The work of one religious agency working for world development Essay Example for Free

The work of one religious agency working for world development Essay Christian Aid was established in 1945 when the Second World War was drawing to an end. A coalition of British and Irish Churches formed Christian Aid with an aim to aid as many people as possible who had been affected by the war. In 1948 the organisation decided it was in order to raise money for third world countries. Christian Aid has since expanded over sixty countries worldwide. Christian Aid recieves a majority of its revenue from the Governments of Ireland, Britian and The European Union (The EU) and also from the help of supporters and donators. 28% is recieved from fundraising and 34% is from Government grants. Christian Aid also holds many charity events such as sponsored walks and book sales. Its income comes up to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40 million per year through donations from members, supporters and the general public. Since the expansion in and over 60 countries, Christian Aid has managed to help different countries in many situations. An example would be when Christian Aid joined forces with The Madras Christian Council for Social Service (MCCSS) in India to help the people living there. Many residents had no jobs or practical skills to offer which meant they were not very rich and lived in poor conditions. The MCCSS have taken on life projects to provide countries like this with proper housing, healthcare, sanitation and education. Christian Aid also helps other countries such as; Cambadia, Ethiopia, India, Sudan and Uganda. In these battles Christian Aid helps with hunger and poverty. Christian Aid is not a group of Christians helping other countries. It is an organisation, started by the Churches, in which Christians and Non-Christians work together to help all in great need, whatever their religion, politics, colour or country. Christian Aid is religious because Christians concerned about the worlds poorest countries, founded it. Even though the founders of Christian Aid were Christians, all may join in its work, whatever their race or faith. The Christian faith provide a base for Christian Aid because Christians believe that God loves the world and everything in it. They believe God became a human in Jesus so that people could meet God in every human. Many Christians follow the example of Jesus. He cared for those whom never cared for him; he was a friend to those despised by others. An example of Christian Aid work would be campaigning. Christian Aid has argued that poverty is caused and often made worse, by the more developed countries such as Britain. An example of this would be that in past decades Western Governments and banks lent billions of pounds to developing countries who now, cannot repay the debts. Christian Aid argue that the interest that the poorer countries are having to pay on top of their debts, is draining the wealth out of these developing countries. So Christian Aid and many other agencies campaign to cancel these debts so that the poorer countries can concentrate on developing their countries without worrying about their on-growing debts. Overall, Christian Aid was founded to express the concerns of Christians towards those whom were facing hardship, hunger and war. Christian Aid has certainly fulfilled its initial cause and has moved on to aiding many more.

The London Ambulance Service Computer Information Technology Essay

The London Ambulance Service Computer Information Technology Essay This paper will analyze one of the most prominent computerized system failures in the past 10 years- the failure of the London Ambulance Service Computer Aided Dispatch system-hereafter referred to as LASCAD. Unlike the common one dimensional explanations for system failure that view Information systems as mainly a neutral technical artifact ( Klein and Hirscheim, 1987), this paper will attempt to explore the more multi-faceted nature of systems failure which is closer to the reality that system exist in. This analysis will be anchored in the concepts of holism and emergent properties as described by Francis and Roland Bee (2005), Managing Information and Statistics, 2005, whereby the approach taken to analysis emphasizes the system relationships and processes and results of its interactions. References will be made to existing frameworks used to investigate system failure in particular the Sauer model Sauer (1993). Details of the description of the system and the failure will be dra wn mainly from a paper on Information System failure and risk Assessment by Paul Beynon Davis (Computer studies technical report University of Glamorgan, 1994b).From this investigation existing methods of preventing or solving software systems failure will be explored in the context of the LASCAD system to look into recommendations and lessons learnt to prevent such failures .This will particularly focus on risk handling as proposed by B.W Boehm ( 1991) and the Goal Question Metrics by Solingen and E. Berghout (1999). Summary of the LASCAD System Failure Case Study The LASCAD system was a computer aided ambulance dispatch system established at the head quarters of the London Ambulance Service. According to Page et al (1993), the expected functions of the system are described below: Call taking: Acceptance of calls and incident details Resource Identification: Particularly which ambulance to send to an incident Resource Mobilization: Communicating details of an incident to the appropriate ambulance Resource Management: The positioning of suitably equipped and staffed vehicles to minimize response times Management Information: This involves the collation information to assess performance, resource management and planning. This system was supposed to solve the problems related to manual dispatch systems including time consuming and error prone identification of the precise incident location, paperwork and maintenance of current vehicle status information. The LASCAD system objective was to automate these manual human intensive tasks by using an events based and ruled based approach and integrating a Geographical Information System (GIS) to provide location details. In this system the callers, incident and patient details would be recorded and transmitted to the dispatchers. Through the use of radio signals and GIS the system is able to determine the ambulance nearest to the patient. After dispatch the ambulance crew was expected to acknowledge the dispatch message and the system would then detect whether the ambulance was headed in the right direction. Finally the system would alert the controller on the ambulances arrival to the scene, hospital and when it becomes free again. Figure1: LASCAD flow chart (Paul Beynon Davis, 1994) This explanation of expectations of the systems functionality is pretty linear and even simplistic but on closer examination one is able to construe the complexities that are involved in delivering such expectations. This will become more apparent in the following section highlighting the system failure and later on the events leading to the failure. Between 26th and 27th October 1992 (Paul Beynon Davis, 1994), the system started to fail. It was reported that as a result of a flood of emergency calls bogged down the system and this resulted in erratic behavior of the system involving calls being wiped off the screen and automatic alerts indicating unacknowledged calls to ambulances. According to the Guardian newspaper, 1992, it was claimed that 20-30 people may have lost their lives due to ambulance delays. Indeed the impact of this failure was tremendous and as expected triggered various responses as to what was the cause of the failure. According to Donaldson and Jenkins (2000) in their paper on System Failures: An Approach to understanding what can go wrong, the causes of system failure are complex and interact with each other and in some cases a single factor may single out the problem while in others a combination of many small and apparently insignificant factors are to blame. This merely says that it is difficult to analyze causes of systems failure which would only be closely understood through multi cause analysis stemming from the soft systems methodology. It also becomes apparent that everything is not always as it seems, a good example is the Arriane V rocket (ESA Press release Nr 33-96-July 1996) which failed courtesy of its navigation software bein g inappropriate for the rockets design. This was not actually a software failure as may have been though in the outset but a problem with the overall incorrect assembly of the rocket. As it were the software performed to its specification. This is akin to expectation failure which Lyytinen and Hirscheim (1987) describe as the inability of an IS system to meet specific stakeholder groups expectations, they signify a gap between an existing situation and a desired situation for members of a particular stakeholder group. This is further enhanced by Donaldson and Jenkins (2000) system failure analysis detailing high public expectancy of computer technology, Fashion/popularity of systems obscuring its basic objectives and the varying stakeholder interests creating different perceptions of the system. Analysis of the LASCAD System failure Following the above outline of the system failure and prelude of expected challenges in analyzing system failure this section will attempt to shed detailed insight into the failure. The analysis will follow Sauerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model (Sauer, 1993), of investigating system failure which is based on a triangle of dependencies between: Project organization Information system Supporters The multi-faceted nature of systems failure alluded to in the introduction would mean that even this triangle is not a closed system but is affected by other contextual factors of which according to Sauer consists of cognitive limits-(e.g. limits of communication), technical process-( constraints from structured nature of computerized systems or development methodology), environment-(constraints by customers, suppliers, competitors, regulators), Politics, internal project structure and history associated with previous information system projects. Project organization In light of the LASCAD project failure the project organization from inception is very wanting. Firstly following a public inquiry report on the failure (Page et al, 1993), it is claimed that the London Ambulance Service (LAS) management put price before quality and committed to an over ambitious project timetable. This was evidenced by the selection of a supplier who has no experience in building ambulance dispatch systems but had significantly underbid a more established supplier. This was made worse by the management putting the supplier under immense pressure to deliver the system quickly. Secondly the project management team did not follow the PRINCE (Projects in Controlled Environments) project management method prescribed for public sector projects. Thirdly it was found that the system was incomplete and unstable and particularly the emergency backup system was untested. This was further compounded by inconsistent and incomplete user training. Information system In terms of the information system dimension the report of the public inquiry (Page et al, 1993) suggests that the failure was not a result of technical issues since on overall the system did what it was designed to do. It goes further to explain that at the onset the loads on the system were light and the control staff could easily cope with various problems associated with ambulance crews pressing wrong buttons, radio black spots, communication hand-shaking problems etc. When these incidents increased incorrect vehicle location and status information received by the controllers also increased resulting in the failure to cope with the load leading to fewer resources to allocate to incidents and subsequent delays in response times. Supporters/stakeholders As defined by Paul Beynon Davis (1995), supporters/stakeholders defined as people sharing a pool of values that define what the desirable features of an information system and how they should be obtained. The stakeholders have different views and expectations of the system of which such a mismatch in perceptions in this case contributed to the failure. This is depicted below: Figure 2: LASCAD system perceptions rich picture LAS Management: The London Ambulance Service (LAS) management viewed the system as a way to improve service to patients by putting in place mechanisms that would ensure objective and impartial resource mobilization through automation. The LAS management was also influenced by a past experience involving a failed computerized dispatch system project and pressure from organization-wide restructuring that put them under immense pressure to succeed Control room staff: The staff in the control room found the system to be too complicated and did not trust the motives behind implementing a computerized system Ambulance staff: The ambulance crews were more comfortable with the radio call systems that they had been used to and did not have confidence in the new system as they did not see the need for it and found it too complicated Union: The staff union found that there were no requisite consultations done before making the decision to acquire the system and as such the already strained relationship between management and staff was worsened. Hardware and software suppliers: The system suppliers were not sure how to implement the system in the first place and this was compounded by tight deadlines from what they thought to be a disorganized client. Related to these perspectives are contextual factors concerning political environment courtesy of the overarching influence of the National Health Service (NHS) on the London Ambulance Service which is the LAS oversight body (Beynon-Davis 1994).The NHS is characterized by the lack of a unitary power structure and is made up of a network of different health organizations. The implication on a new information system is a very careful political balance in the impact the impact the system will have on the relationships in this network (Checkland and Scholes, 1990). As posit by page et al, (1993), the LASCAD project was greatly affected by internal tensions in within the NHS which had commissioned major reforms in the London Ambulance Service including restructuring that resulted in the reduction of middle management from 263 to 53. It is clear that this resulted in strained relationships and an environment of mistrust and obtrusiveness when it came to any changes, which affected the LASCAD project. So far what is clear is the multifaceted nature of the failure that results from various causes of the failure that is common in computerized information systems, which Paul Beynon-Davis describe as web-like in nature. It has been reported that 92% of all system failures involved failures of technical interaction with cognitive /organizational factors (Mackenzie, 1994). This as it were it is essential to trace the true causes of the system failure. One way of doing this is through multi cause diagrams as mentioned in the section above or Petri nets which use state and event oriented graphs. The LASCAD project failure is depicted below using a multi cause diagram to explore the events and states on why the failure occurred: Figure 3: LASCAD system failure multi-cause diagram Ideas, Recommendations and Lessons Learned As expressed above using Sauerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model (Sauer, 1993) of investigating system failure, the dependencies between the project organization, information system and its supporters have come out very clearly. Using the information system dimension the failure is not attributed to technical issues at all, which goes against common place failure attribution of computerized information systems. This begs the question, what constitutes a system failure? Lyytinen and Hirschein (1987) categorize system failure into four: Correspondence failure: There is a disjoint between the design objectives of the system and what is practically being met by the system. Process failure: This is characterized by runaway projects that either do not provide a workable system or overrun budgets and time. Interaction failure: This focuses on utilization of the system i.e. a highly utilized system is considered a success and one that is hardly used is a failure. Expectation failure: As stated earlier this is the inability of the system to meet a specific stakeholder groupà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s expectations. The LASCAD system falls into this category as it appears it did not meet various stakeholder group expectations. Donaldson and Jenkins (2000) talk about a 3 dimensional picture where a system totally fails, partially fails or temporarily goes down. In the case of LASCAD it is taken as a partial failure resulting from a number of flaws that are rectifiable and as such this is not a total failure. The rectification will mainly involve a reassessment of the entire project taking mainly focusing on the role of risk assessment. Risk is the probability of a negative outcome. Negative outcome is in essence a relative concept as Wilcocks and Margetts (1994) suggest the risk of a negative outcome only becomes a salient problem when the outcome is relevant to stakeholder concerns and interests. Different settings and stakeholders will see different outcomes as salient. The proposed framework to use in risk assessment follows Wilcocks and Margetts (1994) who put across the following categories to be used in analyzing the development, introduction and use of information systems, these are: History: Past experiences with information system development. Outer context: The environment in which the organization is operating e.g. economy, markets, government Inner context: The characteristics of the organization e.g. structure, strategy Content: For example project size and difficulty Processes: For example project management and staffing Outcomes: Planned and anticipated results. The proposed risk assessment framework would be implemented through out the development, introduction and use of information systems. This will be used to complement an overarching software management methodology such as the Goal Question Metrics (GQM) mentioned in the introduction and the Capability Maturity Model which outline good practices in project management to ensure project success. In the context of LASCAD the GQM will particularly address the aforementioned failure characteristics in the analysis section through the following stages in development: Setting specific goals in light of purpose perspective and environment Refine goals into quantifiable easy to understand questions Derive requisite metrics and data to answer the questions There are various methods that can be used in preventing or solving computerized system failure the Capability maturity model and Goal Question Metrics mentioned above are by no means exhaustive nor are they prescriptive. Organizations are different contextually and individual projects also vary in size and complexity and as such would require approaches the methodologies to be customized and scaled for specific organizations and projects. The Capability Maturity model is a prime example that targets improvement in software processes toward a specific target- maturity level that the organization is working toward. On the other hand there is need to put emphasis on risk management outside of the one dimensional technical orientation to encompass the complexities of computerized systems as seen through the lens of Wilcocks and Margetts (1994) risk management framework. Conclusion: The LASCAD system is a good example that portrays the reality of the complex and multi-faceted nature of systems failure. The different perspectives of the system and congruent expectations make even the very definition of the failure unclear. This particular case highlighted the political and social causes of the failure, what has been described as contextual factors. References to various frameworks have been made in the analysis of the failure -Lyytinen and Hirscheim (1987), particularly expectation failure and dependencies in the 3 dimensional Sauerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model (Sauer, 1993). The failure analysis provided the distillation of the system failure characteristics which describe the true causes of the failure. This was done using rich pictures to accommodate varying perceptions and expectations and multi cause diagrams to explore the various causes of the failure. Lessons learnt and future remediation of systems failure is centered on risk management and project methodologies ensuring good practice in the development, introduction and use of information systems. As recommended in this paper these should take into consideration contextual/ organizational issues apart from technical aspects of the system.

Methamphetamine as a Sleepless Dream or Addictive Nightmare Essay

Methamphetamine as a Sleepless Dream or Addictive Nightmare Methamphetamine has reclaimed a place in the lexicon of "party" drugs. Hailed by nocturnal adventurers, condemned by raver idealists, is speed a sleepless dream or an addictive nightmare? Here at the end of the millennium, the pace of modern life seems fleeting -- a whirl of minutes, hours and days. In dealing with the changes, humans have equipped themselves with the tools to move faster, more efficiently. At the same time a dependence for the marketing, high-speed transportation and pharmacology of this modern age has evolved. In a race to outdo ourselves, we have moved dangerously toward the fine line between extinction and evolution. Therefore, the human capacity to handle the velocity becomes a fragile balance. Our generation (see Gen X, 20-somethings) could be considered the sleepless generation. An age of society's children weaned on the ideals of high-speed communication and accelerated culture has prided itself in mastering many of the facets of human existence -- doing more, sleeping less. The machines of this age have in a way enabled us to create a 24-hour lifestyle. We have pushed the limits of the modern world further -- ATMs, high-speed modems, smart bombs and bullet trains. However, the limitations of human existence, like sleep, may still provide the stumbling block for infinite realization. That is, without chemical aid. In many ways, capitalism fuels the idea. Our society is based upon the mass consumption of these substances. Cultural ideals, while seemingly benevolent as "Have a Coke and a smile" have sold the link to chemical substances like caffeine and nicotine to "the good life." Today, stimulants are the bedrock for consumer culture. For our generation, this appeal was heightened by raising the stakes in the '80s on what it meant to have fun. Late night clubs, high speed music and 24-hour lifestyles brought the specter of drugs to the fold as a necessity for being able to attain more. Leaps away from the psychedelics of the '60s, in the '80s these stimulant drugs became tools -- utilitarian devices to gain wealth, intelligence and prestige. Sleep became a barrier for success. Dreams were the frivolous luxuries of childhood. Raves, founded equally in the post-conservative underground late-'80s and the chaotic early-'90s, are pa... ..., however, by methamphetamine's nature -- as a refined, concentrated addictive substance -- it only perpetuates the cycle for needing more. There is very little factual information about amphetamines and their dangers available to the lay person. Research on the subject, aside from medical journals, is virtually nill. There is however a great deal of dangerous propaganda -- hear-say, lies, rumors. Misinformation sometimes is more dangerous than no information and real answers are only found through communication. Many other drugs have been part of the rave community over the years -- nitrous oxide, Special K (ketamine) and especially ecstasy (MDMA) but none have exhibited the burn-out or addiction rate associated with methamphetamine. While meth (or any drug) is an inert substance that we cannot attribute blame to, by its nature it has raised the question "Are we really built for speed?" It seems that the human body, while naturally resilient to much self-inflicted abuse, may not be a reliable container for the soul at high speeds. Methamphetamine may have the ability to chemically fuel the ride, physically it may just prove the limitations for human society.

Interview With a Flight Nurse Essay -- Interview Essays

In the current era of nursing, it is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the job. It may be easy some days to forget about the basic driving forces that brought us to the bedside years ago. In order to get back to the grass roots of practice, I interviewed a flight nurse of Air Medical, John Rhodes, a bachelor’s prepared nurse from State University, Alumni 1990. Following the interview, I observed him giving direct care to a couple of patients during flight. By doing the stated tasks, I was able to unveil the theories for which one member of our nursing community lives out. The daily configuration of the helicopter bedside includes two flight nurses or one flight nurse and a flight paramedic to provide patient care. Due to this, I have had worked alongside Flight Nurse (FN) Rhodes for two years at an intimate level. Even though he may think that he does not follow the ideals of nursing, he is an exemplary example. â€Å"I learned nursing theories over thirty years ago. I don’t think I use any of them† (M. Rhodes, personal communication, August 13, 2011). When I asked FN Rhodes what informs him to care for patients he told me that â€Å"the patient, conscious or unconscious, tells us what to do for them with their assessment.† I found that FN Rhodes embodies the theory of Faye G. Abdellah who stresses â€Å"Patient-Centered Approaches to Nursing† (McEwen & Wills, 2011, p. 129). This is emphasized by the most important aspect of nursing care to John which is â€Å"doing the right or best thing for the patient, whatever that may be† (M. Rhodes, personal communication, August 13, 2011). Abdellah’s theory has identified twenty-one nursing problems and a list of ten items that nurses should include in th... ...ic facts and assumptions (p. 223). Through this, intuition is birthed; a skill that can only be abstractly generated from experience with real situations. It is obvious that FN Rhodes has engaged Benner’s: seven domains of nursing practice: helping role, teaching or coaching function, diagnostic client-monitoring function, effective management of rapidly changing situations, administering and monitoring therapeutic interventions and regimens, monitoring and ensuring quality of health care practices, and organizational and work-role competencies. (McEwen & Wills, 2011, p. 223) These two theories are only a small portion of what was witnessed and construed from the interviews and observations of FN John Rhodes. References McEwen, M. & Wills, E. M. (2011). Theoretical Basis for Nursing (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

Mediaculture

Week 7: Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz, Feminist Media Strategies for Political Performance We live in a media centric world bombarded by the media images twenty four hours a day.   It is so powerful that we often cannot distinguish the ‘reality’ from the mediated reality. Media makes use of images around us to convey this very different articulated meaning. This often interludes with the notion of the people who control the media; which can either be the proprietor or dominant groups through force or coercion that control the opinions. These viewpoints are the factors that determine the news values, of the modern media, which often tend to trivialize or sensationalize the issues, according to the ideological stance. Feminist Media Arts have formed as a resistance to this distorted media views, to convey the ‘undistorted reality’ to the public. It’s more than an information campaign and the same time new mode of protest to decry the ugly stories media told about women. The feminist media work as the activists say ‘has three ultimate purposes: first, to interrupt the incessant flow of images that supports the established social order with alternative ways of thinking and acting; second, to organize and activate viewers (media is not the only, nor necessarily most effective, way to do this); third, to create artful and original imagery that follows in the tradition of fine art, to help viewers see the world in a new way and learn something about themselves in relation to it. ’ The authors in their essay point to the ways to attract the media to their campaign and force them to present their viewpoints. The authors say that ‘to understand how media operates, observe it -with detachment -and be pragmatic. It doesn't matter what you think the media should cover, the object of the game (and it is a game) is to get them to play it your way. Mass media time is not a public service; it is a highly valuable commodity that is purchased by corporations and individuals who promote products, ideas, attitudes and images. The stakes of this game are high, and as artists the best we can hope for is a kind of guerrilla foray into that system.’ Here it would be wise to note the contributions of the Glasgow University Media Research Group (GUMG) and Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), engaged in research in the process of news production and the relationship between ideology and representation. The research of the GUMG has been very controversial since the publication of Bad News in 1976. Bad News was concerned with the television coverage of industrial relations in 1975. The GUMG’s analysis of television news led it conclude that the viewers had been given a misleading portrayal of industrial disputes, a portrayal that distorted the ‘real’ situation. The descriptions attached to management were such that they persuaded the audience of the rightness of the management position against the demands made by the unions. Thus, it has become the inherent nature of the media to manipulate things. In 1973 Galtung and Ruge analyzed foreign news in newspapers and found that for any event to become a ‘news item’, and therefore considered ‘newsworthy’, it had to pass through a selection process. If it conformed to a particular set of criteria, the news staff judged it newsworthy. Galtunge and Ruge calls those criteria as ‘news values’. The essay tells different methods to persuade the media for the political performance. But the question remains, if the media conforms to certain pre-determined news values, how can these campaigns succeed, despite the systematic efforts by the activists. Week 8: Jesse Drew, The Collective Camcorder in Art and Activism. The essay attempts to portray the role of the video makers’ collectives, in many resistance movements. The invention of the video camcorder has in fact changed the course of history. These movements and the developments in technology when coupled with the ideology of post modernism, took art and activism to new heights. From the efforts of independent artists to the collectives such as Paper Tiger and the Independent Media Center, the revolt has spread to resist the images presented by the mainstream media and culture. So the environment was all set for a departure from the art-video, and experiment something new that reached the people. As the essayist says, television is, after all, at the heart of our popular culture, the culture of the everyday, and dominates the media landscape. Video, when all is said and done, is a form of television, ‘a media device that conveys information. It is natural that video artists cross the boundaries of art and activism, and frequently choose to ‘subvert the message, not just exploit the form. This artistic jujitsu, using the weight of television to fall upon itself, emerged as a popular strategy among video collectives. Increasingly, video artists in the 1980s and 1990s embraced the necessity to reflect on, intervene, and challenge the contested terrain of television, mass media, and popular culture, and leave the art-video aesthetic behind.’ As Strinati called it ‘post modernism is skeptical of any absolute, universal and all embracing claim to knowledge and argues that theories or doctrines which make such claims are increasingly open to criticism, contestation and doubt. The mass media are central to the post modern condition because we now take as real, is to a large extent what media tell us is real. We are bombarded from all sides by cultural signs and images in all aspects of media. According to Baudrillard, we have entered the world of simulacra. These are signs that function as copies or models of real objects or events. In the post-modern era, simulacra no longer present a copy of the world, nor do they produce replicas of reality. Today†¦..social reality is structured by codes and models that produce the reality they claim to merely represent.’ From the 1960s onwards there was a revolt against the modernists. The post modernists thought believed in the breakdown of the distinction between culture and society, the break down of the distinction between art and popular culture, the confusion over time and space, and the decline of the meta narratives. The pop art of the 1960s demonstrates this clearly, for example, Andy Warhol presented soup tins and cola bottles as art, as well as challenging the uniqueness of Da Vinci’s portrait of the Mono Lisa by silk screening her image thirty times – Thirty are better than one. In fact post modernism has helped them to drift away from the so called artistic beliefs. In the words of the essayist ‘video artists in the 1980s and 1990s embraced the necessity to reflect on, intervene, and challenge the contested terrain of television, mass media, and popular culture, and leave the art-video aesthetic behind. The convergence of these new political, cultural, social, technological, artistic, and economic developments’ provided the impetus to the establishment of the counter movements like the Paper Television, and subsequently the Independent Media Center. In fact, video art has surpassed all other art forms in interpreting history. Week 9: Carole S. Vance, The War on Culture. The essay follows the great discussion in the world of art whether a self-censorship is inevitable when it comes to sexual images. Vance quotes instances where public ire overlooked the ‘artistic value’ when morality was questioned. Vance says that ‘the fundamentalist attack on images and the art world must be recognized as a systematic part of a right-wing political program to restore traditional social arrangements and reduce diversity. The right wing is deeply committed to symbolic politics, both in using symbols to mobilize public sentiment and in understanding that, because images do stand in for and motivate social change, the arena of representation is a real ground for struggle.’ He says that it is high time that a vigorous defence of art and images should be made. The author has given a new dimension to the culture war. This is not isolated with art or artistic movements. Representation of sexuality in media is more complex than in art, for example, counting the number of times that women appear on the screen because we cannot immediately identify a person’s sexual orientation in the way that we can identify markers of sex and race. Observations by Dyer on gay behavior can be more illustrative here on the representation of sexuality in media. He says ‘a major fact about being gay is that it doesn’t show. There is nothing about gay people’s physiognomy that declares then gay, no equivalent to the biological markers of sex and race. There are signs of gayness, a repertoire of gestures, stances, clothing and even environments that bespeak gayness but these are cultural forms designed to show what the person’s person alone does not show: that he or she is gay’. There are signs of gayness, for example gestures, accents posture and so on, but these markers of sexuality are socially constructed and are both historically and culturally specific. Media texts often rely on stereotypical narratives to indicate that characters in a story line are gay. These may include childlessness, loneliness, a man’s interest in arts or domestic crafts, a woman’s in mechanics or sports. ..each implying a scenario of gay life.’ Both lesbians and gays have been to use Tuchman’s term ‘symbolically annihilated’ by the media in general. The representation of these two groups has been particularly limited on television. The media has been very careful on such sensitive issues, but has not been so. Media has been overtly criticized primarily on its representations, but when coming to issues of morality, media tended to be very much conservative, and there of course has been   a lot of self-censorship. As the essayist says ‘symbolic mobilizations and moral panics often leave in their wake residues of law and policy that remain in force long after the hysteria has subsided, fundamentalist attack on art and images requires a broad and vigorous response that goes beyond appeals to free speech. Free expression is a necessary principle in these debates, because of the steady protection it offers to all images, but it cannot be the only one. To be effective and not defensive, the art community needs to employ its interpretive skills to unmask the modernized rhetoric conservatives use to justify their traditional agenda, as well as to deconstruct the â€Å"difficult† images fundamentalists choose to set their campaigns in motion.’ Artists can of course look at the way media behaves in this respect. Week 10: Kester Grant, A Critical Frame work for Dialogical Practice. Revolt, is word usually associated with the art movements and the biographies of artists themselves. Thus a shift from the galleries to community based installations is a natural course of the artistic history. The author explores these transitions as an inherent revolt that pervaded the artistic community. When the artists themselves began to question the gallery itself as an appropriate site for their work. At a time when scale and the use of natural materials and processes were central concerns in sculpture, the comparatively small physical space of the gallery seemed unduly constraining. Further, the museum, with its fusty, art historical associations, appeared ill equipped to provide a proper Context for works that explored popular culture or quotidian experience. Many artists saw museums, with their boards of wealthy collectors and businesspeople, as bastions of snobbish elitism in an era that demanded a more accessible and egalitarian form of art. There are many ways to escape the museum. In some cases artists chose to work in sites that were empty or depopulated (e.g., Gordon Matta-Clark's â€Å"cuttings† in abandoned buildings, Michael Heizer's or Robert Smithson's land art projects in nearly inaccessible locations), suggesting a certain anxiety about the social interactions that might occur upon venturing beyond sanctioned art institutions. One strand of this work is represented by the agitational, protest-based projects of Guerilla Art Action Group (GAAG), the Black Mask Group, and Henry Flynt in New York. Drawing on the energies of the antiwar movement and the traditions of fluxus performance and siruationism, these groups staged actions outside mainstream cultural institutions (Lincoln Center, Museum of Modern Art, etc.) to call attention to the complicity of these institutions with broader forms of social and political domination.' A different approach, and one more directly related to dialogical practices, emerged in the collaborative projects developed by artists associated with the Woman's Building in Los Angeles during the 1970s. Artists, fueled by political protests against the Reagan administration's foreign policy (especially in Central America), the antiapartheid movement, and nascent AIDS activism, as well as revulsion at the market frenzy surrounding neoexpressionism, with its retardaire embrace of the heroic male painter. A number of artists and arts collectives developed innovative new approaches to public and community-based work during the 1980s and early 1990s. The late 1980s and early 1990S witnessed a gradual convergence between old-school community art traditions and the work of younger practitioners, leading to a more complex set of ideas around public engagement. This movement was also catalyzed by the controversy over Richard Serra's Tilted Arc in the late 1980s, Community art projects are often centered on an exchange between an artist (who is viewed as creatively, intellectually, financially, and institutionally empowered) and a given subject who is defined a priori as in need of empowerment or access to creative/expressive skills. Thus the â€Å"community† in community-based public art often, although not always, refers to individuals marked as culturally, economically, or socially different from the artist. References: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz, Feminist Media Strategies For Political Performance 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jesse Drew, The Collective Camcorder in Art and Activism. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Carole S. Vance, The War on Culture 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kester Grant, A Critical Frame work for Dialogical Practice

Peaceful Islam Essay

The strategy outlined in â€Å"Fighting the Long War† is a good one. There are, of course, other options. One is to flee and do nothing more than we have already done. Yet, as the presentation’s authors suggest, this would almost certainly lead to the ruin of America. Stopping action now will not clear away centuries of hate and rage, nor will it erase the religious and political goals of a long committed enemy. Those who are less patient and less willing to lose men to a war, might suggested a shorter war, brought about by greater use of force. The military has been tied back and prevented from executing its full power in the Middle East. The United States could, if it wished, use its nuclear weapons against the enemy. Yet it does not. This may be a good thing. Using nuclear weapons would be unquestionably risky. Other countries which boast nuclear technologies might be tempted to retaliate, which could lead to the eventual destruction of American cities. It could also lead to chaos with unpredictable outcomes. Therefore, the best strategy seems to be to follow the long war approach of the presenters. Perhaps the most important point made in the presentation, was that Americans need to understand the nature and necessity of a long war and that they need to be able to trust their leaders. The main objection to involvement in Iraq was not that Sadam Hussein did not need to be stopped – it was that President Bush went in with the wrong motives. Whether the president’s motives were benevolent or malevolent, much of the American public distrusted him and this hurt the war effort substantially. Also of great import is the section on promoting the good points of peaceful Islam. Criticizing a person’s religion often triggers hostility. Those who have already been provoked by maltreatment by non-Muslims are much more likely to be converted violent extremism than those who have lived peacefully among their peers for many years. Promoting Islam’s peaceful movements, then, is a good counter-measure. Likewise, promoting assistance in rebuilding and democratizing Iraq is an excellent idea. Japan has certainly come a long way. It would be nice if Iraq could too.

How to Grow Baking Soda Crystals

Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate crystals tend to be small and white. Sometimes they can look a little like frost or icing when grown on a string. Heres how you grow baking soda crystals yourself: Materials Baking sodaWaterClean jar or glassStringWeight (e.g., paperclip)Pencil or butter knife (to hold the string over the glass) Prepare the Container You want to hang the string in the glass or jar so that it doesnt touch the sides or bottom of the container. Tie the string to the pencil or knife, weight it so it will hang straight, and adjust the length of the string so that it doesnt touch the bottom of the container. Prepare the Solution Mix as much baking soda as you can into just-boiled water. For 1 cup of water, this is approximately 7 teaspoons of baking soda. Add the baking soda a little at a time, stirring between additions, because carbon dioxide gas will be evolved, causing the solution to bubble initially. Alternatively, heat baking soda and cool water until it is near-boiling. Allow the solution to sit undisturbed for a few moments to allow any undissolved baking soda to sink to the bottom of the cup. Grow Baking Soda Crystals Pour the baking soda solution into the container. Avoid getting undissolved baking soda in the glass.You may wish to cover the container with a coffee filter or paper towel to keep the solution clean while permitting evaporation.Allow the crystals to grow as long as you like. If you start to see a lot of crystal growth on the sides of the container rather than on your string, pour the remaining solution into a new container. Transfer your string to the new container to get better growth.When you are satisfied with your crystals, you can remove them from the solution and allow them to dry.

The Effects Of Climate Change On Canada s Agriculture

Climate Change will positively impact Canada s Agriculture Thesis: Climate change will negatively impact Canada s Agriculture due to heavy rainfall, droughts, irrigation problems, pesticide issues and not enough nutrients available? Intro Agriculture is highly dependent upon weather and climate in order to produce the food necessary to sustain human life. North America is the world’s largest and most productive supplier of food and fiber (3). Canada is the second largest country in the world however it only contains five percent of land that is suitable for farming (7). This small farming area is divided in two different zones. The first zone is the great Prairies located in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and the mixed Wood Plains of the St. Lawrence River and the second zone is the Great Lakes regions (7). Approximately 80% of Canada’s major farming is done the Prairies (7). There have been several recent studies that indicate most regions of Canada to warm up during the next 60 years (3). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 projected that global average temperature to increase by 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius (3). Ironically, this would be the largest increase in global mean t emperature in the last 10, 000 years (3). According to the comprehensive Canada Country Study (CCS) all the Global Climate Model (GCM) indicates Canada will be impacted with the most warming (7). The impacts of this climate change will be greatly reflected on theShow MoreRelatedEssay about Global Warming and Agriculture1269 Words   |  6 PagesGlobal Warming and Agriculture Global warming has been a major topic of environmental concern over the past several decades. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recently predicted a 1 to 3.5 degree Celsius increase in average atmospheric temperature above 1990 levels by the year 2100. 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