Spartacus and His Role in the Liberation of Slaves

Spartacus and His Role in the Liberation of Slaves Introduction Spartacus was a Thracian warrior who lived between 109-71 BC. It is believed that Spartacus was born in Thrace. However, the exact date and place is not known. In addition, there is little information with regards to his childhood and early life. A lot of literature has been presented taking into account this issue.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Spartacus and His Role in the Liberation of Slaves specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, this information normally contains a lot of contradicting facts. Due to this, there is no specific source that can be relied upon to present the early life of the hero. However, it is believed that Spartacus joined the Roman army. It is there that he received his early training in combat. Despite the service that he gave to the Roman army, Spartacus was condemned into slavery. He was bought and trained as a Gladiator in Capua where he planned an escape that eventua lly led to an uprising against the Roman government. This is because he instigated the most famous rebellion of slaves in history. It is speculated that this rebellion comprised of over 100,000 slaves who were fighting for their freedom and recognition in the society. Most of them fought to death since they did not have much to live for. This uprising was known as the Third Sevile War that lasted for several years. It is in the course of fighting these wars that it is believed that Spartacus lost his life[1]. The main aim of this essay is to have an insight of the life of Spartacus and the impacts that he had on history. Therefore, it will focus on his origin, history, his impacts on history and analyze how he managed to change or shape history. Therefore, this essay will account for the life of this hero and his achievements. Origin and History of Spartacus Most of the information that is written about Spartacus state that he was a Thracian. It was one of the ancient tribes of Rome during the early civilization. However, as it has been stated earlier, the exact place and date of birth of Spartacus are not identified. Plutarch states that Spartacus was a Thracian nomad. His main occupation was vending his domestic animals. To ensure that his animal had enough to feed on, Spartacus and his other tribesmen moved from one place to another in search of food and pasture[2]. On the other hand, Appian has a different account with regards to the early life of Spartacus. Appian states that Spartacus was a Thracian by birth. However, he joined the Roman army where he received a rigorous training in combat. However, as a result of unknown circumstances, he became a prisoner of the Roman government. This led to his subsequent sale as a gladiator. He, therefore, had to fight for his life as a form of entertainment in front of huge crowds in Rome. Gladiator fights became one of the greatest sports in Rome during that period. People were fascinated with the great skills that these gladiators presented. In addition, they loved the degree of roughness and bloodshed that came as a result.Advertising Looking for term paper on ancient history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More After being sold as a gladiator, Spartacus joined the School of Gladiators that was situated at Capua. This school belonged to Lentulus Batiatus[3]. Batiatus also owned all the slaves that were in his ludus (school). Through training, these slaves represented him in the gladiator wars that occurred frequently in the area. The gladiators fought as if making a career. This implies that they were paid for their services. However, from the literature that was written about Spartacus, it is believed that Batiatus had promised his gladiators that if they saved a certain amount of their money, he would guarantee them their freedom. It is due to this fact, most of these gladiators made this kindof sport their business of life. H owever, this was just a hoax since Batiatus did not have any intension to set free any of his slaves. Once the gladiators discovered that they would be never set free, a group of them plotted an escape from the ludus. Spartacus was among this group of men who wanted to gain their freedom back. There were, however, those slaves whodid not support that idea. It is also said that some of them were loyal to their master, Batiatus, and thus they would not escape regardless of the situation. Once the plan was in place, Spartacus and other slaves seized kitchen implements and tools which they used to fight against the guards at the ludus. Due to their might and power, they were able to defeat the guards. It was a coincidence that during their escape, they managed to intercept a wagon that was transporting military tools and equipment. These weapons made them stronger and more dangerous to their opponents which they faced during their flight. On getting the news of their escape, the Roman g overnment sent a group of soldiers to stop them. All these groups were defeated by this group of slaves. The slaves managed to take over small towns and regions that surrounded Capua. Here, they freed other slaves who joined their army. After someperiod, they moved and settled down in a strategic region on Vesuvius. By this time, they were a lot of them. To ensure that they had an effective and efficient organization, these slaves adopted a form of military organization. They were led by Spartacus and two other Gaul gladiators, Crixus and Oenomus[4]. However, there are authors who believe that this group of slaves comprised of a homogenous group of slaves with Spartacus being their ultimate leaders. Importance of Spartacus and the Historical Impacts That He Had The revolt of the slaves that was led by Spartacus was not considered as an issue of imminent threat by the Roman authority. As a result, they did not see the matter as a great problem. There are some scholars who say that th e Roman government looked at the revolt as at the matter of policy[5].Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Spartacus and His Role in the Liberation of Slaves specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More They did not view the issue as a war or a threat to the peace and security of the empire. As a result, the Romans sent trained militia to control this uprising. They decided to use the militia because they thought the slaves did not pose much threat to the empire. In addition, the legions were engaged in other wars that Rome had. These wars were aimed at improving their external territory and influence over other states. During that time, one group of the legions was engaged in fighting against a revolt that was taking place in Spain. Another group of the legions was taking part in the Third Mithridatic War. This, therefore, left the nation vulnerable for legions to fight the slave uprising in Capua. In addition, the legions we re used only to fight in external wars not internal revolts. Thus,a militia group led by praetorGaius Claudius Glaber[6].was sent to suppress the rebellion This group comprised of men who had received minimal combat training. They also did not have enough experience in using weapons and tools of war. Their main strategy was to seal the only road at the base of Vesuvius that led to its peak. The main aim of this strategy was to protect the inner circles of Capua and its environs from Spartacus and his followers. With the militia protecting this entry, it was believed that the slaves would die from starvation. The slaves would also have no access to military supplies. Those who would not want to endure the pain, suffering of hunger and lack of basic amenities would beoffered to surrender to authority. From a theoretical approach, this strategy seemed to be brilliant. On realising this, Spartacus ordered his crew to cut the vines that were growing at the apex of the mountain. With the experience that they had on using crude weapons and crafting, the slaves were able to make ladders and ropes with the help of these vines. At dusk, they slowly descended the volcano of the mountain using the ropes and ladders that they had made and crept into the unfortified Roman camp. Within a few minutes, they succeeded to capture and kill the Roman guards that Glaber had put on watch. They waged their attack against another militia in the camp. The slaves managed to capture and kill most of them. In addition, they were able to seize their weapons and armour as well as their food and medical supplies. When Rome heard about this, the senate sent two new troops of militia that were under the command of praetor Publius Varinius. The main aim of this second expedition was to bring the slaves into justice following their actions. However, the Romans did not have an idea of the strengths and capabilities of the gladiators. After their victory, many other slaves and shepherds within the plains had joined them. Their numbers had drastically increased as a result.Advertising Looking for term paper on ancient history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The authors considered their number torange between 40,000 to 50,000 at that time[7]. With this force, the militia that was under the command of praetor Publius Varinius stood no chance. The gladiators viciously attacked them and almost captured the praetor who was defenceless when his lieutenants had been killed. Thepraetor managed, however,to escape, that is why he was not captured. These victories showed that Spartacus was not only a gifted warrior but a true leader. He was able to command and control his men. Due to his skills and tactics, those gladiators were always victorious. This, in turn, made many shepherds and slaves to join the army. Within months, it is speculated that the number of the gladiators had reached 100,000 men. Their main aim was to bring an end to the reign of Romans on their lands. On the other hand, the Romans took the revolts of the insurgents as a serious issue. However, every attack that they planned on them failed. This was because they did not have a good understanding of the terrain where the insurgents were based at. In addition, the adverse weather conditions coupled with attacks of epidemics and diseases reduced their chances of being victorious. These defeats made the Roman senate to take the uprising seriously. To respond to the attacks that were raised by Spartacus and his gladiators, the Roman authorities deployed a pair of legions to fight and defeat the slaves. The legions were under the command of Lucius Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus[8]. The attacks of the legions were initially successful. With the training and skills that they had, they managed to attack and take over a group of slaves who were under the leadership of Crixus. This group of slaves included about 30,000 gladiators. They were defeated by the legions during the war that took place near Mount Garganus. They victory was, however, short lived since the troop that was under the command of Spartacus was able to overpower the legi ons. In the process, they managed to free their fellow slaves. The results of this encounter proved the might of Spartacus and his men. In addition, this brought a lot of tension on the Roman Senate. With no options, Marcus Licinius Crassus who was the richest man in Rome at that time was given the duty to control all the Roman legionnaires. He assembled an army that comprised of six different troops. These troops went on ahead to attack Spartacus and his crew who had moved to the southern part of the country. It is believed that Spartacus wanted to escape to Sicily. It is in the course of these wars that it is believed that Spartacus died. Crassus was capable of bringing an end to the Third Sevile War that had brought about a lot of instability in Rome. Despite his defeat, Spartacus left a huge mark in history. The initiation of the Third Sevile War and the consequent victories of the gladiators under his command is the main impact that Spartacus had in history. Impacts of Spartacu s on World History As stated earlier, the main mark that Spartacus leftin history is the liberation of slaves. This was depicted by his efforts of organizing an escape of the gladiators from the ludus of Batiatus. In addition, he was leading an army of slaves during the Third Sevile War that gave the Roman government a huge resistance. It is through these actions that Spartacus managed to influence the mentality and attitudes of many individuals over the years. In Haiti, there was a slave rebellion that lasted between 1791 and 1804. This rebellion was led by Henry Christopher. It was named Black Spartacus. These slaves fought for their freedom. In the course of their actions, Spartacus and his gladiators were their main mentors. Karl Marx, one of the greatest philosophers of all the times listed Spartacus as one of his mentors. Spartacus has also found a lot of application in arts. He has been presented in literature, films and music. For example, in 1960, a film named Spartacus was released. It focused on the life of Spartacus and the war encounters that he had with the Romans. In 2010, a TV series named Spartacus: Blood and Sand was released. In sports, there are many teams that are named Spartacus. These teams use the name of the hero as a symbol of their might in the various games that they are involved in. Conclusion Although the origin of Spartacus is still not well known, he played a crucial role in the liberation of many slaves from captivity. Through the wars in which his gladiators were engaged andfought against the Romans and the victories that they had, Spartacus managed to influence many individuals over time. Due to his story, people realise that they can fight for their lives and freedoms regardless of their status or position in the society. The actions of Spartacus couldbe, therefore, used as an early evidence of the fight for equality and freedom of man. Bibliography Burns, Israel et al. The Roman Empire.Ancient History 19 (1998):173–2 02. Crisp, Bob et al.Heroes and their Impacts.Research Journal 1 (2000): 4-21. Gray, Muir. The Gladiators of Sparta. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 1997. Shaw, Campbellet al. Spartacus.British Journal of History49 (1999): 967-970. Quinn, Simon. Protecting human subjects: Rebellion and Revolts.World Historical Journal 94 (2004): 918–922. Footnotes Israel Burns and others, The Roman Empire. Ancient History 19 (1998):173–202. Israel Burns and others, The Roman Empire. Ancient History 19 (1998):173–202. Campbell Shaw and others, Spartacus. British Journal of History49 (1999): 967-970. Campbell Shaw and others, Spartacus. British Journal of History49 (1999): 967-970. Crisp Bob and others, Heroes and their Impacts. Research Journal 1 (2000): 4-21. Quinn Simon, Protecting human subjects: Rebellion and Revolts. World Historical Journal 94 (2004): 918–922. Muir Gray, The Gladiators of Sparta. (Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 1997) 54. Muir Gray, The Gladiato rs of Sparta. (Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 1997) 54.

The Unnecessary Cost of the War in Iraq Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Unnecessary Cost of the War in Iraq - Essay Example The Bush administration, along with the urging of then Defense Secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld, woefully underestimated the number of soldiers it would require to secure Iraq after the initial invasion. Their number of approximately 125,000 troops was far too few to occupy the country and restore order. Paul Bremer, senior civilian administrator in Iraq during the first year of the occupation says he, "complained to President Bush and other officials that far too few troops were committed to the occupation in the first year after Saddam Hussein was ousted" (Shanker, A6). Bremer even wrote a formal letter to Secretary Rumsfeld requesting two additional divisions, but Bremer contends, "he had never heard back from Mr. Rumsfeld" (Shanker, A6). The fact that the Defense Department would not even respond to the senior administrator on the ground in Iraq shows the degree of arrogance, if not incompetence, that has led our country into a quagmire of ill-advised decisions. The decisions made at the White House have resulted in the unnecessary deaths and maiming of many of our finest young men and women. The death toll stands at almost 2,800 killed and another 10,000 wounded so severely that they will never be able to return to active duty (Shanker and Cloud, A14).

Network Design for non-adjacent Floors Assignment

Network Design for non-adjacent Floors - Assignment Example Each department is in the connection to a central switch on that floor before connecting to the router in the field level. The router is in the context of the external wide area network via a firewall. The firewall will be vital in filtering traffic from outside. The information technology department will host the six servers namely: file server, mail server, print server, web server, DHCP server and the DNS servers. The design has a number of security challenges posed by the non-adjacent floors. Employees will be organized according to the four departments namely: Information technology department, sales, accounting, finance, and human resource department. Different departments will be on virtual local area networks to beef up the security of individual unit’s data. The general design will consider factors such as the scalability of the network to accommodate increasing numbers of staff. Further, security and means of recovering from a disaster in case one occurs are of utmos t concern. The greatest challenges in networking non-adjacent levels include cabling between the two floors. To run a cable from the third floor to the fifth floor will either involve running the cable outside the walls or inside the room. It will, therefore, call upon the management to request the tenant on the fourth floor to allow the running of cables through their floor. However, this comes with many challenges. First, the tenant may decline which means that the management may incur more to run the cables outside and ensure that it is secure. Accepting to run the cables through the floor poses a greater challenge. It leaves a vast security loophole. The concerned person may tap directly into our network thus giving them access to our network. Depending on whom they are, the organization's data is at risk of being exposed to third parties who may end up using it for their reasons.  

The Power Asymmetry In Qualitative Research Interviews English Language Essay

The Power Asymmetry In Qualitative Research Interviews English Language Essay The books in The Sage Qualitative Research Kit have been written with the needs of many different types of readers in mind. As such, the Kit and the individual books will be of use to a wide variety of users: Practitioners of various research, University teachers and Undergraduate and graduate students. Each book of the Kit has been written by a distinguished author with extensive experience in their field and in the practice with methods they write about. Doing interviews addresses the theoretical, epistemological, ethical and practical issues of interviewing people about specific issues or their life story. There are two other books about interviewing, they approach the subject in a much more detailed and focuses way for the specific method. Interviews are one of the major approaches in collecting data in qualitative research. There are variety ways of how to do interviews and what to do after the interview has been done. Doing interviews comes with specific needs of increasing the interview quality in general and its validity in particular and finally of reporting what was said and how it was analyzed. 1. Introduction to interview research Three interview sequences Conversation is a basic mode of human interaction. Through conversations we get to know other people, get to learn about their experiences, feelings and hopes and the world they live in. In an interview it is the same, except the researcher asks and listens to the people. The research interview is an interview where knowledge is constructed in the interaction between in the interviewer and the interviewee. Trough various sequences the writer is explaining that there are three forms of interviewing. A rather simple form of straightforward questioning contrast with the reciprocity of everyday conversations. The interviewer is in a power position and sets the stage by determining the topic of the interchange; it is the interviewer who asks and the interviewee who answers. The qualitative interview is a key venue for exploring the ways in which subjects experience and understand their world. Interview research in history and in the social sciences The term interview is of recent origin; it came into use in the seventeenth century. An interview is literally an inter-view. An interchange of views between two persons conversing about a theme of common interest. Systematic literature on research interviewing is a new phenomenon of the last few decades. Qualitative interviews have, previously been extensively employed in the social sciences. With education and health sciences, the interview has become a common research method in the last few decades. Quality methods, ranging form participant observation over interview to discourse analysis, have since the 1980s become key methods of social research. Technical, epistemological and cultural reasons may be suggested for the growing use of qualitative research interviews. The availability of small portable tape records in the 1950s made the exact recording of interviews easy. In the 1980s, computer programs facilitated the qualitative analyses of transcribed interviews. Interviews have also become part of the common culture. Methodological and ethical issues The interview is a conversation that has a structure and a purpose determined by the one part, the interviewer. The qualitative research interview is a construction site for knowledge. A semi-structures life-world interview will be in focus of the book. It is defined as an interview with the purpose of obtaining descriptions of the life world of the interviewee with respect to interpreting the meaning of the describes phenomena. To have an interview a good preparation will be needed. The interview is a powerful method of producing knowledge of the human situation. 2. Epistemological issues of interviewing Mode of understanding in a qualitative research interview A semi -structured life-world interview attempts to understand themes of the lived daily world for the subjects own perspectives. It comes close to an everyday conversation but as a professional interview it has a purpose and it involves a specific approach and technique. The interview is a uniquely sensitive and powerful method for capturing the experiences and lived meanings of the subjects everyday world and it allow the subject tot convoy their situation from their own perspective and in their own words. An interview seeks to understand the meaning of central themes of the subjects lived world. It is necessary to listen to the explicit description and to the meaning expressed, as well as to what is said between the lines. In qualitative interviews, precision in description and stringency in meaning interpretation correspond to exactness in quantitative. The qualitative interviewer encourage the subject tot describe as precisely as possible what they experience and feel. The qualitative interview attempts to obtain descriptions that are as comprehensive and presupposition less as possible of important themes of the interviewees life world. The interviewer should be curious, sensitive to what is said, as well as to what is not said, and critical. The focus of the interview is on particular themes: it is neither strictly structures with standard questions, nor entirely non-directive. The task of the interviewer is to clarify, as far as possible, whether the ambiguities and contradictory statements are due to a failure of communication in the interview situation. Power asymmetry in qualitative research interviews The research interview is a specific professional conversation with a clear power asymmetry between the researcher and the subject: The interview entails an asymmetrical power relation; The interview is a one-way dialogue; The interview is an instrumental dialogue; The interview may be a manipulative dialogue; The interviewer had a monopoly of interpretation; Counter-control, subjects may hold information; Exceptions. Research interviews between a philosophical dialogue and a therapeutic interview The qualitative research interview has affinities to philosophical dialogues as well as to therapeutic interviews, but follows neither the relentless intellectual reasoning of the former nor the close personal interaction of the latter. Professional interviews, such as a therapeutic interview, a job interview or a legal interrogation, are characterized by a focus on the dynamics of interaction between interviewer and interviewee, a methodological awareness of question forms and a critical attention to what is said. The therapeutic sequence indicates the possibilities for research interviewers to learn from the techniques developed within the therapeutic profession, while also demonstrating differences between therapeutic and research interviews. The interviewer as a miner or as a traveler Two contrasting metaphors of the interviewer, as a miner or as a traveler, may illustrate the different epistemological conceptions of interviewing as a process of knowledge collection or as a process of knowledge construction, respectively. In a miner metaphor, knowledge is understood as buried metal and the interviewer is a miner who unearths the valuable metal. The knowledge is waiting in the subjects interior to be uncovered, uncontaminated by the miner. An alternative traveler metaphor understands the interviewer as a traveler on a journey to a distant country that leads to a table to be told upon returning home. The interview traveler walks along with the local inhabitants, asks questions and encourages them tot tell their own stories of their lived world. Epistemological conceptions of interview knowledge The elimination of the hum factor in research, key aspects of the mode of understanding in qualitative research interviews appear as methodological sources of error, to a philosophy of sciences. In a postmodern approach the qualitative research interview appears as a construction site of knowledge. The knowledge generated by interviews is in line with key features of a postmodern conception of knowledge, such as the conversational, the narrative, the linguistic, the contextual and interrelational nature of knowledge. With a decline of modern universal system of knowledge, the local, manifold and changing language contexts come into prominence. In a postmodern epistemology the certainty of our knowledge is less a matter of interaction with a non-human reality than a matter of conversation between persons. 3. Ethical issues of interviewing Interviewing as a moral inquiry An interview inquiry is a moral enterprise. Moral issues concern the means as well as the ends of interviews. The human interaction in the interview affects the interviewees and the knowledge produces by an interview inquiry affects our understanding of the human condition. Consequently, interview research is saturated with moral and ethical issues. Ethical issues throughout an interview inquiry Ethical issues go through the entire process of an interview investigation, and potential ethical concerns should be taken into consideration form the very start of an investigation and up to the final report. Ethical guidelines Professional ethical codes serve as contexts for reflection on the specific ethical decisions throughout an interview inquiry. Figure 1 outlines issues raised by these ethical guidelines in the form of questions, which interviewers may ask them before embarking on an interview journey. Figure 1. Informed consent entails informing the research about the overall purpose of the investigation and the main feature of the design, as well as of possible risks and benefits from participation in the research project. This raises the issue of how informed consent can be handled in exploratory interview studies, where the investigators themselves will have little advance knowledge of how the interview will proceed. The interviewees should always be informed about the purpose and the procedure of the interview. Confidentiality in research implies that private data identifying the subject will not be reported, otherwise the subject need to agree on the release of identifiable information. In extreme cases, protecting confidentiality can raise serious legal problems. The consequences of an interview study need to be addressed with respect to possible harm to the subjects as well as to the expected benefits of participating in the study. The ethical principle of beneficence means that the risk of harm to a subject should be the least possible. The researcher as a person is critical for the quality of the scientific knowledge and for the soundness of ethical decisions in an interview inquiry. Moral research behavior involves more than ethical knowledge and cognitive choices. The integrity of the researcher, his or her knowledge, experience, honesty and fairness, is the decisive factor. 4. Planning an interview study Seven stages of an interview inquiry No standard procedures or rules exits for conducting a research interview or an entire interview investigation. There are standard choices of methods at the different stages of an interview investigation. The quality of an interview study to a large extent rests on the craftsmanship of the researcher. The term unstandardized pertains to the interview situation, but an entire interview investigation had often tended to be a rather standardized affair, going through five emotional phases of hardships. Anti-positivist enthusiasm phase; The interview-quoting phase; The working phase of silence; The aggressive phase of silence; The final phase of exhaustion. These descriptions are based upon observation of colleagues and students undertaking interview projects. The seven stage of an interview inquiry are: Thematizing Designing Interviewing Transcribing Analyzing Verifying Reporting Through these stages an interview study will be developed and ends with the reporting. The emotional dynamics of an interview study are related tot these seven stages. Thematizing an interview study Thematizing refers to the formulation of research questions and a theoretical clarification of the theme investigated. The key questions when planning an interview investigation concern the why, what and how of the interview. Thematizing an interview study involves clarifying the purpose of the study, the why question. Interviews can have explorative or hypothesis-testing purposes. An exploratory interview is usually open with little pre-planned structure. Interviews that test hypotheses tend to be more structured. Interviews can also being used to inductively develop an empirically grounded theory, or as background material for further practical and theoretical studies. The thematic understanding of the topic if the study, the what, will further provides a ground for the how of the study: the many decisions on method that must be made on the way. The thematic focus of a project influences what aspects of subject matter the questions centre upon, and which aspects remain in the background. Familiarly with the local situation may also sensitize tot local ethic-political issues of the community, which need to be taken into account when interviewing and reporting the interviews. Designing an interview study Designing an interview study involves planning the procedures and techniques, the how of the study. The temporal dimension of an interview investigation should be kept in mind from the first thematizing to the final reporting stage, taking into account the interdependence of the seven stages. Overview, interdependence, push forward, spiraling backwards, keep the end point in sight, getting wiser and work-journal are all key factors of an interview inquiry. The number of subjects to interview necessary depends on the purpose of a study. In common interviews, the amount of interviews trends to be around 15. This number may be due to a combination of the time and resources available for the investigation and a law of diminishing returns. The method may be understood in a broad sense, like the way to the goal. A method is a set of rules, which can be used in a mechanical way to realize a given aim. Within such a formal rule conception of method, the qualitative research interview, where knowledge is produced trough the personal interaction between interviewer and interviewee, is clearly not a scientific method. Interviewing may be regarded less as a method following explicit rules than pragmatically as a craft, where the quality of knowledge produced by the interview rests upon the subject matter knowledge and the craftsmanship of the interviewer. Learning to interview is to arrive at a transparency of the techniques and tools. 5. Conducting an interview Setting the interview stage The setting of the interview stage should encourage the interviewees to describe their points of view on the topic. The first minutes of an interview are decisive. The interview should be introduced by a briefing in which the interviewer is defines the situation for the subject, briefly tells about the purpose of the interview, the use of a tape recorder and ask if the subjects has any questions before starting the interview. The initial briefing should be followed up by a debriefing after the interview. Scripting the interview An interview guide is a script that structures the course of the interview more or less tightly. The guide may merely contain some topics to be covered or it can be a detailed sequence of carefully worded questions. Interviews differ in their openness of purpose; the interviewer can explain the purpose and pose direct questions from the start, or can adopt a roundabout approach, with indirect questions, and reveal the purpose only when the interview is over. Thematically the questions relate to the what of an interview, to the theoretical conceptions of the research topic, and to the subsequent analysis of the interview. Dynamically the questions pertain tot the how of an interview; they should promote a positive interaction, keep the flow of the conversation going, and stimulate the subjects to talk about their experiences and feelings. The interviewer should also try to keep in mind the later analysis, verification and reporting to the interviews. Interviewers who know what they are asking about and why they are asking, will attempt to clarify the meanings relevant to the project during the interview. Active listing, the interviews ability to listen actively to what the interviewee says, is as important as the specific mastery of questioning techniques. That is why researcher questions need to translated to interviewer questions, figure 2 Figure 2 6. Interview variations Interview subjects Different issues will raise by different populations when the focus is on cross-cultural interviews, interviews with men, women and with children. In a cross-cultural interview it is difficult to become aware of the multitude of cultural factors that affect the relationship between interviewer and interviewee. In a foreign culture an interviewers needs time to establish a familiarity with the new culture and learn some of the many verbal and non-verbal factors where interviewer in a foreign culture may go amiss. Also with children the approach for an interview needs to be different. Interview forms A variety of research forms, useful for different purpose, exist. With the broad variety of interview forms and subjects it becomes understandable that there are no general standard procedures and rules for research interview. There is no correct or ideal interview form. Qualitative interviews do not only focus on the interviewees own perspectives and meanings. Obtaining valid factual information may be crucial in many interviews. In other situates, when interviewing for the oral history of a community, the focus will be less on the storytellers own perspective upon the events recounted, than on his or her stories as venues to reliable information about a collective past. Some experiments may serve interviewers as a reminder to be extremely careful in wording their questions when interviewing for factual information. Confrontational interviews though we did not seek to impose our ideas on those with whom we talked, †¦we did attempt to uncover assumptions, to make explicit what the person we were talking to might have left implicit (Bellah et al., 1985, p 304) In addition to a prevalent empathetic and consensual interview form, the more active confrontational and agonistic styles of interviewing may also produce valuable knowledge. 7. Interview quality Interview qualifications The interviewer is the key research instrument of an interview inquiry. A good interviewer knows the topic of the interview, masters conversational skills and is proficient in language, with an ear for his or her subjects linguistic style. The interviewer must continually make on-the-spot decisions about what to ask and how; which aspects of subjects answer to follow up, and which not, which answers to comment and interpret, and which not. The interviewer should have a sense for good stories and be able to assist the subjects in the unfolding of their narratives. Leading questions It is a well-documented finding that a slight rewording of a question in a questionnaire or in the interrogation of eyewitness may influence the answer. Politicians are well experienced in warding off leading questions form reporters; but if leading questions are inadvertently posed to subjects who are easily suggestible, such as small children, the validity of their answers may be jeopardized. In contrast to common opinion, the qualitative research interview is particularly well suited for employing leading questions to repeatedly check the reliability of the interviewees answers, as well as to verify the interviewers interpretations. The task in an interview is not to avoid leading research questions, but to recognize the primacy of the question and attempt to make the orienting questions explicit, thereby providing the reader with the possibility of evaluating their influence on the research findings and of assessing the validity of the findings. There are no unequivocal quality criteria for research interviews. A good interview rests upon the craftsmanship of the researcher, which goes beyond a mastery of questioning techniques to encompass knowledge of the research topic, sensitivity to the social relation of interviewer ad subject, and an awareness of epistemological and ethical aspects of research interviewing. 8. Transcribing interviews Oral and written language Transcription is an interpretative process, where the differences between oral speech and written texts give rise to a series of practical and principal issues. A transcript is a translation from one narrative mode, oral discourse, into another narrative mode, written discourse. The quality of interview transcriptions had always been a neglected issue. Transcribing interviews Transcribing the interviews from an oral to a written mode structures the interview conversations in a form amenable to closer analysis, and is in itself an initial analysis. The reliability and validity of transcriptions are generally neglected. If these two issues are addressed, the interpretative and constructive nature of transcription will appear. Computer tools for interview analysis Once the interviews have been transcribed, they become available for structuring and analysis by a variety of computer programs. The computer programs allow for such operations as writing memo, writing reflections on the interviews for late analysis, coding, searching for key words, doing words counts, and making graphic displays. No valid transcription of an oral account exists, but a variety of forms of transcribing, which will be valid for different uses of the transcripts. 9. Analyzing interviews Integrating interview analysis in an interview inquiry The question How shall I find a method to analyze the 1000 pages of interview transcripts I have collected? is a question which is too late en the work will be too much. The method of analysis should not only be given thought in advance of the interviewing, but may also, to varying degrees, be built into the interview situation itself. Modes of analysis No standard method exists, to arrive at essential meanings and deeper implications of what is said in an interview. The techniques of analysis are tools, useful for some purpose, relevant for some types of interviews, and suited for some researchers. But it depends on each interview itself. Interview analyses focusing on meaning Meaning and language are interwoven; in the practice of interview analysis the focus on meaning versus linguistic form does imply rather different techniques. Coding and categorizing were early approaches to the analysis of texts in the social sciences, which make it easy to transcribe the interview. Coding involves attaching one or more keywords to a text segment in order to permit later identification of a statement, whereas categorization entails a more systematic conceptualization of a statement, opening for quantification. Interpretation of texts is established by a hermeneutical circle, where the meaning of a text is established through a process in which the meanings of the separate passages are determined by the global meaning of the text as it is anticipated. Re-reading of the single passages may again change the first anticipated global meaning of the text, which again alters the meaning of the single passages. Interview analyses focusing on language The medium, or the material, with which interviewers work is language. The interview process occurs through speech, and the interview products are presented in words. During the last few decades social science researchers have started to use linguistic tools. Linguistic analysis, narrative analysis, conversation analysis, discourse analysis and deconstruction. Interview analysis as bricolage Many analyses of interviews are conducted without following any specific analytic method. The researchers may then freely change between different techniques and approaches. Bricolage refers to mixed technical discourses where the interpreter moves freely between different analytic techniques. In contrast to systematic analytic modes such as categorization and conversation analysis, bricolage implies a free interplay of techniques during the analysis. 10. Validation and generalization of interview knowledge Objectivity of interview knowledge. Issues of reliably and validity go beyond technical or conceptual concerns and raise epistemological questions of objectivity of knowledge and the nature of interview research. Interview analyses can be objective in the sense of intersubjective agreement, such as when a high degree of intersubjective reliability is documented by coding interview in quantifiable categories. Objective may also mean reflecting the nature of the object researched, letting the object speak, being adequate to the object investigated expressing, the real nature of the studied. Contrary to common opinion, knowledge produced in interviews need not be subjective, but may, be an objective method with respect to key meanings of objectivity. Reliability and validity of interview knowledge Reliability pertains to the consistency and trustworthiness of research findings; it is often treated in relation to the issue of whether a finding is reproducible at other times and by other researcher. Validity refers in ordinary language to the truth, the correctness and the strength of a statement. A valid argument is sound, well grounded, justifiable, strong and convincing. Validity as quality of craftsmanship Validation rests on the quality of the researchers craftsmanship throughout an investigation, continually checking, questioning and theoretically interpreting the findings. Validations do not belong to a separate stage of an investigation, but permeates the entire research process. Validity is ascertained by examining the sources of invalidity. The stronger the falsification attempts a knowledge proposition has survived, the stronger and more valid is the knowledge. Communicative and pragmatic validity When a modern belief in knowledge as a mirror of reality recedes to a social construction of social reality, communicative and pragmatic forms of validation come to the foreground. Communicative validity involves testing the validity of knowledge claims in a conversation. A Communicative validation of interview findings raises specific questions about the how, why and who of communication. Pragmatic validation relates to the users responses to an interpretation, and in a strong for it concerns the issue of whether interventions based on the researchers knowledge may instigate actual changes in behavior. Pragmatic validation is verification in the literal sense, to make true; justification is replaced by application. Analytical generalization rests upon rich contextual descriptions. It includes the researchers argumentation for the transferability of the interview findings to other subjects and situations, as well as the readers generalizations form a report. 11. Reporting interview knowledge Contrasting audiences for interview reports. When writing a report for an interview study it may be useful to be aware of different requirements within local social science communities. In common interview reports the link between the original conversations and the conclusions reported may be thin or missing. The interested reader will not find any, or only come across some vague scattered descriptions of how the interview knowledge was produced. Working towards the final report from the start of an interview study may contribute to a readable report of methodologically well-substantiated, interesting findings. Presenting interview findings with a quote, three guidelines for editing are suggested: The quotes should be contextualized; Interview quotes should be rendered in a readable style; Interview quotes should preferably be loyal to the habitual language of an interviewee. For communicative validation and analytical generalization, readers need rich contextual information about the interview findings in order to validate and generalize the results. 12. Enhancing interview quality Learning the craft of interviewing A book about interviewing involves a paradox of presenting explicit and general guidelines for a craft, which consist of practical skills and personal know-how that often remains tacit and depends on given situation. It can not be predicted which an interview journey goes. If people research interviewing by themselves, they will discovered the theory about interviewing and transcription themselves and not through a book. Starting to learn interviewing by listening to tapes will sensitize novice interviewers to the oral medium of the interview craft. Learning interviewing by transcribing interviews promotes a discovery learning where , through their own practice, newcomers tot the trade discovery techniques and dilemmas is transferring live conversations to written texts. There are three options to learn about interviewing: Learn interviewing by witness others interviewing; Learn interviewing by practicing interviewing; Learn interviewing in a community of interview researchers. The road to mastery of interviewing through a transcribing task, an interview practicum, or ideally a research apprenticeship, may appear as too cumbersome and time-consuming to some students. But it is most important to be well prepared. The adequate knowledge of the nature of interview conversations is suggested by: A pragmatic approach involves a move from philosophical legitimation to the practical effects of knowledge. Rather than seeking universal knowledge, the emphasis is on situated knowledge. What matters is not arriving at context-independent general knowledge, but producing well-described situated knowledge from the interviews. Interview knowledge is not collected, but produced between interviewer and interviewee, and the meanings constructed in their interaction are again restructured throughout the later stages of an interview inquiry. In order to reach a professional level comparable to quantitative analysis today, qualitative social research needs to move beyond a linguistic illiteracy towards a professional mastery of the linguistic medium of the interview craft. We live in a conversational world. The relevance of conversations in social science goes beyond the use of interview conversations as an additional empirical method. It concludes conversations among researchers, and the public, about the truth and value of the knowledge produced in interview conversations about a conversational world. Conclusion Doing interviews by Stein Kvale is a book which has two kinds of different input. There is the theoretical background and the practica

Bye Bye Brazil :: essays research papers

Summary I really enjoyed watching the film Bye, Bye Brazil. I found it to be amusing as well as heartbreaking. I loved Gypsy Lorde. His character had the charisma bordering that of a male chauvinist pig to that of a gentleman. I liked the way the director used symbolic images to get his point across to the audience. I think if I had not done research on the Internet for most of our assignments as well as reading the textbook, I would have found the movie very educational. I had no questions after watching the film. However, it did make me realize how the majority of cultures will assimilate during the process of change, losing a little if not the majority of their traditions that were establish decades ago. Bye, Bye Brazil (1980), a film by Carlos Diegues, tells a story about the struggle of two couples trying to find their dreams in a country, Brazil, that is being overcome by social changes and undergoing massive technological transformations. United by their dreams, the couples travel through the backlands of Brazil in a truck, to seek places where they can not only make a living, but also find their dreams. The insights gained in the course of the journey are insights of both acceptance and change. The main character, the accordionist Cico, starts by joining the Carnival Rolidei as means of breaking out of his suffocating town, and from his pre-determined course of life. The character Gypsy Lorde is portrayed as an ambitious and cynical manager without scruples who is reluctant to see the changes around him. Salome, Gypsy Lorde companion, is as cynical as he, but transmits an air of quiet resignation to the fact that things are changing, whether they like it or not. The fourth character Dasdo, Cico’s wife, is very plain looking compared to Salome, very quiet, and passive. Like Salome, Dasdo also quietly resigns to the fact things are changing but she also tries to give an array of hope that the Carnival will survive and prosper. Bye, Bye Brazil unites in its characters and situations the same elements, which are part of the many processes that are transforming Brazil. The carnival travels from poor town to another. You can see the surprise and disgust of the characters as they move from one part of Brazil to another. Finding that either the young have left behind their old for modernization or that the town people have been captivated by the magic and illusions presented by television.

Labor Relations Essay

In reviewing information pertaining to labor unions, there is a plethora of information about unions in the transportation industry. One of the most widely known unions is the teamster unions, which deals with truckers. Labor unions and issues with automotive industry are often seen in the media. The newest transportation industry in American history is the airline industry. As the newest transportation industry that is still vital to American comfort, convenience, and commercial, the airline industry is ripe for workers to organize and demand a greater piece of the profits from operations. In this essay, an effort will be made to review this company in regards to labor relations. Company’s stance toward Labor Delta Airlines was founded by C. E. Woolman, an agriculture extension agent (Anthony, Kacmar, & Perrewe, 2010). C. E Woolman was not a banker, venture capitalist or war pilot, as many of the competing airlines were. He didn’t have the aggressive military style that many of the other airline founders had. What C. E. Woolman instilled within the employees at all levels of the organization is that people matter and should be treated fairly and equitably. This philosophy led Delta Airlines to be the leader in customer service from the company’s inception through the many mergers over the years. Through the difficult financial times when other airlines were laying off employees and filing for bankruptcy, Delta continued to pay their people well and keep them employed. There was an exception during the Ronald Allen CEO era of 1987 thru 1997. Human relations took a significant down turn during his tenure as CEO, especially during 1993 and 1994, but Delta decided to part ways with Allen and began repairing those fragile relationships with its employees. Delta Airlines still focuses on the human relations factor and has been able to repair the relationship with its employees; they believe it is their key to success. Despite the corporate culture to take care of its employees, a number of Delta employee departments are unionizing. They feel as though that piece is not being distributed justly. Formulate a strategy for negotiating a labor agreement Human behavior dictates that there will be problems. As a company starts making money, there is always a desire by the employees to acquire more of the profit. On the other hand, management has a desire to retain as much of the profit to be provided to investors and to receive bonuses for their â€Å"supposedly† wise business practices. When one group wants more and another wants to retain, there will be conflict. And this is precisely what is happening at Delta Airline, as well as among many industries in the transportation arena. Employees, seeking to gain an upper hand threaten to strike; however, management must be willing to address the matter through negotiation. The Negotiation Process Fisher and Ury recommend conducting negotiations according to the process of â€Å"principled negotiation. † Their method has four main tenets: 1. Separate the people from the problem. The idea should be for both sides to work together to attack a problem, rather than attacking each other. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to overcome emotional responses and set aside egos. 2. Focus on interests rather than positions. The natural tendency in many negotiations—for example, dickering over the price to be paid for an antique—is for both sides to state a position and then move toward middle ground. Fisher and Ury warn against confusing people’s stated positions with their underlying interests, and claim that positions often tend to obscure what people truly hope to gain through negotiation. 3. Generate a variety of options before deciding what to do. The pressure involved in any type of negotiation tends to narrow people’s vision and inhibit their creativity, making it difficult to find optimal solutions to problems. Instead, Fisher and Ury suggest developing a wide range of possible solutions as part of the negotiating process. These possible solutions should attempt to advance shared interests and reconcile differences. 4. Base the result on objective criteria. No one will be happy with the result of a negotiation if they feel that they have been taken advantage of. The solution is to find and apply some fair standard to the problem in order to guarantee a mutually beneficial result. Fisher and Ury’s principles provide a good overall guide for the actual negotiation process. In his book, Nierenberg offered a number of other tips and strategies that may be effective in promoting successful negotiations. For example, it may be helpful to ask questions in order to form a better understanding of the needs and interests of the other side. The questions must be phrased diplomatically and timed correctly in order to avoid an antagonistic response. The idea is to gain information and uncover basic assumptions without immediately taking positions. Nierenberg stressed the importance of listening carefully to the other side’s responses, as well as studying their facial expressions and body language, in order to gain quality information. Nierenberg noted that good negotiators will employ a variety of means to accomplish their objectives. Small business owners should be aware of some of the more common strategies and techniques that they may see others apply or may wish to apply themselves. One common strategy is forbearance, or â€Å"patience pays,† which covers any sort of wait or delay in negotiations. If one side wishes to confer in private, or adjourn briefly, they are employing a strategy of forbearance. Another common strategy is to present a fait accompli, or come to a final offer and leave it up to the other side to decide whether to accept it. In a simple example, a small business owner may scratch out one provision in a contract that he or she finds unacceptable, then sign it and send it back. The other party to the contract then must decide whether to accept the revised agreement. Nierenberg warns that this strategy can be risky, and encourages those who employ it to carefully appraise the consequences first. Another possible negotiating strategy is reversal, which involves taking a position that seems opposed to the original one. Similarly, feinting involves apparently moving in one direction in order to ivert attention from the true goal. For example, a negotiator may give in on a point that is not very important in order to make the real objective more attainable. Another strategy involves setting limits on the negotiation, whether with regards to time, the people involved, or other factors. It is also possible to change the participation in the negotiation if it seems to be at an impasse. For example, a neutral third party may be enlisted to help, or one or two people from each side may be sent off to continue the negotiation separately. It may also be helpful to break down the problem into small pieces and tackle them one by one. Another strategy might be to trade sides for a short time and try to view the situation from each other’s perspective. All of these techniques may be applied either to gain advantage or to push forward a negotiation that has apparently reached an impasse. Analyze the principle economic and administrative issues The airline industry is a fast growing sector demonstrating a very strong growth rate. It is associated with a number of social and economic benefits and is a growing contributor to the global inventory (Whitelegg, 2000). Business cycles have a wide reaching impact on the airline industry; during recession, air travel was considered a luxury and therefore spending is cut which leads to reduced prices. The industry creates its impact not just by providing direct employment, but also through the creation of opportunities throughout the travel and hospitality sector of the economy. Jobs in hotels, resorts, restaurants and car rental agencies are all impacted by the airline industry (Global Airline Industry Program, 2011). The airline industry itself is a major economic force, both in terms of its own operations and its impacts on related industries such as aircraft manufacturing and tourism. There are few industries that create the amount and intensity of attention that airlines receive, not only among its participants but from government policy makers and the media as well. The crucial issues on the table vary depending on whether the person is in management or is a worker. For management, the key to retain as much money as possible, while for the workers the goal is to obtain more of the profit. Thus, in management, the argument would be made to show how much money is used to provide employee insurances and benefits, reinvest in equipment and aircraft, general property and liability. On top of that, investors must be repaid. For the employee or worker, this is a stressful environment where the employee needs to be compensated for his work-related stress. Employee paid benefits continues to decrease, and the employee is forced to pay a disproportionate share. Thus, the employee needs more money just to live at a sustainable level. Recommend policies and procedures to administer a labor contract and resolve disputes. It is of utmost importance to resolve conflict expeditiously and justly for all parties involved. Thus, I would recommend the following policies as a means to resolve disputes: When a team oversteps the mark of healthy difference of opinion, resolving conflict requires respect and patience. The human experience of conflict involves our emotions, perceptions, and actions; we experience it on all three levels, and we need to address all three levels to resolve it. We must replace the negative experiences with positive ones. Acknowledge the conflict – The conflict has to be acknowledged before it can be managed and resolved. The tendency is for people to ignore the first signs of conflict, perhaps as it seems trivial, or is difficult to differentiate from the normal, healthy debate that teams can thrive on. If you are concerned about the conflict in your team, discuss it with other members. Once the team recognizes the issue, it can start the process of resolution. †¢ Discuss the impact – As a team, discuss the impact the conflict is having on team dynamics and performance. Agree to a cooperative process – Everyone involved must agree to cooperate in to resolve the conflict. This means putting the team first, and may involve setting aside your opinion or ideas for the time being. If someone wants to win more than he or she wants to resolve the conflict, you may find yourself at a stalemate. †¢ Agree to communicate – The most important thing throughout the resolution process is for everyone to keep communications open. The people involved need to talk about the issue and discuss their strong feelings. Active listening is essential here because to move on you eed to really understand where the other person is coming from. Determine the most likely interest dispute and determine how you could leverage economic pressure to help resolve that dispute. â€Å"There is no way to overstate the role â€Å"leverage† plays when it comes to achieving favorable settlements. Leverage is defined as: â€Å"positional advantage; the power to act effectively; strategic advantage†. Stated more simply, your leverage is whatever power you have† (Cory, 2011). Leverage is usually more about situational advantage than objective strength or power. For example, a single individual or small business may have few resources relative to a large corporation but still have situational advantage by virtue of being able to compel the larger corporation to appear and answer in a favorable venue. Likewise even when there is a legitimate claim which could result in a significant loss to the defendant, if the plaintiff does not have the resources or the fortitude to stay the course, then the defendant has the situational advantage by virtue of being able to delay and wait the plaintiff out. Leverage can be real or imagined. Your actual leverage at any point in time is based only on the other side’s perception of your leverage (which can obviously differ significantly from the actual facts). There are obviously situations where you have an information advantage, such as when you know about a weakness in your case that is not yet known by the other side. In such a situation you will, perhaps only briefly, appear to have more leverage than you actually do. Likewise, you can be at an information disadvantage such as when you mistakenly think that the other side has a stronger case than they actually do. There are also situations where you mistakenly think that your case is stronger than it actually is which occurs when for one reason or another you don’t have all the facts, or when the facts have not been accurately relayed to you. But regardless of your actual leverage, if there is no fear on the other side, you have little if any effective leverage (Cory, 2011).

Roman Technology And Inventions Of The Roman Century

Roman Technologies and Inventions Joe Schwabacher Mr. L. 10/26/15 History Outline for Roman Technology - Joe Schwabacher I. Introduction II. Background III. Roman Technologies A. Roman Technology in Health B. Roman Technology in Architecture 1. New Ways to Build 2. New Things to Build 3. What an Average Home Might Look Like a) Homes for the Rich b) Homes for the Less Rich C. Roman Technology in Business 1. Technologies in Trading 2. Technologies in the Production of Crafts D. Roman Technology in the Arts 1. Music 2. Art E. Roman Technology in Agriculture F. Roman Technology in War 1. Roman War Strategy 2. Instruments of War IV. Daily Life A. The daily life of merchants B. The daily life of farmers C. The daily life of the rich D. The daily life of the poor V. How Roman Technology Changed Everyday Life A. Differences for Romans (what could they do which was new?) B. Long-Lasting Effects on Society VI. Conclusion Thesis: Although Roman innovations were very groundbreaking, they still had the ability to affect small parts of everyday life. The Roman Empire lasted for about four hundred years, ranging from around 27BCE to 396CE. During this time they made many revolutionary advancements in technology. Over said length of time, many improvements were utilized in architecture, math, trading/business, tools and medicine, just to name a few practices. The Romans not only built off of previous knowledge they received from their ancestors, but alsoShow MoreRelatedThe Roman Empire And Modern Technology1476 Words   |  6 PagesThe Roman Empire left a legacy that still continues to affect people with modern technology. The Romans’ technology might have not been as advanced as modern technology today, but they still managed to caused great impact over the ancient people. 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