Essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Essays - Essay Example He is able indeed, as Aristotle claimed, to show that â€Å"causes were abstract essences that could be found through logical deduction† (Blair Bolles, 1997: p88). Crito blames himself for not doing more to save his friend, but he is motivated more by what others will think because he has not spent enough money to keep his friend safe. His appeals to Socrates are emotive, and suggest that Socrates should consider his own life as greater than reason and logic. Socrates losing his children and his seeming cowardice are raised by Crito in this attempt at persuasion, while the possibility of leaving, facilitated by Crito’s connections, is highlighted to tempt Socrates. Throughout, the power of the majority to do harm is emphasized, and Crito expects Socrates to be very aware of their power over his own life. As his opening point against this persuasion, Socrates presents the contention that the opinions of the majority in the society are at least secondary to the opinions of the reasonable. Despite Crito’s claim that the majority needs to be considered, since it has most power over the life of Socrates at that moment, Socrates continues to believe that the value of a reasoned and logical decision is greater than the value of a popularly held opinion. He contends that the majority cannot always hold sway as good sense is not determined by the number of the people following a particular way of thinking but rather by the value of the thinking itself: it needs to be reasoned and logical. Socrates then develops this line of reasoning to argue that it is valid to recognize that some opinions have more worth than others. Opinions which favor the good are superior to those that favor the bad. When wise people have opinions, they are necessarily good – foolish people will thus have opinions favoring the bad. He then uses an analogy to strengthen this logic. The

Dealing with an Irritable Child Using the Behaviorist Theory Essay

Dealing with an Irritable Child Using the Behaviorist Theory - Essay Example Hence, Behaviorism is also sometimes called the Stimulus-Response or S-R Theory. Since learning is developed to become a reflex action, Behaviorism largely works under the mechanics of Classical Conditioning. Classical conditioning has fundamental requirements in order to be effective. The first of these is contiguity, which refers to the degree of association between the reinforcer and the behavior that is being aimed at (Klein, 2011). Contiguity plays an important role in conditioning because it is what connects the stimulus and the consequent response that is hoped to achieve (Gordon & Browne, 2010). Next, conditioning will be effective only if there is sufficient frequency at which the behavior is being drawn out. The required response will only become automatic upon application of stimulus if S-R bonds have been established many times before (Klein, 2011). Finally, the required behavior will be achieved by classical conditioning if the proper reinforcement is applied. Reinforcem ent is the mechanism used to increase the chances that the response that preceded it will occur again (Klein, 2011). There are different kinds of reinforcements in terms of their desirability. First, positive reinforcement is a pleasant stimulus that aims to strengthen a response if it is given after the response occurs. For example, offering a child candy for taking out the trash is positive reinforcement. On the other hand, negative reinforcement is the removal of an undesirable stimulus after a response (Gordon & Browne, 2010). For example, excusing a child from household chores because of good grades in school demonstrates a negative reinforcement. Both positive and negative reinforcements fortifies or reinforces the response that preceded the reinforcement. Unlike reinforcements, a punishment decreases the occurrence of a response because of the introduction of an undesirable stimulus following the response (Klein, 2011). It should be noted that the Behaviorist Theory needs to satisfy certain assumptions and implications. Proponents of the Behaviorist Learning Theory believe that human begin as a blank slate, one that needs to be filled with programmed responses to certain stimuli (Gordon & Browne, 2010). In addition, behaviorists have modeled a strongly deterministic theory of learning. However, one should keep in mind that while behaviorist strategies may apply without failure on animals, animal behavior is still very much different from human behavior in terms of thoughts, ideas, emotions, and feelings (O' Boyle, 2006). II. Proponents of the Behaviorist Theory The different proponents of Behaviorist Theory include B. F. Skinner, Ivan Pavlov, and John B. Watson. B. F. Skinner was the most significant contributor to the Behaviorist Theory. He fashioned quantitative and scientific experiments that would prove the premises of Behaviorism (Taylor, 2008). His vast research on operant conditioning is still being widely used today and is considered as a main a uthority in the field. Ivan Pavlov is most notable in the Behaviorist circle for his conditioning experiments. One of his experiments included ringing a bell and accompanying the ringing bell with food powder which made a dog salivate (Lefrancois, 2011). Later on, even without the food powder, the dog would salivate upon hearing the bell ring. John

The Success Of Judaism

The Success Of Judaism Judaism has survived throughout history by being flexible and by admitting foreign influences into its practice. Its success in the 21st century depends on its ability to continue doing this in response to the pressures of modernity. Judaism has endured the challenges imposed upon it, by its ability to preserve deep-rooted traditions of the past. It is through maintaining customs from preceding times that defines the foundations of modern day Jewish practice, be it through observance, prayer or habit. In combination to this, its capacity to be versatile and incorporate outside influence has served to maintain its popularity as a major world faith. In order to continue its future religious success, Judaism must persist upholding the traditions that it stands for. However, in the light of pressures of modernity that arise through social change, including feminism and assimilation it must also incorporate aspects of outside influence to promote its popularity. Judaism has survived through emerging itself as a faith of tradition, including those developed in both Diasporic times as well as the biblical period. It is through the upholding of various forms of tradition that has united the global Jewish population. This is evident within prayer, observance and custom. As revealed through the practice of the Orthodox Jewish population, tradition plays a major part of defining the faith through the close following of Halakah. This is evident within the environment of Orthodox synagogue services; women are prohibited from wearing pants, those who are married must cover their heads and a mekhitzah segregates the seating between men and women. Despite social change that has provided freedom from such restrictions, Orthodox Judaism has held onto these traditions, which have acted in defining it through continuity. If such aspects were removed from the service, it would alienate the Orthodox Jewish community, as it is through such customs that have b een observed throughout generations and therefore characterizes the continuing existence of the religion. It is not solely the Orthodox community that have relied upon tradition as a means to exist. Within all strands of Judaism, tradition has played a major part in the continued existence of the faith. This is evident in relation towards Jewish practice, such as through customs observed during festivals. This includes the performing of the Passover Seder, the eating of Latkes during Chanukah and the maintenance of kashrut. It is through the participation of such traditions that identifies Jewish practice. Judaism has continued to exist through the desire to maintain tradition through historical descent. As Jacob Neusner states, the Judaic religious tradition is shaped by the historical life of the Jewish people therefore indicating how elements of Jewish historical significance have acted in forming and strengthening an attachment to the faith. This is evident when referring to various periods such as the destruction of the second Temple and the Holocaust. The destruction of the Temple led Jews to consolidate their beliefs through the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism and the tragedy of the Holocaust has stood for and continues to stand for an attachment to the faith. Poll after poll of American Jews in the 1990s found that the Holocaust surpassed Israel, Judaism, or any other factor as the basis of the Jewish Identity. Such moments of historical significance represent an increased strength of faith in times of adversity. In combination to the preservation of tradition to explain the survival of the faith, it is also evident that its continuing presence is determined through its ability to subject itself to change through time. This is evident through the emergence of various strands of Judaism that emerged after Jews were emancipated in Europe. As revealed through the surfacing of Reform Judaism with its popularity, in nineteenth century Germany, the religion has survived through its ability to adapt; they encouraged prayer in the local vernacular rather than in Hebrew, a way of diminishing the difference between them and their non-Jewish neighbours. This is an indication that as circumstances and living environments change, Judaism has adapted in order to maintain its popularity as a key religion. As Jews after Haskalah were no longer constricted to the bounds of the shtetlack, and began to interact within mainstream society, it reveals how Judaism was able to accommodate this new lifestyle through encompassing foreign influence. Apart from incorporating German (or other native language) into prayer, aspects include the introduction of a sermon, as well as the use of organ music within the service, both of which derive from Protestant worship. In the environment of the New World, Judaism continued to exist through its ability to incorporate elements of American ideology. With the development of concepts such as the melting pot, putting forward ideas of multiculturalism, America was representing and continues to represent itself as a centre of mixed ethnicity and religion that came to include Judaism; the United States isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a pluralistic society in which Otherness is accepted, if grudgingly at times, and diversity is tolerated and occasionally even celebrated. This is because with the influx of Immigrants that came to form modern America, Judaism provided Jews with an ethnicity to define themselves against immigrants who associated themselves through being Chinese, Italian or other nationality. The American environment therefore promoted its popularity and helped to uphold its existence. It is evident that the environment of America has influenced religious practice, as indicated through change in custom as a r esult of social change in America (and the modern world). While Orthodox Judaism has maintained tradition, and not welcomed much outside influence, the rise of the popularity of the Conservative and Reform movements indicates that social change in America has had an influence upon upholding the faith. This is evident in respect to custom, such as attitudes towards Halakah within these branches of American Judaism. Conservative Judaism, the most popular American branch of Judaism has sought its popularity through incorporating social values accepted by mainstream American society and transferring them into Jewish practice .Halakhah is presented as a historical phenomenon, capable of adjusting to meet changing realities imposed by sociology, economics, politics, science and technology. This is evident by its growing acceptance of womens influence within the synagogue service such as through the acceptance of the ordination of women Rabbis as well as the absence of a mekhitzah within prayer. Similarly, the Reform movement rejects the traditional interpretation of Halakhah and presents it as non-abiding. In practice, this leads traditional aspects of practice non-compulsory such as the abidance of the Jewish dietary laws of kashrut; they believe that the dietary laws are antiquated and serve no practical function and point out that they are a major factor in separating Jews from the rest of their fellowmen This indicates how such non-Orthodox movements introduce new thought into the faith, not derived through traditional means. To an extent, the future of Judaism relies on its ability to remain flexible and accepting of outside influence. This is because, as indicated through the popularity of Conservative and Reform synagogues, Judaism must incorporate customs of modernity to ensure it survival and strength. It is through issues of modernity such as feminism and assimilation that Judaism must respond to and accommodate in order to remain attractive to future generations, whom determine its long term success. As made apparent in Jew Vs Jew, the Conservative movement has permitted women some equality to men, as indicated through the publication of the new Conservative prayer book; The Siddur Sim Shalomà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦now included two versions of the Amidah, without the Matriarchs on page 3a and with them on 3b . It is through such developments as including recognizing women in liturgy, permitting the ordination of Rabbis and authorizing women to wear tallit and kippot that allows Judaism to reflect modernity and remain popular. However, as indicated within this instance, responding to modernity is a continuing process; Jewish feminists, such as Rachel Adler will continue to press for further reform within the traditional service to make Judaism more reflective of secular civil rights. Modernity has led Jews to live within the spheres of the secular world, which while has offered increased opportunity, socially, economically and politically, has led to an increased level of assimilation. As highlighted by Stephen Bloom through his own experience as a Jew within secular America; few of my friends learned Hebrew, few families lit candles at Shabbos dinner and few celebrated the Sabbath, assimilation constituted the diluting of Jewish practice. With the rise of assimilation into mainstream American culture, Judaism must search for new influences and measures in order to secure the future success of the faith. This is because, at present, especially within the environment of Orthodox Judaism, it is increasingly difficult to incorporate Jewish practice within the secular way of living. This is as a result of Halakha which places restrictions over modern life. This includes the prohibition of driving or working during Shabbat, dietary restrictions through the laws of kashrut and attempting to observe Jewish holidays within the calendar of the secular world. At present, such prohibitions prove to be discouraging to Jews who place high value over their secular lives, especially those in the younger generations. As it is these individuals who will determine the future existence and strength of the faith, Judaism must continue being flexible in order to survive. It is through measures as adopted by The Sinai Temple of Los Angeles with its Friday night Live services, which provide young people with a synagogue service reflective of a rock concert, encouraging wide audiences across the city that lies in future popularity of the faith. This is because it is through such methods that Jews, who would otherwise neglect Jewish practice, continue to uphold the faith. To maintain the popularity of Judaism, it has to subject itself to change. However, in doing this, it sacrifices much of the traditions, which to many Jews are definitive of the faith. It is therefore arguable that many of the changes that occur through social change and modernity sacrifice the essence of Judaism. It is due to this that explains why the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox strands of Judaism maintain concepts and practices that in the era of modern times can appear antiquated and sexist. This is indicated in Postville, to which indicates how Hassidic Jews have protected and continue to protect themselves from influence of secular culture in order to uphold the traditions that Judaism holds; to remain pure the Jews would not allow their children to go to Postville public schoolsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Hasidim were loathe to rely on anyone outside their Mispocheh, extended family. As evident through the elite world of Hassidim, it is revealed how Orthodox Judaism has continued and wil l continue to exist through maintaining a traditional life, according to Halakah and upholding the practice of a tight Jewish community. It is of importance to uphold the Jewish tradition in order to prevent assimilation through intermarriage. A 1990 National Jewish Population Survey concluded that an intermarriage rate of 52% existed in the United States, signifying a steady downfall of American Jewry. This is because the increase of intermarriage indicates a more remote chance that Judaism will continue to survive through future generations. In order to ensure the future existence of Judaism, the faith must emphasize the spirit of Jewish tradition through maintaining some aspects of continuity, such as the practice of the Friday night Shabbat meal and holiday observance such as the Passover Seder in order to continue to provide a strong Jewish culture that appears attractive to have the desire to maintain. On one side were Jewsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for whom being Jewish meant keeping our Jewishness subordinate to our being American. On the other side were Orthodox Jews, who retained their religion and the daily practice of it essential to their existence. Ultra-Orthodox Jews largely disassociated themselves from mainstream American culture, which they viewed as a threat to Jewish identity. Judaism has continued and will continue to exist while there is a choice of denominations which will accommodate various needs and lifestyles. It is through the combination of maintaining elements of traditional continuity while incorporating aspects of modernity which leads to a popular faith. Although this suggests that Conservative Judaism stands as future of Jewish existence, it is because there are multiple movements within the faith that permits Judaism to continue to survive. With the differing variations of the Jewish faith, it provides and will continue to provide a choice to the modern Jew that reflects the lifestyle that he or she chooses to adopt. Work Cited Scheindlin, Ray A Short History of the Jewish People Oxford University Press (1998) Robinson, George Essential Judaism Pocket Books (2000) Freedman, Samuel Jew vs. Jew Simon and Schuster (2001) Bloom, Stephen G. Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America Harcourt (2000) Harris, Lis Holy Days, The World of a Hassidic Family Simon and Schuster (1995)

Selling The Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing Essay

Selling The Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing Book Review: Harry Beckwith is the founder of Beckwith Advertising and Marketing. He has worked with four of America’s best 100 service companies, nine Fortune 500 companies, and many smaller business and venture-capitalized start-ups. Beckwith divides the book into eleven main topics and ends it with a â€Å"summing up†. The book mainly talks about what the marketers need to know to sell their services. This book begins with the main problem of service marketing. It then suggests how to learn what you must improve, with examples of techniques that work. Later it talks about the service marketing fundamentals: defining what business you really are in and what people really are buying, positioning your service, understanding prospects and buying behavior, and communicating. Chapters are made in short format, they are intended to convey one point and free of jargon. The author summarizes the point in one sentence in boldface italics. Hints and tips cover the conventional four P’s of marketing, which are product, place, price and promotion, in an irreverent and iconoclastic manner, nothing is sacrosanct. The first part of the book is about how to get started. Here Beckwith emphasizes that the core of service marketing is the service itself. A company needs to make sure that they offer the best service quality before they spend more money on promoting the company. Beckwith says that a company needs to let their customers set the quality standard. Moreover, to stay in the competitive market, it is not enough for a company to just think how to do better in the future. They also have to think different. The services that they offer have to be different from their competitors. Beckwith says: â€Å"Create the possible service; don’t just create what the market needs or wants. Create what it would love.† A company needs to differentiate itself clearly from the other companies. Thus, since more company try to offer a service that meet the customer needs, we need to offer a service that can catch customer’s attention and a service that a customer would love. Part Two is about survey and research. For a company to be able to improve its services is by asking everyone about it, by doing a survey. However, to have a significant result from a survey, ... ...lue to any organization in which business relationships are less then desirable. Everything he suggests combines common sense with a sensitivity to others’ needs and interests. Indeed, almost everyone in almost any organization must constantly be â€Å"selling† various services to others within and beyond that organization. First, they must establish credibility, then trust, and finally obtain agreement to cooperate. Beckwith examines them with in business context however, in process suggest wide and deep implication relevant to all other areas of human experience. What I like about this book is the fact of how this book is being structured. It contains short anecdotes about how other services have effectively marketed themselves. This type of structure makes it easy and interesting to read. The book gave concrete examples of how others succeeded in marketing something that was not a product. The downside of this book is that it does not go into details. Aside from showing how other did it, the author rarely tells how to specifically apply it to your situation. However, in overall, I can say that it was an inspirational read. It gave me a whole new perspective about marketing.

Final Project Essay

Brandt, V., England, W., & Ward, S.. (2011). Virtual Teams. Research Technology Management, 54(6), 62-63 In this article Brandt, England, and Ward define what virtual teams are, they state â€Å"virtual teams are individuals working together who have never met each other in person and probably will not meet face-to-face during the assigned project (Brandt, England, Ward 2011).† The next part of the article is used to define what virtual teams consist of. Virtual teams mainly consist of members from different locations working together on a specific project. Although some members of the team may meet each other at some point, they will never see each other on a frequent basis. In the main body of the article Brandt, England, and Ward give 6 common dimensions of successful virtual teams, they are as follows: 1. Trust-Trust generally develops from a history of interpersonal interactions through which people come to know one another. In virtual teams, trust must be established through other means since team members may have no past experience to draw on and no future to reference (2011). 2. Cultural Differences-Cultural and language differences become magnified in virtual teams because it is much easier to hide errors and problems and make wrong assumptions. Unintended non-inclusive behaviors based on cultural norms can be interpreted as rudeness or intimidation. Fostering cultural understanding breaks down the barriers that can hamper success and leads to more effective virtual teams (2011). 3. Communication-Communication issues for virtual teams include both the tools or technologies for communication and the rules of engagement. Both are critical for virtual team success and what works well for co-located teams is generally not effective for virtual teams. Shared electronic workspaces such as shared websites on an intranet are preferred communication tools for virtual teams (2011). 4. Social Skills-Use caution when assembling virtual teams solely on the basis of people’s expertise and availability. Social skills should be considered as a major prerequisite for good teamwork within the virtual team. If the team is unable to establish a basis for the effective exchange of know-how, performance will suffer (2011). 5. Mission and Goal Clarity-While all teams need clear missions and goals to be effective, virtual teams have more opportunities for diverse assumptions about the team’s mission and goal to take root. Clarity comes from discussion among all team members to reach a common understanding of the team’s deliverables. Another key requirement for the virtual team is the need to highlight the expertise of each member of the team and how that expertise relates to the team’s goals (2011). 6. Rewards and Recognition-Finding appropriate ways to compensate virtual teams with global membership require creativity. The diversity of the individuals on the team along with local rules and regulations makes a common reward for all approach difficult to execute. Incentives for both project and personal performance need to take into account the diversity of the team (2011). While all of these dimensions of virtual teams are important to their success, it is also noted that all virtual teams are not the same. The importance of each dimension can vary from team to team and each separate component should be emphasized more or less depending on the team make up, assigned task, and time permitted. Wally Bock. (2003). Some rules for virtual teams. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 26(3), 43. In this article Wally Bock describes what the best uses for virtual teams are. Virtual teams are best used for problem solving, quality assurance, product development, information sharing, and a variety of other team related activities. Within the concept of virtual teams it is important understand how the team is going to work together to accomplish the activities that are assigned. In today’s modern company virtual teams are interacting in different ways tan with traditional physical teams. Bock lists three ways virtual teams are getting their assigned activities accomplished, and what the company must provide for them to be successful. 1. Meetings-Virtual meetings will be the primary way to handle specific, narrowly focused issues quickly on these types of teams; however, virtual teams that are working on long-term projects will benefit from occasional physical meetings-especially in the early stages of their work (Bock, 2003) 2. Virtual Conferences-These interactive discussions offer an effective way to bring in an expert or to allow one team member to make a presentation to others without having to gather all participants in the same place (2003). 3. E-mail Groups-A team leader or manager can use the grouping, nickname, or list making feature on a company’s email software to increase the effectiveness of a virtual team. This ensures that when any member of the team sends any communication about the project, all of the other members receive it. For most virtual teams email is the primary means of communication (2003). The essence of this article is noting the fact that virtual teams are only going to be effective when technology is involved. When virtual teams first started, there wasn’t much effective meeting technology available, but now there is. New technology allows virtual teams to be on the same page, stay in constant communication with one another, can keep the team organized, increase the ability of each member to make contributions, and can also decrease the expenses associated with physical meetings. Bock also notes that â€Å"using the available technology allows virtual teams to be more innovative, and more successful than their physical counterparts. (2003).† Dobson, Sarah. Canadian HR Reporter. Toronto: Oct 10, 2011. Vol. 24, Issue. 17 In this article Sarah Dobson gives reasons and facts why many companies are increasing their virtual team workforce. In today’s tough economy companies’ are focusing a lot of attention to cost cutting. In a survey conducted by Dobson she found that â€Å"over 50% (56%) of companies are planning on using more virtual teams, as a direct relation to cost cutting (Dobson 2011).† Another reason for the spike in virtual teams is the widespread downsizing that has been seen globally. By hiring workers in less costly markets and managing these new employees as virtual teams, companies have seen a drop across the board in expenses related to labor, travel, real-estate, and taxes. Dobson goes on to talk about the advantages of virtual teams. â€Å"One of the advantages is having the ability to move in quickly and work with people from almost any location, having a broad pool of people to pull from allows a company to get terrific team members no matter where they were located (2011).† The notion of being able to pull employees from any part of the world is one of the key success factors of virtual teams. There are many multinational organizations growing rapidly in emerging markets such as China and Brazil fueling, the abundance of talent, demand for new skill sets, and a more distributed and diverse workforce. Although this article is heavy on the importance and advantages of virtual teams in today modern workplace, Dobson also points out that a virtual team can pose many challenges to other parts of a corporation. As a result of her survey Dobson found â€Å"66% of HR professionals need to do more work with virtual teams with the top three challenges being additional training, communication issues, and time zone or distance issues (2011). HR’s role in building and supporting virtual teams is extensive, this includes selecting the right people, understanding the skills and capabilities required, enabling policies over great distances, and getting separate departments such as IT working together. It’s a balancing act for HR in managing budgets and ensuring the sustainability and growth of their companies, said Dobson (2011). Mancini, Dale J. (2010). Building organizational trust in virtual teams. Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business, 2, 1-5. This article contends that trust is the root of any team’s success and states that cross-cultural understanding and communication play significant roles in building organizational trust. People’s sense of trust is developed between every interaction with each other. Trust cannot be forced into an organization or group. A virtual team, brought together to complete a major task, does not already have a foundation upon which trust already lies and therefore starts its project without established trust. Organizational trust can be hampered by cultural and communication difficulties. When team members originate from different cultures, the cultural differences in communication can create major obstacles that need to be overcome. To help foster communication in a virtual team that consists of members from different cultures there must be knowledge of each member’s national culture, which can help with understanding expected behavior in a variety of situations. If an understanding is not apparent within the team there may be a lot of unintended miscommunication which can derail a project from the start. Mancini notes that â€Å"protocols, appropriateness, mon itoring, and feedback mechanisms must all be dynamically adjusted in this unique communication environment (Mancini, 2010).† Trust is defined as reciprocal faith in others’ intentions and behavior. When dealing with a multitude of cultures in a virtual group it is important to understand that each culture has its own unique characteristics that function as a moral compass guiding the way they meet the challenges of life. Each group member must not judge but understand each of the beliefs of their fellow group members to help establish clear goals, a commitment to open communication, and trust and accept the rules and procedures of the virtual team. Only when all parties involved in the virtual team â€Å"seek not to judge but to understand (2011),† can real success begin. Naish, Richard. (2009, October). Take the virtual lead. E. learning Age. This article talks about being an effective leader in a virtual team. Nash notes a 2001 study among students by Kayworth & Leider that found the most effective leaders demonstrate mentoring skills, understanding for others and empathy (Naish 2009). This is import to note as being a leader in a virtual team requires a different leadership technique than the traditional command and control style utilized in many co-location teams. Leaders must use trust over control in these virtual team environments because in many cases with the team members being in separate locations it will be difficult for a leader to oversee what is going on with the group at all times. The second part of this article is used to define the different stages of trust that develop in a virtual team. Initial trust comes from team members personal characteristics, this type of trust can be re-enforced by team members sharing information about them. Naish notes a 1999 research study that found â€Å"high-performing virtual teams spend up to half their time in the first two weeks exchanging social information (2009).† Over time initial trust can erode in a virtual team, the next phase of trust in a virtual team is cognitive trust which will take the place of the eroding initial trust. Cognitive trust is based on people’s experience with each other. It is a kind of trust that is earned not given. In a virtual team cognitive trust can be earned by prompt replies to emails, sticking to deadlines, attending virtual meeting on time, and following up on all of the promises that are made in a group. Neish concludes his article by giving three tips for being a successful leader on an effective virtual team. â€Å"A leader must develop awareness of similarities and differences in the team members (2009). Virtual leaders need to encourage team members to share information. This allows members to see how similar they are even though they are working far apart. â€Å"A leader must watch out for misunderstandings (2009).† Face-to-face meetings are important at the beginning of the project and at points during; this allows a mutual understanding to develop and allows team members to build relationships with others. â€Å"A leader must give appropriate skills and support (2009).† Virtual leaders need to ensure all team members have essential virtual team skills: self-management, communication skills, and inner-personal awareness. Leaders must also monitor performance, reward team outcomes, and make sure team member have the resources they need to be successful. It is a ba lance of all of these skills that make for an effective virtual leader. Stephen Morris. (2008). How to get real results from virtual teams: Recognize that people, tasks and technology are different but equal. Human Resource Management International Digest, 16(4), 33-35. This article is all about making sure each member of a virtual group has the proper training with the technology used to make a virtual team successful. Stephen Morris first notes that while technology is very important it is not an end all solution to having a functional virtual team. Technology can only work properly when it is put to proper use by the people using it; Morris says â€Å"people who have had no formal telephone or e-mail training can find themselves in a world where they spend hours dealing with the issues of technology and not focusing on the project at hand (Morris 2008).† It is important for group members to have the proper training on the technology they are using to help the virtual team function. In many instances virtual teams are put in pressure situations, in these types of conditions, if a group leader has made the assumption that all members have had proper training the affect can be detrimental to the group. When team members are physical present with one another, especially in high pressure situations, they tend to monitor the impact of communication. In the fast-speed communication of the new digital age, people often transmit communication without taking into consideration the impact it may have. Morris next talks about intent versus impact, his definition of intent is as follows, â€Å"Most virtual teams probably have an urgent need–intent. We are surrounded by technology, feeling under pressure and often isolated. If no thought is applied, off go the e-mails like rockets–we are under pressure to deliver, right? There is little time for small talk here. Telephone calls are to the point. ‘‘They have to understand that I am in a hurry.’’ But if we treat virtual-team members as ‘‘human doings’’ and not ‘‘human beings,’’ they often delay the work flow (2009). The important thing to understand here is even thought technology is driving the work that is being done in a virtual team situation leaders can’t view the people using the technology as technological pieces themselves. A successful virtual leader assures that all participants have the proper training in all of the technology used; they can then balance the people, tasks, and technology usage, and recognize they are all different but not equal. While technology may not be the savior it is thought by some, it is not the demon seen by others, it simply is what it is. The human element brings it to life and defines its use and impact on the world. With a little care it can be turned into the most amazing enabler for co-creation and collaboration. With a very little carelessness, it can create total disconnect.

Noland. Dance Reaserch

The Human Situation on Stage: Merce Cunningham, Theodor Adorno, and the Category of Expression Carrie Noland Dance Research Journal, Volume 42, Number 1, Summer 2010, pp. 46-60 (Article) Published by University of Illinois Press DOI: 10. 1353/drj. 0. 0063 For additional information about this article http://muse. jhu. edu/journals/drj/summary/v042/42. 1. noland. html Access Provided by University of Manchester at 07/08/10 10:18PM GMT Photo 1. Merce Cunningham in his Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three (1952).Photographer: Gerda Peterich. 46 Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 The Human Situation on Stage: Merce Cunningham, Theodor Adorno, and the Category of Expression Carrie Noland here is expression in Cunningham’s choreography? Are the moving bodies on stage expressive? If so, what are they expressing and how does such expression occur? Several of the finest theorists of dance—among them, Susan Leigh Foster, Mark Franko, and Dee Reynolds—have already approached the question of expressivity in the work of Merce Cunningham.Acknowledging the formalism and astringency of his choreography, they nonetheless insist that expression does indeed take place. Foster locates expression in the â€Å"affective significance† as opposed to the â€Å"emotional experience† of movement (1986, 38); Franko finds it in an â€Å"energy source . . . more fundamental than emotion, while just as differentiated† (1995, 80); and Reynolds identifies expression in the dancing subject’s sensorimotor â€Å"faculties† as they are deployed â€Å"fully in the present† (2007, 169). Cunningham himself has defined expression in dance as an intrinsic and inevitable quality of movement, indicating that his search to capture, isolate, and frame this quality is central to his choreographic process. 2 As a critical theorist (rather than a dance historian), I am interested in expression as a more general, or cross-media, c ategory and therefore find the efforts by Cunningham and his critics to define expression differently, to free it from its subservience to the psyche, refreshing, unconventional, and suggestive.I have become increasingly convinced that Cunningham’s practical and theoretical interventions can illuminate more traditional literary and philosophical discourses on the aesthetics of expression and that they have particular resonance when juxtaposed with the approach to expression developed by Theodor Adorno in his Aesthetic Theory of 1970.Similar to Cunningham, Adorno complicates the category of â€Å"expression† by shifting its location from Carrie Noland is the author of Poetry at Stake: Lyric Aesthetics and the Challenge of Technology (Princeton University Press, 1999) and Agency and Embodiment: Performing Gestures/Producing Culture (Harvard University Press, 2009). Her taste for interdisciplinary work has resulted in two collaborative ventures: Diasporic Avant-Gardes: Ex perimental Poetics and Cultural Displacement (Palgrave, 2009), co-edited with Language poet Barrett Watten, and Migrations of Gesture (Minnesota University Press, 2008), co-edited with Sally Ann Ness.She teaches French and comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine, and is an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Anthropology, a fellow of the Critical Theory Institute, and director of Humanities-Arts, an interdisciplinary undergraduate major combining the practice and analysis of art. Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 47 W subjectivity, understood primarily as a psychic phenomenon, to embodiment, understood as a function of locomotion and sensual existence (in Franko’s words, â€Å"something more fundamental than emotion, while just as differentiated† [1995, 80]).Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory, at once rough around the edges and sparkling with insights, is arguably the most important book on aesthetics since Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Judgment (1790) and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s Lectures on Aesthetics (1835), the two works that serve as Adorno’s point of departure. The German-born musician and philosopher advances along the lines established by Kant and Hegel, but he consistently raises questions about art’s function in society. Adorno belonged to a group of early to mid-twentieth-century philosophers who submitted the classical Enlightenment tradition to Marxist critique.Along with Walter Benjamin, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, Georg Lukacs, and Bertolt Brecht, Adorno entertained suspicions with regard to the notion of subjective expression; he wondered if the artistic languages identified as â€Å"expressive† hadn’t become conventionalized to the point where it was necessary to break them down, subject them to permutation, distortion, or â€Å"dissonance† by means of practices he associated with the category of â€Å"construction† (Adorno 19 70/1997, 40–44 and 156).Traditionally, â€Å"expression,† he argued, presupposed a self-identical subject to be expressed; but if the subject were in fact a reification of something far more volatile, responsive, and delicate, if the subject were, as he put it, something closer to the â€Å"shudder† of â€Å"consciousness,† then the nature of â€Å"expression† in artworks would have to be rethought (331).It is not my intention in this essay to conduct a full analysis of Adorno’s theory of expression, nor do I intend to â€Å"apply† Adorno to Cunningham, thereby implying that one is more theoretically sophisticated than the other. Instead, I want to initiate a dynamic engagement between the two in an attempt to discern and highlight what I believe to be an incipient theory of expression that is embedded in Cunningham’s practice and that secretly informs Adorno’s account of modernist aesthetics as well.The theory of expres sion I am referring to is one that is not fully articulated in Adorno’s aesthetics. However, implicit in his debate with the Kantian tradition is an incipient theory of art’s engagement with the sensorium; focusing on art’s attention to and dialogue with the sensory and motor body produces an aesthetics arguably in conflict with the traditional aesthetics of disinterested beauty or the cerebral sublime.This new theory of the aesthetic as implicated in human embodiment can be drawn out most effectively if we read Adorno in conjunction with watching (and learning more about) Cunningham’s dance. Although my concerns are primarily theoretical in nature, I am intrigued by the opportunity to explore how a choreographic and dance practice can go where aesthetic theory has never gone before. Neither the technical, discipline-specific language that Adorno employs, nor the schematic idiom Cunningham prefers, can, in isolation, be made to divulge a persuasive altern ative account of expression.However, when the two are juxtaposed and intertwined, and when practice itself is analyzed as theoretically pertinent, then a new definition of â€Å"expression† begins to emerge. The question that immediately arises when one juxtaposes Cunningham with Adorno is â€Å"Why doesn’t Adorno ever mention dance? † Although, as has been well documented, dancers and choreographers were fellow travelers of the authors and artists Adorno treats, 48 Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 e never discusses a single choreographer during the entire course of Aesthetic Theory. Dance is simply not part of Adorno’s history, his chronological treatment of modern works; nor is dance included in his theory, his speculations on how artworks relate to what they are not (nature, material conditions, the human subject). Dance only makes a few cameo appearances as the putative origin of all art, a mimetic form related to magic and ritual practices ( 1970/1997, 5, 329). For Adorno, as for Walter Benjamin, dance coincides with the emergence of art in the caves; it is the earliest practice whereby humans mime nature and, by miming, interpret, displace, and stylize nature, even as they attempt to become one with it (Benjamin 1986). In their treatments, dance remains stuck in that cave, never entirely modern, because it is more intimately connected to practices related to the organic body and the sensorium. It may be that what is intrinsic to dance, its address to the body, surreptitiously characterizes all the other art forms that putatively emerged out of it. This is a path of inquiry I am currently pursuing. ) For now, it is sufficient to note that dance cum dance—that is, as a tradition of corporeal practice that evolves over time, that has its own schools, and that inspires its own critical discourses—never figures as a subject of study in Aesthetic Theory. The historical trajectory Adorno establishes for art in g eneral—its increasing autonomy and formalism as a result of industrialization and secular â€Å"disenchantment†Ã¢â‚¬â€is neither applied to nor tested in any rigorous way against a concrete example of modernist (or any other kind of ) dance.Thus it could be said that, in the strict sense, Adorno ignores dance. At the very least, he finds no place for it in modernism. While other scholars have not been as blind to dance’s contributions as Adorno, they do have difficulty assimilating it into a standard chronology of twentieth-century art. In Ecstasy and the Demon, Susan Manning sums up the critical consensus: Dance stands in an a-synchronous relation to all other twentieth-century forms of expression.It does not evolve at the rhythm it should, or else the story is more messy than one would like (Manning 1993). For example, we cannot say with any certitude that Graham is to romantic ballet as Beckett is to Baudelaire, or as Schoenberg is to Beethoven, or as Malevi ch is to David. Whereas art, writing, and music all seem to pass through the same moments at roughly the same time—late Romanticism; early modernism; late modernism or postmodernism—choreography appears to lag behind, or follow a different route.A typical rendering is provided by Jill Johnstone, who argues that â€Å"not until Cunningham appeared [in the 1950s] did modern dance catch up with the evolution of visual art traced by Clement Greenberg† (qtd. in Manning 1993, 24). In other words, during the era of cubism, when a constructivist aesthetic was clearly gaining ground in painting, writing, and musical composition, Isadora Duncan was still performing supposedly natural gestures and emoting supposedly lyric passions on the international stage.My goal here is not to figure out whether Cunningham is modern or postmodern, or why twentieth-century choreography evolved the way it did. What I want to think about is whether that a-synchronicity, the messier story o f dance (and its absence from Kantinspired aesthetics), tells us something about the inadequacy of the Greenberg-Adorno model. How might Cunningham’s work shed some light on Aesthetic Theory—its lacunae but also its possibilities? How might Aesthetic Theory—despite its inadequacies—be made to say something of value about dance?Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 49 To approach these areas of questioning intelligently, we must first recall that Adorno treats modernism not simply as a matter of increasing self-reflexivity and formalism but also as a struggle—explicitly—with expression. His chronology of secular art could be encapsulated in the following way (and here comes my speed train version of Aesthetic Theory, which I hope summarizes clearly the vital points of the dialectic): The institutional critique responsible for late impressionist and then cubist rt engenders a suspicion with respect to illusionism; the abandonment of illusi onism then heralds the embrace of expressionism as a kind of anticonventionalism (think of the German art movement of the 1920s, the Neue Sachlichkeit or New Objectivity); the subsequent rejection of psychological narrative and subjective emotion, however, entails a critique of expressionism, which then leads ineluctably to an astringent, objective constructivism (minimalism, permutational procedures, chance operations, and so on). At each moment, expression remains—how could it not? but it is reworked through different forms of critique. For Adorno, the tension between expressionism and constructivism becomes paradigmatic of late modernist art. A close reading of Aesthetic Theory reveals further that for its author, this tension is productive of art itself. The salient points of convergence between Adorno and Cunningham are that they both show a marked preference for construction and they both reject psychological narrative, yet they simultaneously rescue expression as an in evitable component of man-made things.In their respective and utterly idiosyncratic ways of thinking they both manage to re-define expression—and they do so in surprisingly compatible ways (although this may not at first seem to be the case). For Cunningham, no movement performed by the human body can ever be lacking in expressive content, either because the human body always communicates some kind of dynamic or because the audience member maps onto the moving body a personal meaning (see Brown 2007, 53). For Adorno, in contrast, expression in art â€Å"is the antithesis of expressing something† (1970/1997, 112; emphasis added).True expression, he argues, is intransitive; there is no object for the verb â€Å"to express. † As with the verb â€Å"to move,† there is a transitive form: one can â€Å"move furniture† as one can â€Å"express a liquid†Ã¢â‚¬â€say, juice from an orange. But when referring to dance (as opposed to painting), to be an intransitive form of expression means that a body must move and thus express without an external object to be expressed. Put differently, the expressive movement is not trying to illustrate anything (even the music).And here is where Cunningham and Adorno converge: an artistic act can be conceived as antinarrative, apsychological, and yet fully expressive. The dance can move its audience without relying on pathos embedded in plot, or energy framed as categorical emotion. There is no external referent that the body’s movement refers to; it is not expressing more than it is (or, rather, more than it is doing). On this reading, expression is borne by a materiality—the moving body—it can only transcend by losing itself.David Vaughan, Cunningham’s archivist, has defined Cunningham’s project in terms that resonate in this context: â€Å"It goes without saying,† he writes, that Cunningham has not been interested in telling stories or exploring psy chological relationships: the subject matter of his dances is the dance itself. This does 50 Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 not mean that drama is absent, but it is not drama in the sense of narrative— rather, it arises from the intensity of the kinetic and theatrical experience, and the human situation on stage. (1997, 7; emphasis added)By â€Å"intensity of the kinetic and theatrical experience,† Vaughan is probably referring to the audience’s experience; he is alluding to John Martin’s famous theory that we, as spectators, empathize kinesthetically with the dancers (a theory developed by Expressionist dancers of the 1920s, or Ausdruckstanz). (He may also be thinking of Cunningham’s aforementioned claim that members of the audience are free to introduce their own meaning into the performed motions. ) What is more interesting in this passage, however, is the notion of a â€Å"human situation on stage. What, precisely, does Vaughan mean by a â€Å"human situation on stage†? What would a â€Å"human situation† consist of? How could non-narrative dance produce â€Å"drama† and remain expressive? Expressive of what? To illustrate what a â€Å"human situation on stage† might be, how it solicits an intransitive expression, and thus how it illuminates the hidden corners of Adorno’s theory of expression, I want to turn to a particular moment in Cunningham’s development as a choreographer, the period roughly from 1951 to 1956. During these years, Cunningham was just beginning to experiment with the chance procedures he learned from John Cage.The two dances that are most pertinent in this regard are Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three, a fifty-three-minute work first presented in 1951; Suite by Chance (1952–1953); and Solo Suite in Time and Place of 1953, which later became Suite for Five (performed in 1956). The first one, Sixteen Dances, is historic for several reasons: it demonstrated the influence of Hindu aesthetics, which Cage had been exploring since at least 1946, when he first mentions Ananda Coomaraswamy’s The Transformation of Nature (Nicholls 2007, 36).The piece depicts the nine â€Å"permanent† emotions described in the Natyasastra, the sourcebook of Hindu/Sanskrit classical theater. These emotions were, as Cunningham recast them, Anger, Humor, Sorrow, Heroic Valor, the Odious (or disgust), Wonder, Fear, the Erotic, and Tranquility (or Peace). Moreover, Sixteen Dances (accompanied by a composition Cage wrote bearing the same name) contained what might very well be the first dance sequence based on the use of chance operations. 4 Thus, Sixteen Dances, the very choreography in which chance procedures are introduced for the first time, is explicitly about the emotions and their expression.There is some confusion concerning precisely how—and to what extent—Cunningham applied chance procedures to Sixteen Dances. However, his comments in â€Å"A Collaborative Process between Music and Dance† and his rehearsal notes (in the Cunningham archive at Westbeth) indicate that in at least one segment (the interlude after Fear), he used charts and tossed coins to determine the order of the movement sequences (phrases), the time intervals, and the orientations and spatial arrangements of the dancers.In â€Å"A Collaborative Process† he writes The structure for the piece was to have each of the dances involved with a specific emotion followed by an interlude. Although the order was to alternate light and dark, it didn’t seem to matter whether Sorrow or Fear came first, so I tossed a coin. And also in the interlude after Fear, number 14, I used charts of separate Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 51 movements for material for each of the four dancers, and let chance operations decide the continuity. (qtd. in Vaughan 1997, 58; qtd. in Kostelanetz 1998, 140–41).A gain, in â€Å"Two Questions and Five Dances,† Cunningham specifies: â€Å"the individual sequences, and the length of time, and the directions in space of each were discovered by tossing coins. It was the first such experience for me and felt like ‘chaos has come again’ when I worked in it† (qtd. in Vaughan 1997, 59). It is clear that the first dance Cunningham choreographed entirely through the application of chance procedures was Suite by Chance in 1953. Cunningham’s published accounts of Suite by Chance are much more specific with respect to the use of charts and coin tossing than his accounts concerning Sixteen Dances (Cunningham 1968, n. . ; see also Brown 2007, 39; and Charlip qtd. in Vaughan 1997, 62, 70). Carolyn Brown has indicated that in Sixteen Dances it was the order of the movement phrases that was determined by chance, not the individual movements or positions within the movement phrase. 5 The continuity at stake in Sixteen Dances, t hen, would be the continuity between phrases, not individual movements. And yet, in an unpublished note from the archive, Cunningham indicates that he was already interested—at least conceptually—in separating phrases into individual movements and enumerating their various possibilities.In other words, the logic generating his later procedures—the breaking up of phrases into individual movements that were then charted and ordered into sequences selected by chance—already existed in an embryonic state. Anticipating a practice he would soon refine, Cunningham provides the following list of potential movement material in his rehearsal notes: â€Å"Legs can be low, middle or high in air; legs can be bent or straight; legs can be front, side, or back† (Cunningham 1951). The schematic rendering of movement choices (into what he calls â€Å"gamuts of movement†) foreshadows the kinds of taxonomies he would develop later (Vaughan 1997, 72).Photograph ic representations suggest that at this point in his career, Cunningham was still choosing movement material thematically. That is, the types of movement selected for any given emotion had a culturally conventional relation to that emotion. Describing Sixteen Dances, Cunningham writes: â€Å"the solos were concerned with specific emotional qualities, but they were in image form and not personal—a yelling warrior for the odious, a man in a chair for the humorous, a bird-masked figure for the wondrous† (qtd. in Vaughan 1997, 59).Unfortunately, there is no video or film record of the dance, but from the extant photographs, it is apparent that Cunningham was working with a modernist vocabulary; there is something reminiscent of Martha Graham or Ted Shawn in the dramatic poses, the off-center leaps, and the contracted upper body that we do not see in his work later. In Cunningham’s rehearsal notes (1951) for the piece—and there is no way of knowing if these re flect the completed piece as it was ultimately performed—he jots down the idea of introducing a conventional balletic vocabulary for the final quartet on â€Å"tranquility. â€Å"Finale to proceed from balletic positions, and return to them at all cadences!!! † he exclaims. I believe Cunningham so emphatically chooses balletic positions as starting and termination points, as tranquil â€Å"rests,† because they offer movement material that is less associated 52 Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 Photo 2. Merce Cunningham in his Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three (1952). Photographer: Gerda Peterich. by convention—at least, by Graham convention—with particular emotional states.As Cunningham writes about the period: â€Å"It was almost impossible to see a movement in modern dance during that period not stiffened by literary or personal connection† (qtd. in Vaughan 1997, 69). If â€Å"tranquility,† the ninth emotion f rom the Natyasastra, signifies the transcendence of emotion, then perhaps a ballet vocabulary would be appropriate, especially against the background of the earlier eight, more conventionally expressive, â€Å"images† used for the solos and the erotic duet. During the years 1951–1956, Cunningham was obviously making discoveries that would become consistent elements of his practice for years to come.In works such as Sixteen Dances and Solo Suite in Space and Time (1953), not only does he introduce chance operations but he also develops an approach to the body as an expressive organ. He chooses movement material that might be considered conventionally expressive as well as movement material based on classroom exercises, but he elects (or engenders through chance operations) a sequence of phrases or poses that is not conventional. In Sixteen Dances newly minted chance operations allow him to experiment with the order of the movement material in a way that endangers the co ntinuity of the dance. But what he learns by endangering that more conventional Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 53 form of continuity is that another form of continuity can emerge. As he underscores in his rehearsal notes for the 1956 Suite for Five (an extension of Solo Suite in Space and Time with added trio, duet, and quintet): â€Å"Dynamics in movement come from the continuity† (Cunningham 1951; emphasis in the original). What would supply this continuity if not the acquired syntax of traditional dance forms, if not the momentum of propulsive movements?Over the course of a year of rehearsals for Sixteen Dances (the time it took to mount the duets, trios, and quartets on Dorothea Brea, Joan Skinner, and Anneliese Widman) Cunningham found his answer. The continuity melding one movement to another would be derived from the dancer herself, that is, from the way she found to string together movements previously not linked by choreographic or classroom practices. In â€Å"Two Questions and Five Dances,† Cunningham describes his pleasure as he watched Joan Skinner take a notoriously difficult sequence of movements and thread them together seamlessly with her own body.Skinner introduced â€Å"coordination, going from one thing to another, that I had not encountered before, physically† (qtd. in Vaughan 1997, 59). His comments introduce what emerges as a constant in his choreography. According to Carolyn Brown, Although the overall rhythmic structure and tempi were Merce’s, he wanted me to find my own phrasing within the sections. . . . Unlike what happens in ballet, there is no other impetus, no additional source of inspiration or energy, no aural stimulus . . . There is only movement, learned and rehearsed in silence.In order for Cunningham dancers to be â€Å"musical,† they must discover, in the movement, out of their own inner resources and innate musicality, what I call, for want of a better word, the â€Å"song. à ¢â‚¬  . . . There is a meaning in every Cunningham dance, but the meaning cannot be translated into words; it must be experienced kinesthetically through the language of movement. (2007, 195–96; emphasis in the original) Dynamics are thus not preconceived by the choreographer but instead emerge from the dancer’s creation of unscripted, â€Å"discovered† transitions leading from one movement, or one movement sequence (phrase), to the next.These transitions providing continuity are forged by the dancer’s own coping mechanism, her way of assimilating each movement into a new sequence, a new logic, that only the body can discover in the process of repeated execution. In Sixteen Dances Skinner provided him with a crucial insight (reinforced by Carolyn Brown soon after), namely, that the expressivity of the body is lost neither when the elements of an expressive movement vocabulary, a set of â€Å"image forms,† are re-mixed or forcibly dis-articulated, nor when the elements re-mixed are themselves as neutral and unburdened by cultural associations as possible.So what is the â€Å"human situation on stage†Ã¢â‚¬â€to return to our earlier question—and in what way can it be considered expressive? I believe that what Cunningham was beginning to uncover in his work during this period, and that he fully realizes in Suite for Five of 1956, is that the human body is doubly expressive: it can be expressive transitively, in an easily legible, culturally codified way, and it can be expressive intransitively, simply by exposing its dynamic, arc-engendering force. This intransitive expressivity belongs to an animate form responding at what Adorno calls the â€Å"proto† subjective level (1970/1997; 112).That is, the continuity-creating, coping body is relying on an order of sensorimotor 54 Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 sensitivity that is itself an expressive system, one that underlies and in fact renders possib le what we identify as the familiar signifying system of conventional expressive â€Å"images† and â€Å"personal† emotions. 7 The â€Å"human situation on stage† can therefore be summed up as a set of kinesthetic, proprioceptive, weight-bearing, and sometimes tactile problems to be solved. In the rehearsal notes for Suite for Five (1952–1958), these problems are enumerated succinctly.Cunningham composed this piece by relying on movement materials whose sequences were determined by the imperfections appearing on a sheet of paper. (Here, he was imitating Cage, who invented the process with Music for Piano, which accompanied the Solo Suite. ) Cunningham tells us that the dancers had to worry about (1) â€Å"where† they are; (2) â€Å"then where to† (where they have to get to); and (3) â€Å"if more than one person [is] involved,† how the movements they make will be affected by the other’s presence on the stage. In short, the spat ial and interpersonal relationships present the problems and constitute the â€Å"human situation on the stage. The dancers are called on not to express a particular emotion, or set of emotions, but instead to develop refined coping mechanisms for creating continuity between disarticulated movements while remaining sensitive to their location in space. They must keep time without musical cues; sense the presence of the other dancers on stage; know blindly, proprioceptively, what these other dancers are doing; and adjust the timing and scope of their movements accordingly, thereby â€Å"expressing† the â€Å"human situation† at hand.All this work is â€Å"expressive†Ã¢â‚¬â€it belongs to the â€Å"category of expression†Ã¢â‚¬â€insofar as it is demanded by a human situation on a stage and insofar as human situations on stages (or otherwise) constitute an embodied response to the present moment, an embodied response to the utterly unique conditions of exis tence at one given point in time. In an interview with Jacqueline Lesschaeve, Cunningham puts it this way: â€Å"You have to begin to know where the other dancer is, without looking. It has to do with timing, the relationship with the timing. If you paid attention to the timing, then, even if you weren’t facing them, you knew they were there.And that created a relationship† (Cunningham 1991, 22). Relationships, engendering inevitably the â€Å"human situation,† are defined as body-to-body relationships, or really moving-body-to-moving-body relationships. As Tobi Tobias has suggested, â€Å"perhaps movement is at the core, the body’s response preceding the psyche’s† (1975, 43). Contemporary neuroscience is in fact beginning to confirm this point of view: relationships are forged kinetically, and thus the human drama begins at a prepsychological, perhaps even presubjective level of interaction with the world.The work of Antonio Damasio (1999) and Marc Jeannerod (2006) in particular emphasizes the degree to which largely (although not entirely) nonconscious operations of the sensorimotor system—including visuomotor functions and kinesthetic, proprioceptive, haptic, and vestibular systems—constitute the very conditions of possibility for the emergence of â€Å"higher level† processes of conscious thought, symbolization (language), and feeling. These scientists dub the former, more somatic (and evolutionarily prior) layer of activity the â€Å"protoself. This protoself is related to homeostasis and the fundamental intelligence that discerns the boundary between the subject’s body and other bodies; it is thus the corporeal substrate of subjectivity understood as an awareness of being a separate self. 8 If we return to Cunningham’s statement, quoted above, we can see that a relationship Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 55 forged simply by occupying the same duration of time produce s a â€Å"human situation† insofar as two bodies are obliged to remain aware of each other’s presence.This awareness is not necessarily colored with affect; that is, the â€Å"human situation on stage† is not necessarily charged with emotion. To that extent, we can say that Cunningham’s choreographic procedure attends to intimacies occurring on the level of the presubjective layer of interaction between human beings; â€Å"presubjective† would not mean pre-individual or pre-individuated but rather singular embodiment in an intersubjective milieu before that embodiment enters a narrative, a conventional, socially defined relation to the other.The relation to the other, as Cunningham points out, is structured by time; in a duet, for instance, the choreographic imperative is that bodies should be doing particular things at particular moments in a predetermined sequence. Yet at the same time, the cohabitation of that temporal and spatial dimension that is the stage creates a situation—a â€Å"human situation†Ã¢â‚¬â€in which two or more bodies must become aware of one another’s movements; they thereby enter into a relation on the â€Å"presubjective,† or prepsychological, level.In Aesthetic Theory Adorno defines precisely this presubjective layer of existence as the origin of expressive behavior: that is, the prepsychologized body, related in his mind to the human â€Å"sensorium,† is itself the source of expressive content. Beyond—or underlying—the explicit, conventionalized content of artworks is another content: the sensorium’s â€Å"objective† consciousness, as he puts it, of the surrounding world that it probes. In their expression, artworks do not imitate the impulses of individuals, nor in any way those of their authors†; instead, he continues, artworks are imitation (mimesis) â€Å"exclusively as the imitation of an objective expression† (1970/199 7, 111–12; emphasis added). This objective expression is best captured by the musical term â€Å"espressivo,† he continues, since it denotes a dynamic that is entirely intransitive, â€Å"remote from psychology,† although generated by a human subject.Significantly for our purposes, he adds that the â€Å"objective expression† of subjectivity is continuous with the layer of existence â€Å"of which the sensorium was perhaps once conscious in the world and which now subsists only in artworks† (112). This â€Å"sensorium†Ã¢â‚¬â€a â€Å"consciousness† not yet self-reflexive yet nonetheless a consciousness—is composed of a set of receptors relating intimately to the external world.The layer of existence captured by the sensorium may be considered the objective aspect of subjectivity, the world-sensitive, outer-directed, knowledge-seeking, coping body that is the foundation on which a psychic subjectivity, a personality, builds. Ult imately, for Adorno, it is the experience of this objective layer of being (the â€Å"consciousness† of the sensorium) that artworks seek to â€Å"express. † â€Å"Artworks,† Adorno writes, â€Å"bear expression not where they communicate the subject, but rather where they reverberate with the protohistory of subjectivity† (112).Another fruitful way to think of the relation between the â€Å"protohistory of subjectivity† and expression can be found in the work of Charles Darwin. As unlikely as it may seem, there is a continuum leading from Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872/1965) through Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception ([1962] where he relies heavily on Darwin for his understanding of the expressive body), to Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory and its notion of a primordial sensorimotor apprehension captured mimetically in art.Adorno’s sensorial â€Å"consciousness† or â€Å"presu bjective† layer of being in the world looks surprisingly like Darwin’s understanding of â€Å"corporeal intensities†Ã¢â‚¬â€muscular 56 Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 contractions, accelerated circulation, and their various manifestations on the faces and bodies of animals and humans. These â€Å"corporeal intensities† are forms of expression—or â€Å"proto† expression, if you like—that serve as the precondition for the development of more culturally legible, codified expressive gestures (such as the wince or the smile).In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin’s theory of expressivity links the development of what we call emoting to primary neurological and physiological responses generated by a sensorimotor intelligence. What we identify as rage, he writes, is actually caused by a response generated in animals by the autonomic circulatory system; behavior that comes to be designated as anger (for the observer) begins with an accelerated flow of blood, while behavior identified as joy or vivid pleasure is underwritten, so to speak, by the quickening of the circulation.What we identify as â€Å"suffering† is expressed through the contraction of a wide variety of muscle groups. Over the course of time, muscular contraction in general comes to be associated with angst, although the specific groups of muscles contracted might vary from culture to culture. For instance, one culture might associate suffering with the contraction of the facial muscles, for example, in a grimace. A different culture—or really, a subculture, such as modern dance—might associate suffering with the contraction of muscles in the abdominal cavity, sternum, and pelvis.In both cases, the adaptive behavior, muscular contraction, can be observed as distinct from the social significations it comes to acquire. Animals and humans both exhibit behaviors that are closely associated with emotio ns, but theoretically it should be possible—and this is Darwin’s goal—to dissociate the protosubjective expressiveness of the body (muscle contractions, autonomic responses) from the conventionalized, codified gestures into which this expressivity has been conjugated.Adorno and Cunningham both target—the first to theorize, the second to achieve—this primary order of protosubjective expressiveness contained in, but potentially dissociable from, the conventionalized gestures to which it gives rise. The â€Å"human situation on stage† that is so â€Å"dramatic† or â€Å"expressive† (in Cunningham’s vocabulary) is one in which human bodies have been released from the prefabricated shapes and congealed (â€Å"stiffened†) meanings imposed by a given choreographic vocabulary or gestural regime (qtd. n Vaughan 1997, 69). Cunningham trusts that by preventing the conventional sequencing of movements within a phrase (through the application of chance procedures) he will coax dancers to exhibit dynamics that are at once more â€Å"objective†Ã¢â‚¬â€in the sense that they are generated by coping mechanisms rather than emotional states—and utterly idiosyncratic—radically subjective, we might say, in the sense that they are generated by the singular body of the dancer confronting an utterly unique â€Å"human situation on stage. In â€Å"The Impermanent Art† (1952), Cunningham comes very close to naming Darwin’s â€Å"corporeal intensities† when he evokes an order of muscular dynamics released from association with conventional emotions, such as passion and anger. Here he writes that Dance is not emoting, passion for her, anger against him. I think dance is more primal than that. In its essence, in the nakedness of its energy it is the source from which passion or anger may issue in a particular form, the source of energy out of which may be channeled the energy t hat goes into the various emotionalDance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 57 behaviors. It is that blatant exhibiting of this energy, i. e. , of energy geared to an intensity high enough to melt steel in some dancers, that gives the great excitement. (qtd. in Vaughan 1997, 86) The â€Å"blatant exhibiting† of an intensified corporeal energy bears a relation to what Darwin calls the exhibition of â€Å"corporeal intensities† by animals that can only be said to be â€Å"angry† or â€Å"ashamed† if we anthropomorphize their movements.Cunningham seems acutely attuned to what Darwin also notes: our tendency to interpret (anthropomorphize) animal behaviors, a tendency he implicitly identifies with the public’s desire to read psychological meaning into the intensified corporealities of the dancers on stage. One could even say that Cunningham attempts to de-anthropomorphize our understanding of human behavior on stage; that is, he wants us to de-reify, to extract from the conventionalized, psychologizing modes of dance spectatorship, the movement behavior â€Å"blatantly† exhibited in his choreography.He asks us to experience even the graceful, plangent duet of Suite by Chance without sentimental overlay, as though it were simply an instance of protosubjective expressivity displayed by two moving bodies implicated in a â€Å"human situation on stage. † Perhaps not incidentally, Cunningham’s most suggestive evocation of this â€Å"protosubjective† layer of expressivity appears in a passage on animals and music—and it is with this passage that I would like to conclude. Cunningham is talking about his reasons for separating music from his horeography, explaining why he avoids giving his dancers musical cues with which to time the duration of their movements or generate their expressive dynamics. At pains to offer a positive rendering of what he is seeking, he notes instead that the polar opposite of what he aspires to in his collaborations with Cage may be â€Å"seen and heard in the music accompanying the movements of wild animals in the Disney films. [This music] robs them of their instinctual rhythms,† he claims, â€Å"and leaves them as caricatures.True, [the movement] is a man-made arrangement, but what isn’t? † (qtd. in Vaughan 1997, 10). Let us imagine for a moment the Disney animator as cave painter, miming—like the â€Å"primitive† dancer of Benjamin’s â€Å"On the Mimetic Faculty†Ã¢â‚¬â€the power of the animal totem. In an act of sympathetic response, troubling the boundary between mime and mimed, the animator studies the animal, acquiring its rhythmic gait, the expressive dynamic of its way of howling or extending a paw.Without knowing exactly what the animal means, how that howl or extension signifies in an animal world, the animator copies, uses whatever conventions and images—whatever man-made arrangementsà ¢â‚¬â€she has to approach the original in its presubjective, prepsychologized movement state. That, for Cunningham, is what can be freed through the disruption of continuity, through the imposition of the strict, unforgiving disciplines of permutation and chance.The protosubjective order of the wild gesture is what we might see if it were unencumbered by narrative, if it could be captured without the omnipresent, strip-mall swelling music of the Disney world in which we all too often bathed. Ultimately, the â€Å"human situation on stage† is, despite years of rehearsals and revivals, a set of â€Å"wild gestures† expressing what it is like to be a sensorium moving on stage. The challenge that remains is to determine both how Cunningham’s choreographic practice divulges the work of the proto-self and how that work informs (and is balanced by 8 Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 the exigencies of ) the construction of artworks, that is, the construction of dances for audiences in specific historical settings with demands of their own. Another challenge arises with respect to Adorno and my allied project of reading dance back into Aesthetic Theory. If, as he claims, artworks—not dances, but paintings, sonatas, and poems—â€Å"reverberate with the protohistory of subjectivity,† then where is this â€Å"reverberation† to be located?Where (or when) in the process of art making does protosubjectivity intervene as an agent, as a constituting force? And if, as Adorno implies, we are no longer sensuously alive (â€Å"the sensorium was perhaps once conscious in the world,† he writes), then how do we recognize the presence of the sensorium’s influence on the composition of artworks? What remains of the sensorium in art, of the sensorium in dance? These questions inform the next phase of my research, the contours of which I have only begun to outline.Notes 1. Jose Gil provides several fine articulations of Cunningham’s project in â€Å"The Dancer’s Body† (2002). I agree with Gil that, in an attempt to â€Å"make grammar the meaning,† or â€Å"make body awareness command consciousness† (121), Cunningham â€Å"disconnects movements from one another, as if each movement belonged to a different body† (122); however, I do not believe that the actual dancer ends up with a â€Å"multiplicity of virtual bodies† (123), a â€Å"body-without-organs† (124).As I document later in this essay, Cunningham’s most successful dancers (in his eyes and my own) have been those who are able to absorb the movement sequences into their own body; the grammar’s inflection, the sequence’s assimilation through the body’s singular dynamics, is what ultimately lends the dance â€Å"meaning† in the way Cunningham intends. 2. See â€Å"The Impermanent Art,† first published in Arts 7, no. 3 (1955) and reproduced in Ko stelanetz (1989) and Vaughan (1997). 3.See especially the appendices to Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory. The work was not finished during Adorno’s lifetime (Adorno died in 1969. ) 4. Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three was first performed in Milbrook, New York. It contained the following sequence: solo, trio, solo, duet, solo, quartet, solo, quartet, solo, duet, solo, trio, solo, quartet, duet, quartet. See Vaughan (1997, 289). 5. Carolyn Brown, personal communication with the author, June 24, 2009. 6. Cunningham presents what he is getting at as ollows: â€Å"You do not separate the human being from the actions he does, or the actions which surround him, but you can see what it is like to break these actions up in different ways, to allow the passion, and it is passion, to appear for each person in his own way† (qtd. in Vaughan 1997, 10). 7. Mark Johnson (1987) and Daniel Stern (1985/2000) also believe that our ability to be expressive in the more familia r way—to display human emotions such as anger or pity—is predicated on a presubjective capacity to organize experience into â€Å"image schemata† ( Johnson) or â€Å"vitality affects† (Stern).The neuroscientist Antonio R. Damasio has more recently argued that a protoself, or neural substrate of sensory feedback, is the condition of possibility for emotions per se (1999). What is â€Å"expressed† by this protoself is movement, a nonthematized awareness of orientation, a sense of balance. Cunningham’s choreography appears to be calling on its dancers to â€Å"express† precisely these functions; they are what provide the continuity, the dynamic, that is so moving to watch. On the sensorimotor protoself and our access to it, see my Agency and Embodiment (2009). 8. See Damasio (1999) and Jeannerod (2006).Damasio insists that the protoself is entirely nonconscious, but Jeannerod provides persuasive evidence that kinesthetic awareness is oft en available to the conscious self. See also Joseph LeDoux (2002) for a similar account. Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010 59 Works Cited Adorno, Theodor W. 1970/1997. Aesthetic Theory, edited by Gretel Adorno and Rolf Tiedemann. Translated and introduced by Robert Hullot-Kentor. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Benjamin, Walter. 1986. â€Å"On the Mimetic Faculty. † Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writing, edited by Peter Demetz, 333–36. New York: Schocken.Brown, Carolyn. 2007. Chance and Circumstance: Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham. New York: Knopf. Cunningham, Merce. 1951. Rehearsal Notes. Merce Cunningham Archives, Westbeth, New York City, New York. ———. 1952–1958. Rehearsal Notes. Merce Cunningham Archives, Westbeth, New York City, New York. ———. 1968. Changes: Notes on Choreography. Edited by Frances Starr. New York: Something Else Press. ———. 1991. Th e Dancer and the Dance: Merce Cunningham in Conversation with Jacqueline Lesschaeve. New York: Marilyn Boyars. Damasio, Antonio R. 1999. The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness.New York: Harcourt Brace. Darwin, Charles. 1872/1965. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Foster, Susan Leigh. 1986. Reading Dancing: Bodies and Subjects in Contemporary American Dance. Berkeley: University of California Press. Franko, Mark. 1995. Dancing Modernism/Performing Politics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Gil, Jose. 2002. â€Å"The Dancer’s Body. † In A Shock to Thought: Expression after Deleuze and Guattari, edited by Brian Massumi, 117–27. London: Routledge. Jeannerod, Marc. 2006. Motor Cognition: What Actions Tell the Self. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Johnson, Mark. 1987. The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason. Chicago: University of Chica go Press. Kostelanetz, Richard. 1989. Esthetics Contemporary. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus. ———, ed. 1998. Merce Cunningham: Dancing in Space and Time 1944–1992. New York: Da Capo. LeDoux, Joseph. 2002. The Synaptic Self. New York: Viking. Manning, Susan A. 1993. Ecstasy and the Demon: Feminism and Nationalism in the Dances of Mary Wigman. Berkeley: University of California Press. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 1962. Phenomenology of Perception. Translated by Colin Smith. New York: Routledge. Nicholls, David. 2007.John Cage. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Noland, Carrie. 2009. Agency and Embodiment: Performing Gestures/Producing Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Reynolds, Dee. 2007. Rhythmic Subjects: Uses of Energy in the Dances of Mary Wigman, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham. Hampshire, England: Dance Books. Stern, Daniel. 1985/2000. The Interpersonal World of the Infant. New York: Basic. Tobias, Tobi. 1975. â€Å"Notes for a Piece on Cu nningham. † Dance Magazine 42 (September). Vaughan, David. 1997. Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years. Edited by Melissa Harris. New York: Aperture. 60 Dance Research Journal 42 / 1 summer 2010

Macbeth plot analysis Essays

Macbeth plot analysis Essays Macbeth plot analysis Paper Macbeth plot analysis Paper The conclusion part of the story In which the outcomes of the story are revealed. Plot Analysis Event Text Support Why is it important to the story? 1 . Len the beginning of the play, King Duncan praises his two generals, Macbeth and Banquet who have defeated two armies from Ireland and Norway. The two generals also meet three weird witches who predict that Macbeth will soon be the king. 1 . King Duncan mentions Macbeth as a hero by calling him: O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman! Also Macbeth is beginning to gain more popularity as Malcolm, King Dunces son, calls him a Sergeant who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought Against my captivity-Hail, brave friend. 1 . The importance of this event is set in its introduction of the important characters and their roles and ambitions. For example, Macbeth is introduced as a hero and a soldier with ambition to become a king, as foreshadowed by the three weird witches. 2. In the second act, as Lady Macbeth tries to persuade Macbeth into killing the king, Macbeth is fearful of the consequences that might happen after the killing of King Duncan. But he finally kills him and prepares for the crown. Macbeth and Lennox enter the room in order to tell Malcolm and the other generals the death of the king and blame on the two chamberlains: Awake, awake! -? Ring the alarum bell:-?murder and treason! Banquet Ana Donald! Malcolm! Awake! Shake off this downy sleep, deaths counterfeit, And look on death itself! Up, up, and see The great dooms image! Malcolm! Banquet! 2. This event is the rising a ction in which the conflict is more complicated sets up the chain events for the climax action to occur. Also the killing of King Duncan will allow Macbeth to be the King and foreshadows his will to commit more murders. . After the Killing of the King, Macbeth worries a lot about the revelations of his actions and Lady Macbeth is trying to cheer and stop worrying, but his fear of the witches prophecy about Banquets desire to seize the throne makes Macbeth gather a group to murder him. 3. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to stop thinking about the things which cannot be changed: Things without all remedy should be without regard. Also after the killing of Bonus, Macbeth is paranoid and behaves strangely: Thou cants not say I did it: ever shake thy gory locks at me. The importance of this event is the evidence of the previous foreshadowing of Machetes ambitions of power which has brought him higher ambitions such as murdering the ones who disagree with him or doubt his loyalty. Reflection Choose one of the events you added to your graphic organizer and think about why it is an important piece of the plot. Focus on the purpose it serves in the story. Consider how the story would change if that event was altered. Form your ideas into a reflection paragraph of at least five sentences. Make sure to include supporting evidence from the play in your reflection. The last event that I chose contained most of the important actions and information about the story. After killing the king, Macbeth only gets more worried about his position as a king and someone else betraying him, but lady Macbeth is not worried anymore and tries to cheer him up by telling him to stop worrying about the past and the things which he cannot change: Things without all remedy should be without regard. As his ambitions of power get more, he decides to kill Banquet, who fought with him in wars, and plans to murder those who dont agree with him.

The Comparison of iPhone, Droid, and BlackBerry

The Comparison of iPhone, Droid, and BlackBerry Executive Summary The report provides the comparison of three types of smartphones which are iPhone, Droid, and BlackBerry. The comparison is realized with references to the analysis of the smartphones’ basic technical characteristics and applications. The purpose of the smartphones’ critical examination is to choose the most appropriate model among the variants proposed by three leading producers within the market. The main requirements accentuated while examining the variants are the options and functions of the model and its appropriateness for the everyday personal use. To provide the necessary analysis of three types of smartphones, such criteria as the peculiarities of the operating system, usability, apps, the characteristic features of the models, and their price were determined.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Comparison of iPhone, Droid, and BlackBerry specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More iPh one 4S was recommended as the most fitting variant according to the presented criteria. Introduction The modern market of digital devices proposes a lot of different variants to satisfy the taste of any customer. Each person concentrates on a range of characteristics which are important for him and necessary for completing the definite business tasks (Rentz, Flatley, and Lentz). Smartphones as the mobile devices of the new generation are practical and easy to use because they are characterized by the possibility to provide a number functions and operations. Such smartphones as iPhone, Droid, and BlackBerry have a lot advantages, and their disadvantages are predominantly based on their differences from each other. When it is necessary to choose a smartphone for a personal use, people should determine the set of criteria according to which it is possible to concentrate on the best variant to address all the personal requirements appropriately. The purpose of the report is to compare i Phone, Droid, and BlackBerry in relation to such features as the peculiarities of the operating system, usability, apps and tools, the technical characteristics, and the price of models.Advertising Looking for report on other technology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The characteristic features of iPhone The operating system used in iPhone is iOS. It is developed by Apple for smartphones produced by the company. The user interface of the system and menu are easy to navigate. The work of this multi-touch device depends on controlling the processes with the help of gestures. iPhone is also oriented to using ATT and Verizon’s network. The technical characteristics of iPhone as a mobile device can be discussed with references to iPhone 4S. iPhone 4S is the more progressive variant of iPhone 4, and it is based on the dual core Apple A5 CPU. Moreover, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S are practical because 3.5 Retina Display provides the opportunities for the effective web browsing, e-reading, and using different multimedia. iPhones are characterized by a constant evolution of their possibilities. Thus, iPhone 3GS has the 3 megapixel camera, iPhone 4 operates the 5 megapixel camera, and iPhone 4S has the 8 megapixel camera (â€Å"Compare iPhone Models†). The customers can use a great variety of apps developed by Apple for iPhone. It is possible to access to all the necessary tools with the help of Apple’s App Store. The next feature of the smartphone worked out for iPhone 4S is the Siri voice-activated personal assistant. Apple’s FaceTime app (video chatting) is also considered by consumers as the useful and progressive tool. Moreover, it is possible to share pictures and music with the other users and utilize the function of 3D positioning.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Comparison of iPhone, Droid, and BlackBerry specifically for you for only $16 .05 $11/page Learn More Consumers are usually interested in the usability of devices in order to choose the model which addresses their needs. The usability of iPhone is based on the multi-touch screen that reacts to gestures and expands the possibilities to control the work, on the ability to quick-delete swipe and bulk-delete messages. The web connectivity is also of the great importance because it is possible to access to the web pages with the help of screen apps and organize the communication via the Internet effectively. The price of iPhone depends on its model, and it can start from $200-$300. It is also necessary to pay attention to the monthly service which can cost $150. The main advantages of iPhone are in its high web connectivity and effective e-mail tools based on the powerful operating system. The models of iPhone are also characterized by a variety of apps (â€Å"Compare iPhone Models†). The peculiarities of Droids The operating system used for the Droid is worked out by Google, and it is known as Android. The work of the operating system is associated with the work of Verizon Wireless. Many specialists and consumers agree that Android is the most flexible operating system. The system is easy to use, and the additional apps allow controlling the functions of the system. It is possible to concentrate on the technical characteristics of Droids, paying attention to the Droid 4. This smartphone operates Android OS 2.3.6. It uses the 1.2GHz dual core TI CPU.Advertising Looking for report on other technology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The users also accentuate its 4 qHD display. All the Droids are characterized by providing the access to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. However, comparing the Droid 4 and the Droid RAZR MAXX, it is important to determine the 4.3 qHD Super AMOLED display in the Droid RAZR MAXX and the usage of the 1.2GHz dual core CPU. The Droid RAZR MAXX has the 8 megapixel camera. Droids are known by the possibilities to use touch-screen typing and developed slide-out QWERTY keyboards (â€Å"Motorola Smartphones†). The access to the apps for Droids is realized with the help of the Android Market. The number of the available apps is lower than the variety proposed by the developers of iPhone. It is possible to use such tools as OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the latest models of Droids. Moreover, Android allows using the special version of Google Maps and a number of Gmail apps. The work with the word documents is realized with the help of Quickoffice app. The usability of the Droids can be consid ered according to the parameters of using the apps and controlling the work with the help of touch-screens or traditional keyboards. Having chosen the models of Droids, users can form the menu of active apps and organize them for their rapid access. This function is similar to that one presented in iPhones, but it is more developed. Furthermore, the possibility to use the touch-screen as well as the slide-out QWERTY keyboard is discussed as the advantage of Droids. The price of Droids can start from $150. The models of Droids are discussed as more available for customers in comparison with the models proposed by iPhones or BlackBerry (â€Å"Motorola Smartphones†). The important features of BlackBerry smartphones The operating system for BlackBerry smartphones is developed by Research In Motion (RIM), the manufacturer of BlackBerry smartphones. The main feature of the system is its orientation to providing a lot of possibilities for receiving and sending e-mail messages. The w eb browser is improved with each model of BlackBerry smartphones. According to the technical characteristics, the first models of BlackBerry have hardware keyboards, but the latest models, known as BlackBerry Torch, are characterized as capacitive touch-screen phones with the multi-touch display with the high resolution. The models of the BlackBerry Torch operate BlackBerry OS 7 and use 1.2GHz CPU. These smartphones have the 5 megapixel camera, and it is also possible to access to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Moreover, the developers of BlackBerry smartphones pay much attention to the high security requirements. The apps for different models of the BlackBerry smartphones are available at the BlackBerry Store. The users can also find them in the other stores. To work with the word documents, the BlackBerry operates such an app as Documents to Go (â€Å"BlackBerry Smartphones†). The main advantage of the BlackBerry smartphones is their developed system of the BlackBerry messenger . It influences the usability of the models and the choice of consumers who work a lot with messages and e-mail. The price of the BlackBerry smartphones is comparable with the prices of iPhone, and it can start from $200-300 depending on the model. Conclusions and recommendations The choice of the best variant of a smartphone for the personal use should be based on the flexibility of the proposed options and operations, variety of the available apps, easiness in controlling and functioning, the advanced web connectivity, and the general level of usability. According to the examined criteria, iPhone is the most powerful device with the developed operating system and a modern touch-screen display with the high resolution which is easy to use because of the responsive interface and the specifics of the menu navigation. iPhone successfully addresses the people’s demands in web connecting, and it has the great number of the necessary apps and tools that can be accessed via the Int ernet without any problems. For instance, the Droids and BlackBerry have the weaker selection of the available apps and tools. The price of the device is comparable with the other brands’ prices and meets the public’s possibilities. iPhone is recommended as the type of smartphone with the highest characteristics. From this point, the model iPhone 4S is the most appropriate choice for the personal use. iPhone 4S (â€Å"Compare iPhone Models†). BlackBerry Smartphones. n.d. Web. Compare iPhone Models. n.d. Web. Motorola Smartphones. n.d. Web. Rentz, Kathryn, Marie Flatley, and Paula Lentz. Lesikar’s Business Communication: Connecting in a Digital World. USA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010. Print.