Complex Project Management: Historical Background, Problems and Approaches Essay

Managing a project that has cross-cultural team members is a very involving task, which calls for application of appropriate leadership styles and approaches (Arbaugh, 2007, p. 569). The applicability of theories, models and approaches of management in the Belbin Consultancy Project can be deeply elaborated with clarity, to demonstrate the understanding of the topic. Since managing and leading cross-cultural teams in such projects does not just happen, as the monitor and shaper, I comprehensively applied the necessary aspects of leadership and management as I deemed appropriate. Below is a presentation of the report of Belbin Consultancy Project that my team and I, as the monitor and shaper, undertook. Project management             Project management is a comprehensive undertaking by project managers which involves several steps from inception to completion, and which guarantees the success of the project (Klimenko, 2014, p. 13). As I experienced during the Belbin Project execution, these activities have to be carefully organized and precisely planned for execution. Project Processes             During the management of the project, I applied 5 fundamental processes as shown in the appendix 1. The first process was initiation, which involved determining the nature and range of the project (Daft & Lane, 2005, p. 337). All the requirements ranging from analysis, goal setting, current operations review and feasibility were considered at this stage. The second process that we carried out was planning which involved the setting of appropriate time for each activity, considering the costs involved and the resources required. We also did a risk planning activity that was geared towards tackling uncertainties. The third process was executing, which involved following all the activities of the project as outlined during the planning stage. This was geared towards meeting all the set deadlines of the set milestones. The fourth process involved monitoring the progress and controlling the execution, noting of any deviations from the plan and taking the appropriate managerial actions (Stewart and Powell, 2004, p. 37). At this stage, I verified and validated the activities and their execution as per the allocated resources and timelines. It is at this stage that the quality of the activities that different team members were involved in was considered. The last process of the project involved the closing out of the project after its completion (Xie and Zhang, 2013, p. 725). The final product that the team developed was accepted having delivered to the best of our ability. Management Approaches             For effective execution of the processes mentioned above, I applied several management approaches. These approaches assisted in carrying out the processes in a planned manner, towards realizing the requirements. The first approach I utilized was the traditional method, which involved the execution of all the processes in a sequence. In this approach, some processes were recursively extended to support the cycle of development of the project (Collyer & Warren, 2009 p. 359). The second approach was event chain approach, which involved the identification and management of proceedings and the chains of proceedings attached to the project schedule. This approach helped me in managing the negative effects, and allowed for modeling of uncertainties that were foreseeable as was outlined in the project schedule (Symonds, 2014, p. 2). The third approach was scrum methodology, whose goal was to improve the productivity of the team by removing every possible hurdle. The fourth methodology was crystal approach in which I directed the team away from focusing on the processes. It was thus crucial to focus more on the skills of the team members, interactions, communication and people. This way, every member was able to deliver in their allocated part. Organizing and Structuring Teamwork             At this stage, the central focus is given on the capabilities of team members. As defined by Scarnati (2001. P. 5), teamwork is a cooperative procedure that assists normal people to accomplish surprising results. It, therefore, called for effective allocation of tasks on individual members. We generated a commitment oath of the team and developed shared goals. The team focused on providing quality results as opposed to achieving individual personal satisfaction that might have interfered with the achievement of objectives. Similarly, I facilitated and nurtured positive relationships that were cooperative as a way of motivating the team members towards achieving the final goal. The issues of interdependence among the team members were put into consideration (Schneider & Barsoux, 2003, p. 137). The creation of a positive attitude in the members through inspiring examples was thus vital. When experiencing difficulties, team members were enthusiastic to help out their peers, regardless of their backgrounds (Symonds, 2014, p. 2). Whenever deviations resulted from the unwillingness of some members to ask for assistance, a quick meeting was convened to remind them of their interdependence responsibilities. During the allocation of tasks, interpersonal skills were put in consideration a step that allowed for proper allocation of tasks. I encouraged open communication as well as positive feedbacks as a way of improving relationships among team members. This way, the team had an understanding that discussing problems was healthy for their interdependence. Similarly, as an overall manager, I worked hard to ensure that the teams had the appropriate composition, by carefully considering the skills of each member and the kind of personality that each possessed. After careful consideration, the team members were allocated tasks that matched their profile. On the same note, commitment to the processes of the team and accountability were highly emphasized. Respect for every member was exceedingly regarded and especially on the response towards several individuals who took leadership roles (Wateridge, 2001, p. 191). To ensure effective and efficient implementation of the project activities, elect ronic tools were highly utilized and whenever the tools were not enough for use on a particular task, the available tools were shared. This highly facilitated the process of implementation of the project activities. Project Execution             During the project execution, my vital role was to control the process. At this point, practicing MBWA (management by walking around) was necessary. There were some instances where the project activities carried out by the team members veered from the plan. These deviations resulted from the inability of some members to fully comprehend what is expected of them during certain activities. This was so because of the diversified back grounds of the team members, which prevented them from consulting or asking for assistance. It was thus necessary for me to carry out the proper monitoring role, to match the activities with the plan and to assure quality. To do this, I convened several emergence meetings to remind the team members on their roles as team players. During the completion stage when the project was nearing the close out phase, one of the team members got seek and had to fly back home. Because of the limitation of time, the tasks were allocated to some members of the team. It was unfortunate because the delivery time of the added tasks was late for the reason of failure to understand the tasks. This made it necessary for convening an abrupt meeting to brief the affected members on what is expected of them. For this reason, the delivery of the tasks allocated to the ailing member did not go in accordance with the plan. Team Working and Leadership Cross-cultural Teams             During the initiation stage, the team rules as shown in appendix 2, as well as the roles of every member were developed. To facilitate this, discussions on the cultural dissimilarities that were easily perceivable and their effects on behavior of the members and performance were established. This was geared towards creating an open discussion that inspired mutual trust and obligation (Chung et al., 2013 p. 194). After the discussion, the cultural differences that emanated from understanding the background of every team member helped in developing appropriate ways of addressing the issues accordingly. This was done after knowing where these differences emanated from through assessing the situation from individual member’s perspective. This helped in changing the stereo-typed perceptions and improvement on value-based assumptions. To solve some of the cross-cultural issues that arose during implementation of the setout activities, I as the leader worked hard for reconciliation as opposed to compromising. I thus created new ways of perceiving and settling the differences. This encouraged the combining of strengths among the team members as opposed to picking disagreements. Intensive communications, feedbacks and procedures were highly regarded to minimize the risks involved. Changing Roles             The aspect of changing roles was not utilized so as to facilitate the aspect of specialization in tasks. This worked to our disadvantage when one of the team members go sick and had to fly back home. The tasks were allocated to several team members who had almost similar tasks. Because of inadequacy of specialization on the added tasks, the members delivered the tasks late. This prompted me to convene an impromptu meeting to brief the members on their new added tasks. Because of this reason, the delivery of the tasks was out of time plan. Motivation             To motivate the team members, the contributions made by each were highly regarded every time a scheduled meeting was convened as shown in appendix 3. Similarly, the diverse views of different individuals were encouraged and incorporated in the decisions made after a comprehensive discussion (Wateridge, 2001, p. 161). To motivate the team members, I kept reminding them of their capabilities and how appreciated their contributions were. Also, different needs of individual members were identified for easy fulfillment. When members felt that their needs are catered for and their views are incorporated in making decisions pertaining to the execution of the project activities, they delivered to their capability (Wright, 2002, p. 121). To encourage harmony within the team, I encouraged communication among the members (Malinowski, 2011, p. 234). This served as a way of understanding the problems that different members are experiencing at particular instances. After the communication of the problems, the issues were addressed accordingly to the satisfaction of all members. This guaranteed harmony among the members through free and unrestricted interactions, characterized by free flow of thoughts (Seteroff, 2003, p. 43). This free flow of thoughts and effective communication facilitated generation of new ideas pertaining to the implementation of activities of the project (Marc & Picard, 2000, p. 38). To get most out of the team members, the same technique of free flow of information and welcoming the contribution of every team member was utilized. Leadership Roles and Styles             During the implementation of the project, several individuals took up the role of leadership. The members who became leaders were chosen by the majority of the team members. The act of leading further boosted the confidence of the chosen members towards obtaining the set goals (Pearce & Sims, 2000, p. 131). I had been previously chosen as the overall manager of the project from the start to the end, to oversee the implementation of activities. This was a good experience that educated me on how cross-cultural teams operate .In the process, different leadership styles as discussed below were utilized. Transactional Leadership             The first type of leadership that different members who took leadership roles utilized was transactional leadership (Lowe & Gardner, 2011, p. 460). This style operated on the basic ground that because the team members agreed on the leadership of a particular member, they must obey the directions he or she gives. This type of leadership led to clarification of the roles played by every member of the team. Similarly, the members were expected to follow the agreed upon rules failure to which one would be ejected out of the team. Transformational Leadership             In this leadership, the leader inspired and motivated team members to transform the issue at hand from worst to best (Sashhin, 2004, p. 171). The means of motivation are as discussed above with encouraging individual members on their capabilities, free flow of information and effective communication at the top of the list (Ashkanasy & Tse, 2000, p. 223). The inspiration and motivation given by the team leaders were genuine, a situation that facilitated the implementation of the planned activities. Participative Leadership             This kind of leadership entails the involvement of team members in decision-making process (Langton & Robbins, 2007, p. 389). Through this kind of leadership, the understanding of the underlying issues of implementation by individual members was enhanced. They thus became more committed to the activities of implementation (Pearce, 2007, p. 357). Under this leadership, people became more collaborative as opposed to competitive and worked on joint team goals. Situational Leadership             In this type of leadership, the leader applies the best action depending on the array of factors of the situation at hand (Northouse, 2004, p. 78). This type of leadership is as a result of several forces namely; the circumstances, the followers and the leader. This style focused more on the behaviors adopted by the leader under different situations (Parry & Bryman, 2006, p. 456). The leader with the most excellent ability of making better decisions had an upper hand in applying the style. Conclusion             In conclusion, managing the activities of a project is a long process more so when dealing with cross-cultural teams. It calls for the manager to understand the different backgrounds of these members. This is done through the application of several techniques as such as the understanding of the cultural differences, their cause, how to change the perception to a common goal of the team and how to motivate individual members bearing in mind the aspect of different backgrounds. This way, he or she is able to inspire the followers to make the best team under a common goal of implementing the activities of the project successfully. On the leadership issue, it is vital that the leader understands the best type of leadership to apply on the team members (Osborn et al., 2002, p. 811). Recommendations             After carrying out all the activities of the project, it became necessary to develop some recommendations based on the lessons learnt. The following are the recommendations that I would implement if I was to undertake the project again as the monitor. To reduce the risk involved when engaging members from different cultural backgrounds in a team, it is essential to apply a flexible approach of management that allows for effective communication, reporting and actions on the raised issues. To change project processes so as to accommodate cultural differences, establishing good relationships with key members of the team is a must. This is geared towards winning their trust which in turn helps the project execution process smooth. To effectively implement the activities of the project, the manager is obliged to know what motivates the team members into doing good job, their specific skills and know-how and their respective communication styles. The combination of participative leadership and transformational leadership is the best option in a project implementation. This is so because participative leadership involves the members in decision-making process and hence motivating them. On the other hand, transformational leadership involves the leader inspiring and motivating his followers. References Arbaugh, J. (2007). Introduction: Project Management Education: Emerging Tools, Techniques, and Topics. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 6(4), pp.568-569.Ashkanasy, N. M., & Tse, B. (2000). Transformational leadership as management of emotion: A conceptual review. In N. M. Ashkanasy, C. E. J. Hà ¤rtel & W. J. Zerbe (Eds.). Emotions in the workplace: Research, theory, and practice (pp. 221-235) Chung, J., Wai, Y., Lau, D. and Songip, A. (2013). Teamwork – A Success Factor of Knowledge Management for Faculty Development: A Case Study. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, pp.192-195.Collyer, S. and Warren, C. (2009). Project management approaches for dynamic environments. International Journal of Project Management, 27(4), pp.355-364.Daft, R. and Lane, P. (2005). The leadership experience. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western. Industrial/organizational psychology (pp.235-278). Klimenko, O. (2014). Complex Project Management: Historical Background, Problems and Approaches, 3(3), pp.4-13. Langton, N., & Robbins, S. (2007). Leadership. In N. Langton & S. Robbins. Organizational behavior: Concepts, controversies, applications Toronto: Prentice Hall, (pp.386-426). Lowe, K. B. &, Gardner, W. L. (2001). The years of the leadership quarterly: Contributions and challenges for the futures. Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), 459–514. Malinowski, M. (2011). Essential project management skills. Project Management Journal, p.n/a-n/a. Marc, E. & Picard, D. (2000). Relations communications inter-personnel [Relationships and interpersonal communications]. Paris: Dunod. Northouse, P. (2004). Leadership. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage. Osborn, R. N., Hunt, J. G., & Jauch, L. R. (2002). Toward a contextual theory of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 13(6), 797-837. Parry, K. W., & Bryman, A. (2006). Leadership in organization. In S. T. Clegg, C. Harry, T. B. Lawrence & W. R. Nord. The Sage handbook of organization studies (pp. 447-468). Pearce, C. L. (2007). The future of leadership development: The importance of identity, multilevel approaches, self-leadership, physical fitness, shared leadership, networking, creativity, emotions, spirituality and on-boarding processes. Human Resource Management Review, 17(4), 355-359.Pearce, C. L., & Sims, H. P. (2000). Shared leadership: Toward a multi-level theory of leadership, Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies of Work Teams, 7, 115-139. Sashhin, M. (2004). Transformational leadership approaches: A review and synthesis. In J. Antonakis, A. T. Cianciolo & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.). p. 171 Scarnati, J. (2001). On becoming a team player. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 7(1/2), pp.5-10. Schneider, S. and Barsoux, J. (2003). Managing across cultures. Harlow, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Seteroff, S. S. (2003). Beyond leadership to followership. Victoria: Trafford. Stewart, B. and Powell, S. (2004). Team building and team working. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 10(1/2), pp.35-38. Symonds, M. (2014). Managing Cross-cultural Project Teams. Leadershipwatch. [online] Available at: http://blog.parallelprojecttraining.com/project-management-articles/managing-cross-cultural-project-teams/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2014]. Wateridge, J. (2001). Successful Project Management. International Journal of Project Management, 19(3), p.191. Wojciech Macek, W. (2011). Methodologies of Project Management. Contemporary Economics, 4(4), p.121. Wright, J. (2002). Effective Project Management. International Journal of Project Management, 20(8), p.633. Xie, H. and Zhang, A. (2013). Approaches and Processes of the Project Management. AMR, 790, pp.724-727. Source document

“Sequel” to Fahrenheit 451

Burning Bright, Burning Right It was that time of day when the afternoon barely gave away to the glorious wonders of the night. The birds had stopped chirping and the many creatures that stirred in the ruins of the city, those that found it livable, had retreated to their underground homes. It had been a decade, a lifetime since the city had been reduced to rubble. The radiation still lingered in the air. It added a new taste, similar to the taste of an orange or a lemon. The crater from the bomb had been filled with rainwater to form a lagoon.The river’s natural current carried away the radioactive debris to the forest where, undoubtedly, the creatures of the forest would drink the contaminated water. There had been an occasional drizzle now and then soaking most of the wood in the area. Montag had managed though. He had come prepared essay writer helper. It took him three full hours to build the raft and funeral pyre in which Faber’s body now rested on. He looked at t he horizon just in time to catch the everlasting rays of the sun fade to the night and began. â€Å"Faber, my dear friend; it has been awhile since we talked. Almost three months.I heard that you were shooting propaganda somewhere by the Eastern Battle; probably condemning the unworthy fools that fought against us. Remember when we first met? You called yourself a coward for not standing up to stop the madness when it was beginning. I always found it ironic that you would become the symbol of rebirth, that you would be dubbed the phoenix. A coward really, but that was not my decision to make,† he stopped and took a breath. â€Å"You were my mentor. When I was blind to the knowledge of books, you educated me; you showed me what I was missing.You were everything I could ever ask for. Granger was there for me, but you were there for me to the, I mean your, bitter end. I can remember when you were approached about the face of the phoenix. That bright day in St. Louis. â€Å"Fab er, tell me what happened yesterday? I thought all was going well with your friend. He had printed books for us before†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Montag stopped. â€Å"Why won’t he do it now? † â€Å"I’m afraid that he is no longer on our side of the battle,† Faber said. â€Å"Not on our side of the battle? That’s absurd! One doesn’t just simply stop being a savior,† Montag said. Well he isn’t trustworthy anymore. He had tricked us. Pulled the wool over our eyes. We were only seeing what we wanted to see. † It was at that moment that Montag noticed the man standing in the corner of the room. He had his face turned away from us, but it was obvious he was listening to them. â€Å"You there, who are you? † â€Å"Nobody. I heard that the almighty Guy Montag and the wise Faber were in town, I simply couldn’t resist the opportunity of meeting them,† said the strange man. Montag took a good look at him. He was well dress ed. He was very well dressed.It was obvious that he knew who we were and it was also obvious that he was there for a reason. His fingernails were clean; an indicator that he was no fighter. Either he was a very good ally to have, or a powerful enemy to dispose of. When he noticed Montag looking at him he gave a wry smile. He decided it was best to trample through the bush. â€Å"Why are you here and what do you want? And this time don’t be shy to tell us your real name. † Montag asked. â€Å"My oh my, the rumors about you are true. You see Mr. Montag I want to help you. You could say that I have friends in high places, places that can help you.While you have been fighting your wars silently, and rather immaturely, some of us,† he paused, â€Å"have been thinking of the bigger picture,† he stopped as he met Montag’s cool but deadly gaze. â€Å"What are you implying? † â€Å"Nothing at all. Just an offer to, how do I put this? Just an offer t o help move things along. We want to take the war public,† the man said. Montag raised his eyebrows until they almost became part of his receding hairline. â€Å"I don’t know what rock you have been living under but it is obvious that you have lived a very luxurious life up until now.The war was thrown out of the shadows three years ago. † â€Å"I know that,† the man replied, â€Å"but there was never a reason. † â€Å"What? † Montag said. â€Å"For the past three years we have been fighting a war about nothing. Some say it’s about money. Others? They say the world is hungry. It’s a blind man’s game. You may be thinking about what I think. I think that the world is hungry. It’s hungry for knowledge, for books. Some of us believe it is time to throw it out in the open to light the flames under the fire. To throw something out in the open, we need a face.Somebody that will inspire and mock every policy and rule that the government symbolizes. We need a phoenix. † â€Å"I’m not interested,† Montag replied. â€Å"I was expecting that,† he answered, â€Å"That’s why I wasn’t going to ask you. † He turned to Faber and said, â€Å"We need a face but we think Montag has too much baggage attached to it. It may scare some, to see a dead man come to life. You on the other hand are a somebody that became a nobody. Your wounds have healed, have they not? Why not find the strength to rise from the ashes? Faber, why won’t you join me? † Montag stood stunned in silence.He had been rejected. Faber was sitting there looking at his damn, shaking hands. He had been offered to be the face of a rebellion, to lead a revolution; yet he sat there, solemn as a statue. Finally he spoke: â€Å"I am not a phoenix. I, at the very best, can be compared to a humble field mouse. I was a coward when it all began. I watched books burn in front of me but did nothin g of it because I was too afraid to change anything. I decline your offer. † â€Å"I was also expecting that. † A sudden flash of emotion passed through his eyes, like a fox that knew his prey would be his. I haven’t even introduced myself yet. Here I am, trying to convince you to start a revolution with me, yet you do not even know my name. My name is Hubert Hoag. † He looked nothing like the man Montag had seen on the parlor walls. Albeit he was short like him, but he must have lost weight. A quick glance at Faber showed that he wasn’t the least bit surprised. â€Å"Faber I know that you failed when it began. I also know that you aren’t exactly the bravest but this is your chance at redemption. You can finally fix the mistakes you made when it was all beginning,† Hubert said.Montag was back in the forest with Granger. He remembered what he had said. That it was the right kind of mistakes to be where they are now. Montag opened his mou th to protest but was interrupted by Faber. â€Å"I’ll do it,† Faber said in a sharp whisper. â€Å"I’ll do it,† he said with more confidence. I’ll start a rebellion. † Hoag gave a smile like he knew that the stars would align for him. He stood up and said, â€Å"Excellent. I’ll be in contact with you soon. † We didn’t see Hoag for three months. When we were contacted; things changed. Things changed fast. Faber was soon an international icon.He looked younger and radiated power. Hoag and his friends dressed him in the image of the revolution and soon there were ads and posters everywhere. That was then. Now things had changed. Montag was back in the ashes of the city. The scurrying of various animals in the bones of the dead brought back his fond memories of Faber. The sun was nowhere to be seen. It was behind the mountains, hiding, like Faber. He turned to the one animate body of Faber. â€Å"How does it feel Faber? To start a revolution. When they look back in history, whether or not we won the war, you will be remembered.But your arrogance got the best of you. You were no humble field mouse. You looked at yourself as the new phoenix. You had risen from the ashes of the old and were ready to guide mankind to this new age. Spending time with Hoag got the best of you. Soon you were thinking like them. You words were weak and empty. You became the image that you were trying to fight. You became a problem,† Montag said. He looked around. It was around midnight. Not even the moon showered him with its pale glowing light. He lit a match. A match that he had used such a long time ago to burn others, to burn his problems.And then he was somewhere else, thinking about how a decade ago he had the same problem with another. The wise words of Beatty rang in his head: â€Å"Don’t face a problem, burn it† â€Å"Beatty, I’ve done just that. † He looked on to see the body of Fab er leaning against the funeral pyre in such a way that it would collapse into a beautiful red flower once the match had engulfed the small raft. He thought of the phoenix. â€Å"Faber, you were to be the phoenix. The rebirth of man rising from the ashes. You were a failure. Maybe all we need to do is burn the ashes one more time. †

Imagery of Disgust Vulnerability and Separation

Imagery of Disgust, Vulnerability, and Separation Frederick Douglass once said, â€Å"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. † If there was any one person who experienced this first-hand, it would be Frederick Douglass. In his narrative, Douglass writes of many struggles faced by slaves during their confinement to slavery and the progress that came from them. When writing of these struggles, Douglass uses many rhetorical strategies in order to persuade the reader into thinking a particular way about slavery. A particular strategy which Douglass uses is imagery.Imagery, the use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas, is frequently used in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass uses imagery order to persuade the reader to stop slavery. Frederick Douglass uses imagery in his narrative in order to cause the reader to develop disgust for actions taken upon slaves by the ir masters. Slaves were terribly treated by their slave masters during slavery. Many times, Slaves were whipped and punished for no reason.Slave whipping could have been done merely out of displeasure to the master or for taking too much food during the evening meal. In order to portray this message, Douglass uses imagery when writing about the beatings and whippings of his aunt. Mr. Plummer, the overseer of Captain Anthony’s plantation, is said to have taken great pleasure in whipping a slave. Frederick Douglass writes, in the beginning of the narrative, that he awoke many times by the â€Å"heart-rending shrieks† of his own aunt who Mr. Plummer would â€Å"tie up a joist, and whip upon [Frederick’s aunt’s] naked back till she was literally covered with blood. Douglass 3)† The reader is captured by the gruesome imagery which Douglass illustrates in portraying the scenes of a slave-whipping. Writing of these events paints a clearer picture in which the reader is able to learn the true and uncensored events which took place during slavery. This particular picture painted by Frederick Douglass creates a heart-wrenching scene that the reader is able to picture within the mind. This imagery allows the reader to picture the abhorring treatment which slave masters inflicted upon slaves.This causes the reader to think down upon slavery when this type of imagery is brought to the mind. The reader is then more likely to want to put a stop to such an image. Frederick Douglass uses imagery once again in order to depict the vulnerability faced by slaves during slavery. Vulnerability is the act of being susceptible or unprotected to physical or emotional injury. Vulnerability was one of the biggest difficulties faced by slaves during slavery. Frederick Douglass uses imagery in his narrative to depict vulnerability when writing of Master Andrew’s constant whipping of slaves.Douglass writes that Master Douglass â€Å"took [Frederick ’s] little brother by the throat, threw him on the ground, and with the heel of his boot stamped upon his head until the blood gushed from his nose and ears. (Douglass 28)† When describing this scene, Douglass causes the reader to paint an especially gory picture with the mind. This is a very bold picture in which the reader is able to form from the description given by Douglass. When the reader imagines a small boy, beaten and frail, with blood gushing from inside the body to the outside, it causes them to want to help the young boy and save him from his vulnerability to the slave master.Frederick Douglass also would have wanted to help his brother. However, Frederick Douglass watched as his vulnerable little brother was whipped and Frederick was able to do nothing about it. Vulnerability is able to be depicted from both the standpoint of Douglass and his little brother because both were confined by helplessness. This inclines the reader to help this situation of vulne rability and put an end to it. Imagery also is used by Douglass to depict the separation among slave family members. Slaves were bought out by masters during slavery.However, they were not often bought in ‘family packages’. This means that many marriages and siblings could be easily separated. Frederick Douglass uses imagery when writing his mother, Harriet Bailey. In the beginning of the narrative, Douglass writes that he and his mother were separated when he was an infant and scarcely saw her four or five times in the entirety of his life (Douglass 2). Douglass goes on to explain that when he heard of his mother’s death, it was if he had just heard that a stranger passed. He was calloused towards the hearing of her death.This imagery of separation between Frederick as a young child and his mother paints a dismal picture for the reader. When writing that he was separated from his mother as a infant, Frederick Douglass gives the reader a picture of a baby being t aken from its mother without consultation. Mothers are often seen as those who possess the skills and needs necessary to care for a young child. When stripped of these needs, the child suffers. Douglass uses this imagery in order to capture the reader’s sympathy for separation of the mother and child in hope to incline them to put a stop to it and slavery.Imagery was a key which Frederick Douglass used in order to persuade his readers to think down upon slavery. It is important for readers to picture these scenes so that they will know the true events which took place during slavery. The harsh actions of slave maters, the vulnerability of slaves, and the separation of slaves are only a few horrible events which happened during slavery. Certain events grip the mind and hearts of readers to capture what they believe is to be wrong. Frederick Douglass believed slavery to be wrong. Imagery helped Douglass to portray this message in a way that could help the readers relate to the story.

Gender inequalities in the workplace Research Paper - 1

Gender inequalities in the workplace - Research Paper Example Although it is evident that there have been significant gains in the workplace regarding equality in recent times, it is also evident that progress, to ensure equality, has stalled or slowed down. Despite being more than five decades since the idea of empowering women to participate in all the key sectors of the economy was born, it is evident that women face issues related to sexism in their workplace. In effect, this has had an effect of slowing down the gains achieved in ensuring equality. In the United States, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was one of the instruments that contributed to the participation of women in the workplace. This article not only prohibits discrimination due to gender, but also prohibits discrimination of people from the workplace based on their origin and religion (Gregory 1). Inadvertently with the advent of Title VII, it is evident that the world witnessed sweeping changes in the economic and social trends, which enhanced the participation of women in the workplace with the statistics increasing ever since. In the contemporary world, the United States continues to witness women rising in positions of power and their elevation to professional and corporate levels that were previously not fathomed. Despite all these achievements, various issues continue to underline inequality in the workplace. Sex discrimination in the workplace and other key areas of the economy might have subsided although it has not ended. Commenting about the participation and discrimination of women in the workplace, Abrams noted, â€Å"The present day finds us not at the end of the path, but navigating a crucial bend in the road† (1183). In this regard, women have realized that they have made substantial gains in the workplace although there are factors that inhibit their participation in the workplace. In line with this, it is crucial to point out that today’s woman can secure

Relationship between China and the United States Case Study

Relationship between China and the United States - Case Study Example And whatever the answer to these would surely rock the world. The relationship of the People's Republic of China (PRC) - to differentiate it from Imperial China to the China transformed by Mao Tse-Tung in 1949 - and the United States started bitterly, brought about by two diametrically opposed ideologies that each espouses: the United States, being the indefatigable monument of imperialism, and China, being the staunch ally of communist Russia. The world then was equatorially divided between imperialism in the west and communism in the east. And no one ever conceived that this demarcation would ever be radically altered. During this period (1949-1970) both nations regarded each other as intransigent enemies. The United States refused to acknowledge the PRC and denied China of its legitimacy being a nation by totally isolating it from the diplomatic community: it excluded China from the United Nations; it banned any trading with China; it fanned anti-communism and supported separatist movement within China (as what it did with USSR after the cold war) to divide the strong China; and it rallied South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and South Vietnam into a 'crescent-shaped alignment against communism', immediately communist China (Han-Yin Chang, 2000, p.62); that any ally having any diplomatic relations with China warrants the wrath of the powerful US. The U.S. depicted China to the world as repressive, fascistic, dictatorial, denying individual freedom that any one living in a democratic country, like America, enjoys. China on the other hand, side by side with Russia, was a front liner in the united front against US imperialism, all-out supporting national movements that decry U.S. colonialism. It was instrumental in the liberation of North Korea and North Vietnam. China portrayed the U.S. to the Chinese people and to the U.S. colonies, especially in Southeast Asia, that Uncle Sam - a derogatory depiction of the U.S. mocking it as an arrogant self-declared semi-god out to exploit nation's wealth and resources in the guise of benevolence - is nothing but a despotic aggressor, that would like to impose its hegemony over the peoples of the world. It perceived, and made all in its realm perceive, too, any U.S. action as an act of calculated subjugation and total exploitation. This marked anti-American sentiment lingers on among Chinese people until today. Such was the very hostile relationship of these two powerful nations that no peaceful gesture could lessen the tension, instead, if there was any, could have been interpreted as a mere ploy to thwart the other; that peaceful co-existence was unacceptable, because only one should rule the world. Each one representing the two contrasting ideologies, offered itself as the best social system to rule the world, both promising prosperity and humanization of society. Who could ever think that this would change' No one ever did, not even in any of these

Clarifies the problems, and relates these problems to appropriate Term Paper

Clarifies the problems, and relates these problems to appropriate management theory, suggests 3 practical initial strategies the company could consider to address the issues - Term Paper Example Specific issues that will be discussed in this paper include: the problems that affect leadership, suggestions on how to solve them, the benefits that result from the suggestions, and the theory of leadership. The culture in Ecobot was one that undermined its employees. The mindset was that ‘labor is cheap’ which resulted to the organization investing most of its resources on the machinery and the processes. The culture got justification from the fantastic results and strong performance of the company. The human resource was forgotten as a result. The statement that labor is cheap meant that employees were dispensable and that resources should not be set aside to invest in them. Such a culture resulted to poor working conditions and low morale from employees. The customers were affected as a result due to the lack of customer service, which is viewed by the increased customer complaints. Ecobot should change its organizational culture. It should embrace policies and values that aim at empowering their employees. It can do so by rewriting its corporate goals and visions to statements that aim at making the organization the best in its field while treating its employees well (Thompson, 2014). It should adopt practices that empower its employees such as training programs, involving them in decision making procedures, and changing the mindset of everyone in the organization that employees are a valuable resource that should be invested in (Dwayne, 2010). Ecobot has raised the leadership roles of its leaders such that they do almost everything as the employees watch. Such an environment is not good for the leaders as they may overwhelm themselves with the operations, which may result into frustration, fatigue, and stress. Their productivity levels will decrease reducing the profitability of the company. Empowering leaders to such extremes result to mistreatment and demeaning of employees. It may also lead to embezzlement and

Internation marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Internation marketing - Essay Example ologetic about its population, but with the era of consumerism dictating the trade talks this very population has become an important tool of economic progress for the country. The international community has also taken note of the burgeoning number of millionaires in India and the increase in purchasing power of an average Indian. The demand for cars has also seen a proportionate upsurge in the country. Now that the company has launched the much awaited people’s car, it is time to have a realistic assessment of the market potential and how best to tap this potential. 1. The Nano is sure to generate lot of interest, because now a small car is not considered a luxury; instead it is now being considered a necessity. To tap this ‘need’ a number of domestic and international car manufacturers have started making elaborate plans and marketing strategies. Some of the key challenges that Tata could face in its endeavour are; i. Increasing alliances of multinational car manufacturers with domestic Indian companies. In one of the latest developments, Toyota has sealed a strategic alliance with Indias Kirloskar Group to tap the potential of the huge small car market in the country1. This initiative is bound to prove quite competitive, for the simple reason that, Toyota has entered into the alliance well after the formal launch of Nano. That means, Toyota would have taken into account many factors which prove to be detrimental for the health of such a venture. Toyota’s research and development facility in Japan is busy on this car now a days. Though it is a new venture and it may take couple of years before we actually see the outcome, but considering the Japanese prowess in innovation and feature packaging, we must plan out our strategies accordingly. ii. In the international market, Tata’s will have a tough competition on hand from reputed brands like GM, BMW, Ford etc. These companies may not be able to match up the price tag offered by Tata’s but, they can

Managing in a mixed economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Managing in a mixed economy - Essay Example This study deals with Private-Public Partnership (PPP) agreement between London Underground and Mertronet. The purpose of the PPP agreement was to acquire funds from the private sector. This paper begins with the background of London Underground and Metronet. Historical facts are also provided to understand the reason for selection of PPP as a means of financing. It also contains literature survey of the problems of London Underground and Metronet also the National Audit Office Report is presented. The paper has been concluded with a few causes and reasons for the London Underground failure and liquidation of Metronet and is followed by the recommendation for the improvement of the PPP agreement. London Underground has started its operation in the mid-19th century with the help of private venture capital. The Metropolitan line between Farrington and Paddington was the first construction, built by Sub Surface Line (SSL), which was one of the first construction sectors of London Underg round (Wolmar, 2002). Due to absence of governing body and corporation, the entire sector started working independently. Therefore, the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) was formed in 1933 to control the road and underground transport. In 1948, it was undertaken by the British Commission. The five separate corporations including London Transport Board were restructured by British Commission. ... The tubes were disorganised, chaotic and systematically mismanaged since the early days. Hence, it was necessary to form a PPP. During the year 2002, due to inadequate investment and problem in managing public service and maintaining infrastructure, it was decided that maintenance and renewal of London Underground’s infrastructure would be undertaken through PPPs (Kellaway & Shanks, 2007). In PPP agreement, a contract has been signed for 30 years and the main purpose was to obtain funds from private sector. It was a partnership between two functions of business, i.e. finance and operation. Private sector is well-organised than public sector to complete a project in a cost-effective way. The renewal and maintenance of the tubes by public sector operations and private sector infrastructure were an arrangement that ensured the tubes would provide successful service more efficiently. The stations, train operations, signalling and safety was continued by the public sector, through London Underground Limited. The infrastructure companies such as Infraco BCV, Infraco JNP and Infraco SSL were formed for the purpose to manage station, trains, and signal and track infrastructure. Infra JNP was undertaken by Tube Line on 31st December 2002 and on 4th April 2003 other two companies were undertaken by Metronet. Metronet had invested ?17 billion amount for the PPP contract of 30 years (Finn & Et. Al., 2007). Metronet Rail Group is the group of Metronet Rail BCV Limited and Metronet Rail SSL Limited based in London, UK. Metronet Rail BCV Limited is involved in upgradation, replacement and maintenance of sub-surface deep tube lines that operates in the streets of London (Bloomberg

The Effects of Long Term Tumour Diagnosis and the Disease of Cancer Essay

The Effects of Long Term Tumour Diagnosis and the Disease of Cancer - Essay Example I've found that not only does this disease place a strain on the patient but on those managing the patients care as well, myself included. That is why it is imperative to have managing goals obvious in the treatment regimen so that there is always an avid awareness of what the next step of treatment is going to be. This is a positive reinforcement not only for the patient, but for my role as the assisting nurse as well, along with the other medical professionals caring for him or her. Through my years of experience I've learned that breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women who develop a form of this disease. The treatments are varied depending upon the individuals own diagnosis and symptoms. Furthermore, medical professionals, especially nurses like me can have a difficult time managing the care regimen of women with breast cancer simply due to the fact that many women's perceptions of their risks and management of the disease are highly varied (McDonald 2002, p.183). Also, being faced with a diagnosis such as breast cancer is scary and an individual develops high anxiety and many fears. This is where the medical staff such as nurses and other medical professionals should provide counselling and understanding to ensure that the management of the disease does not interfere with the patients' mental health, which can be very difficult to do (Aldridge-Clanton 1998, p. 109). I've ran into this problem innumerable amounts of time, especially in re gards to how they feel about their bodies and what they are afraid their life will be like following the treatment process. Many patients state that just deciding on what treatment to choose can promote fear and worry in their minds. Also physicians can complicate the problem if they don't manage the care effectively. Therefore there can not be instances such as conflicting opinions among physicians because it only complicates the treatment for the patient (Aldridge-Clanton 1998, p.110). Furthermore, another issue that can concrete upon the problems is the idea women have about breast cancer and being diagnosed with it. Much of this is due to the fact of the idea that women have of breast cancer, of it basically being a hereditary form of cancer and those who do not have a family history of it don't tend to feel screening and other routine testing is much of a necessity. Therefore, I've found that I need to provide affirmation to many of the patients that anyone is susceptible to developing breast cancer, even those without a hereditary history. Sometimes this can be hard to do in gaining my patients understanding. Therefore, many patients false assumptions can lead to a variety of problems as medical history can attest too. Although 20% of women can have a family history of breast cancer only 5% to 10% are actually caused by the hereditary gene. Therefore it is imperative for nurses (such as myself) and medical care providers to stress the importance of mandatory sc reening and check-up's for breast cancer among all age groups and ethnicities

Research paper about legalizing cannabis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research paper about legalizing cannabis - Essay Example rlands, cannabis is openly tolerated and can be both purchased and consumed in one of several Amsterdam ‘coffee houses.’ Inexplicably, the city has not been thrown into anarchy which, evidently, is what the opponents of cannabis legalisation are afraid of. The evidence demonstrates that legalizing cannabis would prove a benefit to society, evidence which is well-known throughout the scientific, political and public arena but this collective knowledge has yet to be acted upon. This discussion will examine the issue of legalisation drawing from European, British and American experiences. In addition, because cannabis is often associated with harder forms of drugs by legalisation opponents, it will briefly discuss plausible reasons why all drugs should be at least decriminalised if not made fully legal. A report created by Transform1, a non-profit UK drug policy think tank, demonstrates how criminalization of certain drugs has created crime, undermined public health and promotes social exclusion while proving ineffective in eliminating domestic markets. The foundation recommends instead a society in which all drugs are regulated and controlled through the use of specialized pharmacies and licensed retailers instead of black market street vendors and an uncontrolled clientele. The reason for this, they say, is that the war on drugs has led to an uninformed hysteria among the general population, an irrational opposition to less harmful substances, a spike in organised crime and associated criminal activity. By regulating and controlling drugs, Transform suggests that prison populations could be cut in half, considerably reducing the funds spent on maintaining and sustaining these populations. In addition, crime factors would be reduced as the primary activity of organised crime would now be regulated, crime wars would become obsolete and crimes associated with drug use such as prostitution and burglaries for drug money would be further reduced as the price

Awareness of Identity Theft among Mature Students Essay - 1

Awareness of Identity Theft among Mature Students - Essay Example Identity theft has been a serious issue. It has become one of the fastest-growing crimes in the US and in the UK. A 2007 report shows that in the UK, GBP 1.7 billion is lost annually and about 10,000 fell victims in 2006 (Staff Writer, 2007). In the US, though the figure has decreased, still about 8.4 adult Americans are victims of identity fraud (Javelin, 2007). Serious and rampant as it is, awareness of this type of crime was not immediately high. Identity awareness drives had to be conducted to inform more people of the danger of falling victim to the frauds. It is important that we become aware of their existence before they steal who we are. It is important, most especially for students, to know when and when not to give away certain personal information. But before giving precautions as to how to avoid identity thieves, it is necessary to have a figure as to what fraction of the population is actually aware that frauds like these exist. A look at the history of fraud cases migh t help measure the level of awareness that has come to arise throughout the years. The number of identity fraud cases in the UK has continued to rise since eight years ago. From a mere 9,000 cases in 1999, the number increased to 24,000 in the 2001, 46,000 in 2003, and almost doubled to 80,000 in 2006. As recorded, dealing with this crime has cost the UK government GBP1.5 billion in 2005 (CIFAS). In other parts of the world, particularly the US, fraudulent activities are more rampant and damaging. For instance, US lenders were reported to have lost about USD 1 billion. In Canada, a loss of about CAND 21.8 million was recorded in 2003 because of the 14,526 cases (Report on identity theft). Looking back at a 2005 investigation by the Which! Magazine, results showed that about one-fourth of UK adults had been victims of identity fraud. This has cost the UK government about GBP1.3 billion annually. The same investigation found out that awareness of the crime has increased, with two-thirds of the individuals now concerned with the crime. "Which found that 33 per cent of adults don't take any precautions to beat the ID thieves, while 18 per cent shred their documents but still use a single password for all online banking; a similar number don't shred documents but make use of several different passwords, while 31 per cent take both precautions" (Best, 2005). After looking at statistics of how the number of identity fraud cases has continued to rise, it is then important to take a look at how people usually fall victim to frauds, and how personal information are given away. There are several ways by which a fraudster can acquire information needed to steal your identity. For one, phishing occurs over the internet. This is an easy way for thieves to get away with important account numbers and such. This may be obtained through online dating services and even job applications online. Phishing scams happen when thieves pose as employees of legitimate companies verifying information over the phone or online. And as a study shows, 92 per cent of people in London will give information to a stranger (Thomson, 2005). Another way is by engaging in casual conversations. It may

How Organisations Use ICT Essay Example for Free

How Organisations Use ICT Essay The Northampton Academy is a new comprehensive school situated on the Billing Brook Road in Lings. There are 1300 students attending this school with the age range of these varying from 11-18 years. Northampton Academy Many business organisations use ICT in different ways depending on the type of organisation and how ICT can improve and help the business. The Northampton Academy is good example of a business that uses ICT in administration, in a more advanced and wider range of ways. The Academy needs to be able to send out letters to parents providing information such as how well their child is doing in school, whether or not their child is displaying the right kinds of behaviour in school, or information on educational trips coming up which their child may be interested in or is a part of. Newsletters also need to be sent out providing the parents of each and every child in the Academy with information about forthcoming events, plans for the future and general information such as school term dates. The variety of ways in which they use ICT in administration, are those such as at times like registration. The register will be taken by the teacher and each student marked present or absent, and then the register will be taken to reception where the staff will then feed it through an OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) machine. This saves time and effort of those that would otherwise have to type in the information of every student, saying whether or not they are present at school that day, so that each pupils attendance is recorded on their systems. With this information the computers will be able to work out each pupils percentage of attendance to put on individual records and also to enable them to keep on top of truancy and report attendance levels to parents. The school has to keep a record of every pupils data on their databases which is all done through ICT and typed into the databases on their computers. These need to be able to be updated if a student has a change of address or a slight change of information. The contact details can be stored easily and found easily which means it is a lot quicker to search for information on each student. It is important for the information to be retrievable quickly because if a child is ill or is in urgent need of going home, then telephone numbers and emergency contact information on that student needs to be found as quickly as possible and the staff dont have the time to be searching through paper files looking for that students information. Some of the information on each pupil is needed to be kept confidential, and because it is all recorded through computers, rather than having to be written out and stored in filing systems, which would take up much more room and time searching for information, it is easier to allow for that to happen. Each member of staff can be put at different levels of access on the administration system and password protection can be enabled to individual records so that only the people that need access to those files can retrieve the information. Student and staff timetabling is arranged through ICT. They are produced through the software SIMs (Schools information management System). The computers store all the information about what year, ability level and lessons each pupil should be placed into and timetables for each and every student can be made. There has to be a teacher present at each lesson so teacher timetabling is also sorted through ICT. This way if there are errors made on an individuals timetable or there is a mix-up somewhere, it doesnt take long to correct it on the systems and re-print another one for the student or the member of staff. Using the software on the computers, things such as sending out newsletters, sending letters home to parents and general word processing becomes a lot quicker and easier. They can be made professional by applying letterheads to each letter they send, and addresses can be mail merged to save time in having to find out names and addresses in manual filing systems. Every so often, each child is issued with a report that informs their parents about how they are doing in school and monitors their academic learning. Instead of each teacher writing every pupils report out by hand, the report is typed out which saves a lot of time. There are templates that teachers can use which, again, saves time in typing out a different report for each and every individual, when sometimes that isnt always necessary. This is all carried out through the use of ICT which is very useful, especially when reports are sent out to every student on a regular basis. Another beneficial way of using ICT in The Northampton Academy is carried out in the finance office. The financial department uses Microsoft Excel software to store information on every area of finance. This programme allows the use of formulae which automatically calculates and updates the changes made in finance so that they can keep track of how much money they are spending. Microsoft Excel provides great benefit to the school when it comes to financing because of this use of formulae. If you need to change a figure, then the spreadsheet recalculates everything again for you, saving a lot of time. The school has a budget which the finance office has to keep track of and make sure they keep to it and not over-spend. To do this each department is allocated a certain amount of money that they can spend over a given amount of time, which they can use to buy resources or other equipment they need in their department area. Another important area the finance office deals with is staff wages. On their systems they keep track of how much each member of staff is being paid, when they need to be paid, and it will update all that information on the spreadsheets whenever a member of staff gets given a pay-rise or any changes are made to their pay. The financial department deals with making sure every member of staff gets paid the correct amounts when they are due for their next pay. The school provide a various number of different educational trips that take place over the school year. The finance office has to keep a system that shows them how much money each pupil has paid and for which trip, and how much more they need to pay. So that the pupil is aware of this also, the financial department issues each individual with a receipt. This information is stored on spreadsheets and every time the pupil pays in a sum of money it is changed on their spreadsheets and totals are automatically updated. The hardware used throughout The Northampton Academy varies depending on whether youre part of the administration team or a pupil at the Academy. This will depend on the workstation used. The station used by the administration team is a Dell OptiPlex GX1. This includes: * 15 or 17 CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitor. These are big and bulky and take up more space. The administration staff have more room on their desks in general, because the desk only needs to cater for a single person, so they can manage with having a bigger monitor on their desk. * CPU (Central Processing Unit) * Mouse * Keyboard * Intel Pentium 2 or 3 processor * 265Mb RAM * CD Drive * Windows 2000 The station used by the pupils at the Academy is a Dell OptiPlex GX270. This includes: * 15 TFT (Thin Film Transistor) monitor. These are flat screens, which are small and compact. The students use these monitors because they need more working space on the computer desks as they dont get a desk to themselves, individually. This way more computers and more students can fit into the classroom. * CPU (Central Processing Unit) * Mouse * Keyboard * Intel Pentium 4 processor running at 2.6Ghz * 40Gb Hard Disk Drive * CD Drive * Windows XP Pro The workstations used by the administration team arent as quick and efficient as the ones used by the students. The Dell OptiPlex GX1 has all the hardware needed and is suitable for the needs of those in administration. The workstations used by the pupils have a faster running time with it running at 2.6 GHz. The memory of the computer is larger, to store all the work completed by students. The reasoning behind the students using 15 TFT monitors is so that space in the classroom is used more efficiently and so more students and more monitors can fit into the classroom. This applies to the tower box also. They are small and placed under the computer desk so that the only things on the desk itself are the monitor, the mouse and the keyboard. This allows space on the desk for students to have other things out and have more room in front of them. Each computer has a mouse and a keyboard. These arent cordless, because it avoids the trouble caused if they were misplaced, lost or perhaps, in an extreme event, stolen. In the classrooms, The Northampton Academy uses black and white LaserJet printer and colour Inkjet printer. Inkjet printers spray magnetically charged ink through a fine nozzle onto each sheet of paper, where a LaserJet printer uses a laser beam. The black and white LaserJet printers are used on a more regular basis simply because it is a lot cheaper to run. It prints very quickly and makes them efficient in classes where a lot of pages needed to be printed out by each student. When colour prints are needed, although the colour printers are not used much due to the cost of them and because of the very slow speed they print at, colour Inkjet printers are used because they are a lot cheaper to buy than they would be if colour LaserJet printers were used. The Northampton Academy has Microsoft Office 2003 software installed throughout the school which is used by both students and members of the administration team. The different programs used are: MS Office 2003 MS Word Word Processing Used by the staff to produce letters which can then be sent home to parents. Used by the students for GCSE coursework when typing up essays or producing work in various subjects. Teachers can prepare worksheets to be handed to the students in their class. MS Excel Spreadsheet Used for calculating sums of money in the finance department, and keeping track of school budgets. Used by students for ICT GCSE coursework. MS PowerPoint Presentation Used to create slide show presentations by teachers of various subjects which can then be shown to students to provide them with help and information in specific areas of the subject. MS Access Database Used to store information on every student in the school on a pupil database. Used for mail merging. Used by students for ICT GCSE coursework. MS Publisher Desk Top Publishing Used to produce newsletters which can be sent to inform parents of upcoming events on a regular basis. Used by students for ICT GCSE coursework. MS Visio Diagram Creator e.g. Flow Charts Room Plans MS InfoPath Used to create forms for data capture Microsoft Office 2003 isnt the only software used throughout the school. SIMs is used to a high extent in the administration office. SIMs (Schools information management System) is a full database which: Allows for the producing of timetabling for both staff and students. Produces set lists Is used for pupil monitoring, which are carried out and sent home to parents every 6 weeks using OMR (Optical mark Recognition). Is used for registration. The register is taken and the sheets are read by the optical mark reader machine. The data is then transferred into the database and matched to individual students. From this absence lists can be produced and followed up. The machine can then perform calculations which show attendance percentages for each student. Allows examination entries to be recorded for each, individual student and also produces exam timetables for them. Manages the pupil databases. Each student has a UPN (Unique Personal Number) which they are recognized by. To keep track of the money coming in and out of the school, the department budgets and the whole school budget, the finance office staff use specialist financial software (a database) called Hebron. This manages all the finance information, except from one area due to the fact that Hebron doesnt contain an order tracking system, and so Excel is used for this. As well as the different programs used in various ways for doing various different things, Windows XP offers other software which can be used. File Management Internet Explorer Utilities Paint Notepad WordPad Calculator This allows for the Academy to be fully equipped and use every piece of software they need and will benefit from. ICT is used widely across the school. It is used to a large extent in the ICT department to enable students to learn and complete work using the software on the computers. Every ICT room has a projector to allow for presentations and slide-shows to project onto a screen for the whole class to see and make use of. Cross-curricular use of ICT across the school has become a much bigger thing, which now means that every teacher is receiving a personal laptop; the use of ICT is specified under the National Curriculum and GCSE/A Level specifications; and the school is making use of many mini-suites and classroom PCs and trolleys. Interactive whiteboards are used in various classrooms, and the use of these is becoming larger by the day. The school is able to run more efficiently from the administration side of things as well, thanks to the great use of ICT. Letters can be produced and sent to parents using mail merge with the information retrieved from the pupil information database. As there are 1300 students in the school, the use of standard letters and templates comes in very useful. Clear and accurate information is kept about each student which is easy to find and can be easily updated using the database rather than using a manual filing system, such as lots of paper files. Books for educational purposes can be ordered by using the electronically stored order forms and being filled in using formulae to prevent mathematical errors occurring. The finance office manages the flow of money coming in and out of the school at a much quicker and easier rate because of the use of ICT. They make use of spreadsheets and specialist software in which they type in formulas to avoid repetitive tasks of adding up, calculating the averages and percentages and totalling sums of money, especially in cases where the information has to be changed. To keep the school functioning and communicating effectively, teachers now have Ranger software which allows for them to take over a students workstation from anywhere in the school if they are on inappropriate websites. The teachers can also send or post work straight to the students monitor using this software, which can help students to improve their work and allows for the teachers to monitor each student at any time to observe whether they are working hard. In general, ICT is used massively throughout The Northampton Academy which means the school is benefiting greatly by every aspect of ICT. Already, by the year 2004, the use of ICT in schools is fantastic. And to think that ICT is expanding and improving every day, makes you wonder what the future could hold! Lings Music Ltd Lings Music Ltd is a small independent company situated in the Weston Favell Centre with just the one branch. There are only 7 members of staff who keep it up and running. One of these is the manager and the other 6 are just ordinary working staff. The company isnt tied to any other big music stores; it is just a single, independently run, small company. Lings Music Ltd specialises mainly in pop music, but offers other categories of music. Because this is such a small company, they are unable to afford the latest equipment or any other expensive ICT equipment, so this means they have a limited amount of access to ICT in general. Lings Music Ltd do make use of some ICT but what they do make use of is very small, simply because they dont have the money to buy exceptional ICT equipment, so they make use of the basic hardware and software. The Microsoft package Lings Music Ltd uses is Microsoft Office XP, although they do not make use of all the software provided. They word process the lists of CDs they have in stock; use Microsoft Word or Publisher to produce basic flyers, leaflets, faxes, memos, letters and newsletters which help to promote their small business and advertise a little further. Lings Music Ltd also makes use of Microsoft Excel to calculate the staff wages, tax and National Insurance which saves them having to calculate everything themselves, manually, and instead use the automatic calculations provided through Excel. This saves a lot of time considering the staff number is small. Outlook Express is installed to enable for them to send emails and receive emails, which they can use to promote their business and sales to previous customers. But the main use they make out of Outlook Express is to email their suppliers to place orders to keep their stock at the correct levels. Lings Music Ltd only has one stand alone PC which is used by the manager. This means that it is not networked and if they introduced another PC into their business they would find it very difficult to update, access or share any files through the system. The one computer they do use is a Dell Pentium III with an 800 x 600 14 TFT (Thin Film Transistor) screen equipped with an Inkjet printer. With this all the hardware is used and made use of. Lings Music Ltd has managed to stay up and running as a small independent business for a fair amount of time now, but if they were to ever make the company any bigger and try to promote more and make more sales, then they would experience a lot of problems when it came to networking, the amount of software they use and the amount of PCs they use in their business. The manager and the 6 members of staff who run Lings Music Ltd have managed to get by with the equipment they do use, but could find themselves experiencing problems in the future as ICT expands and improves and they cant afford the latest ICT equipment.

Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema

Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema In this paper we are going to discuss the position of Laura Malvey in her work Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. The psychoanalytic interpretation of the position of women viewers gets back to the famous essay by Laura Mulvey Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, the original thesis of which was that the film form is structured by the unconscious of the patriarchal society and that woman as a spectator is always imposed the rules of a foreign game getting of the male type of pleasure for example, inherently scopophilic pleasure from the examination of the female body. But the issue in this work is not only and not so much about the pleasure itself, but about more serious things how the vision is the instance of identification formation of the subject through the visual practices and how the power is incorporated into the play that is, the question is raised in the work about the ideological effects of the basic cinematic apparatus. Mulvey argued that ideology is involved in forming the subjectivity of the individual at the level of the unconscious and that is how a female spectator, through borrowing the male gaze, takes the ideology of a patriarchal society, which is imposed. Laura Mulvey (1975) in Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema explains how the traditional Hollywood film claims the scopophilic view: In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female form which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. The woman, demonstrated as a sexual object, acts as a leitmotif of erotic spectacle. The formulated problem in this context may be solved through a strong deconstruction of the vision machine, which constitutes a woman as an image, and a man as an owner of the sight. Mulvey proposes to destroy the voayeristic-scopophilic opinion, consistently destroying cinematic codes that postulate such view. Will this be the solution of the problem? Mulveys emphasis on the analysis of the specific of the cinematographic system, with all its radical and provocative judgements, seems to be legitimate. The real is the question of the discursive mediation properties. However, in general, the psychoanalytic criticism of visual representations may also have a profound methodologic effect. As we have alreqady stated, the main ideas of Mulveys research approach are formulated by her in the work Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. The impact of this approach extended not only to the tudy of movies but also to television, advertising and other forms of visual culture. The researcher begins her studies with the basic ideas of psychoanalysis a postulation of sexual differences as the axis of meaning and the center of the oedipal drama. Mulvey (1975) made the psychoanalytic theory as the basis for interpretation of the mystery of movie: The fascination of film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascination already at work within the individual subject and the social formations that have moulded him. According to the researcher, the movie does not only stimulates and trains scopophilic bents (the pleasure of spying), but also satisfies the repressed desire to show off, the exhibitionism. Even so the movie does not only quenche the scopophilic thirst, but also brings it to the narcissism, satisfying the human need of identification with others, in this case with anyone or anything on the screen. On the one hand, the film is designed for the fact that the audience identifies itself with a particular character, his logic, so that for the audience everything could be clear. On the other hand, the viewer tends to present himself in a strange role. Just in time for psychodynamics occurring between these two processes, the phenomenon of narrative cinema, about which Laura Mulvey writes, is built. In this vein, it is appropriate to recall the ideas that the cinema performance actualizes and intensifies the processes of an affective internal projection-identification in the viewer, who has the ability to act and move. At the same time Laura Mulvey is developing a theory of the male look under which a woman appears as an image, and a man as the bearer of the look. That is, according to the researcher, in the movies women simultaneously function as erotic objects for the male audience, that gets a scopophilic pleasure from their presence, and as erotic objects for the male characters , with whom the male audience may identify itself. The third and decisive spectator, in addition to the male protagonist and the male audience, is a camera, which by means of choosing a particular angle, and a sequence of frames represents an opportunity to double the pleasure of scopophilia and identification. The researcher firmly binds the audience view with the function of the cinema in general. Hall (2003) stated that cinema is capable to control our mind, to make us identify with its images. It was originally created for the visual experience and for the viewers empathy. Therefore, the point of the location of view, its place and its direction, according to Mitchell (1995), are incredibly important and determine the film industry as such. Such a perfect ability to focus the mind distinguishes cinema from other shows. Laura Mulvey concludes that the codes involved in the movie and having a direct relation to the external structures (social and economic conditions), must be learnt for their transformation, for creation of other movies and critics of the effects and characteristics of visual pleasure, which is provided by the traditional movie plot. The attempt of L. Mulvey to show using psychoanalytic theory , how unconscious in a patriarchal society forms the film had a very important and significant impact on the further development of the feminist film criticism. Further, the theories of the female look in art are also actively appearing and developing As for the contemporary cultural and feminist theory, its main subject is an everyday life, where there is a specific articulation of social structures. Today there is a fundamental shift in the feminist studies in general. According to Evans and Hall (2005) we see that this is the transition from the deterministic explanations of womens subordination to the media to the analysis of the processes of symbolization and representation. In other words, the problem of studies of mass media moved from the determining of the reasons of situation for womens subordination in culture and society to the review of symbolic aspects of the functioning of cultural products and tools of mass communication in general. The advantage of the research approach Mulvey is that she is one of the first to articulate the existence of a gender specificity of modern movies, to draw attention to the presence of the third spectator which was not previously noticed a camera, on the position of sight of which further specifics of the construction and interaction of the images in the film depends. Her ideas had a strong influence on the avant-garde trend in the cinema. At the same time Mulvey was interested in the universal mechanisms of constructing a plot of the film, as well as the mechanism of influence of specific film image to the audience through the identification process. Laura Mulvey, the author of the article Visual pleasure and narrative cinema, says that in the movie the traditional division of labor is used: a woman serves as a subject for a look, a man serves as an examining person. The camera a cinema eye inherits the role of a man, who looks through the lens of cultural cliches. The product of this view is an active authoritativeness of the erotic gaze directed at the female body, and narrative patterns of the melodramatic cinema. An endless variety of genre roles for the calibration of all the shades of seduction, desire, flirting or classical coldness are available to the actresses. It goes without saying that the text of the work, with todays perspective, seems to be too radical, too provocative, tapering to limit the sex differences, abounding in bold (for the uninitiated in the mysteries of psychoanalysis) terminology and may be somewhat alien to our consciousness, but at the same time this is the most representative and the most authoritative work, which gives quite a clear idea about the specifics of feminist psychoanalytic cinema theory. In addition, this work is an explicit demonstration of how the feminist critique has expropriated and used the psychoanalytic discourse to overcome traditional psychoanalysis negativism against women dating back to Freud, with his own means. In our work we have to give two examples from visual culture and discuss how Mulveys thesis may be convincing in one instance but tested to its limitations in another. For this discussion I propose to take two films: Rare Window by Alfred Hitchcock and Juno by Jason Reitman. The film Rare Window by Alfred Hitchcock is convincing the thesis of Laura Malvey that Man is the bearer of the look while Woman connotes to-be-looked-at-ness. The main character of this film is put in such conditions that he has to be scopophilic. A photographer Jeffries has broken his leg and now he has to watch everything going outside through the window. The film reveals to us one of the main needs of men peep through the keyhole, figuratively speaking. It is really impossible to keep away from such a forbidden fruit. And the blame of everything is curiosity, namely it moves the main mechanisms in a man, allowing to forget about other equally important needs (food, rest, sex) and exciting the imagination at a time. In this film everything is concentrated around the man, Jeffries, women are just a phone here. As to the film that is tested to the limitations of Malveys thesis it should be noticed it is very hard to find such because such films began to appear not so long time ago. These are the films with a strong woman in the main role. For example I would like to propose the film Juno by Jason Reitman. The main heroine of this film is a young girl who is pregnant and who gets perfectly well with her problems. All the actions in the film are concentrated around this young lady Juno and in difference to the films in which everything is made for men, this film limits the thesis of Laura Malvey that Man is the bearer of the look while Woman connotes to-be-looked-at-ness by our vision of the main heroine.

Positive And Negative Aspects Of Edinburgh Fringe Festival Tourism Essay

Positive And Negative Aspects Of Edinburgh Fringe Festival Tourism Essay Introduction This report will give analysis and explain different aspects of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in terms of public relations. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the largest arts festival in the world, therefore it is important to carefully consider all the aspects and opportunities from a public relations perspective, as it is a great example of the different sides and features of public relations. After looking at the history of this festival, the report will provide an insight in the positive and negative aspects of the Fringe, name the main competitors and give SWOT and PEST analysis. Then the key public relation issues for the event will be analysed and analysis of the media environment relevant to the event will be given. Finally, a critical assessment of the success of the events PR strategy will be considered. History of the Fringe The Edinburgh Fringe Festival originated in 1947 and it was created to celebrate and enrich European cultural life in the wake of the Second World War. It first started when eight acts turned up at the Edinburgh international festival uninvited and decided to perform anyway this then lead to more acts following in their footsteps in the years to come. From this, the Festival Fringe Society was formed in 1959. The Fringe, these days, is now known as the largest arts festival in world and in 2010 the Fringe featured 40,254 performances of 2,453 shows in 259 venues. It is held every August for three weeks in the centre of Edinburgh and there are stages all over Edinburgh for example the Hilton Hotel, Edinburgh Castle and Underbelly. It is such a special event as it caters for everyone by having various acts put on, such as: theatre, comedy, dance, physical theatre, musicals, operas, music, exhibitions and events. Positive aspects of the Fringe The Fringe has been renowned for giving unknown performers a chance to be recognised as it is made up of emerging and established artists which is a review from edfringe.com. The Fringe has also been acknowledged for having worldwide recognition for being one of the best arts festivals in the world and this helps bring a lot of tourism into the capital city. Each year ticket sales rise incredibly as 1.8 million tickets were sold in 2009 and that increased to 1.9 million sold in 2010. This can be brought down to the effective communication from the society as they have advertised in newspapers, on posters, through television adverts, on radio adverts, on websites and they have even branched out to new technology by launching a Fringe iPhone app. The Fringe is so popular because anyone can enjoy a show as they have a range of entertainment for all audiences. They include free shows too, which are ever increasing because 558 shows at the 2010 Fringe were absolutely free, compared to 465 in 2009. Negative aspects of the Fringe During the research it was found that the childrens shows only made up 4% of the Fringe performance programme in 2010 and this may discourage families to come to the events as there is little choice for the children. Also the dance and physical theatre performances went down 0.5% to 4.5% in 2010 and this may be seen as the Fringe society not seeing these genres as important as others such as comedy. Another downside is that the performance locations are far too widely spread throughout city so many people will have to spend a lot of money on travelling. There are a high number of performances each year so this means acts will overlap one another causing people to miss out on some shows. Main competitors Throughout Scotland there are numerous festivals, whether they are large or small scale.  Ã‚   It is known from the official fringe website that the Fringe has a market share of 75% of all attendance at Edinburghs year round festivals and annually generates  £75 million for Edinburgh and the Scottish Economy.   These figures from 2004/05 demonstrate the high profile of the Fringe as an event in Scotland.   Despite accounting for the vast majority of the market share in Scotland, there are other events throughout the country which seek visitors. The Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival takes place over   18 days with 350 performances from well-known and rising comedians.   The festival held at the kings theatre in Glasgow, specialises in comedy.   This is different from the fringe where although there are comedy events, there is an array of other arts as well.   For comedy enthusiasts the Magners comedy festival may be more attractive as it is specialised with more opportunity to see comedy.   As the event is also only held at one location, its more simple to find and easier to experience many performances without trekking across the city.   It may be on a much smaller scale that the Fringe but the less busy atmosphere may be much more appealing to some individuals. The Stanza poetry festival which is held in St Andrews is described by visit Scotland as where music, film, dance and poetry work in harmony.   The stanza poetry festival could be seen as a small scale Fringe festival however it primarily specialised in poetry.   Within this, the aim is to combine other arts into the poetry.   This unique selling point is a strength to the festival.   Held at the Byre theatre in St Andrews, the festival is not incredibly well-known.   This may have been due to a weakness in pr strategy and demand for this kind of event. Although the comedy and poetry festivals cannot really contend with the fringe due to its mass scale, they are strong in some ways as they specialise in events for a specific target audience.   However on a larger scale, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo can be seen a more pressing competitor.   With performances from 40 countries, the Tattoo invites visitors from all over the globe to not only visit the event but also perform.   Whereas at the fringe, it can be presumed that a large amount of the acts will be British.   35% of the 217,000 audience each year are from overseas which is advantageous as it means there is a great mix of cultures.   The fringe sees similar figures for its overseas percentage however towers over the tattoo with its number of visitors.   The tattoo is one main event whereas the fringe is many events over a long period.   Therefore it is difficult to compare the two as they are in completely different formats.   However unlike the fringe, t he tattoo is shown on television with 100 million viewers worldwide.   This illustrates the publicity of the tattoo making it the fringes main competitor in Scotland.   However as the fringe is the largest Arts festival in the world, naturally it will come out on top of other Scottish festivals. SWOT and PEST analysis Through the SWOT analysis it was found that:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strengths Brings tourism to Scotland, there is a range of entertainment available and its largest arts festival in world.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Weaknesses Acts overlap one another, too big so travel costs increase and there are not enough acts for children so may discourage families.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Opportunities Emerging acts can become recognised, it entices different cultures to experience Scotland and it creates more job opportunities in Edinburgh.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Threats The festival faces competition from rival festivals, environmental issues may prevent the festival taking place and they may have a lack of funds to support such a big event. Through the PEST analysis is was found that:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Political It creates an environment where countries can combine and it also gives politics a light-hearted nature (by putting on plays about David Cameron, etc.).  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Economical Brings money to Scotland and it also encourages tourism.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Social There are more tourists around and it enables the Scottish culture to be recognised.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Technological A new website has been launched and so has a new iPhone app, in order to promote the Fringe. Analysis of the key public relation issues for the event Analysis of the media environment relevant to the event Opportunities and threats in terms of media relations Edinburgh Fringe is a huge Festival, so there is a chance that it will get a lot of coverage both good and bad The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the largest arts festival in the world so media will want to cover it. Also, there are a lot of opportunities to get media coverage outside Scotland and UK, especially in the European countries that are known for their love for arts such as France, Germany and Italy. However, if something goes wrong there will definitely be a huge interest from the media therefore everyone will know about it. As Edinburgh Fringe is such a enormous event, taking place over several weeks , with so many performances going on and so many people attending there is a chance for great success as well as great damage in terms of media relations. The key media Firstly, the key media are the print media and web sites history shows that newspapers and the websites of these newspapers are the sources of reviews and media coverage in general for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Secondly, the electronic media is a vital key media because this festival is all about the arts therefore photographic examples are very important. Thirdly, the radio is also one of the key media as people really like hearing the interviews with the event organisers and the performers of the acts from the Festival. And finally, the television, especially important during the Festival people can see whats happening in the Festival, see something they like and decide to attend. Television also captures the mood and the atmosphere of the festival best. What would appeal to journalists and attract coverage The popularity of the festival in social networks such as twitter, facebook, etc, as well as having its own blogs creates the word-of-mouth effect thats not media generated so people get involved themselves and are not encouraged by the media but by other people. Media usually are interested if a lot of people get involved in this they are intrigued why is it so popular among the publics, is this a new phenomenon and why. It also attracts media because it seems more genuine this way the company hasnt spent lots and lots of money for campaigns to attract the attention. The media also like to write about events that are attended by celebrities because this guarantees the interest of the readers or about events that no one had expected or are shocking. Bad stories Fringe 2008 The resignation of the Edinburgh Fringe director, Jon Morgan, came at the end of a summer of bad news stories for the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2008. Underlying them all is the question of how to cope with the unprecedented popularity of the worlds biggest arts festival. Most of the stories were about a new computer system that struggled to do the job. The  £350,000 Liquid Box Office crashed on its first day of operation, causing sales to be suspended for a week. Then it had trouble printing tickets, resulting in delays in postal bookings. Once the Fringe began, it sold too many tickets for certain shows, leading to reports of weeping youngsters being turned away.Finally the Fringe had to scrap the advertised two-for-one ticket frenzy on the final day, as the system couldnt cope. One of the bad examples is also the self-styled comedy festival which was a marketing exercise designed to attract sponsorship (which it failed to do) and spread the costs of advertising between the big four venues: Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Underbelly and Pleasance. It caused consternation by including only the comedians who were playing in those venues and threatened to damage the profile of the Fringe itself. The central box office takings had dropped by 10% that year. Good stories 2009 The Edinburgh Festival Fringe was suffering the backlash of the media on the back of a box office meltdown in 2008. The UK was in the middle of the storm of the so called credit crunch and many predicted the 2009 festival would be an expensive luxury that would be avoided by all but those most faithful to the festival. Under these circumstances it was a client that commissioned Whitespace to take a blank canvas approach and re-think the traditional approach to marketing. The result was a genuinely original and creatively challenging campaign concept and materials featuring over 100 viral videos, and, for the first time ever, a multiple set of covers for the Fringe Programme all on a very limited budget and under extremely tight deadlines. Whitespace created the concept of an iconic and metaphorical egg that symbolised the fact that the Fringe is always different, and that one can never be sure what lies within. Whitespace filmed the scientific discovery of a seemingly indestructible egg among Edinburghs tramworks. The resultant film became the viral centrepiece of the campaign. Having taken the egg to a secret Fringe laboratory overseen by Professor Ed Hegg, a series of filmed experiments ensued as he tried to reveal the eggs contents. The story was launched several months before the Fringe. Dr Ed Hegg received a page of coverage in the Scotsman; pre-launch publicity not normally received by the Fringe. Whitespace then developed a range of printed collateral, from T-shirts to banners, displays to ticket wallets and press passes, as well as a campaign microsite and a social media campaign. This included Dr Ed Heggs twitter page and blog along with shooting over 100 video experiments for inclusion on the microsite. The result was an increase of nearly 9% in ticket sales and a programme reprint. The fringe site reached 32,906 unique visitors with a low bounce rate and dwell time of, on average, 4 minutes. 10% of all fringe site visits resulted in a visit to the b ooking section of www.edfringe.com and 21% of all visits resulted in a desired action. Good Stories Fringe 2010 Fringecover was the top trending Twitter topic in Scotland on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th March and it was the second most tweeted topic across the UK. Inspired by the Fringes principle that anyone with an idea and a vision can bring their show to Edinburgh; Whitespace invited the Twitter community to tell Johanna Basford the most unusual thing theyd like to see at the 2010 Fringe supplemented by #fringecover. For two days, from 10am to 10pm on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th March, Johanna recreated Twitterers suggestions in real-time in her own unique illustrative style. The Whitespace creative team then applied Johannas illustrations to all aspects of the Fringes promotional materials including, three cover versions of the programme; the ticket, its wallet and envelope; the Fringe shops window display and pop-up exhibition panels. Audiences at the Fringe festival in Edinburgh bought nearly 2 million tickets last year, once again beating the previous years record. Kath Mainland, the events chief executive, said the sale of more than 1.95m tickets for more than 40,000 performances had shown the festival was the greatest show on earth. The Fringe said this years event, again dominated by comedy, had outstripped last year on most measures: there were 40,254 performances of 2,453 shows at 259 venues, involving more than 21,000 performers. More than 550 shows were free. A critical assessment of the success of the events PR strategy Conclusion This report has analysed different public relations aspects of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It has provided research on the background and history of the event, analysis of the event, analysis of the key public relations issues for the event, analysis of the media environment relevant to the event, as well as a critical assessment of the success of the events PR strategy. One of the clear thoughts after the analysis of the festival is that the Fringe has definitely experienced bad times in terms of public relations; however, the organisers have only learnt from their mistakes and chosen much better PR strategies that have resulted in growth in the ticket sales, despite the very bad economic situation. Audiences have come to know the Edinburgh festival fringe as the place to see every kind of art; from the most imaginative childrens theatre to topical and incisive comedy and theatre which challenges audiences to discuss and re-consider not only their world but the world in general. Kath Mainland, the events chief executive has said: Edinburgh is without doubt the worlds leading festival destination and audiences continued to be inspired and enthralled by the many and varied events on offer.