History of the Department Store Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

History of the Department Store - Essay Example As our cities changed, the department store changed to meet the needs of the new demographics. While some suburbs flourished, inner cities fell into decline. By examining the history of the department store we can get a better look at the evolution of our American cities, and create a more effective plan for their future. The department store had its beginnings in New York when A T Stewart opened his legendary Marble Palace in 1846. This would be followed by Lord & Taylor, Macy's, Marshall Field, and Wanamaker who spared no luxury in opulent buildings, window displays, and the quality of merchandise. By the turn of the twentieth century the department store had become the hub of American inner city commerce. Owned by giants such as R. H. Macy, Marshall Fields, and A. T. Stewart, the stores reflected the name and reputation of their owners. The department store concept catapulted the owners to fame and notoriety as a1900 account of A T Stewart refers to him as "the acknowledged head of the mercantile world in this city and the sights on New York included AT Stewarts marble store downtown and Stewart's marble palace uptown" (From cellar to garret, 1900). These men that pioneered the department store helped define the geography of our cities and shape the demographics of consumerism. Department stores were created when the ability to move goods to a central location coincided with the ability to move customers to that location. Department stores were unique in their ability to offer a huge array of goods under one roof arranged in departments. "Such large retailers only became feasible when the horsecar or streetcar could deliver crowds to the central city. Department stores exploited economies in purchasing and distributing to a large market, which made them cheaper than the alternative, local neighborhood stores" (Nye, 1990, p.113). In addition, the stores utilized the concept of fixed pricing, which eliminated the need to haggle or bargain on a price. This would open the door for relatively inexperienced salesclerks that were often women. Of course, the success of the department store would be dependent upon attracting enough customers to make it a profitable venture. The introduction of the trolley car and railroad made this possible. The early department sto res were located along these lines of transportation and created the core of commerce and the inner city. In Chicago, P. Palmer ran a dry goods and carpet store in the downtown area and had foreseen the coming of the department store, and the importance of the inner city, with the success of the Marble Palace and Macy's in New York. "Palmer had correctly foreseen that State Street would become the burgeoning city's new central business district because of its location near an important transportation junction, and he invested wisely in real estate there" (Benes, 2006, p.72). In 1893, Marshall Field opened a store on Palmer's property amid the fanfare of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The store was an instant success as, "People would visit the store and then go home and tell their neighbors about it. The neighbors would come to marvel at the huge store-and to buy its rare and high-quality goods" (Benes, 2006, p.72). These department stores located in downtown areas would attract other

Drag Performance during the 1980's in NYC Research Paper - 1

Drag Performance during the 1980's in NYC - Research Paper Example Drag performance must be given deeper understanding to be able to see the superficial meaning and from this, we would understand the hidden structures of society. History of Drag Drag is originally used for clothing, significant and symbolic usually associated with the role of a certain gender when worn by the opposite gender. The term was originated Athens, Greece somewhere in the fourth century BCE, as a form of punishment across the streets. Drag is a symbolic word which does not simply means clothes. Men portrayal as women are manifested even way back thirteenth centuries when the church forbade females appearance on the stage and theaters. For hundreds of years, men are manifested to be dressing as women as a disguised to the opposite sex in theatrical presentations and stage shows. This has also been first traced back to the dawn of the theater as a sort of survival and since then, found to be manifested in all the corners of the world especially in Japan and in China. When the drag practices became popular in some parts of the world and accepted as a form of art among the men as drag artist, categories were defined according to professionalism in rendering drag artistry into the public. Kinds of drag artists like those who starred in movies vary professionalism. There are also called drag queens and mostly vary from their culture of their respective places. However, drag queens are always tagged as gay men or transgender but it is also relevant to say that there are also drag artist who do this for a reason considering the fact that they are a straight people or transvestites. Transvestites belong to different categories compared to drag queens who belong to the gay world, they are cross-dressers who generally straight men and were just dressing women’s dress for erotic reason. The appearance of the drag queen in print was first seen in 1941. Late 20th century defined the drag as an abbreviation of â€Å"dressed as girl† and as a counter pa rt, â€Å"drab† is the â€Å"dressed as boy† but this was never published and unrecorded. Drag is being practiced by people of all sexual orientations as well as gender identities. Charles Busch and Theater in Limbo Laying down some important information about Charles Busch, he is born in August 23, 1954 in New York, NY. Busch is an American, an actor and a playwright. Since he have started in the industry, he already achieved 25 stage appearances, 5 in films, 6 TV appearances and 26 stage plays. For around a longer period of time of Busch in the industry, in 1984 he was able to break the wall of competition and stand out among the rest in theater-in-Limbo. This was presented at the Limbo lounge at East Village’s. This was followed in the Avenue C and when the show hits a record as high, this was transferred to the Provincetown Playhouse in the West Village where it ran for around five years consecutively. The continuous exposure of Busch brought him to enormous success that made him held as the queen of drag among the theaters in the city. Moreover, he was also nominated in 2001 at the Tony award for the Best Play â€Å"the Tale of the Allergist’s Wife that ran for 22 months in Broadway. Over the years, Busch shows craftsmanship in doing and sharing his talents not only in the American

Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard Overview

Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard Overview Elizabeth Rogers Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard History The origins of the Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard, or METS, can be traced back to a 1996 attempt by The University of California Berkley to address the institutions inability to rebind pages of a book once they had been digitized. The program created by UC Berkley, called Ebind, was not successful. However, it paved the way for another attempt at solving this problem, the Making of America II Project. This project, started in 1998, was taken on by several U.S. universities, including UC Berkley (McDonough, 2005). While MOA2 was a step in the right direction towards the organization of digital objects, it was discovered that MOA2 had limited ability to fulfill this role. In 2001, a group of libraries working on digital library development programs decided that a replacement for MOA2 was needed, which led to the development of METS (McDonough, 2005). Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard Importance and Significance When an institution creates metadata for a resource, particularly a book, the metadata can be used to aide users in finding the book, and helps the library keep an accurate account of its collection and holdings. However, if the library fails to create accurate structural metadata, that does not mean the resource is lost or that the pages of the book will be forever separated. The same cannot be said of books once they are digitized. When a book is digitized, each page becomes a separate resource, and before the creation of METS, there was no encoding standard that provided a platform to create the structural metadata necessary to digitally bind these resources to ensure that they would be findable and able to used and evaluated as a cohesive unit (METS: An Overview Tutorial, 2016). Brad Westbrook, a librarian at the University of California in San Diego, describes METS as an XML standard that is a type of digital wrapper. It functions to relate the components of a digital resource (Rose, 2005). METS was specifically created for the digital library community to allow for the digitization and encoding of complex digital objects, like books or presentations. These resources can contain a variety of parts as well as different types of files. For example, one presentation can contain text files, images, video, and sound files. Using the structural metadata elements included in METS, institutions can ensure that all components of a resource are linked, even if they are stored in different places. METS also enables institutions to use structural metadata to control the presentation of resources and ensure that the objects are presented in the way they were intended to be (Rose, 2005). As previously stated, METS was born out of MOA2. METS did not replace MOA2, but rather built upon the work that had already been done. One of the major shortcomings of MOA2 was its lack of flexibility at the local level with administrative and descriptive metadata elements. METS allows for flexibility at the local level with administrative and descriptive metadata, as it does not require either of these to be included in an objects METS document. If descriptive or administrative metadata are used, METS does not require the use of controlled vocabularies for many elements, and allows for the use of whatever metadata element set the record creator chooses, furthering its increased flexibility over MOA2 (McDonough, 2005). Additionally, MOA2 was limited by its ability to encode only texts and still image media. MOA2 was unable to encode audio or video resources. Even in 2001, this would pose a significant challenge to any library with a well-developed collection that was serious about di gitizing all of its resources (McDonough, 2005). METS gives institutions and repositories the ability to encode audio and video resources, in addition to print objects. Finally, METS was created to allow for improved sharing of digital objects between repositories, which MOA2 could not facilitate (McDonough, 2005). Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard Schema Description METS documents are created using XML, so that the document is machine readable. A METS document can include up to seven sections, METS header, descriptive metadata, administrative metadata, file inventory, structural map, structural links, and a behaviors section. The only required, and most important, section for a METS document is the structural map. The structural map defines a hierarchical structure for a digital object, this section is where the relationship between the digital objects files is described. The information found in this section is what allows users to more easily look through a digital object, much in the way a user would look through a physical book. The structural map can also links the objects digital files back to their descriptive and administrative metadata (McDonough, 2005). The structural map is a unique aspect of this scheme because it can be represented by an actual diagram that illustrates the relationships between the parts of an object and the objects metadata. Another unique section of the METS document is the structural links section. This section is generally used in the archiving of websites. It allows the document creator to record hyperlinks between items in the structural map. A METS structural map can show the page hierarchy of a website, showing the relationship between a parent page and subsequent child pages underneath it. The structural links section allows for the recording of links between the child pages that would not be displayed in a traditional hierarchical organizational structure (METS: An Overview Tutorial, 2016). The behaviors section of a METS document is used to record behavioral metadata. This section records any metadata related to software or applications that may be needed to view, or use, a digital object. The behaviors section enables institutions to exercise control over how users experience a digital object. However, this section can also create significant challenges for repositories. Software and applicat ions change consistently and often, rapidly. If a behavior changes, a repository manager would need to modify the record for every object associated with this behavior (McDonough, 2005). The seven required sections of a METS document are also some of the top level elements used in METS. Other elements unique to METS include, structural requirements, technical requirements, maintenance agency, behavior files, and description rules. This is a departure from other schemas that tend to include top level elements that lend themselves solely towards descriptive metadata. In METS, these traditional descriptive elements are found within the descriptive metadata element. Here, elements from Dublin Core, MARC, MODS, EAD and VRA can be wrapped inside METS sub elements to describe the digital work (METS: An Overview Tutorial, 2016). This distinction is important because it reinforces that while METS does allow for the inclusion of descriptive metadata, its focus is on the administrative and structural metadata that is necessary to maintain the objects original structure and presentation. Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard Resources METS Schema Documentation. (2016, August 9). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/mets-schemadocs.html Schema Documentation. (2011, July 1). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/profile_docs/mets.profile.v1-2.html METS: An Overview Tutorial. (2016, February 9). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/METSOverview.v2.html#structlink Rose, Trish. (Summer 2005). METS: A Data Standard for Access and Preservation Now and Into the Future. Digital Letters, 8, 1-4. McDonough, Jerome. (2006, February 1). METS: standardized encoding for digital library objects. International Journal on Digital Libraries, 148-158. Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard Example Alabama blues Lomax, Alan 1915-2002 Recordist Hurston, Zora Neale Recordist Barnicle, Mary Elizabeth 1891-1978 Recordist Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard Conclusion METS was created in response to a void in the Library and Information Science community, with respect to archiving digital objects. Repositories that curate digital objects are tasked with organizing and disseminating a number of resources that can far exceed the collections of institutions with only physical objects in their collections. Once objects become digitized, they also present the unique challenge of taking on characteristics they did not possess as physical objects. In addition to their physical characteristics, these objects now have digital characteristics as well. Ensuring the that the integrity of the objects remain intact is important, if the objects are going to best serve patrons and users. The encoding scheme provided by METS enables institutions to organize and display vast collections of digital objects, while maintaining the objects integrity. METS achieved the flexibility that institutions felt MOA2 was lacking. However, one of the challenges presented by increased flexibility can be decreased interoperability. The lack of controlled vocabularies and required schema elements in METS makes it more difficult for individual repositories to share digital objects that have been encoded using METS. The future of METS will be focused on overcoming this challenge, and working towards interoperability between repositories. Jerome McDonough suggests that the creation of METS profiles by institutions is a step that can be taken on the road towards interoperability. In a METS profile document, institutions can detail restrictions on, and guidelines for, creating METS documents. Institutions can include directions about the schema and controlled vocabularies that should be used in the creation of METS documents. Additionally, McDonough suggests that a METS profile could contain guidelines for the forms that should be used for digital objects. This way, repositories could easily communicate with each other regarding the forms of objects that can accept and give. (McDonough, 2006). The LOCs METS website already has information on developing a METS profile for a digital object and describes the requirements for a complete profile. The requirements laid out by the LOC for a METS profile include information about an objects title and creation date, contact information, related profiles, profile context, external schema, rules of description, controlled vocabularies, structural requirements, technical requirements, tools and applications, and examples. (METS Profile Components, 2011). As more institutions start to adopt this profile format, they will be able to move towards increased sharing of metadata and records. Categories for the Description of Works of Art History Cataloging non-print items has always proved challenging for the Library and Information Science community. The uniqueness of the objects held by galleries and museums makes standardization and interoperability difficult. As a possible answer to this conundrum, Categories for the Description of Works of Art, or CDWA was developed. CDWA can trace its roots back to the early 1990s when it was created by the Art Information Task Force, also known as the AITF. This task force was comprised of art historians, museum curators and registrars, visual resource professionals, art librarians, information managers, and technical specialists. CDWA is the basis for CDWA Lite, an XML schema used to describe works of art that was developed out of CDWA (Categories for the Description of Works of Art: Introduction, 2015). Categories for the Description of Work of Art Importance and Significance The art documentation and museum communities realized that developing a data structure standard for the explicit purpose of describing art, architecture, and material culture was a necessity (Baca, 2007). As the community was developing and changing, so was its need to describe its collections and holdings. Traditional data structure standards and schema, such as MARC, were primarily intended to describe textual works, as evidenced by the data element sets that include elements such as creator and publisher. These elements simply dont apply to visual works of art. In contrast the CDWA includes 532 categories and subcategories directly related to visual works of art (Baca, 2007). It was important for this community to develop a schema that had a wide variety of categories because repositories, like art museums that hold a wide variety of objects. Art objects can include textiles, paintings, pottery, sculpture, and works of architecture just to name a few. With the development of CDWA this community finally had the data structure standard it needed. However, CDWA is not able to be expressed in a machine-readable form. To be able to make this data machine readable, and thus more sharable, another standard needed to be developed by this community. In response to this need, CDWA Lite was created. Now, the art documentation and museum communities had an XML schema that was based off CDWA. Though this schema does not contain as many categories and subcategories and CDWA, CDWA Lite still achieves great depth and flexibility with over 300 elements and sub elements (Baca, 2007). Categories for the Description of Works of Art Schema Description The Getty Institute describes the purpose of CDWA on its website stating, The Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA) are a set of guidelines for best practice in cataloging and describing works of art, architecture, other material culture, groups and collections of works, and related images, arranged in a conceptual framework that may be used for designing databases and accessing information (Categories for the Description of Works of Art: Introduction, 2015). The category/subcategory sets for CDWA are vast and allow for detailed and accurate descriptions of these types of collections and holdings. CDWA has several core categories that are strongly recommended to be included in the description of a work using this schema. While the IATF states that they feel the core categories represent the minimum information necessary to uniquely and unambiguously identify and describe a particular work of art or architecture, they concede that ultimately which core categories to in clude should depend on a particular institutions purpose and users (CDWA List of Categories and Definitions, 2014). The core categories in CDWA are object/work, classification, title or names, creation, measurements, materials and techniques, subject matter, current location, related textual references, person/corporate body authority, place/location authority, generic concept authority, and subject authority (Categories for the Description of Works of Art: Categories, 2014). These categories clearly lend themselves to describing works of art and differentiate this schema from others like Dublin Core or MARC. In contrast, CDWA Lite requires fewer elements, presenting instead a core description of the object (Baca, 2007). Per its website Getty explains that the purpose of CDWA Lite is to describe a format for core records for works of art and material culture, based on the data elements and guidelines contained in the Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA) and Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO) (CDWA Lite: Specification for an XML Schema for Contributing Records via the OAI Harvesting Protocol, 2006). Records created with CDWA Lite are less detailed that those created using CDWA intentionally, so that they represent the essence of the work. Murtha Baca of the Getty Research institute says The goal of the CDWA Lite schema is to provide core descriptive metadata about cultural works-i.e., an essential metadata record that can be easily shared and contributed to union resources and that provides enough information to enable users to understand what the work is and what instituti on owns it (Baca, 2007). The core categories recommended by the IATF for CDWA are the basis for the twenty-two high level elements in the CDWA Lite schema. In this schema elements 1-19 deal with descriptive metadata and elements 20-22 deal with administrative metadata. (CDWA Lite: Specification for an XML Schema for Contributing Records via the OAI Harvesting Protocol, 2006). Within CDWA Lite, only nine of the twenty-two top level elements are required. These elements are, object/work type wrapper, title wrapper, display creator, indexing creator wrapper, display materials/techniques, indexing dates wrapper, location/repository wrapper, and record wrapper (CDWA Lite: Specification for an XML Schema for Contributing Records via the OAI Harvesting Protocol, 2006). One of most unique features of CDWA and CDWA Lite is that within the required categories and elements, there are recommended sub elements and sub categories. For example, within the creation category for CDWA the following sub categories are also strongly recommended, creator description, creator identity, creator role, creation date, earliest date, and latest date. (CDWA List of Categories and Definitions, 2014). There are considerably more recommended categories and subcategories required by CDWA than other metadata schemas I have encountered thus far. The inclusion of such a wide variety of elements and sub elements is essential when an institution holds objects in its collection that all possess distinct characteristics. Another interesting aspect of this schema is the harvesting ability of CDWA Lite. CDWA Lite records foster interoperability between museums and other institutions that use the Open Archives Initiative, or OAI by allowing repositories to harvest metadata from one another (CDWA Lite: Specification for an XML Schema for Contributing Records via the OAI Harvesting Protocol, 2006). According to Murtha Baca of the Getty Research Institute this is an advantage because the metadata comes from (or should come from) the institution that owns the corresponding objects or items, and is therefore accurate and authoritative (Baca, 2007). As was mentioned earlier, an XML record that is created using CDWA Lite represents only the most core information about the work. This was done to make the harvesting of metadata using this schema achievable and manageable (Baca, 2007). Categories for the Description of Works of Art Resources Categories for the Description of Works of Art: Introduction. (2015, October 6). Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/cdwa/introduction.html Categories for the Description of Works of Art: Categories. (2014, April 9). Retrieved March 19, 2017, from http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/cdwa/categories.html Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA). (2012, August 9). Retrieved March 23, 2017, from http://www2.archivists.org/groups/standards-committee/categories-for-the-description-of-works-of-art-cdwa CDWA Lite: Specification for an XML Schema for Contributing Records via the OAI Harvesting Protocol. (2006, July 17). Retrieved March 22, 2017, from http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/cdwa/cdwalite.pdf Baca, Murtha. (Spring 2007). CCO and CDW Lite: Complementary Data Content and Data Format Standards for Art and Material Culture Information. VRA Bulltein, Vol. 34, Number 1, 1-8. Categories for the Description of Works of Art Example 12345 http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o1091.html 12346 http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o1092.html 98077 full view, oblique view from the right front corner general view oblique view 1996 98076 detail of the desktop with inlaid coat of arms overhead view detail view coat of arms Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard Conclusion Museums and art institutions recognized the need for a cataloging system that enabled them to accurately represent the works held in their collections which led to the development of CDWA. As more institutions and repositories began to develop digital collections, a new need also arose. Institutions that previously had distinct collections found themselves having the same digitized copies of works in their online repositories. Interoperability, which wasnt as a great of a need before now needed to be realized. It was this realization that led CDWA Lite. Both CDWA and CDWA Lite have element and sub element sets with a great amount of depth that are specific to describing works of art. Within CDWA this allows for the development of rich and accurate records. Within both CDWA and CDWA Lite the element and sub element sets allow institutions to use one system to catalog a variety of works that have dissimilar properties. This need sets this community apart from the library and archival communities which mainly house textual objects. These schemas rely heavily on descriptive metadata, and most of the elements in the CDWA and CDWA Lite element sets fall under the descriptive metadata umbrella. Through CDWA Lite institutions are also able to harvest metadata from each other, enabling museums and art repositories to create accurate and up to date records for digitized works. CDWA and CDWA Lite are still relatively young schemas, CDWA just reached is barely twenty years old. Considering the future of the schemas, one change that may come for CDWA Lite is the inclusion of more of the elements and sub elements from CDWA (CDWA Lite: Specification for an XML Schema for Contributing Records via the OAI Harvesting Protocol, 2006). Adding more elements to CDWA Lite would enable museums to make the metadata for more of the objects in their collections harvestable and would increase the quality of the harvested metadata. It will be exciting to see how this schema develops and continues to improve standardized cataloging and interoperability in the museums and art repository communities. Works Cited: Baca, Murtha. (Spring 2007). CCO and CDW Lite: Complementary Data Content and Data Format Standards for Art and Material Culture Information. VRA Bulltein, Vol. 34, Number 1, 1-8. Categories for the Description of Works of Art: Introduction. (2015, October 6). Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/cdwa/introduction.html Categories for the Description of Works of Art: Categories. (2014, April 9). Retrieved March 19, 2017, from http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/cdwa/categories.html Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA). (2012, August 9). Retrieved March 23, 2017, from http://www2.archivists.org/groups/standards-committee/categories-for-the-description-of-works-of-art-cdwa CDWA List of Categories and Definitions. (2014). Retrievied March 23, 2017 from https://getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/cdwa/definitions.pdf CDWA Lite: Specification for an XML Schema for Contributing Records via the OAI Harvesting Protocol. (2006, July 17). Retrieved March 22, 2017, from http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/cdwa/cdwalite.pdf McDonough, Jerome. (2006, February 1). METS: standardized encoding for digital library objects. International Journal on Digital Libraries, 148-158. METS Example Documents. (2016, February 9). Retrieved March 14, 2017, from https://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/mets-examples.html METS: An Overview Tutorial. (2016, February 9). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/METSOverview.v2.html#structlink METS Schema Documentation. (2016, August 9). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/mets-schemadocs.html Rose, Trish. (Summer 2005). METS: A Data Standard for Access and Preservation Now and Into the Future. Digital Letters, 8, 1-4. Schema Documentation. (2011, July 1). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/profile_docs/mets.profile.v1-2.html

Teaching Argument Evaluation in An Introductory Philosophy Course Essay

Teaching Argument Evaluation in An Introductory Philosophy Course ABSTRACT: One of the greatest challenges in teaching an introductory philosophy course is convincing students that there are, indeed, reliable standards for the evaluation of arguments. Too often introductory students criticize an argument simply by contesting the truth of one of its claims. And far too often, the only claim in an argument that meets serious objections is its conclusion. For many students, the idea that an argument displays a structure which can be evaluated on its own terms is not very difficult to grasp. Unfortunately, the idea is grasped only in an abstract way, with insufficient appreciation of how structural problems manifest themselves in concrete arguments, and without the vocabulary for formulating structural criticisms. But this paper is not simply about teaching logic, it is about pedagogy. Our task is to instill in the student the habit of clear thinking. When we send our students out into the world, we have to ensure that they are prepared for it. Introduction One of the greatest challenges in teaching an introductory philosophy course is convincing students that there are, indeed, reliable standards for the evaluation of arguments. Too often introductory students criticise an argument simply by contesting the truth of one of its claims. And far too often the only claim in an argument that meets serious objections is its conclusion. For many students, the idea that an argument displays a structure which can be evaluated on its own terms is not very difficult to grasp; unfortunately, the idea is grasped only in an abstract way, with insufficient appreciation of how structural problems manifest themselves in concrete arguments, ... ... extended arguments can be explained in terms of sufficiency, a concept that the student can easily grasp by seeing how a proposition presented as belonging to one of the linked arguments may also be employed as a premise in another of the arguments. Assignments: Several chain syllogisms. Session 6 This session should be devoted to the examination of the limitations of term logic. It has proved useful to consider simple arguments that make use of very basic truth-functional logic (modus ponens, modus tollens, and the hypothetical syllogism are easily enough explained). While these can usually be translated without too much effort into the form of a categorical syllogism, the awkwardness of doing so is clearly prohibitive. At this point, however, the battle is already won. The students are actively engaged in the logical analysis and evaluation of arguments.

Martin Luther King and Henry DavidThoreau Essay

However with different motives; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau were both admirable men that strived for a better government. As respected spokesmen they served as rebels against what they thought to be bad one’s stopping at nothing. Not even jail. Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. were both brilliant men. Thoreau’s â€Å"Civil Obedience† and Dr. King’s â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† are perfect examples of their intellect. Looking at these documents and observing the tactics they use while attempting to move their audience toward their ultimate goal, one can see the finesse that both men possessed. Thoreau and Dr. King lived during two different centuries. So being that they were vocalist and activist on the current issues it’s almost certain that they would have a different motive. Even though their motive was ‘poles apart’, differing in many ways, both Thoreau and Dr. King wrote with the aspiration of obtaining a new form of government presumably resembling the republican one we exercise today. Although awfully controversial, to do so both men felt nonverbal actions such as breaking the laws was the only effective way. In spite of the fact that it’s relatively ironic, they viewed going to jail in order to make a mockery of an immoral or impractical laws put in place by the government was â€Å"the very highest respect for law (King para. 5).†Henry David Thoreau motive for rebelling against the government was to make it more of a democratic one. He had no respect for the way it was being ran. His proclaimed problem basically summed up to be that he felt the government was being ran like a monarchy, or in other words by a selective few and not an entire society as it should. It simply wasn’t up to par according to his standards; for he stated this â€Å"I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government (para. 4).†Unlike Henry David Thoreau, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an African American during the times of segregation. This alone is a critical manipulating variable in the equation of why the two’s motive wasn’t the same. Dr. King was all about helping America move towards a desegregated future. He had zeal towards annihilating all unjust laws which he stated to be â€Å"a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating†¦ (para. 4),† but for the most part he had an overall respect for the government. In conclusion, it’s safe to say that other than race and motive Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. were pretty similar. They both were men of their own opinion that could be classified as moralized radicals. As spokesmen of their time they were both good at what they did. Through the form of speeches, protest, letters, and etcetera they both exemplified â€Å"Civil Disobedience (Thoreau). â€Å"Thoreau, Henry D. Civil Disobedience. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1849. 263-287. King Jr., Dr. Martin L. â€Å"Letter from Birmingham City Jail.† 16 Apr.-May 1963. Birmingham: Charles Moore, 1963. 1.

New Technology

New technologies that are being developed by the minute provide great convenience to today’s people. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine going about one’s daily tasks without the help of new technologies. Thus, every aspect of modern living, such as transportation, education, banking, manufacturing, and communication depend on modern technologies. Aside from the conveniences brought about by newly developed technologies, there is a host of opportunities that come along with these technologies.However, alongside the various technologies that make modern living easier, serious dangers and threats are also being developed, either consciously or otherwise. These threats are often posed against the security of information, and commonly consist of viruses and worms. Certain criminal and immoral acts that have been committed as a response to new technologies, such as information theft, also pose a threat to the safety of data.These threats come in various forms, and can range f rom simple delays and additional cost to graver consequences such as theft of money and other property. Worse, the dangers brought about by new technology could lead to blackmail and revelation of trade secrets. These dangers pose serious threat, not only to individuals, but more importantly, to institutions, businesses, and the government. Confidential information that is obtained without authority from government sites could produce dire consequences.The government, because of its role in society, necessarily keeps loads of information about its citizens, its agencies, and its national security. These data are kept by the government to serve its various roles as protector of society and provider of basic needs and services. These data are also made available to the government because of its unique position, and are not meant to be made available to everyone. If vital information is leaked or brought into the hands of the wrong people, there is no limit to the kind of damage that c an arise.Those individuals and organizations that are concerned with keeping their files private should take steps to protect their computer systems. Thus, there should be systems or individuals whose task it would be to protect computer systems and files from unauthorized access or from viruses.These reasons are the primary reasons why new courses are being offered in colleges and universities nowadays, which courses aim to train people on the business of ensuring the safety of computer information. One such field of specialization is called information assurance.The recent developments in information and computer technology and the resulting negative effects in the safety of businesses, institutions, and governments give rise to various opportunities to information assurance professionals. The field of information assurance involves people, policies, procedures, and computer equipment and programs that aim to protect information and computer systems.The development and proliferati on of new viruses and worms and the discovery of new techniques of obtaining information without authority challenge information assurance professionals to similarly develop new ways of dealing with the risks and threats. Moreover, there is a continuing challenge to professionals in this field to evolve as fast as the other side is evolving. Information assurance professionals must always be prepared to counteract whichever step is taken by people who want to destroy existing computer infrastructure.Thus, there is always a challenge to information assurance professionals to be able to provide information as they are needed by the end users, maintain the integrity of the information, ensure the authenticity of information through verification methods, maintain the confidentiality of information, and provide proof of the integrity and origin of data.The growing complexity of computer infrastructure and the increased use and dependence on computer systems all over the world made inform ation assurance a necessity.   The duties of an information assurance, consisting mainly of closing loopholes that may be used by unscrupulous hackers, are exciting and interesting.Thus, it has become my heart’s desire to study information assurance so that I may learn the fundamentals of computer infrastructure. I want to learn how to create, develop, and maintain a system of checks and quality controls that could help organizations protect their valuable and confidential data. I want to be at the forefront of the fight against dishonorable abuses of the computing technology. I want to be an expert in detecting and controlling any unauthorized intrusion to an organization’s computer infrastructure. This way, I am able to serve a vital role in society, that of protecting privacy and integrity of valuable information. New technology New technologies that are being developed by the minute provide great convenience to today’s people. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine going about one’s daily tasks without the help of new technologies. Thus, every aspect of modern living, such as transportation, education, banking, manufacturing, and communication depend on modern technologies. Aside from the conveniences brought about by newly developed technologies, there is a host of opportunities that come along with these technologies.However, alongside the various technologies that make modern living easier, serious dangers and threats are also being developed, either consciously or otherwise. These threats are often posed against the security of information, and commonly consist of viruses and worms. Certain criminal and immoral acts that have been committed as a response to new technologies, such as information theft, also pose a threat to the safety of data.These threats come in various forms, and can range f rom simple delays and additional cost to graver consequences such as theft of money and other property. Worse, the dangers brought about by new technology could lead to blackmail and revelation of trade secrets. These dangers pose serious threat, not only to individuals, but more importantly, to institutions, businesses, and the government. Confidential information that is obtained without authority from government sites could produce dire consequences.The government, because of its role in society, necessarily keeps loads of information about its citizens, its agencies, and its national security. These data are kept by the government to serve its various roles as protector of society and provider of basic needs and services. These data are also made available to the government because of its unique position, and are not meant to be made available to everyone. If vital information is leaked or brought into the hands of the wrong people, there is no limit to the kind of damage that c an arise.Those individuals and organizations that are concerned with keeping their files private should take steps to protect their computer systems. Thus, there should be systems or individuals whose task it would be to protect computer systems and files from unauthorized access or from viruses.These reasons are the primary reasons why new courses are being offered in colleges and universities nowadays, which courses aim to train people on the business of ensuring the safety of computer information. One such field of specialization is called information assurance.The recent developments in information and computer technology and the resulting negative effects in the safety of businesses, institutions, and governments give rise to various opportunities to information assurance professionals. The field of information assurance involves people, policies, procedures, and computer equipment and programs that aim to protect information and computer systems.The development and proliferati on of new viruses and worms and the discovery of new techniques of obtaining information without authority challenge information assurance professionals to similarly develop new ways of dealing with the risks and threats. Moreover, there is a continuing challenge to professionals in this field to evolve as fast as the other side is evolving. Information assurance professionals must always be prepared to counteract whichever step is taken by people who want to destroy existing computer infrastructure.Thus, there is always a challenge to information assurance professionals to be able to provide information as they are needed by the end users, maintain the integrity of the information, ensure the authenticity of information through verification methods, maintain the confidentiality of information, and provide proof of the integrity and origin of data.The growing complexity of computer infrastructure and the increased use and dependence on computer systems all over the world made inform ation assurance a necessity.   The duties of an information assurance, consisting mainly of closing loopholes that may be used by unscrupulous hackers, are exciting and interesting.Thus, it has become my heart’s desire to study information assurance so that I may learn the fundamentals of computer infrastructure. I want to learn how to create, develop, and maintain a system of checks and quality controls that could help organizations protect their valuable and confidential data. I want to be at the forefront of the fight against dishonorable abuses of the computing technology. I want to be an expert in detecting and controlling any unauthorized intrusion to an organization’s computer infrastructure. This way, I am able to serve a vital role in society, that of protecting privacy and integrity of valuable information.