Social Responsibility and Sustainable Business Practices Essay Example for Free

Social Responsibility and Sustainable Business Practices Essay Businesses, specifically larger corporations, play a major role in what occurs in society therefore, they are responsible to their stakeholders not only to pursue economic goals but the greater social good as well. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that a corporation should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment. (Lawrence, 2010). Social responsibility is becoming the norm so much so that some businesses have incorporated it into their business model. There are three components of the bottom line of social responsibility in business: planet, people, and profitability (3P). This is also the formulation of the triple bottom line, or TBL. In this report we look at the Network Data Center (NDC) in Tucson, AZ which provided technical support to the Army installation. The business consists of 120 people supporting over 6,000. Each employee has a minimum of one computer, some have multiple for different classification levels, and two monitors. There are a few classrooms with multiple computers in them as well. The company provides network, server, helpdesk, customer management, information assurance, and various other information technology services to the base. We take a look at the TBL of social responsibility in the view of environmental, ethical leadership, organizational viability, and legal and regulatory considerations and make recommendations for implementation. Environmental Businesses are going beyond regulatory compliance and becoming green. This gives companies a competitive advantage as well as legitimacy and product differentiation, moral commitment to the economy, and cost savings. Environmental analysis is a method managers can use to gather outside information on current issues and trends and turn that information into  actions that minimize threats and take advantages of new opportunities. Many corporations use the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to farm out guidelines and use them in their own business. Some considerations to take into account are the materials used and the percentage of those materials that are recycled, direct and indirect energy consumption, water withdrawal, biodiversity, emissions, effluents, and waste, reclaimed products and services, compliance, environmental impacts of transportation of products, and the overall protection expenditures. For the NDC, we consider electronics recycling, energy conservation, and waste m anagement. Considerations. Electronics Recycling. When the company does its annual lifecycle of computers, laptops, monitors, servers, and the like, I recommend research and review of the possibility of upgrades in lieu of new machines. Then when replacing parts, the old unserviceable ones will be sent to a recycling facility. The company can go to http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/donate.htm to find a place to recycle electronics. Best Buy offers in-store, event, and online recycling program options. I recommend the company review and implement a computer/ electronics recycling program. By upgrading versus new purchase, the company will benefit from cost savings and may be able to upgrade to better machines than they would if buying full new systems. This cost savings can be reinvested elsewhere in the business. Energy Conservation. The company currently has a high energy consumption in their electronics. Little is done to conserve. Before budget crisis within the company, the rule was everyone had to leave their computers on all night and updates were run at night to maintain information assurance compliance. Since the budget downfall a few years ago, all updates must be done during the day. Employees still leave their machines on at night, restarting before they leave for the night, because the rule has never changed. Efficiency efforts could be in place here to save energy. Waste Management. Since we already discussed electronics recycling, this  consideration is for the waste management of municipal solid waste (MSW) – or everyday items. MSW is the everyday things we use and throw out in the office. This can include items such as packaging, grass clippings, old furniture, bottles, food scraps, and batteries. According to the EPAs annual report on MSW, Americans throw away about 4.3 pounds of waste per person, every day. Preventing waste should be considered as well as recycling and composting. Recommendations. Electronics Recycling. Electronic recycling is one consideration the company can do better with. Recycling in general lowers greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by manufacturing items for the first time. Recycling electronics conserves natural resources making cleaner air and water. The valuable resources computers and electronic components carry are metals, plastics, and glass. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recycling a million laptops would give back enough energy for 3500 American homes’ electricity. A million cell phones would could yield 35,000 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium. Instead of throwing out the old computers and blackberry’s, the company could simply upgrade the hardware or software and then recycle the parts necessary. Energy Conservation. To conserve energy, it is my recommendation that the company have employees shut down computers at night in lieu of restarting. Although some equipment such as the servers and UPS will still need to run, 150+ computers shut down at night will save energy resulting in cost savings for the company. Not only will this save money in utility billing, but also extend the life of the machines. When purchasing new pieces, parts, and machines, I also recommend looking for energy star equipment that uses less energy when it is running. Waste Management. I recommend the company implement better plans on waste prevention such as utilizing the electronics we have to manage records instead of printing hard copies. Some of the older generation employees  like to have a backup paper copy of items and are not held accountable to the paper reduction policies in place. Preventing excess printing results in cost savings for the company in paper and ink. A recycling and composting plan should be set in place by the company. The waste company provides free recycle and compost containers. NDC simply needs to implement and plan and educate employees on when and how to recycle and composting when appropriate. Employees should be encouraged to use recyclable paper, glass, and metals for meals, dishes, and utensils instead of Styrofoam plates for example. Recycling and composting is free and will scale down the amount of actual waste is used by the company. This essential results in cost savings to the company as well. In addition to the benefits to the company, the efforts of less disposables diminishes the carbon dioxide equivalent into the air helping preserve the earth. Ethical Leadership All leaders in business have a responsibility to earn a profit but ethical leaders take it one step further by going above and beyond the regulatory guidance. Bad ethical leadership can cause competitive pressure such as with Enron who fired the bottom 20% of performers every year. This caused employees to focus heavily on numbers and became unethical. Poor ethics in the workplace can cause issues because of personal gain and selfish interest or if there are conflicts of interest. Ethical leaders behave ethically, value and live by ethical behavior, set the pave through expectations and examples, establish an environment of continuous improvement, provides opportunities for people to grow personally and professionally, and they care and act with compassion. Ethical workplaces encourage long time employees who continue to work there until retirement. Ethical leaders choose to lead. They are the people want to follow, they are not just obeyed by force. These leaders provide vision and inspiration that makes employees feel important and appreciated. Ethical leaders facilitate a positive culture in business motivating and shaping employees’ attitudes. Ethical leadership covers the â€Å"people† part of the 3P in the TBL. Some considerations we look at in this category are labor practices and decent work, human rights, society, and product responsibility. Consideration. Occupational Health and Safety. This metric falls under labor practices and decent work and covers rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and work related fatalities. For NDC, the rates of injury are the most troublesome. Employees are often sick, office by office as they pass around a virus or bacteria. Ill employees are not asked to utilize their sick leave and stay home. Another thing to consider in this category is employees going home from injuries from lack of ergonomics. There is a climate from management that if a worker asks for an ergonomic accommodation it is because that employee is weak or making excuses. Employees live with wrist or back pain or the like until they are hospitalized or require surgery. Discrimination. Another consideration for the company is in human rights, or in particular discrimination. There are multifaceted ways discrimination can surface. Although the company does well in most cases, there are few areas where discrimination is not as blaringly evident but still needs to be addressed. For NDC, there is a discrimination of single parents. Single fathers are looked upon with sympathy and empathy. Accommodations are made with scheduling and compliance to regulations. Single fathers who are late because they had issues getting their kids to school are given the compassionate â€Å"it’s ok† response. Single mothers are hardly looked at through the same lens. They are viewed as the troublemakers who can’t get their act together. In one such incident a single father divorced because of his own infidelity with multiple women, most coworkers. The company immediately accommodated his schedule and put him on the coveted day shift so he could work around daycare. In his department, they are required to change schedules and work a different shift, every quarter. He has been on the same schedule for two years because management feels for his â€Å"situation†. Another young mother called in one day to let the company know her mother was sick and could not watch the kids. She would be two hours late because she had to wait for her backup daycare to open and take the kids there. When she arrived at work she was given a discipline note  explaining that daycare issues are not the organizations problem and she was put on probation of losing her job. When the female employee inquired about the inconsistencies between women and men, they eloquently reminded her she was on probation. These type of incidents continuously happen in NDC. The company should consider their actions, intentional or not. If daycare issues are personal and not a concern of the company, then they should not be a concern for anyone. Discrimination is unethical behavior that looks poorly on the company and ruins morale. Recommendations. Occupational Health and Safety. It is my recommendation that the company provide hand sanitizer lotion to each employee as well as some in common areas. This will help prevent the spread of germs in the offices. Although union issues limit the supervisor’s ability to make employees use their sick leave to stay home when they are sick, they can educate workers on the importance of not spreading their illness. Masks can be offered to shield sick employees from the healthy ones as well. The local hospital offers free ergonomic evaluations and recommendations for employees regardless if they work in the warehouse lifting heavy equipment, or sitting at a desk all day. I recommend management change their way of thinking on ergonomics and allow employees to receive the care they need. Implementing preventative actions now will save the company money later. Medical bills will remain lower if people are not having carpel tunnel syndrome surgery or surgery to correct a spinal disk out of place. The company will benefit from having the employees at work and not paying employees to be gone on medical leave. This holds true for caring for sick employees as well. Keeping the healthy employees free from contagions, will save the company time and money as well as get more work done. Discrimination. My recommendation for the company is to review the accommodations and special exceptions it gives to employees. Sensing sessions should be conducted with the employees or anonymous surveys to bring these type of issues to light. Any discrimination acts reported by employees should be immediately addressed and taken seriously. Unethical  behavior by management causes employees not to trust them. Unhappy employees can become disgruntled and even unethical themselves. Someone who is being treated inappropriately will not be as productive and retention can become an issue for the company. Ethical leaders foster communication and better working environments, leading to better business. Organizational Viability Long term survival and sustain profits over time. The longer the company is profitable, the better its viability. To be socially responsible, a company must remain viable. Opportunities, threats, stagnant times, times of growth, and initiating innovative ideas are all opportunities to lower costs and stay ahead of competitors. There are many ways to measure sustainability of a company. The company can use sustainability accounting, conduct shareholder value analysis, lifecycle assessment, balanced scorecard, activity based costing, lifecycle costing, full cost accounting, expected value analysis, and sensitivity analysis. The company must look at itself from a financial perspective, but also from a customer, internal business process, and learning and growth perspective as well. Considerations. Market Presence. Being present in the market is core to viability. The company makes purchases from contracts with small businesses throughout the country to level the economic balance. The company also provides services to any local government agency. NDC has a local internal extranet for customers for processes and procedures to request assistance as well as self-help. The hiring process for the company is an online one that is long, difficult, and confusing to someone new to the system. Prospective employees must first create an account and build a resume using the specific template provided. This lengthy process uses a lot of jargon and requires very specific information. Once the account is created, the prospect can search for jobs which can be time consuming if unfamiliar with the jargon. If a job is found, the user can click apply which attaches their resume created in the profile, and then asks multiple questions. These questions  are a combination of checkboxes and written responses. This assessment is typically from four to nine pages in length. After applying, a computer scans resumes for matches of key words, words that were not in the job announcement. Then, the resumes that pass are sent to a human resources department that review for actual qualifications. The remaining qualified resumes are then sent to the hiring branch. The branch has to score each resume based on a preapproved rubric about two pages in length. Once scored, the top people are called for an interview. Once interviews are conducted, the selection is made and sent back to human resources. Human resource department offers the applicant the job and works on the details. The process often takes months. Customer Service and Competitive Advantage. Understanding customers’ needs and wants and implementing service based on those desires through a strategic plan is key to maintaining a competitive advantage. Companies must be able to adapt quickly to customer demands. A company must be either low cost or a value added type business. In the case of NDC, the value added is one of providing differentiated products and services that contain only attributes associated with the base. The scope is specialized. The company must still maintain social responsibility in this area and can do so by providing excellent customer service. Without the customers, there would be no business. The company’s customers take many forms. There are civilians, Soldiers, contractors, and suppliers. All services provided by the company are followed up with the opportunity to conduct a survey. Metrics of the work done versus the surveys is also collected and reported to higher headquarters. Service req uests that come in are documented in a local system however, phone calls are not recorded. Recommendations. Market Presence. NDC can improve its market presence with upgrading its current internal website and creating social media venue presence to address the current issues at hand. The company can research competitor sites and come up with more ideas that appeal to the target market. The hiring process needs some work. A thorough analysis of the process should be conducted  reviewing the most time consuming portions. For example if the scoring of the resumes at the branch is the issue, maybe a team is created that does only that so the process will go faster. Too often when an applicant is offered the job, it has been so long they have been offered a job elsewhere and decline the invitation. Losing the best qualified employees hurts the company and the bottom line. Remaining in the market competitively involves having the best employees available to provide the best service available. Customer Service and Competitive Advantage. Although the surveys are sent to higher management, the metrics are not utilized locally. The only time the feedback is mentioned at all, is if there is a majorly negative survey that comes in and is sent back down to the director. It is recommended that the company have local supervisors review the metrics for their own personnel and address the overall performance of its own employees at the lowest level. This will help improve the customer experience and keep them coming back. Positive customer service should be rewarded and negative ones, addressed. Clear indications of the level of service that is expected should be communicated. Valid and verifiable expectations should be measured and identified. Customer expectations should be priority, customer service strategy should be analytical and communicated to all units on base internal and external. This will give customers an opportunity to recognize when service is not met as promised. The company should also consider recording its phone calls and conducting quality assurance on the calls to catch issues missed by customers skipping the survey. Legal and Regulatory Considerations Social Responsibility within the confines of legal and regulatory considerations and recommendations are similarly important. To remain social responsible, companies must adhere to laws. In addition to conducting business within the confines of the law, companies should proactively anticipate new regulations and act proactively. Since the NDC is a government entity, it must operate within the boundaries of local and federal laws. Considerations. FAR. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), found at http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/pdf/FAR.pdf, is the governing regulation used by all federal executive agencies in the acquisition of supplies and services. â€Å"It became effective on April 1, 1984, and is issued within applicable laws under the joint authorities of the Administrator of General Services, the Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, under the broad policy guidelines of the Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget.† The NDC uses the FAR for all acquisitions. Specifically in part 39 of the regulation, Information Technology acquisitions are covered. The FAR governs that appropriated funds are not to be used to acquire information technology that is not deemed necessary to the function and operation of the agency. Too often in the government and in NDC specifically, the latest and greatest are highly sought after items. The contracting agency sometimes scrutinizes the justification of products too harshly and in other times, not enough. The regulation states that contracting officers must be cognoscente of the rapidly ever changing information technology world. In NDC, users requesting items for purchase must submit the required documents to include justification into a SharePoint portal which is then processed by the acquisitions team. The team reviews and sends completed packets to the contracting office. The contracting office then makes a determination on the item(s). Exchange of Material and Disposition. Disposition of property in the government is governed by US Code Title 10, chapter 153, Exchange of material and disposal of obsolete, surplus, or unclaimed property. Basically the company is not allowed to see equipment but rather uses it until it does not meet the mission and then the process is to turn in the equipment and recycle most materials. Sometimes older machines, servers, or other information technology pieces of equipment are still in good working order, just not robust enough to accomplish the Army mission or provide proper security. The US Code Title 38 covers veteran’s benefits and part VI chapter 83 covers the acceptance of gifts and bequests. NDC does not donate any items to organizations outside of itself. The company is being social responsible in disposition of equipment the right way however, it could improve by making more donations. Business Processes. Federal laws, regulations, and mandatory IT standards for securing private sector information technology systems and data in critical infrastructure sectors is managed by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). Information Technology is considered a critical infrastructure sector coming more popular after enactments of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. â€Å"GAO has identified a set of essential and complementary management disciplines that provide a sound foundation for information technology (IT) management. These include: IT strategic planning, Enterprise architecture, IT investment management and Information Security.† (GAO, 2014). Part of the IT disciplines identified in the law is that best practice is to require that processes are documented to account for all operations and be integrated with strategic and operational planning processes. In NDC, the company realizes its social responsibility to create processes. The company has created a web page to host the processes for all things IT. This relates to helpdesk issues, do it yourself ideas, budget and acquisitions information, enterprise license agreements, service level agreements, and a number of other processes. This repository can be accessed by anyone with a government common access card (CAC). The issue with the site is that is it disorganized and mostly unknown to the general public on base. Recommendations. FAR. Information Technology acquisitions are justified by the users and the contracting office makes a determination if the justification is valid. The company must be social responsible in spending the governments money because it is the tax payers who fund the government. A contractor who is not an Information Technologist, would not be able to make a fair determination if a piece of equipment is needed for the operation of the business or not. It is recommended that the contracting office have an Information Technologist liaison who can help determine if the purchases are valid, or if they are  just the users â€Å"I saw it so I want it† desires. This would assist the government in getting the items that are needed to perform the job better, and would cut costs on the items that are not necessary to the government. Exchange of Material and Disposition. One year NDC life cycled all 357 computers for new and improved ones that were capable of handling more security issues. Since it was such a large quantity, the business offered to donate some of the machines to other small businesses in need. One of the smaller reserve units nearby had really old computers with I think Windows 3.1. So NDC donated about 11 computers and the Soldiers were able to work more efficiently during drill weekends. This situation was out of the ordinary. Usually the computers are sent in to a central facility and then cycled out from there. Although this is a social responsible action, I recommend the company look into donating more items in the future. The US Code 38 8301 specifically says that â€Å"The Secretary may accept devises, bequests, and gifts, made in any manner, with respect to which the testator or donor shall have indicated the intention that such property shall be for the benefit of groups of persons formerly in the active military, naval, or air service who by virtue of such service alone, or disability suffered therein or therefrom, are or shall be patients or members of any one or more hospitals or homes operated by the United States Government, or has indicated the intention that such property shall be for the benefit of any such hospital or home, or shall be paid or delivered to any official, as such, or any agency in administrative control thereof. The Secretary may also accept, for use in carrying out all laws administered by the Secretary, gifts, devises, and bequests which will enhance the Secretary’s ability to provide services or benefits.† (US Code 38 Veterans Benefits) This means the company can donate their used and useful equipment to assist the Veterans Association (VA) to enhance the ability to provide services or benefits. There would not be lengthy tax paperwork but only a small hand receipt trail of the transfer. This would benefit both agencies as well as the Veterans and Soldiers effected by the quality of care. Business Processes. It is recommended that NDC take the time and consideration to re-do their web pages. A team should be created to specifically handle the project and all shareholders should be involved. This means the company should discuss with the customers as well as the NDC employees on a strategy to build a better more informative site. Once built, the site should be advertised in the base paper, on the installation homepage. These processes should be better organized and updated regularly so NDC remains social responsible to its customers. Social responsibility is essential to the bottom line. By taking the recommended steps above, NDC can work towards becoming a more social responsible company with constant upward mobility. References Lawrence, Anne (2010). Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy. 13th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 2010. VitalBook file. Bookshelf. Federal Acquisitions Regulation (2005). General Services Administration, Department of Defense. Retrieved from http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/pdf/FAR.pdf 21 June 2014. U.S. Code: Title 38 Veterans’ Benefits. 38 U.S. Code Part VI Acquisition and Disposition of Property. Chapter 85—disposition of deceased veterans personal property ( §Ã‚ § 8501–8528). http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text Government Accountability Office (GAO) (2014). Best Practices and Leading Practices in Information Technology Management. http://www.gao.gov/key_issues/leading_practices_information_technology_management/issue_summary

Audio-Visual Techniques for Communication and Expression

Audio-Visual Techniques for Communication and Expression Use of Audio-Visual Techniques in expression of ideas – an insight into the use of effective techniques Word Count: 2554 Table of Contents (Jump to) 1. Introduction – Audi visual techniques and communication 1.1 Background of Study 2. Marry Me 2.1 Narrative 2.2 Characterisation 2.3 Genre convention and variation 2.4 Specific technical features 3. Photo Booth 3.1 Narrative 3.2 Characterisation 3.3 Genre convention and variation 3.4 Specific technical features 4. Conclusion References 1. Introduction – Audi visual techniques and communication The use of the different audio visual techniques in communication and expression of ideas has been widely regarded as an important and significant evolution of the different techniques used for communication that emerged from the use of print medium and incorporation of multimedia. Communication has always been an important part of human existence and throughout the history of mankind; the same has seen a transformation from mere papyrus sheets to the incorporation of the elements of sight and sound (Branston and Stafford, 2010). The opinion of experts on the transformation on the use of visual communication is diverse, but all of them are believed to be in affirmation with the fact that the use of different audio visual techniques in communication is considered to be the most effective and efficient by senders and receivers alike (Cunningham and Turner, 2010). The reason behind the same being the fact that the incorporation of the different audio visual formats helps in the presentation of the communication in a most concise manner, yet again enabling the sender to create a long lasting impression on the mind of the receivers (Chandler, 2004). 1.1 Background of Study The aim of this academic work is to highlight the importance of the different audio visual techniques and formats and its application to the creation of two astounding creations – short films, that have made it to the finals of Tropfest, considered being the most prestigious recognitions of Australian short film categories. What makes the feature more important and relevant is the fact that annually only 16 short films are considered by the jury as finalists from a pool of more than 700 entries annually. The two important finalists to the same event that have been selected for analysis in the study are director Michelle Lehmann’s Marry Me that had been adjudged the winner of 2008’s Tropfest. The other short film is that of Photo Booth, which had been directed by Michael Noonan (http://tropfest.com, 2014). The following sections of the academic work will be individually considering taking into consideration the narrative, characterisation, genre convention and specific technical features that have helped these short films receive the accolades (Cunningham and Turner, 2010) that have led to the popularity of the films in the Australian and International film circuit as well. 2. Marry Me Michelle Lehmann’s short film Marry Me that is of 7 minutes duration. The plot revolves around a little boy and girl with their individual attention and objects of interest. The following sections provide an insight into the narrative, characterisation, genre convention and highlight the technical features that have set the film apart from the rest of the entrants to the contest (O’Donnell, 1999). 2.1 Narrative The film is seen to revolve around the interest among two young individuals and the communication or the idea that has been expressed in the film has been carefully crafted, reflecting the different individual pursuits of two young people, which have been seen to have a strange co-incidence to real life drawing significant parallel to people’s needs and wants. The film depicts the girl is particularly interested in the boy who is overwhelmed by materialistic pursuits signified by the love for his little BMX bike. The message and expression of the idea of the film is clear through the emotions that have been captured through the girl’s expressions and gleam in eyes every time he sees the boy. The girl is depicted to have fallen in love with the bike riding boy and the same has been clearly expressed through the attempts by the girl to draw the boy’s attention through a number of different ways (http://tropfest.com, 2014). Many are of opinion that the film is about the complexities of emotions of the young, but it also subtly underpins the interest and love of two different people – love for the boy for the girl, and the boy’s (Jason) interest in nothing but the bike that he has. 2.2 Characterisation Michelle Lehmann had drawn crucial similarities to the character of the girl as she had stated that even as a 5 or 6 year old girl, she had experienced the same emotional tension as being attracted to a boy who had been her neighbour and like Jason, had been found to have a particular knack to materialistic pursuits that are considered to be natural (O’Donnell, 1999). The girl who is seen to endlessly pursuit her love interest in the film has been named Chloe and the boy Jason. In order to express her idea clearly to the audience, Michelle has carefully selected the two most astounding young actors in the roles of Chloe and Jason who have been able to win the hearts of the viewers through their childish charms and natural acting. For Jason, the need was to portray a character that was very much in skin of the role portrayed by him – a young BMX enthusiast and the ease with which Jason has been seen to express his disinterest for Chloe busy fixing the wheels of his little bike makes on feel as if it is almost real and not a short film. On the other hand, the role that had been portrayed by the young girl Chloe has been nothing less than au naturel. The determined look and the expression on her face towards the end of the short film as she approaches the high plank constructed by Jason leaves one spell bound and many would wonder whether the expression can be attributed to the next to impossible task in real life (http://tropfest.com, 2014). 2.3 Genre convention and variation The genre of the film is based on the complexities of human emotion and it needs to be highlighted that the message that has been attempted to be conveyed through the short film is largely based on the different emotional pulls and pushes one might experience at a young age. Much of the film is aimed at the general audience who would leave the screen enthralled and spellbound by the enigma of analysing the meaning and idea behind the short film. The convention of the genre is based on the fact that the theme of the film holds true for human beings in reality as well. Most individuals are often engaged in the tireless pursuit of something or the other in life that is perceived to have been difficult to attain for them. The same has been carefully highlighted in the feature film through Jason’s character as he is seen to remove the ancillary supporting wheels from his bike at first, failing to successfully ride his bike without the use of the same. In the background, the girl is shown being able to learn what Jason fails. A little later, Jason attempts a small jump off the plank created by him, which also leads to a fall. Chloe tries her best to impress Jason and draw Jason’s attention; successfully achieving the feats which Jason attempts to achieve a number of times (http://tropfest.com, 2014). The variation that needs to be highlighted in the same is that human beings sometimes become so engrossed in being able to achieve a particular job or accomplishment, that they end up undermining the abilities and success of other human beings that are near to him, failing to even to pay attention to any important or critical messages that the other might convey. The same has been specifically observed while Chloe tries to give her opinion to Jason about the bike and riding. 2.4 Specific technical features Though the film does not showcase any impressive graphic or video filming in conveying the message across, one cannot help but wonder about the smallest details that have been used in the film for spreading the intended message (Cunningham and Turner, 2010). For example, when Jason removes the red coloured attachments to the spokes of his bike wheel and expresses his disinterest in them, the emotional attachment of Chloe is also expressed through the same behaviour. In the same scene, if it is considered that Jason had been rotating the wheel simultaneously whereas Chloe is seen to focus more on Jason instead of her bike, the emotional quotient is carefully reflected. More camera focus has been devoted to capture emotions on Chloe’s face as it must have been found that the girl would be more expressive in terms of emoting by the director. These are small and important specifications that need to be captured and presented by any short film director to successfully convey the intended message and at the same time be able to keep the audience entertained. 3. Photo Booth Michael Noonan’s short film the Photo Booth is an interesting and contemporary take on the aspect of hope and despair that has been portrayed in the short film of around seven minutes’ duration. The film captures the important themes of human life and the message it tries to portray is an important aspect for critiques and short film enthusiasts around the world (O’Donnell, 1999). The short film revolves around three solders on a war torn landscape who suddenly find an abandoned photo booth in the middle of nowhere, whereby the pictures coming out as print carry messages for each of them. 3.1 Narrative The narrative of the short film revolves around three soldiers and their fate outside an abandoned photo booth in the middle of a war torn landscape that keeps the audience glued to the screen to wonder about the outcome and message of the film unlike that in the case of ‘Marry Me’. The narrative is unpredictable and has successfully incorporated one of the most critical elements of movie making – uncertainty and suspense. These are considered to have an everlasting impact on the viewer and many regard the same to have a lasting impact on the mind of the viewers as the key element of surprise and awe is always a key ingredient to the success of a film or small movie (http://tropfest.com, 2014). The narrative brings to light the plight of three soldiers who are trying their best to survive and do not know for themselves the future of their predicament in war. Suddenly, they are met with an unpredictable situation, that of a lonesome photo booth in top of a small hill. Curiosity is one of the most dignified and yet sometimes cursed traits of human behaviour and the same has been highlighted in the film as the soldiers wonder what awaits them at the photo booth and goes on to investigate, under estimating the threats of being exposed to enemy observation and gun point. 3.2 Characterisation The characterisation of the short film is an important attribute as it becomes the responsibility of the actors in the film to bring to life the relevance of each of the characters that are planned and incorporated in the film. The film revolves around the three soldiers and each of them is found to display three different emotions among human beings – adventure, curiosity and suspicion (http://tropfest.com, 2014). The first soldier who enters inside the photo booth is unsuspecting and is taken by surprise once the flashes of the camera start to go off. The second soldier is portrayed to have a trait of curiosity and wariness as he is seen to be cautious when he enters inside the photo booth after seeing what the first soldier had been presented with. The third soldier had to be portrayed to be suspicious of turn of events and this is the same reason why there have been extra alertness displayed by the first and the second soldier while guarding the booth as the third entered inside. The three of them have been shown to have different outcomes based on the character portrayed by them. The first one, unsuspecting and taking life as it is, is presented a picture which shows him part of a beautiful family comprising of a beautiful wife and twin daughters. The second soldiers displays mixed traits and is shown to receive a picture with only his companion who gradually disappears from the frames while the third is shot dead by enemy gunfire as he was the most suspicious one and enters the booth at the last. Through the characters, the director tries to portray the message that it is perception and thought process of individuals which leads to the outcomes. 3.3 Genre convention and variation There have been two specific genres displayed in the short film – that of human nature and the relation between the thoughts and outcomes faced by human beings in reality. It needs to be highlighted here the fact that initially the genre of the short film was thought to be related to war and the outcome of the film being rendered predictable. However, the message and surprise element of the film clearly unfolds when the pictures are presented to the soldiers (http://tropfest.com, 2014). In the end, what makes the film so interesting is that the film portrays a multitude of different factors that are related to human life and fate, and it is highlighted how the thought process of human beings influence the outcomes and fate that is met by individuals in the real world. Genre convention and variation is an important aspect of any communication to large section of viewers as the same enables the makers of the short films to captivate the interests of the audience and keep them glued to the outcome of the message to be portrayed in the film. 3.4 Specific technical features The film is considered to be richer in terms of the technical features that have been included in the film. The aim of the director was to include the elements of surprise more on the lines of shock and the same has been effectively incorporated in the sound designing of the film which makes the film more relatable to reality and one can identify the suspense and uncertainty that is faced by soldiers in the war field. Fear and anxiety has been portrayed well in the movie as the soldiers are successful in expressing the same feelings on their anguished faces (http://tropfest.com, 2014). Moreover, the loud snapping of the shutter of the camera has been effectively used to shock the audience which is considered to be an important component of film making. Especially in the last scene when the third soldier gets shot and there is an element of confusion clearly depicting the mental state and trauma of the soldier when he gets to see his picture in the photo is considered to be outstanding in highlighting the theme of despair as the soldier is shown to lose composure and his guard at the most critical time – in the face of enemy gunfire, when in the previous scenes, he is portrayed to be most suspicious of the circumstances. 4. Conclusion There are different factors and aspects that are considered to have an impact on the success of film making and the effectiveness of the director to incorporate these elements determine the ability of the production to captivate audiences and determine the outcomes of film making. This academic work was aimed at highlighting these specific factors in film making and the effective incorporation of the same in the two short films that have been highlighted in the study. References Branston, G. and Stafford, R. (2010). The media student’s book. London: Routledge. NB Chandler, G. (2004) Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Cunningham, S. and Turner, G. (2010). The media and communications in Australia. Sydney: Allen Unwin. Marry Me, Michelle Lehman (director), Australia, 2008  http://tropfest.com/au/2011/12/08/marry-me/ Morley, D. (1996) Television, Audiences and Cultural Studies. London : Routledge. ODonnell, P. (1999). The other 66 per cent? Rethinking the labour market for journalism graduates. Australian Journalism Review, 21(1), 123-142. Photo Booth,  Michael Noonan (director), Australia, 2012http://tropfest.com/au/2012/02/04/photo-booth/ Ruthven, K. (1998). The Future of Disciplines: A Report on Ignorance. In Knowing Ourselves and Others: The Humanities in Australia into the 21st Century. Australian Research Council Vol. 3, pp. 95-113.

American Dream in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald :: essays research papers

Essential Question: What is the American Dream? America is the land with the most dreamers. America is the land of opportunity and equality. In America your dreams can be fulfilled if you work hard to achieve your goals. The American dream to most is, to be wealthy and to be able to afford anything. Wealth is a plus in life because you can afford expensive items that do not necessarily have a use, but it does not necessarily matter how hard you try or how much you spend you can not buy happiness. Although being wealthy can make you seem happy on the outside, on the inside you would not be as happy as you seem. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author shows how being wealthy will not make you happy. Many people have voiced their opinions of the America dream. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author tries to show you that wealthiness is a luxury not the American dream. And as I sat there, brooding on the old unknown world, I thought of Gatsby?s wonder when he first picked out that green light at the end of Daisy?s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dreams must have seemed so close that he can hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night. (Fitzgerald) To put in simpler terms sometimes your American dream can be so close that you can taste it but it is not close enough to bite it. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed his view of the American dream through a character named Jay Gatsby. In the novel Jay Gatsby?s American dream was to get an old girlfriend back by showing off his wealth, but all he got was a bullet that killed him. In the novel he also states that everyone has an American dream and sometimes surpasses it in the process of grasping it. Gatsby It is believed that every person has a dream to accomplish in life but only those who believe can achieve them. ?No man e`er was glorious who was not laborious. Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it? (Franklin). Franklin believed that you can only spoil yourself if you can afford to.

Nation of Islam and Taking Advantage of People :: Religion

Taking Advantage Throughout history, religions have been created and still today continue to be created. Most people have a common faith that they have inherited from their ancestors; they have and always will practice their religion as long as it seems to be in their favor. Some people go to church to cleanse their conscious of the naughty things they’ve been doing and fear the wrath of their god. Others may have a lot of things going their way and they want to thank their faith in religion for these blessings. Other people might be in a situation where life has handed them hardly a morsel of luck or faith; they may also blame a god for their misfortune or stop believing in religion altogether. These people would be in a prime condition to find faith. Finding faith is a reason why religious studies and practices are so intricately different. People take what they have been told and they mix these views with their own personal life experiences to create an ideal trust in som eone or something. Sometimes people can believe in someone and take their words as the words of god. To do this they have to trust and hold such a person in the highest respect. In return the person who is in supposed contact with God must value this trust and use it to spread their beliefs. This relationship usually works out quite nicely for the people in such a bond. They find a trust in each other and each gain the ability to use one another. In the 1930’s a relationship like this spawned in Detroit, Michigan. Wallace Fard, the leader of a new psuedo-Islamic religion, became acquainted with Robert Poole, a southern migrant with an already growing discontent of self status. Robert Poole saw a rope of faith hanging from Wallace Fard. He became his best friend and in time Fard taught Poole every detail of his Nation of Islam. Fard even declared himself Allah, or God, and disappeared, leaving Robert Poole with a new name and title that would make him the leader of the religious group. Poole’s new name became Elijah Muhammad, meaning the prophet messenger of Allah.

Welty’s A Worn Path: The Strength of Love :: A Worn Path essays

Strength of Love in A Worn Path   In the story A Worn Path, Eudora Welty shows an old woman living in a time period where racial prejudice is rampant and out of control.   Phoenix Jackson is a grandmother whose only motivation for living is to nurture her grandson back to health.   The strength of love may make people do or say unusual and implausible things.   The central idea of this story is that love can empower someone to over come many life-threatening obstacles.   The idea is shown when an old woman conquers all odds against her to show her everlasting love for her grandson.   Throughout the story Phoenix Jackson has to overcome many types of obstacles that hinder her in her devotion to help her grandson.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the main hindrances that stand in her way is the physical aspect of her age as well as the journey.   Phoenix Jackson is very weak and feeble because of her old age so that makes her long journey very strenuous.   Another physical obstacle is that she has to weave and duck under a barbwire fence.   Her feeble body cannot handle such tasks at her age.   The third hindrance she must defeat is that she must cross over a log that lay across a creek.   This requires concentration, skill, and patients.   Even people whom are twice as young as Phoenix have trouble doing such things.   Not many other emotional force other then love is strong enough to give power to an old woman who is living only for one reason.   She realizes that if she were to die then the fate of her grandson would be damned.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are also mental obstacles that obstruct Phoenix’s journey.   She has to triumph over her weariness because of her old age and her mental fatigue.   As she is walking her mind plays tricks on her, such as the time when she is in the field and mistakes the scarecrow for a dark mysterious figure that she is frightened of.   Another time is when she talks to herself and the animals in the woods.   She tells them not to get in her way because she has a long trip ahead of her.   The love that one person gives to another is never truly appreciated until the recipient realizes what that person has actually done.   The grandson may be too ill or even too young to realize what his grandmother is doing for his safety.

Applying the Background and Methodology of the Research Process Essay

Introduction I have chosen to analyze the research and study on Childhood Obesity: Can electronic medical records (EMRs), customized with clinical practice guidelines improve screening and diagnosis. The project was done to determine if customization would affect the outcome of prevention, screening, and treatment and improve the rate of diagnosis of obesity in children 7-18 years of age. Statement of the Problem The failure to achieve a decrease the child obesity in our nation that was outlined in 2010 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, they have recently released the 2020 projections and objectives that will intensify the focus on primary care physicians and state agencies to attain this goal. Primary care practices are a profound part of identifying, preventing, and managing childhood obesity. Clinicians are being urged to record BMI’s on all patients, in cases of identifying obesity/overweight individuals they would provide educational instructions, counsel patients on nutrition, and weight maintenance. Practitioners rarely record accurate BMI percentages for pediatric patients, instead they rely on physical appearance or regarded as a result of some other specified cause. This is important to health care because of the subsequent medical conditions such as; type II diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, sleep apnea, and orthopedic problems. Providers have stated that the barriers of diagnosing, and managing childhood obesity is lack of practice resources, time, reimbursement, family motivation, and family resources. Purpose of Study Childhood obesity and overweight is a priority health issue, in the United States 32% of children 2-19 being overweight and 18.7% age 6-19 being obese (Ogden, Carroll, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010). The development of diseases due to obesity is rising as obesity in our children becomes more profound. Children who had percentiles of BMI in the index between the 95th and 98th became obese adults, a percentile higher than the 98th percentile was related to adult obesity 100% of the time In this study there was a retrospective review done in regards to prevention, screening, and diagnosis of obesity in children. Data was collected and compared for BMI documentation. The purpose of the study was to determine whether EMR customization using evidence based practices introduced by the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners and Expert Panel guidelines for prevention of obesity would improve the rate of the diagnosis of childhood obesity (Savinon, Taylor, Mitchell, & Siegfried, 2012). The Design A quasi-experimental design was used comparing outcomes of a group with written records from September 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009 to those using EMR September1,2010 through December 31, 2010 Hypothesis In this study the hypothesis is based on a conceptual model. The use in the study of growth charts, scoring risk questionnaires, BMI documentation, diagnosis of overweight or obesity in each study individual. This data was able to provide guidelines with the ability to decrease the rate of obesity/overweight in children 2-19 if followed consistently. Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines The Health Eating and Activity Together (HEAT) clinical practice guideline developed by the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), and the Expert Panel recommendations were designed to provide practitioners with the most recent evidence based information to attack childhood obesity. Training of providers in the practice guidelines showed an improvement in confidence, ease, and frequency of obesity-related counseling, a structured training with tools for successful intervention. The study confirmed that the training with in office tools showed improvement in documentation and adherence to guidelines but not with just  training alone. There was a profound improvement seen after 3 and 6 month intervals in documentation of BMI percentages. Exposure to the guidelines through structured training and in office tools proved that provider practices in assessment and management regarding overweight and obese patients was greatly improved. Data Collection There were several variables abstracted from the written records and EMR using a chart audit form: race, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, provider type, payer source, height, weight, and BMI, Blood pressure, screening tests for lipids, and diabetes, diagnosis for overweight or obese. Demographics Statistically there were no significant variables differences in the demographics for each group. Race, gender, insurance status, and age were similar in both the written and electronic records. A larger amount of children with written records were African-American (53%) and male (58%). Implications for Practices Customizing EMR with clinical practice guidelines improved the use of recommendations for screening and identifying childhood obesity. Increasing people’s awareness and diagnosis will ultimately lead to better intervention and improved outcomes. Conclusion There were clear signs of increase in recording of BMI, completion of grow charts, growth charts, scoring questionnaires. Providers are trained and provided with in-office tools to make sure everyone is complying with the guidelines. The number of children diagnosed overweight or obese increased with electronic medical records. Increasing recognition and diagnosis will lead to a profound reduction in the rate of obesity in the future. It will also lead to improved interventions and improved outcomes for childhood obesity. Reference Authors; Savinon C. , DNP, FNP-BC’(Asst. Professor), Taylor-Smith J. PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, Canty-Mitchell J. PhD, RN (Professor), Blood-Siegfried, DNSc, CPNP (Associate Professor), (2012) 2012 Childhood Obesity: Can Electronic Medical

I.C.T In Our Society Essay

This report is about how ICT has affected us as a society. For example, for entertainment purposes like games consoles, communication purposes such as mobile phones, storage purposes such as storing music on a CD or for social purposes such as email. E-mail The first thing I will look at will be email. With email you can quickly talk to friends, work colleagues, basically anyone who has an email address. I have two email accounts, one at home provided by hotmail, which is useful because I can log-on to it anywhere via the Internet. I also have one at school provided by Solihull L.E.A, which I can only access at school; both have a unique log-on I.D and password. With my personal account (hotmail) I can choose a unique login I.D and password when I register, providing it ends with @hotmail.com. With my school account I can only choose the password. As a student my school account is free and I get absolutely no junk mail thanks to the junk-mail filter and I can receive emails from anyone. The L.E.A also scans every email for anything suspicious such as files containing viruses; if one of these are found then the L.E.A will not let the email through. Email is useful and easy and is an efficient way to contact my friends and relatives. If I want to get in touch with several people in one email I simply put a semi-colon in between each persons email address. If I want to get in touch with several people, email is one of the easiest ways to do so. I can set up an address book which means I could email everyone in that address book at once, also by setting up an address book I don’t have to remember everyone’s email address and it helps me stop making mistakes. Workers in offices usually have email accounts open all day, which means if they receive an email the response time is very quick. The problem with email is that if the inbox becomes full I couldn’t receive any more emails until I had deleted some of my old ones. Pictures take up a lot of space and some pictures can be too big to send in the first place. Say for instance I had done a word document in history on Hitler and the Nazis, I may want to carry on with it at home but when I come to send it, I can’t because I have too many pictures on there that take up space. Also if someone doesn’t have broadband than it could take a long time to attach a document or presentation to an email and even with broadband it could take a long time depending on the size of the file. A good thing about most email accounts is that they are free but then I get a lot of adverts and pop-ups. If email companies are going to give people free email then they need to get the money from somewhere to make sure they can afford the payment of the site, this is where the adverts and pop-ups come in, other companies pay companies such as ‘hotmail’ to put their adverts and pop-ups on their websites hence ‘hotmail’ can pay for the upkeep of the site. I can set up a filter on my email account so that I only receive emails from people in my address book. The problem is though that before I can receive emails from someone I need to add them to my address book and if someone changes their email I need to edit my address book. The alternatives to email are fax, which can be quick but can cost a lot of money, or text that is quick so long as the other person has their phone on; you also need signal and credit, which can be a problem. Both can be useful if email is not available, but when compared to the quickness and the fact that email is basically free, email is the best thing to use. To conclude, email is useful to communicate with people no matter where they are in the world mostly free of cost, which means it can be better than a mobile phone or fax but due to the time difference between countries, there is no guarantee that they will receive the email in the time you need them to see it. Entertainment The next thing I will look at will be the entertainment side of ICT and for this I will look at games consoles. There is a lot of competition at the moment between the PS2 made by Sony, the Gamecube made by Nintendo and the Xbox made by Microsoft. People use games consoles for 3 main purposes; the first is single player use where the player simply plays the game on their own trying to complete the game. The second is multiplayer use where two or more people can play on one console and either try to complete the game cooperatively or go against each other in different game types. The third is online play, which has only recently taken off since broadband became so popular. At the moment there is no prospect for online play on the Gamecube but Xbox and PS2 have successful online play. Players who want to play online need broadband to play because dial-up can’t handle the speed that is required. The Xbox online play is called Xbox Live and players make an account for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40 a year and can make a list of friends and whenever their friends are online they can join them and play with them. The problem is that if two friends want to play together they both need the same game and both need to be online. Also, if broadba nd is not available then people can’t play online. I use an Xbox and play Xbox Live quite often. I have experienced problems though, for example my broadband router had broken and I couldn’t go on Xbox Live until I got it fixed, also the Xbox Live service had not responded which again meant that I couldn’t use the service. The other problem is that paedophiles are able to use the service so you never know if the person you are talking to is being genuine or not. People also use games consoles for watching DVD’s but this has only become available in the newer consoles. With the Xbox you can also put a CD into the Xbox and save it to the integrated hard disk and can then play the CD’s while your playing a game. Again this is technology that has only recently been introduced. Another type of entertainment is digital TV. Originally TV and radio used analogue signals but over the past few years more and more digital radios and digital TV’s have become available. A digital signal is basically a TV or radio signal that is computerised and has to be decoded at the receiving end in order to watch digital TV or listen to virtually crystal clear music on a radio. Digital television (DTV) allows you to receive digital transmissions from different TV stations that have installed digital transmitters and record their programmes using equipment that can handle digital signals. With DTV you can enjoy excellent quality pictures and clear sound. But all good things come at a price and in order to watch Digital TV you must buy either a digital TV adaptor for an existing TV, which will cost about à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100, or you can buy a new integrated DTV television set known as a iDTV for about à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½500. I use Digital TV because I have Sky Digital. It is a good quality picture and good sound and also doesn’t cost too much at approx à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 a month. I have a digibox, which is basically a small box on top of or underneath the TV and the signal comes through a Sky dish on the side of my house. The signal is then transferred to the digibox and I can watch the channel I want on my TV. There are a lot of channels on Sky and I only have a few of them. There are also movie channels which show movies 24/7 on about 12 different channels, and sport channel which shows sport 24/7 on about 15 different channels, but to have all these channels can cost over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50 a month. The disadvantage comes when there is bad weather. In heavy rain the signal often gets interrupted which means that either no signal is received or a very poor signal is received. As in a thunderstorm, the signal gets interrupted and no signal can be received. Other problems can be if the station I am receiving the picture from is experiencing technical problems no signal can be received. Most of the time though the quality is good and there is no problem. A revolutionary new technology that Sky has introduced is called Sky plus. With this you get a new digibox and Sky plus allows you to pause live TV, record shows and watch them later without the use of a VCR. You can even rewind live TV if you want to watch something again, such as a good goal in a football match. If you do stop or rewind then a little counter comes up on screen that tells you how far behind the live TV you are, then by simply pressing play on the remote control you can carry on watching from where you paused it or you can just go back to the live TV by pressing the sky button. This is technology that has only recently been introduced and costs an extra à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10 on top of whatever sky package you already have. Storage Media There are a lot of different types of Storage Media. Originally data was stored on floppy disks but space was limited and the disks were quite large. Consequently there soon became a need for more and more space to store things on. Floppy disks could only hold 1.4mb of data but then zip drives became available which could hold different amounts of data, the maximum of which was 250mb. The disadvantage of this was that you couldn’t put the disk straight into your computer. You had to buy a zip drive which either connected to the computer through USB or you could plug it straight into the computer. This was only a short- term solution and demand came for more and more space. The answer was compact disks, known as CD’s for short. Originally designed to hold music, CD’s could hold up to 700mb of data, an ideal source for storing data. Nowadays computers are fitted with CD-Rewriters (CD-RW), which can store music on a CD, make a copy of a CD, or just store es.here are currently two types of disks available they are: CD-Record (CD-R) – this can only have files or music stored on it once and then you can’t add or take anything off the CD. CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) – this can have music or files stored on it as many times as you want. If you add something and feel you want to add more, you can easily do this. You can now get a DVD type disk. These can hold much more data than normal CD’s but they do cost more and will not work on some older computers. I usually use CD-R to store music because CD-RW does not work on some CD players, which can be a problem. If I want to store data on a CD however I usually use a CD-RW as most computers can read these and I can always add more data at a later stage. Businesses use CD-RW on their computers because if they have data that they want everyone in the office to have, then they can simply put the data on a CD and make numerous copies of it. They can then give everyone in the office a copy of the CD. At school we use CD-RW. For example, in the ICT course, the school wanted us each to have two CD’s. They had the two CD’s they wanted and then copied them and gave everyone doing the ICT course a copy to take home. The CD’s had useful software and information on that I will use while doing the ICT course. The obvious disadvantage to storing data or music on CD’s is that if the CD becomes full then no more data can be put onto the CD. If you want to put a PowerPoint presentation and a word document on a CD then the presentation may take up a lot, maybe even all, the space. This will depend on the content and how many pictures it has on it. If the presentation does take up all the space then there won’t be enough room for the word document and that would mean you would have to use another CD. That would be an inconvenient because you would have to carry two CD’s around. The alternative to CD’s is email but the amount of data that can be sent by email can be limited. Also the person who needs the information may not have access to a computer. Another alternative is to print all the information on paper and post it to the person who needs it. Communication Mobile phones are everywhere these days and virtually everyone has got one. Mobile phones used to be much larger than they are now and were a big inconvenience to carry around, as they couldn’t just fit into your pocket like the mobile phones of today. Only wealthy businessmen owned them, as they were expensive to both use and buy. As with all things, over time they got smaller and smaller and now they can be very small and more and more people have them. They are even regarded as a necessity to young people. People don’t just use mobile phones for calling other people though. Texting has become a very popular way to communicate, especially amongst the younger generation. There are two main types of message; Short Message Service (SMS) – this is the most common use of texting and one of the most useful. A message, just like an email, of up to 150 characters can be sent to one or more people at once for an average of 10p per message. Due to the small amount of characters a texting ‘language’ has developed to reduce space and therefore enable you to say more in a message. An example of this language would be ‘you’ has been shortened to just ‘u’. They both sound the same but one takes up fewer characters than the other. Hundreds of thousands of these messages are sent every day from mobile to mobile and providing signal is good and both people have there mobile phones on, a text message can be sent from here to Australia in an amazing 6 seconds. New services have become available using text messages. For example phone companies such as Vodafone allow mobile phone users to subscribe to a service where football or cricket scores can be sent to the subscribers phone as soon as they happen. Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) – Another recent development, MMS is an advanced form of SMS. Instead of just sending a message, new mobile phones will allow you to send photos, or you could send ringtones, or a pre-recorded voice message. These new phones are a little heavier then old mobile phones, but they are more sophisticated. For instance, if you go on holiday, instead of sending a postcard to your friends and family you could just take a picture using the inbuilt camera and send it using an MMS message. You can even add some writing to it. I have a new mobile phone with a digital camera; I can take good quality pictures and then send them to my friends. I also use a mobile phone to text my friends but to do this I need a good signal and sufficient credit. Businesses use mobile phones, especially people that travel around a lot and are not based in one location all the time. Salesmen would find it hard to manage without mobile phones, as they need to be able to keep in touch with their customers, and with one another, at all times. One major disadvantage of mobile phones is that they are thought to emit radioactivity. Although this has not been proven there are many people that believe that radio masts and mobile phones are a health problem to them and there are strict planning laws regarding the positioning of radio masts.