Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Marketing - Assignment Example The advertising team understands that self-image is an important concept that individuals possess. In the modern society, the concept of body image is highly romanticized in society. People are extremely aware of their body image and will do anything to look appealing for the interest sex. In order to promote their product, the commercials use all sorts of fancy computer imaging techniques and animations to create an illusion that fat loss is actually occurring. The advertisement completely crosses the limits as it shows obese models strapping the belts and then actually feeling it â€Å"working.† The commercial never states the fact that the product is proven to eliminate or even reduce fat. The question remains—is it legal? Yes, but it is absolutely unethical as it hurts consumers in various ways. First and foremost, the commercial is detrimental towards consumers because it promotes wrong advertisement as it never states that it supports fat loss, but rather an illus ion of a temporary water loss. Secondly, the advertisement claims that â€Å"results are not typical.† However, it is certain that the companies prey on their consumers that these so-called transformations will leave their audience in awe and will attract them to buy the product. Clearly, that is unethical. Lastly, consumers are given wrong information and data about these products.

Real Consumer Expenditure and Real Disposable Personal Income Research Paper

Real Consumer Expenditure and Real Disposable Personal Income - Research Paper Example This is evidenced by the R2 value of 0.9968 for the exponential fit as compared to the R2 value of 0.943 for a linear fit (not shown here). From a span of only 60 years, consumption expenditure increased eightfold. The trend only serves as further evidence of the consumer characterization attributed to American society. To determine volatility we graph the rate of change of the data set. For a time-series data, the process would involve subtracting the value for the former year from the value of the current year then dividing by the value of the former year. The resulting value is then multiplied by 100% to convert it into percentages. While the graph in Figure 1 shows that the values are essentially increasing, Figure 2 would indicate a very volatile set of values. The graph shows that the rate of change fluctuates almost in a sinusoidal manner yet it can be seen that the points are mostly placed higher than the x-axis indicating positive rate of change. What is observable is that the period seems to have a 10-year period which begins to rise at the base decade year, climbs up to maximum value in the middle period (5's) then decrease again. The highest positive change was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1950 with a value of 5.146% and the highest negative change in the following quarter with -2.945%. Another time-series data which was acq... Another time-series data which was acquired from the same agency's website was the Personal Income and its Disposition also starting from the 1947 (1). Only the Total Disposable Personal Income found in Row 35 was. The same methodology was used for the analysis. From the graph of Figure 3, we can see that the data set is also increasing. Employing the methods of best fit curve resulted to the exponential fitting as the choice because of the high R2 value. However, we can see that the recent values fall short of the expected behavior. Fig. 3: Graph of Real Disposable Personal Income (1947 - 2007 Quarterly) The rate of change, as can be seen from Figure 4, shows some semblance of sinusoidal behavior although the cycle can not be easily defined. This implies high volatility. As with the same method we used in the first data set, we see that there was generally positive rate of change with negative rates of change occurring in between decades. The highest positive rate of change occurred in the First Quarter of 1950 corresponding to the highest rate of change in the first data while the highest negative rate of change occurred in the Second Quarter of 1947. Fig. 4: Percentage Change of the Total Disposable Personal Income (1947 - 2007) Consumption Models 1. Model (1): Levels (long-run) with the equation: lnCt = a + blnYt which has the same form as y=mx+b Where: Ct = is the Real Consumer Expenditure or y Yt = is the Disposable Personal Income or x The basic question that this modeling exercise would like to answer is to determine whether there is a relationship between Expenditure and Income. Our idea is that as income increases so does expenditure. For time-series data set, there is a need to find the natural logarithms of

Social Media and Social Issues Essay Example for Free

Social Media and Social Issues Essay A study on the role of social media in shaping and publicizing Social issues Mohana Sudhan Mayilsamy, Assistant Professor, School of Communication, Dr. G. R. Damodaran College of Science, Avinashi Road, Coimbatore 641014. e-mail:[emailprotected] com, Mobile: 9944223455, Fax: 0422-2591865. Abstract Social media, especially social Networking Sites are turning up as an essential mode of interactive and informing media in the recent past. Especially, it is being considered as a platform for both promotion and publicizing social issues. But, the credibility and the truth of the news travelling in the networks as blogs and posts is a debatable issue. The paper starts with examining the powers enjoyed by the social networking sites and social media in the controlling the mass, uncategorized audience as well the informed citizens. Focus group observation method has been employed and analysis of the media in content handling have been done despite the rules and regulations imposed by the self-regulatory bodies in India and the loopholes present. With the findings the author concludes the need for a regulation of content in social media and a code of conduct for content management in Indian scenario. Key Words: Media, Social Networking Sites, Media effects, Social Media, Opinion seeking Introduction to the study: Do we rule the media or the media rules us? Has always been the question of researchers in media and in common users of media as well. The prophecy â€Å"Medium is the message† by Marshall McLuhan, gives a clear picture of how media has been ruling us and is ruling even now though the communication tools change, and he has emphasised this in many of his works including the Global village concept to technological determinism, where media plays a major role in deciding the content and ideology of users and not the users. But with the advent of advanced technologies and interactive devices, wiz, computer, mobiles and the increasing usage of Internet and other communication technologies, communication has got a radical change. Each and every day, yet another new technology is being diffused into the minds of the people every day and even people keep on getting used to all the technologies. The gratifications approach has been found valid for the day, as people select media in a wide spread manner. Social Networking Sites, an outcome of interactive services offered by social media and communicative tools like Internet and intranet have brought the world too handy, enabling people to interact and discuss virtually. A share in a social networking site can reach hundreds even millions in time depending upon the connectivity of the users. This makes people getting flattered on the networking sites and makes them spend hours and hours hanging over the net. It offers various services like e-mailing, instant messaging, sharing photos and videos, make friends and so on. With the increase in its need and usage, the information flowing in the Social Networking Sites is unpredictable. The content travelling in the social media is very vast and in an uncontrollable way, thereby creating a non-centred authority to control news. The news gets its own form in the media as it delineates to people and gets a different perspective and form as it reaches the end user. This makes Social Networking sites, a threat to harmony in society. Maybe they are perceived as elements of social elevation, but it depends on the audience it reaches. If the audiences are well informed and are able to take a good decision, then the flow of news would not be a problem, but since social networking sites are being used by diversified audience, there should be a control imposed over the content to have a good and healthy environment in the country and make it stable in development. Social Media: The term  Social Media  refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies in communication and making it interactive. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, define social media as a group of Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of  user-generated content†. Social media is rather a media for social interaction, than social communication. Equipped with modern technologies and speedy Internetworking, social media has changed the way of communication between people, groups and organisations too. There are various categories of social media which includes online magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs and Social Networking forums. Further Kaplan and Haenlein categorises Social media into six types, namely, collaborative projects, likewise Wikipedia, blogs and microblogs likewise twitter, content communities like Youtube, social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, virtual game worlds and virtual social worlds. Among them Social Networking sites have become the most popular and highly used media as it provides more chances for Interactivity and presence. It is also being used as a marketing tool to market ideas, products, as well business. Social Networking Sites: Social networking sites, commonly abbreviated as SNS, are the interactive websites and forums that allow users to maintain an account, create a profile, find friends, chat, interact, conduct discussions, ask questions and so on. They act as a platform between users to share ideas of their own to the known and unknown, as per their wish. Social Networking sites, hit India with the increased number of Indian immigrants to the entire globe for employment. It arose as a tool for communicating with their families, and later on with the increased usage of technologies, it became a part and parcel of day to day life. We can easily say that there are hardly 10 out of 100, without at least an account in any of the social networking sites. Facebook – a general introduction: Facebook presents a lot many features and is being listed as the first in social networking sites on usage. It is basically a forum started in a university to keep in track with the friends and alumni and soon the interactive features, that it provided and the regular usage of people made it an eminent site. Soon it fore run social networking giants Orkut and yahoo that where dominant in India and has a membership of more than 800 million active users throughout the world. It allows the users to connect with people they know or do not know, share photos and videos of themselves or general interest, post comments and update any information as stories and comments, and comment and give opinions on others inputs. The ethical concerns noticed are Invasion of Privacy, dissemination of information without consent, unknown affiliation and so on. The status in India: Taking the case of India, the Social Networking sites are taking a new form and are becoming the lobby for people to hang out and discuss on various issues, ranging from personal to public, make posts and opinions on various social concerns and create pages on whatever issues they wish to. But this is going to a level that anyone can write or post any material on an issue without the approval of either the administrator of the networking site or the Government and transport down to any user of the network despite the user is a friend or not, through public postings. This poses a threat to the privacy of the users and also the news that gets transported. It takes a new form at every user’s page depending upon the understanding of the user on the issue. This increases the diversion of the perspective of the news. The most important social Networking sites in India based on their usage are Facebook, Twitter, Orkut and MySpace. A recent study in the UK showed that most Britons have a strong desire for the regulation of social network sites like MySpace and Facebook. In fact, 9 out of 10 people said there should be tighter regulation and, according to  The Guardian, 89% said there should be a set of widely accepted rules to help prevent personal information from being abused. – An article by Bobbie Johnson, Technology correspondent, The Guardian. With Social Media playing a major role in India, and especially Social Networking Sites, acting as monsters in the media arena, and as catalysts in determining the social issues, people who use these media are not mere demographies and rather perspective targets of the messages travelling in Media. So they need to be approached as careful as possible and since each and everyone differ in ideologies and conceptual, utmost attention should be paid in transferring news that help in decision making. Objective of the study: The study aims at understanding the media content that has always been a debatable issue ever since its inception. It is the final output which reaches the audience as the face of media. Various media disseminate the same content at the same point if time in various formats, under various control factors. Here, the aspects various controls and various formats determine the content, controls more on a large and aspects on a lesser part. Because, the amount of control decides what the message should be and what it cannot be. In the context of social media, which has tremendous feathers waving along 360 degrees, content management is a tedious process. That too, in a country like India, with diversified users of media, with a diversified mindset, content can be a dangerous thing, if it is not taken due care of. For example, we can quote the Anna Hazares IAC campaign, which gained the utmost interest of the social media, and has been listed as the best discussed topic of the year in the Facebook. India, as a democratic country has vested its own citizens with the Right to Speech and expression, but on the other hand, those rights are limited to the extent where the harmony and peace of the country is not disturbed. Social Networking Sites, because of the freedom they provide, intuit people to speak on all the news they wish and give chances for opinion by anyone, no matter whether they are aware of the topic or not. This may account to false perception of any News by the society and can bring in confusions and problems to the society. This does not mean that there should be restriction on using the sites, which can account to anti – democratic, but there needs a monitor over the information that flows in the Net, so that there can be a check over what can be discussed and what need not be. Theoretical perspective: The study works on the theory of Media effects finds its impact on the study and in specific, Catharsis effects and Reinforcement theory holds well. The theory goes as follows: Reinforcement theory  is one of the limited effects media model applicable. The theory generally states that people seek out and remember information that provides cognitive support for their pre-existing attitudes and beliefs. The central assumption of the theory stated that people do not like to be wrong and often feel uncomfortable when their beliefs are challenged. The theory of Catharsis effects also applies to the impact of media on user attitude behaviour. The term â€Å"catharsis† is derived from the Greek word ‘katharsis’ which means cleansing, purging, or purification. In the way, the theory is used in communication research, it implies that the execution of an aggressive action under certain conditions diminishes the aggressive drive and therefore reduces the likelihood of further aggressive actions. Secondly, the theory of Media advocacy also holds good for the study. Media advocacy is a sort of development communication, which involves the strategic use of media in shaping public opinions, mobilising community activities and in influencing decision makers in policy change. It shifts the focus of an issue from persona frame to social frame. Since Media advocacy stresses on policy change, it always confronts interaction with power vested authorities and hence it has the following advantages: i. Since media advocacy is always focused in gaining access to news than advertising it is highly cost effective and the users need not spend more on promotion of ideas and issues. ii. The effects of public policy are long lasting. They set the standards for the expected change, and transform it down to more number of users for a long period of time. Hence , though Media advocacy is involves planning, skill sets, creativity and also long time commitment, it is preferred more in addressing public issues on a major. Sometimes, Media also needs advise where it lags behind and need to be changed. The media academicians stand as the resource providers when media needs an advice and change. Methodology used: Content analysis of the social networking sites, has been done to analyse where some social networking sited go wrong and fail to cater to the needs, security and safety of the data and content of the society. This has been taken as a primary data which is further analysed and some predominant flaws in the dominant Social Networking Sites were exposed. A panel discussion on â€Å"The Need for a National Media Policy† to regulate the content and functioning of all the media including print, electronic and Internet and Social Networking Sites was conducted to analyse the trend prevailing in Media, and the situations that create the need for a National Policy on Media in India were arrived at. This was carried out with an expert panel of five members from various industries of media with around seventy five media students from various colleges as participants and was also allowed to interact and give their inputs wherever needed. Intensive observation method has been applied for analysis of the transmission of news in SNS. A sample size of fifty respondents comprising of teachers and media students who have a base knowledge of news and society is selected and were posted a question and asked to give opinions on that. Then the responses with the comments were again posted in for discussion and the results were analysed based on the parameters set and analysis was done. Outcome of the study: The content analysis of Social Networking Sites arrived at the below mentioned flaws prevalent as well with some earlier cases that were stated as the disadvantages of Social Networking Sites. I. Lack of Identity of users: There is no strict measure in verifying the real identity of the users in all the Social Networking Sites. So, anyone can own any number of accounts in a single SNS, provided they have an additional e-mail id. This in turn also does not look for any identity verifications. This shows the lag of control over the identity of the user and hence cannot execute actions or take action on ignorant people, which may lead to causalities. The case carried by The Times of India, reveals that how a genuine person has been under custody of the court for around 55 days. Lakshman Kailash, employed as software engineer by HCL and a resident of Kodihalli gets arrested in Bangalore on August 31, 2007 under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and spends 50 days at Yerawada Jail in Pune. He is charged with defaming Chatrapathi Shivaji, one of the founders of the Maratha Empire, by allegedly uploading an insulting picture of the latter on Orkut, a social networking site (SNS). This was based on the complaint filed by a Pune resident, Dhiraj Ramchandra Ghate, the Pune Police arrests Kailash apparently based on his IP address through Airtel, his Internet service provider. However, they later learn that one Kiran Reddy, a resident of Bangalore, was the actual culprit. After the intervention of the State Human Rights Commission of Maharashtra, the police set Kailash free. This can show the level of trauma, the convicted would have underwent, when he was in jail, and this is a single incident and if there would have been identity of the members in all SNS, this would have been avoided. II. Invasion of Privacy: Case I Facebook has had a lot many issues regarding Invasion of privacy ever since beginning. You can protect your data to general public users but cannot narrow down to the level of protecting them from being viewed by your friends. Facebook explicitly states their restrictions and user expectations of user content in their terms of use. In particular, Facebook does not allow users to in any way make available any content that we deem to be harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory, infringing, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable. In January 2006, Facebook shut down a group titled I Hate Jesus after Facebook received complaints from other users about the group. As Facebook explained to the groups creator in an email, Hate groups of any kind are not tolerated on the site, even if they are meant to be comedic. Even then, this has been done after a bombarding of complaints have been filed to the administrator to close the group. Hence, in this way Facebook does not have an automatic control over the management of the content. Case II Also, as per the rules there is no practical way to protect public content so that only trusted friends can view it. Not only does the publisher risk their pers onal information being used for offensive purposes (identity theft or otherwise), but if they change their minds, it is nearly impossible to remove something permanently from the Internet. Search engines can keep copies of web pages long after they have been removed. So, one cannot confine that their privacy is secured even if the user has deleted the account. Information Gathering by Social Networking Sites: Another major issue that raises substantial privacy concerns is the accumulation of private information by social networking services. With more than  800million users, Facebook stores an immense volume of private data that is constantly expanding: 250 million photos  new photos are uploaded to Facebooks servers every day. In addition to private photographs, Facebook stores many other types of personal information that users submit, including relationships, political views, sexual orientations, and credit card numbers. Facebook also keeps track of its users purchasing habits through the Beacon affiliate program: even when users decline to publish stories on Facebook about their purchases, the information is still sent to Facebooks servers. This Information Gathering by Social Networking Sites, has been posing a threat in content management of users. Intensive Observation Method: Intensive observation method of Social Networking sites revealed at the following flaws, which cannot be a major issue to discuss, but can become at a point of time. Dissemination of Information without consent: The Facebook users can comment, share, like and post stories create any blog in Facebook in any of the user’s links, irrespective of privacy. This can be delivered down to all the Facebook users throughout the world, if posted as a public post. In this the content can become inappropriate to some users, which gives a chance for misleading opinions, deviating audience to a wrong perspective, and even leading to mishaps depending on the intensity of the issue. This has been experimented by selecting a sample size of 50 respondents, segmented in two categories: i. General Audience: People who are users of Facebook and members of Social Networking sites, but do not have an in-depth knowledge of Media effects and other terms. 25 people comprising of students and college teachers represented the sample. i. Informed Citizenry: People who are users of Social Networking sites, equipped with the knowledge of effects of Media were selected. 25 people comprising of students and teachers from the Media Department represented as samples. A question was posted into the Facebook profile of the respondents, and responses for the question is analysed. Question for Response: Do you think India is in a need to change its way of governance. Wha t will be your options? Please post your opinion and comments. Options: 1. Military Regime 2. Monarchy ( Again Colonialism) 3. Communism 4. Leave as it is (Democracy). Analysis and Interpretation of data: I. The content analysis of Social Networking Sites revealed up with the following ethical concerns: i. No confirmation of identity of the users is carried out in any of the Social Networking Sites, which can be avoided. ii. Facebook does not have an automatic control over the management of the content. iii. One cannot confine that their privacy is secured even if the user has deleted the account. Hence it raises the possibilities of data being utilised by anyone later on. iv. This Information Gathering by Social Networking Sites, has been posing a threat in content management of users. II. The analysis of collected data of Intensive Observation revealed that a majority of people opining Military regime as the need for the day. If such surveys or opinions can be posted in a site which contains most vulnerable audience likewise, youth and teenagers, that can pose a threat to the harmony of the country. Outcome of the study: †¢ Although these are serious ethical constraints, there are reasons to believe that, for the most part, social networks are counteracting to these challenges. For example, although large centralized repositories of data are necessarily vulnerable to malicious insiders, social networks have had few reported problems of this variety. This may be the result of an organised content management and highly scrutinized employees. †¢ Users post information to social networking services in order to share it with others: a breach of privacy that lets anybody view photos that you only intended for your friends to view may be damaging, but it is likely less damaging than a breach of privacy that reveals your PIN number or your medical history, which you intended for nobody else at all to see. Though these advantages exist, Social Networking sites, on a whole are a threat to the society, unless and otherwise, a content management code is defined to manage the content keyed into Social Networking sites, and also a team to monitor the content in sites, and if possible, the real identity of the members of the sites can also be kept in track, so that any mishaps, demeaning of personality’s images cannot happen. Suggestions of the Panel Discussion Committee: Indian Media is in the stage of its peak at development, though it’s in a learning curve on the part of ethics to be maintained and measures in finding newsworthiness. †¢ There can be a self-regulatory body to reframe the working nature of the Social Networking Sites and on the content they carry. †¢ If media is not ready to go with that, Government can formulate and execute a Media Law, which is still under progress since 2003, that can make the Indian Media come under control. †¢ The policies cannot be called as controls, but regulations on a moderate level, that cannot curb the working nature of media. Some regulations on governing International media clients operating in India, can be arrived at, because it is observed that more than 50% of the Indian media is under the monopoly of Foreign media organisations. I would like to thank the Indian Government, that i was fortunate they have come up with a notion to develop a code of conduct for the content of Social Networking Sites. To conclude with, we can again remember the quote by Marshall McLuhan,† Medium is the message†, which states the deciding authority lies in the hand of media, which should look upon the well being of the society as the first and foremost function. References: Klaus Bruhn Jensen (2003). â€Å"A Handbook of Media and Communication Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies†. Routledge Publishers. Lelia Green (2001). â€Å"Communication, Technology and Society†. Sage Publications. http://www. communicationencyclopedia. com/public/tocnode? id=g9781405131995_yr2011_chunk_g97814051319958_ss9-1 http://www. facebook. com/press/info. php? statistics http://startups. in/view/asides/software-engineer-sues-airtel-for-20-crore-rupees/

Photography boundaries and uses

Photography boundaries and uses Photography from its very beginning served in a beneficial manner to democratize portraiture, expanding its boundaries and traditional uses. It no longer remained as an exclusive privilege of the aristocracy, the only class to afford it. By expanding its periphery, photographic portraiture not only complicated its function, but raised several intriguing issues in the new domains it spread to. By far, it complicated issues of identity and self-representation. Portraiture which was a means of re-asserting social status now opened up questions of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. So how did portraiture overcome its narrow boundaries? It is important for us here, to trace a brief history of the creation of identity in photographic portraiture because our modern vision of constructing identities has important historical precedents. The development of photographic portraiture occurs at a unique point in history the time of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and America. It thus coincided with the ascendency of the middle class into the domains of finance and culture. The newly acquired wealth of the bourgeoisie was spent lavishly on all kinds of goods, mostly in a way to emulate the lifestyle of the aristocracy. Just as a king would inscribe his victory pillar with his achievements to stand against the tide of time, the newly emerging bourgeoisie etched their arrival on the photographic paper. It is to be borne in mind that portraits were always meant for public display and enter into a dialogue with the world at large, even when they were limited to private consumption. Representing their opulent lifestyle in the portraits, the bourgeoisie at one stroke could visually affirm their social status to the world at large, as well as pose a constant challenge to the aristocratic monopoly of signs. Photographic portraiture during this time (mid 19th century) could basically be divided into the bourgeois family photo and individuals (men) of great success (not those who enjoy greater rights and privileges due to high birth). This clearly demarcated the private and the public sphere of the bourgeoisie. The middle-class ideals of the family and success were comprehensively treated in the photographic studios of the major cities where, the bourgeois body was situated within a network of cultural, social and ideological relations. Through these discourses between the body and the camera, a moral icon was being cultivated. There began to emerge a set of codes vis-à  -vis posture, expression, lighting, dress, etc which were evoking a middle-class cultural ideal. These were aimed to be an inspirational and moral source for the working classes. It was in the portrait of the family that struggles over representation of gender and interaction between the sexes began to peek its head. Although during Enlightenment there was a universal climate of liberty and equality and a general freedom for the woman, it was contested by a large majority of male thinkers. Historically significant writings of Rousseau and studies in the Encyclopaedia of the latter half of the 18th century conclude on the basis of female biological dispositions, that women are â€Å"unequal but complementary partner of men†, â€Å"the destiny of women is to have children and nourish them.† The emerging middle-class reformers and professionals by the 19th century had idealized the structure of family and pre-disposed social roles on the basis of gender, through the field of science, popular literature, sermons, etc. Let us analyze this photo belonging to the 1850s to further illustrate this view. A typical Victorian elderly couple is represented in the centre of the frame. The husband is facing the camera with a rather powerful authority which comes through in his intent vision. He is in the front, seated on a chair, and it is evident that he assumes full control of decision-making in the family. His wife on the other hand, comes across as a fragile dutiful figure on the back. It appears as if in reality, she is relegated to the background, almost without any assertive power in the family unit. It is this system of differences the camera captures that underlines the textured fabric of dominant social relations. The creation of identity in photographic portraiture is thus anchored firmly in a set of economic, political and social underpinnings. In the idealized Victorian family photo below, the family unit is presented in a ritualized display, oddly superficial in content and with the hierarchy of the domestic cult being apparently visible. The photo is of Sir Richard Strachey, a colonial administrator, soldier, botanist and engineer and his family engaged in a parlour game. In the other family photo, the male figure is seen to enact the role of the family-head, whose expressions and gestures are carefully rooted in the middle-class ideological terrain. The wife is a rather subdued entity. With passive children on display by their sides and bound to each other by cords of reciprocal love and obligation, the members of the family typified a whole new commitment to a domestic ideal. The space within which they were placed to photographed most often i.e. the photographers studio went a long way in reinforcing their social identities. It was basically a fabricated space, with various props for various occasions. Carefully altered according to needs, it served as the bourgeois drawing room, the balcony, and the like; they were symbols of middle-class recreation and leisure. Dotted with objects of art and cultivated taste, these spaces had the potential of conveying the bourgeois milieu. With the bourgeois coming into prominence and replacing the aristocracy of the ‘Ancien Regime, it was time that photography brought into the domains of visibility those so far neglected, not represented those ‘invisible. It was due to surveillance, almost, that the colonized subjects with their distinct ‘otherness or in other words ethnicity, and the labouring classes driving the capitalist machinery, came into the visual sphere. One of the striking features at a glance is how these classes are represented they are made to confront the camera, almost come to terms with its gaze. The blunt frontality shows a complete lack of sophistication which is markedly different from the cultivated asymmetries of the bourgeois pose. This middle-class awareness, that the body when carefully positioned always served as a cultural and class signifier, explains why they were never in conflict with the camera. - How has then modern contemporary photography dealt with the issue of identity in terms of gender, the public or private self or even sexuality? One of the significant changes which had occurred through the passage of time was the representation of women in photography. Be it in the workplace or on private dining table, images of women changed radically being more assertive, independent. They had over time, gained social and political rights and were enacting various roles at the same time the professional, the wife, the mother and the like. Thus representation of women in the workplace became an intense subject, especially during the time of Margaret Thatcher in Britain. But with unemployment rising to unprecedented levels during the 1980s, photography revealed shocking truths. It was found that women were mostly employed in low-paid professions or part time and faced several discriminatory practices with regard to class, gender and ethnicity at the workplace. In 1986-87, Rhonda Wilson presenting an oppositional view through her images, produced a striking series of work- drawing in heavily from popular imagery and signs and underlined with satire. In the photo below, which exploits the format of the beauty contest with sashes and higher pedestals, women with the worst weekly income levels are presented as three winners. They are represented in their professional capacities with each one holding props related to their work. Their expressions clearly reveal the irony. Thus it brought to the forefront important questions of womens role in the modern society and also in the male-dominated ‘workplace. It also revealed the sexual division of labour i.e. traditional feminine occupations being grossly underpaid. In another interesting take on the subject is Debbie Humphreys project of the 1990s Gender Crossings focussing on relationships between the sexes in the workplace. The women in this series of images, have disregarded the so-called gender boundaries and entered the domain of â€Å" mens † work. These women blend in with their male counterparts and have strangely subdued femininity. In the image below, we see three employees in a typical office environment. At a glance, it is hard to identify that the central figure is a female due to her cropped hair, guardedly crossed arms to conceal the breast and her typically male attire. The woman is flanked by one male colleague on either side who seem to be quite comfortable in presenting themselves in the particular environment. Standing firmly these men appear as intimidating to the female colleague, whose posture and expression testify to the fact. The picture raises important questions of why the female has chosen a male dress-code. Is it to be at par with the men in the profession? To legitimise her presence? In any case, the power structure of the place is clearly shown. Issues of representation become more complex when this woman professional also has to run the household. In Jacqueline Sarsbys photo-documentary series on the agricultural labour she portrays this dual role of ordinary working women in small English farms.

Explication of John Donnes The Flea :: John Donne Flea Essays

Explication of John Donne's The Flea John Donne's, "The Flea," is a persuasive poem in which the speaker is attempting to establish a sexual union with his significant other. However, based on the woman's rejection, the speaker twists his argument, making that which he requests seem insignificant. John Donne brings out and shapes this meaning through his collaborative use of conceit, rhythm, and rhyme scheme. In the beginning, Donne uses the flea as a conceit, to represent a sexual union with his significant other. For instance, in the first stanza a flea bites the speaker and woman. He responds to this incident by saying, "And in this flea our bloods mingled be." He is suggesting that they are united in this flea and ,thus, would equally be united in intimacy. In addition, he states, "This flea is you and I, and this our marriage bed, and marriage temple is." The speaker is suggesting that through the flea the two are married. Again, the flea represents marriage, union, and consummation through intimacy. However, the woman crushes the flea, thus, refusing his request, and states that neither she nor he is weakened by its death. Based on her reaction, the speaker states, "Tis true...Just so much honor, when they yield'st to me, Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee." In other words, he twists his argument to make the point that the woman will lose as much giving herself to him as she lost killing the flea - NOTHING! Secondly, Donne's use of rhythm aids in shaping the poem's meaning. The poem has alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and pentameter. However, Donne varies this rhythm to create emphasis on particular words or phrases. For instance, in the first stanza he states, "Mark but this flea, and mark in this." Instead of beginning with an unstressed word or syllable as in iambic, Donne stresses the word "Mark." This is important in accentuating his argument.

The Medias Influence On Society :: essays research papers

Unquestionably the media being newspapers, internet, radio and television, influence society. They can affect, have affected and will continue to affect the progression of life in this nation and around the world, as electronic technology continues to be the chosen mode of communication for a whole generation, offering direct, often anonymous influential information. The media presents "one minded" views that have the ability to reflect societies moods and influence the balance of power. - Death of Princess Diana on August 97 in a Paris Car accident is an example. - Australia t.v showed pictures of the car accident - which told the whole story - Public was influenced by this and felt sorry - The public layed 60 million floral tributes and gifts in her memory - mourners sharing grief - emotionally moving pictures during and after - funeral watched by millions - event which has become one of the most known in this century in history - Media influenced the public to love Princess Diana when the a survey showed by the Australia Bure of Stat showed the 50% of the Australian Population couldn't care much for the Princess before the accident, but after was mortified. - Proved my point The media can cause major shifting in public opinion in the role of authority. - Harry Knowles a journalist stated "it doesn't matter how much money, power or influence you have in today's world world, it can be undermined by the media through technology" - No longer do Hollywood celebrities or industrial giants take control over there future - Take for example US president George Bush - fell down stairs and was filmed on camera - Questions about health arose - and became an instant political issue with the media exploiting him - The image showed dazed Bush - this image did little for his campaign in the election - This collapse would have been brushed away by word of mouth but the probing camera transformed to the net, paper and so forth, shifted the view of the public with Bush for the election. - Prove argument - restate back to topic sentence. The media has progressed to a new public agenda with the advances of technology. - No media technology has ever transformed Australia's life as radically and as rapidly as todays technology - The media is driving the public agenda armed with satellites - 24 hour feeds - the potencial power of this new technology, backed by the media has been named the "global village", meaning the world as one

Blood Donation Srs Essay

The system will consist of CIS Alumni Home page with five selections. The first selection is to fill out a survey. The questions on the survey will be created by a designated faculty member. The survey will ask the Alum questions concerning their degree, job experience, how well their education prepared them for their job, and what can the CIS department do to improve itself. This information will be retained on the departmental server and an e-mail will be sent to the designated faculty member. The second selection is to the Entries section. There are two choices on this page. One choice is to add a new entry. A form is presented to the Alum to be filled in. Certain fields in the form will be required, and list boxes will be used where appropriate. A password typed twice will be required of all new entries. The second selection of the Entries page is to update an Alum entry. A form will be presented allowing the Alum to enter their year of graduation and then to select themselves from a list. A password will be required before the information will be presented to the Alum to be updated. The third selection is to search or e-mail an Alum. A form will be presented requiring the requested Alum’s year of graduation. The requesting Alum will search a table to see if the requested Alum is in the database, and if so non-sensitive information will be returned. At this time the Alum can select to e-mail the Alumnus or search for another Alumnus. If the Alum chooses to e-mail the Alumnus a form will be presented for the message to be entered with the sending Alum’s name and e-mail. The message, with all necessary information will be forwarded to the requested Alum. The e-mail address of the requested Alum will not be seen by the sending Alum as a privacy measure. All pages will return the Alum to the CIS Alumni Home Page. 2. 3. 1. Use Case: Access Alumni Home Page [pic] Figure 2 Access Alumni Home Page Brief Description The Departmental Web Server is waiting on an Alum to connect. Initial step-by-step description For this use case to be initiated, the alum must be connected to the Internet and connected to the University Web Server. 1. The Alum connects to the University Web Server. 2. The Alum selects the Alum link on the CIS home page. 3. The University Web Server passes the Alum to the Alumni Home Page. Reference SRS Use Case: Alum Chooses Survey [pic] Figure 3 Alum Selects Survey Brief Description: The Alum chooses to fill out a survey. Initial step-by-step description: For this use case to be initiated the Alum must be connected to the Internet and on the CIS Alumni Home Page. 1. The Alum selects the â€Å"Fill out a survey† link. 2. The Departmental Server returns the survey form. 3. The Alum fills in the form. 4. The Alum clicks submit. 5. The Departmental Server retains information in the database designated faculty member will be notified. 6. The Departmental Server returns the Alum to the Alumni Home Page. Reference SRS   Use Case: Create New Entry [pic] Figure 4 Alum Selects Create a New Entry Brief Description: The Alum chooses to create a new entry on the Entries page. Initial step-by-step description. For this use case to be initiated the Alum must be connected to the Internet and on the CIS Entries page. 1. The Alum selects the â€Å"Add a New Alum† link. 2. The Departmental Server returns the â€Å"Add a New Alum Form. † 3. The Alum fills in the form. 4.