Should taking photos be allowed everywhere Essay

Should taking photos be allowed everywhere - Essay Example Individuals often take photos for different reasons and in different avenues; however, issues may arise regarding where individuals decides to take their photos for various reasons that include privacy or security reasons. On another note, society today is liberal and this puts into question why people should be denied the liberty to take photos where they like. Taking photos needs to be allowed everywhere since this will allow individuals to relive their best memories on planet earth. This is especially important for those taking photos as a leisure, to commemorate a particular event or as a profession for instance photo journalism. In the contemporary world, photography has become part and parcel the working class, the youth and families who wants a piece of past events to keep as a souvenir. In industrialized nations such as the United States, United Kingdom and Japan are more attracted to tourism as a way of spending their vocation. In order to keep the memories of the areas that they visit as a tourist, taking photos is important for such tourists. This allows the tourists take back home part of the regions that they visit during their vocations. When back home such photos give some sense of satisfaction regarding how a person spent his vacation, this is often shaped with workmates or friends back home. The workplace is often hectic for professionals and vacations exist to help individuals to take a leave from the work environment. However, instead of resting home, these individuals often prefer to spend their vacation in a way that they will remember for a longer period. This has led to the establishment of vacation sites across the world. The scenes at these sites are often fascinating and tourists want to remember such sites by taking photos. On the other hand, photos hold a special place for families and in terms of remembering lifetime events such as

Psychological Testing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Psychological Testing - Essay Example There is no physician or psychiatrist at the end of these assessments. Only a paragraph or two stating that because of the answers of a specified number of questions, the person taking the quiz is or is not depressed, happy, etc. The concept of fun online surveys is great. Take a test to find a person's "RealAge" (Buchanan, 2002; Buchanan, 2003; Live Life to the Youngest with RealAge) or knowledge of books and movies, or even what job is the best, plus there are thousands more. The developers of these web sites that deal with medical issues create a very small medical disclaimer, usually at the bottom of the page, stating that the tests are for fun, and if a person has a true concern, medical attention is advised. This covers the developer, but allows for hundreds of thousands of people to take his/her word as the word of the doctor (Buchanan, 2002; Buchanan, 2003; Live Life to the Youngest with RealAge). Online surveys, if answered truthfully, could possibly lead to help people who think they may be depressed. For these people there is no differentiating a good and healthy test or quiz with an online game. These people could be misdiagnosed, or even worse, given a treatment that does not work and is potentially dangerous (Buchanan, 2002; Buchanan, 2003). This is the basis for which all new clinical studies should be considered. The majority of people in most western civilized countries will take these online tests and take the results as if from a real doctor. It is therefore important to analyze the differences between the games and the real questionnaires. The reliability, validity and statistically analyzed data need to be better understood by both the public and physicians to ensure the person/patient is not receiving incorrect information. Everyone must be diligent in this area and work harder to standardize the online and clinical questionnaires to build a broader base for data collection. Literature Review Even with the internet being fairly new in the last 20 years or so, there are more tests for personality and such on the internet than in most hospitals. Many of these are placed on websites that are not secure, are not authorized by any type of psychologist, psychiatrist or physician (Buchanan, 2002; Buchanan, 2003; Buchanan, Johnson, & Goldberg, 2005). But before the discussion turns to the website, the tests themselves need to be considered. When conducting any test, it is important to have the foundation of the population that will be tested as well as some basic norms to be used in the evaluation process. From these norms come labels or concepts that are often associated with web-surfers. In a comparative study on the preconceptions of internet based tests (Gosling, Vazire, Srivastrava, & John ,2004). The study listed six ideas, but for the purpose of this study, only a few will be considered. The first is the idea that the internet will not be as diverse as traditional methods of research. The group stereotyped internet users to be computer techs or loners (Gosling et al, 2004). These stereotypes did not necessarily coincide with previous research on the subject. In fact, the volunteers who take the online test are quite diverse and located around the

Critical thinking Essay Example for Free

Critical thinking Essay Utilitarianists are often persecuted for holding a morality in which the end always justifies the means, no matter how repulsive it may be to intuitional moral standards. Hare attempts to quiet controversy by combining act and rule utilitarianism in daily life in such a way that internal moral standards are satisfied and overall good is promoted. Kymlicka stays firm in his opposition to Hare’s theories and shuns the idea of consequentialism having intrinsic value greater than that of intuitive moral standards. Hare’s process of critical thinking combined with intuitionism leads to a flawless conclusion based on systematic procedure that will benefit the most people in the long term even against Kymlicka’s well thought out arguments. Kymlicka thinks that utilitarianism bypasses immediate obligations that should be fulfilled. He believes that utilitarianists’ foresight actually hinders their ability to do what is â€Å"right† or â€Å"just† in the present. He also believes that utilitarianism gives too much weight to illegitimate preferences, meaning that utilitarianists can often choose to do the worse option in consideration in order to satiate a desire for immoral happiness. In the specific case that he puts forward, Kymlicka uses the simple example of an everyday action in which a loan is given to him and he faces the moral dilemma of whether or not he should repay it. He believes that the utilitarianist might keep the money or give it away rather than repaying it if he thought that it would produce the most good in the end to himself or some other party. One may argue that by loaning out money it is consensual and therefore cannot be categorized as theft when the amount is not repaid. However, the loan was made with the qualification and equal understanding that the money would be repaid. Since Kymlicka uses the term â€Å"loan,† he is very much aware that he has the obligation to pay the money back. This may be called breaking a promise as well as theft, so it is doubly breaking a moral standard. Herein lays Kymlicka’s problem with utilitarianism and its criteria of morality. Phil 434 First Writing Assignment 1. Due Mon. Sep 13 Hare believes that there are two levels to moral thinking – critical and intuitive. Critical thinking is systematic and calculated while intuitive thinking is vaguer and based on feelings rather than a systematic procedure. It is said that each person starts at the intuitive level and then progresses to the critical level with age and maturity in understanding. He uses the example of two beings from opposite ends of the spectrum to show what one must be to think purely critically or intuitively – an archangel and a prole. The archangel has no human flaws thus can think critically all the time, and a prole has human flaws to an extreme degree thus must rely on intuitive thinking all the time. Consequentialism is the major theme of critical thinking, which aims to promote the most good to the most people in the end. He postulates, however, that since the human condition is flawed and cannot predict with certainty and without bias what is best in the long run, intuition must be used. Where intuition comes from is a controversial subject – but most believe that upbringing and environment have a strong effect on it and therefore may be tampered with. Since both levels have the possibility to be flawed, they must be used in conjunction. Vacillating between the two is the only way to make good moral decisions throughout one’s entire life. It can be argued that the two levels agree many times in normal day-to-day cases since there is a commonality to moral thinking, such as the law of non-maleficence. Both place in high respect accomplishing what is â€Å"good,† but both have different criteria as to what qualifies – namely what promotes the most good versus what you intuitively know to be the right thing to do. According to the utilitarianist, in a perfect world, critical thinking would be used all the time. Since humans have limits, however, Hare allows and even encourages intuitionism to be used and used often even though he views critical thinking to be superior. One cannot expect to sever himself of all emotion and possess the capability to see the exact outcomes of all possible Phil 434 First Writing Assignment 2.

Functions and Importance of Communication

Functions and Importance of Communication Any attempt to emphasise the importance of communication in modern day existence, clichà ©d as it may sound, is bound to be superfluous. In all probability, human life would cease to exist in its present form if communication were to be taken out of the picture. Communication helps humans in a myriad ways, by defining their identities and in satisfying their needs for affection, inclusion, assertion, relaxation and control. It is necessary at all waking hours; during work and at play. It is essential for gaining knowledge and building relationships, for doing daily tasks, and for achieving progress in life. Over the years extensive research, by social scientists and human relations experts, has given rise to an extensive body of literature on the subject. It is the purpose of this essay to take up the issue of communication within organisations and groups; evaluate its functions, and analyse its importance. All organisations, large or small, business, governmental or not for profit, have agendas that could range from the very complex to the extremely simple. Communication is a demanding organisational issue and vitally important to organizational functioning for the execution of these agendas, regardless of size, nature or industry type. Professor Leif Aberg (1998) of the Department of Communication, University of Helsinki states that communication gives these organisations momentum by fulfilling four basic functions, namely (a) supporting core functions, (b) profiling, (c) informing and (d) socialising. While the relative importance and scope of these four functions depends, to a great extent upon the size and nature of individual organisations, all four functions, taken together, undoubtedly account for most of the formal communication that occurs within organisations. Core functions of different organisations could range from manufacturing products to providing services; or as is the case with many governmental bodies, executing administrative work. Core processes, irrespective of their nature, can occur only through effective communication between organisational members. Communication can be top down, bottom up, horizontal or diagonal. Again it can relate to any or more of the issues involved in the carrying out of core functions. Incidences of such communication can occur in multifarious ways and can vary from production instructions given to a machine attendant to the distribution of work schedules by a supervisor or the routing of a customer order to the kitchen of a restaurant. Ineffective communication results in the creation of intra-organisational barriers and stifles efficient operations. Effective communication between the management and the workforce has, as such, become an accepted imperative for organisational excellence, and breakdow ns in this area are inevitably regarded as issues of major concern Profiling comes into play when long term corporate, product, service, or manager profiles are created. These profiles basically relate to crucial strategic choices made by organisations concerning their long term goals and objectives. A long term product or service profile, for example, represents the business strategy of an organisation. It would thus necessarily need to be communicated to all members of the organisations to make them aware about key organisational decisions and road maps. The dissemination of information within an organisation is another key component of organisational communication structure. Very typically, significant amounts of information are regularly processed within an organisation. These can (a) relate to events as well as developments that are internal or external to the organisation, or (b) concern organisational decisions taken at senior levels. Such information may need to be conveyed to members of the establishment. Decisions to communicate this sort of information are usually taken by members of senior management in consultation with communication managers. Recent developments in Internet Communication Technology, for example, could be of interest to all members of a communications company. In such a case, the communications manager might well decide to select and convey information that could be relevant to the employees or which pertains to developments that could well impact the company in the short or medium term. Information about internal decisions could cover a very broad ambit and possibly include details about organisational performance, targets, personnel policies, promotions, increments and the like. It is imperative to ensure that real time business information reaches all ranks and functions in the organization. Considering the bulk of such information, it is thus but appropriate that the majority of communication matters within organisations deal primarily with dissemination of routine information. The last regular function of communication concerns socialisation. Socialisation is primarily a process wherein members of an organisation or group learn to assimilate and internalise the behavioural norms, attitudes, thought processes and work ethics of the parent body. In most cases socialisation occurs when new entrants join organisations and take up their responsibilities. Its need could arise for existing organisational members too if they have to be transferred to different locations or departments. Socialisation is essentially a learning process and could be needed, both at the time of induction of employees into an organisation, or at the time of their induction to work. It is one of the primarily responsibilities of the Human Resources function and normally takes place through training and induction protocols. These protocols are obviously dependent on communication through written, audiovisual, personal interaction, mentoring, or classroom mediums for their actual operation . Apart from these four standard functions, informal communication takes place constantly within organisations and groups and serves to increase social interaction between colleagues and co-workers; thereby helping in building relationships, inculcating feelings of belonging and strengthening organisational loyalty and commitment. The British Army, for example, encourages officers to get together at regimental messes, after the days work, to bond and build relationships of trust, regimental pride, camaraderie, and loyalty towards the country and the Queen. Informal communication takes place, most commonly between people who share the same workplace, as well as within small groups who build relationships in canteens, office gyms and during informal group activity events. While this type of communication is generally outside the administrative control of organisation, most organisational leaders try to ensure that informal communication remains healthy, or rather, that it does not dispar age anybody. Most HR managers feel that informal communication should protect the interests of the organisation and remain free of gender or race abuse. Communication is not thought of any more as a routine and peripheral function. Its role as a driver of organisational success is well accepted and managements are increasingly trying to ensure its optimal use in the shaping and steering of organisations. Richard Luss and Steven Nice (2004) of Watson Wyatt state that communication serves organisations in two major ways. Firstly it drives superior performance by ensuring the following. Employees feel connected to the business and understand how their actions can support it. New employees exhibit solid connections to the company culture starting from their initial days on the job. Communication quickly connects employees to changing business challenges, facilitating faster adjustments to fluctuating market conditions. Management effectively connects with employees through strong leadership during times of organizational change Secondly, it helps in improving business performance by â€Å"(a) building a strong foundation of formal communication structure and processes, which rely on employee feedback and effectively use technology to connect with employees, dealing directly with the strategic issues of change, continuous improvement and business strategy integration and alignment, and (b) by changing employee behavior by inducing changes in managers’ and supervisors’ behavior and by creating a line of sight between employees and customers† (Luss and Nice, 2004) The challenges of modern business and the intense and ever-increasing competition that have become its distinguishing features demand sharp and cutting edge operational efficiencies. The use of excellent communication is proving to be one of the most effective tools in the hands of organisational leadership for routing their companies towards ambitious targets and greater successes. References Aberg, L, (1998), Organisational communication as a strategic resource, Retrieved January 10, 2007 from www.valt.helsinki.fi/staff/aberg/iabclast/ Harris, T. E. (2002). Applied Organizational Communication: Principles and Pragmatics for Future Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Kramer, M. W. (2004). Managing Uncertainty in Organizational Communication. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Luss, R and Nyce, S, (2004), Connecting Organizational Communication to Financial Performance: The Methodology behind the 2003/2004 Communication ROI Study, Retrieved January 10, 2007 from www.ociabc.org/events/presentations/ROI_Study_Methodology.pdf Manning, P. K. (1992). Organizational Communication. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Tourish, D. Hargie, O. (Eds.). (2004). Key Issues in Organizational Communication. New York: Routledge.

David Copperfield :: essays research papers

David Copperfield The novel David Copperfield, written by Charles Dickens, deals with the life and times of David Copperfield. About a century ago in a small town in England, David was born on a Friday at the stroke of midnight, which is considered a sign of bad luck. David's father has already died and his aunt comes to stay with him and his mother as this novel gets off to a very slow start. Soon David becomes aware that his mother has relations with another man and asks one of his servants, "if you marry a person, and the person dies, why then you may marry another person, mayn't you?" David is immediately angered that his mother has betrayed his father and goes off to live with his aunt. A while later, David goes back home but quickly gets into trouble and is sent off to school. Dickens uses excellent description in his telling of this story and the reader can easily relate to the characters. The setting of a small town in England is standard in all of his novels, including Great Expectations. The reason for this Dickens' setting is because he was born in the town of Portsmouth, England in 1812. Although as a young child he moved to Chatham where he experienced a pleasant childhood in which many scenes from his childhood are intertwined throughout his novels. Dickens father was constantly in debt and was eventually sent to jail. This memory was agonizing for young Charles as years later he wrote: "No words can express the secret agony of my soul. I felt my early hopes of growing up to be a learned and distinguished man, crushed in my breast." This directly relates to Dickens discussion of David in a wine house later in the novel. A couple of years later, Dickens attends school at the Wellington House Academy where he fell in love with Maria Beadnell but her father opposed the marriage and nothing became of it. David Copperfield is more of a biography of Dickens life made into fiction than of just a regular story about a boy. Dickens writing skills are apparent as he ties chapters together in an easy to understand novel where the writing seems to move along swiftly. Dickens work is rich with metaphors and enjoyable to analyze as in statements such as, "he eats at one gulp exactly like an elephant." This book is a classic and may be considered his best work. There are times when the novel moves slowly, but the positives outweigh the negatives and David

Performance Enhancing Drugs Essay -- sports, athletes, drug addiction

Fourth quarter, three seconds left, tie game. Bodies exhausted and sweat all over. Ball in hand and the shot goes up. Swoosh, and the crowd goes wild! The intensity in the arena is insane and the fans all cheer out. This is what all athletes dream of. Playing the sport that they love and getting paid to do it, but how can a professional perform at the top of their game and have supporting fans if they waste everything away on drugs. They have people who look up to them as role models and they get paid to perform. The sport is their life and also supports others. Non-professional athletes are not held to this standard however and should be allowed to do as they please. Although some drugs can be seen as damaging to the health of individuals, especially athletes, some drugs can be used in other ways. However the main problem of drugs isn’t the use of the drug but the abuse. People become addicted to the substance and tend to rely on it rather than occasional use. Someone such as an athlete should not be addicted to something so life consuming as a drug. The lack of self-control with athletes towards the drugs has become a concerning social problem. Those who watch sports or look up to athletes have noticed the great disappointment when the drugs affect their body in many ways so professionals should be held to a higher standard than high school athletes. â€Å"High school athletes are not under contract, they do not get paid, and they don’t have social expectations. Professional athletes are expected to treat their bodies a certain way and drugs interfere with that. A high school player is without expectations and they should be able to decide for themselves what they do. Whether drugs cause enough harm to interfere with an athlete’s fu... ...Top List Of NBA's Most Valuable Teams." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. dollar-knicks-and-lakers-top-list-of-nbas-most-valuable-teams/>. "Drug Abuse & Addiction." Drug Abuse and Addiction: Signs, Symptoms, and Help for Drug Problems and Substance Abuse. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. nt.htm>. "Opinion L.A." Student Drug Testing Doesn't Work [Blowback]. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. . "Parents, Experts Divided on School Drug Testing." Msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. childrens_health/t/parents-experts-divided-school-drug-testing/>.

How Technology Transforms the Private and Public Realms

Jenny Tae English 100 Professor Nicole Pekarske I’m Sorry, What? Robert Samuels, â€Å"Breaking Down Borders: How Technology Transforms the Private and Public Realms. † Reading Popular Culture pages 9-12 I completely agree with this article that technology makes people oblivious to everything around us and be consumed in our own technology. This article portrays exactly what is becoming of the society with the progressing technological advances. Samuels explains how technology can be a barrier to the outside world, our surroundings, and even our loved ones. He explains his observations in the Borders Cafe and how the people are so tuned into their technology and there is barely little to any actual social interaction. He continues to say how anyone can make any public setting their own personal space filled with their technology and their business. I was especially interested and could relate to how he couldn’t even go on to the second page of his book because of a woman talking on her cell phone along with her computer turned on and a magazine on her lap. She’s oblivious to her surroundings and has made that table space her own personal office. Everyone around her learns how she had to cancel her appointment on Friday because of her loud phone conversation. Probably not knowing there were people around her she continues to loudly announce her schedule on her device. Some people might say that technology is a definite positive development with only positive changes. However, although the technological advance have been and is extremely helpful to everyone around the world, people need to think about how people can be too consumed in the technology that they can isolate themselves from the outside world even. Having fun with technology is normal, but we must not forget how to really communicate without the use of texting or email. Communicating face-to-face should be a key skill humans should never lose. The saying, â€Å"having too much of a good thing, can be bad,† is what comes to my mind when I think of technology. The progressing advancements in technology can be hurtful and turn into losing loved ones, with only your technology to console you. Many people don’t realize that having all of this technology is a privilege and they abuse it. Something Samuel said in this article really caught my eye, â€Å" With wireless technology, laptops and cell phones not only help us cross back and forth between the public and private, but they also function to determine the distinction between work and play. † (11) This quote really makes me think and caught my attention because I could relate so much and I’m sure many other students, even adults can say that they have done this at least once. We know that we have work to finish or something we have to do and need technology to accomplish it, yet our hands and eyes wander to personal interests and make us less productive. Technology tempts us to slightly or extremely go off track even though we know we have work to do. The way Samuel presents this problem in the article really shows people to stop and take a look at their personal lives and how much technology we consume ourselves with without even knowing how much we depend on it. He tells the reader how technology growing so rapidly results to us becoming less aware of our surroundings and can hurt loved ones around us. Have you ever had the experience of going out with your family or friends and they are constantly on their devices? Then when they’re not listening while you tell them a story, they go â€Å"I’m sorry, what? † That just makes the outgoing very dull and can make the other person even very upset. Although he/she is out with someone else, they are texting someone else. How about going to a public setting and seeing very young kids on their technological devices talking about web camming with each other and facebooking together. I see that everywhere to kids even young as 10 talk about facebook and twitter and texting 24/7. When I see that I remember how it was when I was a kid and remembering going outside with my friends and talking about how boys were gross. Now as technology grows faster it seems that young children feel that they are more grown than what their actual age is. Remember newspapers, magazines, and book? Who needs them if we can buy anything online onto our kindle, iphone, or laptop? Want to pay your bills? There’s a site were you can dot that. Anything these days can be found online and can be purchased online so we don’t even have to go to the store. Technology has given us the opportunity to become lazier and more content with just pushing one button and not moving from our seats. Technology also can be contributed to people exercising less which can result into the growing obesity rate of America. Technology is rapidly growing to make life more convenient, but we need to make sure that it does not damage and disrupt our personal lives. Being aware of our surroundings and still interacting socially is key. We cannot abuse all of the technology around us that is ever so changing. There are positive aspects to technology and how it has helped the world, however, the negative aspects outweigh the good. The negative aspects can be detrimental to society if people do not realize the damage technology can have if we let technology consume our lives.