Discovering a Community in the Projects :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Discovering a Community in the Projects As I was driving through my hometown of Any Town, USA, I began thinking of the community and how it compares to other communities. Then an area of the town caught my eye. It is an area shunned by the citizens who do not live there. It is referred to as the "projects" or low income housing. This area has a bad reputation in the community. The children who live there are thought of as trouble makers, the adults, lazy. However, I noticed something different, something that the "outsiders" seem to neglect. It was neighbors that act like neighbors. The children were playing together and the parents were sharing events with each other. This conversing and playing is something I do not see much of in the other parts of Any Town. In my opinion, this detached housing development was a closer community then all of Any Town. There is closeness between the people who live in those buildings that I have not seen in my own neighborhood. That bond between neighbors is what everyone says we have lost due to computers and other technology. As a result, low-income housing neighborhoods may benefit from not being able to afford things like computers. They benefit because the people of the neighborhood need each other for help, even with things as simple as homework. The richer the parents, the less interested they were in time at home. The poorer they were, the more interested (Snell 28). So these neighborhoods are built around people with low income, yet they prosper because of that. I believe that our society is dying due to computers and other things we now rely on. Things so materialistic as beepers, cell phones, and voice mail have become part of our survival. We do not even have to drop in at home to say hello to our family anymore, we just send a quick e-mail. People who do not rely on these technical things rely on each other for entertainment as the children do by playing together outside, to inform each other of current events, or even to chat face-to-face rather than computer screen-to-computer screen. It is thought that it takes a community to raise a child, and a small community can accomplish that more so than a large one (Nelle 9). The small community within a larger one is able to prosper on its own because it has to, in a sense. Discovering a Community in the Projects :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers Discovering a Community in the Projects As I was driving through my hometown of Any Town, USA, I began thinking of the community and how it compares to other communities. Then an area of the town caught my eye. It is an area shunned by the citizens who do not live there. It is referred to as the "projects" or low income housing. This area has a bad reputation in the community. The children who live there are thought of as trouble makers, the adults, lazy. However, I noticed something different, something that the "outsiders" seem to neglect. It was neighbors that act like neighbors. The children were playing together and the parents were sharing events with each other. This conversing and playing is something I do not see much of in the other parts of Any Town. In my opinion, this detached housing development was a closer community then all of Any Town. There is closeness between the people who live in those buildings that I have not seen in my own neighborhood. That bond between neighbors is what everyone says we have lost due to computers and other technology. As a result, low-income housing neighborhoods may benefit from not being able to afford things like computers. They benefit because the people of the neighborhood need each other for help, even with things as simple as homework. The richer the parents, the less interested they were in time at home. The poorer they were, the more interested (Snell 28). So these neighborhoods are built around people with low income, yet they prosper because of that. I believe that our society is dying due to computers and other things we now rely on. Things so materialistic as beepers, cell phones, and voice mail have become part of our survival. We do not even have to drop in at home to say hello to our family anymore, we just send a quick e-mail. People who do not rely on these technical things rely on each other for entertainment as the children do by playing together outside, to inform each other of current events, or even to chat face-to-face rather than computer screen-to-computer screen. It is thought that it takes a community to raise a child, and a small community can accomplish that more so than a large one (Nelle 9). The small community within a larger one is able to prosper on its own because it has to, in a sense.

Doctor of Philosophy Essay

Rich are not relevant to a general audience: â€Å"From the time I was small, I have been very active in defending our environment,† â€Å"From the first time I saw environmental protestors, I realized that they were all crazy. † Note that some of these topics could be converted into theses that would be arguable to a general audience if they were de-personalized and established as arguable issues. Also keep in mind that personal examples may play a significant supporting role in your essay–but not in the thesis or topic sentences. †¢ A thesis should be very clearly written in precise, familiar terms, avoiding language that is overly vague, broad, specialized, or technical. You can assume that your general audience consists of well-informed, intelligent adults with good, general vocabularies, but you cannot assume they are specialists in a particular subject–at least not in English 1A. Example of a vague and overly broad thesis: â€Å"In some cultures, aspects of the environment may play a role in life’s spiritual and metaphysical dimension. †Example of a thesis that is too specialized for a general reader: â€Å"The image of the child in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scientific, historical, and literary narratives is often representing or figuring interiority, growth, historicity, and development. † (This thesis may be quite clear to advanced scholars of literature or history, but a general audience would probably find it too obscure. ) †¢ A thesis may reliably forecast the organization of the essay, letting the reader know what main supporting points will be covered and in what order. This forecast is sometimes called a plan of development (POD) or a blueprint. A POD is often a good idea, but it is not an obligatory part of the thesis in English 1A; you may present it in the sentence following the thesis, or you may skip it altogether Example of POD in thesis: Skateboarding should be limited to special parks because it poses a nuisance to pedestrians, leads to serious injuries, and causes thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to public and private property. Example of POD following thesis: Skateboarding is not just a harmless recreation and should, in fact, be limited to special parks. As it now stands, the sport poses a nuisance to pedestrians, leads to serious injuries, and causes thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to public and private property. The following thesis rules also apply to your essays in English 1A, but keep in mind that as your academic writing becomes increasingly skilled and sophisticated, you may outgrow these restrictions. And they may not apply to the essays you write in other courses (check with your instructors). †¢ Limit your thesis statement to one sentence. †¢ Do NOT frame your thesis as a question–it should be a declarative statement. †¢ Do NOT rely on an implied thesis. We will encounter some implied theses in our readings, but your essays must have an explicit thesis statement. †¢ The thesis must appear in the essay’s first paragraph (the introduction) at the end of the paragraph. †¢ Underline your thesis in English 1A to make it easier for me (and for you! ) to identify it.

The Problem And Proposed Solutions

The Digital Divide debate encompasses issues that are of social, economic and political import. Meaning to say, the issues regarding the digital divide, as a phenomenon and as a current concern that needs to be addressed, is not merely limited to the issue of the existing disparity in terms of access to technology which transverses different sectors of society. This paper attempts to explicate the digital divide, the debate and the foundational issues concerning the phenomenon/problem.In line with the main task of this paper is the identification of the two most important obstacles that need to be overcome and the two important things that the government needs to create in dealing with the digital divide. In meeting the demands of a global economy, technological advancements especially in the field of telecommunications and information technology are key factors in making possible various transactions faster, cheaper, more reliable and convenient. Needless to say, these technological advances are important tools if companies and other business ventures are to survive in the digital economy.These technological advancements however, are evolving far too fast which consequently generate pressing problems that ought to be considered. On a preliminary note, the aforementioned rapid technological evolution poses serious questions if our societal structures can rapidly adapt to these changes and more importantly, if we, ourselves can rapidly adapt and be able to integrate for ourselves these changes. A good example is the Internet and the online community and it is to this topic that we shall now turn.A fuller understanding of the digital divide phenomenon necessitates an understanding of its underpinnings. As Pippa Norris contends, â€Å"the digital divide is understood as a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing three distinct aspects† (Norris). These three distinct aspects according to Norris are the global divide, social divide and democratic divide, resp ectively. Norris elucidates further, â€Å"The global divide refers to divergence of Internet access between industrialized and developing societies.The social divide concerns the gap between the information rich and poor in each nation. And lastly, within the online community, the democratic divide signifies the difference between those who do, and do not, use the panoply of digital resources to engage, mobilize and participate in public life† (Norris). One may thus infer that these three aspects related to the issue of ‘access’ to the Internet involve not mere social, but also economic and political considerations.In an article entitled, What is the Digital Divide, Harouna Ba makes a similar point as Norris. Ba writes, â€Å"lack of access to networked technology will result in a substantial segment of society having neither the skills nor the means to participate in the progressively more knowledge-based U. S. economy† (Ba). As Ba contends, there is a f elt need to address the issue of access along with the social, economic and political considerations that it entails. At this point, the emphasis is on what Norris calls disadvantaged communities.As mentioned earlier, these communities lack not merely access but also and more importantly, the necessary skills and the means to participate in the digital world. Ba identifies a number of obstacles in dealing with the digital divide phenomenon/problem. But, as I reckon it, in relation to the issue of access, the two most important obstacles in dealing with the digital divide are the issues of the disadvantaged communities’ not having the skills that are necessary and their lack of the means that are necessary.These two are barriers to technological access. One may thus infer that the issue of access only becomes a legitimate issue because of these two obstacles. Again, it is not merely a matter of providing the communities with a greater access to computers and the Internet by lo wering the cost of the hardware and software that hardware and software companies manufacture and sell in the market nor is it merely a matter of increasing the ratio of computers to students in our schools and other institutions of learning.This will not solve the digital divide. The solution to the problem lies on our capability to the address the needs of the disadvantaged communities. There is a need for intervention, so to speak. The government has a significant role in addressing these needs. However, the government’s intervention will not suffice. There is a need for a multi-sectoral cooperation in addressing the needs of disadvantaged communities. A crucial question comes into the scenario. What needs to be done?As Ba sees it, what is needed is to develop community-based technology programs that will support the needs of disadvantaged communities. Ba writes, â€Å"Community technology access models are often grounded on community needs and encompass multiple goals to strengthen neighborhoods, educate youth, promote economic development, connect individuals to the social and economic life of the community, and increase participation in civil society† (Ba). It is of utmost importance that we first assess the needs of the community so that we may provide the appropriate solutions.Furthermore, it is important that technology programs be based on the needs of disadvantaged communities so that these communities themselves may have the opportunity to identify and thereby, integrate what the vital functions of technology are to them and the opportunities that it can provide for them. Such an integration entails that a disadvantaged community sees the relevance of technology in their lives. It may thus be inferred that for Ba, the digital divide may be addressed by people empowerment.Our concerted efforts must be directed to empowering the disadvantaged sectors of society. How can this be done? People empowerment is made possible through community education. As Ba contends, there is a lot of work to be done especially in â€Å"the areas of learning and teaching with and/or about advanced technologies in informal settings for under-served communities† (Ba). This is one of the main reason why government initiatives and interventions in the past only had a limited success in dealing with the digital divide phenomenon.There indeed are initiatives and interventions but they do not address the problem. They miss the point, so to speak. As Ba notes, state governments attempt to address the digital divide via two government agencies; the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and the Department of Education. The PUC by appealing to telecommunication companies and the likes for universal service and the Department of Education by making provisions for computers in school for those students that do not have access to a computer and the Internet at home.These attempts miss the point because they have been made on the unfounded assumpti on that the digital divide issue is merely an issue of ‘access’ and thus, can be solved by making computers and the Internet more accessible to individuals. But what can these initiatives and interventions accomplish if in the first place, the problem is that individuals from disadvantaged sectors of society lack the necessary skills and the means to be able to access and thereby, utilize technology? The plain truth of the matter is that technology evolves much faster than society can adapt to it.Furthermore, why limit the provisions with the students? Why not youth in general? Why exclude out-of-school youth? This merely shows that the limited success of state initiatives and interventions may be explained by the fact that their assumption is unfounded and that their digital divide programs are not grounded on community needs and thus, ineffective. The digital divide phenomenon/problem is not merely a problem of access. The preceding discussion makes it clear that it i s not a mere matter of identifying â€Å"the have from the have not†.Even this distinction is grounded on further distinctions in terms of the social, economic and the political. These further distinctions albeit different from each other, are very closely interrelated that they all affect changes in the others. Human society is complex. It is not simply a social system. It is also a political system and every political system is also an economic system. The human mind too is complex. There are countless possibilities in terms of scientific and technological advancements. Science and technology evolves too fast.In contrast to science and technology, our societal structures and institutions do not. They do not because there are many other significant things to consider. Perhaps, this is the predicament of our time. Works Cited Ba, Harouna. â€Å"What Is Digital Divide†. August 20 2007. . Norris, Pippa. Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Inter net Worldwide (Communication, Society and Politics). Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Machiavelli and Renaissance Humanism

Renaissance Humanism is defined as â€Å"a literary and linguistic movement-an attempt to revive classical Latin (and later Greek), as well as the values and sensibilities that came with the language† (Hunt et al, 415). I think that Machiavelli was a humanist of his era because in his writing The Prince, he relied on history to provide a handbook to future rulers and princes. Machiavelli drew much of this guidebook from his past dealings with politicians and their self-ambitious monarchies. In my opinion he wrote this guide to as a way to show future princes that the ways of the past should be adhered to in order for Italy to regain its prior glory. In The Prince Machiavelli uses many examples from history to show that we need to embrace the past in order to gain a prosperous future. Machiavelli's, The Prince serves as a handbook to future rulers with their roles and responsibilities. Machiavelli begins his handbook with his view of princely virtues. He argues that in order for a person to be a good leader and stay in rule he must not just be a good person but that â€Å"he must learn how to not be good† (Lawall et al, 1951) in order to protect himself from anyone trying to overtake his rule. He must always be prepared and not make himself the â€Å"good guy† all the time. Machiavelli shows that being a good person all of the time will only allow for the bad people to overpower the good people, â€Å"because anyone who determines to act in all circumstances the part of a good man must come to ruin among so many who are not good† (Lawall et al, 1951). Machiavelli goes on to further his humanistic views on how a prince should be viewed by his people. He discusses the choices a person of power has in being â€Å"liberal† (1952) and generous or stingy. He goes on to say that being too liberal will bring a man of power to ruin and that being frugal is important. He explains that as long as a ruler â€Å"abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects† he will gain the respect of his people. He goes on to discuss that a ruler will be more respected if he is living and spending other people’s money. He discusses the examples set by Cyrus, Caesar, and Alexander in which they lived off â€Å"plunder, loot and ransom† (1953). These three rulers were spending the â€Å"money of others† (1953) and therefore were not hurting themselves by having to spend what was already theirs. Machiavelli goes on to explain that â€Å"nothing eats itself up as fast as does liberality† (1953) because when practiced it can lead to poverty and will make a ruler have to raise taxes which will in turn bring hatred on by his people (1953). Machiavelli also discusses the importance of being feared and loved as well as, being thought of as cruel but compassionate all at the same time. He uses Dido and Borgia as examples. Borgia is used as the example for cruelty. He says that because Borgia was so cruel his cruelness brought prosperity and unity to Romagna and therefore was prosperous because of the fear that he instilled in his people. But because his Senate was too â€Å"compassionate† he lost his clout (1954). Machiavelli also explains that a new prince is going to face several challenges and because of this will be faced to make very hard decisions that may or may not hurt his reputation among his people. Here he uses Virgil’s Dido as an example, â€Å"Hard circumstances and the newness of my realm force me to do such things, and to keep watch over all my lands† (1954). From these examples, Machiavelli is telling his reader that as a prince they must be flexible and show cruelty or compassion when needed in any situation. Machiavelli goes on to state that a prince should â€Å"be slow in believing and acting, and should make no one afraid of him†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦so that â€Å"too much confidence does not make him incautious, and too much suspicion does not make him unbearable† (1954). This is the way to keep support from his people and will not turn their backs on him when the going gets tough. Renaissance Humanism is defined as â€Å"a literary and linguistic movement-an attempt to revive classical Latin (and later Greek), as well as the values and sensibilities that came with the language† (Hunt et al, 415). Machiavelli’s The Prince was essentially a handbook for how a Prince should portray himself but could also be seen as a day to day handbook by the everyday people of his time for they were all faced with the same moral decisions on a daily basis. Machiavelli used The Prince as a gateway to create a moral and philosophical guide for all people in general and uses examples from history to show that the past needs to be embraced in order to gain a prosperous future.

9.Is gambling an irrational form of consumption Essay

9.Is gambling an irrational form of consumption - Essay Example Johnson et al. (1999, p.19) tried to identify the taxation provisions that refer to gambling in UK and came to the conclusion that ‘betting-shop gamblers in the UK face a tax on gambling of 10%, but have the choice of paying the tax either at the time of wager or on any return on a successful bet; more than 18% of bets appear to be placed by gamblers who choose to pay tax on the return.’. The above study focuses on a particular aspect of gambling, the taxation. However, gambling is not only part of the national economy. It is mainly a human activity that needs to be explored as of its reasons. In the literature, gambling has been related with the consumption; it is stated by many theorists and researchers (the relevant views are presented in the sections that follow) that gambling is rather an ‘irrational’ form of consumption. The validity of this assumption will be proved through the analysis that is made in the paragraphs that follow. Gambling should be characterized as the activity of spending money on various types of games that offer the chance of profit (the monetary amount spent in gambling is less from the amount expected to be received). The level of the money spent on gambling and the chances for achieving a specific profit are depended on the terms and the conditions of each game. Through the years, gambling has been expanded in the Internet. Regarding this issue, the study of Brindley (1999, p.281) showed that ‘gambling via interactive technology is already underpinned by two recent changes in consumer behaviour: first, increasing familiarisation with interactive technology and second, by changes in the way the gambling market operates; the synergy between marketing gambling and technology will transform the production and consumption of gambling’. In other words, the characteristics of gambling are expected to be changed continuously following the trends of the

Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Memo - Essay Example However, you also asked me to consider the opinions of the employees at the plant and what they feel about working overtime. We have completed the report that you asked for and this report presents the cost differentials of the two alternatives to increase the production and manufacturing. Moreover the report analyzes both alternatives in detail and also provides recommendations after considering the cost differential as well as the responses of the employees. Summary I have analyzed that the cost per unit of overtime and if the production of additional 150 units per day is increased through overtime then it would cost $388.54 or $2.59/unit. On the other hand, the cost of production for the second shift with additional 150 units per day would be $421.08 or $2.81/unit. Therefore, it shows that the cost of production with overtime is lower if the production is 150 units and Wilderness Toys would be able to save $0.22 per unit or $32.32 for 150 additional units. However it has been foun d that most of employees are not willing to work in the long term but only for the short term. Therefore because of this reason, I would prefer Wilderness Toys to start a second shift rather than asking employees for overtime. Discussion As the demand of new lighted hiking hat has been increasing, therefore there is a need to increase the demand of the product. In order to increase the production and meet the increasing demand, the management of the company has two different alternatives; to start a new production shift or to require its employees to work overtime. The report presents the cost differentials with the two alternatives in producing the new lighted hiking hat. Table 1 shows per unit cost of production of the two alternatives available. Table 1 also shows the differences between the two alternatives and it can be seen that per unit cost difference initially is in negative as per unit overtime cost is less than per unit second shift production cost. Therefore it reveals t hat if the management plans to produce fewer units then it is preferable that they can encourage employees for overtime rather than starting a second shift. Table 1: Per Unit Cost Units  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   OT unit cost  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2nd shift unit cost   Differences 75 2.59 3.49 -0.9 150 2.59 2.81 -0.22 225 2.59 2.58 0.01 300 2.59 2.46 0.13 375 2.59 2.46 0.13 450 2.59 2.46 0.13 525 2.59 2.46 0.13 600 2.59 2.46 0.13 Figure 1 graphically shows the cost per unit of the alternatives and it can be seen that the cost per unit of second shift at 75 units is very high in comparison to per unit cost of overtime. However per unit cost of second shift has been decreasing as the production is increasing and it is visible. As the production increase, per unit cost of second shift would decrease whereas the cost per unit of overtime would remain the same irrespective of the production. Figure 1: Cost Per Unit Figure 2 shows the cost differential between the two alternatives and it can be identified from the Figure 2 that the difference is in negative initially thus, showing that per unit cost of overtime is less than the per unit cost of second shift. However, as the production

History of Twitter write a well researched paper on the evolution, Research

History of Twitter write a well researched on the evolution, current status and future trends for the New Media topic you have selected - Research Paper Example Barely into its fifth year, Twitter registered users are already currently estimated to be in the hundreds of millions and its revenues to be in the billions of dollars. Indeed, Twitter is a successful story worth telling and following. In 2006, a software engineer named Jack Dorsey approached Odeo, a media syndication company, to discuss his ideas of creating a â€Å"real-time status-communication platform with a social spin† where one could share and simply broadcast to others just about anything from gossip to simple thoughts. Biz Stone, the founder of Odeo, liked the idea and Dorsey’s proposal was declared as a side project of Odeo. It was decided that the SMS platform of mobile phones would be ideally suited for the project and a maximum of 140 characters, short of the 160 characters-limit of SMS text messaging, should be used as the broadcast limit (Thomases, p. x; Sagolla, p. xvii). Dorsey’s idea was a breath of fresh air to Odeo, which was at that time having a difficult time selling its latest technology Audio Blogger to users because of the stiff competition posed by such heavyweights as Apple Corp. The company decided it had to reinvent itself and Dorsey’s social networking microblogging idea was seen as an opportunity after it was presented in a day-long brainstorming of Odeo technocrats. Dorsey, Biz and Florian Weber went on to hammer out the prototype model of Dorsey’s proposal while the others continued with the usual company business to make sure that if Dorsey’s idea fails the company has something to fall back on (Sagolla p. xviii). The prototype was built in two weeks and the service was first tested by Odeo personnel and other insiders such as their immediate family members. It was entirely web-based and the first messages, which were broadcasted by Dorsey, were â€Å"waiting for dom to update