Reluctant Users Slow O Take Up Videoconferencing Essay

The public relations executive was enthusiastic on the phone. The IT company he represented had started installing green data centres and energy-efficient computers. Would I like to fly to California to see for myself? That would be a 2500 mile round trip from my home in Midwestern Canada. According to the online calculator from Terapass, the trip would release 1,1232 pounds(about 500 kilos) of CO2 into the atmosphere. ‘If you’re really into green technology, couldn’t we do a videoconferencing instead? ’ I asked. ’Sure,’ said the PR person. We are totally into green issues’. He promised to arrange it. Months laters, nothing had happend. The high-tech industry is quick to praise the benefits of flexible communication, but videoconferencing is one area where things have failed to live up to the hype. ‘Videoconferencing has not significantly displaced travel,’ say Frank Modruson, CIO for global technology consulting firm Accenture. As the IT sector continues to push its green values, this mismatch between rhetoric and reality is becoming harder to ignore. So why are relatively few people using videoconferencing? Andrew Davis, managing partner at online collaboration market research firm Wainhouse, says the technology is let down by usability. For many peple, videoconferences are just too difficult to set up. This is why Nortel is emphasizing the services side. ‘The barrier isn’t the technology. It’s the services around that technology,’ says Dean Fernades, the company’s General Manager of Network Services. Nortel is one of several companies getting into a relatively new segment of the videoconferencing market called telepresence. Specially equipped rooms enabled people to appear as if they are sitting across the table, with life-size video representations of remote colleagues in high-definition video. Customers pay to use Nortel’s facilities, which can also handle video filming, enabling the room to double as a production facility for corporate TV, for example. Nortel will also handle post-production tasks such as editing. Accenture, on the other hand, opted for the capital investment route. Mr Modruson said it is installing rooms in Chicago and Frankurt, and hopes to roll out another 11 cities in the next few months.

“Magdalena and Balthasar” by Steven Ozment’s Essay

In the story Magdalena and Balthasar by Steven Ozment’s, one is able to reconstruct the lifestyle of a sixteenth-century merchant family that lived in Europe. The life styles specifically shown in Magdalena and Balthasar’s relationship was anything but an average lifestyle. Although the couple dealt with many problems such as the separation due to business, they were able to keep their marriage stable through letters. In these letters one is able to uncover their beliefs about their family life, marriage, parenting, and the affects religion had on them. Although this specific couple had a unique relationship, one could come to some understanding of how a medieval persons’ life was lived. When analyzing pieces from these letters, one could conclude that marriage had to be filled with love, admiration, and cooperation to be successful. Given the role in 16th century society, the husband was the dominant figure and the wife was left with the household duties and children. However, some relationships were ahead of their times and was based solely on reciprocated compassion. If this bond could be achieved it brought a sense of equality in the understanding and responsibility of a marriage. The growing love in a marriage relationship was hard to accomplish. Whether the marriage was based on the similar backgrounds, or mutual feelings about equality, a successful marriage had to be worked on. Many merchants at this time were extremely involved with their work. This meant that when work called they had to reply. If the job took the husband out of town the best way to maintain their relationship was through letters. Although it was hard to keep in touch there were many ways that they could communicate their love. Another aspect that was seen in the medieval time period was the way in which the people expressed their love. In the relationship between Magdalena and Balthazar, Magdalena uses special valued objects in her letters in order to express her love. An example is when â€Å"she folds flowers from their garden into her letters to him†(Ozment 28). Likewise, Balthasar expressed his love for Magdalena through his unique writing style. In his letters he was able to express his love through simple words such as â€Å"honest, good, true,  friendly, dearest, closest bride†(Ozment 28). It can be observed that the common attribute of expressing love in their relationship was not only limited to their relationship specifically, rather it applies to most sixteenth-century relationships. Although Love was a major attribute in relationships trust was another strong hold point of the everyday family lifestyle of this time. There had to be a strong supporting trust from each side of the relationship in order for the family to prevail. For instance, when the couple was separated the husband would have to have a deep sincere trust for the wife to maintain his business at home. The wife would have chores such as, tending to the children, keeping the household running, and other business related tasks. Although it was common for the women to do so anyways, the husband had to rely and trust his wife to take care of these dealing without second thought. Although the husband had to give up allot of responsibility when he was away for work, normally he would not give up the whole authoritative power. For example in a disagreement usually their would be some sort of compromise, but in the end the wife would give in to the big decisions allowing the husband to have authority. The equilibrium between trust and negotiation that was seen in sixteen-century relationships shows how a sense of stability that was formed in their family lifestyles. Parenting in this time period was dealt with by different methods, which were determined by the different marital roles. The primary differences come from their choice of style that was inherited from their forefathers. The wife is usually the consoling and sympathetic parent, while the father was usually the stern and punitive parent. The father had to deal with his parenting from a different town at times, which led to less interactive correction strategies. When a demand from the father was made to the child, the child would usually meet the request without question. Although the wife respects the husband’s requests she usually sympathized for her son, showing an amount of protection, by lessening the demands. The most similar parenting style between the two is their love for their son. Although the teaching methods were different from parent to parent, the child usually received a decent education, housing, adequate food, to fulfill his needs. The love and support from both the mother and the father is astonishing and overall should result in a prudent child. Religion is a very important aspect of sixteenth-century life among medieval individuals. A common belief was that God was involved in their family life and was in absolute control. â€Å"They think of God as an absolutely omnipotent being, who controls human destiny on earth and into eternity†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Ozment 144). If there were unfortunate dealing such as sickness or substantial loss in a business deal, it was believed to be â€Å"an obvious punishment of God†(Ozment 144). Religion was also tied into the lives of medieval people by the incorporation of it into their marriages. The medieval people relied on the God given supremacy of the husband’s role for leadership in the family’s prosperity. Parenting techniques also resulted from their Christianity belief. The disciplinary actions of each role in the family originated from the history of Christianity. Even though these teachings seemed strict they closely adhered to them in order to adhere to their beliefs. The particular dealings with Magdalena and Balthazar gave and exclusive illustration of the life of a sixteenth-century family. It also exposed the hardships of the medieval time period. Magdalena and Balthazar gave a significant portrait into how a person in the sixteenth century dealt with the everyday attributes of marriage, parenting, family life, and the affects religion had upon them.

What Are the Most Important Agents of Socialization and How Are They Being Accounted for in Children Lives

Parents are important agents of socialization but they are not the only source of socialization when it comes to kids. In my paper I will be discussing the important factors of socialization and what we perceive to be a turning point in our children lives. Believe it or not but parents, family, educational institutions, and media are socializing agents who carry out the process of socialization. The family is the most influential socializing agent. Infants are born into certain types of families and grow up with them as children and adults. Socialization is the process of imbibing the norms, value and social patterns of a particular society. It is also closely linked to the concept of individual and personal development. The family is perhaps the most important source of socialization, given its central role in the early developmental period (Holm, 2005). It plays this central role because it introduces children to intimate relationships and gives them their first experience of being treated as distinct individuals. In essence, the family is the child’s first reference group, the first group whose norms and values the child adopts as his or her own and uses to evaluate his or her behavior. The family also introduces children to group life. Several factors in family life affect socialization. For example, fathers and mothers have different parental styles. Fathers tend toward physical play and unfamiliar games, while mothers tend toward vocal interaction and familiar games. The numbers of siblings and the birth order also have substantial effects. Interactions with siblings enable children to learn about cooperation and conflict as well as negotiation and bargaining. Finally, the family introduces the child into society, helping him or her to find an identity in the larger social world. Socialization is seen as an essential process in the lives of the young child and adult in that it is an essential process of learning and adaptation necessary for social and psychological well-being and survival. The family and socialization are terms that are often linked in terms of their sociological nature and function, the family is in most societies the area or the social structure where the child is socialized and where he or she learns the norms and mores of that particular social environment and culture (Starrels, 2000). Notwithstanding the recent sociological concern about the demise of the family structure in developed countries like United States, the family is still generally seen as the centre of the socialization process. Ultimately, the values or characteristics of a family impact the children. For example, the children of families who are not overly rigid and restrictive are usually content and well-adjusted; however, children who grow up in environments that are too restrictive often become defiant and lack confidence. There are two basic aspects of socialization. First, socialization creates individuals who are part of a human community. It enables people to live within their groups and to be effective members of the society into which they are born. Second, socialization is the process by which a society reproduces itself in a new generation. It helps transmit the values and traditions of the past to the next generation (Tannenbaum 1967). The highest values and discourage deviation from social values do not just come from the family but through other sources such as institutions and peers. (Arnett 1995). Sociologists have long recognized that peers play a critical role in children’s initiation to society. Peer groups provide experience with egalitarian relationships. The absence of a power imbalance enables peers to teach other skills and to provide resources in ways in which parents frequently cannot. Children select peers; they do not select their parents. This selection opportunity enables children and young adults to test some of their preferences for certain types of friends. Peers also teach each other about subjects that adults consider sensitive or taboo and develop their own distinctive norms and values. During adolescence the influence of peers increases, while the influence of parents decreases. Adolescents often experience conflict with the power and expectations of their parents and other adults. However, adolescents generally remain responsive to their parent’s desires regarding goals and values. Peer values generally reinforce parental values. Cross-cultural research has highlighted differences in peer group socialization in different societies (Wilson, 1995). Children are exposed increasingly to a variety of mass media. The media play a substantial role in contemporary socialization and have become increasingly important over the last several decades. Children in the United States today spend more time watching television than in school. Parents as well as others have become increasingly concerned with the role of television and other mass media, but a review of the research on the impact of television on children yields mixed results. Fathers, especially, are still likely to stress the importance of a career or occupational success for their sons than for their daughters. As a result, parents are more likely to provide opportunities for their sons than for their daughters( Benokraitis,2008) Generally my research shows that watching programs which emphasize positive values often stimulates positive behaviors, where as viewing violence and other negative types of programs encourages aggression and other types of negative behaviors. At a minimum, it is clear that television can have a major effect in that children interact with television in much the same way as they interact with other elements in their social environment. Education has become an increasingly important source of socialization in the last century as society became less rural and more urban. School serves as a transition point between the home and the adult world. Schools teach certain official values such as intellectual skills, but they also include a hidden curriculum that teaches useful skills such as how to live in a bureaucratic setting (Mcleod, 1967). Adult socialization is also transparent. Some life transitions simply build on existing norms, values, and roles; others require resocialization or the internalization of an alternative set of norms and values. For example, army recruits and mental patients must be resocialized to their new roles. Desocialization requires stripping oneself of the self-image and values acquired previously and replacing them with a new outlook and self-image. Total institutions, such as prisons, are organizations that deliberately close themselves off from the outside world and lead a very insular life that is formally organized and tightly controlled. Newcomers to total institutions undergo mortification: they are stripped of clothes and personal possessions and are given standard clothing. They perform meaningless tasks, endure abuse and are deprived of privacy; these procedures are designed to destroy newcomer’s feelings of self-worth and to prepare them for deference to their superiors (Summers, 1972). Occupational socialization involves learning the norms, values, and beliefs appropriate for a new occupation or organization. Considerable variation occurs in the type and extent of occupational socialization. In conclusion I would like add that â€Å"Agents of Socialization† defines socialization as the process of passing down cultural beliefs and practices to society; many groups in society are involved in this process, but after researching I found out that the family is the most important socializing agent. The restrictiveness of the family environment can impact socialization of children, affecting how well-adjusted children and teenagers are. Social class can affect the ways that families socialize their children. Lower class parents tend to be more controlling and rigid, whereas middle class parents tend to encourage more independence. In the past three decades, the ways that families socialize their children have changed. Specifically, society’s views of children and teenagers have changed from one in which children and teenagers are naive and immature to one in which they are viewed as more competent and worldly. Also, adults have become less controlling over time.

A University Guide for the 21st Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

A University Guide for the 21st Century - Essay Example Moreover, what are the key messages that can be ascertained from a rigorous critique of the very methodology of the STUG ? IT WILL BE DEMONSTRATED THAT A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE STUG YIELDS A TWO-FOLD IMPROVEMENT FOR DURHAM UNIVERSITY: ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND INCREASED DIVERSITY BY ALL RELEVENT INDICATORS. SCOPE & BREADTH OF DATA PRESENTED: Established in 1993 and both funded and supported by universities across the UK [APPENDIX: D] the Higher Education Statistics Agency houses a significant body of data pertaining to university demographics – indeed, HESA tracks performance indicators, finance, enrollment, student achievement at all levels, faculty demographics, and a wide range of other very useful information [see: APPENDIX: B-C; E - F]. For the STUG, the HESA is the source for a number of their key indicators in regard to how they compare one university in the UK against the next [APPENDIX C]. The following analysis is dependent upon both the various university guides such as the STUG, the Guardian annual survey and the Complete University Guide, but also the annual key indicators that are accumulated and presented at HESA. The details of the analysis will be comparative as far as including both the newspaper distillation of the HESA information ( and beyond the HESA too), with particular attention paid to the STUG, but also the HESA in its raw and more expansive form. METHODOLOGY: There is both qualitative and quantitative methods employed in this analysis. First, the data stated in the previous section will be compared in terms of key performance indicators. In numerical or quantitative terms, significant improvements, changes or declines will be noted and presented. Particular focus will be paid to the indicators that are Durham specific, however, it is difficult to isolate Durham University when considering notable

PHYSICAL PRIVACY Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

PHYSICAL PRIVACY - Coursework Example For our current assignment though, I am going to take one ethical issue that was embedded into that business decision and discuss it in great detail. I will do my best to discover all of the facts that I will need in order to create an informed analysis of this particular ethical issue and make some suggestions pertaining to how the ethical issue may be dealt with by the insurance company prior to it actually becoming an ethical situation that the company has to handle. For this particular assignment, I have chosen to deal with the problem of Agent Honesty when it comes to their treatment of client policies and collection agreements. In order to deal with this problem, the insurance company must first acknowledge the fact that the agents have a strong tendency to commit fraud once they have a non-exclusive partnership with the insurance company. Since they are basically freelancers, they do not answer directly to the company for any of their actions. If an insurance company uses too many independent agents, the possibility of being able to monitor all of their client based actions diminishes. Independent agents prefer having the more limited relationship that their status provides with the company as opposed to an exclusive agent who is bound by more company rules and regulations in terms of ethics. That is why in the case of independent agents, the tendency of the insurance company is to have a narrow and specific view of the agent's business actions. The company will tend to not care too much about the actions of their independent agents without realizing that the unethical actions of the independent agents will have clear ramifications for their company as well in terms of protecting their clients against fraud. It is most likely that not all independent agents are aware of the fact that they are committing fraud in certain instances due to their lack of proper manpower training in terms of insurance sales services. Therefore, it is important that the compan y reiterate the importance of honesty in all their business dealings in order to preserve the image of the company with future clients, and enhance their company image with their existing client base. Agents need to always be ethical and compliant of all government insurance standards. There is no gray area in this matter. Rogue insurance agents can cause the insurance company a sizable amount of fines and potential financial losses through fraud related lawsuits that the company will find itself facing. Considering the lack of company based supervision of independent agents, it would seem more logical for insurance companies to deal with exclusive agents instead since they can have a more personal relationship with these agents whose actions and portfolios are open and easily accessible to the company. Thus making it easier to detect ethical violations at any given time. It is of the utmost importance that insurance companies be highly observant of their independent agent's pattern s of behavior or financial transactions over a period of time. This will help the company sniff out the potential abnormalities in the actions of the agent that could signify that the agent is involved in fraudulent actions against the company clients and the company itself. This can usually be determined by observing the agent's pattern of payment submission to the insurance com

How might a constructionist approach to gay, lesbian, bisexual or Essay

How might a constructionist approach to gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans persons differ from both a biological essentialist and a - Essay Example This paper analyses three approaches used understand these sexual orientations, namely constructionist approach, biological essentialist and a religious essentialist. Sexuality is an instinct or a natural drive that becomes inevitable a person’s biological make-up and seeks fulfillment through sexual activity. All essentialist approaches take the view that all genders, both male and female, have an essential nature as opposed to differing by various contingent or accidental features that result from social forces. These include biological essentialist and a religious essentialist approaches. From the perspective of the essential nature of a person, it is taken that the sexual preference of a person is natural and important/essential to the personality of the person. The essential nature entails caring and nurturing. This means that being a gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans person is a sign of aggression and selfishness (Clare 28). Biological essentialists take sex as a natural i nstinct required for reproduction purposes. This means that there is a relationship between the biological sex/gender and the sexuality of a person. This approach therefore considers being heterosexual as normal but considers gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans persons as unnatural and deviant.

Not sure it is about media study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Not sure it is about media study - Essay Example 76). Althusser’s then considered that class is never inherent but instead culturally created, and individual desires, attitude, behaviours and choices are creation of ideology. Furthermore, he argued that ideology controls people via despotic state machineries built in ideological state devices, and as such, it is impossible to conceive a structure of images plus objects whose connotations can exist separately of language. Althusser’s observes that ideology interpellates existing individuals as material subjects through pre-existing classes comprising the subject (Montag, 2003, p. 45). Foucault, on the other hand observes ideology as an intolerable concept of universal judiciousness, which are based on subjectivity (Mills, 2012, p. 64). Foucault scepticism on ideology is based on his belief that dissimilar rationalities are composed in historical structures. Thus, he mystifies power due to its emphasis on universal truth. Foucault asserts that, subjectivity is the validation of a progression, and it is rather provisional leading to subject(s) (Ransom, 2008, p. 4). To Foucault subjectivities are rather multiple instead of being unified even as it fluctuates instead of being fixed, per se, subjects are socially constituted. Hence, subjectivity possesses a permanent provocation to the discourse or conversation which defines it (Strozier, 2002, p. 21). On the other hand, Althusser’s defines subjectivity as the roles, characteristics or subject possessed by individuals, and willingly undertake in response to an ideology. Thus, according to Althusser’s, su bjectivity is the hub of initiatives, an author of, along with being responsible for its actions. Therefore, an individual is for all time a subject, even before he or she is born (Ferretter, 2012, p. 88). The aim of this paper is to discuss the statement that language is always already ideological,