Online Courses: the Pros and Cons

Online Courses: The Pros and Cons By Melody More and more students are taking online classes. They are advertised on the radio, television, and billboards, promising convenience and opportunities. Even traditional universities are now offering online classes in conjunction with their normal â€Å"brick and mortor† classes. In actuality, online classes only appear to be easier and more convenient. Online course are more difficult and time-consuming than traditional classroom courses although they have afforded many bright and industrious students unprecedented opportunities to further their education.The stigma behind online classes has led them to be less respected than traditional classes. In an effort to increase enrollment, many universities advertise that they offer online courses in which a student can quickly and conveniently earn their degree. This has two potentially negative consequences. First, employers who have never experienced a classroom setting in an online env ironment assume that these degrees are not as reputable as those from schools that exclusively offer traditional courses. Secondly, students enroll in these online courses with the mistaken belief that they are going to be quick and easy.Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. Online classes are more time consuming than in-classroom courses. In almost all courses, participation makes up a portion of everyone’s grade. Most professors count participation points as 10% of a student’s total grade. This 10% can easily be obtained in a classroom environment where a student can speak to peers and professor about a particular topic. However, online courses use a discussion board for communication, where the students and professor post responses to a discussion.The continuous posting by the students and professor makes spelling, grammar, and punctuation an unprecedented factor in a student’s participation points. Although online professors typically over look spelling and grammatical errors when responding to students’ posts, they are liable to take away points. Most of the time they deduct participation points if the grammar and spelling is so bad that they cannot understand the point the student is attempting to make. Students whom normally struggle with spelling and grammar are forced to improve their writing skills.In turn, the necessity of grammar, spelling, and punctuation benefits a student’s overall education experience. Moreover, the increased writing in a classroom environment can be a double-edged sword. The replacement of writing rather than speaking in a classroom can yield a negative effect on a person’s life. Online environments inadvertently encourage social isolation. A student who may have had social challenges or anxiety about speaking in front of a group of people in the past can easily continue isolating themselves from others rather than facing their fears.When the student graduates, findin g employment can be increasingly difficult without these necessary interpersonal skills. The socially awkward alumnus of a particular university negatively represents their university and discredits other alumni that could be applying for the same position. Despite this potentially disastrous effect, there are opportunities online courses have presented to so many people around the world. Online courses open doors to people who would otherwise have to give up on their dreams of higher education.An example is a single mother who barely survives by working two jobs to provide for her children. She does not have the money to hire a babysitter while she attends night classes. However, with online classes, she can work on a college degree while her young children sleep. Online classes are more convenient for the worker that works until 3:00 am and has little time before and after work to study. Driven, disciplined, non-traditional students can derive great benefit from the ability to att end class when they can, wherever they have internet access.Furthermore, potential students should not shun the idea of online classes if it can help them further their education. Students who may be considering online classes should think carefully about what it is they need from a course. If they want to speak to a professor directly to get their questions answered, have the availability at the same time each week to attend a course, and prefer not to perform additional writing assignments each week, then an online course may not be for them.On the other hand, if a potential student works for a company that is not willing to work around a school schedule, childcare is not available, or they simply do not want to drive to class in the evening, an online course may be the perfect solution. There are many pros and cons that are part of the decision-making process on whether or not to take an online course. Taking an online course should not be a decision that a student jumps into wit hout carefully considering all the factors involved.

Networking Concepts – Summary

The alma of this paper Is to find the easiest and cost-effective method of connecting two separate networks. A relatively simple device called a bridge, which Is implemented through a combination of hardware and software, achieves interconnection between two networks that are the same. Interconnection between networks that are not similar, for example, a Wide Area Network and a Local Area Network can be achieved through as much more complex device called a router.A router Is a device, which can accept messages that are in a certain format produced by one particular network and reinstates them to another format that is used by another network. In this particular case of Nancy, a director of network infrastructure, it is not likely that a full replacement of networking equipment Is required. Alternative A, which is about Installing a few devices In the headquarters of BOB. The advantages of this alternative are that is that It Is the easiest, the least expensive and the quickest to imp lement.The other advantage is that this approach will have a very small impact on the network infrastructure. The disadvantage of this approach is that there will be performance penalties due to lack of integration in the architecture of the network. The second option Is replacing the network components of Bob's entire network for It to use the same protocols as BE and the two can communicate freely. The advantage of this approach Is that there will be a huge Improvement In performance due to integration in the network architecture.The major cons of this alternative are that there will be major impacts on the network infrastructure; there also will be ajar costs incurred and a lot of time required to implement this alternative. Their last alternative Is whereby the management of BE bank replaces all the devices of the B WAN and even probably the MANS so that each city or branch can communicate with the network of BE while the Lana in individual divisions remain unchanged. The advant age of this alternative is that there will be better performance gains than in alternative A and takes significantly little time to implement.The con of this approach is that it does not achieve full integration of the network and the stickiest to support Bobs network over time It might add problems to the My recommendation is that alternative C is the most applicable when it comes to the time taken to implement and the cost that is incurred in order to achieve a significant level of network architecture. However, when it comes to a long-term point of view, the second alternative is the best so long as BE passes through a transition stage like the first alternative in order to meet its immediate needs and take ample time to put into action the full changes of the infrastructure.

Male and Female expectations in a Relationship

Relationships are an integral part of human beings especially given the fact that human beings are social beings who need love, care and recognition.   The quality of relationship couples as well as members of the opposite sex have, has been found to have an impact on one’s health (Jamieson, 1998).   Human beings show the need for affection and healthy relationships from an early age in life.   As early as childhood, toddlers get attracted to their mothers or caregivers.   This makes the toddler to feel threatened if separated from the parents. Surprisingly, this attraction to people and the need for ‘others’ never change and goes on in life throughout all the developmental stages.   As early as the adolescence developmental stage, boys and girls exhibit feelings of attraction to each other.   Although some go into denial and opt to suppress the feelings for the opposite sex, the attraction and the craving for the other sex is usually very high.   Eventually many realize that female-male relationships are inevitable. Questions as to what expectations both parties have for each other as well as from the relationship are to date a subject for debate. There are many expectations each party expects of the relationship and the expectations are largely shaped by environmental conditions although the role played by genetical factors cannot be underestimated.   Most of the expectations however arise out of social and cultural influence. As men and women grow up, they are taught by the society on how to carry themselves in relationships as well as what to expect from their partners.   While some societies expect relationships to remain autonomous, in the past society played a very crucial role.   In some societies, males expect women to bear them children for purposes of posterity.   In such relationships, a female is respected on the basis of her ability to sire children for the man. Any female who is not capable of siring children is discriminated against and treated with dishonor. As such, a barren woman risks being branded an outcast and a social misfit.   In some cultures, the man expects sexual satisfaction from the woman they are in a relationship with.   Women who cannot sexually satisfy their men are abused and in some cases divorced or neglected.   Modernity has changed the expectations men expect of women and vice versa, as the focus in relationship shifts from the need for procreation to the need for caring and loving partners. Fidelity ranks highly in relationships.   According to (Jamieson, 1998) 80% females in relationships consider fidelity as the most important factor in relationships with 40% of the females saying that they would quit a relationship if they found out a partner was cheating on them.   90% of men consider fidelity as the most important factor in relationships compared to 80% of women who consider fidelity as the most important factor. Asked on whether they would quit a relationship on basis of unfaithfulness of a partner, 85% of the men said that they would quit a relationship on the basis of fidelity.   The study concluded that, fidelity ranks highly amongst expectations in female and male relationships.   Other factors, which the study found to form basis of expectations in a relationship, include; care, love, financial support, sexual satisfaction as well as respect (Jamieson, 1998).   While the above expectations apply to both men and women, some expectations are cited more often by males than females and vice versa. For instance, females in relationships are more likely to expect financial support or help form their male partners.   This can be explained in a number of ways but most importantly, cultural and social factors are at play here.   In most societies, women were purposely seen as useful only for reproductive jobs (which are not salaried) (Jamieson, 1998).   By being subjected to heavy work loads such as cultivation in family gardens, most women especially housewives were left with no steady source of income and were therefore left with no choice but to depend on males with whom they had entered into relationships for financial help.   This puts females at a disadvantage in a relationship as they are wrongly viewed as dependent on their men. In some cases males end up dominating over the females on this basis as males take the role of ‘breadwinner’ and the females that of ‘caregivers’.   This labeling takes place regardless of the fact that, the woman is also a ‘breadwinner’ in the sense that the domestic chores the woman is allocated such as looking after children as well as taking the children to school are important but it is the society which has chosen to give them less prominence. Therefore, women’s reproductive work is not considered as work and is considered as less important by the society and the men in particular. Variations in male-female expectations in a relationship also result from cultural beliefs.   In some communities, women are labelled as the weaker sex.   Such categorization leads to variation in roles and expectations.   With exception of very few relationships, females and males are not equal in a relationship. In most cases, male dominance is manifested in relationships. Females are expected to be submissive and to give in or compromise their opinions or decisions in cases where important decisions are to be made affecting the relationship.   In other relationships, female dominance is experienced.   This is usually common in cases where women have financial independence and therefore have a fallback position. For such women, moving out of relationships for reasons such as abuse in the relationship by the partner or irreconcilable differences existing between partners in the relationship is the common response. In female dominated relationships, expectations for both parties are likely to be different from those of a male dominated relationship.   In such relationships, males expect financial support from the women.   Males also expect sex from the females but they are more likely to adhere to consensual terms or the decisions of the female.   In female dominated relationships, females expect obedience form the male especially in cases whereby the females are the providers (Jamieson, 1998). Females in such relationships also expect other needs of a relationship such as respect, love, and care.   For most relationships, expectations change from time to time an also on the prevailing conditions. Loss of a job for either the male or the female partner may influence the balance of power in the relationship.   For instance, if the male has been the decision maker in a relationship and ends up losing the status of a bread-winner, expectations for the females are affected especially due to the fact that most expectations are pegged on financial ability of either partner. Conclusion Female and male relationships are complex and understanding of expectations both male and females have of each other is a daunting task.   The fact that relationships are both dynamic and situational further complicates the nature of relationships.   However, as discussed in the main body of this paper, social, environmental and cultural factors influence greatly what females and males expect out of a relationship. Reference Jamieson, L. (1998) Intimacy. Personal Relationships in Modern Societies, Cambridge: Polity Press.      

Letter Response to Customer Complaint Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Letter Response to Customer Complaint - Essay Example Pursuant to your rights as enunciated in the DPA and in accordance with our commitment to provide you with the best service we can give, upon receiving your letter, the customer support department has immediately processed your request. Rest assured that we do not intent to contravene nor circumvent the clear mandate of the law. We have endeavored to process and comply with your request within 40 days as you requested, and we apologize for whatever unforeseen delay that may have occurred. In any case, we are attaching with this letter your financial statements for the past six years in case you haven't received them yet. We understand from your letter that there is discrepancy in the financial statements between the actual charges for the period of April 2001- April 2002 period totals 1,571.09 and the estimated charges which amount to 5,000. We assure you that the discrepancy will be resolved at the soonest possible time.

Types of Technology that Track Repeat Offenders Research Paper

Types of Technology that Track Repeat Offenders - Research Paper Example d more than 200,000 injuries, with over 25,000 being fatal injuries, occur annually as a result of traffic crashes which has a wide documentation indicating that 80% to 90% of the crashes are attributable to repeat-offender related behavior. Of the 3000 motor vehicle crashes related deaths, 800 are as a result of red lights running (Greenlaw, 1997). Similarly, most murders and sex related capital offences are believed to be done by repeat offenders. These among other reasons show that there is need for concerted efforts to advocate for innovative and new approaches such as technological repeat-offender tracking because available studies elucidate that much less impact have been achieved by traditional countermeasures. This paper therefore aims at examining the various technological measures that have been adopted to track repeat offenders, with a particular understanding that this is an area that has not been intensively investigated into as compared to other scientific insights into crime aberration. Furthermore, this paper will move from policy identification to the myriad challenges in operational requirements as they are faced by law enforcement agents. The main objective is to arrive at a conclusion that would give some viable recommendations that would assist or contribute to reduced future victimization to the general public and increased general community safety. Some examples of repeat offences and tracking technologies that will be highlighted include: red light running and red light cameras; impaired driving as a result of alcohol influence and breath tests gadgets; DNA database tracking; GPS- Global Positioning Satellite technology and repeat sex offenders; among other capital offences. There has been a profound global increase of electronic monitoring and tracking technology legislation within the last decade as a further repeat and future offenses prevention measure. In 2006 in America for example, legislation authorizing or requiring wide

Applying People CMM to Your Organization-Part 1 Essay

Applying People CMM to Your Organization-Part 1 - Essay Example The company also recognized the need for a continuous improvement culture in order to sustain the process. Because of that, Toyota selects the brightest and best workers within the organization, from all levels, and challenges them to use their proposals and creativity to experiment and learn. This is a challenge that puts the workers through a constant problem solving state, and encourages them to grow in their jobs. Every specialty, for example; engineering, accounting, sales, service, and human resources, are equipped with skills which the company refines to achieve customer satisfaction. This continuous improvement culture could use people CMM for the company to achieve its targets (Toyota, 2014). Continuous improvement means the company will always have changing aims to meet. There should be a system of ensuring these aims are met, and this is where the people CMM come in. It provides staged improvements through which the organization’s culture can be changed. People CMM is a model of change that focuses on improving workforce practices. It has five levels of maturity, and these act as guidance through change. If Toyota, for example, wants to change the culture of the organization to a continuous improvement focused, it will make use of the maturity levels to meet its targets. The model describes an evolutionary process through which companies go through to achieve quality and effectiveness. Maturity levels determine the characteristics of the organization. Toyota, for example, already established a continuous improvement culture which it has to maintain. It means that the company has passed the initial level, the managed level, and the defined level. The initial level is all about the inconsistency of the practices. Toyota has a consistent practice of identifying the best skills, and guiding them through problem solving activities to develop new ideas

Organizational performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Organizational performance - Essay Example A plan and forecast for the workforce should be developed. It should include the number of employees, recruitment base and training program. In addition, recognizing that experienced workforce is success, they should be included in the program. It will involve a recruiting process was certification; referrals and expertise skills are ranked of the candidates. Taking up leadership positions is a fact pegged on ability from self-will and experience. It will be achieved by offering training opportunities, holding regular meetings to streamline perception and channel the energies of the workforce. It has been proved that rewarding of staff is a good way to empower their individual strategies for development. Building their art of communication, influence abilities and responsibility is paramount. The aspect of staff retention raises eyebrows in most of the company’s agenda. It is worthless to come up with a team of talented members, only to lose them again. Offering competitive packages should be first on the workforce plan for conservation will enable the firm built a name in the market and conquer new markets within the South America. Moreover, working environment conditions in terms of developing a mutual relationship will help to develop coherence of team members; mutual respect, opinion space and leadership offers. Making them feel part of the organization by offering them a stake of it builds the confidence of working with a company for longer periods. The south America is a good source when talent is

Analysis of Leadership Style and Behavior Essay

Analysis of Leadership Style and Behavior - Essay Example Bill Gates owns transformational leadership and employs the participative leadership style and behavior to convince his subordinate in the most appropriate way. Bill Gates uses its legitimate power to exercise his control over the management of the Microsoft. Table of Contents Content page Introduction 4 Background 4 Analysis of leadership style 4 Analysis of leadership behavior 5 Discussion: Transformative or Transactional leader 6 Discussion: Power sources 8 Legitimate power 8 Coercive power 9 Reward power 9 Information power 9 Expert power 9 Referent power 10 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction Transactional leadership provides incentives to followers to carry out certain actions; rewards and incentives are used to attract or motivate followers to carry out such activities. If Bill Gates had transactional leadership traits, it would have not been possible to convert a small innovation company into the empire of Microsoft Company, which has generated revenue of $ 69,943 m in t he fiscal year of 2011; the net income reaching the mark of $ 23, 150 m in the same year. Background Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955 and grew up in Seattle with his father William H. Gates II who is a Seattle attorney (News Centre, 2012). Gates mother, Mary Gates was a school teacher in University of Washington regent and chairwoman of United Way International. Bill Gates received elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, Bill Gates found his interest in software and commenced programming computers at the age of 13. Subsequent to that, in 1973, Gates entered Harvard University but he was unable to continue further his studies and after leaving Harvard, he utilized his energy and efforts to Microsoft, which began in 1975 with Paul Allen, a childhood friend of Bill Gates. Under the leadership of Bill Gates, Microsoft mission has been to continually improve software technology along with making it cost effective and more enjoyable for computer users. Leadership style and behavior Analysis Analysis of leadership style Transformational leadership occurs when individuals engage with each other in a way that the follower and the leader raise one another to higher status of motivation and morality. Effective transformational leaders may represent transactional behaviors or traits. But their leadership style also consists of one or more of the characteristics including inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration and idealized vision (Bass 1985). Participative and delegative leadership style is considerably adopted by Bill Gates. By employing both leadership styles, Bill Gates optimally uses his workforce. He wants them to provide their contribution and participation in the work. And at the same time, he expects them to develop a feeling that they are the significant part of the Microsoft. The advantages of this approach are that the employees would remain motivated and give their best efforts in order to ente rtain the work related goals and objectives. However, some critics contend that Bill Gates uses autocratic approach and prefers to attain his corporate objectives as wants to; Bill Gates adopts bureaucratic management style to achieve the commercial objectives (Management paradise, n.d.). Analysis of leadership behavior Transformational leadership supports behaviors attached with inspirational motivations (e.g., expressing a vision that followers find meaningful but challenging),

Leadership outline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Leadership outline - Essay Example However, the leader still has the ultimate power in the decision making process. In this type of leadership, the leaders delegate to their employees on what they want done and how they want it implemented, but they do not consider the opinion of the employees in the decision making process. This approach of leadership is employed in cases when the forerunner has all the material to solve the problems or rather challenges facing an organization. In addition, the approach is mainly used on a short time basis and in cases where the employees are highly motivated. This mode of leadership is used in cases whereby the manager provides little or no guidance and gives employees as much liberty as possible. The employees are fully involved in the affairs of the organization as well as the final decision making. The entire authority or power is given to the employees and they are responsible for determining goals, making decisions, and resolving problems on their own with regards to organization’s operations. Source: TownsendJoellyn, PhillipsS.James, & ElkinsJ.Teri. (Oct 2000). Employee retaliation: The neglected consequence of poor leader–member exchange relations. . Journal of Occupational Health

History - Civil War and Dictatorship in Spain - Was it justified to Essay

History - Civil War and Dictatorship in Spain - Was it justified to describe the international volunteers who fought for the Republic during the Spanish Civil W - Essay Example What do we mean with the term ‘Moscow’? How is ‘Moscow’ linked to the civil war? What and who were the international volunteers and what were their links with ‘Moscow’? And lastly, what did the volunteers fight for and did they know what they were fighting for? There are several views on what the war was about. Rather than expound in such a short paper the wide range of perspectives depending on which side of the political and social spectrum lies each viewer and opinion giver, it may be sufficient for our purposes to identify two of the extremist views about the Spanish civil war. On one side are people like Beevor (1983) who view the civil war as a military uprising against a legitimate communist government that was carrying out a revolution as part of a Marxist class struggle aimed at reforming the corrupt economic and social structures of the time. Inspired by the success of the 1917 Russian revolution and driven by new ideologies for the liberation of peoples, several agents of change inside and outside Spain saw the Russian model as an applicable and pragmatic solution to social problems. The people (proletariat), therefore, fought back and waged war against a military force that wanted to topple the legitimately elected government. On the other side you Arrarà ¡s (1968) and Carroll (1996) who see the civil war as a crusade fought to preserve Spain’s culture, mainly their religion, and poetically compares it with the country’s long 700-year war against Islam (Artieta 33). Carroll claims (6) that contrary to declarations by the politician who would later on become the President of Spain, Manuel Azaà ±a, who in a major speech in October 1931 stated that â€Å"Spain had ceased to be Catholic† (Payne 49), most Spaniards remained devoted to their Catholic religion. For Carroll, therefore, the majority of the people supported the military in the civil war. Spain in the 1930s was in turmoil, as were other European nations after

Cause & Effect Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cause & Effect - Essay Example Alexie Sherman’s book, "Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian† is based on experiences that relate to poignant drawings reflecting on people’s behavior in art. Practice makes perfect can be well related to whereby regular practice increases the likelihood of better performance among students. Alexi (2009), points out that improved performance correlates to action of Alexie in his book, which propelled him to winning numerous accolades such as the National Book Awards in 2007 for Young People’s Literature. Dylon Porlas attends Prep School in 2008-2009 where he earns a letter of admission in the school’s football club as a senior. Porlas gets elected in as an MVP for two consecutive seasons. Dylons achievements include leading the school team to a conference and the San Diego sections crown. Dylon recorded a sterling performance score in the ratio of 10:3. Among other colleagues, he helped form Pop Warner football club in 2006. Participating in clubs, and other performances in various fields help one in earning a living as well as getting a good reputation in the society. In the article, Reynolds argues that children who take part in regular exercise are able to absorb and retain information well. Regular exercise translates into high alertness and concentration. Routine practice happens efficiently compared teens who do not take part in sports. Because, actions involving physical agility helps young Native Americans stay alert at home and school. Because of a student’s unique background, engaging in baseball improves their social skills and lessens boredom. It clear that a success in sports encourages young people to improve their confidence. As time is constantly changing, young persons have been able to build their self-worth through sports which instills a sense of discipline and commitment. Sports nurtures a young person’s innate social instincts and help them to become better. Social instincts enables them in

Business Systems Hoosier Burger Essay Example for Free

Business Systems Hoosier Burger Essay Improving Hoosier Burger Bob and Thelma Mellankamp wanted to open their own business. They came across Myrtle’s Family Restaurant and saw a sign that said it was for sale. Bob and Thelma bought the restaurant and their own restaurant was brought to life Hoosier Burger Restaurant. The idea was one that everyone dreams of owning their own business but do not understand all the behind the scenes projects that make a business successful. Yes, they have been in business for over 30 years but even they understand that their dream needs some improvement to continue in the market they are in. Bob and Thelma have discussed the idea of a computer system but do not know where to start so Bob wants to bring in a consultant to address some of their weak areas and make suggestions to improve Hoosier Burger. They inform the consultant on how business is ran. This restaurant is behind the curve when it comes to technology. They still do paper trail on every aspect of the restaurant from deliveries, inventories, and point of sale (Valacich, George, Hoffer, 2009). Even though paper was what many companies started out with, it is no longer an approved way to do business. Paper allows too many human errors to come into play where as an electronic record keeping system eliminates a majority of these errors but as with any data†¦you get out of it what you put into it. All this means that if you put inaccurate data into the system then the data you get from the system will also be inaccurate. Hoosier Burger has learned this lesson oh too well. Especially, since they did not order enough vanilla ice cream to cover their own special so they had to run to the grocery store to try to get enough for the sales they were doing on the special (Valacich et al., 2009). Bob and Thelma agreed that it would be  valuable to purchase an information system to assist them in the areas of inventory management, marketing, customer service, food preparation, and point of sale (Valacich et al.). Now that it has been decided on what needs to be addressed with thi s new information system. The systems development life cycle (SDLC) begins (Valacich et al., 2009). The four main steps of this process are (1) planning and selection, (2) analysis, (3) design, and (4) implementation and operation. The first phase is to plan the system out and then select the appropriate system for job. This situation a good point of sale system would give this company the system they need for daily operations and growth. A good POS covers all aspects of the restaurant from the dining area to the kitchen and even the storage areas. With any system, you have subsystems that are called components. Components by themselves do not make a system but when put together they make a complete system. In the case of Hoosier Burger one of the components of the system would be an inventory log or database. This subsystem would track usages and deliveries to ensure that stocks are maintain at the properly level for daily operation of the business. The project development team that Hoosier Burger selected w as based on the weaknesses of the organization. The focus of the new system will be on ways to improve inventory management, customer service, and management reporting. Any one of these weaknesses could cripple the organization. The team needs to get as much information as possible to ensure that they are building the correct system for this organization. I would use the interview process to get as much information from the staff as possible and I would use questionnaire to customer input. Also, I would gather as many reports and logs that I could for supporting documentation but with the current processes. This type of information may not be readily available or available at all. After gathering this information, the process of developing a system to correct their weaknesses begins. You would also want to find out if the company has any upgrades planned so that you could incorporate that into the system. In this case, they want to expand to delivery services and a drive through operation. These expansions do not require a lot of upgrades to the building so these will go into effect immediately to increase revenue for the company. The diagram figure 1 shows the flow of information for the new system. Fig 1. As you can see from figure, the information system that need is robust in nature but simple. The system analyst now needs to break down the different entities the company needs to store information about. These entities have particular characteristics that require information to be stored. There are rules used when attempting to place an identifier for each entity. The diagram will show the changes and specify the component’s needed for each relationship. In the text, an entity is a person, object, place, concept, or event in the user environment of which an organization wants to store data(Valacich, George, Hoffer, 2009). Person entities are usually your employees but can be your customer. Place entities are basically the location i.e. states, regions, countries. Object entities include the machines you use, buildings your work out of, products you produce, and vehicles. Event entities can be considered sales, renewals, registrations. Concept entities include courses, accounts, or work centers. Hoosier Burger needs the ability to store information about their individual entities. The main entity is the customer that frequents the restaurant on a regular basis. They also need to store information about what products the customer is purchasing. Hoosier Burger also needs the ability to store information about the company itself and place entities which are the businesses that order meals from the company. We will now discuss attributes. Attributes according to the text are named properties or characteristics of entities that are of interest to the organization(Valacich et al., 2009). The following attributes should be used for the customer: customer name, customer address, customer phone number, customer’s number of orders, and customer specific orders. These attributes can also be assigned to the business entity by switching out customer with business. Attributes can also be assigned to the end product such as ingredients, price, and amount sold. Identifying the entities require assigning unique identifying  characteristics for the entity type. For example when dealing the with customer entity, you would use an identifier that is easy to use i.e. Customer ID, Customer Name, Customer Address, and Customer Phone. The key when dealing with identifying items is making it user friendly. Once all of these have been put into place, the system analyst now needs to build three working solutions to this company’s weaknesses. The three solutions as discussed in the text are low, medium, and high level. The difference in the three levels usually equates to cost but it also includes how much effort the user has to put into the system and the type of technology used. Time is money and if your employees are having to spend more time with the system than the customer then Hoosier Burger will lose money. All of these factors come into play when developing a system for an organization. The key to success of Hoosier Burger and the project development team is communication and cooperation. The more time these two entities communicate with each the easier it will be for the project team to address the needs of the customer and customer addresses the needs of the project team. It is a two way street. In the end, the job of the system analyst is to develop a system that addresses the wants and needs of the customer while maintaining within the budget. You do not want to sell the customer a â€Å"Corvette† when a â€Å"Camaro† would have done what is needed. Reference Valacich, J. S., George, J. F., Hoffer, J. A. (2009). Essentials of Systems Analysis and Design (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Challenges to The Walt Disney Company

Challenges to The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company Strategic Issues First Strategic Issue Walt Disney has experienced various strategic issues, and their strategic approaches have led to success. Its strategic management has identified the fact that their competitors could take advantage of the strategic weaknesses and pull the company behind in terms of market position. Although the issues are limited in such a successful company, they deserve maximum attention, as it is possible for them to act as threats towards the future welfare of the entire business. From a quick SWOT analysis, Disneys strengths are diversity and the surplus cash it attains from its business operations. Its weaknesses include the two strategic issues it is recently facing, its opportunities are expansion possibilities, and its threats include stiff competition. One of these strategic issues that Walt Disney has been facing is the loss of a good number of subscribers in the ESPN. Recently, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network of Disney is holding fewer consumers as compared to the past years when the company began. The major reason leading to this shift of customers to other internet programs that offer similar services is the fact that watching sports with Disney has turned out to be more expensive as compared to watching the same sports in other internet platforms. Its historical market position, which was high at that time, had been attained through appealing to customers regarding prices. When it is specifically about sports, there are different ty pes of customers. Both adults and youths across the globe have high interests in sports. However, the youths appear to have more time to invest in the sports as compared to the time adults invest. Therefore, the larger portion of customers consists of young people, who in most cases are jobless or flexible in terms their jobs. It is a fact that with their flexibility regarding careers, the youth does not earn a lot of money, meaning they will always take advantage of companies that deliver services at the least cost possible. When Disney was affordable, it appealed to the two categories of customers successfully by ensuring that it is the most affordable platform in the world. However, when the internet-based competitors found a way of broadcasting sports at lower prices and others free, Disney did not pay attention to the matching of these standards. For this reason, it lost the youths mostly to other companies. Losing its portion of youths to the competitors is a great issue, whic h, were it not for other strengths that exist in the business, would have caused the downfall of Disney as an international company. Second Strategic Issue The second strategic challenge that Disney is facing in the presence of its competitors is vitality in the market. Disney is dealing with entertainment, which is all about the preferences and tastes of customers. This dealing is capable of easily leading to its downfall if the companys management does not focus on the strategic approaches of satisfying the customers thirst in terms of what they have a passion for but does not exist in the market. In case the product exists already, it is the duty of the company to modify it and make it more interesting to the customers without altering the likes but scraping the dislikes. With this sensitivity, Disney has faced criticism every time it has a new release in the market as much as it faces motivating response. Bearing in mind that the two types of responses are from customers that the company takes as a duty to please, making changes to attract a larger portion of motivating customers than critics has been an all-time operational goal th at may or may never be achieved. It becomes worse when during its evaluation, Disney realizes a loss of positive claims having turned to critics. This is always a clear message from the public that the company has made an unpleasant release and if they take it for a trend, their market position will be at stake. This is how hard it is for Disney to maintain a good market position having concentrated on the customers taste and preferences alone. Other factors such as the cost of services make the situation worse than it already is. These two strategic issues only need to be attended to with the right approach in order to make the companys future bright (Rukstad Collis, 2009). Alternative Causes of Action Reduced Quality To address the above strategic issues and realize the best course of action, it is important that attention is afforded to the nature of the issues. This can be achieved through a value chain analysis that helps to indicate the companys operational strategy and goals. The loss of Entertainment Sports Program Network subscribers must have been brought about by a faulty strategy in the organizations way of setting its standards. To solve this, the company can buy the cheaper systems adopted by competitors. When other internet service providers decided to engage in innovative ways of lowering their prices, the company did not embrace this idea, as it looked out for maintenance of quality. As a matter of fact, the internet services providers decided to adopt new and cheaper facilities that enhanced this reduction of prices to reach out to the customers whom in their opinion, watching sports had become expensive. While doing this, the first and most essential side effect they were likely to experience is the reduction of quality. Reduced Prices The company can as well alter their operations in a way to slightly reduce their prices and maintain quality at the same time. As much these services were to be availed to customers at a reduced cost, they were also to be displayed at lower qualities as compared to those displayed by Disney. In this case, the market of the ESPN was split into two. There is the lower quality of services available for those that prioritize the amount of money spent on entertainment, and the other sector of the market generates high quality of services for people who do not mind spending a fortune for the sake of quality. With this division, it means that Disney is not ready to compromise its quality of output in order to lower prices and accommodate more customers. This is how it ended up with a limited number of customers as compared to its competitors providing services through various internet platforms. Reducing prices with maintained quality will help to maintain the current customers and to bring back those that it lost to competitors. Stable Products Thirdly, the fact that Disney deals with mainly entertaining products is the main cause of the fact that it is faced with a strategic issue of dealing with customers tastes and preferences. In its market, Disney has a chance of securing its competitive advantage through dealing with motivational and educative films more than the entertaining movies. An educative product is easier to deal with in the sense that it will have nothing to do with the judgment of the customers, and the success will all depend on the effort of the company towards gathering as much knowledge in its products as possible. This way, it is possible to predict the responses of customers to its new releases. Additionally, these types of products will maintain the types of customers that the company is appealing to, bearing in mind that the youths would embrace guidance and the adults too will help respond positively to pieces of advice offered concerning their business and social lives. Just to make the point clea r, it is for a fact that Disney has invested partly in these sectors, but the entertainment has taken a better part of its products. This has not only subjected it to the risk of customers responses based on their personal tastes and interests but also on the parental force against time wastage. Their cartoon products, for instance, are found to be excessively attractive to the children to the extent that they fail to attend to other demands such as academic works. This creates a force between the cartoon products and parents as they push the children to balance all aspects of life. On the contrary, parents also utilize the products in making promises and rewarding children whenever they want them to engage in or maintain good conduct. An example is a case where the children are motivated to work harder and perform better in class in order to be allowed to watch cartoon during their holidays. All it needs to do is buy facilities that will accommodate this type of production. This wo uld make their output stable, predictable and more profiting. All the above alternatives can be implemented in Disney to stimulate its line of business (Rukstad Collis, 2009). Recommendations Evaluation The alternative of making strategic alterations to reduce the expenses of producing their products in order to lower the prices of their services is a possible approach for the ESPN issue. This will allow them to avail the same quality of services to customers at an affordable price. This means that they will be appealing to both the customers that value quality more than cost and those that are out there negotiating for lower prices. In this situation, they will have attained competition perfection in the sense that competitors that offer services at lower prices as Disney does will not be providing as high quality as that of Disney. On this note, Disney can be boosted by other secondary factors such as making sure that there is a constant flow of game displays throughout the season. This means that they will be displaying sports events even when the companies with the poor quality of facilities will be facing breakdowns for one reason or another. Disney will be the home for custome rs who are not ready for interrupted sessions while watching matches. However, if Disney decides to follow suit as its competitors and produce low-quality products, it will be faced with the con of losing customers who value quality. These qualities of attraction will not only help Disney to retain its current customers but also bring back the youth it has lost as potential customers. This way, the current position of the company in the market will be maintained, and the opportunity to expand will have been utilized to make Disneys future more promising. As its only con, Disney will experience an added cost of operating. This is why, on a personal level, I would recommend the alternative of making strategic alterations to reduce the expenses of producing their products in order to lower the prices of their services as an approach for the ESPN issue. If the cartoons and other entertainment films do not appear to be interesting to customers as the company expects it, there will be a d ecline of the income, as the customers will not purchase the product. The worst con of it is the fact that previews that are displayed before the release of the product may lead to customers shying away from the product early enough. The advantageous purpose of these previews is to help the company predict the performance of the product in the market before it is released. The response of customers may help to detect the problem awaiting the release of a new product, but it will not help in offering a solution for the problem. Therefore, although the company will avoid tampering with its good historic reputation, it will not have evaded losses as the product has already been produced, making this alternative not good enough. This is an indication that there is not short cut towards evading this instability other than engaging in more products that will promote positional security in the market. Hence, to curb the second strategic issue, I would recommend that Disney takes advantage of its stability in the market to seize the opportunity of expansion through dealing with the products that it has not dealt with before. Feasibility On the other hand, if Disney decides to embrace the cheap facilities like competitors have one to tamper with quality only for the sake of prices, they will end up losing customers that value quality, which is the major con of this alternative. Secondly, they will have performed below their operational standards of consistently maintaining the high quality of its products. The only advantage of this alternative is the fact that it will earn back its lost customers who value cheap products. The fact that the disadvantages exceed the advantages, in this case, makes this alternative not feasible. The alternative of displaying previews does not help to find solutions for the instability of products. This means that the act will not have delivered the major expectation, thus, making it not feasible. Implementation Disney should make plans to reduce the cost of running and lower the prices of their high-quality goods. This will help the company to reach out to the customers who do not watch Disney sports because of the high prices. Secondly, it should begin to take steps towards embracing other types of products in the market in order to attain stability. Since one of the strengths of Disney Company is that it always has a substantial flow of capital, this means it has the capability to indulge in the line of other products as heftily as it has done with entertainment. Therefore, all that Disneys management requires is to make decisions based on the expansion strategies that concentrate on this mission as an operational goal. Offering other genres of films and movies will allow the company to attain stability in terms of its market position. Attracting the entire market with motivational and educative products is easier than the entertainment form of attraction. References Rukstad, M. G. Collis, D. (2009). The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King. Brighton: Harvard Business School.

Defining And Analysing Astral Projection Philosophy Essay

Defining And Analysing Astral Projection Philosophy Essay Astral Projection is a conscious attempt to experience being outside of ones physical human body, while being both alive and preferably awake at the time.   It is an attempt to have a controlled OOBE or (out of body experience).   It is not linked in any way to ritualistic magic and does not rely on any particular religious or belief system.   There are techniques for achieving an OOBE.   As yet I havent heard of it being at all dangerous.   However attempting to leave ones physical body under the influence of medication or hallucinogenic drugs is seriously not recommended! What happens when people Astral Project? They have what is commonly referred to as an OOBE or out of body experience where a part of them, be it the soul or consciousness, rises up from their physical body and either travels on the physical plane or on the astral plane. What is the astral plane? A topic of debate: The astral plane however can be likened to the Akasha, namely a place where all the thoughts, memories, fantasies and dreams of everyone in the world exist. The astral plane is thought to be a fantastic place to travel in, with many different travellers, entities and levels to it.   It is said to operate at a much higher frequency than the physical plane we inhabit. It is thought that the etheric body, spirit or mind can travel on the astral plane, which is said to appear more solid than the physical plane we all inhabit, this is because in order to travel it, the etheric body has to be existing and operating at the same higher frequency.   According to some the astral plane is far more mutable than the physical and can be changed and altered simply by the power of thought. Can people learn to Astral Project at will? Yes there are techniques that can be learned but what degree of success is achieved depends solely upon the individual. Why would anyone want to have an Astral Projection?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some people find it reassuring.   If it is possible for your consciousness to exist outside of your body, then it is also possible that your consciousness may be able to survive physical death.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some people like to use the technique for spiritual reasons, maybe wanting to be at one with the universe or for some religious reason.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some people like to try it, simply to prove that it cant be done a negative approach.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some people like to use it for their own ends.   They use it as a tool for clairvoyance to leave their bodies and go and seek out information or even spy.   The CIA set up experiments to see if people could leave their bodies to glean information from the enemy.   The CIA did it because they were convinced that the Russians were doing it.   There term for this kind of Astral Projection is called Remote Viewing.   After mixed success and possibly a lack of funding the project was eventually abandoned.   We dont know how the Russians fared.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some people want to try it just because they can try it and they just want to see what it feels like. Who first discovered Astral Projection?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The ancient Egyptians were possibly one of the first cultures to record beliefs about the soul.   Hieroglyphics in tombs recorded hundreds of prayers that were to be said over the body of the deceased to guide the spirit on its way.   They believed that the soul ba was housed in a spirit body the Ka an exact replica of the physical body.   This on death gave way to the sahu the true spirit body that would house the ba forever.   In life the Ka and sahu were one of the same but the ka slowly diminished until only the sahu housed the ba.   However the Egyptians also believed that the Ka could leave the body during life and drew pictures of people sleeping with their Kas or souls floating above them.   This is very similar to the modern day descriptions of NDEs (Near Death Experiences).   Here the soul leaves the body at the point of death only to return again if the person is resuscitated.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Tibetans believe in the bardo body, which can leave the physical body while still alive and can also pass through physical matter because it is made of psychic material.   The bardo body can be directed wherever by will.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ancient Greeks believed in a double body, which housed the soul.   Plato believed that the soul was freed on death but could also leave the body during life and when it did it perceived the physical world as dimly lit.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dean Sheils, in research published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research in 1978   A Cross-cultural Study of Beliefs in Out of Body Experiences, compared the believe systems of over 60 different cultures and found that fifty four of them had some concept of astral projection or astral travel and that half of them had also believed that it is possible for this to happen consciously and while alive.   Almost half claimed that certain members of their cultures could do this at will.   Only three cultures seemed to have no concepts or beliefs about this subject.   Those that did seemed to accept it as a normal and natural part of human existence. Source: (A Beginners Guide to Astral Projection by Richard Craze Hodder Stoughton 1999 ISBN: 0340 737557 What does modern science make of it? A man called Raymond A. Moody PhD. M.D. is often thought as the father of NDEs and has written a very popular book Life after Life on the subject. According to Richard Craze in his book A Beginners Guide to Astral Projection over the last 45 years there has been a more scientific approach taken.   The first major study was done in 1951 was by someone called Muldoon and Carrington.   They collected and collated over 100 cases of OOBEs.   They found that their research did indicate a double that could live consciously outside the physical body and that could also survive the death of the individual.   Richard Crookhall has also written many books on astral projection, and he states a number of recurrent themes. What are these recurrent themes?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some form of double.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A white light or illumination.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ability to travel at will.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Inability to move or use physical objects.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Feelings of tranquility and detachment.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A clear consciousness of what is happening.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A sense of realness. How is an OOBE most likely to be brought about?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By a NDE due to illness or exhaustion.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By an NDE due to accident.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Deliberately by people trying to leave their physical bodies.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By the application of drugs such as anesthetics.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By trauma or shock. What do the sceptics think?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is purely a mental state explained by complex chemical reaction.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An autoscopic hallucination.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cerebral anoxia or lack of oxygen to the brain. How common is the phenomena?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Possibly between 5 and 10% of the population, which suggests around 6 million in the U.K or as much as 30 million in the United States. Have there been reports of people seeing OOBE people while they were out?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Yes, which increases the likelihood that OOBEs are not purely tricks of the mind. How many types of OOBE are there?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Two voluntary and involuntary, one involves a conscious effort to leave ones body where the double is rarely or only faintly seen; and involuntary, say through an accident or trauma where the double is usually seen. What is a typical OOBE?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A typical OOBE only usually happens once in a lifetime.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most often occurs lying down either resting or just before sleeping.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is a feeling of floating or soaring, usually upwards.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is mostly adult women who experience the phenomenon although if you are a student you are even more likely to do so.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A typical case suggests some form of connection to the physical body, possibly by way of a silver cord.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are few reported cases of leaving the room, but there is a sense of realness and viewing the normal world.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Feelings of pleasantness, detachment and calmness often accompany an OOBE.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The person feels that the experience is real and although they feel the ability to go anywhere they rarely wish to do so.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   No ability or desire to change or move physical objects in their vicinity. Who has OOBEs?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many women and more often than not students probably due to their lifestyle and interests.   They are more likely to have heard about OOBEs and possibly more keen to try it. Are OOBEs simply a form of dreaming?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Definitely not because the sense of reality experienced is far too strong.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Scientific results show that people undergoing OOBEs are not dreaming and they are not experiencing REM. Briefly, alpha waves decrease indicating a calm state and beta waves increase indicating that the volunteer is awake.   There is an increase in heart and respiration rates suggesting the presence of some stimulus or activity. Are OOBEs like NDEs?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An NDE or Near Death Experience is really just a different form of OOBE that is brought about when a person is at the point of death or just died.   It is more akin to passing over to the other side, seeing ones life flash before them and traveling down a dark or light tunnel towards the light, God or whatever you wish to call it. What is a typical NDE?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   People who are seriously ill hear themselves being declared dead, upon which a series of events are triggered, such as moving quickly down a tunnel and hearing unfamiliar noises.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   They find themselves at the end of the tunnel and can usually see their own bodies being worked on by medical staff.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   They sense that they have a form of body somewhat different to the one that they left behind and also become aware of deceased friends and relatives coming to help them cross to the other side.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   They report an entity or being of light that plays their life review and every second that they have lived, but not judgmentally.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The beings of light are always described as full of love.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   They are often told to return to their bodies and that their time on earth is not yet over.   Often there is a reluctance to return.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On their return they find words difficult to express the magnitude of the experience that they felt.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There views on life after death, tend to be radically altered and fear of death tends to diminish. How many types of NDE are there?    ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are two PNDEs (perceived NDEs, where the person has a suspicion that they are about to die) and UNDEs (unexpected NDEs, where the person is quite shocked to find themselves in a near death situation). Is the experience the same for both?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   No PNDEs tend to be associated with an accompanied journey with deceased loved ones to another world with another body replacing the one left behind. UNDEs are associated more with near fatal falls, electric shocks or drowning to elicit a response.   From here the person usually has a flashback of their life accompanied by feelings of happiness or peace.   There are not usually reports of a body instead feelings of just being that the person becomes pure thought or mind.   There is often a sudden return to their physical body. Is Astral Projection a popular topic on your website? Yes my monitoring software suggests that it is very popular. Do you have any good reference sources? Yes please visit my website and view astral projection alternatively see below. Sources: Any excerpts for this FAQ section taken from a book by >Richard Craze A Beginners Guide to Astral Projection by Hodder Stoughton 1999 ISBN: 0340 737557 Afterlife Knowledge   College of Psychic Studies International Association for Near Death Studies Life After Life Raymond A. Moody PhD. M.D.   Near Death Experiences HYPERLINK http://www.near-death.com/HYPERLINK http://www.near-death.com/ The Afterlife    Society for Psychical Research  

Who is the real Shakespeare? Essay -- William Shakespeare Playwrights

Who is the real Shakespeare? One of the largest mysteries of current time is the debate over who the author of the plays commonly attributed to William Shakespeare really is. Commonly termed as the â€Å"authorship problem,† many skeptics believe that the William Shaksper of Stratford (the spelling of his name originally) could not have been the true composer of the plays he is traditionally attributed with. Although the thought of someone besides Shakespeare composing the plays is not popular with the American and European world, there are excessive theories concerning the truth behind the possibility of the works being authentically his. Doubts about the true composer of Shakespeare’s works generally arise from the fact that there is no logical match between the working-class William Shaksper of Stratford and the work, and the absence of proper documentation that connect him to any of the works. According to Volker Multhopp in his essay â€Å"Why I am not a Stratfordian,† â€Å"This man achieved the absolute pinnacle of English literature in an era when class was paramount, yet his own origin was absolutely ordinary-- middle class† (1). According to the Oxford Society in the â€Å"Shakespeare Authorship FAQ,† â€Å"Nothing about the Stratford man rings true: his character, his background, his education, his family, his friends, his behavior towards his debtors and his neighbors, his recorded conversation and his attitude to money and property† (1). With all of the evidence pointed against the Stratford man as being the author of the world’s greatest literature , Stratfordians claim that the consequential details of his life pointing against him merely make him an unmitigated genius. Doubts about the... ...st literature of all times. It is possible that the Stratford man could have befriended aristocrats and gained the favor of Elizabeth herself, even having guidance from other aristocrats. On the other hand, because there is no evidence that the Stratford man was the author of the works, it is hard to accept the common man as the William Shakespeare that the plays were accredited to. Perhaps the reason that Shakespeare’s works have not been attributed to any other man would attest to the fact that scholars are not willing to accept the implications that the man celebrated to be the world’s most ingenious literary figure is not, in fact, who he was thought to be. However, the search for evidence leading to the true author will continue out of the ethical implications that credit must be given to the true author of the world’s greatest literature.

The Opium War :: essays research papers

The Opium War   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Opium War, directed by Jin Xie, paints a rather impartial account of the Opium War, starting with the appointment of Lin Zexu to end the opium trade in China to the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. This film seemed to fairly depict the faults of both the Chinese and the British during the 1830’s and up to 1842. That said, The Opium War illustrated two important factors that both helped to promote the conflict and eventual military confrontation between China and Britain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first is the state of the Chinese government at the time of the opium trade. There was enough corruption within the government itself that it was very difficult to halt trading at its source. The trading company that dealt with the British merchants often had to bribe officials with opium in order to complete their business. Not only did this give incentive for the local government officials to continue allowing the trading, it made it difficult to find and prosecute all the parties involved. When Lin Zexu saw the accounts record, he could not believe that so many officials were involved, and he went as far as to say that prosecuting them all means he would have to â€Å"kill every official in Guangzhou.† Indeed even some of his own officials were opium users, forcing Lin Zexu to bend the rules, saying â€Å"to err is human.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While it was hard enough to stamp out opium trade from China, it was even more difficult for the Chinese government to accept the demands of the British. At this time in history, China had grown too sure of itself and presumed itself to be the greatest world power. This sort of arrogant and decrepit government is shown in the old and frail officials advising the emperor on actions against the British. Even after an initial attack and as war is looming between the two nations, China is still so sure of its power that the emperor, instead of asking for a truce, â€Å"grants† a truce for the British. At this point however, it is interesting to note that it is somewhat unclear what the intentions of the Chinese government are. The officials are seemingly divided on whether to appease the British or to wage open war. As China negotiated with Britain however, it seems that the Chinese were eager to appease any demands because they were already unsure of their abi lity to defend themselves against a naval attack.

Summary and Synthesis with Steven Johnson

Harwood Eng 96Spring 13 Paper #3: Summary and Synthesis with Steven Johnson Your third High Stakes Writing Assignment comes in two parts. The first asks you to summarize and the second asks you to employ some of Johnson’s concepts to collect data of your own. Part 1: Summary For this part, write a 1 to 2 page summary of Johnson’s Television section, covering Multiple Threading and as much of Flashing Arrows and Social Networking as you are able. Focus mainly on his ideas, but be sure to give some indication of his evidence and how it’s presented. What shows does he use to support his ideas?How does he make his points? Your summary should start with a paragraph about Johnson’s thesis and then use paragraphs of ideas and supporting evidence from the book to round out the content you cover. Remember CABIN. Part II: Synthesis Use Johnson’s concepts of Multiple Threading and Social Networking (see p. 110-112) in television to compare two similar shows of your own choosing (they must be separated by at least 20 years). Your main assignment for this part is to visually represent your research using charts similar to those Johnson uses on p. 0 and 112. Write two pages describing your findings and whether you 1. support (agree with) Johnson’s idea that multiple threading and social networking are on the rise – and that TV is therefore becoming more challenging and complex. OR 2. refute Johnson’s claims based on findings different from those he sees in his analysis. 1 or 2 here should lead directly to your thesis, which you’ll support by looking at paragraphs about multiple threading and social network schemes.The writing portion of your synthesis should should answer the following question: Having looked at several examples of television shows yourself, do you see the same heightened complexity and challenge that Johnson claims in today’s television? For your synthesis, you will be graded on your char ts and visual representation of your data as well as how you write it up. I’m looking at whether you understand Johnson’s methods and whether you can duplicate this analysis while critically watching TV yourself. Harwood Eng 96 Spring 2013Schedule of upcoming classes: | |What we’ll work on in class |Homework due in next class period | | | |(all reading s/b ACTIVE) | |4/9 |Discuss Games section of EBIGFY |Write (typed) summary of Games section of the book. This | | |Round out games outline |assignment will be graded.Length: 0. 5 to 1 full page (not | | |Model concept of Games Summary |more). | |4/11 |Talking about TV: Main Ideas – What are the trends and |Finish reading TV section in EBIGFY (Through 115) | | |evidence? |Choose your TV shows for Synthesis and start watching them | | |Use 30 Rock example to look at strategy for Synthesis. |Work on outline of TV section | | |Talk about genres of shows and which fit together. | |4/16 |Talking about data analy sis: how to synthesize our own |Write a Rough Draft of TV section summary (not less than one| | |looks at what Johnson sees. |typed page/max of 2—See back side. ] | | |Go over outline of TV section |Have your two TV shows chosen and start watching them, | | | |collecting data. | |4/18 |Peer Review of TV Summaries |Finish final draft of TV Summary. | |More talk about how to do charts and synthesis |Finish charts for Johnson synthesis assignment to turn in. | | |representation: MT and SN |Finish Reading Part I of EBIGFY (136) | |4/23 |Discuss Internet and Movies |Write up Rough Draft for Synthesis (agree/disagree based on | | |Ideas on synthesis conclusion: how to write it up/argument |evidence) | | |statement. | |4/25 |Peer Review of TV Synthesis |Write Final Draft of Synthesis. | | |Start discussion of Johnson’s Part II. What is Smart? |Actively read Pt. 2 to 156 | |4/30 |Turn in Final draft of Synthesis |MORE to come†¦ |

Hypatia and the Role of Women in Hellenistic Society Essay

From Ancient Greece to the traditions of Hellenistic society, gender stereotypes have been considered as one of the main characteristics present within these civilizations. Most significantly for Hellenistic society, it was the rule of patriarchs that best described the gender orientation of their society. In fact, the role of patriarchs or males were very much emphasized in philosophical arguments, such as Sirach’s Jewish apocryphal literature stating, â€Å"There is wrath and impudence and great disgrace when a wife supports her husband† (Sirach 21-23; cited in Sawyer 40). As far as Hellenistic society was concerned, the roles of women were limited to being wives who provide services to men, home manager, and the weak gender. The perspectives of Hellenism considered females as subordinates to men, which somehow raised men’s role in the society in the pedestal considering that females were deprived with the opportunity to learn and to gain knowledge from subjects like science and philosophy. However, this societal stereotype was thwarted by Hypatia (370 – 415 C. E.) who initiated her efforts to learn the subjects that were previously exclusive to men alone. She became one of the most regarded female scholars in the history of Greece, specifically in Alexandria. Hypatia was one of the earliest gender rights petitioners who focused mainly on education and learning. Within the study, the discussion provides significant emphasis on the life of Hypatia and the various encounters she had during her struggle for her education. With this, the study covers the role of women within the Hellenistic society and the means these women thrive with men. Furthermore, a critical argument between gender roles of the earlier periods of Hellenistic era is incorporated within the study in order to provide substantial evidence on women’s societal significance back in the Hellenistic society. The study also considers the implications and contributions made by Hypatia towards the feminine roles in the society. Discussion Overview on Hypatia Hypatia was born in Alexandria where she spent most of her childhood and adolescence that influenced her identity. According to scholars, the early education of Hypatia came from her experience within the Museums of Alexandria. She was able to convince her father to let her obtain her primary education in Athens where she obtained an award of laurel wreath for her outstanding scholastic performances. According to O’Grady (2005), Hypatia was noted to possess a dynamic personality that was legendary and a riveting, ultimately tragic, biography (235). Hypatia of Alexandria was considered the first woman mathematician who obtained positive inclinations in the subjects of philosophy and mathematics. Considering Hypatia’s father, Theon, was also a well-respected mathematician and astronomer of their time, Hypatia must have acquired her significant skills in numbers through her patriarchal lineage. However, Hypatia was not only limited in these subjects, but she also expanded her reach within the context of philosophy and astronomical studies. The fundamental idealisms that greatly influenced her perspectives were the ideas from Hellenism and Neo-Platonism. From the book of Anderson, Katz and Wilson (2004), they pointed Suidas and Socrates description towards Hypatia’s physical features. According to them, Hypatia possessed a body of rare beauty and grace (47). Ogilvie (1986) mentioned in her book that according to Socrates Scholasticus, Hypatia was not only famed because of her intellect and skill, but also with her beauty, which captivated Synesius, later bishop of Prolemais (104). However, there is a clear agreement between historians that Hypatia never married during her lifetime. Aside from her physique, her intellectual capacity obtained recognition from various fields of sciences. At about 400 A. D, Hypatia became the head of the Platonist school of Alexandria where she taught her expertise, mathematics and philosophy (O’Grady 235). Her Neo-Platonist philosophy was influenced by classical Greek logic and idealism from Plato that was merged with the concepts of Oriental mysticism, which she obtained after she studied at Egypt. Hence, the philosophical teachings of Hypatia revolved in an intensive reasoning through Neo-Platonist perspective. With the vast diversity of culture and religious backgrounds present in Alexandria, the complexities of the political and economic climate did not stop the philosophical ideations of Hypatia. On the other hand, one of the most controversial points in Hypatia’s legacy was her death, which became the point of arguments on whether it contributed to the end of Hellenistic society or triggered the disruption of patriarchal domination (Anderson, Katz and Wilson 48). There had been different theories that explain the death of Hypatia, such as her conflict with Cyril, Alexandrian’s stampede, etc. However, Hypatia’s death can be considered worthwhile due to her contribution to the feminine society. Role of Women in Hellenistic Society Within the patriarchal context of Greece’s city-states and colonies during the Hellenistic era, women had indeed experienced diversity in their roles and views towards their society. Significantly, the women of their time considered being more sheltered and subordinate in their existence before men. Added by Witherington (1990), by Hellenistic and Roman times these views were still in existence, though less strongly held because of the liberalizing influence of Macedonian and Roman occupations (11). Despite of their weak presence within the Hellenistic society, women were still treated with respect and regards from the male society. Although, their fate as wives or married Hellenistic women was not viewed entirely appropriate. The primary roles of women during this era were either for being the males’ wives or concubines. Athenian-citizen women were married usually at fifteen or sixteen years of age, and from this time, their understanding and coherence of the world and their surroundings was not yet established. After the marriage, these women were separated through a guarded chamber, but their freedom was always retained. During this era, concubines were the least feminine class looked upon between legal wives and prostitutes. The role of concubines was even recognized by Athenian law, which comprised the legitimacy and freedom of lineage produced through her. However, with a clear picture, the Athenian law towards these concubines was much more inclined to the benefits of patriarchal society by having their sexual needs filled (Witherington 11). Despite of these limited atmosphere and role diversion provided by the male society to the females, these women were still able to foster their interest in expanding their capacity and placement within the society. In the Hellenistic sense, one of the most historically significant events brought by the feminine gender was their interest for liberation. As supported by Swidler (1979), the conditions of women greatly improved to the point where a woman could in general marry and divorce on her own initiative and even choose her own name (18). From this point, the placement of women exceeded their previous condition of their societal function. They even attained significant minor roles within the realm of education and political affairs. Hellenistic period marked the era of feminine role expansion wherein various opportunities within the society became available for them. With the opportunity to study and educate themselves, the profession that became the greatest threat to male poetic body was women poets. During the Hellenistic period, women, such as Hypatia, obtained honorary recognition for their skills in expressing their thoughts and opinions through poetry. Most of the time, the contents of their literature were related to their desire to possess equal outlook on both genders. The presence of Hellenistic monarchies provided the new outlook played by monarchical wives – the Hellenistic queens. The upper-class women society enjoyed the vast newly opened opportunities since they were the ones who can avail the new places in society, such as education, political career, etc. Spielgovel (2005) mentioned that there had been documents indicating the increased numbers of women involved in managing slaves, selling property, and making loans (93). The immense expansion of women’s role did not only consider careers and personal developments, but rather, they were also given the chance to acquire ownership of their own lands, wealth and significant placement within the quarters of men. However, the expansion did not consider full equality for both genders but only the increase of feminine roles. Hypatia and her Contribution the Hellenistic Regime Hypatia of Alexandria was an example of a pre-historic figure that fought the society’s stereotype for gender discrimination. From her biography, she was able to surpass even the best scholars of her time, a woman of legendary Athene-like beauty and virtue, and a woman who possessed distinct features of martyrdom. Hypatia can be considered as one of the famed personalities in Alexandria during the Hellenistic era. Her contribution to the society paved an example of feminine capacity to acquire development in the fields of education. She was considered as one of the famed Alexandrian poets that contributed to the modern sense of literature. Despite of her womanhood and society’s stereotypes against feminine gender, she was still able to make substantial contributions in the fields of philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. In the fields of science, she was able to discover the early forms of astrolabe and hydrometer; although, this was not taken in regards by the male scientific society and regarded it as lacking of scientific studies (Anderson, Katz and Wilson 387). He provided her commentaries with Diophantus’s Arithmetica, on Apollonius’s Conics, and on Ptolemy’s works but all of her works was lost in time. IN the fields of philosophy, she was able to merge the concept of oriental perspectives to Platonistic views. One of her commendable disciples to this teaching was Synesius who moved within the context of religious philosophy (Kahlos 40). She was able to prove to the patriarchal society that females can also stand their ground and contribute to the society’s welfare if only they can obtain the sense of rightful placement. Her philosophical views under the teachings of Neo-Platonist were considered by the Christian orthodox as an opposition to their beliefs. The Christian society branded her teachings as Paganistic and even considered her as the Pagan martyr. According to Forrest (2001), the Christian orthodox had seen the influence of her philosophical views and, since this threatens the Christianity of Alexandrian society, Hypatia was murdered by an angry Christian mob, which ended the teachings of her neo-platonic views (127). The roles of women within the Hellenistic society expanded giving them various opportunities to acquire proper placement in the society; however, this did not eliminate the gender discrimination and inferior sense towards feminine society. The trademark of Hellenistic era did open the new quarters for female society, but still, the last opinion came from the patriarchal society; hence, limiting the expansion of feminine career and roles in the society. Conclusion In the conclusion of the study, the life of Hypatia was used in order to analyze the systems and the social conditions of feminine roles during the Hellenistic era. Indeed, the functionalities and placement of women expanded during this era, although it did not consider full equality between the two genders. Females were given the chance of education, political participation, material and wealth possession, and significant position in the fields of philosophy and sciences. Hypatia portrayed the Hellenistic woman of their time wherein she established a remarkable educational background and contribution to the fields of sciences and philosophy. However, most of these were either hindered or rejected by the male society. Hypatia was a victim of society’s stigma against Christian Orthodox in which she somehow contradicted with he Neo-Platonic teachings; hence, she was murdered in order to end her influence. Still, with Hypatia’s life portrayal, the Hellenistic women did achieve role expansion but still under societal limitations brought by male society.

Investigating the inverse square law Essay

The intensity of the influence at any given radius, r, is the source strength divided by the area of the sphere. ‘ 1 The inverse square law can also be applied to gravity, electric fields, light and sound. In relation to electric fields, the electric force in Coulomb’s law follows the inverse square law: ‘If gamma rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation and undergo negligible absorption in air, then the intensity, I, should vary inversely as the square of the distance between the source and the detector. 2 Air acts as an almost transparent medium to ? -rays, and the intensity (rate of energy arrival per unit area) of ?-rays emanating from a point source varies inversely as the square of the distance from the source. 3 ?-rays fall into many distinct monoenergetic groups because of their variable energies which emanate from any particular emitter. The least energetic radiation will only pass through very thin foils, whereas the most energetic can penetrate up to several centimetres of lead. 4 As ? -rays tend to produce 10-4 times as many ion-pairs per unit length as ? -particles do, measurements are usually carried out using a Geiger-Mi ller (G-M) tube. 5 G-M tubes are widely used for detecting radiation and ionising particles. The anode is kept at a positive potential and the cathode is earthed. The tube may also have a thin mica end window. 6 When radiation enters the tube, a few electrons and ions are produced in the gas. If the voltage is above the breakdown potential (The minimum reverse voltage to make the diode conduct in reverse)7 of the gas, the number of electrons and ions are greatly multiplied. The electrons are attracted to the anode, and the positive ions move towards the cathode. The current flowing in the high resistance resistor (R) produces a pd which is amplified and passed to a counter which registers the passage of an ionising particle or radiation through the tube. 8 The tube cannot be filled with air as the discharge persists for a short time after the radiation is registered. This is due to electrons being emitted from the cathode by the positive ions which arrive there. Instead, the tube is filled with argon mixed with a halogen vapour which quenches, reduces the intensity, the discharge quickly, ensuring that the registered radiation does not affect the recording of other ionising particles. When the G-M tube is detecting one particle, if another enters the tube it will not be detected. This is known as dead time; the average maximum being approximately 90 microseconds. 9 Because this number is so small, it can justifiably be ignored for this experiment. Background radiation must be taken into account when taking readings from the source. Background radiation primarily comes from cosmic radiation and terrestrial sources. 10 This radiation will affect the count and must be corrected. The level of this radiation varies with location and must be measured before conducting the experiment. N0e-? t so ? = gradient/ N0e-? t Safety Precautions: To ensure the utmost safety before, during and after this experiment, some guidelines should be followed:  Food and drink should not be consumed whilst in the same room as the source Food items should not be stored in the same room as the source. The source should only be handled with long handled source handling tongs, and as little as possible   Hands should be washed thoroughly after contact with the source If in contact with the source for an extended period, it is recommended that a monitoring badge is worn   As the source will radiate in only one direction, it should not be pointed at anyone   The source should be locked away in a lead lined box when not in use   Open wounds should be covered securely. Protective gloves should be warn when handling potentially contaminated items Errors: To reduce the possible errors within the experiment, an optical bench will be used to ensure that the G-M tube and the source are properly aligned throughout, as the source radiates in one direction, the alignment must remain standard. Also, for small distances, specifically the distance d0 which is the distance the source is from the opening of the holder plus the distance of detection from the window in the G-M tube, vernier callipers will be used to hold as much accuracy as possible. Vernier callipers read to fractions of a millimetre, making them much more accurate than other measuring devices. Other distances, such as distance d, can be measured with a metre rule as the distances are larger which decreases the possible error in measuring. There will also be the error of human reaction times from observing the final count and pressing the stopclock. To ensure accuracy, practise using the stop-clock and count switch until reasonably consistent results can be obtained. Preliminary Work: To decide on an appropriate voltage to use, the G-M tube and source set-up should be tested. Place the source approximately 10 cm from the window of the G-M tube and increase the voltage slowly, until the count rate stops changing dramatically. Plot a graph of the count-rate, C, against EHT voltage, V. Record the voltages V1 and V2 between which the rate of counting does not vary too much. If the rate of counting begins to rise after remaining much the same for a range of voltage do not raise the voltage any higher or the tube may suffer damage. 14 The optimum operating voltage will be halfway between the voltage where the plateau begins and the voltage where it ends. To decide on the range of distances used, the source was moved close to the window of the G-M tube and was moved back slowly until the scaler could count adequately (5 cm). This is the smallest distance that will be used. To find the other extreme, the source was moved back until the count rate fell to a low value, but could still provide adequate results (35 cm). From these preliminary results I have decided to time for 10,000 counts at 5 cm from the source, 5000 counts for 10cm from the source, and 1000 for 15 – 30cm. This is because any higher values will take considerably longer to measure. I will take three readings from each, as radioactive decay is a random process and it would be unlikely for more than three readings to be similar. An average will be calculated from the three values and the reading for the background radiation will be subtracted to find the corrected count rate. Equipment: Geiger-Mi ller tube of i sensitive type. Decade scaler with variable EHT supply   Sealed cobalt-60 source – sealed to prevent contact with the source and to prevent isotropic radiation   Long handled source handling tongs – to prevent contact with the source Optical bench with source holder – to ensure constant alignment   Stop-clock, readable to at least two decimal places Vernier callipers – to measure the distance d0 to a higher level of accuracy   Metre rule – to measure the distance d Diagram: Where:   B is the optical bench with source holder, H   G is the Geiger-Mi ller tube   S is the decade scaler with variable EHT supply. R is the sealed radioactive source, cobalt-60 Cobalt-60 will be used as the gamma source as it is easily produced, by exposing natural cobalt to neutrons in a reactor, and therefore easy to acquire. 15 It also produces ? -rays with energies of 1. 17 MeV and 1. 33 MeV. Method: 1. Clamp the G-M tube to one end of the optical bench and attach it to the input socket of the scaler 2. Set the variable EHT voltage on the scaler at a minimum and turn it on, allowing a few minutes for the scaler to warm up 3. Change the variable EHT voltage on the scaler to the value found through preliminary work and set it to count pulses from the G-M tube. 4. Start the stopclock and measure the background radiation for an adequate length of time, e. g. 25 minutes, as background radiation is variable 5. Place the holder containing the ? -source at 5. 0 cm from the window of the G-M tube 6. Start the stopclock and stop after 10,000 counts are registered. Record this value and repeat twice 7. Move the ? -source to 10. 0 cm from the window of the G-M tube and repeat procedure 5, instead only counting 5000 counts 8. Move the ? -source to 15. 0 cm from the window of the G-M tube and repeat procedure 5, instead counting only 1000 counts 9. Repeat procedure 7 for sets of 5. 0 cm until a distance of 30. 0 cm is reached 10. Tabulate these results and find the average count rate for each distance 11. Evaluate 1/(d + do)2 12. Using the recorded value for background radiation, evaluate the corrected count rate for each distance 13. Plot the graph of corrected count rate against 1/(d + do)2 1 http://hyperphysics. phy-astr. gsu. edu/Hbase/forces/isq. html 2 Essential Pre-University Physics’ – Whelan & Hodgson, page 953 3 ‘Essential Principles of Physics’ – Whelan & Hodgson, page 472 4 ‘Essential Principles of Physics’ – Whelan & Hodgson, page 472. 5 ‘Essential Principles of Physics’ – Whelan & Hodgson, page 472 6 http://www. imagesco. com/articles/geiger/03. html 7 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Breakdown_voltage 8 ‘Essential Pre-University Physics’ – Whelan & Hodgson, page 406 9 http://www. imagesco. com/articles/geiger/03. html 10 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Background_radiation 11 ‘Advanced Level Practical Physics’ – M Nelkon & JM Ogborn, page 218 12 ‘A Laboratory Manual of Physics’ – F. Tyler, page 269 13 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Cobalt 14 ‘Advanced Level Practical Physics’ – M Nelkon & JM Ogborn, page 212 15 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Cobalt. Source: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Geiger-M%C3%BCller_tube The anode is a central thin wire which is insulated from the surrounding cathode cylinder, which is metal or graphite coated.

Human Computer Interaction Individual Report Essay

We as a group we have been set tasks to evaluate an existing system and capture the required improvements that should be made to the system through comprehensive research using the required methods to improve usability of the system. As a group we are to understand the user and capture its needs through numerous of method for example, questionnaire. I within my group decided to evaluate the system (www.pogo.com) as it was thought to inspect the system thoroughly from which some major errors were confronted. To check if these were to reflect the user of the system and that it was effecting the lack of consistent and comprehensive movement from within the site i considered to evaluate the system using ‘Shneiderman’s 8 Golden Rules’ . The evaluation method constructed errors which were found are to be tested with the users and get feedback via the talk aloud and the questionnaire from which I with my group will be able to test the system and capture the user requirements Content Page Paragraph Name Page Number Summary 1 Methods chosen, why 3 Problems Encountered 3 Feedback from users 4 Achievements from the assessment 4 Conclusion/ Recommendations 5 Bibliography/ references 6 Books 6 Web sites 6 Methods chosen, why The interface that chose to evaluate and redesign, was www.pogo.com as this website was not that appealing to me and I think it needs improvements as it is aimed at a family audience. To evaluate the system www.pogo.com it was required to test the system and check if the system had any major error or were they minor problems, in order for me to do this I decided to evaluate the system using the 8 golden rules of Shneiderman’s. The method was used to evaluate the system as this enabled me to test the colour, resolution, text, layout etc†¦ and I thought this method was very useful to appoint out the usability problem that the system was carry to the users. To carry out the evaluation I was first to understand the method and then continue to explore this with the system (www.pogo.com) . The methods used for capturing user requirements were Observation, Questionnaire and talk aloud. These methods were chosen because they were Easy to explore with the system, Cost Effective and Time Effective. Problems Encountered The major problems encountered during the task tests were to find the appropriate user to tackle these tasks. As the methods used were demanding a wide range of user that fitted in the categories of the novice, intermediate and expert users, it was difficult to address the needs of certain user as all categories were involved and from each users view was taken into consideration. There were novice, intermediate and expert that took the task which was a real heap for me as this would help me redesign the interface to fulfil the usability needs. Feedback from users From asking the users to complete the tasks more knowledge was gained for what users expected within a website, from this I was able to point out the like and dislike. From this I also acknowledge that the users prefer their website to be attractive so it is enjoyable to use and users also like to take minimum amount of steps to complete a particular task. The results which I obtained were very useful for redesigning the website. I found out what different usability needs were and what features users wanted to be remained on the website, and any others which they thought required changing. From this information I chose to do a paper based prototype for my system because it was simple, cheap and provided quick feedback from the user. Achievements from the assessment Having completed the assessment I feel that I would be able to explain the usability of any website/interface and from this I am able to identify usability problems such as psychological problems of the system, as well as being able to evaluate any system in depth. From this assessment I have also knowledge how I would explain various methods of capturing user requirements, stating the advantages and disadvantages of the method. Conclusion/ Recommendations If I was to do the assessment again, I would use Shneiderman’s Eight Golden Rules to identify the usability of the system, as I found them very useful both to understand and apply towards the website. I would also use the ‘Ten Heuristics’ to evaluate the website and I would have a great image of usability in evaluating the system. If given a chance in the future to redesign the system I would choose to do a low fidelity prototype but as well as this I would prefer to redesign the website in a high fidelity prototype provided that I am given extra time than provided in my first attempt. The reason for this would be that the users would see the prototype in a low fidelity and will be given a chance then to test the system via a high fidelity prototype. As I only had five users to complete the set task, I was unable to get different views from users to make changes to the redesign. In the future I would ask more users (maybe 10 different users) to complete at least three different tasks. By doing this, the users would experience more interaction with the system www.pogo.com and would comment more on the results they would achieve from the task, and also whether they were able to complete the task accurately, in a minimum amount of time. Bibliography/ references Books User and task analysis for interface design By: JoAnn T. Hackos Janice C. Redish Human computer interaction 3rd addition By: Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory D. Abowd, and Russell Beale Effective methodology for the study of HCI By: J. Kirakowski and M. Corbett Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd edition, By: Alan Dix, Janet Finlay, Gregory Abowd, Russel Beale Web sites http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/ Lecture 3/ Usability/Evaluation Methods/Talk Aloud/Page 15 http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/Class/est571go/ta.html http://hcibib.org/tcuid/ End Page CHI2310 Human Computer Shelley Wolfson