Information Systems Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Systems Development - Essay Example The said question is the main purpose to initiate thinking in managing essential data in all the domains listed or not listed in the article. When related data is managed or organized in an efficient way then we have to call it is a database. For organizations or for an individual the processed data is worth while. The information which is received is an ultimate form of organized and processed data. The information is used to make decisions for future tracks while the raw data will only yield mess. In the essay the focal point is the evaluation of spreadsheet and relational database as suitable instrument for handling data or user preferences of the different organizations. Spreadsheet sheet is another way to handle data in an organization. But the limitations of the spreadsheets force one to take turn on the other side i.e. adoption of the database management system. As different organizations are still using spreadsheets for the management of their data facts and its due to the lack of domain knowledge regarding databases. So the spreadsheets fit best in their environment instead of all their problems or issues which the organization members are facing. Spreadsheet is a sort of storehouse in which the users are just stuffing the data and making a heap of soft data files. Why mostly the spreadsheets are in practice the reason for the said question is that most of the people are well familiar with the environment of the spreadsheet. Using spreadsheet one can easily insert data in the rows and columns of spread sheet data. The primary usage of the spreadsheets is to handle mathematical calculations, play with numbers, and applying complex formulae. The data models which are best suited in a spreadsheet are budget, taxes, inventories, and other financial models. The application which is going to be engineered is from the domain of education industry and in our case it is an arts centre. First probing the

Keyboard and a mouse Essay Example for Free

Keyboard and a mouse Essay The two hardware that I used to produce this website are a Keyboard and a mouse. The need to capture data quickly and accurately has led to a wide range of input devices. For this project there are not many choices of hardware that I could have used other than the mouse and the key board. I could have used some other software such as concept keyboard, graphic table, touch screen, a scanner and a digital camera but these were needed due to the project that I was producing being so simple and did not need the help of these hardware. The advantages and disadvantages of a keyboard and a mouse are: Hard ware Advantage Disadvantage What else could I have used Key board It is very simple to use and comes free with a computer that you get. This has every key and letter place to suet us to give us the most comfort. This it is not wireless and that it cant be moved far form the computer and there are only letters and numbers on it and most of the functions of the keyboard are hidden. It is only in English so other languages could not be typed in by this qwerty keyboard. I could have used a concept keyboard which would have been even simpler to use. Mouse The advantage if using a mouse is that it is very simple to sue and has two buttons. This makes it very easy to use and anyone could easily learn to use this moue. The mouse is very accurate and is very sensitive so that the curser moves to the exact speed and accuracy as you prefer. The mouse could not always be the correct size to make it comfortable to use. The mouse that I used was not wire less and had a rollers ball at the bottom which could mean that the sensitivity of the mouse could decrease as time goes by. I could have used a graphic tablet. This would have been ideal for drawing things such as the logo and for designing the webpage to the actual details that you prefer. Use of Software In this project I used one major software which is called Serif Web Plus. There are many reasons why I choose this website instead of any of the other more famous software that that are out there. One of the main reasons why I chose this software to produce the website was because this is a very easy and simple software to use, This does not have many confusing steps. I preferred this software instead of Microsoft Front Page due to FrontPage being so confusing and so hard to use. Web Plus 9 breaks down the technical barriers, enabling anyone to create their own professional looking site. As with all Serif software, this Web creation superstar is full of features that make it simple, easy-to-use, powerful and quick. With Web Plus enhanced interface, incredible graphic presets, Web design functionality and publishing capabilities it is even possible to create a webpage within two hours. But the longer you take the more detailed and more accurate the web site will be. Software Advantage Disadvantage Serif Web Plus There are many advantages to this software. One of this is that this software is very simple to use and you might even be able to create a finished and a working website in within two hours. Every thing on this software is very easy to access and is very easy to use. One you start using this software you will find out how easy it is to create a website from scratch. There are a lot of variety of choices of colours, pictures, text, buttons and many other shapes that could be used to build your own website. This is one of the easiest web authoring software to create a link that I have come across. Every thing on this software is very simple and the page that you will be creating could only be a size of an A4 sheet. If you use software such as FrontPage you could make the page as long as you desire to fit the information you wish to enter. There a lot of things that you can not do using this software. This software seems to cause a lot of freeze in the computer sometimes and some the functions are too complicated to use or to learn. I could have used Microsoft FrontPage instead of this software but the MHC manager just wanted me to create a simple web page that included everything that they wanted me to include in this. I chose this software over FrontPage for one main reason and that is because of Serif Web Plus being so simple to use and the FrontPage which is very complicated and very advanced software to make a website on. Candidate Name: Niroshan Sivarajah Candidate Number:1177 Centre Name: Archbishop Lanfranc Centre Number: 14334.

Womens Rights Are Human Rights Speech Analysis Philosophy Essay

Womens Rights Are Human Rights Speech Analysis Philosophy Essay On 5 September 1995, Hillary Clinton, former first Lady of the United States, was invited by the Women Health Security Colloquium, which was sponsored by the World Health Organization, to attend the Fourth U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. As the Honorary Chairperson of the United States delegation to the conference, she gave the speech, Womens Rights Are Human Rights in the first few days during a special Plenary Session. In the speech, she utilized several persuasive techniques, also known as propaganda, grasping peoples attention in order to achieve support for the claim of the womens rights she was devoted to. Propaganda is usually a speech device that people intently use to induce or intensify others actions and attitudes with some deluded languages. Since propaganda is deliberate, it is often looked down as an evil and offensive tool. However, sometimes it can just be used for an act of persuasion or a personal perspective. According to Cross, propaganda is an important tool and seen in everywhere surrounding our lives. It needs to be correctly analyzed and respected and it can actually work toward good causes as well as bad (p.526). -For example, by intentionally incorporating propaganda into her speech, such as appealing to peoples emotions, distracting peoples attention, and somewhat misleading people, Hillary Clinton strengthened her persuasive power for womens rights and successfully beamed her message all over the world. Some propaganda techniques employ pathos, the act of appealing to peoples emotions. For example, plain-folks appeal, a device where a speaker tries to win our confidence and support by appearing to be a person like ourselves, is a type of propaganda. Clintons speech displays this technique when she says, We come together in fields and in factories. In village markets and supermarkets. In living rooms and board rooms. Her words suggest that she is one of those everyday people in fields, factories, markets, living rooms, and board rooms. Clinton further expands this idea by saying, We share a common future. This statement suggests that because we share the same future, we are on the same level. She is telling her audience that we should listen to her points because she is one of us, and thus has similar goals and interests to us. We are effectively led to believe that we should trust her so that we can overcome our shared struggles to achieve those shared goals and that shared future. Through plain-folks appeal, she turns her audience into trusting comrades-in-arms. She then employs the bandwagon technique in a similar manner. When she says, That is why every woman, every man, every child, every family, and every nation on our planet has a stake in the discussion that takes place here, she is again promoting that idea of oneness, which is the sharing of both struggles and goals. In the bandwagon technique, however, the goal is to pressure people to believe what everyone else believes and to conform, thus being faithful to the conference. There is a call to action. Clinton is telling the audience to jump on the bandwagon, because if one of them does not, that is the equivalent of turning away from your fellows. In the speech, she further strengthens the credibility of her argument by appealing to other emotions, such as pity and fear. Appealing to pity is achieved by attempting to win the audiences sympathy by giving examples of rightfully pitiable situations, in order to convince us of the conclusion or solution she will propose. One sees this technique in the statement: As an American, I want to speak up for women in my own country women who are raising children on the minimum wage, women who cant afford health care or child care, women whose lives are threatened by violence, including violence in their own homes. In that sentence, she in effect not only manages to tug on the audiences heartstrings, but also to subtly declare herself as the honorary representative of these poor souls; then she becomes the voice of the voiceless and oppressed. At the same time, it is also hard not to notice how Clinton makes the use of appeal to fear, a persuasion technique that implicitly threatens the audience and like the previous examples of pathos-based argument, uses emotions rather than reasons to persuade. Clinton displays this technique in her speech by saying, As long as discrimination and inequities remain so commonplace around the world as long as girls and women are valued less, fed less, fed last, overworked, underpaid, not schooled and subjected to violence in and out of their homes the potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized. Here, she is basically saying that people feel pity for those disenfranchised individuals she gives as an example, but if we continue to do nothing, their situations will deteriorate further and worst of all, such situations may affect them as well, in their own family and in their own home. Of course, the point of stirring her audience to such extents is to pursue a specific ideal, sometimes even a certain agenda. In the speech, however, she does not specify what exact action she wants her audience to take, and yet the call to action is almost palpable. Clinton achieves this by distracting her audiences attention. In particular, she uses transfer-glory by association in this case-a propaganda technique wherein the speaker attempts to transfer our good feelings about one thing, towards their viewpoints. She makes her audience aware that her goal is the improvement of womens lives, What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. However, as we can see, she is careful not to exclude anyone from appreciating her viewpoints. In fact, she sugges ts that by joining her cause, people would actually be helping themselves. Clinton even broadens the scope of these purported benefits when she says, And when families flourish, communities and nations will flourish. Thus, by helping women, we are actually helping the entire world. It is an altruistic enough message in all respects. To cement such a message, however, we will notice that the speech is also littered with attempts to mislead the audience as well. For example, when she states, Women are the primary caretakers for most of the worlds children and elderly, she is making a hasty generalization in fact. As Cooper shown, A hasty generalization is a conclusion based on a sample that is too small or in some other way unrepresentative of the larger population. (p.152) Such a statement supports her overall argument and it might also be true in certain cases; however, she misleads her audience by stating it as a fact without stating a basis that men can also be the primary caretakers for children and seniors. Clintons use of another technique in her speech, stroking (Argumentum ad populum), gains my admiration. First, she presents an opposing view to her points when she states, There are some who wonder whether the lives of women and girls matter to economic and political progress around the globe. By suggesting that some people think it is not necessary to care about womens rights simply just because they think women are less useful in the field of economy and politics, she raises indignation. However, it is misleading in that it creates an opponent, an unspecified they, that may or may not exist. Thus, the argument becomes whether what they said is true or not, and not the possibility that no one truly said those instigating statements. Clinton then assures the indignant audience that there are many women who are just as successful as men in professions with high emolument in fact, stating: Let them look at the women gathered here and at Huairou the homemakers, nurses, teachers, lawyer s, policymakers, and women who run their own businesses. She manages to present both argument and counterargument without specifying who the enemy is supposed to be and uses stroking that makes us feel we as women are very important to the society. Another technique that Clinton uses to mislead her audience to cement her message is card-stacking. Card-stacking is the technique which tells us the fact that is true but still not the entirely true in order to prevent us from being aware of some other important facts. For example, Clinton employs this technique when she states, If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are womens rights and womens rights are human rights, once and for all. While it is true that womens rights are a part of human rights, human rights are not specific to just all women, they encompass the rights of both genders. Here, Clinton uses the card-stacking to mislead us, in order to perk up the importance of womens rights. Near the end, she uses card-stacking again when she says, Families rely on mothers and wives for emotional support and care; families rely on women for labor in the home; and increasingly, families rely on women for income needed to raise h ealthy children and care for other relatives. Considering the very diverse memberships, values, and situations of any set of real families, this generalization is not necessarily true; thus, she subtly misleads her audience again. Throughout the history, propaganda is often used by government or politics or advertiser to affect peoples attitude and consequently alter peoples decisions to become the follower of the point of the political party or become the consumer of the company involuntarily. However, the intention of Clintons speech is completely different. It does not have to damage an oppositions credit as in some candidates speech, and neither induces people to purchase something actually unnecessary in their lives as in some ads. It is about delivering a great message for her audience regarding the significance of public women welfare. Propaganda can be used in good manners as well as bad manners. By promoting the propaganda in the positive way, Clinton successfully increased my perception of the importance of womens rights and made me want to follow her idea as long as she dedicates for this claim.

Developing Communicative Competence In Foreign Language Students English Language Essay

Developing Communicative Competence In Foreign Language Students English Language Essay Corbett states that it has been commonly recognised in the language teaching profession that it is not enough for students to master grammar, lexis and phonology of a foreign language; they must also acquire the ability to use the language culturally and socially in appropriate ways. According to Michael (1997), learning about foreign cultures cannot nowadays be realistically separated from , therefore it is very important that foreign language learners become aware of both their own culture and that of others. Michael (1997) adds that recent publications introduced the communicative approach as a method of teaching, and hail it as the most widely accepted instructional framework in foreign language teaching, the ultimate goal of which must be to increase students communicative competence. Communicative competence means being able to use a linguistic system appropriately and effectively in the target language and culture. Recent publications emphasise the significance of the intercul tural dimension in language teaching because it helps language learners to communicate or interact with people of other languages and to be aware of their own identities and those of their interlocutors. According to Fred (1996), language learners who become intercultural speakers will be successful in communicating information and also in developing human relationships with individuals of other cultures and languages. Thus, this essay aims to demonstrate that concept of intercultural communicative competence can improve teachers classroom practices and that students can acquire communicative competence whilst being taught the four basic language skills. According to Rus (2003), developing intercultural communication in language teaching means identifying the following aims: firstly, to give students intercultural competence and linguistic competence; secondly, to prepare them for interaction with speakers of other cultures; thirdly, to enable them to accept and understand individuals from other societies as individuals with other distinctive values, behaviours and perspectives; and finally, to help them view such interaction in a positive light. This essay will first present a literature review, which offers definitions of intercultural communication and the importance of studying it in language teaching, communicative competence and intercultural communicative competence. It will then show how foreign students can improve their intercultural competence through learning the four basic skills. It will then conclude its findings. 2. Literature review 2.1 Intercultural communication and its importance in language teaching William (2003:132) defines intercultural communication as the exchange of cultural information between two groups of people with significantly different cultures. Jandt (1998: 36) also defines intercultural communication as face to face interactions amongst individuals of different cultures. Maletzke (1976:39) is a little more specific in his definition of intercultural communication when he describes it as a process of the exchange of meaning and thoughts between individuals of diverse cultures. Brislin (1986) pointed out that the increasing globalization and growth in international trade during the 21st century have made intercultural interaction with other languages and cultures inevitable and necessary (do you mean 20th century? Writing in 1986 means he only has experience of 20th century!). Michael (1997) found that most countries in the world are in contact, cooperate and exchange information with other countries more frequently than ever before. Nevertheless, difficulties do a rise once more in-depth intercultural interactions start to occur. Individuals from one country will naturally be accustomed to doing things in certain ways; this is inevitable. However, customs and behavioural patterns deemed appropriate in one country may be highly inappropriate in other countries. For instance, in several Asian countries, if a guest is invited for a meal to another familys house and he / she leaves immediately after the everyone has finished eating, the host might think that not enough food was served. If a guest were however to leave immediately the meal has ended in many American countries, this would be considered very rude behaviour and the host would think the guest has only come for the food and not the company (Brislin, 1990: 6) (both of your stories are similar in that the host is left thinking negative thoughts about the guest, it doesnt illustrate your point very well). Some countries have strict codes of public conduct and foreigners may inadvertently cause offence through their ignorance. Difficulties are therefore likely to occur during the interactions between individuals from two diverse societies, particularly when neither has an awareness of the others society. In order to make the interactions more effective and easier, intercultural communication should be studied in language teaching. As Rohrlich (1987) points out, intercultural communication studies helps people to understand not only the world in which they are living but also themselves. Moreover, it plays an essential function in many areas of the community, such as government, education and business. (this is a bit woolly) Communicative competence and intercultural communicative competence Foreign language teaching had language competence as its main goal before the appearance of the communicative language teaching approach. Methods like the audio-lingual method concentrated on the language competence of the learners. Hymes (1972) criticized the concept of Chomskys language competence and he put communicative competence ahead of it. This had a powerful effect on foreign language teaching and became one of the crucial theories of the Communicative Approach that was fashionable in the 1970s and 1980s. Bennett Allen (2003:244) state that foreign language students need the ability to relate appropriately and effectively in a variety of cultural contexts. Thus, the purpose of foreign language teaching is not merely help students to acquire language competence as well as communicative competence; it should be promoting intercultural competence ahead of language and communication, which could be considered less important elements of a culture. (I think much of what youve written in this next paragraph has been taken from various sources, some of the English is quite complicated and does not always make sense out of context. I would suggest you try and put some of it into direct quotes and give the sources) Pinto (2002) states that in a foreign language teaching context, intercultural competence is directly related to communicative competence in that intercultural competence builds on communicative competence and broadens it to incorporate intercultural competence. Communicative competence refers to the ability and skills of an individual to act appropriately in a foreign language environment, i.e. in a pragmatically, linguistically and sociolinguistically way. Byram (2000) explains that an individual with several degrees of intercultural competence (explain please) is able to see the relationships between diverse cultures, both external and internal, and is capable to mediate each in terms of the other, either for themselv es or for others. He has an analytical or critical understanding of (parts of) his own and other cultures, and he is conscious of his own perspective and of the way his thinking is culturally decided. Sercu (2005) suggests that for an individual to be able to successfully deal with different intercultural experiences, he / she needs a variety of recognizable intercultural competences such as the willingness to get involved with a foreign society, a strong self-awareness, the ability to view oneself objectively, the ability to see the world through the eyes of others and to cope with uncertainty, to act as a cultural mediator, to evaluate others viewpoints, to consciously use the skills of culture learning to read the cultural context, and the understanding that people cannot be reduced to their collective identities. Sercu goes on to classify different elements of intercultural competence under three main headings: behaviour / skills, knowledge and traits / attitudes. To interact ef fectively, speakers with intercultural competence should have culture specific and culture general knowledge, knowledge of the self and others, and an insight into ways in which culture can influence language and communication. Certain skills are also required of effective communicators and these include the abilities to relate and interpret, to interact and discover, to operate and acquire a new knowledge, skills and attitudes under the restrictions (constraints) of real-time interaction and communication and metacognitive strategies to guide (direct) own learning youve lost me here! The third element concentrates on traits or attitudes common to successful communicators. These include a predeliction towards learning intercultural competence, the inclination to to relativise oneself and value othersand a favourable disposition towards engaging with a foreign society. Text missing here words believes that intercultural competence requires culturally sensitive knowledge, a skill set and a motivated mindset. Also, Bennett ( 2003: 237) stresses that intercultural competence refers to the general ability to transcend ethnocentrism, appreciate other cultures and generate appropriate behaviour in one or more different cultures. Developing intercultural communicative competence through the four basic language skills Students learning English typically engage with a number of activities that encourage their use of the four main language skills: speaking, listening, writing and reading. These skills aim to develop their communicative competence, but can also encourage their cross-cultural awareness and understanding. Listening activities Pinto (2002) suggests a variety of listening activities: tape-recorded interviews with native speakers; video-taped cultural conversations; video- or audio-taped cultural misunderstandings, all of which encourage listening skills but with a particular focus on intercultural competence. Tape-recorded interviews with native speakers White (2006) states that this activity is a particularly useful activity for practising intercultural competence. Teachers divide students into groups and ask them to record an informal interview with a native speaker they know. Students should select a cultural topic and prepare some questions for the interview on that topic (an example would be good!). In the class, the interviews are re-played and students compare the interviewees opinion on the particular topic with their own opinion. These spontaneously recorded conversations present two advantages. Firstly, they give students the opportunity to listen to naturally, unrehearsed spoken language while they listen to the answers of the native speaker, something that is difficult to find in scripted classroom material. Secondly, in hearing themselves posing the questions on the tape, they are made aware of any pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary and grammar problems they might have. A teacher might also use other recorded material such as jokes, anecdotes, or songs from films in the target culture to help students feel closer to the target culture and to give them examples of how to communicate more naturally. Video-taped cultural conversations The students watch a video sketch where two persons of diverse cultures are discussing topics about the culture on which the project is based. One of them is from the target culture while the other is from students own culture. The instructor plans pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening questions to stimulate the students inter-cultural awareness and promote their listening skills. For instance, learners could ask some questions in a pre-listening stage to predict the views of the two people on the topic in question. During the listening process, the teacher could ask students to reject, refine or confirm the predictions made earlier. At the post-listening stage, the teacher could ask learners to give a critique of the opinion of the person from the target culture. After the discussion on the content is complete, students could spend some time discussing the different ways in which the two actors interacted: differences in their intonation, the use of pauses or periods of silence and non-verbal communication elements such as facial expressions, eye contact, body movements and so on. Video or audio-taped intercultural misunderstanding According to Lynch and Mendelsohn (2002), this kind of activity is useful in honing students awareness of cultural diversities. Students could be asked to listen to / and or watch a situation, which demonstrates an intercultural misunderstanding in a real-life situation where individuals are offended or confused. The students then pair up or work in small groups in order to explain or clarify the misunderstanding, thus increasing their intercultural awareness. (this is a bit woolly, an example would help explain it better) Speaking activities Michael (1997) describes several activities that could be designed by a teacher for students to assist in developing speaking skills with a special focus on intercultural components. These include face-to-face tandem learning, thinking up questions for a native speaker and role-playing. 1. Face-to-face tandem learning, or collaborative oral learning between speakers of different languages, is an activity especially appropriate to developing the intercultural communicative competence of foreign learners according to Fred (2002). A great example of tandem learning is the Erasmus plan that involves learner exchanges between the European Union countries. Students in one country are partnered with students in another. Once students have got to know their partners, the teachers arrange for them to engage in face-to-face discussions on particular cultural topics. Students are asked to tape-record all of their discussions and must also prepare an oral report on the specific topic. In preparing an oral report, students are being given the opportunity to reflect on the topic in more detail and practise their speaking skills. 2. Omaggio (2001) suggests that thinking up questions for a visiting native speaker is an interesting and productive activity. Students work in groups to formulate questions that they then use to interview the native speaker. Questions must be relevant to a particular topic such as education, politics or eating habits in the native speakers country. This activity can help foreign learners to get an insight into life in a foreign country thus minimising cultural shock when the students travel abroad. 3. (This next section is not very clear, you dont define speech act, you only talk about speech acts, no other sort of role-playing etc) According to Lanzaron (2001), role-playing is a good activity for highlighting cultural differences in speech such as, suggesting, complimenting and apologizing. Olshtain Cohen (1995) identify five stages in the process for the teaching of speech acts. The teacher should firstly assess the students level of speech act awareness. Secondly, the teacher provides some examples of the speech act in question, namely model dialogues and the students must guess the details, for example the relationship between the participants, their social status and the importance / relevance of the particular speech act. In the third stage, students are given a number of characteristic situations in the target society and they must establish how contextual variables influence the selection of the linguistic form of the speech act. During the fourth stage, students act o ut the speech act in a role-playing situation. Olshtain Cohen (1995) emphasise the need to provide students with lots of information and details about the role-relationship between the communicators and also about the situation. The role-playing session is followed by feedback and additional discussions and in this final stage, foreign students are brought to an awareness of the similarities and differences between speech act behaviours in their own culture and in the target culture. Shumin (2002) suggests that non-verbal videos could also be played in the classroom and students would describe or act out what they see. This activity is particularly useful for drawing students attention to important role that body language plays in communication in general, and specifically in the target language. Similarly, acting out short scenes from films or documentaries or pictures can be used to highlight a given cultural topic and encourage further discussion. Reading activities There are several different kinds of classroom activity that can be used by teachers for developing foreign students reading skills to include an intercultural component. These include critical reading, cultural bump activities and activities that place an emphasis on cultural extensive reading or written genres (not well explained). 1. According to Williams (2001), critical reading is reading a text in order to comment on it critically. This is a reflective activity, useful for promoting intercultural competence of learners while they practise their reading skills. Celce-Murcia Olshtain (2000) propose that in performing this activity, the common framework, which allows for pre-reading, during-reading and post-reading instruction, could be of help. For instance, a pre-reading activity could see a teacher asking foreign students to preview the passage and make a judgement as to whether the identified content is representative of their own culture or of the target culture. In the while-reading activity, the teacher could ask the students to not only discuss what is written but to also look at how the passage is describing the given topic. Finally, in the post-reading activity, students could be asked whether or not they think the content of the text would be different if it were to have been read by another reader or written by another writer in a different cultural context. 2. A culture bump is used to describe a situation where an individual from one culture finds himself or herself in a different, strange, or uncomfortable situation when interacting with persons of a different culture. Day Bamford (1998) suggest that teachers can use cultural bump situations as a means to educating students in the ways of another culture. This could be done by getting students to read about such a situation and follow this with a selection of written explanations of the behaviour of the individuals involved in the situation in multiple-choice format. The students can discuss these in order to arrive at an explanation for the bump. These discussions can increase students awareness of cultural differences and increase their tolerance of other types of behaviours. 3. Williams (2001) found that the examination of written genres is a useful activity for foreign students. He suggests that students are asked to analyse two written texts of similar genres but from different cultures, for example, an advice column in a daily newspaper. Students can gain a useful insight into the different ways everyday concerns are dealt with in different cultural contexts. Celce-Murcia Olshtain (2000) suggest that teachers could scramble the sentences of a cultural anecdote and ask their students are asked to put the anecdote back into the correct sequence. This type of activity is a beneficial one as it helps learners to establish and solve organizational problems in a given text (not sure this is of use, or maybe it needs more explanation?) Writing activities There are a variety of writing activities such as tandem email learning, inventing stories and story continuation, all of which can promote foreign students writing skills with a special focus on the intercultural component. 1. According to Dodd (2001), tandem email learning activities is considered to be an effective learning activity because it develops cross-cultural dialogue and engages learners in extended writing in a motivational way. Students learning English are offered native English speaking email contacts and they go on to develop the relationship whilst practising their writing skills. This benefits both parties as both are learning about the others language and culture. The teacher could further promote this by asking students to bring in some of the email exchanges in printed format and to present a short report on the exchange, with particular emphasis on what has been learned. 2. According to Omaggio (2001), inventing stories can be used to promote the cultural imagination of learners through writing. The teacher collects several magazines and chooses a number of pictures, which show people in the target culture in strange situations. Students are then split into small working groups and each group should describe what they see in their picture. They should also make some educated guesses as to what is happening in the picture. Each group then shows the picture and presents their findings to the class as a whole. The other class members then have the opportunity to agree or disagree with the groups interpretation. 3. Story continuation could be used to develop understanding of cultural differences. The teacher should choose passages, which ideally are narrative texts with varied paragraphs leading the reader towards a cultural misunderstanding. Having let the students read the first part of the text, the teacher then encourages them to continue in their own words. Students can then compare their results with the original text. (this is very vague, an example would help, any quotes you can use?) Conclusion Intercultural communication is communication in all its forms between individuals or groups from different cultures. Hitherto, foreign language teaching sought to develop linguistic competence whereas now, the major goal of foreign language teaching is to develop students intercultural communicative competence. Teaching the four basic language skills with intercultural communication competence as the main focus ensures that students are taught to communicate appropriately and fluently in the target language and culture. It also ensures they can interact appropriately with people from other countries in real life. The teaching activities as described above, all of which encourage intercultural communication, ensure that students are equipped with not only useful background information, but the skills required for intercultural communication, such that they can use the target language in a native way.

Cars as a Symbol in The Great Gatsby Essay -- Fitzgerald Great Gatsby

Cars as a Symbol in The Great Gatsby Cars play a very important part in the telling of The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is a very dark, unhappy book, and the cars really exemplify this. "à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦cars change their meaning and become a symbol of death" (Dexheimer). Cars also give the reader insight into some of the different characters in the book. One of the most important jobs of cars in this book is to foreshadow upcoming events. Throughout the book, there are many devastating and dark events that these cars represent. A line from the book that really drives this home is, "So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight" (Fitzgerald 143). Fitzgerald deliberately chose to put the words drove, implying cars, and death, together. This is an idea that appears many times. The dead man went An incidence of this is when Nick and Gatsby are driving over the Queensboro Bridge on their way to the valley of ashes. This paragraph in the book is very dark, and it helps set the awful mood for the rest of the book. A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe and I was glad the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber holiday. As we crossed Black Wells Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled towards us in haughty rivalry. (Fitzgerald 73) On this bridge, any number of different types of cars could have driven by, but a hearse and a black limousine were chosen to help .. ...ruption in the novel" (Symbolism in The Great Gatsby). "Instead of being a 'rich cream color,' a witness is quoted saying 'It was a yellow car,' implying that the dream is dead" (Swygert). In the East Daisy becomes corrupt, and the color change is the way that the reader is shown this change in her, and the death of Gatsby's dream of marrying Daisy. As I have shown, cars play a very important part in helping portray the darkness in The Great Gatsby. The cars symbolize the death and despair of the story and help to characterize some of the main characters. Works Cited Dexheimer, Melissa, Lauren Locke and Mosang Miles. "Student Led Seminar Presentation and Summary". Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. Swygert, Shavaun. "Color Symbolism in The Great Gatsby". 1 June 1998. "Symbolism in The Great Gatsby".

Use of Reflexivity in Ethnographic Research :: Anthropology Culture Ethnography Papers

Use of Reflexivity in Ethnographic Research Works Cited Missing The use of reflexivity in ethnographic research and writing is used to insist that the anthropologist has systematically and rigorously revealed their methodology and their self as the instrument of data collection and generation. Reflexivity can play a variety of roles in ethnographic writings as observed in the works of Renato Rosaldo, Dorinne Kondo, and Ruth Behar. These three anthropologists all use reflexivity in different ways to convey their findings and feelings. The three works, however, also point out the advantages and the limits of ethnographic reflexivity. Renato Rosaldo in his article â€Å"Grief and a Headhunters Rage† uses ethnographic reflexivity to show how in the beginning of his fieldwork he â€Å"was not yet in a position to comprehend the force of anger possible in bereavement† (Rosaldo, 7) and that it wasn’t until fourteen years later when he experienced the loss of his wife that he could comprehend what the Ilongots had told him about grief, rage, and headhunting. Rosaldo then writes â€Å"I began to fathom the force of what Ilongots had been telling me about their losses through my own loss, and not through any systematic preparation for field research† (Rosaldo, 8). Renato Rosaldo’s own experiences had helped him to understand and empathize with the Ilongots, who fourteen years earlier, he was not able to understand that the Ilongot’s statement that â€Å"Rage, born of grief, impels him to kill his fellow human beings.† (Rosaldo, 1)Rosaldo’s writings point out that having similar experiences allows the anthropologist to understand and empathize with the people they are studying. This comprehension on the anthropologist’s behalf allows for easier accessibility and transcription to the general public. Shared experiences, however, allow for more biases and interpretations to seep into the anthropologist’s writing. It is more likely that the anthropologist will use his or her own experiences and interpretations when writing on the culture. Renato Rosaldo addresses this issue when he writes, â€Å"by invoking personal experience as an analytical category one risks easy dismissal† (Rosaldo, 11). In the article â€Å"Dissolution and Reconstitution of Self: Implications for Anthropological Epistemology†, Dorinne Kondo uses ethnographic reflexivity to discuss her research in Japan, being a Japanese-American, and the expectations of being Japanese. Dorinne Kondo was torn between the American culture she was accustomed to and the Japanese culture she was studying and tried to associate with.

JM Smucker Company Essay

The history of the J.M. Smucker Company is reviewed and demonstrates the evolution of the company. Business strategies and the importance of business intelligence systems are examined, concerning how the company conducts business. The company’s growth processes resulting from acquisitions and brand awareness are reviewed. Innovative plans implemented continually within the company are mentioned. The importance of people is stressed throughout the company and in the public eye. The J.M. Smucker Company continues to hold fast to the same values that the company began with over one hundred years ago. The J.M. Smucker Company Although the J.M. Smucker Company (SJM) began by selling its apple cider, for many years now it has been well known for its jams and jellies. Today, however, the company has expanded into several other markets within the food industry. They have continued to grow through acquisitions and name brand awareness. The company has a strong vision and holds to its moral ideals and values throughout its business activities. Smucker’s continually develops new product ideas to expand its peanut butter and jelly market. Additionally, the J.M. Smucker Company remains the leading producer of jam and jellies and is known for its quality products. History Jerome Monroe Smucker established the J.M. Smucker Company in 1897 as a cider mill in a small community in Orrville, Ohio about an hour south of Cleveland. Interestingly, Smucker’s apples used for cider came from an orchard that had been originally planted by Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) himself. However, due to the cyclical nature of apples, Jerome needed to find another source of revenue that would enable earnings throughout the year; thus, he decided to sell apple butter that he made using his grandfather’s recipe. His grandfather’s recipe provided him with a competitive advantage that no one else at the time seemed to have. The recipe used a secret method that captured the vapors typically lost in the process that permeated into the apple butter introducing a unique flavor drawing many customers to his mill and creamery (CEO, 2001). As a result of his unique apple butter, Smucker earned a positive reputation, took pride in his work, and began stamping his name on every crock of apple butter sold. The Smucker name continues to be a part of their packaging symbolizing a guarantee in quality that has spanned five generations of the Smucker’s family. The Smucker’s company continued to flourish as Jerome’s eldest son, Willard, delivered twenty-five cent, half-gallon crocks to customers using a wagon and was producing revenues of almost $60,000 as early as 1915 with a net profit of nearly $3,000 per year. In 1921, the J.M. Smucker Company became incorporated and already had an extensive line of quality preserves and jellies made from whole fruit and/or pure fruit juice. The company remained privately owned by Jerome and all of his children, sons and daughters. Its products were distributed throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana by way of the railroad and due to the large scale of volume, the Pennsylvania Railroad built a special siding to the Smucker plant in 1928 (History, n.d.). A railroad siding is an additional piece of track usually designated for specific usage, for the J.M. Smucker company for example, that runs alongside and connects to a main track at either end (Railroad, n.d.). The company was well on i ts way to expanding into the successful business it is today. Business Activities Packaging From the earliest of times, SJM strategized on how to improve its business activities to increase revenues while maintaining its quaint image reflecting the family’s strong conservative beliefs, which it holds onto dearly. Upon analyzing its packaging in 1938, the company realized there must be a better way to package its goods as opposed to its familiar crocks that were cumbersome and heavy to ship. Willard came up with the idea to use glass jars with an image of a pioneer woman boiling apple butter on the front that upheld Smucker’s reputation of old-fashioned quality (History, n.d.). Customers loved the new packaging, sales exceeded one million dollars in 1939, and the National Packaging Show awarded the organization for best packaging design success. Management The business survived the depression and war years reaching its fiftieth anniversary in 1947 and Jerome Smucker lived just long enough to see it before passing away at ninety years old. His sons, Willard and Paul, continued managing the company and sought methods to promote growth and diversification. Today, Jerome’s great-grandsons, Tim and Richard Smucker, manage the company by working together as a team and sharing the duties. Five other Smucker family members work for the company as well and the brothers’ hope is that one of them has what it takes to become the Chief Executive Officer of the J.M. Smucker Company in the future (Andrejczak, 2009). Over one hundred years later, the J.M. Smucker Company still exists as a family organization with the Smucker’s family maintaining partial ownership of the company. Products and Brand Names The Smucker boys, as they are commonly referred to, have increased sales sevenfold over the last decade through recent acquisitions boosting SJM into the number one market share position in ten different categories in America’s grocery stores and becoming a power player within the food industry (Andrejczak, 2009). Besides peanut butter and jelly, its products include shortening and oils, dessert toppings, syrups, fruit and vegetable juices, waffles, and coffee. Smucker obtained many of its products via acquisitions to expand its product line while focusing on major brands. Through the process, some of its brand names now include Crisco, Crosse & Blackwell, Eagle Brand, Folgers, Pillsbury, R.W. Knudsen Family, and Dunkin’ Donuts. Most of these brands and products probably seem quite familiar to the everyday person since SJM’s primary focus is on its consumer business. However, according to Tim Smucker, the business is divided into six areas: consumer, foodservice (restaurants and hotels), specialty foods (specialty gourmet products), industrial (proprietary fruit ingredients), beverages (health and natural foods beverages), and international (fruit spreads, fruit ingredients, juices and marinades) (CEO, 2001). In addition to having well known brand products, customers have come to recognize SJM’s tag lines such as, â€Å"Choosy mothers choose Jif,† â€Å"With a name like Smucker’s it has to be good,† and â€Å"The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup† directly associated with the products. Business Strategy Although J.M. Smucker sells its products internationally, its primary growth strategy as of the mid-1990s and still today is to acquire the number one food brands in North America that sell in the center of grocery stores. Its new strategy was determined by collaborating with many people that not only included executive level employees, but also listened to the ideas and thoughts from managerial and operational level factory workers in the decision-making process (Gunther, 2010). Smucker’s formed a simple and straightforward business strategy using a repeat business model that is geographically focused (Agramonte, 2008). The company decided to reach its goals by diversifying its products via multi-branding stemming from acquisitions. The Smucker family and managers met with analysts to examine their new growth strategy planning how to achieve their goals (J.M. Smucker, n.d.). The J.M. Smucker Company moved forward with its plans acquiring three major brands and several smaller ones. Acquisitions.The top three Smucker’s acquisitions were Jif and Crisco from Procter & Gamble, International Multifoods (IMC), and Folgers. However as SJM expanded their horizons, they knew necessary technological improvements must take place to align their new acquisitions within the company, which prides itself in quality and integrity. Making use of today’s modern computer technologies and services, the company hired Edgewater Technology, an organization that specializes in mergers and acquisitions integration, to assist SJM in building a common support system involving business processes, data requirements, and implementing a common set of tools while addressing risk management (LeBaron, 2007, June). Unfortunately at the time, SJM was still undergoing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation that slowed the progression of integrating the two organizations. Additionally, the two companies contained massive amounts of data in dissimilar source formats and st ructures that needed to be transferred. Edgewater overcame the challenges due to its familiarity with SJM and knowledgeable approach successfully completing the project meeting budget and time constraints. The J.M. Smucker Company pleased with Edgewater’s previous performance, hired them again to integrate IMC plants and contract manufacturers with SJM’s Canadian production plant. Edgewater set ought to transfer IMC onto Smucker’s U.S. systems and business processes and integrate IMC’s supply chain using a cross-border strategy (Lebaron, 2007, May). The project entailed the collaboration of eleven teams and SJM created an executive-level on-line forum for identifying, reviewing, planning, and resolving any issues. The integration was completed successfully producing substantial financial benefits that Smucker’s had hoped to achieve by acquiring IMC. Information Systems SJM not only employed information technology (IT) for its acquisitions, moreover it has always sought methods to achieve improvements throughout its business processes and has invested considerable amounts of money in new technologies. For example, Smucker’s chose Oracle for several of its information system needs. Oracle is one of the better-known companies that offer numerous services in business software providing customers with the flexibility they want to match their individual IT infrastructure needs. Furthermore, Oracle’s products contain benefits such as energy efficiency, outstanding availability, superb performance, and scalability. In 2008, SJM began utilizing Oracle’s Application Integration Architecture (AIA) and Oracle’s Siebel Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Integration Pack for Oracle Trade Promotion Management (Oracle, 2008). In fact, Oracle stated the J.M. Smucker Company was the first customer to deploy its new AIA with its CRM In tegration Pack in 2008. AIA benefits Smucker’s by managing data flows and data synchronizations; thereby, optimizing business processes across enterprise applications. AIA is an integration structure that supplies a basis on which to build business process flows with pre-built integrations (Application, 2010). CRM, however, is a strategy designed to generate and sustain customer relationships by concentrating on downstream information flows via dependable systems and procedures (Valacich & Schneider, 2010). Many advantages such as individualized service, expeditious problem recognition and resolution, enhanced information, and better product development as a result of tracking customer behavior over time stem from CRM. Lastly, trade promotion management, enables sales and margin improvements, improves account and category management, and enhances collaboration and productivity between external and internal functions (Hand, 2008). Oracle’s Trade Promotion Management, CRM, and AIA together signi ficantly decrease IT expenses when installing and maintaining integrations. Furthermore, SJM has implemented Oracle’s Service-oriented Architecture, Identity Management, Business Intelligence Publisher, E-business Suite, and WebCenter Suite and has increased its business intelligence usage. Smucker’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) has the knowledge and leadership skills to execute enterprise-wide information systems to achieve the benefits that continue to move a company forward and sustain a technological competitive advantage. Every year the Oracle Magazine editors grant an award to people who demonstrate such leadership, commitment, and vision in managing Oracle technology (Kelly, 2009). Smucker’s CIO and Vice President of Information Services, Andy Platt, earned Oracle’s CIO of the year in North America award in 2009. Smucker’s also makes use of other technologies such as Retail Solutions Incorporated’s Promotion Execution Solution and Terra Technology’s Demand Sensing Solution adding value to SMJ’s supply chain. Demand sensing is the interpretation of downstream data with minimal delay for understanding what is being sold, who is purchasing the product, and the impact of demand shaping (Cecere & Bois, 2007). Demand shaping is a customer centric method of planning and execution aligning processes with customer demand at strategic and tactical levels (Dey & Singh, 2007). Basically, demand sensing may be thought of as a type of inventory optimization providing an effective use of resources that reduces inventory, lowers costs, and significantly lessens forecasting error by forty percent. According to the J.M. Smucker Company, it chose the demand sensing solution because the product could improve forecasting accuracy within the supply chain area (Gale Group, 2007). Further more, Terra Technology’s Demand Sensing Solution is completely compatible with Oracle products. Whereas the demand sensing solution optimizes inventory processes, Retail Solutions Incorporated’s Promotion Execution Solution enhances retail applications used within the consumer product goods (CPG) industry. Retail applications further promotional strategies by improving store level execution, reducing out-of-stocks, and maximizing the efficiency of merchandisers (Guyot, 2008). SJM selected the promotion execution solution as a supplement to its Radio Frequency Identification Tag (RFID) Analytics and On-Shelf Management already in use. The goal was to streamline J.M. Smucker’s supply chain and expand its Electronic Product Code (EPC), a family of coding schemes for Gen 2 RFID tags across multiple processes. The successful implementation of the promotion execution solution for SJM built better relationships with its retail customers. Moreover, SJM has obtained a logical decision making framework that aids in making complex promotional decisions. Electronic Commerce The Internet and World Wide Web have also fostered the J.M. Smucker Company’s use of technology. The company has utilized the Web by entering into the world of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in many sectors. The general term â€Å"electronic business† basically encompasses any use of technology to provide support to a business. On the other hand, e-commerce generally covers the technological aspects that aid in producing revenue either by directly selling goods to customers or by allowing a company, such as Smucker’s, to do business with other related companies within the food industry, for example. The company’s Web site types consist of business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). SJM has a click-and-mortar strategy whereby the majority of its products sell at physical locations such as grocery stores with its B2C Web site following a traditional sales model where consumers are able to buy products directly from its Web site. Consumers may choose to view the Smucker’s U.S., Canada, or Mexico Web site. The Canada Web site allows the consumer to choose English or French as the displayed language and has a link connecting to the U.S. Website. The Mexico Website uses only Spanish for its language and has a different slogan than the other two, â€Å"Tu vida es mà ¡s rica con Smucker’s.† The slogan translates as, â€Å"Your life is more rich with Smucker’s† or â€Å"Your life is richer with Smucker’s.† However, the U.S. Web site contains a greater amount of information, product choices, and Web pages compared to the Canadian and Mexican versions. A stakeholder can gain much knowledge about the J.M. Smucker Company simply by examining its Web site. The Web site consists of six main pages titled Products, Recipes, Sensibly Sweet, What’s New, Our Company, and Shop Smucker’s. Within each Web page are additional pages and links. For example, the Sensibly Sweet Web page was designed with the health conscientious in mind and provides information about SJM’s reduced sugar and sugar free products with links that give tips on how to eat better and exercise. People merely wanting to learn about Smucker’s may click on the Our Company tab that supplies another list to choose from, including the history of the company, a list of its family brands, newsroom, and investor relations. Shareholders The Smucker’s Web site is one way technology has provided for stakeholders as well as shareholders to communicate with and attain information about the company. Shareholders may want to click on the Investor Relations tab that redirects a user to the Smucker’s Investors Web site that reports current stock information, financial news releases, analyst coverage, and a list of shareholder services to name a few. Furthermore, the site offers answers to frequently asked questions and provides a list of contacts for those who would like supplementary information. Lastly, investors may review SJM’s latest financial results, quarterly and annually, in comprehensive, detailed reports or Webcast presentations (another use of today’s technology) that explain future strategies and goals of the company.