Perception of the Universal Healthcare System by the Left Political Essay

Perception of the Universal Healthcare System by the Left Political Movement - Essay Example As intellectually vacuous as any plan for this type of legislative takeover of the medical industry may be, it still attracts widespread adherence from those who know only to ask questions of why while strategically evading how. This is our present purpose: to examine the political and philosophical premises of the Left's motion toward a system of socialized medicine which (a) integrates business with the government, (b) takes control away from doctors, and (c), in the end, takes control away from patients. In addition to presenting anecdotal evidence, I shall reveal the emptiness of the Left's claim that such a "universal healthcare system" is a "moral imperative", or a product of "social justice". Thus, finally, I will show that although the present system is not utopian, it is not a complete disaster, as utopias tend to be when transforms from just mere talk to reality. Our present system of healthcare, that of a mixed state, is already partially socialized. However, the principle of an individual's right to choose his healthcare coverage and costs, although buried under heaps of government regulation and red tape, still remains somewhere. Socialized medicine, in effect, proposes to remove the last pieces of capitalism from which the nascent American healthcare system was born. ... What the Left also carefully ignores is the fact that, very often, poor health is the result of poor decision-making of individuals-particularly those individuals who demand the most from healthcare. Socialized medicine, instead of fixing poor decisions, fixes only the results of these decisions, and so serves more like a band-aid for a situation which requires more invasive measures. The opposition's claim is that the American healthcare system is unequal and social justice requires a change to socialized medicine: that while the rich have awesome healthcare, the poor get treated like dirt. The proper response to such a claim is to question how it may be supported by an argument. One may claim that this philosophy is supported by some "natural right" theory: that people have a right to life. Nevertheless, a "right" to healthcare is not a proper application of the right to life. If one does not have money to pay for a decent house or medical services, and the government gives him a "right" to those things, where does the money come from Other citizens is the proper answer; in fact, it is the only answer. Most Americans would agree that the right to free speech does not denote that my right requires others to give me a microphone and an auditorium, but few (especially on the Left) would be willing to claim that the right to healthcare is somehow less important than the right to free speech-and no American would simply give me an auditorium and a microphone simply on the basis that I have a right to free speech. At best, the "right" to healthcare is a wish, insofar as "I w ish everyone could have a decent house and medical services".  

Network effect Essay Example for Free

Network effect Essay Network effect is seen as a phenomenon where a network service (SNS or PNS) becomes more valuable as the number of users increase. This phenomenon encourages continually increasing membership within the network. This can happen when a user adopts a network service initially to connect with current users, or later, when â€Å"everyone† is using the network service. Although there may be a larger increase in new membership for SNS’s, it is stated throughout the LinkedIn case that new membership for PNS’s is likely to be more valuable to users because of the nature of the connection. Many people will not want to change PNS’s because they will lose their multiple connections already created (Yoffie et al. , 2009). The case examines the likelihood of SNS’s overlapping and taking over PNS’s. This outcome seems unlikely. By examining Exhibit 6 (Yoffie et al. , 2009, p. 16), the correlation among factors such as age, income, college education, and position within an organization sets LinkedIn squarely within its target market. Also, Yoffie et al. indicates the distinct uses of professional and social apps on Facebook. The multitude of users who use social apps vs. lower use of professional apps shows that Facebook users are less likely to make their profiles into professional networking tools, leaving PNS’s like LinkedIn for leveraging their professional careers (Author, p. 14). Question #2 Emerging companies need to generate new dynamics that are modernized, innovative, and easily adaptive to survive in this world. The new dynamics should be economically viable for the industry because they affect issues of whether to pursue a build or a buy approach to expand globally. LinkedIn Corporation, a PNS, is used by professionals globally to interact professionally. Uses include recruiting, getting expert advice, group collaboration, and more. Differentiating strategies were adopted by LinkedIn in order to separate itself from competition and answer the uestion of whether to utilize a build or buy approach. A build approach involves both monetary and other resource investments from the company. For LinkedIn, Investments in certain professional apps such as conference calendar, a tool used to indicate when certain conferences will be coming up, and which of a user’s connections will be attending, are examples of utilizing the build approach. The buying approach is where the company buys/merges with an existing SNS/PNS and integrates it within the existing systems. Although this expands a company, it constrains the ability of a company to customize the existing network with its own. Therefore, a company amp; its procedures need to adapt to the technology it buys. If they use a build approach, the company can build to their own specifications differentiating itself from existing networks (No Quote, Does not answer question). Question #3 LinkedIn’s strategy is straight to the point, be the best in the market of professional networking services (PNS). By focusing on providing a â€Å"virtual platform for professional interaction† (Yoffie et al. , 2009, p. 2), LinkedIn would provide various productive services to its users. Services provided include professional search, reference checking, recruiting, advice search, job searching amp; posting, and workgroup collaboration, which were successful because they allowed their users to become more effective in their professional careers. Also, its success was accounted for being involved with countless industries, rather than focusing on a specific industry like other PNS providers. Within its strategy, LinkedIn encompassed three premises which attributed to LinkedIn being the best in PNS, â€Å"remain a strongly differentiated category from SNS,† â€Å"maintain a hold on professional users for reasons both positive and negative,† and â€Å" embrace establishments rather than fight them† (Yoffie et al. , 2009, p. 3). LinkedIn’s success strongly accounts for maintaining a quality PNS by providing a productive atmosphere, which involves being separated from SNS. It is important for LinkedIn to remain separate from SNS capabilities in order to maintain its high PNS quality and core values. The risk of inheriting this strategy’s premise involves losing the users that want a network that hosts both professional and social networking capabilities. LinkedIn could potentially lose users to SNS businesses, like Facebook, who are starting to provide PNS services in its SNS atmosphere. In the second premise for its strategy, holding its users for positive and negative reasons also brings both success and risk. The positivity hold, having users create positive professional identity, is a success because it is a competitive advantage over SNS providers who only provide social identity or cannot separate the two. But holding onto its users for negative reasons promotes the similar risk as mentioned in the first premise. When users think to switch from LinkedIn to a SNS that provides both SNS and PNS capabilities, LinkedIn banks on the fact that they believe users would not put losing its contacts in jeopardy. This negative hold on LinkedIn users is a risk because it is quite possible that sooner or later SNS companies that promote both PNS and SNS capabilities will also have relatively the same contacts as LinkedIn. It is risky to assume that LinkedIn can keep users based on the premise of this assumption. Lastly, the third premise for its strategy brings on success. Having companies embrace the concept of LinkedIn in the end creates more users. LinkedIn is designed so that professionals will be more productive and more effective in their careers. If LinkedIn does eventually provide SNS qualities in its service, this could pose as a risk. Companies might not want to promote a network that could waste work time with their employees playing games and spending time on personal social interaction on the network. Therefore, companies would end up fighting LinkedIn. LinkedIn has always incorporated a control over its network as part of its strategy. Keeping out non-professional information and photos helps keep the quality of its PNS professional and on top. It also embeds value propositions for its professional users as well as its corporate users which revolve around a simple user interface. Although this is what maintains its quality’s success, it also brings a risk by shying away companies who do not want to be part of a network that they cannot control. Lastly, LinkedIn is successful because of its strategy of how to obtain its revenues. Its five sources of revenue include advertising, subscriptions, job postings, corporate solutions, and primary research that evenly contribute to its earnings. If one of the sources does not do as well as expected, LinkedIn has the other four methods to rely on. Question #4 Companies implement strategies to achieve a target or reach a goal that may e becoming the market leader of the industry, increasing profits by a certain percent, or even attracting new members to use a professional network service. As mentioned in the second week of classes, a company may choose one of the four Porter’s generic strategies that include differentiation, overall cost leadership, focus differentiation, and focus low cost to achieve competitive advantage (Kumar, 2010, p. 24). LinkedIn’s strategy is a focus differentiation since it was first founded, and its strategy has helped the company to become a leader in the PNS market. The differentiation strategy involves constant innovation and providing users with what they need and want in a new or better manner than what competitors can provide. Therefore, LinkedIn and many companies in other industries may ward off its competitors through innovation, quality, and reputation although overlapping products may be present. While Facebook may present threats to LinkedIn with the intent to blur the distinction between SNSs and PNSs, LinkedIn would still maintain a competitive advantage in the PNSs. LinkedIn has always focused on differentiating itself in the PNSs by providing users a different degree of privacy, standards, and quality tools to â€Å"†¦find job candidates for position in their company, to reach out to experts around the world in order to get advice and  make better decisions† (Yoffie et al. , 2009, p. 4). LinkedIn differentiates from Facebook and other SNSs not only on the type of service that is provided, but also on the value it adds to the professional identity of each user, and the reputation it maintains. SNSs such as Facebook and MySpace may be very popular and well known around the world for the types of applications available, the connectivity advantages, and the numbers of users within the network. However, the SNSs have presented privacy issues as well as reputation issues. As mentioned in class by Professor Kumar and Mehdizadeh (2010) in her article, SNSs provide a self-presentation characteristic of low self-esteem and high narcissism users. Alternately, LinkedIn targets a long-term goal in the attempt to create a different type of environment, a â€Å"professional ecosystem† with the addition of applications and modules to help users increase efficiency in their work and portray the professional self. The existence or emergence of other PNSs would increase competition for LinkedIn; however, LinkedIn already has a well-established professional networks composed of top executives, CEOs/CFOs, and other important professionals that attract individuals who seek advice or just the possibility to connecting professionally. LinkedIn’s users may have difficulty and a cost to switch networks, but they also find value in the services available. The continuous promotion of the benefits that can be obtained and the innovation of new modules such as LinkedIn news and customizable settings will help the company ward off competitors. Question #5 Question # 5a The distinction between social and professional is clear. This distinction likens LinkedIn to the Wall Street Journal â„ ¢, and SNS’s to publications like Peopleâ„ ¢, indicating that creating a more social aspect to LinkedIn will depart from the needs and wants of their target market. The expansion by Facebook into an open platform allowed third parties to develop social apps and created a â€Å"viral [spread]† across the network. Hoffman (Yoffie et al. , 2009, p. 7) stated that he wanted to prevent this within the LinkedIn network, instead insisting on stringent protocols and reviews of all new apps, so as to provide professionals with â€Å". . . the right sort of tools to interact with their network. † Maintaining a walled garden, as opposed to an open platform, is critical to continuing LinkedIns success. Like stated before, its strategy is based around being the best PNS in the industry. Users flock to this website because of how LinkedIn keeps the network professional, promotes productivity, and enables users to advance their careers success. Keeping this prestige will conserve LinkedIn’s quality and continue to attract its target market, professional users. Question # 5b LinkedIn should not broaden the scope to include elements of social networking. LinkedIn began and still operates since 2003 as a PNS. This strategy has allowed it to flourish, generating a customer base of 75 million users spreading around 200 countries, which includes professionals from all fortune 500 companies (Yoffie et al. 2009). This growth can be attributed to its departure from obtaining the majority of its revenues from advertising, like SNS’s, and creating a focused concept that does not necessarily remove innovation within the network, but instead indicates a policy of professionalism throughout with the controlled inception of professional applications. Different from SNS, of which the majority of revenue is from advertising, LinkedIn has framed its revenue model on five sources: (1) Advertising, (2) Subscriptions, (3) Job Postings, (4) Corporate Solutions, and (5) Primary Research. Steve Sordello, CFO for LinkedIn, stated â€Å"This model gives us a lot of sustainability, even if one of those revenue streams doesn’t succeed as we expect, we have others† (Yoffie et al. , 2009, p. 6). In order to sustain a competitive advantage, in 2007, LinkedIn change a policy to accommodate users who wished to upload a single professional head shot for identification. In 2008, LinkedIn launched a product called Company Groups that brought all LinkedIn users who worked for an organization into a closed forum which provides a collected, protected space for employees to talk to each other, as a part of application program interfaces (API). Other launches included Conference Calendar, as stated above (Yoffie et al. , 2009). Question # 5c LinkedIn has created a successful user base in foreign countries. This growth is attributed to LinkedIn’s concept of build not buy, using an organic growth model, giving it a competitive advantage over its main foreign rival Xing. This advantage is through LinkedIn’s ability to control segments of its business outside the U. S. , separate from Xing who buys outside networks limiting its control, in addition to Nye’s observation that â€Å"being in English first† is an advantage.

Research proposal

Research proposal Introduction The research proposal you are about to read is constructed in order to describe the research project I will execute. I will execute this research project in order to finalize the educational program ICT in Business at Leiden University. In this proposal I will give the objective and explain the methodology of this research. First, I will start with an introduction of the topic and the theoretical background. The research will be hosted and supervised by Getronics Consulting and will be executed at the Business Unit Innovative Technology (BUIT). The time span of this research will be 24 weeks. Industry This research will be focused on the Dutch ICT consultancy industry. This industry suits my interests and the knowledge I gained during the educational program ICT in Business. Getronics Consulting Getronics Consulting is an ICT Consultancy firm which operates in various markets like financial, industrial, educational, public and healthcare. Getronics Consulting advises companies on their ICT-strategy and executes ICT reorganizations based on knowledge about current ICT-architectures. They streamline and integrate people, process and technology in order to create a reliable ICT-architecture which is accessible anywhere at any time. Getronics Consulting has already 20 years experience in IT Service Management and has a working force of 1400 experienced professionals. The ambition Getronics Consulting wants to be known as the opinion leader in the area of leading standards and advanced information and communication technologies. Business and ICT-trends are translated into concrete and usable products and services. They state that every business process needs another ICT approach and call themselves architects of the invisible. The approach In their approach in improving ICT-services, they consider all aspects of the organization: people, products, partners and processes. From that perspective, Getronics Consulting offers support in setting up and optimizing ICT organizations. The philosophy is to enable employees to do their work more efficient. Business Unit Innovative Technology The Business Unit Innovative Technology (BUIT) is a competence center in the field of Web Content Management and (collaboration) portals. The customer base includes diverse organizations throughout the Netherlands varying from government, energy, media and logistical service providers. The tools used by BUIT are SDL Tridion and Microsoft SharePoint. The execution of successful ICT projects is based on the collaboration between People, Process and Technology. These technologies used by BUIT support the customer needs in various ways and are part of Enterprise Content Management (ECM). Enterprise Content Management The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), also known as the ECM association defines ECM as: The strategies, methods and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organizations unstructured information, wherever that information exists (AIIM, 2008, What is ECM?, para.1.). The solutions offered by BUIT are within the manage category. This category has five traditional application areas (Kampffmeyer, 2004): Document Management (DM) Collaboration Web Content Management (WCM) Record Management (RM) Workflow/business process management (BPM) BUIT has the focus on two application areas: collaboration and WCM. The customer needs are supported with different solutions (Tridion SharePoint) around the latter mentioned application areas. The approach Getronics Consulting brought structure into the approach of their projects. They based this approach on the experiences of projects executed in the past. These experiences are bundled into best practices which are based on the eBusiness Development Cycle. The eBusiness Development Cycle consists of six phases. I will elaborate on these phases to give an explanation of the most important activities. Strategy Knowing the mission, vision and goals of the customer is important in order to determine in what direction that organization wants to move. A clear business case is delivered which describes the added-value of the desired solution. Secondly, a conceptual blueprint is created. This blueprint will describe the building blocks of the system in a functional as well as a technical manner. A flexible and modular architecture is the fundamental idea which enables functionalities to be added in the future with minimal adaptations. This blueprint will also function as a starting point of the second phase. Preparation During this phase, several analyses will be done. First, together with the customer, the sources of information which need to be opened up are identified. In other words, what kind of business content does the customer have and for what purpose. Secondly, a prioritized list of the desired functionalities is created. This document will describe the need-to-haves and the nice-to-haves. Also, a scan of the infrastructure is performed in order to compare the current infrastructure with the desired infrastructure. This scan will identify possible technical bottlenecks. After these analyses, the organization itself will be analyzed in order to get a general picture and to see how the new solution would fit in. The main purpose is to define which processes, responsibilities and tasks are related to the helpdesk, technical management and functional- or application management. Finally, all he information gained from the analyses will be the input of the project plan. This plan will be created based on the project management methodology Price2. Design During the design phase, several designs will be expanded in detail. These designs are the basic foundation of what should be built during realization. The designs to be delivered are: infrastructural design, graphical design, functional design and technical design. Acceptation criteria will be written down by the customer. These criteria will be used at a later stage in order to test if the delivered product matches the customers criteria. Every implementation needs its acceptation. Acceptation within the organization is a crucial factor of the success of an implementation. Therefore, an integration plan is created which describes the tasks, responsibilities and processes in such a way the customer understands how they should deal with them. Realization The designs of the latter phase are approved and BUIT will start with the implementation of the infrastructure and the development of custom components. External functionalities and connections will also be realized. Finally, all the realized functionalities will be tested according to the acceptation criteria before the actual implementation takes place. Implementation During this phase, existing content will be migrated to the new system according to the migration plan. The users of these new functionalities will be trained properly. Also, the implemented system will be tested in order see how it performs and what kind of influence it has on the environment. The users are the last ones testing the system. Again, this is based on the acceptation criteria. During this test, the users will investigate the usability and user interfaces of the system. Bugs, found during the tests will be fixed and last but not least: the system will go live including the communication to the end-users. Maintenance The maintenance phase is the operational situation after implementation of the complete system. The emphasis of this phase lies on proper documentation in order to simplify and support future developments and decisions. If necessary, backup- and monitoring processes can be arranged. In the end, an evaluation of the project and its output will be executed. Customer needs The customer requests received by BUIT are especially about online collaboration and the publication of business information (Web Content Management). Today, these processes are supported by internet technologies. The following sections will elaborate on these customer needs. Web Content Management Customers have the need to maintain business information in an easy and intuitive way and make it accessible for those who are authorized to see the content. Information should not be scattered around the organization accessible via different platforms, but via one central platform. Organizational members should also be able to add content to this platform. Adding and maintaining information is one thing, finding the information is another important feature. Organizations have the need to find information via one central search engine which mines different business information sources. Some information is confidential and should only be accessible via the intranet. Organizations can also have the need to share information with the outside world. Think about jobs, news etc. Collaboration Collaboration, essential for improving productivity, becomes more and more important as global market opportunities and competition increase (Soriano, Lizcano, CaÃÆ'Â ±as, Reyes, Hierro, 2007). Today, there are all kinds of collaboration platforms available. BUIT is specialized in Microsoft SharePoint. Microsoft SharePoint is an enterprise platform which supports organizations with collaboration. SharePoint enables people to access diverse resources of information via one platform regardless the devices they have available (Microsoft, 2009). Interest in new technologies BUIT notices the emergence of new technologies and is interested in how these new tools are able to support their current and near-future customer needs. With these new technologies I refer to Web 2.0 technologies. BUITs assumptions about Web 2.0 are not rare. Some researchers come up with statements which add even more question marks. According to Tedennick (2006) Web 2.0 technologies have the advantage of adaptability to the business environment and responsiveness to changing business information needs. He argues that Web 2.0 technologies may offer real benefits in business environments where information plays a vital role. Bughin and Manyika (2007) say that Web 2.0 technologies rely on user collaboration. For BUIT, this raises a couple of questions. What should we do with Web 2.0? Should we embrace Web 2.0, if yes, why? And what are the benefits of Web 2.0 when supporting our customers needs? Web 2.0 Nowadays, new technologies emerged under the label Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is a label coined by OReilly (2005) to describe new patterns which emerged due to the changes occurred by the use of internet. These patterns do not describe the technology but describe the way people share information, contribute to collective knowledge, collaborate and interact with each other. Although this explanation is not about technologies, technologies play a significant role in Web 2.0. As Shah et al. (2005) state in their essay about Web 2.0: The technologies behind Web 2.0 provide a richer user experience and make use of information in unique ways (Introduction, para.1). Theoretical background Like many researchers and organization the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) has also his own opinions about Web 2.0. They state that: Many organizations see value in using Web 2.0 tools or social software within their organizations for improved collaboration and innovation, and this is then often referred to as Enterprise 2.0 (AIIM, 2008, What is Web 2.0?, para.2). The AIIM (2008) defines Enterprise 2.0 as: a system of web-based technologies that provide rapid and agile collaboration, information sharing, emergence and integration capabilities in the extended enterprise (What is Web 2.0?, para.1). An important link with this study is that Web 2.0 seems to improve collaboration (AIIM, 2008). Organizations, mainly located in the US are planning to maintain and increase investments in technologies which encourages collaboration (Bughin Manyika, 2007). Unfortunately, the literature gives no evidence about the Dutch interests and investments in Web 2.0. Tredinnick (2006) has the most interesting statements regarding the interests of BUIT. He claims that The key to Web 2.0 is harnessing the ways in which users use information to add value to information (either through direct or indirect user-participation) in creating the information sources that they use (p.232). This is in relation with the current customer needs. As you could read in chapter 2, in the most abstract form, customers have the need to publish information and enable the access to multiple sources of information. Another conclusion of Tredinnick (2006) suggests a benefit for the customer needs: Web 2.0 technologies also allow a far greater degree of collaboration in the creation of content. (p.233) Not only Tedinnick talks about Web 2.0 benefits regarding collaboration. Soriano et al. (2007) says that: Enterprise 2.0 provides enterprises with new models and tools for emergent collaboration and co-creation (Introduction, para.1). Clearly, Web 2.0 has a relation to customer needs regarding WCM and collaboration. Unfortunately, we do not know which elements of Web 2.0 offer what kind of benefits. It would be interesting to know which specific Web 2.0 patterns can offer benefits in supporting the customer needs described in chapter 2. Web 2.0 design patterns OReilly described his ideas about Web 2.0 through seven design patterns: 1) the web as a platform; 2) harnessing collective intelligence; 3) data is the next Intel inside; 4) end of the software release cycle; 5) lightweight programming models; 6) software above the level of a single device and, 7) rich user experience. The web as platform The internet can be seen as a platform through which the users are connected and collaborating with each other. The platform can be seen as the core which binds the elements of Web 2.0 together. Facebook implemented the pattern: the web as a platform. Facebook, an online social network enables people to connect with each other and share and access information. Their mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected (Facebook, 2010). Facebook (2010) also provides the programmatic interfaces that make it easy, quick, and efficient to share and access information. Harnessing Collective Intelligence Today, the web connects 1.7 billion users with each other (Internet World Stats, 2010). The web enables these users to add content to the web and collaborate with each other. This means users are collectively participating. They bring structure to information by tagging the information (OReilly, 2005). Arguing about topics in their blogs (short for Web Log) and sharing their knowledge trough online encyclopedia like Wikipedia (OReilly, 2005). Data is the next Intel inside The web is all about finding, sharing and enriching information. Amazon, the online store for books and electronics gets his information about books from ISBN registry provider R.R. Bowker. Amazon and its users enrich this information by adding covers, previews, comments and reviews about the books. The ISBN registry is also available to the competitors of Amazon, but the value added by amazon and their users is hard to copy by competitors. The enriched information is therefore Amazons Intel inside. End of the software release cycle Normally, software is released when totally finished and tested. When this is not the case, it gets labeled as Beta which indicates that the software is not totally finished and needs some testing. In the world of Web 2.0, users are the testers and provide the vendor with feedback, or even help improve the software by co-development. This beta version gets updated regularly but never becomes a final version. Vendors use real time monitoring to track user behavior in order to make changes in their software (OReilly, 2005). Lightweight programming models This pattern could also be explained by Web Services and RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Web Services are protocols which make it easier for different systems to communicate with one another automatically in order to pass information or conduct transactions. For example, a retailer and supplier use Web Services to communicate over the internet and update each others inventory systems (Bughin Manyika, How Business Are Using Web 2.0: A McKinsey Global Survey, 2007).These Web Services are lightweight and could be used to pull or push information between systems. RSS enables users to aggregate information from various sources. Users can subscribe to websites and blogs or other information sources. The content gets separated from its design and can be used anywhere. Software above the level of a single device In the Web 1.0 paradigm, the web was only accessible via a single device. Nowadays, the web is accessible via a wide range of devices e.g.: mobile phones, televisions, game consoles, MP3-playes, PDAs etc. These devices are connected to the platform which enables users to stay in touch virtually anywhere at any time. Rich user experience Last but not the least the rich user experience pattern is about the richness of an internet application. These applications are also called: Rich Internet Application (RIA). A RIA is an internet application, viewed via the web browser where the user experiences a richer environment which is comparable to a desktop application. Research objective The objective of this research is to investigate the benefits of Web 2.0 regarding WCM and Collaboration activities. In other words, what is the benefit for an organization to have Web 2.0 support their Web Content Management and collaboration activities? In order to see the benefits I will need to compare the old situation with the new Web 2.0 situation. With the old situation I refer to how the WCM and Collaboration activities are supported today. The new situation refers to a situation where an organization implemented one or more Web 2.0 design patterns in order to support their activities. Measuring the difference between the two situations requires a measurement instrument. Having the validation in mind, this should be the same instrument for both the situations in order to make a valid comparison. Therefore, I will use the conceptual framework described in chapter 5. The first step of this research is to find out which processes are demanding what kind of information properties and with what degree (e.g. high accuracy of information). The second step is to look at new technologies referred to as Web 2.0 and investigate how they support WCM and Collaboration. The focus is on the level of information properties. So, how do Web 2.0 design patterns perform regarding the demanded information properties. It could be that a design pattern causes information to be better accessible. Managerial relevance This research will be relevant because ICT Consultancy companies like Getronics Consulting gain insight in the benefits Web 2.0 might offer when supporting their customers processes related to Web Content Management and Collaboration. Due to the abstract approach of this research, near-future processes which require certain information properties could be matched with Web 2.0 design patterns. Academic relevance Nowadays, Web 2.0 is a hot research topic. Researchers are trying to find out how businesses are using Web 2.0 (Bughin Manyika, How Business Are Using Web 2.0: A McKinsey Global Survey, 2007); what impact Web 2.0 has on enterprise applications (Adobe, 2007) and Web 2.0 Business A pointer to the intranets of the future? (Tredinnick, 2006). The survey done by Bughin and Manyika tells us that the corporate world has a clear interest in Web 2.0 technologies. Respondents of their survey say they are using Web 2.0 technologies to: communicate with customers and business partners; help manage knowledge internally; share and gather ideas and for automation and collaboration. (Tredinnick, 2006) explored the application of Web 2.0 technologies to business intranets, and their potential use in managing and developing business information and knowledge assets. The latter mentioned authors lack to describe information properties required by the processes of the organizations and how Web 2.0 affected these properties. New knowledge could be created by finding out which and how Web 2.0 patterns affect the information properties. Another issue from the latter mentioned papers is that they mainly surveyed the US and only some European countries like: Germany, France and the U.K. Since this research will be executed inside the Netherlands based on organizational needs from Dutch companies, new knowledge could be created. Information requirements Organizations have all kind of processes which need to be supported. Today, many of those processes are supported with IT solutions. Davenport (1993) defines a business process as: A structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specific output for a particular customer or market (p. 5). In short, the core of a process could be explained as: Figure 1: Core principle of a process. Depending on what kind of activity needs to be supported, emphasis is placed on different requirements of information (Davis, 1982). One business process could require high accuracy of information while another process would require less accurate but timelier information. When these requirements or properties of information are known, a suitable solution for supporting the business process could be selected. But how do we analyze which information requirements are demanded? Conceptual framework Wang and Strong (1996) conducted research in order to develop a hierarchical framework for organizing data quality dimensions. This framework contains several information requirements grouped into four categories. Wang and Strong (1996) conclude that the framework could be useful as a checklist during data requirement analysis (p. 23). This particular statement is interesting since one objective of this research is to analyze which requirements of information are demanded by WCM and Collaboration activities. As you may have noticed, the words data and information are used interchangeably. The word data is a Latin noun, datum, meaning something that is given (Bovee et al., 2002). For information the definition that information is, or contains, input or pieces of information (data) organized to some purpose will be used (Davenport Prusak, Stonie, as cited in Bovee et al., 2002 ,p4). Therefore, data and information will be treated synonymously throughout this proposal. The perspective from which the requirements of information will be measured is an organizational perspective. Other researchers (Bovee et al, 2002 and Katerattanakul Siau, 1999) used this model to measure the quality of information based on a user perspective. Within the context of this research, the organization can also be seen as the user who requires information to be: e.g. accurate or timely. Again, this framework proves to be a relevant tool required by this research. The framework contains 15 requirements grouped into 4 categories. Wang and Strong (1996) stated that this framework provides a basis for deciding which aspects of data quality to use in any research study (p. 22). Regarding this statement, I will have to determine the relevance of each information requirement. For the case studies (proposed in chapter 7) the data quality metrics: accuracy, relevancy, timeliness, interpretability and accessibility will be used. The latter metrics are the most commonly used metrics according to the reviewed literature (Bovee et al., 2002 and Kahn et al., 2002 and Lee et al., 2001 and Griffiths, 2005). Figure 2: A conceptual framework of data quality (Wang Strong, 1996) Research questions Main research question What is the benefit for an organization to have Web 2.0 support their WCM and Collaboration activities? Sub questions Some sub questions are posed in order to answer the main research question. These sub questions will gain more insight about the separate components of the main research question. Which properties of information are important regarding the processes which are currently supported by WCM and Collaboration? Which properties of information are offered by each Web 2.0 design pattern? How do the information properties offered by Web 2.0 patterns match with the information properties demanded by WCM and Collaboration activities? Research methodology Obviously, the main research question as well as the sub-questions cannot be answered without justified sources of evidence. You can imagine that a certain starting point is needed. Therefore, the methodology for this research will be an explanatory multiple-case study within Getronics Consulting and KPN. Herriott Firestone (as cited by Yin, 2003, p.46) say that the evidence from multiple cases is often considered more compelling, and the overall study is therefore regarded as being more robust. According to Yin (2003) a case study is best used when asking questions such as how and why. Since the sub-questions one and two are not how or why questions, these questions are operationalized. The data collection methods will be face-to-face interviews, documentation and archival records (system data). Case description As stated in the introduction, two case studies will be conducted within two different companies. First the Knowledge Sharing Expertise Building project within Getronics Consulting will be studied. Secondly, the social media platform KPN1 Connect within KPN will be studied. Knowledge Sharing Expertise Building (KSEB) Getronics Consulting recently initiated the KSEB project. Getronics Consulting has the need to capture and preserve knowledge gained by its employees. When an employee is working on a project and wants to know more about a particular subject, he should be able to find the right colleague(s) with the right expertise for addressing this particular subject. The KSEB platform will consist of different portals: Personal; Communities; and Knowledge Base. The personal portal will contain a public profile and a blog with posts. The communities portal will contain a community wiki and a community team site. News, a forum and shared documents will be present on the team site. The last portal, the knowledge base will contain a category site with documents. KPN1 Connect The project KPN1 Connect is initiated because of a specific need. KPN had the need to foster communication between all employees across the entire organization. They wanted communication to happen in an organic manner rather than a horizontal/vertical manner which is based on the employees hierarchical status. Therefore, a social media platform was launched earlier this year. This platform is an extension to their original intranet and enables employees to communicate with one another via weblogs (blogs) and short (micro blog) messages. Employees have their own profile which contains: name; function; professional expertise; professional interests; hobbies; and product expertise. In short, they can post blogs; short messages; photos; videos and reactions based on content posted by others. The platform also recommends other employees based on the content of the employees profile. And, last but not least, a sophisticated search function enables employee to find other employees and content posted by others. Case studies propositions The propositions of a case study are important in order to direct the attention into the right direction within the scope of the study (Yin, 2003). For both the case studies the same propositions are posed. The propositions are: Getronics Consulting is using Knowledge Sharing Expertise Building in order to support WCM and Collaboration activities. KPN is using KPN1 Connect in order to support Collaboration activities. Getronics Consulting implemented at least one Web 2.0 design pattern into Knowledge Sharing Expertise Building. KPN implemented at least one Web 2.0 design pattern into KPN1 Connect. Web 2.0 design patterns have an effect on the properties of information. Operational questions With the case studies I hope to answer the sub-questions stated in chapter 6. The following table presents how the sub-questions will be operationalized in a larger set of questions, and how they will be answered by each method. Question q1 will be answered with three operational questions. By answering the first, evidence should point out which processes the company wants to support and why with the use of this particular system. The second question is about the analysis of the content. The analysis should indicate what kind of information is stored and processed by the system, and how this information is tagged and related with each other. The purpose of the third question is to investigate what kinds of properties of information are demanded by the organization. This is regarding the processes and the kind of content stored and processed by the system. Question q2 will be answered with two operational questions. The first question will explore what kind of Web 2.0 design patterns are implemented and with what intentions. The second question will measure how the implemented Web 2.0 design patterns score according to the properties of information. Analyzing the results During the case studies, the data quality will be measured twice. First according to what the organization is demanding. For example: organization x has the activity of publishing content and ranks the accuracy of the information most important. Secondly the data quality is measured according to what the Web 2.0 design pattern can offer. For example: design pattern rich user experience causes information to be better interpretable. By analyzing both results the last sub-question will be answered: (q3) How do the information properties offered by Web 2.0 patterns match with the information properties demanded by WCM and Collaboration activities? References Adobe. (2007). The Impact of Web 2.0 on Enterprise Applications A strategy to improve business performance through software that works the way people work. CIO Custom Solution Group. AIIM. (2008). AIIM What is Web 2.0? Retrieved April 13, 2010, from AIIM: http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Web-2.0.aspx AIIM. (2008, Januari). What is ECM? Retrieved April 2010, from AIIM: http://www.aiim.org/What-is-ECM-Enterprise-Content-Management.aspx Baarde, B., Goede, M. d. (1995). Methoden en Technieken (2nd ed.). Houten: Educatieve Partners Nederland BV. Bouman, E. (2008). SmarTEST: slim testen van informatiesystemen. Den Haag: Sdu Uitgevers bv. Bovee, M., Srivasta

huck finn :: essays research papers

Twain’s â€Å"Huckleberry Finn† was a very enjoyable read. It was my first early American novel and I could not help feel as though I was being swept along the current of the Mississippi sharing in Huck’s adventures. I was fortunate enough to travel to New Orleans a few years ago on my first trip to the American south. Huck’s narrations while powerful in their own right, were that much more meaningful because of my own experiences. While Twain ironically proclaims that there is no theme in the preface, there is a very strong theme that satirically is inescapable in the way society’s rules can stifle individual freedom of expression and thought. While at first I found the diction to be very confusing and even frustrating at times, it later seemed almost vital in order to make the narration believable, controversial, shocking, and powerful. One believes the adventures to be true because we can envision these types of discussions taking place in the mid south at that time. The multitude of adventures, told in the first person in a concise and simplistic manner was very appealing. My own province of Newfoundland has a very rich and distinctive culture, with numerous strong dialects, and storytelling is a very big part of that culture. I like the fact that the novel is controversial, and challenges the mainstream views of society. Many have debated over the years whether Twain’s novel is a masterpiece or subversive trash. It has been argued that it is â€Å"rough, coarse, inelegant, and exerts a dangerous influence on the young.† (Concord, Massachusetts, library committee). However, the reality is this is a part of life whether we like to admit it or not. If one chooses to look beyond the lies, If one chooses to look beyond the lies, bad language and criminal activity what shines through is a strong social messages meant for society as a whole. Many have questioned whether the persistent use of the word â€Å"nigger† makes Huckleberry Finn racist. I think, it has to be put into the context of the entire novel and the underlying theme. The novel portrays the worst society has to offer through the innocent and impressionable eyes of a thirteen year old boy. The book is shocking, the behaviors and attitudes towards a cast society are appalling and shameful, and should be our central focus for debate. While no one today should tolerate the use of the word in a derogatory sense, its use in the novel is vital.

Countries such as Italy and India Essay

Youth is wasted on the young. † We all stereotype, and we can all be prejudice. The elderly sometimes see a teenager and automatically assume they are troublemakers who hang around the streets at night, which is not always the case. Most teenagers perception of the elderly is that they ramble in their talk get in the way and are rather helpless. When can you really class yourself as old though? To me I would say it’s when you retire. Your life changes completely, you have a lot more spare time since you’re not working. Life becomes relaxing and care free. Although old age can be relaxing, I personally am not looking forward to it, I prefer to be young. It seems life will become harder, forgetfulness, your body is weaker, and therefore it’s harder to move about. Also in this country the elderly are not treated as well as in others, Countries such as Italy and India. There the elderly are looked up to and treated with utmost respect. When they grow old and become incapable of doing certain things they are taken care of and are looked after by their younger generations. In the U. K grandparents are often just sent away to a retirement center, because their own family cannot be bothered to look after them. In the poem â€Å"Warning† she chooses to exploit her freedom in her old age, be wild and â€Å"make up for the sobriety of her youth†. Whereas in â€Å"Old man Old man† which is the poem I will be comparing against â€Å"Warning† in this essay, he does the opposite, he draws back in seclusion. Unhappy in his old age. The narrative of â€Å"Old man Old man† and â€Å"Warning† differ greatly. â€Å"Old man Old man† focuses on the negativity of old age. How in his old age he has become even more obstinate in his â€Å"contracted world†. The poem describes how he used to be independent, â€Å"lord once of shed, garage and garden†. Although now he cannot accept he has become helpless, â€Å"you who hate being helpless†. Now he is â€Å"self-demoted in his nineties to washing up†, and yet still â€Å"missing crusted streaks† Fanthorpe, who we assume is a daughter, describes the old man in a very desolate tone. It seems as though she has always tried to help him, but he’s always believed he’s a â€Å"world authority†. Now the old man has become surly in his old age, and helpless. Despite this, he still refuses help from his daughter. Towards the end of the poem, she offers her aid, â€Å"let me walk with you to Drury lane†. Whereas in â€Å"Warning† Jenny Joseph talks about how she will enjoy her liberation in old age. She tells us how she what she wants to do when she grows old. She wants to act like a child and â€Å"wear purple†. Throughout the poem she only talks about herself no one else is mentioned. For her old age represents the liberations. She talks about the restrictions that are imposed on her now, and how she will do differently when she grows old, like eat â€Å"only bread and pickle for a week†. Another way we can compare two poems is from the persona. In ‘Old man Old man†, there are two personas. The old man himself, and the poet. We assume the poet is a daughter, as they are very pessimistic towards the old man, this could be from the way she was treated by him â€Å"not good with daughters†. She describes her father in quite a negative manner, and at times nearly mocks him. She speaks about how old age affects their relationship. She describes the things he is no longer capable of doing. She moans about him and is very cynical about him. Towards the end she mimics him, â€Å"you said to me, but only as a cloud†. Throughout the poem the weakness of the old man is repetitively mentioned. Showing now how he has become weak and incapable in his old age. The persona in â€Å"Warning† is just one woman talking about herself. She is a strong willed and independent woman. She wants to â€Å"make up for the sobriety of her youth. She will act reasonably for now, to â€Å"set a good example for the children†, but when she becomes old, that will be her rebeliion. She is very positive about old age, and focuses on all the good points of old age, like the freedom. Jenny Joseph has self-determination, whereas the â€Å"Old man in Old man† seem to have nearly given up in his weakness. The poets use language in contrasting ways to express their ideas and opinions of old age. â€Å"Old man Old man† begins with a stanza in the past tense. Describing the way he lives and is. The direct speech in italic, in the second stanza, its â€Å"I’ve lost the hammer† which the old man would be saying, but towards the end, the direct speech is from the poet to the old man â€Å"Let me find your hammer†. This is to evoke bathos in the reader. The poet expresses her words in a tender way, showing how she does care for her father but nee s him to let her help him. She begins to lightly mock him in the third stanza, calling him a â€Å"world authority†. A Wife is mentioned later on in the poem, and instead of the poet calling the old man’s wife ‘mum’; she refers to him as â€Å"your wife. † This could be showing that he was re-married, and the daughter was not with her mum anymore, therefore she cares a great deal about her father, and when he refuses to help her and shuts her out, it hurts her even further. The semi-colon after â€Å"your surliness† splits up the pitiable image of the old man, and halts the rhythm of the poem. Here we stop and remember the man who no longer â€Å"tells jokes†. Verbs are taken out of the poem to help the flow of it. Whereas in â€Å"Warning† the sentences are complex, with two or more verbs in them. The stanzas are groups of three, to remember them and separate it clearly. The stanzas in â€Å"Warning† are not separated equally. Although there is a circular structure, â€Å"wear purple† is repeated at the beginning and end of the poem. â€Å"Old man old man† is in a disheartened tone. â€Å"Warning† is in a childish tone, for example she wants to â€Å"grow more fat†. This could be because the things she wants to do a re also quite childish like â€Å"learn to spit†. Which is quite un-lady like but simply expresses her desire for freedom. Also the title â€Å"Old man, Old man† is repeated throughout he poem, this seems to emphasize his old age. The first stanza is â€Å"Warning† is free verse, she creates a list of short sentences, all the things she wants to do when she grows old. â€Å"Youth is wasted on the young†. After analyzing both poems â€Å"Old man, Old man,† and â€Å"Warning†. I think that â€Å"Warning,† argues this title more than â€Å"Old man Old man†. As she speaks of how she will do youthful things when she grows old, so it is not wasted on the young. I myself preferred â€Å"Old man old man†. I preferred the seriousness of it, as â€Å"Warning† was in quite a childish tone. I found it interesting to see the relationship of the father and daughter, and her mocking of him was quite humorous. â€Å"Warning† was more like a big list of juvenile things she wanted to do when she was old. The two personas are at crossroads in their life, the turning point of becoming old. â€Å"Old man Old man† is how becoming old is a negative thing, how you become incapable of certain things. â€Å"Warning† is how she will enjoy her liberation of old age. I contend that â€Å"Old man, Old man† is a more accurate description of how life will be when old age attacks. I would prefer for it to be how jenny josephs perception of old age is, but as you grow old, as I said earlier, you become incapable of things. Like memory loss and moving about. â€Å"Old man, Old man† shows this. In â€Å"Warning† she is still young and does not know how it really is to be elderly.

Beowulf’s Defining Characteristic

Beowulf Essay Beowulf, like so many other heroes, is described as a great fghter and a man of tremendous strength. He has self-confidence bordering on insanity. He is willing to do whatever it takes to earn trust and protect his people. He chooses to fght Grendel, an invincible monster unarmed and unprotected because he is very confident in his own strength. Despite his many qualities that make him who he is, bravery is the defining characteristic of heroism in Beowulf.Beowulf has a strong desire to demonstrate his bravery to others. He travelled to the Land of the Danes in large part to prove his courage by destroying Grendel. Just as he was about to kill Grendel, he offered a prayer to God. After the battle, Beowulf knew that he did not kill Grendel alone. He says that God allowed him to kill the monster and gave him all of the credit. Beowulf then fearlessly goes to Grendel's mother's underground lair after she attacks the mead-hall Heorot to avenge his eath.Beowulf became ruler o f the Kingdom of the Geats. His first task as he ruler was protecting the Geats from a fearsome dragon. The dragon was angered because a servant stole an ornamented cup from him. Before engaging in his biggest battle thus far, he remains brave and confident. Beowulf remembered all of his past victories and knew he had to stay loyal to his people, no matter what the challenge was. Through Beowulf's bravery, strength, and loyalty, he earned the respect of many people.His actions resemble one of America's most important Political fgures, Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK and Beowulf both have the intentions freeing and protecting their people. Beowulf saved his people from giant, invincible monsters, while MLK saved his people from the monster of racism. The two of them showed an amazing amount of bravery while doing this. Although their hardships and battles were completely different from each other, their motives and intentions to save their people were nearly identical.