Monday, January 27, 2020

Effect of Social Media on the World

Effect of Social Media on the World Social Media and how it changes the world Introduction What is social media? If you are or have been a user of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Youtube or any other similar stuffs like that, congratulations, you are a part of the social media. Yes, those mentioned above are social media. There are many different definitions given to what is social media however, all of the definitions given are similar to each other and all of them defined social media as a tool, a website or an application for users to create and share contents or to participate in social networking. It is like using Instagram, where you can create contents by capturing photos or recording video clips and sharing them by posting the photos or video clips you have just captured or recorded. As for social networking, in Instagram, users are able to leave comments and also leave a â€Å"like† for the contents posted if they think it is good or worthy or even if they just like it without any particular reasons. Social media has evolved throughout the years and t he number of users has increased drastically compared to when it just started. Social media has changed the world in many ways. Method of Literature Selection I have conducted an electronic database search through Tunku Abdul Rahman University College’s digital library. I have utilized the ACM Digital Library. The keywords used in the online database include social media, charity and fund raising. I have also conducted searches on the Measuring Media-based Social Interactions Provided by Smartphone Applications in Social Networks archive, Rethinking Measurements Of Social Media Use By Charities: A Mixed Methods Approach archive and Social Networked Media: Advances and Trends archive. I have chosen only the articles that were published within 5 years ago. The three articles which I have chosen to reference on were selected based on the relevancy to the topic of the essay. Connecting with people, raise funds like no other Social media is vastly used nowadays. The number of social media users increases so rapidly. The age of social media users gets younger and younger. Nobody really knows the real age of the youngest social media users. Social media is so widely used that any information including articles, videos, photos and etc. can be quickly transmitted to the world through the net. It is just a ‘share’ button away from letting people know what you have done today, letting people know about your opinion towards something, in short, it is just a button away from letting people know about your life and thoughts. Due to that, social media is used for various things. It is not only used just for social, it is also being used for business, advertising, as a customer relation management tool, global exposures, as an online meeting space, for entertainment purposes, educational purposes, fund raising, online shopping space, a space where people can get feedback about things, places, services, experience and food. The usage of social media is unlimited. It can do so many things that if I were to list them all out here, it would be a never-ending list. Users can do so much just by using a social media. A plus point for social media is that, it is free most of the time. For example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogspot, WordPress, Tumblr, Youtube, Vine, Myspace, ChurpChurp, Schoology, Wechat, Whatsapp, Foursquare, Waze, Line, Friendster, Pinterest and etc. are all free to use. All of those mentioned above are free of charge. No fees are needed for registration. That is one of the main reasons why everyone chooses to use social media as it is free unless of course if anyone wants a premium or a special service, there would be an amount of fee being charged upon them depending on different social media. Although there are so many things social media can do, I am just going to focus on one thing that social media could do which is to help promote fund raising campaigns or a ctivities. According to Ebroul Izquierdo, internet has brought a great impact to our modern life. Human is a social animal. This is being reflected in the internet age too. Since the birth of online communication system, social network has become the most crucial thing in life. Social networking has become a must and a habit in mankind nowadays. As mentioned by Alan Keller Gomes and Maria da Graà §a Campos Pimentel, there are so many different applications for smartphones that allow users to connect to the social network or media even when they have only their smartphones in hands. Nowadays, it is rare to spot people without a smartphone that can let them connect to all kinds of social networks to connect to their friends online. As I was saying, social media helps a lot in raising funds nowadays. As mentioned by Christopher Phethean, Thanassis Tiropanis and Lisa Harris, social media services are being used to help and operate charities. The reasons why social media services are us ed continuously until today is because first and foremost, the low cost and unique opportunities that they are able to provide us and not just that, social media services too provide us with easily targeted and viral marketing that are unbelievably quick and very eye opening. It is something that we have never seen before to this scale. So, instead of the traditional way of raising funds which are maybe going around to ask for it which most of the time would not work as people like myself would think that it is a scam or advertising about it using banners, radios or television which people might ignore since we would still need to go to certain places to do certain charities which would be really troublesome, fund raising has revolutionized into something which we would need to just maybe leave a like or a comment or maybe just a view to do a charity. For example, they would have an agreement that the charity video can raise fund of 1 dollar for every 500 views which means if that v ideo has 300,000 views, the fund raised would be 600 dollars. This has been done by many famous Youtubers such as the most subscribed for now on Youtube, Pewdiepie, a gamer who records himself play games as an entertainment for us viewers, has done this kind of charity fund raising to raise fund to fight against water crisis and Michelle Phan, a makeup artist who teaches viewers especially girls on how to apply makeup, has also done this kind of charity fund raising as well but hers was to raise fund to help the victims of human trafficking to rebuild their lives. The examples mentioned are both using videos to raise funds, some other people would use a Facebook post or an Instagram post or even a blog post to raise funds. In my opinion, social media being used as a fund raising tool is by far the best way as it is the easiest and the most convenient way to raise fund as users would only have to click ‘like’ or type a few words in the comment box to leave a comment or r epost a post or other ways which involve mostly just clicking about to do a charity. There is no need for us to drop by a center just to do a charity anymore. It is also the fastest way to raise fund as well. Conclusion In conclusion, social media has changed the world in many ways and one of it is that it has revolutionized fund raising for charities into something easier and more convenient to be participated by users. Everybody can now do a good deed and participate in charities at home without the need to go out anymore. Even lazy people like me are able to help others just by clicking a button. Referencing Alan, G Maria, G 2011, ‘Measuring Media-based Social Interactions Provided Smartphone Applications in Social Networks’, SBNMA 11 Proceedings of the 2011 ACM workshop on Social and behavioural networked media access, pp. 59-64. Christopher, P, Thanassis, T Lisa, H 2013, ‘Rethinking measurements of social media use by charities: a mixed methods approach’, WebSci 13Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Web Science Conference, pp. 296-305. Ebroul, I 2011, ‘Social networked media: advances and trends’, SBNMA 11 Proceedings of the 2011 ACM workshop on Social and behavioural networked media access, pp. 1-2.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Explore Models Of Disability

The medical model: is presented as viewing disability as a problem of the person, directly caused by disease, trauma, or other health condition which therefore requires sustained medical care provided in the form of individual treatment by professionals. In the medical model, management of the disability is aimed at a â€Å"cure,† or the individual’s adjustment and behavioral change that would lead to an â€Å"almost-cure† or effective cure. In the medical model, medical care is viewed as the main issue.The Social Model : The social model of disability sees the issue of â€Å"disability† as a socially created problem and a matter of the full integration of individuals into society. In this model, disability is not an attribute of an individual, but rather a complex collection of conditions, many of which are created by the social environment. Hence, the management of the problem requires social action and is the collective responsibility of society at larg e to make the environmental modifications necessary for the full participation of people with disabilities in all areas of social life.The issue is both cultural and ideological, requiring individual, community, and large-scale social change. From this perspective, equal access for someone with an impairment/disability is a human rights issue of major concern. The Moral Model: Refers to the attitude that people are morally responsible for their own disability. For example, the disability may be seen as a result of bad actions of parents if congenital, or as a result of practising witchcraft if not.The empowering Model: Allows for the person with a disability and his/her family to decide the course of their treatment and what services they wish to benefit from. This, in turn, turns the professional into a service provider whose role is to offer guidance and carry out the client’s decisions. In other words, this model â€Å"empowers† the individual to pursue his/her own goals. The examples above are only some of the ‘models’ of disability which have been defined over the last few years.The two most frequently mentioned are the ‘social’ and the ‘medical’ models of disability. The medical model of disability views disability as a ‘problem’ that belongs to the disabled individual. It is not seen as an issue to concern anyone other than the individual affected. For example, if a wheelchair using individual is unable to get into a building because of some steps, the medical model would suggest that this is because of the wheelchair, rather than the steps. The social model of disability, in contrast, would see the steps as the disabling barrier.This model draws on the idea that it is society that disables people, through designing everything to meet the needs of the majority of people who are not disabled. There is a recognition within the social model that there is a great deal that society can do to r educe, and ultimately remove, some of these disabling barriers, and that this task is the responsibility of society, rather than the disabled person. Many people are willing to adopt the social model and to make adjustments for people who have a visible disability.However, they are not as accommodating with people who have a hidden disability, or a disability that is not clearly understood. People with impairments are disabled by the fact that they are excluded from participation within the mainstream of society as a result of physical, organisational and attitudinal barriers. These barriers prevent them from gaining equal access to information, education, employment, public transport, housing and social/recreational opportunities. However, recent developments promote inclusion.Anti-discrimination legislation, equal-opportunity policies and programmes of positive action have arisen because it is now more widely recognised that disabled people are unnecessarily and unjustly restricte d in or prevented from taking part in a whole range of social activities which non-disabled people access and take for granted. In my day service, working in a person centred manner is imperative for all the individuals that attend. Respecting their individuality and uniqueness is paramount.Whilst understanding the medical model is essential to treat conditions, receive pain relieving drugs and identify necessary assistive aids, understanding the social model of disability is equally as essential. As a service we undertook with our service users the task of going out in our local town and seeing firsthand what barriers people with physical/sensory disabilities faced. We identified several venues, e. g. library, bank, park and local indoor market and we set out to identify what barriers, if any our service users faced trying to access the facilities.The social barriers were evident immediately. The library had stairs with no lift, so it was inaccessible for wheelchair users, the park had extremely uneven footpaths, which was extremely dangerous for people with walking aids and the bank had an electronic door, but only stayed open for 3 seconds so the individual I had accompanied there in a wheelchair would have actually got stuck in the door had I not been there to press the door again quickly to reopen it.As a service, we supported our service users in writing letters to the organisations explaining the difficulties disabled people faced trying to access their buildings and our service users told us they felt empowered and liberated having done that. As a service, which is named ‘Our Choice’ that is exactly what it is, the service users choice in what they want to do with their time with us, how they want to do it and with whom.My role is to ensure I am properly trained to work with a range of person centred planning tools and implement them tools in a person centred way. I ensure that our agency staff and our volunteers understand the ethos of pe rson centred planning and maintain high training standards so that our service users feel respected and empowered at all times.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Differing Scholarly Views on the Euthanasia Situation

Differing Scholarly Views on the Euthanasia Situation People in Canada are diagnosed with terminal illness’ every day. They know when they are going to die and often suffer until then. Why can’t patients diagnosed with a terminal illness be given the option to be euthanized? It would allow such patients to die painlessly and peacefully instead of having to suffer. While currently illegal in all but five areas of the world, assisted suicide and euthanasia are quickly becoming a more prevalent topic globally with more and more countries looking at making the move to legalize the acts.It has been legalized nationally in countries such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium while also being legalized in the states of Oregon and Washington in the United States of America. The article from the New England Journal of Medicine, Redefining Physicians` Role in Assisted Dying by Lisa Lehmann, uses the state of Oregon as a basis for much of her research and probing into both si des of the argument behind euthanasia.Margaret Somerville, a world renown ethicist and academic known for some of her controversial views, also gives her own insight into the topic in the article Legalized Euthanasia Only a Breath Away, published by the Globe and Mail. Somerville bases much of her argument around personal opinions and strong beliefs. I will examine the merits and proposals brought forth by each author and compare them to each other. The contrast between these two papers is quite evident in ways of structure and delivery of information.In Somerville`s article, she establishes early on that, morally speaking, assisted death is a blatant disregard for the sanctity and respect for human life. She even goes as far as to call it â€Å"unconstitutional†. When describing the people who stand on either side of this argument of legalizing euthanasia, she says, â€Å"†¦it comes down to a direct conflict between the value of respect for human life, on the one hand, and individual rights to autonomy and self-determination – the value of `choice`- on the other. She establishes the two positions one has to choose from in the argument over this topic and leaves little room for change on either side. This entire argument being based solely on her opinion and giving no facts to back either of the positions makes it very biased in favour of keeping euthanasia illegal. In Somerville’s article, she shows the availability of the process in Oregon and how it is very helpful to those who seek it out. Somerville believes that no one should have control over whether another human lives or dies.That is why she believes euthanasia should be an available option to terminal patients. One of the driving points that Somerville delivers is that, â€Å"research shows that the most likely reasons people want assisted suicide/euthanasia are fear of being abandoned – dying alone and unloved. † Without any source cited for the research, it brings the validity of the argument into question. It seems more of a popular opinion twisted into a fact for the purpose of supporting an argument, especially after comparing Lehmann’s article is read.She quotes from the thirteenth annual report from Oregon`s Death with Dignity Act that, â€Å"Most (patients) say that they are motivated by a loss of autonomy and an inability to engage in activities that give their meaning† as the primary reason for considering euthanasia in Oregon. It also cites lack of ability to control pain being one of the least common reasons for euthanizing as well, due in regards to the leaps and bounds modern medicine has made in palliative care in contrast to the 60’s. Having an element of control over the time one dies and how it happens is something that is understandable for many terminal patients to desire.Knowing when they are supposed to die makes it very hard for terminal patients to fully enjoy any life experiences because they constantly remind themselves of how little time they have until their death. This statement brings doubt to the â€Å"research† that Somerville uses to fortify her stance against assisted death, especially with a lack of a credible source into said research. Within Lehman’s article, she states some main objections to euthanasia commonly used by critics. One is that having an option to end one’s life will reduce the quality of palliative care.But that is not the case in Oregon. Lehman’s research has shown that overall spending and patient ratings on palliative care have consistently risen in the thirteen year period that euthanasia has been legal. Another popular objection is that practitioners of euthanasia are working on a â€Å"slippery slope† and that the process for selecting euthanasia candidates will someday be expanded to accept patients with nonterminal illnesses or even non-voluntary euthanasia. But within Oregon, Lehman describes how a p atient must go a long process before actually being euthanized.A panel of medical professionals considers many different factors of the patient such as diagnosis, pain tolerance, depression, state of mind, and many others. This process takes at least 2-4 weeks. After taking all the factors into consideration, the patient will be given the panel’s decision on whether they are a candidate for euthanasia. Strict tangencies such as the review panel that are in place within Oregon will prevent any change to euthanasia laws. The guidelines are very â€Å"black and white† so there are no misinterpretations and the laws are set in stone.Lehman’s opinions are well thought out and well supported by the research into the process in Oregon, one of the few places on Earth with a legal euthanasia practice. Research into the selection process directly contradicts many popular objection made by critics against legalization of euthanasia. Opinions are very powerful tools that ca n greatly influence the outcome and views of others in open and controversial topics. Opinions should be based around factual information and solid research, not personal beliefs and motives. This is the clear case between Somerville’s and Lehmann’s articles.Both being very qualified and knowledgeable in different areas of study, Lehman simply uses her research and time resources fully and reaps the rewards of having a very strong opinion based around factual information based on the foundations of research. Lehman’s opinion will carry much more weight that Somerville’s which is based off unproven claims and research with no citations. When it comes to controversial topics such as euthanasia, it is important to collect as much information as possible before making an informed decision on whether to have it as an option to terminal patients or not.The decision made will impact people’s lives one way or another. It’s just a matter of which dec ision will have a greater benefit for the human population. Author. â€Å"Title of Article. † Name of Magazine. Name of Publisher, Day Mon. Year: Pages. Medium. Date you accessed it. Somerville, M. â€Å"Legalized Euthanasia Only A Breath Away. † Globe and Mail, 16 June. 2012. Retrieved October 14, 2012 Lehmann, L. â€Å"Redefining Physician’s Role in Assisted Dying. † New England Journal of Medicine, 12 July. 2012: 97-99. 367. Retrieved October 14, 2012 Word Count: 1195

Thursday, January 2, 2020

The Allegory Of The Cave, By M. Scott Peck Essay - 1592 Words

Sharmili Lakshmanan Dr. Mary Margaret Lobb HUMN 1301 September 26, 2016 The True Reality â€Å"Choosing a Map for Life,† by M. Scott Peck, â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave,† by Plato, â€Å"The Truman Show† and â€Å"Salvation† by Langston Hughes describe the views and perspective of the reality in our world. We have to get out, discover the world around and revise it. By setting up a map or goal and revising it in the world, will make us to control our perceptions and draw close to the reality. In the article â€Å"Choosing a Map for Life†, Scott Peck says about the accurate map will guide us to reach our goal in reality. He says that An accurate map provides solid guidance, but an incorrect map causes people to lose their way (Peck, 18). The more we get stronger about the reality, the more we will learn, achieve and understand this world. Peck also says that The more clearly we see the reality of the world, the better equipped we are to deal with the world(Peck, 19). He says that people tend to ignore the reality because it is painful and the people’s views are narrow and misleading. I think it’s true because by facing the reality, we get the experience and that helps us to differentiate the truth and fake. And also make us know who we are, what we can do in the future to make us reach our goal. In addition, Peck stated that â€Å"we have to continually revise them.The world itself is constantly changing.†(Peck,19) the world is keep changing, we have to make changes inShow MoreRelatedChoosing A Map For Life By M. Scott Peck1213 Words   |  5 PagesLobb HUMN 1301.04 September 21, 2015 Our reality â€Å"Choosing a Map for Life,† by M. Scott Peck, â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave,† by Plato, The Truman Show and â€Å"Salvation† by Langston Hughes describe the true reality in our world. They make us think about wherever that is true or false. Also, in order to find the truth, we have to get out, discover the world around and revise it. In the article â€Å"Choosing a Map for Life†, Scott Peck compares each person’s view and reality to a map—which is used to guide us through