Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership

Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership The title of the research is the Relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership. The first article is discussing about the critical examination of the relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership by the author of Dirk Lindebaum and Susan Cartwright. The second article is discussing about the relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style and gender comparison of leadership style by the author of Barbara Mandell and Shilpa Pherwani. The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between the emotional intelligence and transformational leadership. This topic is very interesting because it is describing the relationship between the management and psychology. Objectives of this research is to evaluate the relationship between the emotional intelligence and transformational leadership, gender comparison of the leadership style, have contributed to the construct of emotional intelligenc e and its importance in the workplace, comparison and contrast between the two articles. In this research I am going to discuss about how they are relating emotional intelligence and transformational leadership? How they are describing emotional intelligence? And what is the difference between the transactional leadership and transformational leadership? Then how they are analyzing and discussing the relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership in the organization? Dirk Lindebaum and Susan Cartwright article seeks to remedy this efficiency. First, it provides a rationale for utilizing a particular conceptualization of Emotional Intelligence. Second, it synthesizes the theoretical concepts of Emotional intelligence and Transformational leadership and offers an overview of empirical studies that have investigated the interface between the two. It then proceeds to explain briefly the methodological concerns related to common method variance and the implications for research designs. The resultant design of this study explores the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and Transformational leadership (TFL), taking account of common method variance (CMV). Finally, the article discusses its findings in relation to previous studies, its limitations, and recommendations for future research (DirkLindebaum SusanCartwright). The Barbara Mandell and Shilpa Pherwani article is providing the types of intelligence, types of mental abilities, models of emotional intelligence, comparison between transactional leadership and transformational leadership, gender comparison of leadership style, measurement instruments, and statistical analysis. In Each article the Mayer and Salovey are giving the definition for emotional intelligence is different in different years. First article is showing the definition of Mayer and Salovey in 1997, they defined Emotional intelligence as, (Mayer Salovey, 1997) ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual grow. In second article has taken the definition of emotional intelligence from Mayer and Salovey in the year of 1990. Mayer and Salovey defined as, (Mayer Salovey, 1990) emotional intelligence as the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones own thinking and actions. Both articles are captured the imagination of management scholars and psychologist: emotional intelligence ( EI) and Transformational leadership (TFL). According to Dirk Lindebaum and Susan Cartwright article Emotional intelligence explains 34 percent of the variance in a measure of Transformational leadership (Butler Chinowsky, 2006), which is an above-average percentage in social science research. Both articles are discussing two models of emotional intelligence. In Dirk and Susan article specifying two types of emotional intelligence that are, trait emotional intelligence and ability emotional intelligence. According to Petrides et al. (2007, p.273), trait emotional intelligence defined as emotion-related dispositions and self-perceptions. Trait emotional intelligence relies upon self-report measure (e.g. the Emotional Quotient Inventory, EQ-i) and assesses typical or preferred modes of behavior, whereas the latter uses ability measures (e.g. the Mayor-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, MSCEIT), with right or wrong answers, and refers to maximum performance in processing emotional information. (Mayer Salovey, 1997). Ho wever, representatives of both the trait and ability Emotional intelligence approach maintain that considerable progress of their respective conceptualization has been achieved in recent years (Mayer, et al., Petrides et al., 2004). According to Barbara Mandell and Shilpa Pherwani two models of emotional intelligence have emerged, these are ability model and mixed model. The ability model defines emotional intelligence as a set of abilities that involves perceiving and reasoning abstractly with information that emerges from feelings. This model has been supported by the researcher of Mayer, Caruso and Salovey (1999); Mayer, DiPaolo, and Salovey (1990); Mayer and Salovey (1993, 1997); and Salovey and Mayer (1990). The mixed model defines emotional intelligence as ability with social behaviors, traits and competencies. This model has found in the writing of Goleman (1995, 1998) and Bar-on (1997). In Dirk and Susan article synthesizing emotional intelligence and transformational leadership this is explored first with regard to the conceptual proximity between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership, followed by empirical studies that examined their relationship. Whilst transformational leadership has been variously defined, Burns (1978) characterizes the transformational leaders as someone who looks for potential followers, seeks to satisfy higher needs, and engages the full person of the followers (p.4). He goes on to suggest that the result is a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents. Bass and Avolio (Bass Avolio, 1994) have refined earlier research on Transformational leader (e.g. Bass, 1985) and deconstructed the concept into four components. These are denoted as: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Transformational leaders use inspirational motivation to communicate high expectations, often drawing on symbolic messages to provide meaning to their followers work (Bass, 1990). Barbara and Shilpa article describing the transformational leadership of two authors like Bass and Avolio. They defined transformational leadership as leadership that occurs when the leader stimulates the interest among colleagues and followers to view their work from a new prospective. According to Barbara and Shilpa the transformational leader generates awareness of the mission or vision of the organization, and develops colleagues and followers to higher levels of ability and potential. In addition, the transformational leader motivates colleagues and followers to look beyond their own interest towards interest that will benefit the group. In comparison to transformational leadership, Bass and Avolio (Bass Avolio, 1994) described transactional leadership occurring when the leader rewards or disciplines the follower with regards to performance. Burns (Burns, 1978) described transactional leaders as leaders that emphasize work standards, assignment, and task-oriented goals. In addi tion, transactional leaders tend to focus on task completion and employee compliance, and these leaders rely quite heavily on organizational rewards and punishments to influence employee performance. Bass (Bass, 1997) suggested that transformational leaders (TFL) achieved higher levels of success in the workplace than transactional leaders (TAL). He noted that TF leaders were promoted more often and produced better financial results that TA leaders (Bass, 1997). Bass (Bass, 1997) also observed that employees rated TF leaders more satisfying and effective than TA leaders. Bass (Bar-On, 1997) would attribute transformational leaders superior work performance to high EQ-I scores. In recent years, numerous studies have examined empirically the link between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership. The literature review permits the classification of these studies into three prominent streams. Stream1 includes those studies that collected data concerning trait emotional intelligence and transformational leadership from the same source using self-report measures. Stream2 features studies that administered trait emotional intelligence and transformational leadership questionnaires to different raters. Finally, studies pertaining the stream3 used an ability-based measure of emotional intelligence and collected data relative to transformational leadership from a different source. (DirkLindebaum SusanCartwright). In addition Barbara and Shilpa were saying about gender comparison in their article. They specified as the researchers in the past have also looked at the gender differences for both transformational leadership style and emotional intelligence . Although past research on leadership style differences between men and women has been inconclusive, a review of research on leadership and gender consistently demonstrates that women leaders are often negatively evaluated in comparison to their male counterparts, especially when they employ an autocratic leadership style (Eagly, Makhijani, Klonsky, 1992). To analyzing the relationship between the emotional intelligence and transformational leadership both different authors are using the different analysis methods. Dirk and Susan were used two analysis methods. Barbara and Shilpa were used one analysis method. According to Dirk and Susan two subsidiary analysis methods were used by the researcher. These are (1) control for fixed effects and (2) examine the data using randomization. Controlling for fixed effects can be highly desirable as it ensures that estimates are more consistent. In second subsidiary analysis, randomization was used to further examine the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and transformational leadership across all data produced by the same source. According to Barbara and Shilpa hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to examine the predictive relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style. The analysis also used to examine interaction of gender with emotion al intelligence when predicting transformational leadership style. The analysis also helped the researchers identify gender differences in the relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style. Conclusion This research was designed to determine the predictive relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style, as well as determined the gender comparison of leadership style. I find types of analysis for evaluation of relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style. Finally I find types of emotional intelligence and conceptualization of emotional intelligence, three types of streams to determine relationship, characteristics of leadership, comparison between transactional and transformational leadership from both articles.

Population Explosion

Before the end of the year 2011 the world can expect the population to hit an historic accomplishment of reaching seven billion people. The birth of this seven billionth baby will happen sometime in â€Å"October or November† (Nagarajan). This baby will most likely be born in India due to India having the highest fertility rate of â€Å"fifty one babies every minute† (Nagarajan). So is this an accomplishment for humans beating nature by populating the Earth? Or on the other hand will humans soon have to come to grips with their careless actions of destroying all resources, killing thousands of other species and eventually see the end of the human race at the hands of overpopulation? According to the author of Population 7 Billion, Robert Kunzig, â€Å"people shouldn’t panic- at least not yet† (1). A fair and stable amount of people is needed to keep the human species from dying off. Overpopulation, though, could deplete or destroy Earth’s resources such as food, water, and eventually lead to the breakdown of the ecosystem. With these resources being affected by the human population, the resulting consequences of plagues, wars, and famines could cause one of the few times for the global population to decrease. A global plan of action is needed, but policies such as China’s one-child policy is not even going to be considered by the U. S and many other countries to lower their population. The populations of humans on planet Earth have to face the challenge of providing food, water, and face the accountability for ecosystem breakdown. One famous book, The Population Bomb, a best seller in 1968 written by Paul R. Ehrlich, warned about overpopulation and advocated immediate action to limit population growth. He predicted famines that would follow the revelation of the world but thanks to the â€Å"Green Revolution of the 1970s, an increase in the world harvest averted the famines predicted by Ehrlich† (Zeaman 63). Although disaster was averted â€Å"decades from now there will be likely two billion more mouths to feed, mostly in poor countries† (Kunzig 43). Producing enough food as populations grow is possible but doing so will exhaust finite resources, and especially water will be a challenge. If the world population, which is expected to be eight billion by 2025, continues to be so high, â€Å"forty eight countries containing three billion people will face water shortages† (Hinrichsen). We do have the technology to desalinate ocean water, but this process is several times the costs as getting fresh water. Areas suffering from shortages of water can increase their share of water by capturing rain water and storing it. Finding enough arable land that is not already being occupied by humans will have to be dealt with future populations. China feeds its billion- plus people on less than ten percent of Earth’s arable land† (Kunzig 56). At least space to put all these people is not one of the most pressing issues, as the â€Å"world population could fit in the size of Texas, if it were as densely populated as New York† (Kunzig 48). Though we might have just enough livable land for future populations and land for crops and livestock, plants and animals will have to find space off of what is not already being used by humans. Earth’s biodiversity and ecosystems are in jeopardy, â€Å"with two out of every three species to be in decline† (Hinrichsen). Trees provide habitats for more than â€Å"fifty percent of plants and animal species† (Zeaman 73). Forests lost range from â€Å"twenty percent to fifty percent† (Zeaman 73). In the fourteenth century Europe experienced one of the worst plagues in human history, the bubonic plague. The bubonic plague killed over â€Å"half of the people of western Europe† (Dawling). The development of better transportation routes between Asia and Europe, which allowed rats carrying infected fleas to reach European cities, coinciding with the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions within these cities created an ideal condition for the disease to spread. In Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb similar occurrences were supposed to happen but thanks to institutions like â€Å"the World Health Organization and UNICEF† (Kunzig 45), and also with the development of â€Å"penicillin and smallpox vaccines after World War II† (Kunzig 45), plagues which were expected to be some of the worst humans have experienced, were practically eliminated with the exception of the AIDs virus. Plagues are not as threatening as they were to older cultures as they are today, but wars threaten people of all cultures and time periods. Wars do not only come from â€Å"religious differences, political beliefs, and ambitious rulers, but also population pressures will play a big role in wars of the future† (Zeaman 37). A country with a swelling population might try to take land from a neighboring country, or an overpopulated country, overwhelmed by poverty and social problems, breaks out into internal problems. Psychologists that have studied animals discovered the more crowded animals are together, the more aggressive they are and more prone to attack one another. Could such a mechanism operate in humans as well? Another risk for future humans is the utbreak of famines. Agriculture created civilization, but could dependence put an entire civilization at risk? In undeveloped nations where population growth is the highest, crop failures due to drought, excessive rains, or soil erosion can cause people to starve. Scientist who studied the Earth’s core found evidence of an ancient drought that led them to predict â€Å"that one region of Equatorial East Africa will suffer a mega drought, possibly lasting decades, in the next fifty to one hundred years† (Zeaman 62). This would be a drought of un-parallel proportions that could deteriorate an already unstable region. For the human race to become stable to a degree that does not deplenish the Earth’s resources, while having a population large enough to live through any global catastrophes, is needed for continuing existence. Is a world controversial population control policy that mimics China’s coercive one-child policy the solution? In â€Å"1965 Chinese women were having six children, now it is down to around one and a half† (Kunzig 48). Though the Chinese will continue this policy, the answer for other nations, especially the United States is a clear no. A much less controversial and beneficial policy to not only the country of India but becoming a beneficial program to its people is voluntary sterilization. The procedures which are mostly done to women are being changed to be done on the male population. The scalpel vasectomy costs less and is easier on the man than a tubal ligation on a woman. In less than seven minutes, male patients are walking out of the clinics without even a Band- Aid. An incentive fee of a week’s wage for a laborer would be more acceptably viewed by the global population then having your child taken away from you, like in China. Another way to fight overpopulation in the world’s undeveloped nations where populations incur the most growth is fighting poverty that feeds the world population. Fighting poverty through better education or providing clean water and nutritious food is a step in the right direction. Karl Marx, a nineteenth century communist revolutionary, is another world doom prophesier like Ehrlich that believed â€Å"capitalism creates overpopulation† (Gee). Marx has a right to his own views but his predictions seem to show that capitalism is the problem of over population. The U. S and almost all of Europe is close to or under the world average population growth of one hundred and thirty three percent between 1960 and 2011. In fact the â€Å"less developed world will account for more than ninety five percent of the future population growth† (Kunzig 50-51). In a study on 41,554 households in India, small but growing groups of one-child families appeared due to â€Å"education costs for children attending public or private school. With emphasis these parents have to give their children better opportunities to be successful through a higher education† (Kunzig 36). Will humans become extinct at the hands of overpopulation? The death of the human race will likely not be because of over population. An asteroid or environmental disaster is a bigger threat and less controllable than overpopulation. A country like America will only be affected by â€Å"the population group of fifteen to twenty four being affected by unemployment† (Countries 9) due to the economy suffering from the retirement of so many people at once. Men before the world even hit a billion which happened around the 1800s, were predicting populations of twenty billion people and plagues that would put a dent in the growing global population. Men such as William Petty, a seventeenth century economist, and Thomas Malthus, an eighteen century priest and economist predicted such events that have not and will not occur. Even predictions from a more modern writer, Paul Ehrlich, did not calculate the innovations of the future to be able to adapt for an ever growing population. Population growth is on the decline but will take a generation before stability can be reached. Even just a little education on the issue can make a difference. If women were to have one less child now, then by 2050 that could have the difference of eight billion rather than ten and a half billion.

Managing children on watching television

Managing children on watching television The definition for television is a system for transmitting visual images and sound that are reproduced on screens, primarily used to broadcast programs for entertainment, information, and education. The history of television comprises the work of numerous engineers and inventors in several countries over many decades. The first practical demonstrations of television, however, were developed using electromechanical methods to scan, transmit, and reproduce an image.As electronic camera and display tubes were perfected, electromechanical television gave way to ll-electronic systems in nearly all applications. Commercially available since the late 1920s, the television set has become commonplace in homes, businesses and institutions, particularly as a vehicle for advertising, a source of entertainment, and news. In 2009 78 percent of the world's households owned at least one television set, an increase of 5% over 2003. Television can be used in ma ny ways, such as entertainment, information, and education.Television can be bad but it can be good if we know how to manage with it. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry states that television viewing can be a powerful influence in eveloping value systems and shaping behavior. Most of us are aware that Sesame Street teaches children who are ready for it, letters and numbers. Research on children's behavior, school performance, weight, sleeping habits, and brain development back up the assertion that TV is harming our children.Violent behavior, research has shown that the more hours children spend watching TV, the more likely they are to display aggressive impulses and hostile feelings. This effect has been found to apply whether the televised behavior is performed by a human or by a cartoon character. And aggressive impulses have been found to occur with girls s well as boys and with teenagers and adults as well as children. There are also other behavior that alm ost likely to occur when we let our children watch television such as, kids who watch more TV start smoking at an earlier age, exposure to alcohol use on TV and in music videos (such as on MTV).As a parents what can we do to teach our children to view television as a treat or special entertainment. Many of the following suggestions come from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the first one is observe, how do our children act after watching television? Do the certain behavior increase or decrease? After observing you can decide whether to eliminate certain program or not, short term effects are easier to observe but, long term effects are far more difficult.Listen to our child also can help them to share what are they thinking about the show and let them share their feeling about, by listening we also can ask question and help them to think about what theyVe seen, process it, and clarify values. Monitor the shows children and adolescents are viewing, most programs should be informat ional, educational, and nonviolent. Choose shows that engage through challenging and interesting content, rather than flashy graphics and oise. Make sure programs are age and developmentally appropriate.Provide alternatives, when your child says I'm bored, does it become your problem? Or is it an incentive for your child to be creative? Are the raw materials for creativity available? hobbies, and creative play. There are lots of ways to manage children on watching TV shows. We Just need to learn and do research about how to manage rather than shut the TV and ask your children to study. There is a way to do it. Lastly, manage your children on watching TV well is the key to control their behavior.

Blackbeards Last Stand - the Death of Blackbeard

Edward Blackbeard Teach (1680? - 1718) was a notorious English pirate who was active in the Caribbean and coast of North America from 1716 to 1718. He made a deal with the governor of North Carolina in 1718 and for a time operated out of the many inlets and bays of the Carolina coast. Locals soon tired of his predations, however, and an expedition launched by the Governor of Virginia caught up with him in Ocracoke Inlet. After a furious battle, Blackbeard was killed on November 22, 1718. Blackbeard the Pirate Edward Teach fought as a Privateer in Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713). When the war ended, Teach, like many of his shipmates, went pirate. In 1716 he joined the crew of Benjamin Hornigold, then one of the most dangerous pirates in the Caribbean. Teach showed promise and was soon given his own command. When Hornigold accepted a pardon in 1717, Teach stepped into his shoes. It was about this time that he became â€Å"Blackbeard† and started to intimidate his foes with his demonic appearance. For about a year, he terrorized the Caribbean and the southeastern coast of the present-day USA. Blackbeard Goes Legit By mid-1718, Blackbeard was the most feared pirate in the Caribbean and possibly the world. He had a 40 gun flagship, the Queen Annes Revenge, and a small fleet captained by loyal subordinates. His fame had become so great that his victims, upon seeing Blackbeards distinctive flag of a skeleton spearing a heart, usually simply surrendered, trading their cargo for their lives. But Blackbeard tired of the life and intentionally sank his flagship, absconding with the loot and a few of his favorite men. In the summer of 1718, he went to Governor Charles Eden of North Carolina and accepted a pardon. A Crooked Business Blackbeard may have wanted to go legit, but it certainly didnt last long. He soon entered into a deal with Eden by which he would continue to raid the seas and the Governor would cover for him. The first thing Eden did for Blackbeard was to officially license his remaining ship, the Adventure, as a war trophy, therefore allowing him to keep it. On another occasion, Blackbeard took a French ship laden with goods including cocoa. After putting the French sailors on another ship, he sailed his prize back, where he declared that he and his men had found it adrift and unmanned: the Governor promptly awarded them salvage rights†¦and kept a little for himself, too, of course. Blackbeard’s Life Blackbeard did settle down, to an extent. He married the daughter of a local plantation owner and built a home on Ocracoke Island. He would often go out and drink and carouse with the locals. On one occasion, pirate Captain Charles Vane came seeking Blackbeard, to try and lure him back to the Caribbean, but Blackbeard had a good thing going and politely refused. Vane and his men stayed on Ocracoke for a week and Vane, Teach and their men had a rum-soaked party. According to Captain Charles Johnson, Blackbeard would occasionally let his men have their way with his young wife, but there is no other evidence to support this and it appears to simply be a nasty rumor of the time. To Catch a Pirate Local sailors and merchants soon tired of this legendary pirate haunting the inlets of North Carolina. Suspecting that Eden was in cahoots with Blackbeard, they took their complaints to Alexander Spotswood, Governor of neighboring Virginia, who had no love for pirates or for Eden. There were two British war sloops in Virginia at the time: the Pearl and the Lyme. Spotswood made arrangements to hire some 50 sailors and soldiers off of these ships and put a Lieutenant Robert Maynard in charge of the expedition. Since the sloops were too large to chase Blackbeard into shallow inlets, Spotswood also provided two light ships. Hunt for Blackbeard The two small ships, the Ranger and the Jane, scouting along the coast for the well-known pirate. Blackbeards haunts were well known, and it didnt take Maynard too long to find him. Late in the day on November 21, 1718, they sighted Blackbeard off of Ocracoke Island  but decided to delay the attack until the next day. Meanwhile, Blackbeard and his men were drinking all night as they entertained a fellow smuggler. Blackbeard’s Final Battle Fortunately for Maynard, many of Blackbeards men were ashore. On the morning of the 22nd, the Ranger and the Jane tried to sneak up on the Adventure, but both became stuck on sandbars and Blackbeard and his men couldnt help but notice them. There was a verbal exchange between Maynard and Blackbeard: according to Captain Charles Johnson, Blackbeard said: Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarters, or take any from you. As the Ranger and the Jane came closer, the pirates fired their cannons, killing several sailors and stalling the Ranger. On the Jane, Maynard hid many of his men below decks, disguising his numbers. A lucky shot severed the rope attached to one of the Adventures sails, making escape impossible for the pirates. Who Killed Blackbeard?: The Jane pulled up to the Adventure, and the pirates, thinking they had an advantage, boarded the smaller vessel. The soldiers came out of the hold and Blackbeard and his men found themselves outnumbered. Blackbeard himself was a demon in battle, fighting on despite what was later described as five gun wounds and 20 cuts by sword or cutlass. Blackbeard fought one-on-one with Maynard and was about to kill him when a British sailor gave the pirate a cut on the neck: a second hack severed his head. Blackbeards men fought on  but outnumbered and with their leader gone, they eventually surrendered. Aftermath of Blackbeard’s Death Blackbeards head was mounted on the bowsprit of the Adventure, as it was needed for proof that the pirate was dead in order to collect a sizeable bounty. According to local legend, the pirates decapitated body was thrown into the water, where it swam around the ship several times before sinking. More of Blackbeards crew, including his boatswain Israel Hands, were captured on land. Thirteen were hanged. Hands avoided the noose by testifying against the rest and because a pardon offer arrived in time to save him. Blackbeards head was hung from a pole on the Hampton River: the place is now known as Blackbeards Point. Some locals claim that his ghost haunts the area. Maynard had found papers on board the Adventure which implicated Eden and the Secretary of the Colony, Tobias Knight, in Blackbeards crimes. Eden was never charged with anything and Knight was eventually acquitted in spite of the fact that he had stolen goods in his home. Maynard became very famous because of his defeat of the mighty pirate. He eventually sued his superior officers, who decided to share the bounty money for Blackbeard with all crew members of the Lyme and Pearl, and not only those ones who had actually taken part in the raid. Blackbeards death marked his passing from man to legend. In death, he has become far more important than he ever was in life. He has come to symbolize all pirates, which in turn have come to symbolize freedom and adventure. His death is certainly part of his legend: he died on his feet, a pirate to the very last. No discussion of pirates is complete without Blackbeard and his violent end. Sources Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 1996, New York. Defoe, Daniel. A General History of the Pyrates. Edited by Manuel Schonhorn. Mineola: Dover Publications, 1972/1999. Konstam, Angus. The World Atlas of Pirates. The Lyons Press, October 1, 2009. Woodard, Colin. The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. Mariner Books, 2008.

Family Is Not An Important Thing - 983 Words

According to Lawrence Balter and Robert B. McCall in Parenthood in America, foster care is seen as a temporary solution for families in crisis, and families in which the child has been subjected to neglect or abuse (physical, sexual). The familial relationships influence the way a child is brought up and how the child turn out in the future. As Michael J. Fox states â€Å"Family is not an important thing. It s everything.† Although Rex Walls and Rose Mary failed to care for their children sufficiently, it was better for the children to remain with their parents. By putting the children into the foster care system, they can be faced with the possibilities of poor academic achievement, higher social problems, and higher rates of mental illness. First, children in foster care are frequently behind in educational achievement. As stated by Alexandra L Trout in The Academic Status Of Children And Youth In Out-Of-Home Care: A Review Of The Literature, research findings indicate that anywhere from 33% to 67% of foster care children experience poor academic achievement and require remedial assistance. Furthermore, researchers conducted a systematic review of the academic functioning of children and adolescents placed in foster care in the United States, and consistently found that these youth perform below grade level and in the low to low-average range on academic achievement measures. In contrast, the Walls children were rarely enrolled in school, but their mom taught them to readShow MoreRelatedFamily Is The Most Important Thing?887 Words   |  4 Pagesthe line to do what is correct in their eyes and in the eyes of others. For most people, family, religion, and freedom comes before anything else. 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Why Everybody Is Completely Mistaken Regarding Topics about Social Issues

Why Everybody Is Completely Mistaken Regarding Topics about Social Issues You never know who you may be helping by creating your experiences accessible. In today's world, there are plenty of social difficulties. They have always been an integral part of the human condition. Because of the stigma attached, discussing issues associated with mental wellness is still considered a taboo. Remaining silent on the issues is a tremendous portion of the issue. Becoming mindful of the problems happening in the nation and the world and wanting to understand marginalized people is quite important. Make sure once you think about a particular issue and the way to address it, you think about just how to address it for everyone and not only for those who are privileged in every other facet of their life. While society states it's fine to have angry feelings, nobody would like to see them expressed. There's well-known that you won't have the ability to compose a fantastic insightful research paper if you're not interested in the subject overall and in the subject specifically. Writing an intriguing essay about trendy topics is an opportunity to reveal your knowledge of earth. You must be certain to understand everything clearly once you select an essay topic. There are some main things you will need to be aware of before you even begin picking social issues essay topics. You must write a minumum of one research paper in a semester for most the subjects. Make the usage of the suggested research paper topic ideas and you'll be prosperous. When picking your research paper topic, you have to make certain it is neither boring nor worn out. The social issues research papers may appear easy to write in comparison with different topics, but still it demands an extremely creative strategy, an enormous quantity of curiosity and capacity to think beyond the box and search info in unconventional sources. Just select the right topic and make certain you have a notion about the issue you're likely to study in your paper. So following is a list of the way to be woke in 2019. Last, consider combining all those 3 things into one topic that you are feeling passionate about. The topics that are covered within this section are extremely varied. Do not be hesitant to ask questions if there are a number of unclear points. There are occasions when you're assigned with the topic but more frequently, you'll have to create a topic on your own. Someone with a perfectly legitimate FB account may be the vector of false or inaccurate details. Social networking comments should be guarded by free speech. When deciding on your social problems topic, keep in mind that it's always far better to write about something you're already more or less acquainted with. Social issues transcend almost every facet of the society, and thus, given the undertaking of writing an essay on social issues, one is indirectly given the opportunity to pick from the plethora of topics within the area. This social issue is a choice case of a problem that will resonate with a massive audience. The Number One Question You Must Ask for Topics about Social Issues You were probably conscious of the debate club in high school, and possibly you were a component of it yourself! Mixed martial arts ought to be banned. Moreover, teachers must elect for initiating classroom debates more frequently at the start of an academic session to construct a healthful connection between students. Every student needs to be asked to take a performing arts course. Performance-enhancing drugs ought to be allowed in sports. Dependent on the record of UNICEF, over fifty percent of the children all around the world are malnourished. It is essential to make sure that you implement social justice values in your household instead of just on the world wide web. Thorough medication and efficient therapy programs can enable the patients learn how to deal with this. The more you fully grasp the simpler it's for you to compose a thriving research paper. Anarchism is much better than all kinds of government owing to its definitions and applications. You always ought to start looking for academically proved and dependable sources that you are able to cite in your essay. Racial profiling needs to be accomplished. You have to understand completely that you're not writing a descriptive essay. Before submitting your assignment, you want to be sure that it's flawless and error-free. Homework ought to be banned. The IELTS writing section is made up of two distinct tasks.

Internet A Medium or a Message Essay Example For Students

Internet: A Medium or a Message? Essay Sam Vaknins Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web SitesThe State of the Net: An Interim Report about the Future of the InternetWho are the participants who constitute the Internet?Users connected to the net and interacting with itThe communications lines and the communications equipmentThe intermediaries (e.g. the suppliers of on-line information or access providers). Hardware manufacturersSoftware authors and manufacturers (browsers, site development tools, specific applications, smart agents, search engines and others). The Hitchhikers (search engines, smart agents, Artificial Intelligence AI tools and more)Content producers and providersSuppliers of financial wherewithal (currently corporate and institutional cash to be replaced, in the future, by advertising money)The fate of each of these components separately and in solidarity will determine the fate of the Internet. The Internet has hitherto been considered the territory of computer wizards. Thus, any attempt at predicting its future applied the Olympic formula : Faster, Higher, Stronger to its hardware and software determinants. Media experts, sociologists, psychologists, advertising and marketing executives were left out of the collective effort to determine the future face of the Internet. The Internet cannot be currently defined as a medium. It does not function as one rather it is a very disordered library, mostly incorporating the writings of non-distinguished megalomaniacs. It is the ultimate Narcissistic experience. Yet, ever since the invention of television there hasnt been anything as begging to become a medium as the Internet is. Three analogies spring to mind when contemplating the Internet in its current state:A chaotic libraryA neural network or the equivalent of a telephony network in the makingA new continent These metaphors prove to be very useful (even business-wise). They pe rmit us to define the commercial opportunities embedded in the Internet. Yet, they fail to assist us in predicting its future which lies in its transformation into a medium. How does an invention become a medium? What happens to it when it does become one? What is the thin line separating the basic function of the invention from its flowering in the form of a new medium? In other words: when can we tell that some technological advance gave birth to a new medium? This work also deals with the image of the Internet once transformed into a medium. The Internet has the most unusual attributes in the history of the media. It has no central structure or organization. It is hardware and software independent. It (almost) cannot be subjected to legislation or to regulation. Take on example: downloading music from the internet is it an act of recording music? This has been the crux of the legal battle between Diamond Multimedia (the manufacturers of the Rio MP3 device) and the recording indu stry in America. Its data transfer channels are not linear they are random. Most of its broadcast cannot be received at all. It allows for the narrowest of narrowcasting through the use of e-mail mailing lists, discussion groups, message boards and chats. And this is but a small portion of an impressive list of oddities. This idiosyncrasy will shape the nature of the Internet as a medium. Growing out of bizarre roots it is bound to yield strange fruit as a medium. So what are the business opportunities out there? I believe that they are to be found in two broad categories :The shaping of the Internet as a medium, using the right software and hardwareThe shaping of the Internet as a medium through contents The Map of Terra InterneticaThe Users How many users are there ? How many of them have access to the Web (World Wide Web WWW) and use it ? There are no unequivocal statistics. Those who presume to give the answers (including the ISOC the Internet SOCiety) rely on very partial and biased resources. Others just bluff for very unscientific reasons. Yet, all agree that there are, at least, 70 million active participants in North America (the Nielsen and Commerce-Net reports). The future is, inevitably, even more vague than the present. Authoritative consultancy firms predict 66 million active users in 10 years time. IBM envisages 700 million users. MCI is more modest with 300 million. At the end of 1999 there were 130 million users. This is not serious futurology. It is better to ignore these predictions and to face facts. The Internet an Elitist and Chauvinistic Medium The average user of the Internet is young (30), with academic background and high income. The percentage of the educated and the well-to-do among the users of the Web is three times as high as their proportion in the population. This is fast changing only because their children are joining them (6 million already had access to the Internet at the end of 1996 to be joined by another 24 milli on by the end of the decade). This may change only due to presidential initiatives (from Al Gore in the USA to Mahatir Mohammed in Malaysia), corporate largesse (Microsoft, for one) and institutional involvement (Open Society in Eastern Europe). These efforts will spread the benefits of this all-powerful tool among the less privileged. A bit more than 50% of all users are men and they are responsible for 60% of the activity in the net (as measured by data volume). Women seem to limit themselves to electronic mail (e-mail) and to electronic shopping of goods and services. Men prefer information because knowledge is power. Most of the users are of the experiencer variety. They are leaders of social change and innovative. This breed populates universities, fashionable neighbourhoods and trendy vocations. This is why many wonder if the Internet is not just another such fad, albeit an incredibly resilient one. Though most users have home access to the Internet they still prefer to acces s it from work, at the employers expense, though this preference is slight and being eroded. Most users are, therefore, exploitative in nature. Still, we must not forget that there are 37 million households of self employed and this possibly distorts the statistical picture somewhat. The Internet a North American Phenomenon Not European, not African, not Asian (with the exception of Israel and Japan), not Russian , nor a Third World phenomenon. It belongs squarely to the wealthy, sated world. It is the indulgence of those who have all else and their biggest worry is their choice of entertainment for the night. Between 60-70% of all Internet users live in the USA, 5% in Canada. They are rare in Europe (except in Germany and in Scandinavia). The Internet lost to the French Minitel because the latter provides more locally relevant content. Communications Most computer owners possess a 28,800 bps modem. This is much like driving a bicycle in a German Autobahn. The 56,600 bps is gradual ly replacing its slower predecessor (28% of computers with modem) but even it is hardly sufficient. To begin to enjoy video and audio (especially the former) data transfer rates need to be 50 times larger. Half the households in the USA have at least 2 telephones and one of them is usually dedicated to data processing (faxes or fax-modems). The ISDN could constitute the mid-term solution. This data transfer network is fairly speedy and covers 70% of the territory of the USA. It is growing by 100% annually and its sales topped 10 billion USD in 1995/6. Unfortunately, it is quite clear that ISDN is not THE answer. It is too slow, to user-unfriendly, has a bad interface with other network types. There is no point in investing in temporary solutions when the right solution is staring the Internet in the face, though it is not implemented due to political circumstances. A cable modem is 80 times speedier than the ISDN and 700 times faster than a 14,400 bps modem. However, is does have problems in accommodating two-way data transfer. There is also need to connect the fibre optic infrastructure which typifies cables to the old copper coaxial infrastructure which characterizes telephony. Cable users engage specially customized LANs (Ethernet) and the hardware is expensive (though equipment prices are forecast to collapse as demand increases). Cable companies simply did not invest in developing the technology : the law (prior to the 1996 Communications Act) forbade them to do anything that was not one way transfer of video by cables. Now, with the more liberal regulative environment, it is a mere question of time until the technology is found. Actually, most consumers single out bad customer relations as their biggest problem with the cable companies rather than technology. Experiments conducted with cable modems led to a doubling of usage time (from an average of 24 to 47 hours per month per user) which was wholly attributable to the increased speed. This comes clo se to a revolution in the culture and in the allocation of leisure time. Numerically speaking : 7 million households in the USA will be fitted with a two-way data transfer cable modem. This is a small number and it is anyones guess if it constitutes a critical mass. Sales of such modem amount to 1.3 billion USD annually. 50% of all cable subscribers also have a PC at home. To me it seems that the merging of the two technologies is inevitable. Other technological solutions such as the ADSL are being developed and implemented. Hardware and Software Most of the Internet users (62%) work with a Windows operating system. About 21% own a Mackintosh (much stronger graphically and more user-friendly). Only 7% continue to work on UNIX based systems (which, historically, fathered the Internet) and this number is fast declining. A strong entrant is the free source LINUX operating system. Virtually all the users employ a browsing software : most of them (56%) use Netscapes products (Navigato r and Communicator) and the minority shares the antiquated Mosaic (the SPRY version, for instance) and Microsofts Explorer (close to 40% of the market). The sales of browsers are expected to hit 4 billion USD in the year 2000 (Hembrecht and Quist). Browsers are in for a great transformation. Most of them will have 3-D, advanced audio, telephony / voice mail (v-mail), e-mail and conferencing capabilities integrated into the same session (and this includes video conferencing in the further future). They will become self-customizing, intelligent, Internet interfaces : they will memorize the history of usage and user preferences and adapt themselves accordingly. They will allow content-specificity : unidentifiable smart agents will scour the Internet, make recommendations, compare prices, order goods and services and customize contents in line with self-adjusting user profiles. Two important technological developments must be considered: Palmtops the ultimate personal (and office) comm unicators, easy to carry and providing Internet access anywhere, independent of suppliers and providers and of physical infrastructure (in an aeroplane, in the field, in a cinema). The second : wireless data transfer and wireless e-mail, whether through pagers, cellular phones, or through more sophisticated apparatus and ybrids such as smart phones. Geotechs products are an excellent example : e-mail, faxes, telephone calls and a connection to the Internet and to other, public and corporate, or proprietary, databases all provided by the same gadget. This is the embodiment of the electronic, physically detached, office. We have no way of gauging or intelligently guessing the part of the mobile Internet in the total future Internet market but it is likely to outweigh the fixed part. Wireless internet meshes well with the trend of pervasive computing and the intelligent household. Household gadgets such as microwave ovens, refrigerators and so on will connect to the internet via a w ireless interface to cull data, download information, order goods and services and perform basic maintenance functions upon themselves. Suppliers and Intermediaries Parasitic intermediaries occupy each stage in the Internet chain of food. Access to the Internet? Internet Service Providers (ISP) Content? content suppliers and so on. Some of these intermediaries are doomed to gradually fade or to suffer a substantial diminishing of their share of the market. What justification was there for the existence of the likes of CompuServe and America On line (AOL) had they not matched up with portals and content providers? Before the 1998/9 spat of mergers and acquisitions, in 1996 it was predicted that they will have only 16 million subscribers in the USA by 1997 and this was before the technical and corporate upheavals in AOL. By way of comparison, even today, ISPs have twice as many subscribers (worldwide). Admittedly, this adversely affects the quality of the service the infrastructure maintained by the phone companies is slow and often succumbs to bottlenecks. The unequivocal intention of the telephony giants to become major players in the Internet market should also be taken into account. The phone companies will, thus, play a dual role : they will supply the infrastructure to their competitors (sometimes, within a real or actual monopoly) and they will compete with their clients. The same can be said about the cable companies. Controlling the last mile to the users abode is the next big business of the internet. Companies such as AOL are disadvantaged by these trends. It is imperative for AOL to obtain equal access to the cable companys backbone and infrastructure if it wants to survive. No wonder that many of the ISPs judge this to be an unfair fight. On the other hand, it takes a minimal investment to become an ISP. 200 modems (which cost 200 USD each) are enough to satisfy the needs of 2000 average users who generate an income of 500,000 USD per annum to t he ISP. Routers are equally as cheap nowadays. This is a nice return on the ISPs capital, undoubtedly. The Hitchhikers The Web houses the equivalent of 10 million books. Search Engine applications are used to locate specific information in this impressive, constantly proliferating library. They will be replaced, in the near future, by Knowledge Structures gigantic encyclopaedias, whose text will contain references (hyperlinks) to other, relevant, sites. The far future will witness the emergence of the Intelligent Archives and the Personal Papers (read further for detailed explanations). Some software applications will summarize content, others will index and automatically reference and hyperlink texts (virtual bibliographies). An average user will have on-going interest in 500 sites. Special software will be needed to manage address books (bookmarks, favourites) and contents (Intelligent Addressbooks). The phenomenon of search engines dedicated to search a number of search engines simultaneously will grow (Hyper-engines). Hyperengines will work in the background and download hyperlinks and advertising (the latter is essential to secure the financial interest of site developers and owners). Statistical software which tracks (how long was what done), monitors (what did they do while in) and counts (how many) visitors to sites exist. Some of these applications have back-office facilities (accounting, follow-up, collections, even tele-marketing). They all provide time trails and some allow for auditing. This is but a small fragment of the rapidly developing net-scape : people and enterprises who make a living off the Internet craze rather than off the Internet itself. Everyone knows that there is more money in lecturing about how to make money in the Internet than in the Internet itself. This maxim still holds true despite the 32 billion US dollars in E-commerce in 1998. Content Suppliers This is the underprivileged sector of the Internet. They all lose money (e xcept sites offering basic, standardized goods books, CDs and sites connected to tourism). No one thanks them for content produced with the investment of a lot of effort and a lot of money. A really good, fully commerce enabled site costs up to 5,000,000 USD, excluding current updating site maintenance and customer and visitor services. They are constantly criticized for lack of creativity or for too much creativity. More and more is asked of them. They are exploited by intermediaries, hitchhikers and other parasites. Most of them produce Web content. 32 million men and women constantly access the Web but this number stands to grow (the median prediction: 120 million). Yet, while the Web is used by 35% of those with access to the Internet e-mail is used by more than 50%. E-mail is by far the most common function and specialized applications (Eudora, Internet Mail, Microsoft Exchange) have upgraded it to a state of art. Most of the users like to surf (browse, visit sites) the n et without reason or goal in mind. This makes it difficult to use traditional marketing parlance: what is the meaning of targeted audiences market shares in this context? If a surfer visits sites dealing with aberrant sex and nuclear physics during the same session what to make of it? People like the very act of surfing, then they want to be entertained, then they use the Internet as a working tool, mostly in the service of their employer, who, usually foots the bill. Users love free downloads (mainly software). Free is a key word in the Internet : it used to belong to the US Government and to a bunch of universities. Users like information, with emphasis on news and data about new products. But they do not like to shop on the net yet. Only 38% of all surfers made a purchase during 1998. 67% of them adore virtual sex. 50% of the sites most often visited are porno sites (this is reminiscent of the early days of the Video Cassette Recorder VCR). A- propos video : people dedicate th e same amount of time to watching video cassettes as they do to surfing the net. Sex is followed by music, sports, health, television, computers, cinema, politics, pets and cooking sites. People are drawn to interactive games. The Internet will shortly enable people to gamble, if not hampered by legislation. 10 billion USD in gambling money are predicted to pass through the net. This makes sense: nothing like a computer to provide immediate (monetary and psychological) rewards. Commerce on the net is another favourite. The Internet is a perfect medium for the sale of software and other digital products (e-books). The problem of data security is on its way to being solved with the SET (or other) world standard. The Internet has more than 100 virtual shopping malls and they were visited by 2.5 million shoppers in 1995 (probably by double this number in 1996). The predictions for 1999 : between 1-5 billion USD of net shopping (plus 2 billion USD through on-line information providers, s uch as CompuServe and AOL) proved woefully inaccurate. The actual number in 1998 was 7 times the prediction for 1999. It is also widely believed that circa 20% of the family budget will pass through the Internet as e-money and this amounts to 150 billion USD. The Internet will become a giant inter-bank clearing and varied banking and investment services will be provided through it. Basically, everything can be done through the Internet : looking for a job, for instance. Some sites already sport classified ads. This is not a bad way to defray expenses, though most classified ads are free (it is the advertising they attract that matters). Another developing trend is website-rating and critique. It will be treated the way todays printed editions are. It will have a limited influence on the consumption decisions of some of them. Browsers already display a button labelled Whats New and another one called Whats Hot. Most Search Engines recommend specific sites. Users are cautious. Studie s discovered that no user, no matter how heavy, has visited more than 200 site, a minuscule number. Also, a random at times, the wrong selection for the user. Web Critics, who work today mainly for the printed press, will publish their wares in the net and will attach themselves to intelligent software which will hyperlink, recommend and refer. Some web critics will be identified with specific applications really, expert systems which will embody their knowledge and experience. The MoneyWhere will the capital needed to finance all these developments come from? Again, there are two schools : One that says that sites will be financed through advertising and so will search engines, applets and any other application accessed by users. The second version is simpler and allows non-commercial content to exist : It proposes to collect negligible sums (cents or fractions of cents) from every user for every visit. These accumulated cents will enable the owners of old sites to update and t o maintain them and encourage entrepreneurs to develop new ones. The adherents of the first school point at the 5 million USD invested in advertising during 1995 and to the 60 million or so invested during 1996. Its opponents point exactly at the same numbers : ridiculously small when contrasted with more conventional advertising modes. The potential of advertising on the net is limited to 1.5 billion USD annually in 1998, thundered the pessimists (many think that even half of that would be very nice). The actual figure was double the prediction but still woefully small and inadequate to support the internets content development. Compare these figures to the sale of Internet software (4 billion), Internet hardware (3 billion), Internet access provision (4.2 billion in 1995). Hembrecht and Quist estimate that Internet related industries scoop up 23.2 billion USD annually (A report released in mid-1996). And what will follow advertising? The consumer will interact and the product will be posted to him. This is a much slower and more enervating epilogue to the exciting affair of ordering through the net at the speed of light. Too many consumers still complain that they did not receive what they ordered. The solution may lie in the integration of advertising and content. Pointcast, for instance, integrated advertising into its news broadcasts, continuously streamed to the users screen, even when inactive (active screen saver and ticker). Downloading of digital music, video and text (e-books) will lead to immediate gratification of the consumer and will increase the efficacy of advertising. Whatever the case may be, a uniform, agreed upon system of rating as a basis for charging advertisers, is highly needed. There is also the question of what does the advertiser pay for? Many advertisers (Procter and Gamble, for instance) refuse to pay by the number of hits or impressions (=entries, visits to a site). They agree to pay only according to the number of the times tha t their advertisement was hit. Resistance To Technology EssayInternet Space can be easily purchased or created. The investment is low. Then, infrastructure can be erected for a shopping mall, for free home pages, for a portal, or for another purpose. It is precisely this infrastructure that the developer can later sell, lease, franchise, or rent out. At the beginning, only members of the fringes and the avant-garde (inventors, risk assuming entrepreneurs, gamblers) invest in a new invention. The invention of a new communications technology is mostly accompanied by devastating silence. No one knows to say what are the optimal uses of the invention (in other words, what is its future). Many mostly members of the scientific and business elites argue that there is no real need for the invention and that it substitutes a new and untried way for more veteran and safe modes of doing the same thing (by implication : so why assume the risk?) These criticisms are founded: To start with, there is, indeed, no need for th e new medium. A new medium invents itself and the need for it. It also generates its own market to satisfy this newly found need. Two prime examples are: the personal computer and the compact disc. When the PC was invented, its uses were completely unclear. Its performance was lacking, its abilities limited, it was horribly user unfriendly. It suffered from faulty design, absent user comfort and ease of use and required considerable professional knowledge to operate. The worst part was that this knowledge was unique to the new invention (not portable). It reduced labour mobility and limited their professional horizons. There were many gripes among those assigned to tame the new beast. The PC was thought of, at the beginning, as a sophisticated gaming machine, an electronic baby-sitter. As the presence of a keyboard was detected and as the professional horizon cleared it was thought of in terms of a glorified typewriter or spreadsheet. It was used mainly as a word processor (and its existence justified solely on these grounds). The spreadsheet was the first real application and it demonstrated the advantages inherent to this new machine (mainly flexibility and speed). Still, it was more (speed) of the same. A quicker ruler or pen and paper. What was the difference between this and a hand held calculator (some of them already had computing, memory and programming features)? The PC was recognized as a medium only 30 years after it was invented with the introduction of multimedia software. All this time, the computer continued to spin off markets and secondary markets, needs and professional specialities. The talk as always how to improve on existing markets and solutions. The Internet is the computers first important breakthrough. Hitherto the computer was only quantitatively different the multimedia and the Internet have made him qualitatively superior, actually, sui generis, unique. This, precisely, is the ghost haunting the Internet: It has been invented, is maintained and is operated by computer professionals. For decades these people have been conditioned to think in Olympic terms: more, stronger, higher. Not: new, unprecedented, non-existent. To improve not to invent. They stumbled across the Internet it invented itself despite its own creators. Computer professionals (hardware and software experts alike) are linear thinkers. The Internet is non linear and modular. It is still the time of the computermen in the Internet. There is still a lot to be done in improving technological prowess and powers. But their control of the contents is waning and there they are being gradually replaced by communicators, creative people, advertising executives, psychologists and the totally unpredictable masses who flock to flaunt their home pages. These all are attuned to the user, his mental needs and his information and entertainment preferences. The compact disc is a different tale. It was intentionally invented to improve upon an existing tech nology (basically, Edisons Gramophone). Market-wise, this was a major gamble : the improvement was, at first, debatable (many said that the sound quality of the first generation of compact discs was inferior to that of its contemporary record players). Consumers had to be convinced to change both software and hardware and to dish out thousands of dollars just to listen to what the manufacturers claimed was better quality Bach. A better argument was the longer life of the software (though contrasted with the limited life expectancy of the consumer, some of the first sales pitches sounded absolutely morbid). The computer suffered from unclear positioning. The compact disc was very clear as to its main functions but had a rough time convincing the consumers. Every medium is first controlled by the technical people. Gutenberg was a printer not a publisher. Yet, he is the worlds most famous publisher. The technical cadre is joined by dubious or small-scale entrepreneurs and, together, they establish ventures with no clear vision, market-oriented thinking, or orderly plan of action. The legislator is also dumbfounded and does not grasp what is happening thus, there is no legislation to regulate the use of the medium. Witness the initial confusion concerning copyrighted software and the copyrights of ROM embedded software. Abuse or under-utilization of resources ow. Recall the sale of radio frequencies to the first cellular phone operators in the West a situation which repeats itself in Eastern and Central Europe nowadays. But then more complex transactions exactly as in real estate in real life begin to make their appearance. This distinction is important. While in real life it is possible to sell an undeveloped plot of land no one will buy pages. The supply of these is unlimited their scarcity (and, therefore, their virtual price) is zero. The second example involves the utilization of a site rather than its mere availability. A developer could open a site wherein first time authors will be able to publish their first manuscript for a fee. Evidently, such a fee will be a fraction of what it would take to publish a real life book. The author could collect money for any downloading of his book and split it with the site developer. The potential buyers will be provided with access to the contents and to a chapter of the books. This is currently being done by a few fledgling firms but a full scale publishing industry has not yet developed. The Life of a MediumThe internet is simply the latest in a series of networks which revolutionized our lives. A century before the internet, the telegraph and the telephone have been similarly heralded as global and transforming. Every medium of communications goes through the same evolutionary cycle: Anarchy The Public Phase At this stage, the medium and the resources attached to it are very cheap, accessible, under no regulatory constraints. The public sector steps in : higher education institution s, religious institutions, government, not for profit organizations, non governmental organizations (NGOs), trade unions, etc. Bedevilled by limited financial resources, they regard the new medium as a cost effective way of disseminating their messages. The Internet was not exempt from this phase which ended only a few months ago. It started with a complete computer anarchy manifested in ad hoc networks, local networks, networks of organizations (mainly universities and organs of the government such as DARPA, a part of the defence establishment, in the USA). Non commercial entities jumped on the bandwagon and started sewing these networks together (an activity fully subsidized by government funds). The result was a globe encompassing network of academic institutions. The American Pentagon established the network of all networks, the ARPANET. Other government departments joined the fray, headed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) which withdrew only lately from the Internet. The Internet (with a different name) became public property with access granted to the chosen few. Radio took precisely this course. Radio transmissions started in the USA in 1920. Those were anarchic broadcasts with no discernible regularity. Non commercial organizations and not for profit organizations began their own broadcasts and even created radio broadcasting infrastructure (albeit of the cheap and local kind) dedicated to their audiences. Trade unions, certain educational institutions and religious groups commenced public radio broadcasts. The Commercial Phase When the users (e.g., listeners in the case of the radio, or owners of PCs and modems in the example of the Internet) reach a critical mass the business sector is alerted. In the name of capitalist ideology (another religion, really) it demands privatization of the medium. This harps on very sensitive strings in every Western soul : the efficient allocation of resources which is the result of competition, corruption and inefficiency naturally associated with the public sector (Other Peoples Money OPM), the ulterior motives of members of the ruling political echelons (the infamous American Paranoia), a lack of variety and of catering to the tastes and interests of certain audiences, the equation private enterprise = democracy and more. The end result is the same : the private sector takes over the medium from below (makes offers to the owners or operators of the medium that they cannot possibly refuse) or from above (successful lobbying in the corridors of power leads to the appropriate legislation and the medium is privatized). Every privatization especially that of a medium provokes public opposition. There are (usually founded) suspicions that the interests of the public were compromised and sacrificed on the altar of commercialization and rating. Fears of monopolization and cartelization of the medium are evoked and justified, in due time. Otherwise, there is fear of the concentration of control of the medium in a few hands. All these things do happen but the pace is so slow that the initial fears are forgotten and public attention reverts to fresher issues. A new Communications Act was legislated in the USA in 1934. It was meant to transform radio frequencies into a national resource to be sold to the private sector which will use it to transmit radio signals to receivers. In other words : the radio was passed on to private and commercial hands. Public radio was doomed to be marginalized. The American administration withdrew from its last major involvement in the Internet in April 1995, when the NSF ceased to finance some of the networks and, thus, privatized its hitherto heavy involvement in the net. A new Communications Act was legislated in 1996. It permitted organized anarchy. It allowed media operators to invade each others territories. Phone companies will be allowed to transmit video and cable companies will be allowed to transmit telephony, for instance. T his is all phased over a long period of time still, it is a revolution whose magnitude is difficult to gauge and whose consequences defy imagination. It carries an equally momentous price tag official censorship. Voluntary censorship, to be sure, somewhat toothless standardization and enforcement authorities, to be sure still, a censorship with its own institutions to boot. The private sector reacted by threatening litigation but, beneath the surface it is caving in to pressure and temptation, constructing its own censorship codes both in the cable and in the internet media. Institutionalization This phase is the next in the Internets history, though, it seems, unbeknownst to it. It is characterized by enhanced activities of legislation. Legislators, on all levels, discover the medium and lurch at it passionately. Resources which were considered free, suddenly are transformed to national treasures not to be dispensed with cheaply, casually and with frivolity. It is conceivable t hat certain parts of the Internet will be nationalized (for instance, in the form of a licensing requirement) and tendered to the private sector. Legislation will be enacted which will deal with permitted and disallowed content (obscenity ? incitement ? racial or gender bias ?) No medium in the USA (not to mention the wide world) has eschewed such legislation. There are sure to be demands to allocate time (or space, or software, or content, or hardware) to minorities, to public affairs, to community business. This is a tax that the business sector will have to pay to fend off the eager legislator and his nuisance value. All this is bound to lead to a monopolization of hosts and servers. The important broadcast channels will diminish in number and be subjected to severe content restrictions. Sites which will not succumb to these requirements will be deleted or neutralized. Content guidelines (euphemism for censorship) exist, even as we write, in all major content providers (CompuSer ve, AOL, Prodigy). The Bloodbath This is the phase of consolidation. The number of players is severely reduced. The number of browser types will be limited to 2-3 (Netscape, Microsoft and which else ?). Networks will merge to form privately owned mega-networks. Servers will merge to form hyper-servers run on supercomputers. The number of ISPs will be considerably down. 50 companies ruled the greater part of the media markets in the USA in 1983. The number in 1995 was 18. At the end of the century they will number 6. This is the stage when companies fighting for financial survival strive to acquire as many users/listeners/viewers as possible. The programming is shallowed to the lowest (and widest) common denominator. Shallow programming dominates as long as the bloodbath proceeds. From Rags to Riches Tough competition produces four processes: 1. A Major Drop in Hardware PricesThis happens in every medium but it doubly applies to a computer-dependent medium, such as the Internet. Computer technology seems to abide by Moors Law which says that the number of transistors which can be put on a chip doubles itself every 18 months. As a r