Sunday, January 26, 2020

Difference Between Telecommunication and Mass Media

Difference Between Telecommunication and Mass Media What are the main differences between telecommunications (point-to-point) and mass media (one-to-many)? Compare the two using examples. Telecommunications and mass media are distinguished from one another by a variety of technical, infrastructural, and interactive differences. This essay will, broadly, outline and describe these differences. One of the first points to make, however, is that both forms have their own prehistories and heritage in earlier forms of communication. While â€Å"telecommunications† (point-to-point) and â€Å"mass media† (one-to-many) are defined conventionally and in the contemporary world by telephones and the internet (for example), they also have earlier forms and precedents. Telecommunications emerged properly from early telegraph networks, which, in anticipation of later more global systems, were constituted by a network of nodes (towers), which enabled the sending and receiving (and thus coding and decoding) of messages and information. Similarly, mass media has its own heritage in almost any form of communicated information that had a potentially anonymous and spatially distributed audience; the printing press of the 16th century enabled the steady reproduction of the printed word through block cutting and, latter, movable type. These technologies allowed for the production and dissemination of the first newspapers, broadsides and pamphlets – documents will constitute the first â€Å"mass† conversations of literate society in the early modern period. Broadly speaking, telecommunications are then defined by a number of technical as well as infrastructural or procedural differences. Firstly, they allow for the narrowly focused communication between two locations or persons – in other words, they have focus and, at least in theory, secrecy. Secondly, telecommunications allow for the sending of the message without the physical presence of a message. Because the technology relies on a form of encoding or compression, a translation from a set of words or ideas into a transmittable data stream – such as light, waves or electricity – they do not require the automatic transcription of the message itself. The early optical telegraph required direct line-of-sight to enable this transmission, and for an informed person to be present, in view, in order to decode and reassemble the message from its parts (flashes of light, mechanical patterns, etc). The printing press Thirdly, telecommunications are interactive in so far as they enable a reply to be sent along the same channel, directly from sender to receiver. In this sense, their emphasis is on passing information, but also on receiving a response to that transmission. Over time, however, the spatial notion behind telecommunications has shifted; whereas early forms – such as optical telecommunications – required line of sight over short distances, modern forms, from visible light, waves, and electricity, do not require line of sight, and do not require close spatial proximity. This is a function of the expansion in the infrastructure of telecommunications globally; a telephone call is transmitted and received to a number of mediating nodes – and passed on – before it reaches its target. As such, especially in the modern period, the point-to-point nature and process of telecommunications has become its most important definition. In its earliest ramifications, though, t his could also have a â€Å"public† dimension ; the fire flare chain used to signal the arrival of the Spanish Armada was both a point-to-point transmission (from the signaller to the navy headquarters), but also a public signal – the meaning of the flares was well understood by those who saw it in 1588. Optical beacon; both â€Å"point-to-point† and â€Å"public† Mass media is broadly defined as â€Å"one-to-many† communication. Such a definition, while useful, has its drawbacks and limitations. Namely, that â€Å"media† has different connotations and structures of transmission than the process of broadcasting itself (McQuail, 2010). Whereas a newspaper would be defined as â€Å"media†, it is the process of distribution and receipt that constitute its â€Å"mass† or â€Å"broadcast† element. Furthermore, in the modern sense there is an attachment to the idea of â€Å"mass media† as â€Å"effective, or even affective, media† as a transmission in which the â€Å"many† are actively engaged with and responsive to the â€Å"one†. Broadly speaking, however, mass media is defined by the transmission of information from one point to many potential points. Importantly, however, it does not have to be received; a television can be switched on or off, receiving only parts or elements of a message, without interrupting the primary transmission itself, which is continuous. The same applies for radio communication, which can be broadcast technically and successfully without any receivers picking the message up (such as a radio wave distress call, or the Morse code that was used to signal the sinking of the titanic in 1911). Secondly, point-to-mass communication is public; that is, its message is not intended for a specific individual or location, but for a potentially infinite number of individuals. While telecommunications are used to share private or even secret information (from a personal phone call to a national secret), mass media is characterised by its publicity. While it does not have to be â€Å"received† however, in order to work technically, it still requires receipt and response in order to justify its initial broadcasting. If radio stations or Television Networks had no audience, the financial rationale for their existence would be lost. In this sense, it is much more fluid in terms of content than telecommunications. The third and final distinction of point-to-mass communication from telecommunications is the fact that it is one way. While the networks and nodes of telecommunications infrastructure are set up in such a way that direct interaction is possible, mediums such as TV or radio do not require interaction – they are not targeted at a specific individual. However, mass media is different again from telecommunications in its social implications ; while the telegraph had the social and economic effect of enabling wider trading networks, of influencing diplomacy, and of – at least partially – connecting otherwise distant areas, mass media has an accumulative and far wider social impact. The printing press was linked with the protestant reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries, with the rise of universities, and with the spread of literacy. These had implications not only for culture, but for social relationships and interactions (Isaac and McKay, 2000, 10). Scholars, such as Joshua Meyrowitz, have suggested that such transformations in social life also have psychological implications, where television in the course of the 20th century had a role in enabling people to relate in new, â€Å"placeless† ways. This is aligned with the argument of Benedict Arnold who, in his Imagined Communities, showed how mass media is implicated in the â€Å"imaginations† of national and other identities, where â€Å"it [the nation] is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship† an â€Å"imagined community† that is interlinked through shared, mass media experiences and identities (2006, 7). However, because of this one-way or unidirectional technique, mass communication is open to greater fluctuations in responses. As blah argues in a cultural history of radio, there have been times when it was both the primary device for popular entertainment in the home, but also a time when it was not responded to at all (2002, 2-3). Such transformations have a greater effect on the kinds of information transmitted on these media; while it was once characterised by popular, talk entertainment, radio is increasingly a site for music, with talk entertainment having been taken over by audio-visual broadcasts on digital TV, and through audio-visual mass communication on the internet. At the same time, this technology, because of its fluctuations and its impacts, has been a site for greater anxiety than telecommunications; numerous theories of â€Å"media injection† have linked mass media with violent behaviour (such as shootings and â€Å"copycat† killings, such as the rece nt Batman cinema shootings in America). This anxiety stems from the concern over who controls and therefore authorises mass communication, and thus of how it implies a less visible â€Å"systems of oppression† than telecommunications (where personal, emotional lenses are used to internet messages and information received) (Peterson, 2005, 105). It is interesting than that, with the recent Snowden/NSA/GCHQ revelations, that telecommunications has been implicated in the same anxieties that used to structure television and mass media (Gauntlett and Hill, 1999, 72). The internet, however, offers a technology where the main distinctions between telecommunications and mass communication break down and interact. Media such as Twitter, a social networking and interactive tool, are both mass media and telecommunications in their infrastructure and technique ; a â€Å"tweet†, or message, can be broadcast to a posters followers (from 0 to millions), while there is also a channel for responding directly – the reply. Similarly, channels such as YouTube allow for individuals to post video content to a mass audience, but also have the feature that enable the viewer to comment and respond. Importantly, however, these responses are not private, but also public; they therefore become part of the public sphere while also being, in a sense, â€Å"point-to-point†. This essay has defined telecommunications (point-to-point) and mass media (point-to-many), and has also described their primary differences. Furthermore, it has outlined, however briefly, the kinds of implications these differences have. In the final section of the essay, it was argued that new and emergent forms of mass communication are unique in so far as they combine aspects of both techniques of communication. Bibliography Anderson, B (2006) Imagined Communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso Gauntlett, D and Hill, A (1999) TV Living: television, culture and everyday life. London: Routledge Hilmes, M and Loviglio, J (2002) Radio Reader: essays in the cultural history of radio. Psychology Press Isaac, P and McKay, B (2000) The Mighty Engine: the printing press and its impact. Oak Knoll Press McQuail, D (2010) McQuails Mass Communication Theory (Sixth Edition). SAGE Peterson, M (2005) Anthropology Mass Communication: media and myth in the new millennium. Berghahn Books 1

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Organizational culture Essay

Organizational culture is defined as the shared values and beliefs within an organization (Wilkes, 2000). The culture also comprises of the norms and beliefs and is thus an in build system within an organization (Wilkes, 2000). Thus organizational culture is specific to an organization and it defines the relationship and the nature of the interaction between members of an organization and is influential on the nature of the relationship with outsiders (Wilkes, 2000). The culture is also definitive of the goals that are set for each member of the organization and is seen to go in line with thee vision of the organization. From the clear definition, goals, guidelines or expectations are developed; these constitute the norms. The management may try to instill some kind of a culture on its employees, this type of culture is thus described as corporate culture and is more specific (Wilkes, 2000). The classification of culture takes on diverse dimensions and therefore the analysis of the effects must also take on the same trend. The following are some of the factors that are used in classification of organizational culture: ? The expected differences in power levels. ? The extent to which the organizations members are willing to take risks. ? The level of collectivism or individualism in an organization. ? Gender aspects. ? Orientation, which can either be short or long term. Any strategy that an organization comes up with must be within the organizational setting and thus be relevant to the organization culture. A clash between the strategies and the organizational culture will lead to the flop of any program, therefore all organizations must ensure that their development plans are in line with the culture, failure to which the implementation will be a flop. Support for the policies After the analysis of needs, resources and uniqueness, there is an additional factor that must be considered in coming up with a decision; support. The organizational support to the mode chosen is very critical in the determination of the success of the mode of choice in meeting the needs of the organization. This is because it affect how members of the organization receive the decision. Support can be categories into three: ? Upper level support ? Like/ Colleague level ? End user support Management The reasons for support by upper management staff and executives is quite clear. The main reason for their support is the power they posses in the implementation of the plan especially in resource allocation and policy formulation (Woodruff, 2005). Moreover, the obvious nature of the need to influence the top executives often lead to concentration on them and thus ignoring the other members. Organizations must ensure that such occurrence are minimized and if possible eliminated as they can cause failure of well intentioned plans. Colleagues This group is made up of all those that the organization have to interact with in their daily undertaking (Woodruff, 2005). The importance of this group lies in counteracting the power that the organizations executives have on the decision making process. The support of the members of the organizations operational environment plays a very important role in influencing the decision. Therefore, enlightening the colleagues on the importance of Automated office systems support will go in line with drumming up support for the implementation of the approach of choice. In addition, enlightening the colleagues to understand the implementation of the plan, which it is meant for and the effect of its implementation on their jobs will go a long way in influencing their support. End Users Even though they have the power to influence the success of a plan, the end user are often ignored in lobbying for support (Woodruff, 2005). The end users have the power to render the plan a failure by deciding not to use the product, which will have the effect of changing the attitude of the colleagues and the management executives on the effectiveness and efficiency of the adopted Automated office systems support acquirement mechanism. Moreover, the sabotage need not be intentional; the failure of the system may be due to their lack of understanding of why the product is necessary or as a show of their lack of support of the governance model adopted. Furthermore, the products failure in meeting the needs of the end user could lead to failure and thus the importance of the end user in deciding on whether to buy or build Automated office systems support can never be downplayed.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Another look into JS Mill’s subjection of women Essay

This paper intends to answer the question, â€Å"Why does Mill find it unlikely that women will join together to rebel against men? † through an attempt to identify three of his reasons. In addition to the aforementioned, this paper will provide examples to illustrate why the aforementioned reasons are still true today. Reasons Why Women Do Not Go Against Men John Stuart Mill finds it â€Å"unlikely that women join together to rebel against men† (Mill n. p. ). He has several reasons for this and three of these are the following: First of all is because of â€Å"the natural attraction between opposite sexes† (Mill n. p. ). Explaining further, women will not merge to revolt against men because loving men comes naturally to women (Mill n. p. ). The women also sympathize with what men need, for instance the men want a â€Å"woman most nearly connected with him, not a forced slave but a willing one† (Mill n. p. ). Women are most likely to love men instead of grouping themselves together and rebel because they know this is want men truly desire and women naturally want to help men satisfy such goal (Mill n.p. ). Thus, love prohibited the women to go against men (Mill n. p. ). Second is because of â€Å"the wife’s entire dependence on the husband, every privilege or pleasure she has being either his gift, or depending entirely on his will† (Mill n. p. ). Explaining further, it is â€Å"unlikely that women will join together to rebel against men† because women think that they owe their lives to the men (Mill n. p. ). This is partly because they were not provided with an education that may let them do things that typically only men can carry out (Mill n. p. ). This lack of education only let them take care of the men or serve them and because of these, they were convinced that it is only moral such is a â€Å"moral duty of women† (Mill n. p. ). Eventually, this also led women to submit to men and to yield to the control of other people (Mill n. p. ). Thus, this kind of belief/mentality prevented women to revolt against me (Mill n. p. ). Last but not least is because â€Å"the principal object of human pursuit, consideration, and all objects of social ambition, can in general be sought or obtained by her only through him† (Mill n.p. ). This is because a woman tends to believe she cannot attain goals on her own (Mill n. p. ). Again, there are several factors for this: first of all back then women were not given the chance to obtain education; second, they were made to believe that it is their duty to serve men; third, they lack self-esteem because of the first two factors aforementioned and so they feel they will never be able to make it on their own and so they have to depend on men all the time (Mill n.p. ). Thus, this kind of principle (or lack thereof) hampered women to rebel against men (Mill n. p. ). Examples Illustrating Why It Still Occurs Today Unfortunately, the aforementioned reasons why women do not go against men even if they have to still exist today. Take for instance the following: There are several cases wherein the woman refuses to file a complaint against a man because she does not want him punished/hurt because she loves her deeply. This occurs from then ‘til now because of the woman’s natural attraction for a man (Mill n. p. ). Also, up to now there are still cultures or countries that encourage women to serve the men instead of going to work or having a career of their own or going to school to get an education. This occurs from then ‘til now because of the wrong belief that it is the â€Å"women’s moral duty to serve men† (Mill n. p. ). Works Cited Mill, John Stuart. The Subjection of Women. 1869. n. a. 31 October 2008. http://www. constitution. org/jsm/women. htm.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Goldman s Critique Of Medical Paternalism - 882 Words

Goldman’s critique of medical paternalism demonstrates the right for patient autonomy and decision to choose a treatment best suited to their needs and interests. Initially, physicians would not announce any form of cancer to their patients, as it was believed to result in physiological distress. Luckily, medical paternalism continues to be rejected in medical situations; the topics of outcomes research, scientific evidence, and court decisions help correct patient decisions on the best treatment. Goldman based his beliefs on the fact that all doctors have knowledge of treatments; however in American society, not all physicians follow the same practice or know of every solution to a patient’s illness. In John Wennberg’s reading, Wennberg criticizes the irrationalities in the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) and comprises it in two key points: the weakness of poorly tested medical theories and a physician’s preference of treatment and position dominating over the choice of a patient (1, Wennberg, CC 2015 p. 21). Wennberg developed the idea of outcomes research, which is the results of research in the health care system based on patients and population. Urologists were interviewed in different locations of Maine based on the different practices on prostate disease. Some physicians recommended men to receive surgery earlier in order to improve health and to have a longer lifespan. Result showed that this practice was not only an untested hyp othesis, but it