Zeigarnik Effect Essay Example For Students

Zeigarnik Effect Essay University of California Peer Reviewed Title: Technostress in the Bionic Library Author: Kupersmith, John Publication Date: 01-01-1998 Publication Info: Postprints, UC Berkeley Permalink: http://escholarship. org/uc/item/1hc8s95x Citation: Kupersmith, John. (1998). Technostress in the Bionic Library. UC Berkeley: Retrieved from: http:// escholarship. org/uc/item/1hc8s95x Additional Info: John Kupersmith, Technostress in the Bionic Library . Originally published in Cheryl LaGuardia, ed. , Recreating the Academic Library: Breaking Virtual Ground, (New York: Neal-Schuman, 1998), pp. 3-47. Original Citation: John Kupersmith, Technostress in the Bionic Library. Originally published in Cheryl LaGuardia, ed. , Recreating the Academic Library: Breaking Virtual Ground, (New York: Neal-Schuman, 1998), pp. 23-47. Keywords: technostress, computer-related stress, technology, information systems, libraries Abstract: Computer-related stress, sometimes called â€Å"technostress,† affects sta ff and users as libraries offer more and more information through web sites and other remotely accessible electronic systems. We will write a custom essay on Zeigarnik Effect specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now This paper looks at technostress in the context of general stress theory, the Zeigarnik Effect, and the concept of sensemaking. It suggests ways in which library web developers, system designers and managers can reduce stress-related problems. 2008 updates: In the ten years since it was published, this paper has held up fairly well overall. Ive added some notes in the text to acknowledge conditions that have changed. I am grateful to the late Dr. Ilene Rockman, Manager of the California State University Libraries Information Competence Initiative and editor of Reference Services Review, for reviewing an earlier version of these updates. eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. 1 The Bionic Library As readers of this volume are well aware, academic libraries are offering ncreasingly copious and diverse information in electronic form for local and remote access. These electronic services began with online library catalogs, have come to include bibliographic, full-text, and image databases, and, through the use of Internet tools such as the World Wide Web, are rapidly evolving into networked information spaces where users can identify and locate both printed and electronic items, retrieve the latter, and communicate via e-mail with expert guides (e. g. , the library staff). At the same time, the physical library continues to exist and even thrive, acquiring, organizing, and serving up large quantities of material in print and other non-electronic formats to substantial numbers of students and faculty. 2008: Thrive may not be the first word that springs to mind when you read this ARL document, which shows significant declines in reference and circulation transactions between 1995 and 2006 (http://www. arl. org/bm~doc/arl-br-256-stats. pdf). But the results are mixed, with attendance at group presentations increasing. In any case, stress on staff caused by declining library usage only reinforces that caused by technology. Thus it seems likely that academic libraries will continue to operate in both modes for some time. In coining the term bionic library to describe this hybrid concept, Harold Billings also alluded to the variety of reactions among potential users: To some scholars, the concept of an electronic library is paradise at hand; to others, it is absolutely frightening. I suggest that libraries are evolving as bionic libraries; organic, evolutionary, and electronically enhanced. Library collections will continue, perdurable with books and journals, but for some information sources available via remote workstations, the library will soon never sleep The old and new library systems will become assimilated and intertwined. The library is also bionic in the sense that it comprises not only facilities and formats, but also the essential human elements: users and staff. The success of any library system, after all, rests not on how well the design works on paper, in the abstract, but on how readily people will accept it and how effectively they can use it. And it is the biological components of the library that embrace or reject the new technologies; fulfill or frustrate the intentions of system designers; 2 and, especially in these times of change, experience the kind of anxiety and disorientation known as technostress. Stress and Technostress It hardly need be stated here that stress plays a critical and problematic role in modern life. Most modern stress theory is based on the work of Hans Selye, who defined three stages of reaction to stressors in the environment: alarm, resistance, and (in extreme cases where stress is serious and prolonged) exhaustion. 2] While stressors can be pleasant or unpleasant and stress can have positive effects—energizing a person, focusing attention, and stimulating behaviors of engagement and constructive adaptation—generally speaking it is the negative aspect of distress that merits our attention here. Symptoms of stress may be physical (e. g. , muscle tension, rapid heartbeat, dry mouth and throat, shallow breathing, headaches, gastric problems), cognitive (mental fatigue, inability to concentrate, poor judgment), affective (irritability, anxiety, mental fatigue, depression), or behavioral (impulsiveness, avoidance, withdrawal, loss of appetite, insomnia). Other researchers have emphasized the importance of the individuals appraisal of a potential stressor (a charging rhino thus eliciting a stronger reaction than a balky hypertext link), the degree to which the individual perceives that he/she can control the situation, personality differences and social support mechanisms that affect individuals reactions and adaptability, and the additive and cumulative effects of multiple stressors, including both negative and positive life events. Compounding the effects of multiple stressors is the phenomenon known as the Zeigarnik effect, which confirms a common human experience: interrupted tasks tend to be remembered better than completed tasks, especially when the individual is highly involved in the task and when the interruption is unplanned. This helps explain why staff and users of the bionic library, juggling a host of tasks, tend to carry around (and experience continuing stress from) their mental to-do lists, and why many find it diff icult to derive much satisfaction from completed tasks. Computers—or, more correctly, the ways in which people and organizations perceive, use, and relate to computers—are a potent source of stress, in the bionic library as elsewhere. Craig Brod, who introduced the term technostress in 1984, defined it as: a modern disease of adaptation caused by an inability to cope with the new computer technologies in a healthy manner. It manifests itself in two distinct and related ways: in the struggle to accept computer technology, and in the more specialized form of overidentification with computer technology. The primary symptom of those who are ambivalent, reluctant, or fearful of computers is anxiety. This anxiety is expressed in many ways: irritability, headaches, nightmares, resistance to learning about the computer, or outright rejection of the technology. Technoanxiety most commonly afflicts those who feel pressured—by employer, peers, or the general culture—to accept and use computers. 3 As Brod suggests, technostress takes several forms. Physical problems such as repetitive strain injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, or back problems result from poor machine design or ergonomics. Computer anxiety comprises several problems, ranging from temporary confusion over how to use a system, to feelings of being rushed or dehumanized by the computer, to the distinct and more pervasive fear known as computerphobia or technophobia. At the other end of the attitudinal spectrum, those who are highly positive about and involved with computers also experience technostress. This effect can be quite subtle, as when people attempt to match their thinking and behavior to that of computer systems, especially when the interface design does little to adapt the underlying functions of the machine to human perceptions and behavior. Margaret Stiegs description of technostress underscores these effects: To use any technology successfully, the user is forced to conform to its patterns. The computer has profoundly altered our sense of time, a change with many aspects. It has made possible greater efficiency, therefore greater efficiency is now required. The computer requires immediate response. Many of us find the blinking cursor tyrannical and somewhat unnerving . The acceleration of work the computer has brought inhibits reflection, which in turn inhibits nderstanding. All of these characteristics impart a greater sense of urgency to the worker, a compulsion not to waste time, a consciousness of stress. 2008: Web interfaces have replaced the tyranny of the blinking cursor with multiple visible options waiting for a mouse click or other user action. This is a great improvement if the interface is well designed, but fast response times on high-speed networks and the growing number of computer-related tasks have combined to increase time pressure on most library users and staff. The same phenomenon is reflected in a recent handbook from a business consulting firm, intended to help corporate employees adjust to the fast-changing, computerized, global workplace: you need to operate with a strong sense of urgency. Accelerate in all aspects of your work, even if it means living with a few more ragged edges. Sure, high quality is crucial, but it must come quickly. You cant sacrifice speed. Learn to fail fast, fix it, and race on. Any change in a persons life, whether positive or negative, can produce stress. Technostress is especially likely to occur when new technologies are being introduced. Users of any computer system rely on their mental models to help them navigate among its various components and form assumptions about what will result from various actions. When the technology changes, the old models no longer function; the more complex and less obvious the technology, the more difficult it is to form new ones. As Karl E. Weick points out in his analysis of this sensemaking process: New technologies create unusual problems in sensemaking for managers and operators. For example, people now face the novel problem of how to recover from incomprehensible failures in computer systems. To solve this problem, people must 4 assume the role of failure managers who are heavily dependent on their mental models of what might have happened, although they can never be sure because so much is concealed. Complex systems make limited sense because so little is visible and so much is transient, and they make many different kinds of sense because the dense interactions that occur within them can be modeled in so many different ways. 12] These general aspects of technostress affect both staff and users of the bionic library; but because these groups are in somewhat different situations, they are treated separately in the following discussion. Effects on Staff By the nature of their work, librarians, like other members of the so-called helping professions, are subject to chronic stress, from multiple sources, in situations over which they have (or perceive that they have) little control. Several studies have documented this stress, and the related (though distinct and less common) phenomenon of burnout. The effects of technostress on librarians have been described by Bartlett, Bichteler, Champion, Clark and Kalin, Dobb, Hickey et al, Hudiberg, Moreland, and Sievert et al. The related problem of resistance to technological change in libraries has been addressed by Fine, Malinconico, Luguire, and Giesbrecht and McCarthy. 15] Although technostress affects all areas of the library, staff in public services such as reference and interlibrary loan are most directly impacted by the convergence of online catalogs, electronic search and delivery systems, and remote access. The type of stress affecting reference staff in the increasingly electronic library has been characterized as having four components: †¢ Performance anxiety: the feeling that one cannot use the systems effectively or help others to do so; particularly difficult for those whose high standards and ser vice ethic extend to perfectionism. Information overload: the sensation of being overwhelmed by the volume of new systems, databases, interfaces, and service initiatives. According to one recent estimate, reference staff in a university library deal with a minimum of 30-50 different types of software for various on-line, CD-ROM, and word processing uses. Role conflicts: uncertainty and confusion about ones proper role—novice or expert, intermediary or teacher, reactive helper or proactive change agent. Organizational factors: the disparity between increasing demand (volume of work, rising expectations of users) and static or decreasing resources (insufficient staff, poor training, scarce or outdated equipment). †¢ †¢ †¢ Common symptoms of technostress will vary among different staff members, but may include: feelings of isolation and frustration; negative attitudes toward new computer-based sources and systems; indifference to users computer-related needs (as in Its not my job to fix that printer); self-deprecating thoughts or statements about ones ability to cope; an apologetic attitude toward users; and a definition of self as not a computer person. Those most intensively involved with developing and managing the bionic library are under particular stress. They are required to combine creative, long-range, strategic thinking with intense analytical concentration on technical details—not a novel demand in library management, but certainly a taxing one. One librarian, working on a consortium project for electronic document delivery, recently commented: As I observe losing energy, missing deadlines, forgetting assignments, and otherwise generally melting down from overwork and stress of all kinds, Im beginning to wonder if were seeing the beginning of a serious trend where significant numbers of middle- and upper-level library managers (if not those on the front lines, too) are just going to collapse from exhaustion. 18] This description calls to mind the classic Type A behavior pattern, associated with coronary heart disease and described as an action-emotion complex that can be observed in any person who is aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time, and if required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or other persons. Effects on Users Computerized library catalogs, periodical indexes, text/data systems, and Internet access are generally popular with s tudents and faculty, especially with frequent users. 20] However, while technostress as such has not been formally studied among users of these systems as it has in other populations, there is ample evidence that users often do not understand the systems or use them well. Many searches in online catalogs produce zero results or very large results. Users are often unable to reformulate their search strategies effectively, and most do not use the systems built-in help features. 2008: Web search logs show the same patterns, plus a pervasive failure to distinguish whether a search box leads to the library catalog, a site-specific search, or a web search engine. Cognitive dissonance and stress occur when users get results that dont conform to their expectations. Unsuccessful searches, of course, may result from several factors: conceptual mistakes in search formulation, typographical errors, or items not being in the database; but whatever the causes, the stress contributing to and resulting from such performance problems detracts from the success of the bionic library. When considering the users situation, we should remember that myths of the ivory tower notwithstanding, students and faculty tend to lead stressful lives. 22] Like the library staff, they bring a certain amount of baggage to the terminal. However, unlike most staff, users have a convenient (if potentially self-damaging) means of stress reduction at their disposal: unless they are specifically required to use a certain system, 6 they can simply walk away and opt to use other sources. The often-quoted Mooers Law is relevant here: An information retrieval system will tend not to be used whenever it is more painful and troublesome for a customer to have information than for him not to have it. Like the traditional print-based library, which demands literacy and familiarity with various cultural cues, the bionic library presents special difficulties—and extra stress—to users who are not accustomed to computers and online retrieval or have specific needs that may not be met by standard user interfaces. Any discussion of user group characteristics should bear in mind the danger of drawing erroneous conclusions from narrowly-focused studies, the problem of reinforcing negative images through stereotyping, the continuing spread and diffusion of computer knowledge, and above all the importance of individual differences. 25] The research literature on gender and computer use discourages facile generalizations, but there is evidence that the stress and negative attitudes sometimes attributed to women as computer users may be more a matter of computa tional reticence, a reaction to a traditionally maledominated computer culture and to system designs that emphasize autonomy rather than connectedness, competition rather than communication. In this sense, the networked nature of the bionic library appears to offer considerable promise. 26] Users from various cultures—particularly those with limited English-language skills or whose socioeconomic background has precluded contact with computers—naturally tend to respond to system cues in terms of their own preconceptions; system design and terminology should be carefully evaluated to reduce misunderstandings. Elderly users and those with disabilities may require special considerations in ergonomics and displays, but again this is an area where individual differences are paramount. .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 , .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 .postImageUrl , .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 , .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245:hover , .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245:visited , .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245:active { border:0!important; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245:active , .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245 .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ub2eba982a7ca975fbb62ddb024cb3245:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Bioethics EssayOne clearly disadvantaged group consists of new users, a sizable population on any campus and one that is replenished every year; relevant design strategies include providing a novice mode (discussed below) and choosing system terminology to match users natural language. Those who design, manage, and teach electronic information systems should certainly be aware that users will be starting from many different points in their background knowledge and attitudes. The individual using networked information systems from outside the library is often described in the literature as a remote user, but for this discussion it is worth noting that from the users point of view, he/she is central and the library is remote. Furthermore, for any individual, the virtual library means not only the local librarys online system, but also other libraries systems, and in fact the sum total of information resources to which he/she can connect in some meaningful way. 27] 2008: In my experience, participants in focus groups and usability studies often fail to make distinctions among various interconnected online systems, such as the library catalog, web pages, and vendor-provided databases. This is not a mistake on their part. Its a natural perception for non-experts, and designers need to address it. 7 Users accessing a remote system from their office or home computers have the advantage of familiarity with their equipment, but may encounter problems if it is not compatible with the system being used. If they are new or infrequent users of the system, they may have special difficulties in understanding its structure and procedures. These users may also suffer from feelings of isolation as well as from the lack of information and feedback they could gain in a physical library through direct contact with other users or staff. Whether they are dialing in from home, connecting from a computer lab, or sitting at an OPAC terminal, people face a number of problems in using the complex of information systems that make up the bionic library. Most fundamental is the need to locate and identify the library itself. While it is generally easy to find the library building on a college or university campus, the corresponding electronic library may have several components (including a dial-up catalog/database system, a CD-ROM network, standalone page-image workstations, gopher and World Wide Web sites), each with a different point of contact and some not linked with the rest. In a sense, end-users in the 1990s are going through what library staff began to experience in the 1980s, adapting to one new system after another—and often to several at once. 008: The mix of ingredients has changed somewhat, but the virtual library still remains fragmented. Even with most access being through the web, the library may still have multiple entry points, including alternative home pages, a presence on course pages, and perhaps an interface for mobile devices not to forget the tangle of networked and non-networked CD-ROMs. When the us er does connect to one of these systems, he/she may have a hard time determining what it will do, or whether it is the best resource for the purpose, especially if the system is new or unfamiliar. Even in a well-organized multi-database system, users may not be aware of what file they are using; for example, 37% of students using a periodical index in one such system believed they were using the library catalog. The Internet offers further challenges; an academic librarian recently commented that: Information overload and search anxiety are two common problems here. The faculty feel overwhelmed by the information they have access to, and the disorganization of the Internet is a major factor for most of them not using it. They have learned to find information by browsing most of the time, but the Internet is too large to browse. A computer lab assistant in a large university library made a similar observation about student users: The Internet just scares people to death. The Internet is so big and you get so lost. Once a user has settled on a particular information system, its interface may present further problems. Commands, error messages, and other terminology used in the system may not be understandable. Available commands and features may not be visible at a particular point. Depending on the system design, the user may feel—and may in fact be—unable to control the system properly. Irene Sever provides a useful metaphor when she portrays the experience of new users of electronic information systems as a form of culture shock: Todays library, and even more that of tomorrow, has many characteristics of an exotic, alien environment: its language is unfamiliar and specialized and ev okes incorrect associations. The form taken by the equipment creates difficulties which must be overcome: screen versus printed page, he need to press combinations of keys of baffling complexity instead of running a finger and an eye down an index page, the difficulty of mastering the order of functions necessary to run a simple user-friendly program . An electronic library cannot be learned through instant coaching on which keys to press or even through the diligent perusal of a manual. What is necessary is to grow into an electronic library environment gradually through socialization as well as through education. 33] Reading this passage, librarians experienced in reference or user education will recognize similarities to the situation of first-time or infrequent users in a physical library. In fact, while the specific problems may differ, the phenomenon of library anxiety is not fundamentally different in this new setting. Implications for System Design As quoted above, Craig Brod defined technostress as a modern disease of adaptation caused by an inability to cope with the new computer technologies in a healthy manner. The disease metaphor is useful, but it can be misleading. Computer technologies are not inherently healthy or right; users who have difficulty adapting to them are not inherently diseased or wrong. We can do much to help the users adjust, but even more important is proper system design. Traditional mainframe-based information systems have generally been developed by large organizations: libraries, data processing centers, and commercial vendors. The designers have often been systems analysts who—in the best case—received feedback on user behavior from sources closer to the front lines, such as transaction logs, online user comments, customer groups, and usability labs. This top-down methodology has produced mixed results, the most successful systems coming from situations where user feedback was copious, frequent, and highly valued. Recent developments in networking and client/server systems offer the potential for different kinds of products and development processes. The Gateway project at Ohio State University pioneered the concept of a library-developed front end tailored to students research needs. Moving beyond the limitations of any single interface, the Z39. 50 standard permits the end-user to select from a variety of client software programs, much as he/she might choose a word processor, and use them to access a variety of information servers. The various Internet tools, particularly the graphical browsers now available for use on the World Wide Web, allow publicservice librarians—and even users themselves—to design and construct front-end access systems 9 of various kinds. Web pages that combine instructional text and graphics with links to various information systems can offer flexible structures, helpful guidance, affective support, cultural cues, and communication mechanisms, making it easier for users to adapt to the new environment of the bionic library. 2008: Its now clear that for all their advantages, web interfaces dont automatically produce understanding on the part of the user. Just to cite one example, the library where I work is now offering a hands-on orientation to its own web site. Like many other libraries, its also redesigning that site with usability as a prime goal. On a larger scale, a consortium of federal agencies led by the National Science Foundation is currently supporting Digital Libraries Initiative projects as six universities, some of which aim to investigate usability as well as technical issues. Whatever the interface, the same essential design principles apply—clarity and consistency of presentation; visibility and predictability of functions; naturalness of commands and actions; and keeping the user in control. The designer has some basic tasks to perform in order to reduce stress for the user. The first is to develop and communicate the system image which the user will need to internalize in order to function effectively. The more accurate and memorable the users mental model of the system, the less stress he/she will experience in staying oriented and carrying out various tasks. The primary tools for conveying this kind of information—welcome screens, menus, screen headers, logos and other graphical cues—provide a consistent network of verbal and visual anchor points throughout the system, taking advantage of the users powers of long-term memory and pattern recognition. A basic decision at this point involves whether to give the user a choice of novice vs. expert modes (the former offering a limited selection of options). This is one way to address the needs of the inexperienced user, but forcing people to choose between the two may actually increase stress, especially if the novice mode actually cannot access certain commands or functions. A command-driven/menu-augmented design offers more flexibility in that a basic set of options can be displayed to all users, with advanced commands or shortcuts available to any user and explained in the systems online and printed documentation. 41] 2008: This was written with text-based systems in mind, but the same principle can be put to work in a graphical interface. For example, a web site may offer novice users a set of basic choices (Find Books, Find Articles, etc. ) while providing other links calculated to attract the experienced user (such as the name of the library catalog). As suggested above, the ele ctronic library presents users with many of the same cognitive problems as the traditional print-based library. Users must navigate through a different kind of 10 space—defined in this case by screens, words, links, icons, and graphics rather than walls—but the wayfinding process is similar. The natural transfer of imagery from the physical library into the electronic library is suggested by many users continuing fondness for the term electronic card catalog, and by the proliferation of commercial online systems based on metaphors such as a virtual desktop, home, or town. Thus architectural concepts, such as rooms, maps, and signposts, are also appropriate tools for library system designers, whether or not the final interface is presented as a virtual building. 2008: An architectural mindset is still a good design tool, but web design has evolved its own set of norms that make virtual building metaphors less necessary. Similarly, younger users are much more likely to perceive the library catalog as a search engine than as an electronic card catalog. An especially useful evaluation technique is to capture and study the comments of users, reflecting their awareness of and reactions to a system, much as designers will follow a naive user through a physical building, monitoring what the user is thinking and doing at various decision points. Once the design process moves into developing specific features, the principal stress-reducing task is to control complexity without dumbing down the system by hiding or omitting important functions. 2008: The state o f the art in user-centered design has advanced considerably since this was written. Web usability has become a discipline in itself, and its standard practice to conduct usability studies as part of a major library web site project. The traditional admonition to keep it simple presents only one side of the equation; if carried too far, it leads to an impoverished result. During prototype testing of Microsofts Bob operating-system interface, a novice user was shown some of the cartoon animals that serve as guides in the system. As the designer recalled, This guy was very emotional about it—he grabbed my arm. He said, Save all the money on the manuals, just give me this duck to always be there and tell me what to do. There may be a future for social computing interfaces in the bionic library, but if a bird is in charge, perhaps it should at least be an owl. As Donald Norman has pointed out, one of the prime features of any designed artifact is visibility: Make things visible on the execution side of an action so that people know what is possible and how actions should be done; make things visible on the evaluation side so that people can tell the effects of their actions. The designer walks a tightrope between overcomplexity and oversimplicity in developing displays of search results, hypertext links, or other information. Disorganized complexity is an obvious cause of stress, but the temptation to simplify and use low screen densities everywhere can lead to users missing important material or 11 having to page through multiple (though perhaps elegant-looking) screens. Edward Tufte of fers some useful guidance in this area: Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information. And so the point is to find design strategies that reveal detail and complexity—rather than to fault the data for an excess of complication. Or, worse, to fault viewers for a lack of understanding. User interfaces with high information resolution are an appropriate match to human skills frequently optimal. If the task is contrast, comparison, or choice—as it so often is—then the more relevant information gracefully within eyespan, the better. Lowdensity displays, with screens scrolling scrolling scrolling, require users to rely on visual memory—a weak skill Low-information displays lead to breaking up of work into user-irritating micro-steps, with a consequent loss of coherence . A common question asked by users of data-thin screens is Where am I? Tuftes recommended solutions include layering and separation of data. In fact, the complexity of library catalogs and database systems generally requires that available commands be presented in layers, wi th a command available to call up a display of advanced or seldom-used functions. Likewise, search results are often presented in a series of increasingly detailed levels. Tufte also recommends arranging data in small multiples, laid out so that the user can readily see patterns. The prevailing design of World Wide Web pages shows a historical evolution from lengthy text paragraphs sprinkled with links, to greater reliance on list-type presentations, arranged either vertically, or horizontally with graphic separators. 008: The designers tool kit has further evolved to include pop-up, pull-down, and flyover menus, mouseover links, frames, etc. Obviously any of these tools can be used well or abused. The verbal elements of presentation are also worth considering. While we have come a long way from barking at the user with messages such as Invalid command code, designers should remember that users will experience less stress if the system speaks to them in a way that is, if not friendly, at least civil, and above all comprehensible. User errors are a prime source of stress, whether these are simple typos or the result of search strategies and assumptions that do not match those of the systems designers. Forgiveness should be a prime design goal, achieved through such means as providing multiple access points to items, offering both browse and keyword search options, trapping initial articles and other common errors, normalizing search input, accepting alternative command synonyms (including the NISO Common Command Language), and providing helpful prompts in case of zero results or large result sets. In 1994, the Research Libraries Groups Eureka system was enhanced with a package of changes collectively termed Do what I mean; these forgiveness features have reduced user errors by 80%. Implications for System Management 12 Like the bionic librarys designers, its managers can do much to reduce stress for users and staff. A prime goal in this area is coherence. As mentioned above, the electronic portion of a typical academic library presently resembles a loose aggregation of disparate elements rather than a tightly knit system. Whatever the manager can do to promote both the sense and the functional reality of a unified system—through judicious selection of resources, consolidation and linking of resource menus, and carefully presented publicity and instructions—will benefit both the students and faculty who use the system, and the staff who explain and interpret it. The greater control users feel over a system, the less stress they experience from it. This sense of control derives largely from the system design, but is also affected by how a system is managed. For example, incremental changes, announced both through advance publicity and at the point of use, are less likely to be disruptive than revolutionary changes made with no advance warning. 2008: My candidate for the Mt. Everest of system changes is the California Digital Librarys transition to new versions of the Melvyl catalog and 34 article databases. This process, involving intricate planning, user input from all nine campuses of the UC system, and a great deal of communication, took at least three years and was completed in 2003. .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 , .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 .postImageUrl , .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 , .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741:hover , .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741:visited , .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741:active { border:0!important; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741:active , .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741 .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u409ac78c3be7e21c8d07f3a1d86d0741:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Colonial America Religions EssayFor details, see CDLs AI Transition page (http://www. cdlib. org/inside/projects/a-i-trans/). A closely related goal is to humanize the technology as much as possible. As John Naisbitt predicted in 1982, The more high technology around us, the more the need for human touch. The high tech/high touch approach takes advantage of users natural tendency to relate to computers as if they were people. To this end, any text in a system—including banners, news screens, introductions, instructions, error messages, etc. —should be written in a direct, positive, natural tone. Wherever feasible, managers should implement a â€Å"comment† or â€Å"mailto† function, offering users a chance to send feedback. Even if it is not possible to reply to every comment, posting a frequently asked questions file will give users a sense of a dialogue with the machine, providing benefits that go beyond the information communicated. Training, documentation, and online help are often cited as key elements in supporting users. These devices are certainly essential and require careful design, even though they may be infrequently used. There is some evidence that human help at in-library terminal locations improves user performance and increases satisfaction. This is an expensive service to offer on a full-time basis, but some libraries have assigned reference desk staff to float through CDROM and OPAC areas during high-use periods, and some public libraries have begun using volunteer docents to provide this type of help. Managers of the bionic library can also take various actions to reduce stress for staff members. The most obvious is to equip staff not only with computers and network connections, but also with the necessary skills and competencies to function in the new environment. Roy Tennant points out that Instruction and training are the cornerstone of any effort to retool library 13 staff to meet the challenges and opportunities of electronic-based information. Managers can further the success of training through selection of appropriate methods, sensitivity to the individual starting points and learning styles of staff, and provision of sheltered space and time for learning. 54] Another important managerial task is to foster enthusiasm for the new information systems and a positive attitude toward change—something most effectively done by example. One of the best ways to overcome technostress is to learn, and one of the best ways to learn is to teach. The experience of library staff at The University of Texas at Austin, who volunteered to teach the Internet and other computer skills to several thousand users, suggests that aggressive involvement in such teaching can reduce the effects of stress and increase self-confidence as well as technical skills. The developers of this program have also contributed to stress reduction by fostering a culture in which both trainers and students are engaged in a joint learning experience, thus reducing the trainers fear of system glitches or difficult questions. Conclusion Technostress is part of the price we pay for living in a time of revolutionary and dramatic change. The bionic library embodies both print and electronics, with all the social and cultural structures that surround them: the old and the new ways of learning about the world and connecting with other people. This hybrid institution, full of new devices and continually under construction, makes many demands on its users. We can learn much from the stress that people naturally experience in this situation. The success of the bionic library will be determined not only by economics and technology, but also by the extent to which its designers and managers can shape it as a tool for human use. Notes Harold Billings, The Bionic Library, Library Journal 116 (October 15, 1991): 38-42. Reprinted in Harold Billings, Magic Hypersystems: Constructing the Information-Sharing Library (Chicago: ALA Editions, 2002) (http://tinyurl. om/6452ey). Hans Selye, The Stress Concept and Some of its Implications, in Vernon Hamilton and David M. Warburton, ed. , Human Stress and Cognition: An Information Processing Approach (Chichester; New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1979), 11-32. For an excellent review of stress theory and literature, see Gail Hackett and Susan Lonborg, Models of Stress, in Elizabeth M. Altm aier, ed. , Helping Students Manage Stress (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1983), 3-21. For a more recent update, see Ronald M. Doctor and Jason N. Doctor, Stress, in V. S. Ramachandran, ed. Encyclopedia of Human Behavior (San Diego: Academic Press, 1994), 4:311-323. 14 Reported by Bliuma Zeigarnik in 1927, this is described in F. L. Denmark, Zeigarnik Effect, in Raymond J. Corsini, ed. , Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2nd ed. (New York: John Wiley Sons, 1994), 3:593. Craig Brod, Technostress: The Human Cost of the Computer Revolution. (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1984), 16. John S. Craig, Managing Computer-Related Anxiety and Stress Within Organizations, Journal of Educational Technology Systems 22 (1993-94): 309-325; Amarjit S. Sethi, Denis H. J. Caro, and Randall S. Schuler, eds. , Strategic Management of Technostress in an Information Society (Lewiston, NY and Toronto: C. J. Hogrefe, Inc. , 1987). See also several studies by Richard A. Hudiburg and associates, including Measuring Technostress: Computer-Related Stress, Psychological Reports 64 (1989): 767-772, and Measuring Computer Users Stress: The Computer Hassles Scale, Psychological Reports 73 (1993): 923-929. Brett A. Cohen and Gordon W. Waugh, Assessing Computer Anxiety, Psychological Reports 65 (1989): 735-738; Carol R. Glass and Luanne A. Knight, Cognitive Factors in Computer Anxiety, Cognitive Therapy and Research 12 (1988): 351-366; Paula C. Morrow, Eric R. Prell, and James C. McElroy, Attitudinal and Behavioral Correlates of Computer Anxiety, Psychological Reports 59 (1986): 1199-1204. Mike Greenly, Computerphobia: The Fear That Keeps People Off-Line, The Futurist 22 (January-February 1988): 14-18; Richard A. Hudiburg, Relating Computer-Associated Stress to Computerphobia, Psychological Reports 67 (1990): 311-314. Margaret F. Stieg, Technology and the Concept of Reference, or, What Will Happen to the Milkmans Cow? , Library Journal 115 (April 15, 1990): 48. Price Pritchett, The Employee Handbook of New Work Habits for a Radically Changing World: 13 Ground Rules for Job Success in the Information Age (Dallas: Pritchett Associates, Inc, ), 10. Christine L. Borgman, Mental Models: Ways of Looking at a System, ASIS Bulletin 9 (December 1982): 38-39. Karl E. Weick, Technology as Equivoque: Sensemaking in New Technologies, in Paul S. Goodman, Lee S. Sproull, and Associates, Technology and Organizations (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990), 1,2. Karen A. Becker, The Characteristics of Bibliographic Instruction in Relation to the Causes and Symptoms of Burnout, RQ 32 (Spring 1993): 346-357; Janette S. Caputo, Stress and Burnout in Library Service (Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1991); David S. Ferriero and Kathleen A. Powers, Burnout at the Reference Desk, RQ 21 (Spring 1982): 274-279; Mary Haack, John W. Jones, and Tina Roose, Occupational Burnout Among Librarians, Drexel Library Quarterly 20 5 (Spring 1984): 46-72. For a critical review, see David P. Fisher, Are Librarians Burning Out? , Journal of Librarianship 22 (October 1990): 216-235. Julie Bichteler, Technostress in Libraries: Causes, Effects, and Solutions, The Electronic Library 5 (October 1987): 282-87, and Human Aspects of High Tech in Special Libraries, Special Libraries 77 (Summer 1986): 121-28; Sandra Champion, Technostress: Technologys Toll, School Library Journal 35 (Novemb er 1988): 48-51; Katie Clark and Sally Kalin, â€Å"Technostressed Out? How to Cope in the Digital Age,† Library Journal 121 (August 1996), 3032; Linda S. Dobb, Technostress: Surviving a Database Crash, Reference Services Review 18 (1990): 65-68,48; Kate D. Hickey et al. , Technostress in Libraries and Media Centers, TechTrends 37 (1992): 17-21; Richard Hudiburg, â€Å"Technostress,† paper presented at ALA/ACRL Instruction Section program (July 8, 1996); Virginia Moreland, â€Å"Technostress and Personality Type,† Online 17 (July 1993), 59-62; MaryEllen Sievert et al. Investigating Computer Anxiety in an Academic Library, Information Technology and Libraries 7 (September 1988): 243-52. Sara F. Fine, Technological Innovation, Diffusion, and Resistance: An Historical Perspective, Journal of Library Administration 7 (Spring 1986): 83-108, and Human Factors and Human Consequences: Opening Commentary in Allen Kent and Thomas J. Galvin, eds. , Information Technology: Critical Choices for Library Decision-Makers (New York: Marcel Dekker, 19 82), 209-24; S. Michael Malinconico, Hearing the Resistance, Library Journal 108 (January 15, 1983): 111-13, and Listening to the Resistance, Library Journal 108 (February 15, 1983): 353-55; Wilson Luguire, Attitudes Toward Automation/Innovation in Academic Libraries, Journal of Academic Librarianship 8 (January 1983): 344-51; Walter Giesbrecht and Roberta McCarthy, Staff Resistance to Library CD-ROM Services, CD-ROM Professional 4 (May 1991): 34-38. John Kupersmith, Technostress and the Reference Librarian, Reference Services Review 20 (Summer 1992): 7-14,50. 17] Kirsten Klinghammer, Re: technostress, private e-mail message (March 31, 1995). Quoted by permission. Julie Blume Nye, Re: Virtual libraries - technostress? , private e-mail message (March 31, 1995). Quoted by permission. Meyer Friedman and Ray H. Rosenman, Type A Behavior and Your Heart (New York: Knopf, 1974), 84; quoted in Hackett and Lonborg, Models of Stress, p. 9. This passage might not be cited here had the author not seen a coll eague, involved in a high-profile database project, temporarily sidelined with chest pains. 20] Kenneth W. Berger and Richard W. Hines, What Does the User Really Want? The Library User Survey Project at Duke University, Journal of Academic Librarianship 20 (November 1994): 306-309; Karen Markey, Thus Spake the OPAC User, Information Technology and Libraries 2 (December 1983): 381-387; but see also Rachel Applegate, Models of User 16 Satisfaction: Understanding False Positives, RQ 32 (Summer 1993): 525-539. Christine L. Borgman, Why Are Online Catalogs Hard to Use? Lessons Learned from Information-Retrieval Studies, Journal of the American Society for Information Science 37 (1986): 387-400; Larry Millsap and Terry Ellen Ferl, Search Patterns of Remote Users: An Analysis of OPAC Transaction Logs, Information Technology and Libraries 12 (September 1993): 321-343; Patricia M. Wallace, How Do Patrons Search the Online Catalog When No Ones Looking? Transaction Log Analysis and Implications for Bibliographic Instruction and System Design, RQ 33 (Winter 1993): 239-252. Glenn P. Gray and Leon H. Rottmann, Perceptions of Stress in Undergraduate College Students, Journal of College and University Student Housing 18 (Winter 1988): 14-20; Dona M. Kagan and Vada Fasan, Stress and the Instructional Environment, College Teaching 36 (Spring 1988): 75-81; George V. Richard and Thomas S. Krieshok, Occupational Stress, Strain, and Coping in University Faculty, Journal of Vocational Behavior 34 (1989): 117-132; and Robert E. Seiler and Della A. Pearson, Dysfunctional Stress Among University Faculty, Educational Research Quarterly 9 (1984-85): 15-26. Calvin N. Mooers, Editorial: Mooers Law; or, Why Some Retrieval Systems Are Used and Others Not, American Documentation 11 (July 1960): ii. Mooers article actually concerns the pain and trouble of possessing and working with information; however, his law as stated does seem to apply as well to the difficulties of using the retrieval systems themselves. A good starting point for exploring this area is the section on Accommodation of Human Diversity in Ben Shneiderman, Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective HumanComputer Interaction, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992), 21-31. Christine L. Borgman, All Users of Information Retrieval Systems Are Not Created Equal: An Exploration into Individual Differences, Information Processing and Management 25 (1989): 237-251; Brenda Dervin, Users as Research Inventions: How Research Categories Perpetuate Inequities, Journal of Communication 39 (Summer 1989): 216-232. Sherry Turkle, Computational Reticence: Why Women Fear the Intimat e Machine, in Cheris Kramarae, ed. , Technology and Womens Voices: Keeping in Touch (New York and London: Routledge Kegan Paul, 1988), 41-61. See also Robin H. Kay, An Examination of Gender Differences in Computer Attitudes, Aptitude, and Use, paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association (San Francisco, April 20-24, 1992), ERIC document ED346848. For Internet resources on this topic, see Ellen Spertus, Women and Computer Science (http://people. mills. edu/spertus/Gender/gender. tml). As an example, 18% of the items gathered in preparation for this chapter were obtained directly from electronic sources: WWW and gopher sites, periodical index systems with e-mail and fax delivery of articles, and e-mail messages including a survey of PACS-L listserv subscribers. Of the print items obtained from four different libraries, approximately 80% were identified and located using online catalogs and computerized indexes, the rest through browsing. 17 Sally W. Kalin, Support Services for Remote Users of Online Public Access Catalogs, RQ 31 (1991): 197-213; Karen Weilhorski, Teaching Remote Users How to Use Electronic Information Resources. Public-Access Computer Systems Review 5 (1994): 5-20. Data gathered by the author from users on library terminals at the University of Texas at Austin. Remote users, having to select databases from menus, would likely be better oriented. Screen designs were subsequently modified to provide more prominent indication of the database being used. Margaret F. Riley, Re: Virtual libraries - technostress? , private e-mail message (March 31, 1995). Quoted by permission. Quoted in Mary Lynn Rice-Lively, Trip to Bountiful: Personal Snapshots of the Campus Computing Center, unpublished paper for graduate course at the University of Texas at Austin (June 9, 1994), 20. For a review of the extensive literature on such problems, see Martha M. Yee, System Design and Cataloging Meet the User: User Interfaces to Online Public Access Catalogs, Journal of the American Society for Information Science 42 (1991): 78-98. 33] Irene Sever, Electronic Information Retrieval as Culture Shock: An Anthropological Exploration, RQ 33 (Spring 1994): 336-41. Constance A. Mellon, Library Anxiety: A Grounded Theory and Its Development, College Research Libraries 47 (March 1986): 160-165. Rob Kling and Margaret Elliott, Digital Library Design for Usability, in Digital Libraries 94: Proceedings of the First Annual Conference on the Theory and Practice of Digital Libr aries (June 19-21, 1994, College Station, TX), accessed on the World Wide Web (http://www. csdl. tamu. du/DL94/paper/kling. html); Shneiderman, Designing the User Interface; Robert Waite, Making Information Easy to Use, ASIS Bulletin 9 (December 1982): 34-37. Philip J. Smith and Virginia Tiefel, The Information Gateway: Designing a Front-End Interface to Enhance Library Instruction, Reference Services Review 20 (Winter 1992): 37-48. As of this writing, a useful collection of pointers to Innovative Internet Applications in Libraries is being maintained by Ken Middleton at the Todd Library, Middle Tennessee State University (http://www. iltonlibrary. org/innovate. html). The Electronic Classroom of the Science and Engineering Library, University of California, San Diego (http://web. archive. org/web/*/http://sehplib. ucsd. edu/electclass/classroom. html), offers an exemplary set of course-specific home pages, many developed through partnerships between librarians and teaching facult y. 18 To access these projects via the World Wide Web, use: http://dli. grainger. uiuc. edu/national. htm http://www. dli2. nsf. gov/ Anyone involved in designing a system should read Donald A. Norman, The Psychology of Everyday Things (New York: Basic Books, 1988) and Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1993). For a useful discussion of library catalog design principles and procedures, see Walt Crawford, The Online Catalog Book: Essays and Examples (New York: G. K. Hall, 1992), 49-82. Norman, The Psychology of Everyday Things, 189-191. For a specific instance, see John Kupersmith, UTCAT: Applying Design Principles to an Online Catalog, in Crawford, The Online Catalog Book, 507-520. 42] Roger M. Downs, Mazes, Minds, and Maps, in Dorothy Pollet and Peter C. Haskell, ed. , Sign Systems for Libraries: Solving the Wayfinding Problem (New York: Bowker, 1979), 17-32. For relevant discussions of navigation in hypertext systems, see Shneiderman, Designing the User Interface, 403-418; and Ben Ide, Hypertext and Hypermedia: The Effect on Libraries, Patrons, and Information Organization, undergraduate departme ntal honors thesis, School of Library Science and Instructional Technology, Southern Connecticut State University, April 1992 (http://www. lulu. com/content/186542). 43] For a discussion of these parallels, see Kristina Hooper, Architectural Design: An Analogy, in Donald A. Norman and Stephen W. Draper, ed. , User-Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction (Hillsdale, NJ and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1986), 9-23; John Kupersmith, â€Å"YOU ARE HERE, But Where is That? : Architectural Design Metaphors in the Electronic Library,† in Finding Common Ground: Creating a Library of the Future Without Diminishing the Library of the Past, Proceedings of a conference in Cambridge, MA, March 30-31, 1996 (New York: Neal-Schuman, 1998). 44] Designer Karen Fries, quoted in Don Clark, How a Womans Passion and Persistence Made Bob, Wall Street Journal (January 10, 1995): B1. For a serious discussion, see Mark S. Ackerman, Providing Social Interaction i n the Digital Library, Digital Libraries 94 (http://www. cdsl. tamu. edu/DL94/position/ackerman. html). Norman, The Psychology of Everyday Things, 197-198. Edward Tufte, Envisioning Information (Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, 1990), 53. 48] Edward Tufte, Visual Design of the User Interface (Armonk, NY: IBM Corporation, 1989). RLIN Forum at ALA Midwinter 1995, RLIN Focus (April 1995): 1. 19 John Naisbitt, Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives (New York: Warner Books, 1982), 53. Jennifer Mendelsohn, Human Help at OPAC Terminals is User Friendly: A Preliminary Study, RQ 34 (Winter 1994): 173-90. Cecilia D. Stafford and William M. Serban,

The Meaning of Citizenship in A Democratic Nation †History Essay

The Meaning of Citizenship in A Democratic Nation – History Essay Free Online Research Papers The Meaning of Citizenship in A Democratic Nation History Essay The meaning of citizenship depends of course, on what context that it is used in most democratic countries it is associated with civil and not religious or moral rights that advocate the rights of freedom of exchange, belief and choice. It is generally accepted that contemporary citizenship theory started in Britain with TH Marshall in post-WWII. Were Marshall divided citizenship into three sets of citizen rights. Civil rights, which developed in the eighteenth-century which included free speech, access to the legal system, rights to a fair trail, and rights of contract and property. Political rights which included the extension of the vote, the right to hold office were developed in the nineteenth-century, (but only for men). Social rights that were formed in the twentieth-century and are entitlements to social security when faced with unemployment, sickness, and other forms of hardship this is when the welfare state made its appearance (TH Marshall, Citizenship and social class. 1950: 46). It is the role of the welfare state and the social rights of people that we will be more concerned with here. So what was the thinking behind the development of the welfare state, the most obvious answer is that it was intended to provide for a greater level of equality among classes, and a protection for those who were worst hit by the excesses of capitalism. This is however a debatable point. Brian Abel Smith argued that the welfare states â€Å"were never intended as great institutions of equality† and that they â€Å"did not intend to try to create a more equal society, but to establish a floor of protection at the bottom† (Brian Abel Smith, The major problems of the welfare state. 1985: 32). In many ways, the concept of a welfare state is the peak of a social democracy, seemingly balancing the benefits of capitalism and socialism without the extremes of either. The theory seems to be almost perfect, with the state playing a large role in the area of social policy, working to alleviate the problems and inequalities created by the capitalist market economy. This seems to be supported by the fact that all the earliest reforms related to social insurance were set up for those who were injured in the workplace. It would appear that the rationale behind the welfare states varies depending on which political ideology that one subscribes to. For conservatives, the welfare state was a way of avoiding unrest among the poorer classes and a means of maintaining political stability. Liberals believed that it was simply a means of solving the problems of an unequal and illiberal society, and of the victims of that society. While socialists believed that it was merely a step in the right direction towards the ultimate goal of a classless society (David Held, Models of democracy. 1996: 235-236). Apart from the political ideologies the welfare state can be seen as a result of the merging of the new capitalist system and the new mass democracies in which citizens were politically active. In essence it was an attempt to compromise the beliefs of the ca pitalist ruling class with the rest of society (Flora Heidenheimer, The historical core and changing boundaries of the welfare state. 1981: 22). This was the reality of the welfare state, an institution which tried to resolve the conflicts within the class-based society. The first stage came in the 1920s, which was a period of social experimentation (Hecio, Towards a new welfare state. 1981: 386-387). It was during this period that the institutions of the welfare state were created. Social insurance was instituted, and advances in the fields of health and education provisions were made. The second stage was one of consolidation between the 1930s and 1940s. This stage was the inevitable follow-on from the period of experimentation. Many of the ideas which had been put forward in the first period were revolutionary and challenged the relationship between the state and its citizenry. While the second period allowed for a consolidation of the achievements that had been made, it was also a time in which the seeds were sown for the huge expansion in social rights that were to come. In the immediate post-WWII period, Britain was in the process of constructing its social welfare system. Marshall was attempting to justify the national provision of social benefits. He focused on the major contradiction between formal political equality and individual freedom, on the one hand, and the significant social and economic inequality on the other (Bryan Turner, Outline of a theory of citizenship. 1992: 48-51). This paved the way for the future expansion of the welfare state. This expansion came in the years between the 1950s and the mid-1970s. After World War II, the amount government spending that was spent on social policy soared. There were a number of reasons for this firstly, there was an increase in the number of dependants within society, a rise in the number of the elderly, which increased the cost of maintaining health care and pensions. The other major reason was that this period was one of unprecedented economic growth and thus finding the funds to pay for thes e services was possible. However by the late 1970s the welfare state had come under severe pressure and its very existence was in question. How did this come about only a few years after its halcyon days? Basically, the expansion of the welfare state was too much too soon. Were the expansion of social rights that existed during a period of economic prosperity simply could not be maintained in a time of recession. With a fall in economic growth and a rise in unemployment increased pressure was put on the welfare state. The funds that were there during the good times dried up and states started to question the costs involved. There was a genuine feeling that the investment in the future security of society, on which the welfare state was founded, was seriously threatening its economic security (Hecio, 1981: 400). As the level of government indebtedness rose, people began to resent paying out for services that were formally their entitlements and the sense of solidarity and consensus of the post-war period bega n to wither. Indeed there are now some grave concerns over the future of the welfare state. Dismayed at the very high levels of persistent unemployment, and constrained by the monetary policies of the EU, many policymakers are thinking that a developed, welfare state is no longer possible within a global economy (David Held, 1996: 251). Hecio lists three main reasons for the decline in the welfare state and its impact on the social rights of citizens: pointing to high costs, ineffective spending and the over-regulation of the welfare system (Hecio, 1981: 399-400). The social rights that most people enjoyed and have come to depend on in times of prosperity do not hold up in times of hardship. It goes without saying that it is the most vulnerable of people in society that are worst affected when the social safety net is removed. Given the growth of social exclusion it is not surprising that many writers on social citizenship are concerned about the deindustrialisation, and the spreading of inequalities. Increasingly, conservatives as well as moderates are emphasising the obligations of people, and not their rights or entitlements. Dahrendrof, believed that citizenship is a body of rights and duties a status that defines full membership of a society; that by very its definition is removed from the whims of the market. Although there are obligations that all citizen should and must obey such as the law, taxes, etc, but these obligations have be limited so as not to infringe on either personal or civil rights. Dahrendorf argued that the most tangible evidence concerning the loss of citizen entitlements can be seen in the development of an underclass in the wealthy OECD states (Ralf Dahrendorf, The changing quality of citizenship 1994: 10-19). These groups are the long-term unemployed, the persistent poor, disa dvantaged and ethnic groups and refugees that have fallen through the safety net. Another failing of the state is that the welfare state has done little to make Europe a classless society. Indeed, instead of abolishing inequalities it has perpetuated them: the extension of many benefits and payments to large sectors of the middle class during the expansionary period did little to improve the relative life chances of the working class. On the charge that the welfare state is over-regulated, we need only look at the size of the bureaucracies established to run the system for its verification. These organisations have become detached from the people whose needs they are supposed to represent. A â€Å"them and us† mentality has developed with the welfare state being seen as faceless, and the recipients being seen as charity cases. As Turner noted, citizenship, despite the claim of universality excludes as well as incorporates. Social citizenship requires equality but is incompatible with individualism since equality requires a bureaucracy and in turn that bureaucracy destroys individualism (Bryan Turner, Citizenship and social theory. 1994: 24-29). Taken together, the failings of the system represent near fatal flaws and explain the decline of the welfare state and its effect on the rights of citizenship. A number of theorists have focused on a more expansive definition of citizenship. In part, its emphasis is due to the various developments of capitalism. Prior theories assumed that developing capitalism necessarily corresponded with modernisation, which argue that economic rights are part of the larger struggle for citizenship. This assumption can no longer be considered to be completely true, as capitalism can flourish under traditional societies and settings (Turner, 1992: 24). Furthermore, in post-industrial societies, there is deindustrialisation, deskilling, and continued inequality and poverty. Finally, there are some counter-trends of growing nationalism and ethnic conflict, on the one hand, and globalisation on the other. In response to these mixed trends, writers on citizenship take different ideological viewpoints, ranging from basic human rights, as in what people have rights to, because of what they share in common as human beings. To human identities that are deeply imbedded in community, to common agency, rights, understandings and shared purposes (Martin Bulmer, Anthony Rees, Citizenship Today. 1996: 79-83). Turner defines citizenship in a sociological context as a set of practices: juridical, political, economic and cultural that define a person as a competent member of a society and which as a consequence shape the flow of resources to people and social groups. The emphasis here is very much on practices. Indeed, citizenship changes historically as a consequence of political struggles for better access to life’s chances. Thus defined, citizenship is centrally concerned with inequality, power, and social class; it is inevitably bound up with the problem of the unequal distribution of resources. Therefore, citizenship is essentially concerned about the nature of social membership within modern political collectives, in short, social movements. Turner focuses on the spaces within capitalist economies for the growth of social movements seeking citizenship rights. There is considerable variation in contemporary capitalism, thus, the real changes in capitalism will come through the democratic process. Gradual changes in consumption, welfare, will come more as a consequence of collective resistance and pressure to improve conditions and expand the civil rights of minorities (Turner, 1992: 44). He argues that welfare rights are more than merely a pacifier for class differences rather they have fundamentally transformed the nature of the class struggle itself. The condition of the working class has improved immensely over the last century, despite the persistent of inequalities. There is the emergence of new classes and the ambiguous location of the middle classes, the changing nature of class consciousness and class imagery. Turner sees multiple social movements, minorities, feminists, and the aged. Although Turner believed that class was important, he believed that it was not the complete story (Turner, Citizenship and capitalism. 1986: 105). Conclusion Hugh Hecio believed that a transformation is taking place with the idea of social inclusiveness. Despite gaps and inconsistencies, the prevailing ideology during the twentieth-century was to expand the circle of people who were considered to be equal in terms of life goals and aspirations. Marshalls concept of social citizenship was not only to reduce poverty but to make society more equal and just. It was an expression of solidarity a sense of citizenship. The concept of social solidarity, the recognition of individual dignity, expressed a defining aspiration a presumption of inclusion that was a remarkable and unique development. In contrast to earlier generations that routinely accepted and defended exclusionary practices, in the post-WWII, the moral sense had changed. To be sure, there were gaps and inconsistencies in the ideal, but they were not endorsed. The overall goal of the post-WWII social welfare state was the economic security of the family. The nation state was the appropriate political organization to achieve these goals. Those assumptions are now being questioned, as a normal working life is no longer assured, especially for the most vulnerable in society. Nations are no longer in control of their economies. Global economic forces and cross border migrations are threatening state welfare programs. Instead of the protection and reconciliation of individual diversity in the common community, there is the reassertion of local political and economic interests, and ethnic and racial identities. The concept of inclusion is increasingly contested. As the economies of both the US and Western Europe continue to produce growing inequalities, increased social divisions, and continues to threatening universal citizen rights. Bibliography Abel Smith, Brian (1985) The major problems of the welfare state: defining the issues. In Eisenstadt Ahimer [eds] The welfare state and its aftermath. London: Croom Helm. Bulmer, Martin Anthony Rees (1996) Citizenship Today: The Contemporary Relevance of TH Marshall. London: UCL Press. Dahrendorf, Ralf (1994) The changing quality of citizenship. In van Steenbergen, Bart [ed] (1994) The condition of citizenship. London: Sage. Flora, P AJ Heidenheimer (1981) The historical core and changing boundaries of the welfare state. In P Flora AJ Heidenheimer [eds] The development of the welfare state in Europe. London: McCroom Helm. Hecio, H (1981) Towards a new welfare state. In Flora Heidenheimer [ed] The development of the welfare state in Europe. London: McCroom Helm. Held, David (1996) Models of democracy. Cambridge, Polity Press. Marshall, Thomas (1950) Citizenship and social class. Cambridge: Pluto Press. Turner, Bryan (1986) Citizenship and capitalism: the debate over reformism. London: Allen and Unwin. Turner, Bryan (1992) Outline of a theory of citizenship. In Mouffe, Chantal [ed] (1992) Dimensions of radical democracy: pluralism, citizenship, community. London: Verso. Turner, Bryan [ed] (1994) Citizenship and social theory. London: Sage. Research Papers on The Meaning of Citizenship in A Democratic Nation - History EssayBringing Democracy to AfricaPETSTEL analysis of India19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeQuebec and CanadaRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andTwilight of the UAWBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married Males

Atomic Number 13 - Interesting Aluminum Facts

Atomic Number 13 - Interesting Aluminum Facts Aluminum (aluminium) is the element that is atomic number 13 on the periodic table. Its element symbol is Al and its atomic mass is 26.98. Each atom of aluminum contains 18 protons. Aluminum atoms with fewer than 18 electrons are cations, while those with more than 18 electrons are anions. The isotope of aluminum is determined by its number of neutrons. Here is a collection of interesting facts about atomic number 13. Element Atomic Number 13 Facts Pure aluminum is a soft, nonmagnetic silvery-white metal. Most people are familiar with the pure elements appearance from aluminum foil or cans. Unlike many other metals, aluminum is not very ductile, which means it isnt readily drawn into wires. Aluminum is strong, yet light  compared with most other metals.Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the Earths crust  (about 8%) and the most abundant metal.Aluminum ore (bauxite) is mined, chemically refined into alumina (aluminum oxide) using the Bayer process, and finally refined into aluminum metal using the electrolytic Hall-Heroult process. The modern process requires considerable energy, yet its much easier than past refining methods. It was so difficult to obtain element 13 that is was considered a precious metal. Napoleon III served dinners to his most important guests on aluminum platters, leaving lesser guests to dine using gold!In 1884, the cap of the Washington Monument was made using aluminum because the metal was so highly valued at that time. Only 5% of the energy needed to purify aluminum from alumina is required to recycle aluminum from scrap. In fact, you can even recycle the element at home, if you like.The name for element 13 has been either aluminum or aluminium. We can blame the English chemist, Sir Humphy Davy, for the confusion. Davy initially called the element alumium in 1807, from the mineral alumina. Davy changed the name to aluminum and then finally to aluminium in 1812. The -um spelling persisted in Britain for a while, eventually changing to aluminium. Chemists in the United States actually used the -ium ending, shifting toward the -um ending in the 1900s. In the 1990s, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry formally determined element 13 should be aluminium, yet the -um spelling persists in the U.S. Its worth noting that despite the naming controversy he caused, Davy neither discovered the element nor isolated it!Although aluminum is present in over 270 minerals and is widely abundant, the element does not appear to serve a biological role in either animals or plants. The presence of aluminum salts is generally tolerated by animals and plants. However, in high doses aluminum exposure alters the function of the blood-brain barrier. Some people are allergic to aluminum. Ingesting acidic foods increases aluminum absorption, while the flavor enhancer maltol increases its accumulation in bones and nerves. Aluminum increases estrogen-related gene expression in breast cells of humans. The US Department of Health and Human Services classifies aluminum as a non-carcinogen. Whether or not aluminum is a factor in Alzheimers disease is a matter of debate. It is unknown whether aluminum contributes to the degenerative disease or whether developing the disease results in accumulation of the element. Element atomic number 13 conducts electricity, although not as well as silver, copper, or gold. If you have metal dental fillings or braces, you can experience this firsthand. When you bite on a piece of aluminum foil, the salts in saliva conduct electricity between the foil and the filling, creating a type of galvanic battery and delivering an electrical shock to your mouth.Uses of aluminum are second only to those of iron and its alloys. While nearly pure aluminum may be used, the element is also alloys with copper, zinc, magnesium, manganese, and silicon. The pure element is used when corrosion resistance is paramount. Alloys are used where strength or hardness are important. Aluminum is used in beverage containers because of its corrosion resistance. The metal is used in construction, transportation, and to make everyday household items. High-purity aluminum is used in wires, electronics, and CDs. The metal is used to make reflective surfaces and paint. Some string instruments, e specially guitars, have aluminum bodies. Aircraft bodies are made of aluminum alloyed with magnesium.

Homework Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Homework - Assignment Example ng if or not the kanban system is the modern equivalent of Economic Quantity Research system and whether or not, the operating conditions are more important than the reorder point system used. According to the World Wide Web, kanban may be defined as a system that is designed to ensure that sufficient tools/supplies for workers for when and where they need it. In other words this production system is designed for continuous manufacturing. This system is most times compared to a supermarket. For example a supermarket that uses a Point-of-sale (POS) system, once a customer pays for something through the cash point and the items are scanned, at the end of the day, it sends the sale history to the warehouse. From there they will know what to order to replenish stock. In contrast to the Economic Order Quantity Research (EOC), which is basically an equation used to determine minimum and maximum stock levels they perform the same duties and provide satisfactory results. I believe they are similar in more ways than one but the main difference is the way they are carried out. 2. There is considerable evidence that getting the correct operating conditions is more important than the choice between MRP, kanban, or reorder point methods in the MPC system. How general do you believe this situation to be? Generally, I agree reason being, all the methods mentioned above provide basically the same results with little difference in calculation methods and time. So most definitely the only thing that would hinder positive and profitable results would be conditions under which they are

Enlightenment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Enlightenment - Essay Example Firstly, Frederic II promoted enlightened absolutism where rulers were encouraged to make decisions based on enlightenment hence promoting rationality in formulation of rules. Through enlightened absolutism, Frederic II was able to modernize the Prussian civil society by reforming religious policies, judicial system and supporting arts and philosophers. Through these reforms, Prussian society witnessed toleration of religious diversity, incorporation of the noble category into the judicial system and economic growth since the noble stock could work in senior administrative levels and generate income. On the other hand, Joseph II also promoted the use of enlightened absolutism during his tenure. His leadership was aimed at making everybody in Hasburg lands to be satisfied despite the different social classes that existed. For instance, Joseph II implemented a program that gave the peasant class of people freedom from slavery. Joseph II also initiated legal reforms where he banned brutal punishments, death penalty and initiated equal treatment for all offenders. In addition, Joseph II introduced religious policies that tolerated diversity of religions in his region. Of more importance, Joseph II promoted education by making it compulsory for young boys and girls to attend schools. Further, Joseph II formulated a foreign policy that promoted expansion of his territory through colonization of other regions and trade. This meant that the society benefited in terms of increased resources from other regions. In conclusion, both Frederic II and Joseph II are said to have been enlightened leaders because their leadership incorporated principles of enlightenment. As a result, members in societies under their leadership benefited

Go Greek Essay Example for Free

Go Greek Essay They make assumptions that are most likely not true. They make assumptions from hear say only. You need to experience it, before you judge. Lauren Border’s negative outlook on the Greek system is mistaken, because she overlooks the positives like sisterhood and brotherhood, scholarship, and leadership, and what they have to offer. In â€Å"Pledging to never rush: a criticism of Greek life at Tufts†, published in The Tufts Daily, student at Tufts University Lauren Border writes how she is against the Greek life establishment at Tufts. She doesn’t understand why people would want to join an establishment that gives you so many bad names, and separates women from men, and men from women. In the article she did want to make clear that she does not dislike the people in the Greek life establishment. She has nothing against them; she is just against the establishment. She doesn’t like how the sexes are separated. She doesn’t understand that women are still trying to make a step up in the world and become equal to men, but then they have these establishments that separate them. She is also very against the hazing aspect on both sides of the Greek system. Girls’ egos are shut down, and men have to prove something, just to be part of something. She is stating that you can feel belonged to something and not have to partake in any of these things. In the article she states, â€Å"I am convinced that Greek life usually does much more harm than good. † She wants a change at Tufts and she is hoping that this article will make people wake up and see that there are other options out there. Border’s opinion on he Greek system lacks credibility when she points out the flaws of the Greek system. For every point she makes, she does not have any proof to back it up with. Also Border makes all of her judgments based off of the Tuft University Greek Life, when in reality not all Greek Life is the same on every campus nationwide. She is judging without knowing. Unlike Border I am currently part of a Greek establishment and it is the best decision I have ever made. I have only been in the house for three months, and I have experienced things I don’t think I would have ever experienced if I didn’t join. I don’t know if it’s because I go to the University of Idaho, but some of the stuff she mentions are not true. For example, Border states in the article that girls have it way worse in the Greek system than guys, but here at the University of Idaho, it’s the complete opposite. Absolutely no hazing is allowed, and if the house gets caught it will be shut down. No exceptions what so ever. There are many benefits for joining a Greek establishment. Border only looks at all the negatives, and doesn’t even bother to consider the positives. One of the multiple benefits for joining a Greek establishment is friendship and sisterhood/brotherhood you gain. When joining a house you have the advantage of meeting people of various backgrounds with both different yet similar interests. The ideal of sisterhood/brotherhood is the principal foundation upon which each fraternity/ sorority is built and from which you will receive the greatest benefit. You will always have people pushing you to be the very best you can be, and will be there when the going gets tough. Another benefit for joining an establishment is the academic side of it. One of the main purposes of the fraternity or sorority community is to develop and encourage high scholastic achievement among the members. Within the house you have the opportunity to take advantage of peer tutoring, upperclassman counseling, and chapter study hours. Those chapter study hours give the newest members a good sense of the change of study habits they are going to have to become accustom to in order to be successful in college. Also, there is the fact that your brothers/sisters can offer all kinds of academic advice after their experiences. There are so many benefits in joining a house, but I am only going to mention one more. When you join a fraternity or sorority you will be offered the opportunity to take on a leadership position. Leadership positions range from president to vice president of finance all the way to purchase chairman. Everyone in a fraternity or sorority is a leader, whether you’re an officer, on a committee, or just a participant. You will learn by doing. You will learn how to manage a budget, run effective meetings, speak in public, and motivate others. These are skills that will help you not only within the university but throughout your life. These days it takes more than just a degree to get a job, it takes leadership experience. Being a part of something that has a lot of meaning behind everything is an amazing feeling. Being a part of a sorority/ fraternity and forming that sisterhood/ brotherhood is such an amazing thing. You know people have your back all the time, and you know you are not alone. Everyone is going through the same thing. Learning life skills while being part of a Greek establishment will help you so much later down the road. Whether you hear good or bad things about joining a house, give it a chance. You will never understand the meaning behind everything if you don’t give it a try. Lauren Borders negative outlook on the Greek system is mistaken, because she overlooks the positives of what it has to offer. Everything was based on hearsay and personal opinion. She had nothing to back up any of her points.

The Cultural Significance of The Tale of Genji Essay -- Japan Culture

The Cultural Significance of The Tale of Genji The Tale of Genji is one of the most important stories of ancient Japanese literature. Japanese scholar Sin Ohno said that there is no literature written during the Heian Era which is written in as precise language as The Tale of Genji. The author, Murasaki Shikibu, is a woman. In this tale, we can see the concept towards marriage of women during her period. During the Nara Era, and some time before, the concept of marriage was totally different from the concept we know today. It is called "Tsuma Toi Kon." "Tsuma" means wife; "Toi" means to visit; "Kon" means marriage. In order to explain the marriage during this era, I will present an example of the typical interactions between men and women. When a man meets woman, somewhere like market where many people gather, the man would ask her address and name if he is interested in her. Asking for the name also avoids misunderstanding; asking for the address is so he can visit her. Visiting her is like marriage in today's sense. If the woman is interested in the man, she would tell her address and name. The man would visit the woman's house in the evening and call her name from outside. He might play a musical instrument like a flute, or harp, or sing songs to get her attention. Men sometimes visited women without calling or playing any music. Whether the woman accepts the man is up to the woman to decide. If the woman is interested, she would invite him in. Men and women generally worked during the day time; the men visited women only at night time. In earlier eras, the family built a sub-house beside the main house and invited the men into the sub-house. However, the men did not stay in the sub-house. Men visited at night and.. . ...robably tried to create a figure who had ability to support several different women. Even though what Genji did was allowed in ancient society, it is definitely not acceptable today. In The Tale of Genji a man would sometimes play a harp or a flute to get a woman's attention. Considering the appearance of traditional marriage, those men are following the traditional ways of marriage. Marriage during the Heian Era is a little different from the Nara Era. They still pracitced what was still recognized as "visiting marriage," but the family formally accepted the man as groom. However, men still stopped visiting when they lost interest in the women. This is like Hikaru Genji, who did not like Lady Aoi very much, so he seldom visited her. "Visiting marriage" had many problems. In some cases, men visited several different women at a time. There were laws to restrict the m

Religion and Homophobia in Trinidad and Tobago Essay

As previously demonstrated, the data collected was graphically represented in order to highlight trends or anomalies. Figure 1 (Fig. 1) begins by showing that 36% of our sample supported same sex marriage, whilst 64% did not. Since non-support of same-sex marriage is used as our indicator of homophobia, approximately two-thirds (( 2)? (3 )) of our sample is considered homophobic. Whilst this suggests that a substantial proportion of our population is supportive of homosexuality, the majority is apparently homophobic. Thus, a standard was found, against which individual elements of the population can then be manipulated and analysed in a positivistic approach. Figure 2 shows that the gender of the non-supportive population was almost equally distributed, which suggests that perspective is gender neutral. This is surprising considering that gender commonly indicates differing perspectives, but may perhaps be attributed to the existence of homosexuality in both genders. Additionally, this is reflected in Fig 3. where the male only school, Naparima College is proportionately equal to the female only schools, Naparima Girls’ High School (NGHS), ASJA Girls’ College (ASJA) and St. Joseph’s Convent (SJC). Furthermore, Figure 4 shows that the average CSEC grades (which we will use as an indicator of education level) of the supporters approximately equalled that of the non-supporters. Therefore, neither gender, education level school has significant effect on our candidates’ perception of same-sex marriage. Continuing the search for factors that may affect the development of homophobia, Fig 5 outlines four further dimensions of social life, showing that, support of the legalisation of marijuana, alcohol consumption habits, history of altercations with the law, and family structure all had negligible effects because the proportions only slightly deviated from the norm. It is only when the dynamic of religion is introduced that anomalies become apparent. As illustrated in Figure 6, there is little variance between the individual religions, with Islam being marginally more homophobic, but, when religion is removed, as in the case of our secular candidates, the proportions are reversed and approximately two-thirds (( 2)? (3 )) of the secular candidates were supportive. Additionally, it was observed that, whilst Muslim candidates had the highest correlation to homophobia within our sample, the candidates from the Islamic school, ASJA Girls’ College –who would have been exposed to the institution for at least five years, a substantial portion of their lives-, had the lowest correlation to homophobia; the difference being approximately 10%. This is pertinent because it is also indicative of secularisation by differentiation wherein the non-religious sphere of life, education is separated from religion (Jose Casanova, 1994). In both instances of secularisation, homophobia was reduced. Building on the investigation of the influence of religion, religiosity was then compared to opinion using three common measures of religiosity. Figure 7 shows the relationship between frequency of visitation of place of worship and non-support, Figure 8 shows the frequency of private worship against non-support and Figure 8 shows the frequency of private study of religious texts versus non-support. All graphs yielded a positive gradient, began well below the average and ended well above it. This indicates, that as religiosity increases, so too does homophobia. This contrasts our previous observation that there were no trends amongst the various religions but verifies the implication that secularisation decreases homophobia. Careful consideration of the qualitative data compounds these assertions because, not only is religion openly and usually used as justification of homophobia, the candidates who were most fervently religious and enmeshed with their congregation were often most blatantly homophobic. Additionally, if the view of the religious leaders is to be taken as the consensus of the congregation, it would appear that most justify discrimination. However, there were cases in which the fervently religious advocated positively for same-sex marriages. The phenomena observed can be explained using a functionalist perspective in which religion serves as a method of maintaining social order through increasing solidarity within a mostly heterosexual population by segregating the homosexual, thereby providing a common ‘enemy,’ and instilling a set of values and norms in society. Also, religion may be viewed as encouraging more â€Å"productive† marriages in which childbirth is possible, thereby helping to sustain the birth-rate, working to aid the system of the family. When candidates are separated from the functions of religion, they are more likely to maintain a different set or norms, wherein homosexuals are equal to heterosexuals. Contrastingly, a Conflict perspective may be used in hich religion serves to justify the construction of a class society in which the heterosexuals are the ‘bourgeoisie’ and the homosexuals are the ‘proletariat. ’ By masking the foundation of power and exploitation in divine ruling, the heterosexuals are allowed to legitimize their position of superiority. When this illusion is removed and class consciousness attained, as in the case of secular candidates and candidates with little religiosity, the bourgeoisie can no longer legitimize their position, and so homophobia is reduced. Alternatively, if one is to utilize Weber’s theory of Rational Choice, one might suggest, that, perhaps candidates decided to follow the homophobic direction of their religious leaders, rationalizing that earning the support of the entire congregation was worth discriminating against a minority. This theory also serves to explain why candidates supported same-sex marriage, because the prevailing justification was a rationalisation that their (homosexuals) private life did not affect me (the candidate) negatively and was therefore not a problem. This also explains the anomaly of the few candidates who were enmeshed in non-supportive congregations but still supported same-sex marriages. Continuing the interpretivistic trend, Mead’s theory of Symbolic Interactionism may be applied in which the ascribed meanings of symbols encourage homophobia. For example, candidates who studied their holy texts daily were most likely to be non-supportive. They may ascribe that the text determines their values and that the text does not support homosexuality, therefore, they, identified as a follower of the text, does not support homosexuality. Another example may be the use of song references in their justification, wherein, candidates interpret the music to disapprove of homophobia and therefore, as listeners, they should also disapprove. Lastly, the use of homophobic slurs such as ‘fag’ in the language of the non-supporters suggests that homosexuality is unwanted, and communicates this to others who may interpret it as such, and develop the same opinion. Discussion of Findings In, Invitation to the sociology of religion, Zuckerman presents a functionalist approach in which we see how religion may affect social hange. He demonstrates a correlation between a decline in the influence of religion and an increase in the acceptance of homosexual relations suggesting that religion does indeed influence homophobia as determined from my research. Furthermore, he considered another form of discrimination, that is, racism in which again, religion resulted in the segregation of a minority, but also, where religion provided a powerful community through which resistance could grow. The strength and influence of these churches echoes the observation that the more enmeshed our subjects were in their religious congregations, the more homophobic they tended to be. Building on the methods by which religion could affect social life, the article, â€Å"Gays bash government on same-sex marriage,† presents a scenario in which religion has clearly moulded the opinion of a prominent member of our government to the point that it over-rode proper conduct. This crass act seems less surprising when it is observed that some candidates also paraphrased or quoted biblical passages in lieu of an explanation. The research paper, †Religion and public opinion of same-sex marriage,† also adds validation to our research because their results were strikingly similar to our own. They discovered, as I did, that a persons’ religiosity and not their specific religion was the prominent factor in influencing their view of same-sex marriage. Additionally, the article entitled, â€Å"J-FLAG Issues Statement on International Day Against Homophobia,† also verifies this conclusion by using statistics which showed that 56% believed homosexuality and Christianity were incompatible and that 82% believed that it was immoral. This, second study was conducted in Jamacia and as such, it is also more relevant to our research based in Trinidad; it should come as no surprise that their sample yielded a homophobic rate only marginally lower than our own at 59% as opposed to 64%. Finally, in relation to our final aim, the research paper, †Religion and public opinion of same-sex marriage,† also proves handy because they validate that no other standard demographic holds significant influence on a candidate’s opinion of same-sex marriage besides religiosity. Considering these observations, my main finding appears to be that religion does, in fact, play a significant role in developing homophobia within the Lower Six population of San Fernando. Additionally, three main inferences can be made: Firstly, that religion may develop homophobia by presenting a community in which homophobia may be justified and advertised as the norm, through interaction with the institution of government, or through symbolic interaction wherein the religious texts are interpreted as encouraging homophobia. Secondly, that religiosity is a much more significant factor than religious affiliation in developing homophobia, with religious affiliation being almost powerless in our study. Thirdly, we may infer that, whilst exposure to the media did have some effect on the development of homophobia as reflected in our qualitative data, by and large, religion is the major influence with no significant alternative factors appearing in our study. ? Limitations Whilst conducting my study, certain limitations were confronted. Chief amongst these was the cost effectiveness of conducting such a relatively large-scale survey consisting of over two hundred subjects. Adding to this difficulty was the statistical analysis in which a spreadsheet was necessary. Additionally, in order to balance the ratio of male to female respondents, the strata of Naparima College was over-represented since that was the school in which the most co-operation was met. However, since Naparima College proved to be a typical institution, for the purposes of our study, I believe that the integrity of the data was no compromised. Difficulty was also met in collecting and analysing secondary data sources as inquisitions at our public libraries proved fruitless and many of the recent, relevant research papers published were either costly, or restricted to members of certain institutions. Lastly, there may have been some, inherent instrument bias in my analysis of the qualitative data. Recommendations On completion of my research, certain recommendations have become apparent. The first being that a complete separation of the church and state must be accomplished in order to provide the allocation of same-sex marriages, and the second being that the institution of religion should be removed from society as it, in its many forms may a dangerous tool for inspiring discrimination. Conclusion Although it has been a lengthy road, it was a straight one, and, in summation, we can determine that there is indeed a clear relationship between religion and homophobia in which religion inspires the other through various ways. Furthermore, a person’s religiosity was shown to be the determining factor in influencing homophobia with no other influence being significant. ?