The Truth in Art Vincent Van Goghs Work of Art Essay

Throughout his argument against aesthetics, Heidegger strongly states he believes in the true â€Å"work of art† and believes that this aesthetic approach goes against this. One artist that Heidegger particularly discusses is Vincent Van Gogh. He uses works of art by Van Gogh in order to give more power to his argument. Through works of art such as Van Gogh’s A Pair of Shoes, Heidegger makes his a distinction between artwork and things. In order to truly analyze the culture of another, he explains how it is essential for the viewer to question what is being depicted in the work and what the purpose may be. Heidegger describes art as a whole through the philosophies of existence and truth. To truly interpret Heidegger’s critic of aesthetics,†¦show more content†¦Through this quote, Heidegger is stating that influential works of art have a great role in instituting principles in a way that is beneficial to the community around it as it guides their underst anding and their beliefs of the world around them. Because Heidegger does not agree with the creations of modern times, he does not agree with the term aesthetics. He mentions how Kant used the term aesthetics in Critique of Judgment. Heidegger explains how the Greeks first generated the word. Aesthetics deals with the senses and does not deal with the mind and knowledge. It is the opposite of what a truth would be. Heidegger explains how this is an issue as it is not a way to search for the truth in something. Our minds, unlike our senses, search to understand and find truth. As he continues his argument against aesthetics, Heidegger brings up Hegels Vorlesungen fiber die Astheti. Art no longer counts for us as the highest manner in which truth obtains existence for itself†¦in all these relationships art is and remains for us, on the side of its highest vocation, something past† (78). He wants to believe that someday the distinctive truth manifest in art could return. Heidegger hopes that what has been lost in today’s society will return in a powerful way that could impact history once more. Although he agrees with most of what Hegel has said, Heidegger does disagree with Hegel on a main aspect. Heidegger believes that a perfect work of art could comeShow MoreRelated Vincent Van Gogh Essay1593 Words   |  7 Pages Most casual art lovers see Van Gogh as a troubled but successful artist. This is far from the actual truth of his chaotic life which was filled with failure in every occupational pursuit he attempted including painting, and was marked by episodes of depression, violence, and abnormal behavior. Thanks to the preservation of thousands of letters Van Gogh had written to friends and family, especially to his brother Theo, we have a nearly complete understanding of his feelings, experiments, andRead MoreAre There Visions and Ghosts in Van Gogh Paintings?1142 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"There are no ghosts in the paintings of Van Gogh, no visions, no hallucinations. This is the torrid truth of the sun at two o’clock in the afternoon.† This quote that Antonin Artraud, stated from, Van Gogh, the Man Suicided by Society, explains the way in which Van Gogh approached his artwork. He believed in the dry truth and as a result his work was remarkably straightforward in the messages that he portrayed. While visiting Paris, France this past April, I was fortunate enough to have visitedRead More vincent van gogh Essay examples1404 Words   |  6 Pages Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter, whose work represents the archetype of expressionism, the idea of emotional spontaneity in painting. Van Gogh was born March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, son of a Dutch Protestant pastor. Van Goghs birth came one year to the day after his mother gave birth to a first, stillborn child; also named Vincent. There has been much speculation about Vincent van Gogh suffering later psychological trauma as a result of being a quot;replacement childquot;Read MoreVincent Van Gogh Essay example1437 Words   |  6 PagesVincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter, whose work represents the archetype of expressionism, the idea of emotional spontaneity in painting. Van Gogh was born March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, son of a Dutch Protestant pastor. Van Goghs birth came one year to the day after his mother gave birth to a first, stillborn child; also named Vincent. There has been much speculation about Vincent van Gogh suffering later psychological trauma as a result of being a replacement child andRead MoreVincent Van Gogh And Paul Gauguin Analys is1261 Words   |  6 Pagesmore influential painters from this movement were Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, both of whom aimed to connect with viewers on a deeper level by accessing Nature’s mystery and meaning beyond the superficial, observable level. Close examination of Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Paul Gauguin) and Paul Gauguin’s Self-Portrait with Portrait of Émile Bernard (Les misà ©rables) reveals two contrasting and unique styles on display. Van Gogh based his paintings on the Natural and observableRead MoreComparing Picasso And Van Gogh1472 Words   |  6 PagesIn this essay, I will be comparing and contrasting artists Pablo Picasso and Van Gogh, considering their intentions with their artwork. Van Gogh and Picasso two of the most famous artists out there and still are to this day. Uncountable books have been published and dedicated to them and their lives and careers of being true artist. Their art has changed the way people view things and the world around them. Vincent van Gogh was one of many artists who self taught himself, who transformed the appearanceRead MoreComparing Matisse Picasso And Van Gogh1463 Words   |  6 PagesPicasso and Van Gogh, and to consider their intentions with their artwork. In this essay, I will be comparing and contrasting artists Pablo Picasso and Van Gogh, considering their intentions with their artwork. Van Gogh and Picasso two of the most famous artists out there and still are to this day. Uncountable books have been published and dedicated to them and their lives and careers of being true artist. Their art has changed the way people view things and the world around them. Vincent van Gogh wasRead More Vincent Van Gogh Essay1579 Words   |  7 PagesVincent Van Gogh The people back in the 19th century really didn’t accept Van Gaogh’s truthful and emotionally morbid way of expressing the way of art is to himself. It finally was seen as art through the people’s eyes. This set a stage of art that is now known as Expressionism. It is best characterized by the use of symbols and a style that expresses the artist’s inner feelings about his subject. His style of painting is exemplified by a projection of the painter’s inner experience onto theRead Morestarry night analysis954 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork ‘starry night’ is a classic example of the post impressionism movement. Post-impressionist were artist who rebelled against the limitations of impressionism. They developed person styles that focus on emotional, structural, symbolic and spiritual elements they felt were missing from impressionism. ‘Starry Night’ was created in 1889, earlier that year Van Gogh decided to enter the asylum at Saint-Rà ©my. ‘Starry night’ was inspired by the view from his window in the asylumRead MoreArt Analysis : Vincent Van Gogh1240 Words   |  5 PagesArt by definition is something created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings. By definition one would assume that art is directly related to the artist’s emotional state or point of view. That assumption would be correct in relation to the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh and numerous other artist. Vincent Van Gogh a 19th century painter was widely misunderstood for the greater part of ten years. His style of art within itself

The Effects Of Misinformation And Its Effects On Memory...

Previous research has shown that people often rely on invalidated information (de Vega, Urrutia, Riffo, 2007). Ecker, Lewandowsky and Tang (2010) explained that this is due to people holding preference to incorrect information over incomplete information. Rapp and Kendeou (2007) expanded on this, explaining how the continued influence of misinformation is lessened where a causal alternative is provided i.e. another explanation is given. Ecker et al. goes on to explain the ways in which emotion can affect memory and memory updating, providing evidence for claims of both improved and impaired memory due to emotionality. As a result of the prior research Ecker et al. (2010) aimed to â€Å"investigate the influence of initial misinformation in moderately negative emotive material† and wanted to see whether emotionality had an effect on people’s ability to discount misinformation. The researchers thus produced three experiments in order to test these ideas. All of the experiments involved the presentation of one of two fictitious plane crash reports. The high emotionality report held themes of intentional violence (a terrorist attack) with the low emotionality report holding themes of unintentional violence (bad weather). Two of the experimental conditions consisted solely of the initial information, with no retraction (high or low emotionality with no-retraction). In another two of the six experimental conditions this initial information was retracted with no additionalShow MoreRelatedSuggestibility and Human Memory Essay616 Words   |  3 PagesSuggestibility in human memory is considered as the phenomenon called the misinformation effect. The misinformation effect occurs when the misleading information influence a person’s memory of the witnessed event and change how that person describes that event later. Moreover, the misleading information in this effect is referred to as misleading postevent information (MPI) (Goldstein, 2008). Loftus and her colleagues contribute a lot to the early studies of misinformation effect. In one of the classicalRead MoreIs Our Justice System Fair?1157 Words   |  5 Pagesjustice system truly set out to do what it was meant to do? Or are there social factors and memory errors that come into play that can change a conviction outcome. In today’s court rooms we have, Defense attorneys, Prosecutors, judges, juries, evidence, forensics experts, witness testimonies, and of course the human memory. What better type of evidence than the human memory, right? Unfortunately, human memory is subject to the power of suggestion and unable to truly recall an event when told to recallRead MoreAn Article Review Of â€Å"Memory Blindness: Altered Memory1205 Words   |  5 PagesAn Article Review of â€Å"Memory blindness: Altered memory reports lead to distortion in eyewitness memory† by Cochran et al. (2016) Introduction: Cochran et al (2016) provide a case study analysis of the temporal nature of memory in suspect lineups and crimes being investigated by law enforcement. The study involves a longitudinal evaluation of participants that are given evidence of a crime (through slideshows) that allows them to ascertain the criminal act or to choose a suspect in a lineup. AtRead MoreMisinformation and False Memory Essay624 Words   |  3 PagesIn class this week we saw cases where our memory fails when recalling information in the past and even seeing changes in real time in front of our eyes. Misinformation is when someone gives information that is incorrect without the intent of giving the incorrect information. This is more likely to happen in situations where the new information would fit someone’s schema of the situation. In a crime example, we can say that a robber has a knife in his hand and pointed it at someone, someone in theRead MoreStudies on Memories1097 Words   |  4 PagesHuman beings usually depend on memory to accurately recall or describe the past events that have happened. However, many researchers have shown that human memories can be imperfect and fallible (Lilienfeld et al., 2012). This essay will argue that human memory for the details of past events is not reliably accurate. The evidence for this argument can be seen in two empirical studies which will be reviewed. Schmolck, Buffalo Squire (2000), found that percentage memory distortions and mistaken recollectionsRead MoreEssay on Eyewitness Error1177 Words   |  5 PagesMemory is a cognitive function of the brain that is often taken for granted. Memory may have many purposes, but most importantly it is essentially a record of an entire life span. From this perspective memory is the most important aspect of consciousness. Unfortunately, through formal experimentation it has been shown that memory is fairly inaccurate, inconsistent, and often influenced by our own experiences as well as the bia s of others. Memory is not only affected during an observed event, butRead MoreSleep Deprivation And False Memories1559 Words   |  7 PagesFrenda, Patihis, Loftus, Lewis and Fenn’s (2014) article titled â€Å"Sleep Deprivation and False Memories sought out to explanation how sleep deprivation can have a role in an individual’s cognitive function. One-way researchers went about unraveling this particular question was to uncover the invisible knowledge relating the formation of false memories with sleep deprivation. Two experiments were executed diving into the many ways that sleep deprivation can affect a person’s thoughts and general decisionsRead MoreThe Security of Our Memory1201 Words   |  5 PagesMemory seems to be less secure and reliable than is popularly thought. Bartlett and other social scientists have tested the security of our memory and have accumulated significant results showing the limitations of our memory and the extent to which our abili ties of recall often play us up. Bartlett, for instance, discovered that people formed memories in line with their cultural indoctrination and schemas. Following Bartletts publicized results, researchers have been interested in finding determinantsRead MoreSleep Deprivation And False Memories Essay1403 Words   |  6 Pagesfalse memories reported two studies, but only study one will be summarized here. The study done here is to see if amount of sleep is associated to false memories. This study is a correlational study because it is looking for the association of natural occurring variables (i.e. the amount of sleep one gets). The independent variable of this study is the amount of sleep the participants had, either they were sleep deprived or not. The dependent variable is whether or not they had false memories. TheRead MoreThe Effects Of False Memory On Word Association1255 Words   |  6 Pages False Memory Cammie Wires George Mason University False Memory Introduction Multiple studies have been conducted that investigate false memory in humans focusing on word recall, processing and retention interval, and auditory imaging. Roediger and McDermott (1995) suggest that individuals who participated in their study are more likely to recall the critical words and lures if the list of words presented were closely associated to them. Critical lures are the tendency to recall words

ICT Meeting Special Needs Free Essays

The person that I am going to be studying is Mr. C Aziz a man who lost his eyes when he was at the age of 32, due to an accident with a group of hooligans assaulting Mr Aziz on his way home one evening. Now Mohammed is currently 32 years of age and he and his wife live with their two sons. We will write a custom essay sample on ICT Meeting Special Needs or any similar topic only for you Order Now Mohammed Aziz is a musician, who aspires to one day be able to play as well as his idol Stevie Wonder. The topic blindness is often stereotyped to the thought of sight being gone forever, however in some cases of Blindness there is a chance of seeing again, however sadly in Mr Aziz’s case, this is not a possibility. Blindness is the inability to see anything. Some people are called blind, even though they can see a vaguely. This is because they cannot see clearly, but can only see fuzzy shapes or colours. In modern countries, few young people are blind. Blindness is mostly caused by diseases of old people, like cataracts and trachoma. Sometimes, though, people are born blind. Some people are colour blind, which means they can see, however cannot tell certain colours apart. When people are blind they use such things as the alphabet in Braille and guard dogs to do every day things. Although again in Mohammed’s case sadly he is not colour blind but fully blind. Technology 1 Braille Watch Braille watches have raised dots that allow a blind person to tell the time. Simply flip up the cover and feel the dots on the dial. There are different types of Braille Watches like the voice one that tells you the time when you need it and it is in digital and normally time. In Braille watches you can save appointments and notes and you can save birthdays and you can record voice and in also can tell you the temperature. Advantages o It’s is small and the right size to fit a hand and says it in voice the time and date o Help people with appointments and helps them to not forget time and date and if they got anything information o Tell you everything in English, 99 different languages o It is like a person that is standing next to the blind person and helping Disadvantages o Not waterproof o Easily breaks o Something’s very disturbing o Gets lost o One of the bad thing about Braille Watches is that it only reminds you once and that’s bad because maybe the person is fast a sleep and can’t hear it so they will mess the alarm How the technology meets their personal needs The Braille watch is particularly important in the life of Mr Aziz as it fits directly into his daily schedule. Mohammed, a devout Muslim, needs to wake up at 6am on a daily basis so he may do his daily prayers. The Braille watch is good for this as it allows him for one to be able to actually know the time, to know the right time in which he must pray, it also helps him as some Braille watches also have alarm clocks on them, this however may not be an option for Mr Aziz as, he has a very low budget, as a musician living off benefits from the government and disability benefits he does not have much money to be spending on luxury items, nevertheless Mohammed believes that religion is a very vital aspect of his life, and must uphold all traditions so an alarm is a must (Mohammed believes that if he devotes his life to his religion then one day his eyes may be healed by a miracle. The Braille watch also helps Mr Aziz as it allows him to keep track of when to take his eye medication. Even though Mr Aziz’s eyes are now permanently obsolete, he must still use his droplets to prevent any infections in his eyes that may cause him discomfort, and with the help of the Braille watch he is able to know the time at all times and keep track with his medical schedule. Finally although Mr Aziz is sadly blind, he is still a very joyful individual person overall and likes to enjoy himself, with the help of the Braille watch, Mr Aziz he is able to watch all his favourite TV programmes on time without missing a single moment of the show. I believe that the Braille watch is an excellent technology in helping the blind or visually impaired to keep good track of the time. With the compact designs that house the Braille watch, and the voice helper, with over 99 languages built in, as well as a tonne of other gadgets, including I believe that the Braille watch is the ultimate timepiece of the 21st century when thinking of how to help the visually impaired with timekeeping. However with the Braille watch, the problem may arise that if the watch is broken, or needs repairing in any manner then getting the watch repaired is a very tricky matter, firstly it may be very costly as there are not many shops that repair Braille watches, and secondly as I just said there are not many stores that sell Braille watches so finding a shop which would repair the watch would be a strenuous task in itself. How the technology meets their social needs The Braille watch is pretty hand when it comes to Mr Aziz’s social needs. As the Aziz family is quite lazy, Mr Aziz relies on his watch to wake up in the morning and to wake up his fellow family members for both work and school. As was said before Mr Aziz is over a very cheery man, he does not allow his sight to bring him down in life, this is why he has many friends in his local area, the element of kindness and happiness is very strong in the heart of Mr Aziz, so attracts the friendship of many of his peers. The Braille watch allows him to keep up to track with his friends on a daily basis. Another branch of Mohammed’s daily routine consists of him going to one of his neighbours house daily to discuss topics such as football and their married lives, however Mohammed must wait until 10:15 every day to attend his friends home as he must wait for the children to be sent to school and the missus to go to work, this is where the Braille watch comes in, it allows Mohammed to keep track of the right time him to make his daily visit to his acquaintances’ home. Everyday Mohammed rings his home town of Afghanistan to check on his brothers, sisters and parents and see how their lives are going. The time zones however are very different in these two regions of the world, so Mohammed has to use his watch to know the right time, so he does not call at an inconvenient time when his parents are sleeping. His wife is not able to help him with this as well as she works a very tight shift to try support her family (however she does not do it very well, working as a shop assistant on minimum wage makes it very difficult) so she does not have the time to call Mohammed and tell him the time in Kabul, this is why the Braille watch is very vital in his social life. Moreover, everyday at lunchtime Mr Aziz goes to his local school, Wembley Manor Primary School and recites compositions on his piano for children during their lunch break, as part of a good citizenship programme he set up a year ago. The Braille watch is very important as he only plays the piano during the children’s lunch time which only lasts 1 hour, so Mr Aziz cannot be late, obviously there will be no penalty for coming late to this job, as it is all voluntary work, however the children enjoy his piano playing very much and would be terribly disappointed if he did not make a session, this is why Mr Aziz needs to hold on to his Braille watch and know the right time to get to the school. As was said before, if the watch does in fact get ruined or needs repairing, then on top of trying to find a store that restores Braille watches, he would need to get one of his friends or wife to escort him to the store, as he cannot see himself, this may bother his friends if they are busy and do not have time to take him. How the technology meets their needs in employment Mohammed Aziz is a composer and composes melodies for himself and for retail; she can make a living, although at the time being he has not been selling much. Mohammed needs to be able to have certain times of the day where he dedicates it to his music, so as not neglect his music, this is where the Braille watch fits in, Mr Aziz sets it on reminder everyday at 9pm so it rings and reminds him that he needs to finish his composing, this may be done without the use of his watch, by his wife reminding him if he forgets, however his wife is not at home at all times, she sometimes goes over to her neighbours house for their book club, and Mr Aziz forgets also at times so using the Braille watch is the most efficient way to remind him of the tasks he needs to do. I think that even though the Braille watch does an adequate job in helping Mohammed keep up with his work schedule by reminding him of the time he needs write his compositions, there may be a better technology such as a handheld PC with Braille keys that could assist him around the day. This however is very pricey and probably not in Mr Aziz’s price range, so must be reconsidered, also if it is bought, the issue of thieves must also be thought, a Handheld PC specially made for blind people is very pricey and if a thief is to take advantage of Mr Aziz’s disability and rob him of his Handheld PC, then the financial implications should be thought about, does Mr Aziz have enough money to replace something so expensive, will it impact his family financially leaving them in debt? These are just some questions that would be thought of when buying something so expensive for Mr Aziz. If the watch breaks down before Mohammed is due to go to work (his voluntary work) then he may not be aware of the time and miss his normal music session at Wembley Manor, upsetting the children because they did not see their favourite musician playing during their lunch hour. Technology 2 Braille Notetaker The Iris kb line offers portable and compact personal data assistants equipped with Braille keyboards and refreshable Braille displays of 20 or 40 cells. This line is part of a range of new generation Braille devices by Euro Braille. These devices incorporate a broad range of applications and are available with either a 128 MB internal storage capacity 256 MB capacity. The series of four keys on both sides of the keyboard, used for navigation, have been placed as closely as possible to the keyboard to minimise hand movements. This helps achieve a more ergonomic design aimed at reducing your risk of repetitive motion injuries. Spreadsheet applications allow you to work with data and formulas in cells that are identified by line and column, Calculator applications allow you to make basic calculations, File Explorer application facilitate handling files and folders in a tree structure, Calendar application pages to organise your appointments and tasks, Contacts pages to easily store and retrieve all your contact information when you need it and more. Advantages o Braille Display with 20 or 40 characters o QWERTY Keyboard o 8-Key command keyboard o Lithium-ion battery for fast recharge: 10 hours of autonomy o Serial port for PC connection; Parallel port for Braille and black printing o VGA port to visualise iris documents on a computer monitor o RJ45 port for connection to Ethernet network RJ11 port for connection to a telephone network o 2 USB ports (type A) Loudspeaker + Audio – in (microphone) and Audio-out (headphones) o 12V supply o It is very light 1,7 kg o Dimensions: 24 cm x 20 cm x 3,8 cm o 12-volt main charger o it is like an computer with everything like USB reader/writer that is WinCE compatible (Floppy disk, memory, USB Key, etc) o Disadvantages o Cost’s to much = à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3,382 o slow writing o The charge run out quickly o It takes lots of time to charge up How the technology meets their personal needs The Braille note taker meets Mohammed’s personal needs adequately as it allows him to make notes and write his compositions, this is especially good as Mohammed is not able to write his compositions with a pen and paper as he is blind, so he needs an alternative method which is user friendly to the visually impaired, hence the note taker. The note taker is also very light which allows Mohammed to keep it in his pocket without weighing him down, or sticking out of his pockets bringing any unnecessary attention for muggers or anyone with the intention to steal the note taker. Furthermore the note taker is actually very expensive, with a price ranging over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3000 it is no way in Mohammed’s budget, however if he does receive one some way, perhaps from the government free of charge, to help his disability, then the small size will matter as it does not attract unwanted attention. The Note taker also meets Mr Aziz’s personal needs as it has a 128mb or 258mb internal hard drive, which will allow him to store his music on. As Mohammed is a musician he has a strong passion for music, so being able to listen to his music frequently will bring great joy to him. The note taker will also allow Mr Aziz to keep a track of all special occasions through the use of the built in calendar that comes with most note taker, now Mr Aziz will never forget any special occasions or important dates. How the technology meets their social needs The Braille note taker is quite good in terms of Mr Aziz’s personal needs. The note taker allows Mr Aziz to keep in constant contact with his friends who travel regularly, due to their jobs. The note taker allows him to do this by letting him send and receive emails. The note taker also allows Mohammed to exchange music with his friends via USB, this is a great advantage as he does not have to go out and buy the songs to listen to them, he can just get them off his friends if they have the songs on their PCs. As I said before, Mohammed’s friends travel a lot due to demanding jobs, sometimes they are allowed to take a guest with them to the different locations of the world that they must go, so to feel Mohammed feel better about his eyes, they take him with them as their guests. However sometimes during their travels they sometimes get lost as they are in a foreign country and do not know their way around, this is where the note taker comes in, Mohammed can go on a website such as Google maps to then find the route to their destination. If unfortunately Mr Aziz’s note taker was to be accidently damaged, lost or stolen, this could bring problems for not only himself but for his friends also. As Mr Aziz does not make a lot of money in his profession, he may need rely on his friends financially to fund for another note taker, or for the repair to his current note taker, this may be awkward for his friends as they must help him as they are his friends, but at the same time need the money so are then in a moral dilemma, to help their blind friend, or to keep the money and use it for themselves. This could also resolve in disputes amongst the friends if some help out Mohammed and others don’t, some of the friends get be angered as to why they did not help him out. How the technology meets their needs in employment The Braille note taker helps Mr Aziz in his profession, as it allows him to message his record manager to tell him when his new compositions are ready; it also allows him to receive messages from his record manager to know times of important meetings, and times for his studio recordings. The note take also helps him in his work as it allows him to write his compositions, which needs to sell and make his living, without the compositions there would be no way for his music to succeed. Again the problem arises that if he loses the note taker, or it gets stolen, then he would have a very big problem on his hands, for one it would cost a lot of money to either replace the note taker (money which he does not have) or repair, but the other great problem would be that all of his appointment times and record dates would be gone, not only that but also all of Mr Aziz’s compositions are saved on his note taker, so if he loses it then his songs would be lost as well, making him working as a musician obsolete as he does not have the tools for his success, his songs. Technology 3 Talking Typer for Windows Computer keyboarding and typing training software that speaks and displays lessons on screen. Includes drills, practice, and typing games. Adjustable to the student’s level of skill and sight impairment. Recommended ages: 6 and older. Built from the ground up with blind and visually impaired students in mind, Talking Typing Teacher features digitized human speech, which is used everywhere in the program. This means that whether you’re navigating menus, changing options, managing dozens of student accounts, or visiting the Help Desk, you’ll enjoy listening to Eager Eddie read the screen. What makes TTT so special, however, is that each and every typing lesson or practice session is read aloud with clear, concise pre-recorded dialog. Put quite simply, you won’t need to worry about trying to understand synthetic speech when you’re learning to type with TTT. The only thing Text-To-Speech is really used for is to read your name and play back text you type into Workbook, a fully-functional talking word processor that ships with Talking Typing Teacher. Advantages o Built-in human speech (in the form MarvelTalk) that narrates the entire program o Complete interaction with both sound and full-colour animations o Detailed lesson curriculum designed with three levels of instruction o Full support for multiple student use. This means that you can have more than one student set up with the program, and TTT will pull up each student’s record when he or she logs in. o Three levels of instruction that not only change the number of keys that are taught, but also how the instructions are worded and presented o Lessons that teach and reinforce typing, with careful emphasis on posture and correct typing habits o Lessons consisting of spoken and displayed instructions, practice drills, and final reminders o CD-ROM Drive o Intel Pentium @400 MHz Equivalent or Higher o Keyboard o Sound Card o 96MB RAM Disadvantages o Very old How the technology meets their personal needs This meets Mohammed’s needs very well, as he is blind and needs to write using the Braille keyboard, it wastes a lot of time, however with the help of the talking typer Mohammed is able to quickly and efficiently type things on applications such as Microsoft word, all he has to do is say the sentence and the talking typer will automatically type the sentence out for him. It also helps Mr Aziz because as he is blind, he cannot navigate the mouse around the PC to find certain applications he is looking for, however with the help of the talking typer he can quickly and easily open applications by saying a couple of simple words, such as â€Å"open Microsoft Word† and then the application will be opened. The technology is very good for Mohammed Aziz as now he may be able to use the PC without the help of others, as he does not now need to rely on others for help, it now makes Mr Aziz feel happy about himself and not so useless and at a disadvantage due to his disability (even though he is, no one wishes to feel like they are worthless). The talking typer however does have a few faults to it, firstly it is a needs the hardware to operate, a microphone. This is a disadvantage as microphones can be easily broken due to their small flimsy fatigues; additionally it is much easier to be broken by a blind man as he cannot not see what he is doing. Furthermore the there are a very vast variety of applications and documents which exist in PCs, it is very hard for Mr Aziz to remember the names of all of these applications so that he can open them through voice commands, this is the extent which the technology meets his needs. How the technology meets their social needs The talking typer is fulfils his social needs to a great extent. As Mr Aziz is quite a popular guy thanks to his cheery attitude, he has plenty of friends, and likes to regularly socialise with them. He does this by meeting up with them, speaking to them on the phone, and emailing them or talking to them through an instant messaging service such as MSN Messenger. The talking typer allows him to make quick responses through the email service by just quickly saying everything that he wishes to be in his email, whereas before he had to wait for his wife to come home and type it all out for him (as he does not like using the Braille keyboard, it inflicts a slight pain in his fingers keeping them in the same positions typing constantly) Mr Aziz also uses the internet to buy clothes and his shopping through websites such as www.Asda.co.uk and www.Littlewoods.co.uk. With the help of the talking typer he can quickly order the goods through voice commands. How the technology meets their needs in employment The Talking typer does not help Mr Aziz is his profession very much. This is because he does not need to use the PC in his profession, and even if he does he may use his note taker instead, it is much more compact and can be used at any time or place, when he is inspired for a song he can quickly note down the ideas he has for his song rather than going home, wasting time and losing his inspiration. The talking typer is however good in some ways, it allows Mr Aziz to quickly memorise his lyrics, by inputting his lyrics through the talking typer he can then make the computer reply the lyrics and listen and memorise the words. Overall I do not think that there could be a better technology than the talking typer, perhaps a technology that connects directly to your mind and allows you to see computer images in your mind, would really benefit blind people, as it gives them the opportunity to actually see and use the computer efficiently, however this sort of technology has not yet been invented, but could be the hope for the future for the visually impaired. How to cite ICT Meeting Special Needs, Papers

Evaluation of Current IHRM Practices for Amazon Free-Samples

Question: Discuss about the an Evaluation of the Current IHRM Policies and Practices. Answer: Introduction There was a time HRM (Human Resource Management) was considered as a support function in the organization. With time HRM has emerged as a critical function. The emphasis on HRM has further increased as the organizations have started to expand in the international market. In todays competitive business world, companies are largely seeking for ways to secure their competitive position as most of the rivals easily copy competitive advantages (i.e. low cost or differentiation) within a very short period of time. Having identified this, most of the firms focus on developing sustainable HR strategies, which can be hardly replicated by industry competition. For most of the firms, human capital has been the critical success factor, which helped them to reach greater heights. Google, Facebook, Microsoft etc. provide fine examples within this context. Thus, spending on employee recruitment and development should be considered as an investment, which accelerate business growth and sustainabilit y (Bansal, 2015). When it comes to recruitment, there are different strategies followed by different firms and these are highly context dependent. Firms need to consider the nature of the business, type of the vacancy, recruitment costs, quality of the expected recruits, relative importance of the vacant position, etc. before taking any recruitment decisions. With the difficulty in the recruitment process in international environment and the difficulty to manage the resources in global environment, there has been a push to the concept of international human resource management. By definition, international Human resource management is the process of procuring allocating and effectively utilizing the human resources in a multinational corporation (Conway Monks, 2017). The objective of this paper is to discuss the concept of International Human Resource Management for Amazon Inc. The paper would discuss the two IHRM concepts of international recruitment and performance management. A brief organizational background can be discussed as: Organizational background Amazon is a known brand of e-commerce in different companies. It is a multinational company that operates in different parts of the world. The company has close to 3,41,000 employees. These employees are spread over more than 100 countries. This scale in itself speaks about the importance of international human resource management for Amazon. The management of Amazon believes that Employees are the most valuable resource in a business and they should be recruited with a great responsibility using well-streamlined and globally accepted procedures (Podsiadlowski Groschke, 2013). Blindly benchmarking competitor recruitment strategies can be detrimental for the growth of the business as organizational culture can be significantly different among firms. Thus, recruitment strategies followed by competitors may work within their organizational climate, but can generate poor results if you used by some other firms. The paper would analyze the international recruitment strategy and performan ce management system for Amazon. It is important to mention that Amazon has a strong human resource management system in place. The evaluation of current international human resource management practices of Amazon can be discussed as: Evaluation of current IHRM practices for Amazon Nowadays, recruitment is the first process, which makes the relationship with employers and employees in the company, and it helps organizations to understand candidates and give them training in specific time to achieve the goal. The biggest issue of workforce composition for Amazon is cultural challenges. It is not easy for new generation workers to work with the people from different culture. The leaders and management of Amazon realizes the importance of human resource management function. The company has a central HRM team that manages the local HR operations across its various locations. The two key functions of international human resource management of Amazon can be discussed as: International recruitment If organizations follow the same dull recruitment process chances are that they might not be able to attract the right candidates. For example, there could be many talented candidates in other firms who are happy with their jobs and may not even look at job adverts published on various recruitment sites. The management of Amazon has realized that they need to draft the job descriptions and specifications appropriately in order to identify theright capabilitiesand recruit the right fit to achieve their ultimate objectives. However, it need to keep in mind that the potential employees are a resource to Amazon and the company can grasp the most out of them to achieve higher revenue and profits. Thus, Amazon need to change the traditional methods of shortlisting candidates based on resumes only and takes a different approach other than job adverts to attracting the talent in the market. Alternatively, for the senior positions, Amazon can look at internal recruitment as evidence shows it is less costly to retain employees rather than recruit externally. Plus the existing employees are well aware of Amazons culture and work practices, which mean the company, can save time and cost on training (Deadrick Stone, 2015). As the company grown, Amazon has more focused on cost competitiveness. There is a shortage of qualified engineers in the e-commerce industry. Every engineer needs skills and competencies to do work in Amazon. Job description for each vacancy has four parameters such as skills, knowledge, behaviors and expectations. The internal recruitment process would have more attention on the practicality of the candidate. It must focused on evidence-based. Performance Management Arguinis (2013) defines the process of performance management as the encouraging relationship between a trainer/coach/tutor and an employee, working jointly with the aim of achieving optimal performance. The performance management process can be used to communicate the objectives and goals of an organization, to reiterate the accountability of the employees to meeting these goals and to evaluate and track the performance of the employees and organization as a whole. It portrays the relationship in which the team leader or manager avails employees with the opportunity to contribute to the organization. Performance management process is a well-defined process for managing employees, which results to success for the employees and the organization as well (Cadwell, 2000). As effective as the process of performance management is, it also has some of its limitations/challenges it encounters. One of the challenges that can be encountered is having a wrong design (Cadwell, 2000). The performance management system and process has to align with the specific needs of the organization in order to plan effectively. There ought to be a consultation between the stakeholders (employees and managers) of how the processes will be executed. The management of Amazon believes in one on one and personal interaction to measure the performance of employees. There are clear tensions between trying to use one interview to make decisions on reward whilst also trying to identify areas of weakness. This is of course because employees are very unlikely to have an open conversation about their weaknesses when they are anxious to highlight their strengths to pursue a bigger bonus. Roberts, (2002) contends that participating employee in performance appraisal can enhance work-related independent, an essential prerequisite for employee growth. Intrinsic motivational approaches have evidently maintained communication trust and confidence in employees performance. One of the key aspects of performance management system for Amazon is documentation. Regarding this, Latham (2014) explain that employee performance problems are often caused by failings and shortcomings by the manager which (i) do not strictly follow the procedure; (ii) do not provide proper orientation and training to the employee; and (iii) left the employees to resolve work related issues alone or with teammates guidance. For this particular case of a dismissal based on a performance problem, documentation would include copies of counseling sessions and other discussions as well as copies of any performance improvement plans and subsequent follow-up activities (Pudelko Reiche, 2015). As stated by Pudelko Reiche (2015),"if it is not documented, it never happened". What is observed nowadays is many shortcuts are being done; other contexts rationalize the use of e-mails as source of documentation. However, there are sensitive views about the excessive documentation and email excha nge which can also be viewed as intimidation for the employees as it would be used as a fact in the future. The documentation of the performance review and assessment can provide the managers with a tool to remember the important positive and negative feedback and use it for administration decision such as salary increment, bonus, incentives, training and development, promotion, dismissal and corrective action. Documentation of performance review can save organization thousands of dollars and headaches when it comes to disciplining employees (Lyster and Arthur, 2007). The effectiveness that Amazon has experienced through Performance Management derives in the approach as a result of interactions not limited to process steps but instead is ongoing. Before the change, employees reported that the PMS was disconnected to their daily work, that feedback was rather seen as a must-do and that the whole PM was seen as an administrative drill. One year after the change 85% reported that there were continuous discussions between employees and managers and that useful feedback was provided when it was helpful. It might be a good idea to overthink the concept of PM as a process and see it rather see it an attitude that must be implemented in corporate life. Conclusion The above paper discusses the international human resource management function for Amazon. The paper discusses the functions of international recruitment and performance management for Amazon. Generally, in business, production and marketing are considered as the primary business functions and HR is just a supportive function. In the presence of a great leadership, HR is just common sense and if rightly monitored, any firm could generate excellent results with their workforce. When the companies grow in size, a formal HR department should be there to facilitate administrative procedures, but HR has a lesser strategic relevance in the business of engineering consultancy, as it does not directly contribute for the profitability of the business or ROI. Having identified this, all costs associated to HR should be carefully decided and competitor benchmarking is a great way of doing that. Benchmarking the recruitment strategies used by key competitors will deliberately reduce the risk of attracting wrong candidates and it will reduce the recruitment costs in a great deal. If we want to try some different recruitment strategies, it has to be well justified and theres a huge risk involved, as no one has ever tried that before. The key recommendation for Amazon is that Recruitment process should be non-identical so as to segregate our organisation from others. As a result, this recruiting process may become useful for all and can achieve satisfactory level with ethics and norms. This is how recruiting process should be owned at Amazon. It can be said that it is not a sensible method to follow our competitors approaches in recruitment. When we look at the growth of Amazon and the numbers, we forget sometimes, that the important factor behind those numbers are the employees, the employees work hard to achieve these numbers and the success of our company will depend on how we look at recruitment. It is also recommended that Amazon should also have strong strategy in place for change management. The industry is a dynamic industry and the focus on change management would help Amazon to have a tight control over its human resource management strategies References Aguinis, H. (2013).Performance management. 3rdEdition. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall. Bansal, A.A., 2015. 21st Century Workforce: Challenges for human resource.International Journal of Research in IT and Management,5(6), pp.30-35. Conway, E. and Monks, K., 2017. Designing a HR System for Managing an Age-Diverse Workforce: Challenges and Opportunities. InThe Palgrave Handbook of Age Diversity and Work(pp. 585-606). Palgrave Macmillan UK. Cadwell, C. (2000).Performance management. New York: American Management Association. Lyster, S. and Arthur, A. (2007)199 Pre-written Employee Performance Appraisals: The Complete Guide to Successful Employee Evaluations and Documentation?: with Companion CD-ROM. Atlantic Publishing Company. Available at: https://books.google.com/books?id=MCERIRkajXUCpgis=1 (Accessed: 25th April 2015). Latham, J.R., 2014. Leadership for quality and innovation: Challenges, theories, and a framework for future research.Quality Management Journal, 21 (1),5. Podsiadlowski, A., Groschke, D., Kogler, M., Springer, C. and Van Der Zee, K., 2013. Managing a culturally diverse workforce: Diversity perspectives in organizations.International Journal of Intercultural Relations,37(2), pp.159-175. Pudelko, M., Reiche, B.S. and Carr, C., 2015. Recent developments and emerging challenges in international human resource management. Roberts, G.E.(2002)Employee Performance Appraisal System Participation: A Technique That Works,Public Personnel Management.Vol.31 (3), pp.333-342. Stone, D.L. and Deadrick, D.L., 2015. Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management.Human Resource Management Review,25(2), pp.139-145.