Worldview God Ultimate Reality Knowledge Religion Essay

Worldview God Ultimate Reality Knowledge Religion Essay Believers coming from their respective faiths are so diverse whether some share the same religion or if they are in completely different religions. For this reason, there is a great importance for believers to understand that everyone has a worldview. A worldview is considered to be a set of assumptions about reality, generally unconsciously held, that can affect how we think and how we live (Cosgrove, 2006, p. 24-25). The set of assumptions are important beliefs that depend highly on the person who perceives a worldview. With this in mind, theology, ultimate reality, and knowledge are important beliefs that are most critical to the formation of my worldview. As a Catholic, theology takes a similar importance and influence of my beliefs with Christianity. In fact, the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is what as a Catholic I strongly rely on. As the father, He is the creator of everything. The second branch of the Trinity characterizes Him as the son. God lived as Jesus. His mother was destined to be Mary. Jesus was then created through the Holy Spirit, which is the final part of the Trinity. When Jesus faced Resurrection, he remained on earth for a few days and later went up to heaven (BBC, 2009). He promised all of his followers that his Spirit would guide them forever. The presence of Jesus provides me enough physical evidence to assume that he was God at the same time. Furthermore, Gods character can be best viewed according to His personality traits. First of all, He is knowable (Who is God, n.d.). God opens His heart and doors to us. We can know Him in a confidential way. He is approachable (Who is God, n.d.). God invites us to communicate with Him. He is the best listener whenever we feel anything that is troubling us. God is creative (Who is God, n.d.). We are able to use the previous materials that He has left for us to resolve our own problems. God is forgiving (Who is God, n.d.). He punishes those who sin; however, He is willing to forgive us if we go back and form a relationship with Him. God is honest (Who is God, n.d.). Anything God says will be efficient and said with honesty. The difference between humanity and God is that He is always honest. We can take His word to all the promises He makes to us. Also, God is capable (Who is God, n.d.). He is capable to understand us under any condition. Ultimate reality is another belief that strongly ties with God and my worldview. God is the ultimate creator of reality.   Humanity understands and recognizes the existence of reality.   The existence of the past is a guide for humanitys present life.   There exists a beginning and an end to humanity when interpreting time.   The bad or sinful actions committed by humanity are considered evil.   Humanity does not possess evil but may decide depending on the actions performed.   There exists good in reality. The supernatural realm equals Gods nature, which is his love (The Supernatural, 2009). According to Gods realm, He is interacting and preparing us until the day arrives where we will confront and recognize Him without any barriers. Theology and ultimate reality are two types of beliefs that I strongly depend on, but epistemology is the final belief identifying what I know about God. Through revelation, we are able to recognize God. There are two types of knowledge. They are empirical and absolute knowledge (Valea, 2009). God created everything without evil. Particularly, humanity was created in Gods personal image (Genesis 1:27-28). He created our senses under empirical knowledge to use actual facts from nature. The mind was created to make judgments (Valea, 2009). He gave us the senses to trust in them and the mind to understand the world revolving around us. God made a realistic approach of connecting nature with humans. Absolute knowledge, which is defined as knowing God, is not intended to counteract empirical knowledge, but the intention is to complete it (Valea, 2009). This means a connection with God goes beyond the mind. Without becoming disrupted, the mind functions according with Faith. After all, to be able to have a worldview one must have beliefs according to the persons faith. We are all unique with our own perspective about what major beliefs formulate each of our own worldview. In my case, God, human nature, and epistemology are the three major beliefs that compose my worldview.

Effectiveness Of Online Marketing Tools Marketing Essay

Effectiveness Of Online Marketing Tools Marketing Essay The present research paper is looking into effectiveness of online marketing tools on B2C websites. In this section a background in e-commerce, online marketing and online customers is provided in order to give the reader an introduction. Background nnnnnnnnnnn 1.1.1. E-commerce The development of the information communication technologies has brought changes to the way of doing business and lead to the birth of electronic commerce. Chaffey (2006) defined E-commerce as both financial and informational electronically mediated transactions between an organization and any third party it deals with. By the nature of business transactions, e-commerce can be classified into business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), consumer-to-business (C2B), and intra-organizational e-commerce (Dou Chou 2002). Business to consumer (B2C), the focus of our research, is defined by Chaffey (2006) as, commercial transactions between an organization and consumers. E-commerce transactions have grown significantly during the past years (Grover Teng, 2001) and are expected to continue growing with double-digit annual growth rates (Daniels, Sehgal, Vogel, 2008). According to Mulpura (2008) Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce and online retail sales reached $175 billion in 2007 and are predicted to reach $204 billion in 2008, $235.4 billion in 2009, $267.8 billion in 2010, $301 billion in 2011, and $334.7 billion in 2012. One of the main reasons for the growth of B2C e-commerce is increasing number of internet users (Oppenheim, 2006). 1.1.2. Online Marketing Internet created new ways of doing business for the companies but Internet is not only a place for buyers and sellers to discover product information; it also plays a role of intermediary (Bailey Bakos, 1997). Ab Hamid (2008) states that; The emergence of Internet technology, particularly the World Wide Web, as an electronic medium of commerce offers new opportunities to industries to adopt the Internet as their alternative marketing tools (or as the only marketing channel). There is still no widespread agreement regarding the nomenclature used to describe marketing through internet and terms such as hypermedia marketing, digital marketing, online marketing and e-marketing, have all been used at one time or another (Dholakia, 2005). Online marketing term will be used in our research. Elley and Tilley (2009) described online marketing as promotional activity on the internet, including email that can take many forms, including search engine marketing, email marketing, online advertising, social media, and affiliate marketing. These online marketing tools became one of the important communication tools for the companies to promote services and products in todays economy. Shankar Batra (2009) states, Marketing communications through the online medium are growing rapidly and The role of online marketing communications in the marketing mix is constantly evolving Shankar and (Hollinger, 2007). These views are also motivated by Reedy (2000) and he says online c ommunications tools are started become an important ingredient in the promotional mix and its 1.1.3. Online customers The Internet is no longer a novelty in the minds of todays population as it is the access to it. In fact, the Internet and digital information have taken over many aspects of our lives from communication to information consumption to new ways of doing business. It has reinvented our vocabulary and gave new meanings to words in cyberspace, for example surfing, visitors, hits or navigate (Dobrowolski 2000). These changes in meaning can be discovered as well in the word user; it can mean a surfer or a visitor. Now, in the 21th century, borders represented by gender, occupation and education in using or navigating the Internet and other digital mediums have been sponged away by habit, supported by changes in system technologies. So surfing the Internet, texting a mobile message or reading an online magazine is opened and, in fact, used by elderly, children or unemployed and technologies have become more mobile, real-time and interactive to support those behaviors. (Nicholas and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. 2003) By now, it is a common knowledge that consumers of all ages shop online, but as Silverman (2000) and Seock (2008) point out, college students with ages between 18 and 22 are the hottest market and can be the main customers to generate revenue and growth for online sales. The common trait argued in Seocks (2008) research is that although college students are avid information seekers though the internet, the conversion rate to online buyers is very low, only 4,9 % from general online visitors buy also the products online (Kerner 2005). InternetWorldStats shows that, in 2010, 92,5% of Swedens population was using the Internet, making it one of the most developed Internet and broadband markets in the EU, a so called online nation  [1]  . All members of the age group 15 to 24 year old is using the Internet on a daily basis with an average of 155 minutes online per day  [2]  , but it is only the 3rd biggest age group that is actually shopping online, 72% of Swedish males aged 16 to 24 have purchased online in 2010, whereas 82% of the 25-34 female users have purchased in the last year  [3]  . The trends in connectivity and being online also differ with age group. According to Internetstatistik.se, 15 to 24 year olds are more avid consumer of social media (66%) than e-mail (44%)  [4]  , which just emphasizes even more the need of new insight into what Shop.org names as social commerce. The problem arises into how to blend new social media and other new technologies into an effective online marketing strategy in order to obtain the wanted conversion from online visitors to online customers. What comes after building a Facebook company account, twittering about the new promotion and optimizing your website? 1.1.4. Effectiveness New technologies have changed the ways customers and companies relate to one another and has challenged the traditional process of transactions and the way communications between consumers and companies are managed (Ozuem, Howell and Lancaster, 2008). When evaluating this new technologies, it is important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and new channels as well as, from a managers point of view, translate them into effectiveness (Danaher and Rossiter, 2011). Companies are not using the whole potential of online marketing tools although they perceive them as effective (Teo 2005). However, measuring marketing effectiveness poses numerous challenges due to the multitude of possible metrics for assessing effectiveness (Gray, 2006). Chaffey (2009) translates effectiveness as doing the right thing and from a practical point of view producing the required outputs and outcomes. Kierzkowski, McQuade, Waitman and Zeissler (1996) expresses 5 wanted outcomes from a marketers point of view attract customers, engage customers, retain customers, learn about customers and relate to customers. It is critical for companies to know; how do they attract customers to their website, engage them to turn into paying customers and also retain them to keep returning to your website. Chaffey 2009 states Online communications techniques used to achieve goals of brand awareness, familiarity and favorability and to influence purchase intent by encouraging users of digital media to visit a web site to engage with the brand or product and ultimately to purchase online or offline through traditional media channels such as by phone or in-store. As Teo (2005) has established in his research, effectiveness does not have to translate necessarily only into revenue, but it can be measured in building customer relationships, traffic on the companys website or another outcome that satisfies management. Our research will use the same 5 points outcome from Kierzkowski, McQuade, Waitman and Zeissler (1996) and will explore the different ways customers reach companies via internet. 1.2. Problem Discussion What is the problem? (Borrowed or created) Today, companies realized the potential of e-commerce and most of them already started to make use of this technology. Ã…Â  Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ eulovs and Gaile-Sarkane (2010) state that, E-commerce has now become a key component of many companies in the daily running of their businesses. Thus, the e-marketing component of a companys marketing strategy has grown in importance; Baker (2007) states that, In a short period of time, e-marketing has become a facet of marketing that cannot be ignored. New developments on internet technologies enables new ways of marketing, communication, gathering customer opinions and experiences about products, services and firms, and also allows personalized one-to-one marketing (Li and Bernoff, 2008). Marketers are faced now with two important questions that they have to answer regarding: Which online marketing tools to use for the wanted outcome? Andrews, et al. (2007 cited in Ab. Hamid, 2008) point out that for firms the increased importance of Internet channels can be seen in its contribution to disseminating information, enhancing consumer value, improving consumer satisfaction, loyalty and retention as well as consumer perception which in turn leads to better profitability and expanded market share. How to integrate them in the overall company strategy? Baker (2007) noted that, marketers need to carefully assess the significance of e-marketing and assimilate it, as appropriate, into all aspects of marketing from strategy and planning to marketing research, objectives setting, buyer behavior, marketing communications and the marketing mix. Given that the Internet has not only changed the way companies do business, but as well consumers behavior to shop or to look for information, the matter of effectiveness of online tools arises. Online marketing tools need to be identified well by the companies and marketers should validate the economics of their promotional activities against their effectiveness ( McQuade, S. (1996). In addition, the specific characteristics of the world wide web (traditional barriers of communication are broken, information and competition just at a click away) often result in a question that we will try to answer in this research: Research question: What tools are effective in attracting, retaining and engaging customers? 1.3. Research Problem Questions that are developed from problem Which online tools are customers responding to? How effective is the online marketing tools to attract online customers? How effective is the online marketing tools to engage online customers? How effective is the online marketing tools to retain online customers? Starting from an existing study on digital marketing, we have chosen to apply a similar model into a quantitative research that is questioning students in Sweden about the effectiveness of digital marketing tools. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of online marketing tools of B2C websites in Sweden. 2. Literature Overview This section will present review of relevant literature relating to our research. We will identify the theoretical base on which our study will be built. What to base the study on? 2.1. E-commerce and B2C Digital technology, particularly the internet, has been described as an enabler of a global marketplace, characterised by equal access to information about products, prices, and distribution (Strauss et al., 2006). According to Chaffey (2009) e-commerce is all electronically mediated transactions between an organization and any third party it deals with. According to this definition non-financial transactions can be considered to be part of e-commerce. Chaffey (2009) Business-to-consumer (B2C) markets have made a significant contribution to the commercial development of the Internet encouraging wide-scale use of computer networks by a diverse and increasingly global range of consumers 2.2. Online Marketing Elley and Tilley (2009) defined online marketing as promotional activity on the internet, including email that can take many forms, including search engine marketing, email marketing, online advertising, social media, and affiliate marketing. McQuade, S. (1996) states that there are several success factors for companies to be able to successful in the online market, these five factors are Attract users. Engage users interest and participation. Retain users and ensure they return to an application. Learn about their preferences. Relate back to them to provide the sort of customized interactions that represent the true value bubble of digital marketing. e-marketing is the strategy that the agency or organization uses the modern communication technical methods to exchange the potential market into reality market. The e-marketing is that we can use internet making continuously services in the every step of products pre-selling, products selling and products after-selling. It runs in the whole process of business operating and includes searching for new customers, services for old customers. 2.2.1. Attracting McQuade (1996) states that the current clutter on the Internet virtually ensures that the build it and they will come model is insufficient to draw consumers, marketers need to actively attract users in the first place. Chaffey (2009+) Before an organization can acquire customers through the content on its site, it must, of course, develop marketing communication strategies to attract visitors to the web site. Reed (2010) states online marketing drives traffic to your site and he also mentions this is probably the single biggest reason for using online marketing. Baker (2009) states that; to bring in the customers, companies must ensure their website is visible to customers thats why companies first priority is to be ensure their website is Search Engine Optimized. Banner and display advertisement is another important marketing tool that generate traffic and increase the views of your website. Social media tools generate traffic to your website and its also very important tool to engage current customers. Baker (2009) states Social media can deliver new customers, but primarily is a terrific tool to communicate and engage current customers. Engagement is driven by good design and good content. The biggest explosion in this area has been the growth of online video to drive the message of business and products across in a dynamic way. A recent survey by Yahoo Pew has shown video can increase e-commerce purchases by up to 40 percent. According to Chaffey (2009) online marketing focus on three main activities; customer acquisition (attracting site visitor), conversion (generating leads and sales), and retention (encouraging the continued use of digital channels). Reed (2010) states online marketing is an important tool and lists why it works for companies: Online marketing drives traffic to your site: This is probably the single biggest reason for using online marketing. Creates new ways to connect with your market: companies will become visible to a new set of prospects. Builds trust: your clients and customers can get to know you through your online presence. Starts a conversation: A two way of dialogue with your customers and prospects is much more effective than a one-way broadcast of your marketing message. Creates value: If you can create a useful resource or interesting content targeted at your niche, they will keep coming back for more. Builds communities and relationships. Online marketing communications defined by Chaffey 2009 as Online communications techniques used to achieve goals of brand awareness, familiarity and favourability and to influence purchase intent by encouraging users of digital media to visit a web site to engage with the brand or product and ultimately to purchase online or offline through traditional media channels such as by phone or in-store. 2.2.2. Engaging 2.2.3. Retaining 2.3. Online Marketing Communications There are several online marketing tools to attract customers and each tool must be chosen and applied carefully by the companies. online marketing tools available for b2c companies Developing the capability to create and maintain an effective online presence through a web site is a key part of Internet marketing. Effective means that the web site and related communications must deliver relevance to its audience, whether this be through news content for a portal, product and service information for a business-to-business site or relevant products and offers for an e-commerce site. At the same time, effective means the web site must deliver results for the company. 2.3.1. Social Media Social media is defined as a group of Internet-based applications such as blogs, social networking sites, content communities, collaborative projects, virtual game worlds and social worlds that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content (Kaplan Haenlein, 2010). The social media marketing connects service providers, companies and corporations with a broad audience of influencers and consumers (Weinberg 2009, 2-3.). Frick (2010) states that, When you share content on social profiles and your network of friends in turn share it as well, the potential for reaching huge numbers of people with little effort and in a small amount of time could be construed as a tangible business transaction, at least in terms of its marketing potential. Increasing usage of social media and networks created new ways of marketing of products and services. According to Black, Harrison et. Al. (2010) the uptake in use of social media tools is currently rising extremely quickly, Facebook now has over 400 million users and Twitter over 50 million. With these high potentials companies realized the importance of social media and social media started to become a new way to reach potential customers. Kaplan (2010) states that each Social Media application usually attracts a certain group of people and firms should be active wherever their customers are present. A research done by Digital Brand Expressions indicates that 78 percent of client companies actively utilizing social media (sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) and only 41 percent of the respondents strategic social media communications plan  [5]  . 2.3.2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) 2.3.3. Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of identifying and fine-tuning elements and keywords of a Website to improve the traffic in order to reach the highest possible visibility from search engines. Hernà ¡ndez et al (2009) states that, SEO tool tries to capture users who are actively looking for information about a product related to the firm, which converts them into potential clients openly expressing their needs. So SEO is the first thing to tick on your list and its worth remembering that 50 percent of all online purchases start with a search. SEO is a great tool to create brand awareness and increase the website visits. Highest ranking in search engines can attract more visitors to the website. According to Evans (2007) more than half of all visitors come from a search engine rather than from a direct link on another web page. 2.3.4. Mobile Marketing Shankar and Balasubramanian (2009) define Mobile marketing as a two- or multi-way communication and promotion of an offer between a firm and its customers using a mobile medium, device, or technology. Marketing through mobile devices can be used to attract new customers or to retain them. Lubbe and Louw (2010) states that, Mobile devices create an opportunity to deliver new services to existing customers and to attract new ones. Shankar et al. (2010) states that is improving the acquisition and enhancing the retention of customers is an important challenge in the mobile marketing context and the retailers need to better understand social networking to attract and retain customers. Mobile marketing is taking off as more consumers are increasingly becoming dependent on their mobile device for their day-to-day needs, including music, voice and data communication, and photography (Shankar and Balasubramanian 2009). 2.3.5. Affiliate Marketing Chaffey (2009) defines affiliate marketing as a commission based arrangement where referring sites (publishers) receive a commission on sales or leads by merchants (retailers or other transactional sites). He also states that Web site traffic can be developed through online partnerships such as affiliate marketing which involves partners being paid commission for each sale or lead. Affiliate marketing programs help firms to increase their reach and acquire other firms customers when the firms agree to refer their customers to the third parties (Akà §ura, 2010). 2.3.6. Display (Banner) Advertising Display ads are paid ad placements using graphical or rich media ad units within a web page to achieve goals of delivering brand awareness, familiarity, favourability and purchase intent. Many ads encourage interactioÄ ±n through prompting the viewer to interact or rollover to play videos, complete an online form or to view more details by clicking through to a site. Chaffey 2009 2.3.7. Permission E-mail marketing A wide variety of e-commerce marketers are using permission-based e-mail communications to notify prospects of promotions and services, acquire new customers, increase sales, and, most importantly, develop and nurture an ongoing dialogue and relationship with their customers. LOrà ©als brand Lancà ´me uses email newsletters to keep in touch with customers and hence strengthen their brand loyalty (Merisavo and Raulas 2004). The consumers exposed to e-mail marketing recommended the brand to their friends. E-mail also activated consumers to visit retail stores, buy the brands products, and visit the brands site on the internet via links. Brand attitudes were also positive among consumers who had received e-mail. The data show that consumers with higher brand loyalty appreciate regular communication from the brand more than the less loyal. From this we conclude that e-mail offers marketers an opportunity to further strengthen the brand loyalty of already loyal customers by keeping in frequent contact with them. 2.3.8. Online PR Subscription and Feed tools. RSS etc. Social Media Membership Dynamic content 2.3.9. Viral Marketing Viral marketing for the real world. Chaffey and Smith (2008) states that Viral marketing harnesses the network effect of the Internet and can be effective in reaching a large number of people rapidly in the same way as a computer virus can affect many machines around the world. With viral techniques, traffic is built either through using e-mail (virtual word-of-mouth) or real-world word-of-mouth to spread the message from one person to the next (Chaffey and Smith, 2008). BLENDTEC CASE STUDY 2.3.10. Permission E- mail Marketing E-mail is most widely used as a prospect conversion and customer retention tool using an opt-in house-list of prospects and customers who have given permission to a company to contact them (Chaffey and Smith, 2008). For example, Lastminute.com has built a house list of over ten million prospects and customers across Europe. 2.3.11. Online PR Maximising favourable mentions of your company, brands, products or web sites on third-party web sites which are likely to be visited by your target audience. (Chaffey, 2006). According to Chaffey (2006) online PR include: Communicating with media (journalists) online: setting up a press-release area on the web site; creating e-mail alerts about news that journalists and other third parties can sign up to; submitting your news stories or releases to online news feeds. Link building: A structured activity to include good quality hyperlinks to your site from relevant sites with a good page rank. Blogs, podcasting and RSS: Web logs or blogs give an easy method of regularly publishing web pages which are best described as online journals, diaries or news or events listings, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is an extension of blogging where blog, news or any type of content is received by subscribers using the systems mentioned above. Podcasts are related to blogs since they can potentially be generated by individuals or organisations to voice an opinion either as audio (typically MP3) or less commonly currently as video. Managing how your brand is presented on third-party sites As part of online PR it is useful to set up monitoring services. It is also necessary to have the resources to deal with negative PR as part of online reputation management. Creating a buzz online viral marketing. member get member 2.4. Online customer This section will present a short story of developments in digital interactive environment with regards to digital user definition and behavior in this environment and will present the new digital player characteristics that is said to be transformed into the Google generation Starting with the term of end-user which was pushed by scholars in the late 1970s to define the persons that would finally benefit from the usage of information, the growing number of users (we refer to tens of millions) in the coming 20 years after that have given birth to the term consumers, as recognition to their new found (economic) powers  [6]  . Nicholas D. and Dobrowolsky T. (2000) argue the over-usage of the term user in reference to the Internet and name it a tired, over-used, cheap and misused word, which provides the information profession with a debased currency. It does not reflect the close and complex engagement that takes place between a person and todays interactive information systems  [7]  . Instead they introduce the term player as a new name for the information consumer and characterize information seeking behavior as interactive, recreational, social and competitive with nuances depending on individual online engagement. According to their following research in 2003, the digital players characteristics are  [8]  : Enormous and unprecedented numbers; we have gotten used to see and speak of website traffic in millions. All powerfull; power given by numbers, by huge choice possibilities and backed-up by governments. Personal characteristics; they cover all age groups, education groups and gender. More then that, the research has revealed that the Internet, initially a male dominated domain, now reflects the gender balance of the general population  [9]  that needs a new demographic profiling in consumer behavior. Huge choice is premonitory (not sure if it is the right word) of the next 2 characteristics: Promiscuous users short attention spans and short visits; Nicholas and Dobrowolski refer to users as bouncers. Online consumers bounce from website to another due to short attention spans, running against homepages they do not like, huge choice of websites, etc. Promiscuous; consumers visit a lot of sites online, but purchase from just a few. (more explanation needed?) Untrusting; all electronic media is two-dimensional and the information provider can be everyone. cited in Seock 2008 Consumers across the age spectrum shop online, but college students aged 18 to 22 have been identified as the Internets hottest market and a prime source of future growth in online sales (Silverman, 2000). College students yearly expenditures reach near $200 billion (as cited in PROMO Xtra, 2003). They are heavy users of the Internet and have more access to this medium than most other population segments (Jasper Lan, 1992; Kim LaRose, 2004; U.S. Department of State, 2002). According to Harris Interactive (2002), 92% of college students own a computer and 93% access the Internet. Their online spending exceeds that of any other demographic group in the U.S. (ODonnell Associates, LLC, 2004). Roemer (2003) noted that U.S. college students online purchases came to $1.4 billion in 2002 following a 17% increase over the previous three years. In this vein, it is important for retailers and consumer educators to better understand college students online shopping behavior. Chaffey (2009), Age can affect levels of access to technology, computer literacy, and eventually, the extent to which individuals use the Internet as part of their shopping routines. Chaffey (2009), At the higher end of the educational spectrum (university and college graduate) the internet is considered as essential if not indispensible. However , the digital divide is persistent and internet access is lower in areas with poorer educational achievement and lower-income schools.d Share of persons who use the Internet at least once a week By age groups 16-74 years of age, shares in percent. Year 2010 Share of persons who ordered goods or services via the Internet during the last twelve months By age groups 16-74 years of age, shares in percent. Year 2010. Orders made for private purposes 2.5. Effectivenes online However, measuring marketing effectiveness poses numerous challenges due to the multitude of possible metrics for assessing effectiveness (Gray, 2006 ). The analysis of advertising channel effectiveness and consumer behavior has emerged as a key concept in the marketing discipline for researchers and practitioners because it bridges consumer behavior and marketing strategy (Woodruff, 1997; Overby et al., 2004). The operational and management processes of e-marketing Online and offline communications techniques for e-commerce There are different marketing communicati

Comparison of Ethiopia and Mali Essay -- essays research papers fc

A Brief Overview of the History of Ethiopia Ethiopia is one of the most unique among African countries for maintaining its freedom from colonial rule, with the short exception of an occupation by the Italians from 1936-1941. A socialist state was established in 1974 with the overthrow of Emperor Selassie, who had been in control since 1930. A junta or group of military officers called the Derg was responsible for the coup. Yet, this corrupt administration has lead only to warfare and wide scale public suffering. In 1991, the junta was finally brought down by a combination of revolutionary forces who called themselves the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front. In 1994, a constitution was drafted and 1995 marked Ethiopia’s first multiparty elections. Recently, a boarder feud with Eritrea, that lasted over 2 years, was ended in December of 2000; yet recent objections by Ethiopia have delayed a final declaration of border. The landlocked country of Ethiopia is located in east Africa, just west of Somalia, and is roughly twice the size of Texas . Ethiopia’s natural resources include platinum, copper, and small reserves of gold. Only .65% of the land is suitable and allotted for permanent crops. Ethiopia is currently facing several environmental concerns including deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, and water shortages due to poor management of water-intensive farming. Ethiopia’s population is in excess of 66 million. Ethiopia is home to numerous ethnic groups, the largest being Oromo, which accounts for 40% of the population. About half of the Ethiopian population is Muslim, with the majority of the other half practicing Ethiopian Orthodox. Ethiopia’s government is a federal republic which grants its citizens voting rights at 18 years of age. Currently, Ethiopia faces the problem of attempting to control the illicit drugs that come through the country, as it acts as a hub for the transportation of heroin and cocaine. A Brief Overview of the History of Mali Mali became a French colony in 1904 and was renamed French Sudan. In June of 1960, it gained its’ independence and became known as the Sudanese Republic. The Sudanese Republic associated with the Republic of Senegal under one federation. In August of 1960, Senegal broke off connections with the federation, and the Sudanese Republic changed its name to The Republic of Mali.... ... use their homes as collateral for startup capital to create businesses or invest, promoting economic expansion. It was also interesting to read about the history of each country, and I was surprised when I realized that Ethiopia is one of the oldest independent countries. This report was extremely fascinating and helped me get a better grasp on events outside of the United States. I feel that a worldview is increasingly important in our day and age to help people better understand the problems and solutions in developing nations. Works Cited 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The CIA, http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The formal HDI Report, http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2003/indicator/pdf/hdr03_indicators.pdf 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The European Union, http://europa.eu.int/index_en.htm 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The World Bank, http://poverty.worldbank.org/library/view/8702/ 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.geographia.com/mali 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/mali.htm 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/ethiopia.htm

Technology in A Brave New World Essay -- Brave New World

Technology in A Brave New World Technology is defined as using the entire body of science, methods, and materials to achieve an end. Technology, or techne, is so preoccupied with weather it can, it never considers if it should. In "Of Techne and Episteme," a article on technology and humanities, the author Eddy warns us that a society without epistemological thinking would lead to a society of "skilled barbarians." This is the topic of the novel Brave New World in which Aldous Huxley portrays a future world where babies are manufactured on an assembly line and put into a social class while they are still embryos in a test tube. As children they are engineered to be content with their rank in this world where love, viviparous reproduction, and knowledge of anything beyond your job serves no purpose. A look at Brave New World supports Eddy's beliefs on the importance of humanities in society because of unethical genetic experimentation and the character's lack of individuality.  ...

Surf Lifesaving Memorial

P1 †¢ Surf Life Saving Memorial Task To develop a memorial for the men and women contributing to the surf lifesaving association and culture Analysis of the siteBasic inspirations 1: Rolling swell 2: SLS primary colours3: â€Å"all seeing mentality† 1: Rolling swell 2: SLS primary colours3: â€Å"all seeing mentality† The proposed site is located at main beach and runs parallel to the Southport surf lifesaving club. Site dimensions equate to approximately 30 meters squared (5m by 6m). There are two walking paths positioned parallel to the northern and western borders.There is also a fence on the eastern border and a large pandanus tree just south of the site. The proposed site is located at main beach and runs parallel to the Southport surf lifesaving club. Site dimensions equate to approximately 30 meters squared (5m by 6m). There are two walking paths positioned parallel to the northern and western borders. There is also a fence on the eastern border and a large pandanus tree just south of the site. Design statement My design revolves around an â€Å"all seeing† mentality that is often associated with the SLS culture.Surf lifesavers protect people from the oceans unpredictable qualities and create a sense of security for beach goers. Watchful eyes ensure that nobody enjoying the wonders of a beach has to deal with dangerous or life threatening situations. As I progressed through my design I intended to keep this in mind at all times. The whole structure, excluding the metal support poles, will be constructed out of thick coloured sheets of soda lime glass. This particular type of glass was chosen due to the malleable and durable qualities that it offers.The centre piece will be a hollow and transparent piece of ocean blue glass. The top surface will be glass blown in accordance to the disks at either end of the design and will resemble the motion of rolling swells. All four glass disks will be identical in form but vary between yello w and red in colouration. The colouring of this design was chosen to commemorate surf lifesavers in a literal sense. Red and yellow to match the organizations primary colours and blue like the ocean.However, the symbolic meaning behind this design is far more potent and should evoke a strong feeling of security in those who view and consider the actual meaning of my memorial. The disk at the back will be used to look through and the three disks at the front will create a panoramic outlook onto Southports beachfront. This will metaphorically let people see â€Å"through a surf lifesavers eyes† and should remind observers that they are safe at the hands of lifesavers. Keeping an eye on the beach is a fundamental aspect of SLS and my design symbolically mirrors this important temperament.Plasticine models Figure 1. 1 Figure 1. 2 Figure 1. 3 Figure 1. 4 Design process The plasticene models shown on the previous page are an ordered process of my design. Figure 1. 1 was my initial concept and as you can see it incorperated the idea of an â€Å"all seeing metality† (two cylindrical shapes stemming off of an all seeing eye. ) This concept was discarded due to apprehensions regarding the eye.Although the eye and two viewing cylinders do commemorate surf lifesavers, I came to the conclusion that the design did not symbolically embody surf lifesavers. In Figure 1. 2 I was leaning more towards the idea of the ocean as well as an â€Å"all seeing mentality†. The wave was again a representation of SLS that is too literal. Figure 1. 3 was where my final design started to come together, the concept of an enclosed glass structure started to take form and the intention behind this design was ultimately to give people a view through â€Å"a surf life savers eyes†.By the time I had made my fourth and final model (Figure 1. 4) It can be seen that the shape and form were very similar to my final concept sketches and computer generated proposals. Technic al drawings with dimenentions Figure 2. 1 Figure 2. 1 Figure 2. 1 Figure 3. 2 Figure 3. 2 Figure 3. 1 Figure 3. 1 In figure 2. 1 there is a picture of a human placed next to the front and side projections. This gives us an idea of scale in regards to design size. The proposal is 2000 mm In height and 5000mm in length.From the human scale we can see that the viewing disk at the back of the design will be at eye level for most average heighted people. This is a key design feature considering the whole purpose of the proposal is to let people view the beach through the glass design. Figure 3. 2 is a rendered image taken from the back end of my design, it’s an interesting image in the sense that it actually gives us an idea of what it would look like to look through my proposal, the only difference being that one would see Southports beachfront as a background rather than an autodesk inventor background.Figure 3. 2 is a rendered image taken from the back end of my design, it†™s an interesting image in the sense that it actually gives us an idea of what it would look like to look through my proposal, the only difference being that one would see Southports beachfront as a background rather than an autodesk inventor background. Figure 3. 1 is a rendered image of the front end of my design in a perspective view. Figure 3. 1 is a rendered image of the front end of my design in a perspective view. Figure 3. Figur Development sketches (journal work) Additional rendered images Surf Lifesaving Memorial P1 †¢ Surf Life Saving Memorial Task To develop a memorial for the men and women contributing to the surf lifesaving association and culture Analysis of the siteBasic inspirations 1: Rolling swell 2: SLS primary colours3: â€Å"all seeing mentality† 1: Rolling swell 2: SLS primary colours3: â€Å"all seeing mentality† The proposed site is located at main beach and runs parallel to the Southport surf lifesaving club. Site dimensions equate to approximately 30 meters squared (5m by 6m). There are two walking paths positioned parallel to the northern and western borders.There is also a fence on the eastern border and a large pandanus tree just south of the site. The proposed site is located at main beach and runs parallel to the Southport surf lifesaving club. Site dimensions equate to approximately 30 meters squared (5m by 6m). There are two walking paths positioned parallel to the northern and western borders. There is also a fence on the eastern border and a large pandanus tree just south of the site. Design statement My design revolves around an â€Å"all seeing† mentality that is often associated with the SLS culture.Surf lifesavers protect people from the oceans unpredictable qualities and create a sense of security for beach goers. Watchful eyes ensure that nobody enjoying the wonders of a beach has to deal with dangerous or life threatening situations. As I progressed through my design I intended to keep this in mind at all times. The whole structure, excluding the metal support poles, will be constructed out of thick coloured sheets of soda lime glass. This particular type of glass was chosen due to the malleable and durable qualities that it offers.The centre piece will be a hollow and transparent piece of ocean blue glass. The top surface will be glass blown in accordance to the disks at either end of the design and will resemble the motion of rolling swells. All four glass disks will be identical in form but vary between yello w and red in colouration. The colouring of this design was chosen to commemorate surf lifesavers in a literal sense. Red and yellow to match the organizations primary colours and blue like the ocean.However, the symbolic meaning behind this design is far more potent and should evoke a strong feeling of security in those who view and consider the actual meaning of my memorial. The disk at the back will be used to look through and the three disks at the front will create a panoramic outlook onto Southports beachfront. This will metaphorically let people see â€Å"through a surf lifesavers eyes† and should remind observers that they are safe at the hands of lifesavers. Keeping an eye on the beach is a fundamental aspect of SLS and my design symbolically mirrors this important temperament.Plasticine models Figure 1. 1 Figure 1. 2 Figure 1. 3 Figure 1. 4 Design process The plasticene models shown on the previous page are an ordered process of my design. Figure 1. 1 was my initial concept and as you can see it incorperated the idea of an â€Å"all seeing metality† (two cylindrical shapes stemming off of an all seeing eye. ) This concept was discarded due to apprehensions regarding the eye.Although the eye and two viewing cylinders do commemorate surf lifesavers, I came to the conclusion that the design did not symbolically embody surf lifesavers. In Figure 1. 2 I was leaning more towards the idea of the ocean as well as an â€Å"all seeing mentality†. The wave was again a representation of SLS that is too literal. Figure 1. 3 was where my final design started to come together, the concept of an enclosed glass structure started to take form and the intention behind this design was ultimately to give people a view through â€Å"a surf life savers eyes†.By the time I had made my fourth and final model (Figure 1. 4) It can be seen that the shape and form were very similar to my final concept sketches and computer generated proposals. Technic al drawings with dimenentions Figure 2. 1 Figure 2. 1 Figure 2. 1 Figure 3. 2 Figure 3. 2 Figure 3. 1 Figure 3. 1 In figure 2. 1 there is a picture of a human placed next to the front and side projections. This gives us an idea of scale in regards to design size. The proposal is 2000 mm In height and 5000mm in length.From the human scale we can see that the viewing disk at the back of the design will be at eye level for most average heighted people. This is a key design feature considering the whole purpose of the proposal is to let people view the beach through the glass design. Figure 3. 2 is a rendered image taken from the back end of my design, it’s an interesting image in the sense that it actually gives us an idea of what it would look like to look through my proposal, the only difference being that one would see Southports beachfront as a background rather than an autodesk inventor background.Figure 3. 2 is a rendered image taken from the back end of my design, it†™s an interesting image in the sense that it actually gives us an idea of what it would look like to look through my proposal, the only difference being that one would see Southports beachfront as a background rather than an autodesk inventor background. Figure 3. 1 is a rendered image of the front end of my design in a perspective view. Figure 3. 1 is a rendered image of the front end of my design in a perspective view. Figure 3. Figur Development sketches (journal work) Additional rendered images

J.B Priestly trying to say about society Essay

My task is to explain what J. B Priestly is trying to say about the Capitalist society of 1912. The play is written in 1945 after WWII and set in 1912 before WWII. This is why there is dramatic irony. To do the above task I will have to look at each characters role, what part of the society they represent and whither they learn or don’t learn from their mistakes. In an Inspector Calls the effects of an individuals actions over a passage of time are shown. The audience and, to a certain extent the characters in this play are shown possible projections of their actions which contrast poignantly with their present conditions. Another major theme, which is that of responsibility, both individual and collective, for those actions and their consequences. The plays progression is that of ignorance to knowledge, not only for the audience but also for the characters themselves. Priestly observes the classical unites of time, place and action in his structure: the time span of the play in performance corresponds with the actual time the events presented would take unfold in real time. The style of the play seems at first glance to be that of a straightforward, detective thriller: after the natures of the Birlings Family and their guest Gerald Croft are established, the Inspector arrives with the news of the death by suicide of Eva Smith. As the involvement of each of the members of the family is progressively established, the structure becomes that of a whodunit with the Inspector apparently slowly unravelling the history of Eva Smith. Priestly heightens the audiences suspense by his skilful use of climaxes within the carefully controlled plot and by ensuring the audience is left on tenterhooks at the conclusion of each act. As the involvement of each member of the family becomes clear, and as the inspectors apparent omniscience drives each of them to confession, the play reveals its second stylistic model, that of the morality of the play. The original morality plays, of the late Middle Ages tended to instruct their audiences about the condition of man, caught between the religions need for goodness and the temptations of evil. Priestly in a more modern, secular manner, seems similarly concerned to affect his audience. While it is possible to see each of the Birlings as guilty to various degrees of the seven deadly sins: pride, sloth, gluttony, envy, covetousness, lust and anger, which would have ensured damnation for an earlier, medieval audience of morality of plays. His modern audience, more than familiar with the effects and privations of war, would have been equally receptive to the modern moral, which he intended them to take from the play.

Components of Knowledge Systems

Components of a Knowledge Management System A Knowledge Management System (KMS) refers to either a technology-based or non-technical interconnected group of functions that have behaviour that enables or facilitates either (or a combination of) the discovery, capture, integration, sharing or delivery of the knowledge required by an organisation to meet its objectives. It can comprise a part of a Knowledge Management initiative or strategy to improve the utility of an organisation’s intellectual capital. A knowledge management system is inherently a soft open system. This means that boundaries are permeable and difficult to position.What may be useful to one person in one part of an organisation may be useless to someone else in another department. Any knowledge management initiative must therefore establish clear achievable goals that deliver benefits to the organisation, or a sub-set of the organisation, and take into account user and stakeholder requirements. The key principl e is that it must be useful and solve a problem. A successful knowledge management system is founded on a clear understanding of: ? ? ? ? ? what the organisation considers to be organisational knowledge; what the organisation’s knowledge goals are; here knowledge resides in an organisation, and its form; what knowledge components must be managed; and finally the absolutely central role of people in any system. The essential components of a Knowledge Management System can be seen in the model at Figure 1. Figure 1. Components of a Knowledge Management System The following table describes the components of a KMS. Component Description 1. Strategy A KMS should be part of a strategy that identifies the key needs and issues within the organisation, and provide a framework for addressing these. 1. 1. ProblemA problem or opportunity facing the organisation needs to exist. W hat particular worldview justifies the existence of a KM system? (What point of view makes this system meaning ful? ) 1. 2. Purpose / objective A KMS should have an explicit Knowledge Management objective of some type such as collaboration, sharing good practice or the like. 1. 3. Policy Any KMS should be linked to an organisational policy 1. 4. Governance Any KMS must be managed properly and a governance framework that articulates roles and responsibilities is a necessary part of a KMS. 1. 5. CultureThe culture, values and beliefs of the people within an organisation affects the way in which they may be receptive to a KMS. 1. 6. Risk W hat are the risks within an organisation to the success of a KMS? 2. Actors People are central to any KMS and there are different participants with differing backgrounds and experiences. There are a number of roles to carry out a range of activities involved in an effective KMS. 2. 1. Owner W ho owns the business process and has the authority to abolish this system or change its measures of performance? 2. 2. Source W ho/what currently holds the knowledge and where does it reside? . 3. Clients W ho are the beneficiaries of this particular system? (Who would benefit or suffer from its operations? ) 2. 4. Managers W ho is responsible for implementing this system? (Who would carry out the activities which make this system work? ) 2. 5. Enablers W ho else needs to be involved to make the knowledge system work such as IT administrators or HR support staff 2. 6. Boundary Spanners Those people who connect workgroups in the organisaiton 3. Infrastructure Most KMSs will require some form of infrastructure to enable the system to function. 3. 1. FacilitiesW hat facilities are required to support the KMS function? 3. 2. Equipment W hat equipment is required to enable the KMS to function effectively? 3. 3. Repositories W here will the KMS store any information or knowledge? 3. 4. Instruments There may be a series of instruments, tools or templates required to support the capture, creation and sharing of the corporate knowledge . This might also inc lude directories, taxonomies or ontologies. 3. 5. Software Any software solutions that enable or comprise the KMS 3. 6. Networks The social or electronic networks that enable a KMS . 7. Hardware Is there are requirement for any additional hardware 4. Functionality KMSs are developed to support and enhance knowledge-intensive processes, tasks or projects of e. g. , creation, construction, identification, capturing, acquisition, selection, valuation, organization, linking, structuring, formalization, visualization, transfer, distribution, retention, maintenance, refinement, revision, evolution, accessing, retrieval and last but not least the application of knowledge, also called the knowledge life cycle. 4. 1. LogicA KMS may be based on some underpinning logic or conept 4. 2. Business rules Any system requires business rules to control the operation of the system. 4. 3. Transformation W hat transformation does this system bring about? (What are the inputs and what transformation do th ey go through to become the outputs? ). There should be an transformation mode identified: Socialisation – Transfer / sharing Externalisation – Knowledge capture Combination – Business Intelligence Internalisation – Knowledge Delivery 4. 4. Integration Does the KMS need to integrate with any other system? 4. 5. TailoringA KMS should sense the response of the client to the user of the KMS and preferably be able to adjust the mode, complexity, order and extent of the interaction being experienced by the client. 4. 6. Administration W hat administration is required in order to support the KMS? 4. 7. Reporting W hat reporting is required to support the management of the KMS? 4. 8. Procedures W hat processes need to be documented into procedures to be able to apply appropriate controls and guidance to support the KMS? 4. 9. Content Management W hat content management functionality is required to support the management of the KMS? 5.Delivery 5. 1. Mode Any KMS requires the delivery or facilitation of knowledge or a knowledge management service. Synchronous Technique – Same Time, Same Place Asynchronous Technique (AT) – Different Time, Same Place Distributed Synchronous Collaboration (DSC) – Same Time, Different Place Distributed Asynchronous Collaboration (DAC) – Different Time, Different Place 5. 2. Facilitation A KMS must have an interface where people interact with the system. This could be a facilitator or utilise technology via Visual, Audio or Experiential/tactile modes to facilitate the interaction of the user/client with the system. . 3. Style The effectiveness of a KMS can be enhanced through the adoption of a style that is consistent with the culture of an organisation. Style sends important messages to a client about the KMS. 5. 4. Techniques Delivery of a KMS may require the application of skills and techniques in order to be successful. 5. 5. Access Control A KMS should identify and target clients to enable appropriate personnel and lock out inappropriate personnel. 5. 6. Accessibility A KMS needs to be accessible to people with physical restrictions or a disability 5. 7. PersonalisationA KMS should be able to be personalised to suit the client 6. Content Some KMS will hold content to enable the system to function. 6. 1. Lifespan Content may be static, dynamic or compiled on the fly (mash-up) 6. 2. Authoring The content within a KMS needs to be effectively authored/prepared in a form that is usable to the client 6. 3. Publishing A publishing process and model needs to be in place to authorise and control release of content 6. 4. Validation and referencing of Source Content needs to be obtained from authentic sources and the sources need to be identified and verifiable. 6. 5.Stewardship of the content Ownership/stewardship of the content is important as a management process to ensure the effective delivery and utilisation of the KMS 6. 6. Review and update Any content held by a KMS should be subject to a review and update protocol. 6. 7. Security Any classified content held by a KMS must be adequately protected. 6. 8. Taxonomy Content held by a KMS may need to be sorted into an appropriate structure to enable easy discovery and use. 6. 9. Catalogue Any content held by a KMS may require cataloguing in order to better manage the information. 6. 10. Version ControlAny content held by a KMS should be subject to version control. 6. 11. Disposal Any content held by a KMS that is no longer relevant or valued should be disposed of. 7. Continuous improvement A KMS should be regularly reviewed to ensure that it is meeting the objectives identified in the strategy and requirements. 7. 1. Feedback Feedback on the utility of a KMS is important to identify issues that need to be addressed. 7. 2. Performance management A Performance Management sub-system should include: Indicators, Levels/Measures, a collection process, analysis and reporting. 7. 3. Review and AuditThi rd party review or audit of the effectiveness of a KMS may be appropriate. 7. 4. Benefits Realisation Management of the KMS is required in order to ensure that the benefits are being realised and the organisation is achieving the objectives it set out to meet in the development and implementation of the KMS. References and Further Reading Durant-Law, G. , The Essential Components of a Knowledge Management System | Knowledge Matters. Available at: http://www. durantlaw. info/essential-components-of–knowledgemanagement-system Langton, N & Robbins, S. (2006). Organizational Behaviour (Fourth Canadian Edition).Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Prentice Hall. Maier, R (2007): Knowledge Management Systems: Information And Communication Technologies for Knowledge Management. 3rd edition, Berlin: Springer. Shelley, A, The Organizational Zoo – Resources. Available at: http://www. organizationalzoo. com/resources Snowden, D, Cognitive Edge. Available at: http://www. cognitiveedge. com/b logs/dave/2009/09/defining_km. php Standards Australia, AS 5037-2005 Knowledge management – a guide Tiwana, A. , 1999. Knowledge Management Toolkit, The: Practical Techniques for Building a Knowledge Management System, Pearson Education.