Importance of the Journey in James Joyce’s Dubliners Essays -- James J

Importance of the Journey in James Joyce’s Dubliners "In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs." Sir John Pentland Mahaffy describes Ireland in a way comparable to James Joyce’s depiction of Ireland in his book Dubliners. Joyce wrote his book of short stories to show how he viewed Dublin and its inhabitants. Joyce did not have positive memories of Dublin and his book casts a negative image upon almost all of Dublin. In Dubliners, James Joyce uses characters and their journeys through society to give his perception of Dublin. In Joyce’s stories with journeys there are many unknown elements to the characters and often their original goals are not accomplished. One story where a character goes on a journey through society is in â€Å"An Encounter.† In the story a group of boys hear of a place called the â€Å"Pigeon House.† Two boys decide to skip school and go on a journey for the house that they heard about from their friends. There are many unknowns for the boys. The boys have some idea where they are going but they do not know the path well at all. They say â€Å"We arranged to go along Wharf Road until we came to the ships, then to cross in the ferryboat and walk out to see the Pigeon House† (13). Joyce’s perception of people planning to go on a journey and not really knowing what they are about to experience shows Joyce’s perception of some people in Dublin. He shows that some in Dublin will go on some aimless journeys with no real sense of direction to gain n othing but experience some sort of adventure. Another unknown element of the journey is the people that the boys come in contact with, specifically an old man that they meet in a field. The old man has an erratic personality and scares the y... ...e that completes what he sets out to do. Only that character dies. It seems that if Michael was the representation of the small successful portion of Dublin, and he dies. This is the first story where one of the prominent characters dies in the story. Michael’s death makes the other living characters around him to seem even more inferior. This journey story is different than most others in the book yet its ending ties up all the other stories. James Joyce uses individuals and their journey through society to give his perception of Dublin. The journeys that take place in Dubliners have many different aspects but all seem to give the same portrayal of the people of Dublin. From what the characters set out to do to the unknown elements that they experienced and the people that they met along the way, all of Joyce’s stories give insight to Dublin and its inhabitants.

Living in a Dormitory or Living in an Apartment

Living in a dormitory or living in an apartment Education plays an importan role in students' life. That is, the future success of individuals is based on the type and quality of education they receive. Especially, university education determines one' s future and quality of life. For this reason, students try to seek better education opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills. While some students attend universities in the city they live in, others may have to move to other cities and live in a dormitory or an apartment.Although living on campus in a dormitory and living off campus in an apartment resemble each other in terms of school work, they have major differences when it comes to freedom and transportation. Living in a dormitory and living in an apartment are alike in one important respect, which is school work. Not only the students living in a dormitory but also those living in an apartment have classes to attend an exams to take. Furthermore, both the students livi ng in a dormitory and those living in an apartment need to study hard, do homework and hand in their assignments.Therefore, students living in a dormitory and those living in an apartment are similar to each other because they both share similar responsibilities related to school work. Despite being alike in school work, the students living in a dormitory and those living in an apartment have to significant differences as far as freedom and transportation are concerned. One important difference is freedom. The students living on campus in a dormitory have to follow dormitory rules.For example, they have to sign-in and sign-out when leaving and returning to the dormitory. Also, they cannot leave the dorm; tory after a certain hour at night. Furthermore, over- night leave is only permitted with parents' approval. As a result, the students living in a dormitory have limited freedom. In comparison, the students living in an apartmant do not have any rules to follow. Indeed, they are fre e to leave or come back to their apartment whenever they want. They may ever choose to stay overnight at their friend' s house.Another different between students living on campus in a dormitory and those living off campus in an apartment is transportation. The students living in a dormitory do not need to use any means of transport simply because they live on campus. This because the school is usually within walking distance of their dormitory. By comparison, the students living in an apartment may have to use public transport such as buses and the subway or drive their own car in order to commute to school.It is clear that although living in a dormitory and living in an apartment are similar to each other in terms of school work, these two types of accomodation differ greatly in terms of freedom and transportation. While the former seems to offer a limited freedom, the latter provides greater freedom to students. However, when it comes to transportation, the students living in a do rmitory seem to have the upper hand. That is why students should think very carefully before choosing which type of accomodation to prefer.

Digital Fortress Chapter 50-54

Chapter 50 Only yards from TRANSLTR's hull, Phil Chartrukian stood over a patch of white lettering on the Crypto floor. CRYPTO SUBLEVELS AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY He knew he was definitely not authorized personnel. He shot a quick glance up at Strathmore's office. The curtains were still pulled. Chartrukian had seen Susan Fletcher go into the bathrooms, so he knew she wasn't a problem. The only other question was Hale. He glanced toward Node 3, wondering if the cryptographer were watching. â€Å"Fuck it,† he grumbled. Below his feet the outline of a recessed trapdoor was barely visible in the floor. Chartrukian palmed the key he'd just taken from the Sys-Sec lab. He knelt down, inserted the key in the floor, and turned. The bolt beneath clicked. Then he unscrewed the large external butterfly latch and freed the door. Checking once again over his shoulder, he squatted down and pulled. The panel was small, only three feet by three feet, but it was heavy. When it finally opened, the Sys-Sec stumbled back. A blast of hot air hit him in the face. It carried with it the sharp bite of freon gas. Billows of steam swirled out of the opening, illuminated by the red utility lighting below. The distant hum of the generators became a rumble. Chartrukian stood up and peered into the opening. It looked more like the gateway to hell than a service entrance for a computer. A narrow ladder led to a platform under the floor. Beyond that, there were stairs, but all he could see was swirling red mist. Greg Hale stood behind the one-way glass of Node 3. He watched as Phil Chartrukian eased himself down the ladder toward the sublevels. From where Hale was standing, the Sys-Sec's head appeared to have been severed from his body and left out on the Crypto floor. Then, slowly, it sank into the swirling mist. â€Å"Gutsy move,† Hale muttered. He knew where Chartrukian was headed. An emergency manual abort of TRANSLTR was a logical action if he thought the computer had a virus. Unfortunately, it was also a sure way to have Crypto crawling with Sys-Secs in about ten minutes. Emergency actions raised alert flags at the main switchboard. A Sys-Sec investigation of Crypto was something Hale could not afford. Hale left Node 3 and headed for the trapdoor. Chartrukian had to be stopped. Chapter 51 Jabba resembled a giant tadpole. Like the cinematic creature for whom he was nicknamed, the man was a hairless spheroid. As resident guardian angel of all NSA computer systems, Jabba marched from department to department, tweaking, soldering, and reaffirming his credo that prevention was the best medicine. No NSA computer had ever been infected under Jabba's reign; he intended to keep it that way. Jabba's home base was a raised workstation overlooking the NSA's underground, ultra-secret databank. It was there that a virus would do the most damage and there that he spent the majority of his time. At the moment, however, Jabba was taking a break and enjoying pepperoni calzones in the NSA's all-night commissary. He was about to dig into his third when his cellular phone rang. â€Å"Go,† he said, coughing as he swallowed a mouthful. â€Å"Jabba,† a woman's voice cooed. â€Å"It's Midge.† â€Å"Data Queen!† the huge man gushed. He'd always had a soft spot for Midge Milken. She was sharp, and she was also the only woman Jabba had ever met who flirted with him. â€Å"How the hell are you?† â€Å"No complaints.† Jabba wiped his mouth. â€Å"You on site?† â€Å"Yup.† â€Å"Care to join me for a calzone?† â€Å"Love to Jabba, but I'm watching these hips.† â€Å"Really?† He snickered. â€Å"Mind if I join you?† â€Å"You're bad.† â€Å"You have no idea†¦.† â€Å"Glad I caught you in,† she said. â€Å"I need some advice.† He took a long swallow of Dr Pepper. â€Å"Shoot.† â€Å"It might be nothing,† Midge said, â€Å"but my Crypto stats turned up something odd. I was hoping you could shed some light.† â€Å"What ya got?† He took another sip. â€Å"I've got a report saying TRANSLTR's been running the same file for eighteen hours and hasn't cracked it.† Jabba sprayed Dr Pepper all over his calzone. â€Å"You what?† â€Å"Any ideas?† He dabbed at his calzone with a napkin. â€Å"What report is this?† â€Å"Production report. Basic cost analysis stuff.† Midge quickly explained what she and Brinkerhoff had found. â€Å"Have you called Strathmore?† â€Å"Yes. He said everything's fine in Crypto. Said TRANSLTR's running full speed ahead. Said our data's wrong.† Jabba furrowed his bulbous forehead. â€Å"So what's the problem? Your report glitched.† Midge did not respond. Jabba caught her drift. He frowned. â€Å"You don't think your report glitched?† â€Å"Correct.† â€Å"So you think Strathmore's lying?† â€Å"It's not that,† Midge said diplomatically, knowing she was on fragile ground. â€Å"It's just that my stats have never been wrong in the past. I thought I'd get a second opinion.† â€Å"Well,† Jabba said, â€Å"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but your data's fried.† â€Å"You think so?† â€Å"I'd bet my job on it.† Jabba took a big bite of soggy calzone and spoke with his mouth full. â€Å"Longest a file has ever lasted inside TRANSLTR is three hours. That includes diagnostics, boundary probes, everything. Only thing that could lock it down for eighteen hours would have to be viral. Nothing else could do it.† â€Å"Viral?† â€Å"Yeah, some kind of redundant cycle. Something that got into the processors, created a loop, and basically gummed up the works.† â€Å"Well,† she ventured, â€Å"Strathmore's been in Crypto for about thirty-six hours straight. Any chance he's fighting a virus?† Jabba laughed. â€Å"Strathmore's been in there for thirty-six hours? Poor bastard. His wife probably said he can't come home. I hear she's bagging his ass.† Midge thought a moment. She'd heard that too. She wondered if maybe she was being paranoid. â€Å"Midge.† Jabba wheezed and took another long drink. â€Å"If Strathmore's toy had a virus, he would have called me. Strathmore's sharp, but he doesn't know shit about viruses. TRANSLTR's all he's got. First sign of trouble, he would have pressed the panic button-and around here, that means me.† Jabba sucked in a long strand of mozzarella. â€Å"Besides, there's no way in hell TRANSLTR has a virus. Gauntlet's the best set of package filters I've ever written. Nothing gets through.† After a long silence, Midge sighed. â€Å"Any other thoughts?† â€Å"Yup. Your data's fried.† â€Å"You already said that.† â€Å"Exactly.† She frowned. â€Å"You haven't caught wind of anything? Anything at all?† Jabba laughed harshly. â€Å"Midge†¦ listen up. Skipjack sucked. Strathmore blew it. But move on-it's over.† There was a long silence on the line, and Jabba realized he'd gone too far. â€Å"Sorry, Midge. I know you took heat over that whole mess. Strathmore was wrong. I know how you feel about him.† â€Å"This has nothing to do with Skipjack,† she said firmly. Yeah, sure, Jabba thought. â€Å"Listen, Midge, I don't have feelings for Strathmore one way or another. I mean, the guy's a cryptographer. They're basically all self-centered assholes. They need their data yesterday. Every damn file is the one that could save the world.† â€Å"So what are you saying?† Jabba sighed. â€Å"I'm saying Strathmore's a psycho like the rest of them. But I'm also saying he loves TRANSLTR more than his own goddamn wife. If there were a problem, he would have called me.† Midge was quiet a long time. Finally she let out a reluctant sigh. â€Å"So you're saying my data's fried?† Jabba chuckled. â€Å"Is there an echo in here?† She laughed. â€Å"Look, Midge. Drop me a work order. I'll be up on Monday to double-check your machine. In the meantime, get the hell out of here. It's Saturday night. Go get yourself laid or something.† She sighed. â€Å"I'm trying, Jabba. Believe me, I'm trying.† Chapter 52 Club Embrujo-â€Å"Warlock† in English-was situated in the suburbs at the end of the number 27 bus line. Looking more like a fortification than a dance club, it was surrounded on all sides by high stucco walls into which were embedded shards of shattered beer bottles-a crude security system preventing anyone from entering illegally without leaving behind a good portion of flesh. During the ride, Becker had resolved himself to the fact that he'd failed. It was time to call Strathmore with the bad news-the search was hopeless. He had done the best he could; now it was time to go home. But now, gazing out at the mob of patrons pushing their way through the club's entrance, Becker was not so sure his conscience would allow him to give up the search. He was staring at the biggest crowd of punks he'd ever seen; there were coiffures of red, white, and blue everywhere. Becker sighed, weighing his options. He scanned the crowd and shrugged. Where else would she be on a Saturday night? Cursing his good fortune, Becker climbed off the bus. The access to Club Embrujo was a narrow stone corridor. As Becker entered he immediately felt himself caught up in the inward surge of eager patrons. â€Å"Outta my way, faggot!† A human pincushion pawed past him, giving Becker an elbow in the side. â€Å"Nice tie.† Someone gave Becker's necktie a hard yank. â€Å"Wanna fuck?† A teenage girl stared up at him looking like something out of Dawn of the Dead. The darkness of the corridor spilled out into a huge cement chamber that reeked of alcohol and body odor. The scene was surreal-a deep mountain grotto in which hundreds of bodies moved as one. They surged up and down, hands pressed firmly to their sides, heads bobbing like lifeless bulbs on top of rigid spines. Crazed souls took running dives off a stage and landed on a sea of human limbs. Bodies were passed back and forth like human beach balls. Overhead, the pulsating strobes gave the whole thing the look of an old, silent movie. On the far wall, speakers the size of minivans shook so deeply that not even the most dedicated dancers could get closer than thirty feet from the pounding woofers. Becker plugged his ears and searched the crowd. Everywhere he looked was another red, white, and blue head. The bodies were packed so closely together that he couldn't see what they were wearing. He saw no hint of a British flag anywhere. It was obvious he'd never be able to enter the crowd without getting trampled. Someone nearby started vomiting. Lovely. Becker groaned. He moved off down a spray-painted hallway. The hall turned into a narrow mirrored tunnel, which opened to an outdoor patio scattered with tables and chairs. The patio was crowded with punk rockers, but to Becker it was like the gateway to Shangri-La-the summer sky opened up above him and the music faded away. Ignoring the curious stares, Becker walked out into the crowd. He loosened his tie and collapsed into a chair at the nearest unoccupied table. It seemed like a lifetime since Strathmore's early-morning call. After clearing the empty beer bottles from his table, Becker laid his head in his hands. Just for a few minutes, he thought. Five miles away, the man in wire-rim glasses sat in the back of a Fiat taxi as it raced headlong down a country road. â€Å"Embrujo,† he grunted, reminding the driver of their destination. The driver nodded, eyeing his curious new fare in the rearview mirror. â€Å"Embrujo,† he grumbled to himself. â€Å"Weirder crowd every night.† Chapter 53 Tokugen Numataka lay naked on the massage table in his penthouse office. His personal masseuse worked out the kinks in his neck. She ground her palms into the fleshy pockets surrounding his shoulder blades, slowly working her way down to the towel covering his backside. Her hands slipped lower†¦ beneath his towel. Numataka barely noticed. His mind was elsewhere. He had been waiting for his private line to ring. It had not. There was a knock at the door. â€Å"Enter,† Numataka grunted. The masseuse quickly pulled her hands from beneath the towel. The switchboard operator entered and bowed. â€Å"Honored chairman?† â€Å"Speak.† The operator bowed a second time. â€Å"I spoke to the phone exchange. The call originated from country code 1-the United States.† Numataka nodded. This was good news. The call came from the States. He smiled. It was genuine. â€Å"Where in the U.S.?† he demanded. â€Å"They're working on it, sir.† â€Å"Very well. Tell me when you have more.† The operator bowed again and left. Numataka felt his muscles relax. Country code 1. Good news indeed. Chapter 54 Susan Fletcher paced impatiently in the Crypto bathroom and counted slowly to fifty. Her head was throbbing. Just a little longer, she told herself. Hale is North Dakota! Susan wondered what Hale's plans were. Would he announce the pass-key? Would he be greedy and try to sell the algorithm? Susan couldn't bear to wait any longer. It was time. She had to get to Strathmore. Cautiously she cracked the door and peered out at the reflective wall on the far side of Crypto. There was no way to know if Hale was still watching. She'd have to move quickly to Strathmore's office. Not too quickly, of course-she could not let Hale suspect she was on to him. She reached for the door and was about to pull it open when she heard something. Voices. Men's voices. The voices were coming through the ventilation shaft near the floor. She released the door and moved toward the vent. The words were muffled by the dull hum of the generators below. The conversation sounded like it was coming up from the sublevel catwalks. One voice was shrill, angry. It sounded like Phil Chartrukian. â€Å"You don't believe me?† The sound of more arguing rose. â€Å"We have a virus!† Then the sound of harsh yelling. â€Å"We need to call Jabba!† Then there were sounds of a struggle. â€Å"Let me go!† The noise that followed was barely human. It was a long wailing cry of horror, like a tortured animal about to die. Susan froze beside the vent. The noise ended as abruptly as it had begun. Then there was a silence. An instant later, as if choreographed for some cheap horror matinee, the lights in the bathroom slowly dimmed. Then they flickered and went out. Susan Fletcher found herself standing in total blackness.

Economic Implications on Social Media Essay

The developments in the information technology sector have led to facilitation in information sharing across the globe in what has been referred to as social media. The internet has brought many changes in the way individuals across the world interact. Through the use of social media, individuals are able to exchange photographs, videos, post their thoughts on blogs and take part in discussions that takes lace online. Social media allows the people, organizations, companies and governments to be able to reach large numbers of people with a lot of ease. This paper shall give an overview of how the social media has impacted on the economic domain of development in the society by analyzing both the positive and the negative impacts. Social Media: Social media refers to the various internet based and mobile services which allows the user to take part in online exchanges, contributing user-created content and being able to join the online community. It also refers to the tools and technologies that enable an online interaction, networking, sharing and collaboration. There are various services internet services that are usually associated with social media which includes blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, social network sites, status updates services, virtual word content and media sharing site (Dewing, 2010). Blogs is a short form of ‘web log’ which can be described as an online journal in which pages are put on view in an overturned chronological order. The blogs can be hosted for free on various websites including WordPress and Blogger among others. Wikis on the other hand refers to collective websites in which anyone participating can modify the pages or create their new pages using a Web browser. A good example of a wiki is the Wikipedia which is a free online encyclopedia that utilizes the wiki technology. Social bookmarking sites are those sites which allow the users to share and organize links to websites for instance the Delicious, Digg, and Reddit. Social network sites are the web-based services which enables the individuals to build a public or semi-public profile in a delimited system. The individuals are also able to articulate a list of other users whom they share connection thus being able to navigate through and view their list of connections and those of others in the system. Such sites include Facebook, MySpace, and Windows Live Spaces amongst others (Dewing, 2010). Status-update services are also referred to as micro-blogging services are more like social network sites but they allow individuals to share short updates and also be able to view updates from others. A good example is the twitter services. Virtual world content on the other hand offers a game-like virtual environment for the users to interact. A good example of this would be the imaginary world that is created in Second Life whereby users can create avatars to interact with each other. Avatars are the virtual representations of the users. Media–sharing sites are those which enable the users to post videos or photographs for instance the You Tube and Flickr. It must be noted that some of these categories do overlap for instance twitter can be regarded as both a social network site as well as a stats update service (Dewing, 2010). Social media is capable of affecting the manner in which individuals interact online. Social media is known to open up new ways for cooperation and dialogue in today’s world. Most of the content posted in social media may remain there permanently at least by default. The content may also be accessible, replicable, and searchable. Social media can therefore be used anywhere, and at any moment provided that there is internet connectivity in the area. Such factors are responsible for shaping of the dynamics of the social media. The fact that the players in the social media are usually invisible raises various questions regarding the framework, correctness and unambiguousness regarding the communication. The identity and motives of those who post contents in the social media are not always clear (Dewing, 2010). Evolution of Social Media: The internet became popular in the last two decades and web sites which allowed individuals to create and upload content started appearing with the first network site said to have appeared in 1997 for the first time. The first social network site to be launched was called ‘SixDegrees. com’ and it was followed soon by many others at the turn of the millennium. In 2002, there was an upsurge in the number of social network sites with some surging to popularity only to fade in a little while such as the Friendstar. However, others were able to develop niche communities for instance MySpace appealed to adolescent music enthusiasts (Dewing, 2010). Towards the end of the first decade of the second millennium, social media was widely accepted, for instance; by the year 2009, Facebook made the announcement that its users were well over 350 million worldwide (Dewing, 2010). There are a number of factors that have led to a surge in the social media participation which include technological factors, social factors and economic factors. Technological factors include things such as readily available broadband, improvement in software tools, and the development of more powerful computer and mobile services. Social factors on the other hand include the rapid uptake of social media by the young generation while the economic factors include the growth in commercial interests in the social media sites and affordability of computers and related software (Dewing, 2010). Impacts of Social Media: Since the widespread usage of social media is a recent phenomenon, social and economic implications can only be barely understood. Some quarters hold the belief that social media is causing isolation amongst the people whereas others believe that social media has broaden democratic participation. According to a research conducted by statistics Canada; We should expect neither a dysfunctional society of loners nor a blissful society of happy net-workers. Rather, we are facing a society that is differently cohesive from the one we have known. There do not appear to be any significant differences in the number of social ties or in the amount of social interaction between Internet users and non-users. Instead, the Internet is providing ways of fostering participation with community members and enhancing relationships, including through social media (Dewing, 2010, para 10). Social media has also had economic impacts in regard to the manner in which what is contained in the social media is created and consumed. This can be summed up to the growth in the information and communication sector of the economy. In most economies, growth in this sector of the economy has been tremendous even surpassing the overall economic growth. Many business firms and organizations have also incorporated social media in their marketing strategies (Dewing, 2010). Socio-economic Impacts: The socioeconomic theory appears to be spearheading the deflationary cycle more than the financial or the political economics. Previously, the Keynesian and libertarian theories were believed to be the key players in the deflationary cycle. According to the socio-economic theories, it is claimed that in order for us to get out of the deflationary cycle, there is need to view it as both a sociological and fiscal problem. The solution is therefore to be found in the ground-breaking technology which promises huge profits to be used in investment so as to commence the next boom cycle, and snap the society out of the predicament created by the economic downturn. Social media could play a role in mitigating the damages that arise from the deflationary cycle. It could also be instrumental in the construction of the next opportunities for technological innovations (Fischer, 2009). Understanding the objective economic potential is very crucial and dependant on the revolution of the social media. Social media is known to utilize technology in enhancing the people’s ability to interact with others. Social media is to be found in interaction, connection, trust and relations that are driven by technology. In regard to business, this implies establishment of trust and channels of communication which supports and enables collaboration and building of engaged teams through the removal of barriers and frustrations that were created by conventional structures. Social media particularly in regard to collaboration has the potential to unlock the hidden knowledge in organizations when required. It also lowers the cost of software via open source cooperation, easing the finding of appropriate information, and making organizations to be more responsive. These are however cultural changes that occurs gradually. Nevertheless, the promise for change is there even though it might take much longer time. However, the technological investment that is required to bring about these changes is quite cheaply available (Fischer, 2009). With social media, change is bound to happen. Social media has the prospects of creating more effective organizations via the collaboration, â€Å"providing a greater variety of information services at low cost through mashups and open source, and a lower cost to product and service messaging, when the product and service has great appeal†(Fischer, 2009, para 7). Similarly, social media has detrimental impacts on the established industries. The conventional advertising media has become decreasingly effective due to the increasing numbers of the individuals who are networked and therefore attentive to one another. It is imperative to observe that; Friend of a friend referrals, rating sites or consumer oriented websites will become the norm and rely on their objectivity to maintain trust with their followers, therefore are not as subject to trying to manipulate their audience based on the promise of big advertising revenue (Fischer, 2009, para 8). There is no doubt that manipulation is part of the social media practice though the ability for any individual to broadcast and gain audience to the large network in the social media indicates that it is not an easy task and it is destined to be the exception and not the norm in the long run (Fischer, 2009). The distribution of retail products may also come to the forefront due to the social media influence. Due to the fact that e-commerce has been enhanced in the recent past owing to a revolution in the social media, some social observations have been made in regard to marketing trends for instance, there has been a relation drawn between the trends on how particular products are moved in the market. Such observations may be observed as ‘individuals who bought product X also bought product Y’. Large business organizations may also offer lower prices and utilize the social media to achieve the personal touch, a domain previously associated with small business organizations. This has been geared towards the ‘commodization’ of products that are produced on a large scale and the futuristic markets with the chances of realizing massive profits. The markets of the future are said to be niche markets that would require subject matter expertise and customization (Fischer, 2009). The gains of the social media in economic venture may be offset by the unsettling role associated with it in the conventional industries. In the past, any technological changes would result in obvious and simple routes to massive increases in the production and demand. However, with the social media, increase in productivity and demand over a short time is not palpable due to the fact that it requires cultural changes together with the technological transformations. Eventually, as the cultural changes are realized over time, massive increases in the production may be realized; however, in the short term social media can not be used to provide an obvious path for investment capable of leading to gains in effectiveness and productivity (Fischer, 2009). There is this argument that tightly knit society has the capability to survive economic stress better compared to a loosely knit society. Social media ensures that the world is woven in complex interactions and also offers individuals with something to do when they are not involved in an economic activity. This is motivated by what can be referred to as ‘reputation economics’ which is designed to motivate individuals to engage in activities such as creating open source software, report on events, and many more information services that would have required individuals to pay for before the advent of the internet. This allows for rich content and growth of valuable products to be carried out devoid of investment and yet with returns for instance a â€Å"business entity that hosts their websites on Linux servers or uses open office to create and manage documents† (Fischer, 2009, para 9). To add on the long term effectiveness of the social media which include the creation of complex systems like an operating system at relatively low cost; it could also enable the development of new innovations presenting a clear path that shall increase production and demand. The deflationary cycle that is predicted by the socio-economic theories could only be shortened if only we are able to find out the kind of innovation required and be able to bring it more quickly (Fischer, 2009). Social media is said to provide revenue to both the users and platforms. It has to be noted that social media better known as social computing is a driver for competitiveness. The effects of social computing may be seen on the industry itself for instance, the development in the social media or the information and communication technology sector. It can also be observed in other industries that uses the social computing. There is evidence that â€Å"more targeted marketing and user research which are reliant on user profiles and content interest are opening new channels to markets† (Pascu, 2008, para 11). There are emergent employment possibilities vial social networks and new opportunities to utilize user innovations in developing the products or as an intermediate between organizations and consumers (Pascu, 2008). The impact of social media can not be wished away as insignificant. This is because, faced with the modern reality where social media provides a platform for the consumers, competitors and the market place to discuss products, services and employees. All this is carried out online â€Å"whether it’s a protest group on Facebook (â€Å"United Airlines Sucks! â€Å"), a persistent hashtag on Twitter (#attfail) or just a meme that travels from blogger to Blogger† (Taylor, 2009, para 5). At this juncture, it does not matter as to whether it is of importance to probe into the social networks. What is of importance is whether one is paying attention to the social media where the message has gone to. This means that the customer to the company products is the one to define the brand in the market. This is quite challenging as it means that those organizations with acceptable products are bound to be reap benefits even with minimum branding and marketing strategies whereas those companies that are considered bad by the customers are destined to suffer from a bad reputation even when they spent more money to advertise themselves and try to position themselves as market leaders (Taylor, 2009). It is therefore important for organizations to take time and monitor what is going on in the social media. There are various services at the disposal of whoever would like to monitor the social media which include the individual services such as ‘Search. twitter. com’ and more complicated ones such as ‘Filtrbox’ and ‘Radian 6’. For successful business undertaking, there is need for organizations to embrace the social media which provides an avenue to engage with the customers. Interaction on the social media with the customers is crucial and thus joining these sites for creating new bully pulpits for the organization’s marketing and sales messages without proper interaction with the customers is not commendable (Taylor, 2009). The organizations can not be isolated from the social media as they create a powerful impression with the capability of having a lasting impact that may prove to be hard to change. Accompany with a bad reputation might score poorly even with spirited advertisement due to evaluations that are obtained from the social media. It is therefore important to address the problems that are affecting the organizations one by one rather than spending huge sums of money in advertising the products (Chong, 2010). Conclusion: Social media has been a new discovery in the information and communication sector and that its impacts on the economic development are worthy noting. The economic impacts of social media are two fold and may bring positive results or negative results to a business organization. With social media, the consumers of the company products are able to talk about the products, services and competitors and definitely such discussions are to impact on the business entity either for better or for worse. Social media can therefore have far reaching repercussions on the business organizations in terms of profitability. Reference: Chong, S. , (2010). Nothing Can save Negative Buzz on Twitter. Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://www. penn-olson. com/2010/07/02/nothing-can-save-negative-buzz-on-twitter/. Dewing, M. , (2010). Social Media: 1. An Introduction. Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://www2. parl. gc. ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2010-03-e. htm. Fischer, K. , (2009). Exploring the economic impact of social media. Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://www. web20blog. org/2009/03/24/exploring-the-economic-impact-of-social-media/. Pascu, C. , (2008). ERoSC-The Socio-economic Impact of Emerging Social Computing Applications. Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://docs. google. com/viewer? a=v&q=cache:dHneLXVRkYgJ:www. foresight-network. eu/index. php%3Foption%3Dcom_docman%26task%3Ddoc_view%26gid%3D352+Economic+Implications+on+Social+Media&hl=en&gl=ke&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShixNJSG5ddAxmDsp3_H0NmsZ-LetSdSeKnGykkb0y_4ruRrW-EstMaeGHfs16v1u66MJlBbpW-WIgVRxtCabedvJWeojTeW4mfj7Z70xD-y31hAWGz7VhQwakzAylysKUUV0NN&sig=AHIEtbRbStc-eBG_GjfGNgsEL-OmZ0oP8g Taylor, D. , (2009). What’s the impact of social media on business growth? Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://www. intuitive. com/blog/impact_of_social_media_twitter_facebook_business_growth. html

Gerry Conway – American Entrepreneur

Gerry Conway was the classic American entrepreneur – visionary, charismatic, driven, impatient, and impending. Born in Cleveland in 1931, Conway was the ninth of 13 children. His love of the retail environment, his strong interdependence, and his deep appreciation of people appreciation of people stemmed from his childhood experience: claiming that he has been in retail for over 60 years, working at some of his fathers 200 food stores. After college, Conway and his wife, Marty, returned to Cleveland. He began working for an industrial firm and quickly learned that, while sales attracted him, working in a large corporation did not.After working at some small firms, Conway decided to found his own company, Gerald A. Conway & Associates, being display-printing broker. One day, a colleague suggested that he sell the plastic parts that retailers used to display signs as part of his printing broker business. The advantage of selling accessories was that he could sell the same produc t to many companies simultaneously, which was not possible in display printing, for which each printing job was customized. An early product idea was the Arrowhead fastener, which was designed to hold coupons and signs on store shelves.It was a best seller from the start. During this time though, Conway had struggles with alcohol, stating that it was a problem, but through a self-help program he chose sobriety and regained focus in his life. The following year, his first year sober, his income shot up by about 35 percent-a direct correlation. He celebrated the event saying that was a significant event in the business and for his family. In the mid 1970s, now sober, Gerald Conway and Associates was renamed Fasteners for Retail (FFr) to acknowledge its exclusive focus on display accessories and fasteners within the point-of-purchase industry.The P-O-P product includes signs, displays, devices, and structures that are used to merchandise services or products in retail stores. The acces sory hardware segment was highly fragmented. No single supplier had more than 10 percent of the sub supplier market, and many competed in only a few product categories. FFr was the largest company in this niche, with a market share of approximately 7. 5 percent. The company distinguished itself from its competitors in several important ways. It offered a broad and innovative product line, free samples, quick turnaround on orders, and a liberal sales return policy.The willingness to emphasize new products also became a defining characteristic for the business. While the company’s early expansion began with imported Swedish design accessories, the product line grew because of Conway’s creativity and dissatisfaction with status quo. Two products in particular, the Shipflat literature holder and SuperGrip sign holders, were critical to FFr’s success in the early 1980’s. In the 1980s, FFr grew consistently and at a steady pace, having five employees and sales of $3 million. As stated above, business began to boom as a result of a expanding product line and larger sales force.The company grew steadily, adding employees in accounting, customer service, product design, and marketing. Its opportunistic philosophy supported the company’s growth. The business was always profitable, there was no debt, and the company never got tied up in long-term commitments. Production and most warehousing were subcontracted, and office space was leased. The company made quick decisions, and arrangements with vendors were frequently based on handshakes. The flipside of FFr’s opportunism and speed was that it lacked a business plan and strategic discipline.To keep the company growing, Conway realized that he needed to hire a president with managerial expertise. Although he understood the value of management, he was an entrepreneur, not a traditional manager. The company went through several presidents. FFr, for a time, was a company with an organ izational chart but not a lot of organization. That changed in the late 1990’s. In the early 1990’s, Conway and his wife, Marty, joined Case Western Reserve University’s Partnership for Family Business. This led to Conway realizing the importance for such things as an advisory board, which was made up of four independent current and former company CEOs.It also led Conway to begin thinking of the furture of the company, and the possibility of passing it down to one of his sons. Family involvement in the company began in the 1970s, when the Conway children earned extra money by putting adhesive on the back of Arrowhead fasteners. They had all done odd jobs for FFr, but of the seven children only three worked in the business as adults. Kevin, the eldest, joined in the early 1980s and became an outstanding salesman, Paul, the youngest, eventually became the international sales manager, and Neil, the fourth son, was diagnosed with schizophrenia in college and found w ork in the warehouse.Out of the three sons, Paul was seen as the most serious contender, but after some time in the company and deliberation, he decided that being CEO was not for him and went on to become a teacher. Now Gerry was left with a huge predicament. Kevin was out of the picture, his son Stuart had, long ago; decided that he didn’t want the responsibility. None of the kids were interested. Gerry’s problem was not only his lack of succession planning, but also his lack of retirement planning. He had done some retirement planning but the demands of running a business didn’t leave him time to establish an actual plan.So where does this leave Gerry, his company, and his family’s future? (Source: Poza PG 141-155) My first step of advice for Mr. Conway would be to take step a back. Even though he is experiencing a very rough time right now with his succession planning, it is very important to note what he has done for the company and his family. He ha s managed to start up a successful business in which his family is involved and with net sales in the millions. He also made sure that he set up certain things like an advisory board for the company, which was made up of his son, brother, and two independent CEO owners.He and his wife also made family meetings a regular event for everyone to gather at. They even went so far to go over their estate plan to make sure that their children gained a substantial amount of value from FFr over their lifetime. These are all great things that Gerry and Marty did for the family business and they should be recognized. After taking some time to admire their contributions to the company, its time to move on to the next step and tackle the problems head on. Gerry needs someone to take over the company, and his kids were not an option.After reading the case several times though, I determined that there was someone that Gerry could entrust with the company, his chief advisor and wife Marty. Marty pla yed a very pivotal role in the company, being a person who signed the checks and overlooked the company’s finances. She also had a public role at company functions and was a people booster. She played a more significant role behind the scenes, supporting Gerry as he considered important business changes, such as handling over administrative reins or making personal changes.Both family members and outsiders described Marty as the glue that worked behind the scenes to hold the family together through the predictable challenges that families who work together faced. (Source Poza PG 154) Marty seems more than qualified to take control of business, which would also give Gerry time to iron out his retirement plan. This would also give Gerry the opportunity to have another talk with his son Paul about running the company. The text states that Gerry was a loner in the way that he ran his business.Paul may not have realized that he could do the job differently- probably in a more dece ntralized and collaborative way. (Source: Poza PG 154) I feel that it is crucial that Gerry makes Paul realize that if he decided to be CEO he can take a different approach to running the company, his own. He could run the company and instill the values that he thinks is important into it. After realizing this and the possible opportunity that he his passing up, not only for himself but also his future family, he will have to at least reconsider his father’s offer and most likely come back to work for the company.If this still does not work, Gerry is left with the option of finding someone else in the family to run the company, find a trusted family friend to run the company, or sell it all together. In conclusion, Gerry Conway has managed to take his company Fasteners for Retail and turn it into a huge family company. He had been with so much with the company and realized that it was coming to the time to pass it on. He tried passing it on to his children, but he failed in a ll his attempts. Now left with little time and money, Gerry needed someone to run his company. I felt that the answer came in his wife, Marty.She was his chief advisor at the company and new how to read all the financial data associated with it. Family members and outsiders alike referred to her as the glue that held the company together. With her running the company, it would allow for Gerry to manage all his retirement issues and give his talk with son Paul another shot. After making Paul realize the opportunities that he is passing up, I am sure he will come back to the company and began work. References Poza, Ernesto J. , 2007. Famly Business Third Edition. South Western Cengage Learning 5191 Natorp Boulevard. Mason, Ohio 45040, USA.

Dicussion on movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Dicussion on movie - Essay Example In this film, ultimate gender performance is apparent in the way each manages realize their respective motives whereby Toby becomes a distinguished porn actor and Bree waitress in a place where there earlier her role encompassed washing dishes. Both key character deem they represent the opposite of what they are based on gender. Toby while indulging oneself into the acts of gay appears to be the recipient who through his charm arouses those of the same orientation. This is also evident with Bree who through her conduct all males whom she encounters end up exhibiting interests in without suspecting anything except that kid in the hotel. The latter among all other scenes is the sole incident, which I can concretely contend Bree utterly failed but all others she managed to masquerade as a woman. Conversely, Toby is successful all through and no incident where he seems to contradict who he is evident in the easily prostates to supplement their budget and lie proceeds were from selling drugs. In the film, the essence of nudity encompasses unveiling controversial aspects used to develop varied scenes constituting the entire movie as well as satiating audiences’ curiosity. For instance, Toby through nudity manages to know exactly Bree’s condition, which from the onset of the film viewers could only hear through discussion. In addition, nudity serves the role of advancing plots such that the film continues to progress, which is evident with the case of Toby having known who exactly Bree is an incident of rift between them develops until reconciliation in the end of the film. The film though its scenes might seem different from that of â€Å"The Hitch-Hiker (1953)† there earlier I watched, their general basis encompasses how the involved and key characters manage to scrutinize the reality of each other . In both films, there are hitchhikers

Writing exercises Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Writing exercises - Essay Example is the gripping, intense, and engrossing analysis of diverse group of jurors who are uncomfortably assembled together to deliberate after hearing some facts from an apparently open-and-shut murder trial. They leave to a jury room for civic duty and pass a just verdict for indigent minority defendant whose life is at crossroad. The jury of the twelve angry men, delegated the power to take an uneducated, teenaged and tenement-dwelling boy to electric chair for murdering his dad with a switchblade knife, literally locked themselves in a small, enclosed rectangular room on a boiling hot summer day and made a unanimous decision. The compelling, provocative film reveals the deep-seated, perceptual biases and weaknesses, personal prejudices, indifference, anger, cultural differences, personalities, unreliable judgments, ignorance and fears of the twelve men, which threaten to skew their decision-making abilities hence causing them to ignore real issues of the case, and make unjust actions. The jury room was characterized with heated discussions, the frequent re-assessment and changing of opinions, the formation of alliances, votes and certainties, and the re-consideration of personal experiences, outbursts and insults. Nonetheless, one brave rebellious juror was not part of the plot to cause miscarriage of justice at the commencement of the deliberations due to his reasonable doubt. Determinedly and persuasively, he urged the other eleven men to slowly rethink and review the wobbly case (and eyewitness testimony) concerning the endangered defendant. He further chastises the system for granting the unfortunate offender an incompetent court-appointed defense lawyer who â€Å"felt bitter about being appointed† - a case with â€Å"no glory, no money or much chance of winning† - and who inefficiently cross-examined the witnesses. The claims of juror No.8 was an example of ethical virtue. This film clearly shows the eleven jurors did not ethically deliberate and they could not