple’s iPad and the Amazon Kindle, the idea of the paperless office is back in the spotlight. How seriously should we take this second coming of the paperless office? What will happen to paper? What are the relative merits of paper and electronic media? My colleagues and I at Fuji Xerox are currently at work on a research project that seeks to answer these questions. This presentation consists of two parts. The first part  compares paper to electronic media from an environmental  perspective, comparing CO2 emissions generated by paper vs. electronic media (e.g., computer displays, projectors) for reading or reference work. I also compare work efficiency for paper vs. computer displays. The second part compares paper books and  electronic reading devices (e.g., iPad, Kindle) and discusses whether  electronic books might actually take the place of paper books. This paper is a brief report and addresses only the results of these specific analyses and experiments. Standard PC Specifications Desktop High-Performance Desktop PC 17-inch Display 19-inch Display Notebook PC Projector Printer CPU: Intel Core Memory: Less than 4GB CPU: Intel Core Memory: More than 4GB TFT TFT Resolution: More than 1290Ãâ€"800 Electro Photo A3 Printers CO2 emissions per unit quantity 49.60 g/hour 98.42 g/hour 23.36 g/hour 26.34 g/hour 27.59 g/hour 163.58 g/hour 2.58 g/sheet Environmental Impact: Paper vs. Computer Displays CO2 Emissions Table 1 presents CO2 emissions per unit quantity for each  product. This data is based on figures for life cycle CO2 emissions for each product obtained in November 2010 from the website of the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry [2]. Figure 1 compares CO2 emissions associated with each medium when reading an eight-page document. Reading from  paper generates CO2 emissions only at the time the document is printed. In this case, the hours spent reading do not affect CO2 emissions. On the other hand, when we read from displays, CO2 emissions increase in proportion to the time spent reading. For extended reading sessions, CO2 emissions tend to be lower for paper; for reading many short documents, CO2 emissions tend to be lower with computer displays. NIP 27 and Digital Fabrication 2011 Figure 1. CO2 emissions associated with reading Figure 2 compares CO2 emissions for each medium for the case of a ten-page document shared in a meeting. If we deliver this document on paper, CO2 emissions increase in proportion to the number of individuals attending. If we use a projector and a single notebook PC, the number of participants doesn’t affect CO2 emissions. In general, if we are sharing documents for a large meeting, CO2 emissions are lower when we use  projectors than when we distribute on paper. When we share short documents in small groups of two or three, CO2 emissions tend to be lower when we distribute documents on paper. Technical Program and Proceedings 7 of key words in text when using paper and when using computer displays. Reading from paper was 6.8% faster than reading from displays. There was no significant difference between the media in the recognition test of key words. Paper allows faster reading without loss of understanding. Figure 2. CO2 emissions associated with meeting documents Work Efficiency The analyses of the previous section assume equal work efficiency for all media. However, efficiency may actually vary with different media. Lower work efficiency means longer  working hours, which in turn can mean higher CO2 emissions,  since elements of the workplace infrastructure (e.g., ventilation and lighting) need to run longer. I’ll describe three experiments that compare reading performance for each medium. The first experiment examines how different media affect  proofreading when the goal is to detect contextual errors. Figure 3 presents reading speed and percentage of errors detected when using paper vs. computer displays. Reading from paper was 11.9% faster than reading from the displays. There was no significant difference between media in percentage of errors detected. Figure 3. Reading speed and the percentage of errors detected in proofreading to detect contextual errors (N = 20) Figure 4. Reading speed and scores for a recognition test of key words when reading with frequent page turning (N = 18) The third experiment involved cross-reference reading for  multiple documents [4]. Figure 5 compares reading speed and  percentage of errors detected when using paper vs. computer  displays. Reading from the paper was 23.2% faster than reading from displays. Moreover, more errors were detected (a difference of 11.5%) with paper than with computer displays. In both speed and accuracy, paper was superior to displays in cross-reference reading. Figure 5. Reading speed and the percentage of errors detected in crossreference reading for multiple documents (N = 24) The second experiment looked at reading when the task  required frequent switching back and forth between pages [3]. Figure 4 compares reading speed and scores for a recognition test 8  ©2011 Society for Imaging Science and Technology Discussion Comparisons of CO2 emissions from paper and electronic  media indicate that the nature of a task determines which is more eco-friendly. The three experiments here point to the superiority of paper for different reading tasks: proofreading, reading with frequent movement back and forth between pages, and crossreference reading for multiple documents. Clearly, this is hardly an exhaustive listing of all tasks that involve reading. Still, the results suggest paperless work is not always the most eco-friendly work style. Paper should not be rejected out of hand on environmental grounds. Rather, we should select paper or electronic media depending on the specific task. Figure 7 compares task completion times and accuracy  (percentage of correct answers) for each medium in an experiment involving  scanning a manual to find answers. Subjects performed this task 38.6% faster with the paper book than with the iPad and 60.2% faster than with the Kindle. Of the five media, paper books were fastest for scanning text for answers. Work Efficiency: Paper vs. Electronic Reading Devices Reading fiction As a typical example of reading for leisure, I evaluated  electronic reading devices such as iPad and Kindle for reading fiction. Figure 6 shows reading speed with a paper book, an iPad, a Kindle, and a notebook PC. For reading that did not involve  moving from one page to the next, I found no significant  difference in reading speed among the four media. For reading that required page turns, I found that reading from the iPad was as fast as reading from paper books, but that reading from the Kindle was slower than reading from paper books. This suggests that the iPad is just as suited as paper books for tasks like reading fiction. Figure 7. Completion time and percentage of correct answers when scanning text to locate answers to questions (N = 20) Discussion Figure 6. Reading speed: Paper book vs. electronic media (N = 26) For reading fiction, our experiment showed iPads and paper  books offered equal reading speed for reading with and without page turns. This suggests that the current generation of electronic reading devices is perfectly suitable for reading for leisure, at least from the perspective of efficiency. Clearly, other factors such as cost, weight, and design will also determine whether such devices gain widespread acceptance for this purpose. Paper books proved the fastest of all five media in the  experiment involving scanning text to find answers to questions, the reading task ranked as the second most common in the study by Adler et al. Moreover, as discussed above, the current  generation of electronic reading devices remains poorly suited for cross-reference reading, the reading task ranked as the most common. These results suggest that the electronic reading devices currently available do not adequately cover the wide range of reading tasks required for knowledge work. Reading to answer questions Trademarks Adler et al. [5] observed various work-related reading tasks in actual work situations and assigned each instance to one of ten categories. Among the most frequently observed tasks was crossreference reading using multiple documents. Clearly, the current generation of electronic reading devices does not permit crossreference reading. These devices do not allow us to view multiple documents at the same time, and their form factors are too cumbersome to overlap or otherwise move frequently. For this reason, I evaluated these devices for the second-most common task in the study by Adler et al.: scanning text to answer questions. Microsoft and Windows are trademarks or registered  trademarks of Microsoft Corporation Adobe Reader is trademark or registered trademark of Adobe Systems Inc. iPad is trademark or registered trademark of Apple Inc. Kindle is trademark or registered trademark of Amazon.com Inc. NIP 27 and Digital Fabrication 2011 References [1] Abigail J. Sellen and Richard H. Harper, â€Å"The myth of the paperless office,† The MIT Press, (2001). Technical Program and Proceedings 9 [2] [3] [4] [5] 10 Web site of Japan Environmental Management Association for  Industry, http://www.jemai.or.jp/ecoleaf/index.cfm. [in Japanese] Hirohito Shibata and Kengo Omura, Effects of paper on page turning: Comparison of paper and electronic media in reading documents with endnotes, Proc. HCI International ’11, (2011). Hirohito Shibata and Kengo Omura, Effects of paper in moving and arranging documents: A comparison between paper and electronic media in cross-reference reading for multiple documents, Journal of the Human Interface Society, 12, 3, pg.301, (2010). [in Japanese] A. Adler, A. Gujar, B. Harrison, K. O’Hara, and A. J. Sellen, A diary study of work-related reading: Design implications for digital reading devices, Proc. CHI ’98, pg.241, (1998). Author Biography Hirohito Shibata received his MS in mathematics from Osaka  University (1994) and his PhD in engineering from the University of Tokyo  (2003). He is currently a research scientist at the Research and Technology Group, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Research interests include cognitive science and human-computer interactions. His current research involves investigations of the strengths and weaknesses of presentation media from cognitive perspectives. He is a member of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), The Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ), The Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence (JSAI), and Human Interface Society (HIS).  ©2011 Society for Imaging Science and Technology

Compare and contrast the 1963 and 1990 version of ‘Lord Of The Flies’ Essay

In this essay I will be compare and contrast the 1963 and the 1990 version of ‘Lord Of The Flies’. I will be exploring the two films to see which is better at helping students to understand the central theories of Golding’s original novel. Peter Brook’s version was made in 1963, had a British cast and was filmed in black and white. He took an assembly of schoolboys to the Caribbean island of Vieques for three months and then got them to act out the book with very little direction from Brook himself. This may be because he wanted the film to look realistic and not staged. Harry Hook’s American, technicolour version was produced in 1990 and included characters who were not in the original novel. There are a number of differences between the two films. In the ‘Lord Of The Flies’ novel, Golding makes sure that no adults are present, aside from the dead parachutist. However in the 1990 version, a fatally ill pilot is present amongst the children. We are also never told about the boys’ homes or past in the book, whereas in Hook’s version the boys gossip about Jack’s military record and the time he drove off in an army car. At the beginning of Hook’s version, the boys are all members of the Sea Cadets and therefore are familiar with each other whereas in Brook’s version, the boys are meeting each other for the very first time. Nearing the end of the 1963 version, the chants used at Simon’s death are from the original novel, ‘kill the pig, cut his throat, spill his blood’. Conversely in Hook’s version they recite chants that are remembered from their training at the Cadets. The beast is a major theme in Golding’s original novel. It is the manifestation of the boys’ innermost fears of the evil that resides inside themselves. The video versions treat the beast in different ways. In Hook’s version the idea of a beast is introduced through Jack as he is telling stories around a campfire. In Brooks’ version, the little boys with the birthmark introduces the beast, saying he has seen a monster in the jungle. Both films portray Ralph as a good-looking, tall boy. This is why the children warm to him and elect him leader, whereas Jack, whose is ‘ugly without silliness’, is overlooked. This is an issue in everyday life where good-looking people are more socially accepted than ugly people. An example of this is how magazines always display attractive models. Towards the end of both films, Ralph is being hunted like a pig as the boys set fire to the island hoping to corner him. As soon as he reaches the beach the naval officer appears, showing a sign of authority. At the beginning of both films Ralph is admired by the boys, but slowly loses respect through his inability to offer the same fun as Jack does. This shows that children overlook maturity and responsibility when there is an option to have a good time. Jack is represented in the same way in both films. He shows anger and impatience from the start of the film. When he fails in his attempt to challenge Ralph for leadership, his thirst for power overflows as he sets up his own tribe. His tribe is of a dictatorship nature and refer to Jack as the chief, obeying his every command. Hook’s film shows Jack turning savage faster, wearing more face paint than in Brook’s version. Piggy’s unfortunate quality are the subject of the other boys’ scorn; his asthma, fatness and poor eyesight, with his glasses being a visual symbol. They are symbolic of man’s insight or lack of it, where there are no rules of society to control behaviour. Piggy is not afraid to express his opinions, but is never taken seriously because he is fat, short sighted and has a different accent. These qualities add up to someone who fails to fit in with the rest of the boys. Ralph, however, is tall, fair, and good-looking, speaking in a cultured way (the same as the others). Nevertheless Ralph does not possess the real brains that Piggy does, which causes his downfall and lets Jack get away with murder. From this, one is led to believe that humans are shallow and fail to look beyond the visual exterior of man. Simon is depicted as the silent boy in both films. He is likened to Jesus and is killed, just as Jesus died on the cross. The new technology available in 1990 made Hook’s version gorier. Simon never finds the courage to express his thoughts and emotions, and therefore is looked upon as an outsider like Piggy. The human mind needs to be constantly nurtured to prevent it from turning against others. Children need a higher figure to maintain peace and harmony, ensuring them that their biggest fears are in fact figments of their imagination (for example monsters under the bed). When there is no higher authority, undeveloped minds do not think of others. They do not live their lives considerately. Instead, they act on their instincts and are quick to blame an outsider for their own fears. This is how the beast becomes an issue on the island, as even the older boys begin to doubt their common sense. Rather than rationally thinking the problem out, the boys begin to fear this imaginary beast. The only boy that realises the truth is Simon, who understands that the beast is the boys’ inner fear, physically manifested. Authority is also a major issue in both films, more so in Hook’s version, where the boys lose sight of civilisation quicker. The conch is symbolic of the law and is used to call order in the beginning. However as the boys are replaced by their savage primitive selves, the conch loses all significance. The smashing of the conch shows the crumbling of the walls of society. The two films are aimed at similar audiences, both children and adults alike. Brooks’ version was appropriate for its time and so lacked the elements of the modern film. Hook’s version showed effects that were relevant to modern times, which made it more appealing to children in society today. The language in both films had to be different to appeal to the target audience. For example, in Brooks’ version Piggy calls Jack and his tribe, ‘a pack of painted niggers’. This would be deemed as racist in society today. In the same way, Hook’s version uses words of profanity that would have been unacceptable in 1963. Both directors have used different technical effects in their film versions of the novel, such as camera angles, music, make up/costume, photography/lighting and direction. Brooks used music at the crucial points of the films. When Simon died, religious music was played to make the audience think of holy things. Brooks’ version contained not much stage direction, as he wanted the film to appear realistic and not staged. However there were not many camera angles. More mid shots and less angle shots were taken. In 1963 there wasn’t the technology to filter light. Brooks’ version used make up well. The savages were easily distinguishable from Ralph’s group, and the war paint on Jack’s tribe was realistic, as if natural. The music used in Hook’s version was sincere and genuine. The music was dramatic and the mood changed throughout the film. At the start it was jolly as the boys were only just discovering the island, whereas near the end the music was reflective upon all the destruction the boys had caused. At the time of Simon’s death, a low, mournful type of music was played while as Piggy died, silence reigned. This gave the audience the impression that the death of Piggy symbolised the complete destruction of civilisation. It gave them a chance to think about how the boys had gone from mindless games to murder. Stage direction were used in accordance to the novel and was therefore noticeably better. Due to technology a wider variety of camera angles were used. There were many close-ups of the war paint on the savages, truly showing how society had crumbled. Mid shots signified the passing of time. Subjective shots were taken during Ralph’s chase, which led to the effect that Ralph was the only sane boy left being chased by savage brutes. In Hook’s version the lighting was clear. He was able to control the amount of light he wanted cast onto each individual scene, which was not possible during the time of Brooks’ film. The fact that the film was in colour added to the effect on the costume and the blood on the hunters. The effects mentioned above help us to understand and interpret the novel. They tell us about time passed on the island and the gradual deterioration of the boys’ sense of law and order. I have concluded that Brooks’ version of the film would be more helpful for students of the text. His film was made only nine years after the book was published and therefore used the same language of the period. Hook’s version was made in 1990, and was vastly different. Society had greatly changed in forty years. The language used was completely different. The American actors meant that the vocabulary used was different from the novel. This film contained many characters that were not in the original novel, which could have led to confusion for students studying the text. Brook’s version showed more relevance to the script. The events occurred in the same sequence as the book. Children of today would have found Hook’s version more entertaining, seeing as there was more blood, gore and profanity. However it would not aid them in the study of the text as much as Brook’s version could.

Independence for women Essay

Independence of women Speaking of women’s independence, people will think of the image that women determined to fght with men in workplace. This is widely recognized in our life. In fact, the independence not only mean argue with men in the career, it’s about women find their own position or not. So independence is a self-understanding because it may decide you can get more personal benefit from the economic, ideological or social, and it will make you have a good attitude and new values. Women should be economically independent, and then they have qualified to talk about respect or quality. In order to make a living, unmarried women can’t put hopes on marry the rich men. Many girls who always rely on rich men, over time, those men may feel tired. Because of economic problems, the girls’ boyfriend will have contradiction with you. If there are more and more conflicts, your feeling will fade. Moreover, Women should keep their own Job or still have economic source when they married. In â€Å"chocolate† movie, Josephine because of her identity has problem. She had to rely on her husband. His husband thought her life was saved by him. So he hit and humiliated her all the time. She can’t get respect or equality in her family. Ideology determines women’s behavior, so only being able to form their own opinions, it will make you behavior gets more approval from others. Women’s behavior is their expression of ideology. People often said, wonderful thinking, wonderful life. In â€Å"chocolate† movie, the heroine has her own opinions. She always did everything according to her ideas. Finally she got more attention and help people change old opinions. Besides, Ideology affects women’s relationships with others. Even some men like give women suggestions or ideas. If women have different mind to share with them, they may be amazed at women’s thinking, and also will praise women. Social independent make women adapt to social development and change, and it leads you have more improve. Women easy to lost goal or mind in the constantly changing society. Women can’t expect someone can give you ideas. In â€Å"the namesake† movie, the heroine’s husband always stays with her, and helps her figure out problems. When she lost her husband, she didn’t know how to continue the rest of live. Social independence can attract more attention from others. In â€Å"chocolate† ovie, because of the leading lady was good at independent living, it makes people pay attention to her. Finally, they found, it leads their life to good direction. Therefore, it won more respect and love for her. All in all, women independence doesn’t mean completely dependent on others, it is women’s self-understanding because it can get more benefit, and it will get more love and attention from other people. So, economic, ideological or social independent is necessary for women. At the same time, I hope every woman have ability to independently, and they can play more and more important role in social life, including myself.

Living with Strangers Essay

To top the essence of discomfort off, Hustvedt states that â€Å"On the subway, I found myself in intimate contact with people I didn’t know, my body pressed so tightly against hem, I could smell their hair oils, perfumes and sweat. † (p. 1, l. 4-16) This closeness is something that most of us, Hustvedt as well, saves exclusively to boyfriends and close family – This exclusiveness only survives because of the ‘Pretend it isn’t happening’-rule. Throughout the essay Hustvedt takes us down her memory-lane of New York, where she tell us the things that can describe exactly why her view on urban living is how it is. The ‘Pretend it isn’t happening’-rule seems to be the most visible theme in the essay. To an outsider taking a stance against something that is clearly wrong seems logical, if not almost necessary. Whereas Hustvedt says that in New York that is uncommon and almost illogical behavior, because of the possible outcomes when someone is asked to stop whatever they felt they had the right to do. This is allowed because of the aforementioned rule. To explain her point further Siri Hustvedt exemplifies it for us. Hustvedts’ husband had witnessed a man stepping on the subway with a lit cigarette, another man confronted him politely by stating that it’s illegal to smoke on he subway, the smoker had then replied â€Å"Do you wanna die? To much luck the smoker had to get off the subway at the next stop, which resulted in a quick ending to the affairs, but Hustvedt points out that this couldVe ended much, much worse. Siri Hustvedt almost attempts to Justify the ‘pretend it isn’t happening’-rule, by showing the dangers ot not pretending. Hustvedt points out that New Yorkers barely even notice that they’re doing it, it’s such a custom reaction to these situations that in the urban cities you’re raised with them – Just as you’re raised with table manners. To exemplify this Siri Hustvedt mentions her daughter, Sophie, who has adapted to the behavioral pattern already as â€Å"she feigns deafness when the inevitable stray character comes along and tries a pickup. † (p. 2, l. 80-81) and that her daughter has been â€Å"refining the frozen, blank expression that accompanies the Pretend law. † (p. 2, 1. 76-77) In the same example Hustvedt explains that her daughter often gets hit on and some of these admirers are more stray than others. One day Sophie had experienced a man who had been shamelessly staring at her, but when he stepped ff the train and the daughter didn’t, the man had thrown himself against the window and yelled â€Å"l love you† at her. Sophie had felt embarrassed and frightened, but the man next to her had commented â€Å"It looks like you have an admirer†. To this Siri Hustvedt explains that â€Å"His understatement not only defined the comedy inherent in the scene; it lifted my daughter out of the solitary misery that comes from being the object of unwanted attention among strangers. † (p. 3, l. 92-94). This example turns the essay towards a new point-of-view, whereas the reader started out ith having a sense of displeasure and discomfort towards urban living, Hustvedt turns the entire essay around in the end where she enlightens us that urban living is not all that bad: â€Å"Nevertheless, compliments, insults, banter, smiles, and genuine conversations among strangers are part of the city’s noise, its stimulus, its charm. † (p. 3, l. 102-104) in this quote, Hustvedt points out to us that isn’t not only incredibly dull, if urban life only revolved around â€Å"pretending it’s not happening†, but that is it almost down-right impossible. She also states that because of this rule, those who break it make a turning point to everyday life and it’s those people who make urban living all the more charming. Siri Hustvedt mentions that â€Å"Sometimes a brief exchange with an unknown person marks you forever, not because it is profound but because it is uncommonly vivid. † (p. 3, l. 112-113) and to end the essay she mentions a moment 20 years earlier in her life, where a homeless man had called her beautiful and asked her to dinner, and when she politely said ‘no’, he then had grinned and aid â€Å"Lunch? This example not only supports her statement that it has indeed marked her forever, but it almost seems like what then wouldVe seemed rather creepy – now is a little comical and it probably even lifts her spirit when thinking about it. l, for one, believe that the statement is as true as anything can be. It’s not always the deep conversations you have with your family and closest f riends that mark you, it’s the sudden situations; because they’re not forced and that makes them all the more real and therefore deep. I may not live in a true urban city like Copenhagen or New York, but the ‘pretend’-rule is everywhere – and because of that all of the times that it’s broken may seem a little odd or even scary at first can make the rest of one’s day all the more interesting. A sudden compliment, a smile to a stranger or even a short conversation with someone about why the train is delayed – yet again. It gives one time to reflect over the minor things in life and sometimes it may even remind you Just how little you actually are – in a good way, of course.

The Intellectual and Institutional Development of Globalization Research Paper

The Intellectual and Institutional Development of Globalization - Research Paper Example The states now share center stage with international entities like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization. Treaties among states create these international organizations. The WTO, World Bank, and the IMF have been main players in the formation and managing of the modern world economy. These financial institutions have become major targets of the anti-globalization bodies. They are resented and are seen as imposing Western capitalism on unstable states without monitoring the social impacts of their activities (Zweifel, 2006). There are concerns among many countries over their economic sovereignty. Sovereignty is defined as the complete and exclusive control of all people and property within a territory. Key aspects of power, be it political, ideological or economic must be focused within the nation-state. Globalization has challenged the pre-eminence of nation-state, the mounting presence, and increasing responsibilities of non-nation-state actors in overall governance. Economic power becomes decoupled from the nation-state and is, therefore, essential in the progress of 21st century universal control. Global organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank, and International Monetary Fund were developed to promote post-war reconstruction and economic development. Economically stable governments and corporations advocate for neoliberal policies and free-market solutions of international trade and debt-based finance. These are considered as the routes to poverty cutback support the functions of these organizations. Within the aggressive universal framework, third world nations are left with little choice other than to conform to the pre-set neoliberal program. Consequently, these states are often left with a weak economy and mounting debt. According to Peet (2003), the aim of International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to guard international fiscal stability, particularly by keeping a cap on inflation. This is achie ved through pressuring countries to limit public spending. Furthermore, it maintains fiscal stability by making disbursements to nations with balance of payment issues, stimulates growth and employment. Such countries are granted loans and credits to settle their debts and readjust the adopted economic policies so that they are not exposed to further financial crises in the future. Each year, the IMF sends economists to each of its member countries to assess individual nation’s economic condition. The economists examine macroeconomic conditions, exchange rate, monetary and fiscal policies, and other related policies, such as trade policy, labor policy, and social policy. The aim of this research is to give an external check on state’s fiscal decisions that might have an impact on the global economic system. WTO was formed in 1995 and acted as a forum for negotiating international trade agreements. Additionally, the organization aims to lower tariffs and non-tariffs bar riers in order to increase international trade. The World Bank original mandate is to provide long-term loans for reconstruction and fund multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects in developing countries. The loans are given in phases to make sure that the borrowing nations move forward with the development reforms. Loans are settled for long periods depending on the nature of the

Sources of Communication Inputs and Their Influences in Daily Life Essay

Sources of Communication Inputs and Their Influences in Daily Life - Essay Example The only thing in this world that is constant is change. This is a pretty well known saying which existed as long as I can remember. Looking back 50 years and more from today, I can recall how we used to tackle in class about how people have lived centuries ago. Today, the upsurge of developments in technology has an undeniable effect on how organizations function within and with other institutions. For an organization, its success and failure greatly depends on how the organization was structured to work. The drive to improve peoples living pattern is still the same drive or factor which triggers international firms to globalize their operations and with that, today's latest technology makes the company's and consumers life easier It enable companies to reduce cost by using powerful equipment and machineries while consumers can have easier access to the newest products in the market. One of the first innovations of technology was the mainframe system and it was during the 1960's that computers and such started to impart in organizations and firms. The classic ways of hierarchal management systems started to disintegrate during these times. Through technological change, globalizing the operations of an international company could put up a plantation where they can reduce their labor cost. Not denying the fact that different people from different countries have different tastes, international companies could also personalize their products according to the consumers or markets preferences without eliminating their standards and trademark. Before, information control was basically handled by those in managerial positions in a linear manner according to rank. With these systems of technology, information was handled as such that company transparency is relatively existent for those who can get hold of certain information. The onslaught of developments in technology has triggered organizational structure alterations. These changes can be illustrated by considering two key variables: the location of information and the location of decision rights in the organization (Brynjolfsson E. and H. Mendelsson). With the innovative technological systems today, important information can now possibly be available to all employees or workers in an organization at all level. Before, information handling and privilege was limited to the persons that directly handle them. Now, the responsibility of handling information is left to information technologists or technicians. The technicians then put data or information into databases which are accessible to all components of the organization For example, an organization can have a website, regularly maintained and updated by professional information technologists. Here, employees, managers and customers alike, can log on to the website and access whatever information they needed. Furthermore, having websites is also a great advantage since helpful feedbacks are easier to get from both customers and employees. The growing need for technology innovations paves way to strengthening certain industries in a corporate world; like data management services, computer engineers, information technologists, software designers or engineers and so on and so forth. Although there are still organizations or companies that are hesitant to use information techn