Author: Andre Coleman

Who would have thought that one green plant, Cannabis sativa, could create so much controversy throughout the centuries? The debate on medical marijuana has been around since the 17th and 18th century. The debate if marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug, or a helpful medication for pain reliever, preventing vomiting, and treatment of glaucoma (Schwartz, 1994).Science has proven the medical benefits marijuana brings to the field of medicine. Although the American justice system is still undecided about the facts and safety of marijuana, and if marijuana should be legalized, some states have accepted the legalization of marijuana such as California. Many other states are still debating the pros and cons of marijuana’s legalization. If marijuana was legalized and regulated it could save lives, help our economy grow in this economic downturn, and let our national security system attend to more alarming issues.

Allegar, I. (2000). A factual guide to medical uses of marijuana. Townsend

Letter for Doctors & Patients Dec2000, (209), 121.

This is the only book that presents many of the scientific facts about medical marijuana. Facts such as the origin of where marijuana plants came from, to facts about President Regan’s term, where the war on drugs began which gave marijuana a bad reputation. My favorite line from this article sums up why marijuana should be legalized. “A primary fact is the proven safety of this plant- no one has ever died, overdosed, or even become ill from using marijuana. So how did this green leaf plant get such a bad reputation?”(Allegar, 2000, p.209)

This quote presents a great argument for the legalization of marijuana. Other drugs cause people to overdose and die, yet those drugs are legalized. So what is the problem with legalization of marijuana?

Arias, d. (2007). Health findings. Nation’s Health, 37(3), 16.

This article talks about many public health findings of medical marijuana. The discovery that marijuana relieves pain for patients that suffer from peripheral neuropathy, a nerve condition that is present in those affected with HIV (Arias, 2007). The marijuana relieved pain by 34%.Another amazing statistic is that the patients suffering from peripheral neuropathy reduced their chronic pain by 72% when smoking their first marijuana cigarette (Arias, 2007, 16). The placebo cigarette was not even comparable.

This article presents good documentation of public health findings on marijuana. The procedure is organized well and easy to understand the benefits that marijuana presents in the experiment. In the research collected, this article makes the strongest point of how effective marijuana is as a pain reliever. With such high statics how can our government not legalize marijuana?

Boire, R, & Feeney, K. (2006). Medical marijuana law. Oakland, CA: Ronin

Publishing Inc

The book covers every question to what marijuana is, to why it is legal in some states. Also the book explains how the state law and federal law are two different things, and the federal law always wins. This book also brings a more in-depth explanation on marijuana history and the medical benefits. The book talked about two different alternatives to smoking marijuana such as Marinol and sativex. The pros and cons are listed for each drug. The book also explained the procedure of seeing a doctor and getting registration for the marijuana, where a safe place is to get the marijuana, and what the regulations are for growing your own marijuana plants. The book explains how to deal with the federal system and possession of marijuana. The book lists the amount of marijuana that is legal for each state.

Boire and Fenney gave more information on the marijuana tax act of 1937. This book also makes the clear distinction on the federal law vs. state law. The most useful information I found in the book was the description on the qualifying conditions for medical marijuana, which are: “AIDS, cancer, cachexia, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, multiple sclerosis, seizures, and severe nausea” (Boire, & Fenny, 2006, p.5).Another great part of the book is about the doctor’s role in prescribing the marijuana. Some states require a copy of the doctor’s license and signed physician statement (Boire, & Feeney, 2006).The different forms of medical marijuana makes a great argument on why it should be legalize. Marinol, which contains synthetic THC, is a better option than smoking marijuana because, smoking is harmful. The down fall with the synthetic THC, is it does not produce the same pain relieving effect (Boire, &Feeney, 2006). The book also talks about the patient’s rights and restrictions about medical marijuana. This information helped me better understand both sides of the debate.

Durand, M. (2007). Considering cannabis. Inside MS Jun/Jul2007, 25(3), 56-57.

The article deals with the medical affects that Cannabis (marijuana) has on patients with multiple sclerosis. The marijuana helps prevent vomiting and muscle spasm. Experiments were done on rats to prove the medical benefit of marijuana. Some of the reverse side effects of marijuana are also listed.

This article helps back up my thesis with the proof of medical facts to legalize marijuana. The drug is helpful with patients who suffer from multiple sclerosis. With dosage controlled and overseen by a physician I feel there is no reason to have these patients suffer and not be able to have marijuana.

Garner-Wizard, M. (2006). FDA denies medicinal value of smoked marijuana. . HerbalGram Sep-Dec2006, 25(72), 22.

This article is very interesting; because attention is brought to what party the U.S. government or medical system is lying. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) says that there is no medical proof of medical marijuana. The FDA also argues that no science experiment on animals has been conducted and documented. The medical system talks about the lack of faith they have with the FDA. Medical experts do not believe that it is a communication error between the science departments and government officials, rather than the government does not want to accept the medical facts and legalize marijuana. The government wants to keep a strong stand on drugs.

This article is perfect for playing devils’ advocate on the debate of medical marijuana. Medical experts have the facts and experiments in books and other science journal researched in this paper. So if the public can receive these written documents why is the government unable to? This article also presents the question of what is the true motivatation of not legalizing marijuana. What else is the government keeping from us?

Krisberg, k. (2009). Fight for reform of U.S. drug policies slowly

Making headway. [cover story]. Nation’s Health, 39(8), 1-10.

Krisberg has presented facts and many view points from different medical experts. The reading is hard to understand what party believes what. The main concept retained from this reading is the president Barack Obama says “he has the willingness to put science before policies” (Krisberg, 2009, p.7) Meaning he would put opinions and policies aside and make a decision based on facts.

While this article was difficlulent to understand and follow, the article is somewhat humorous. The president suggests he will move the legalization of medical marijuana if facts are presented. This entire annotated bibliography is filled of sources with many facts on the benefits of marijuana. So what is the hold up? Why has marijuana only been legalized in some states, and even then the federal law has many regulation and restrictions. What kind of facts are the government looking for. How can the American society observe the medical benefits of medical marijuana, but our public officials cannot? This creates a great viewpoint to think about while researching.

Marandino, c. (1998). Fired up. Vegetarian Times, (247), 18.

This article is a little old but still presents a great point. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommend that marijuana does present some medical benefits for serious illnesses. The American Medical Association also agreed that marijuana had some medical benefits. The public views are also document about the legalization of marijuana.

This article prevents proof that medical research has been conducted and presented to the public. This article was written in 1998, and even though medical facts have been presented for medical marijuana many still opposed the idea of legalization. Marijuana has been viewed as a dangerous drug for centuries. No matter how many statics and facts are presented on why marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes, can change the mind of the American justice system.

Marijuana. (2007). Marijuana fast facts, 1-2.

This article presented some common background information. Because this was the first article researched, on the quest to understand the legalization of medical marijuana it was very helpful. To understanding the scientific name of the drug, to understanding the positive and negative aspects of marijuana, this article was very helpful. After reading this article and gaining some background knowledge, the more in-depth and complicated articles were easier to follow.

Some of the information about the problem facing federal and state laws conflicting the legalization of medical marijuana. Also the information about marijuana being a risk and side effects that come with the drug will be helpful in presenting both sides of the debate.

Marijuana and future psychosis. (2007). Nutrition Health Review: The Consumer’s Medical Journal , (98), 17.

This article argues against the legalization of medical marijuana. All of the information in the article is about the life long lasting side effects of marijuana. How the use of marijuana can lead to psychosis and severe mood changes.

There are two view points to very argument. While there is not sufficient medical evidence shown in this document to oppose the legalization of marijuana, this side still must be presented. The main reason for this view point is because of the side effects of marijuana. Like any other drug, marijuana has side effects. Some side effects are more harmful than those of marijuana, yet they are still legal.

Minamide, E. (2007). Medical marijuana. Framington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press.

Minamide organized his text to show both sides of the legalization of marijuana debate. Some of the key topics are if medical marijuana is effective medical treatment or not. If the legalization of medical marijuana would negatively impact society or not, and finally if the federal government should ban medical marijuana or not.

Debra J. Saunders argues that marijuana should be legalized because it can help many serious illnesses. Saunders believes that “congress should move marijuana out of the classification of Schedule I drug, a caterogory that includes more serious drugs like heroine, to a Schedule II drug , like cocaine and morphine, which are available for medical use”(Minamide,2007,p.12). Medical experts have facts that prove marijuana as a helpful medicine. Experts in medicane also believe the drug should be moved into the Schedule II drug. On the opposing viewpoints the book highlights a key point that “harm of medical marijuana may outweigh the medical benefits” (Minamide, 2007, p.34). Smoking in itself is harmful to the respiratory system regardless if it relieves pain and prevents nausea. Another great point highlighted in the book is if the legalization would negatively impact society. Mark R.Trouville says that the “legalization of marijuana would interfere with the undermine law enforcement efforts to combat drug trafficking and would send a dangerous message that marijuana is a harmless substance” (Minamide, 2007, p.38). The book also plays devil advocate and presents arguments for the legalization of marijuana that help my thesis out.

Schwartz, H. (1994). Psychiatric practice under fire the influence of government, the media, and special interest on somatic therapies. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric press, Inc.

The book gave facts on medical marijuana and the battle it has been facing for years. The book was written in the 1994 so the legal status was not up to date. Although, the history of marijuana and the medical benefits it had was very informational. The book also broke down the main ingredient in marijuana, and describes how they had medical benefits. A lot of case experiments proved medical marijuana helped the patient. The book also talked about the historic time line of marijuana. From the beginning of time when marijuana came from India in the 17th and 18th century, to Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 all the way to 1942 when American framers started to grow hemp for rope in World War II.

The helpful information presented in this book had some general background information of marijuana. The author talked about “THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main ingredient of marijuana. In 1895 THC was approved by the Food and Drug administration (FDA). The FDA noted that THC was combating nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy.”(Schwartz, 1994, p.106) The book also noted three main reasons why medical marijuana should be legalized. The first of the three reasons is to treat glaucoma. The next main reason was to relieve nausea, and last but not least is to stimulate appetite. I think that congress should look at all of the medical facts about medical marijuana and how it relieves pain for cancer patients and also prevents vomiting. In today’s medical world there are a lot of addictive drugs used as pain relievers. Yet these drugs are legalized. The legalization of medical marijuana could help our economy grow. The last piece of information presented in this book was a great example of why marijuana should be legalized.

In August 1992, for example, Valarie Corral, a 40-year-old woman from Santa Cruz, California, who smoked marijuana for 18 years to control epileptic seizures, was arrested for growing five plants in a vegetable garden near her porch (Rogers 1993).Under California Law, she faced up to 3 years for her offense.

Valarie did not get sentenced 3 years for her plants; the judge understood her medical purpose for them. Valarie’s doctor reported her prescription for medical marijuana to help with her spastic muscles when she had seizures. Before her muscles were out of control and she complained of pain. Once she started smoking marijuana when she felt a seizure coming along, her seizures were not as intense or long. This is just one example of how medical marijuana has positively impacted a life. Now Valarie can drive a car and perform day to day tasks thanks to help of marijuana she can live her life.

How Instagram makes us sociable

Introduction

The world has really transformed in terms of technology. Technology is the only thing that changes at a very fast rate. Every day we wake up to a new innovation of technology and ideas. Technology through internet has managed to bring the world together in terms of communication. Despite the varying time zones in different parts of the world, Internet has paved way for Social networks that are turning be a vital field for advertising and creating awareness among people. The internet is a branch of technology where there is loads of traffic. Internet has now become a necessity and has managed to globalize the universe and make it as a small village where people interact freely despite the location and time of the specific region. It has as well given rise to several social networks that allow people to stay connected and in touch at any time of their convenience. Some of the well-known social networks include Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. These social platforms have allowed business people to advertise their companies as well as the products being marketed.

This research paper will focus on how Instagram has managed to make people more sociable. The previous notion was that social networks are responsible of making people lonely and create an ambience of loneliness. It will shade more light on how Instagram brings people’s social life into one stage where each and every individual is required to register an account with so as to be given the unique credentials for logging in and interact with other subscribers. Businesses are now turning to social Medias to advertise and promote their sales. This is because of the ever increasing social traffic which is always present regardless of the time or the place of business. Instagram has remarkable improved social exposure and this research paper will conclude on its importance based on purely facts and figures.

Thesis

The Research topic that this paper is going to investigate in detail is whether Instagram as a Social network has managed to make people more sociable rather than lonely. My stand on the above argument is that I personally believe and completely agree to the fact that Instagram has truly managed to make people more social as compared to before the beginning of social networks. In order to second my stand in opinion, we will use a demonstrative example trying to campaign for an election contestant who is vying for an elective sit. This will put us in a position able to compare the different forms of campaign and establish the one which managed to reach the most number of people. For my research, I will employ Instagram as one of the trending social networks to establish whether it is making people to be more social rather than lonely.

Before putting keen emphasize to the example above we can simply ask ourselves as to why businesses are also targeting the social population as a potential field for advertisement. This is just a way of proving that Instagram (one of the social networks) has made people more sociable and has improved communications. Loneliness on the other hand can be defined as being isolated from the other members of the population and still not in a position to keep in touch with them. A lonely person is one who cannot keep in touch and communicate with others at free will. How can Instagram promote loneliness from our definition of the word itself? Instagram has managed to allow people keep in touch hence my support for the Research topic.

Literature Review

Social network has been essential in changing the internet from a space widely known for broadcast of information or transmission to a place where users are involved in creating and generating their own personal content. This ranges from short films on You Tube to Facebook updates. This is then followed by the process of signposting their networks to the other contents created by other users (Beer, 2008: Thelwell, 2009). For literature purposes, there is a very clear attention on the extent to which social media has become transformative through the way that users keep in touch with one another. Evidences from several sources around that could be found with less difficulty show that campaigning and influencing is the most effectively done activity through people’s already existing social relationships (Alinsky, 1971; Freire, 1970). Despite the fact that all social media platforms play a major role in this, there is a general sense in which social networks have increasingly become powerful. The masses that can be reached within a given short period of time via social networks are overwhelming. One post with no duplicate of exactly the same information can be viewed and followed by thousands if not millions at a blink of a second.

Most of the already existing social networks were initially established on the basis of a more tailored proposition rather than merely creating an online space where people with common interest could interact freely. My space, for instance, is a social network which was initially started with the sole purpose of enabling aspiring music artistes to share and publicize their own piece of work with other likeminded people among the society. (Pace, 2006). Facebook started as a mere service for students in a U.S university which gradually broadened their service to other non U.S universities and this is even before making the platform accessible to everybody (Kirkpatrick, 2010). This is how social networks simply start and end up being a populated platform with millions of users all over the world.

Social network sites provide new audience for civic engagement and for political participation. This facilitates information sharing and brings together networks through actions such as utilizing email, networking practices and user generated content (Montgomery 2007;Vromen 2007;2008). Research studies in Saudi Arabia have shown that 38% of 17-19 year olds employ Social networks (Instagram) for both political and civic engagement (Smith et al. 2009). Political leaders are using Instagram to post images of peace that advocate for peaceful coexistence. The many followers the politician has in Instagram media platform will be able to see what their leader is promoting and even leave a comment if they wish to. Moreover, the followers can get the images from the Politician’s profile and put it as their own so as to spread the message. This is just a simple example of how Instagram has enabled leaders in Saudi Arabia to campaign within a short period of time.

For the young generation who do not think through their participation in either civic or issue-based functions as “political” in the institution or traditional sense, Social networks are used to connect the individuals who have similar interests about their own projects (Collin, 2010). Young people are coming up with new participatory communities which are by and for their peers. (Harris 2008:489; Boyd 2007:13-14). In addition, services and organizations are increasingly observing social networking practices as the succeeding step towards youth participation in community and government decision making (Collin 2010).

Despite the fact that there are still queries as to the extent to which social networks function as virtual public spheres, fostering deliberation and enabling direct participation (Vromen.2008). However, the network for communicating information and numerous point of view “Public sphere” permits the recognition of creative digital expression through the social networks as civic engagement (Burgess, et. al,2006).There is a vast body of academic work on social networks and technology at large which take into consideration the creative, performativity and participatory dimensions of the current digital practices.

The general usage of social media can simply be described as the collective media creation and sharing on a legitimately large scale. This includes social network services as well as other participatory activities like news blogs. The rapid up take of both social media and social network services by the young people indicate a very important shift in young generation’s use if internet mainly for information and entertainment as one way of communication. The young generation is made of “producers” who actively produce as well as consume media (Bruns 2008). The participatory media ambience enables the young to take part in creative content production. This also empowers them with brand new means of creating as well as sustaining connections among themselves. As a result, Social network platforms have resulted into new discussions on how to conceptualize and advocate for what has come to be termed as cyber citizenship (Bennett, 1998, 2003: Coleman, 2005).

Research Methodology

As mentioned earlier on in this research paper, I will use a politician social network campaign program via Instagram to establish the power of the social platform in terms of moving masses within a short period of time. I will visit colleges and higher institutions of learning and promote students to register accounts with Instagram. This on the other hand will simplify my work because I expect only few students if any who will not be having accounts with Instagram. I will then advise all the students to follow the Politian’s account so that they can be able to be informed about the Politian updates in his process of campaigning.

I will collect my data for analysis by counting the number of likes and dislikes for each and every update the politician makes. The number of likes will give me a rough idea before the actual data analysis whether the social platform is in support with the campaign trend or not. Reading through the comments left behind by the followers will help me to conclude the factual side of support or critic from the public. The advantage of this methodology is that it comes at no extra cost to the students since opening an Instagram account is predominantly free and there is free access to internet services in campuses. I will collect all the data throughout the campaign period and code it statistically and appropriately while observing all the statistical hypotheses.

In collaboration with the election contestant, I will pose some questions that call for discussions among the respondents (students on Instagram). This will create a thread of comments and opinions from the online traffic generated. I will then read through each individual comment and take it as the opinion from the respective person. Depending on the number of opinions and comments that I will get, I will decide on picking a representative sample of the entire online Instagram traffic. This sample will be free from biasness and will be selected using a statistical formula called “Fishers et. al”. I will base on factors such as age, gender and level of education to ensure that I come up with a good representative sample of the entire school Instagram accounts. . (Raatma, L. 2010)

I will employ systematic random sampling technique to allocate my sample. This will be because of some factors that I find necessary to be observed. These factors will ensure that the selected sample is a true representation of the population at large and inferences drawn from it will be descriptive and informative about the population. I will ensure accuracy of the data by designing self-explanatory research questions that can be easily answered by the online Instagram users. (Raatma, L. 2010)

I will analyze the data using one of the statistical software’s namely S.P.S.S. (Statistical Package for Social Scientists). I will compare the levels of campaign awareness from different Medias of communication with the sample data I will get. These other Medias of communications can be via bill boards advertising, television news and radio. To get information on previous voting exercises, I will go through secondary data and reports that are available in file. I will analyze the data through diagrams such as pie charts, bar graphs and line graphs.

References

Andrews, L. B. (2012). I know who you are and I saw what you did: social networks and the death of privacy. New York: Free Press.

Barnes, J. A. (1972). Social networks. Reading, Mass.: [Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.].

Barnett, G. A. (2011). Encyclopedia of social networks. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.

Buskens, V. W. (2002). Social networks and trust. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Gottlieb, B. H. (1981). Social networks and social support. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Kilduff, M., & Tsai, W. (2003). Social networks and organizations. London: SAGE.

Lin, N. (2001). Social capital a theory of social structure and action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Maguire, L. (1983). Understanding social networks. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

Raatma, L. (2010). Social networks. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Cherry Lake Pub..

PROPAGANDA THEORY ON THE MH370 INCIDENT

Contents (Jump to)

INTRODUCTION
PROPAGANDA THEORY RELATING TO MH370 INCIDENT
COUNTER PROPAGANDA BY THE GOVERNMENT
REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION

Mystery continues to surround the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March.

Malaysian authorities, assisted by international aviation and satellite experts, are now battling to piece together the plane’s final hours in the hope that they can find its wreckage and explain what happened to its 239 passengers and crew. Some preliminary details were released on 1 May in a short report.

Accordingly, many propaganda arises on this issue. Some of propaganda emanating from the local media and not to forget from abroad. If we look from the point of propaganda theory itself, there is some good propaganda that led to the issue of loss MH370, but there also resulting in a negative impact on public perception towards the way the government is dealing with the issue.

To deal with the propaganda that apply to this incident, we will analyze whether the form of propaganda, the propaganda perspective itself and how the government to overcome this problem.

Merriam Webster Dictionary gives the definition of propaganda as ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc. the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person, ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect

First introduced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988), Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, the propaganda model argues that the “material news” through five filters, which in turn form the audience received the news. This filter determines what is considered newsworthy events, how they are covered, where they were placed in the media and how much coverage they receive.

Propaganda model of media control that was introduced by Edward. S. Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988) states how propaganda works in the media. This model tries to understand how populations are manipulated, and how social, economic, political attitudes are formed in the minds of the people through propaganda. Herman and Chomsky are mostly concentrated in the American population and the media for their research, but the theory applies universally.

Propaganda model seeks to explain the behavior of the media by examining the institutional pressures that limit and influence the news content in a profit-driven system. In contrast to liberal theories that argue that journalism is defined hostility power, the propaganda model predicts that the company-owned news media will consistently produce news content that serves the interests of established power (Herman & Chomsky, 1988).

PROPAGANDA THEORY RELATING TO MH370 INCIDENT

Among the propaganda that exists from within Malaysia itself mostly spread through social media on the internet, given the sophistication of the current information age, there are blogs and websites questioned the credibility of the government and even spread propaganda relating to this issue of MH370.

Among the widely disseminated propaganda on the website saying that Malaysia experienced a “bad media” Especially from the Western press and especially CNN and Extension of this, of good journalistic practice for hazardous and agenda driven, further lead to more conspiracy theories especially the involvement of CNN.The Mole reproduces an article written by Matthias Chang, the profession as a lawyer, social activist, author and political analyst. He reveals how the MH370 is a multi-dimensional, and why the Zionist hands should not be overlooked. Although somewhat lengthy, is worth reading every word printed: “Before proceeding with Expose of Zionist propaganda Insidious Dastardly and Israel on the Cessation of MH 370, let me take this opportunity to convey my personal condolences and that of my family to a family who loves Ones have been killed in this tragedy and we hope ur strength to overcome the disadvantage pint them.”

He would also commend the Malaysian government’s efforts in the SAR Mission involved 26 countries that had never happened before. Allegations of unfair and unfounded against the Malaysian government made by many people in social media who do not have a clue and or expertise to comment on the operation of the Standard and Poor’s scale.

Another propaganda that there is involvement from the United States, which was propagated that where Maldives island Residents reported sighting of ‘low flying jet’ on the morning of the plane’s Disappearance that’s was finally Reported on twelve days after the fact. The pilot of the missing plane had a home flight simulator, Which was been Reported twelve days later to contain the landing simulation program of the Diego Garcia runway along with four other Approaches in the region. Whether any, all, or none of this information is true is still a matter of Conjecture. What Remains that’s a fact is not a trace of the Malaysian 777-200ER has been found. At his daily news briefing on 3-18-14, WH spokesperson Jay Carney has denied any Involvement of the Diego Garcia facility with the Disappearance of flight MH370.

In addition to conspiracy theories involving the United States, one side is highly spoken of as ‘real mastermind’ behind the MH370 is a tribe of lost Jewish or Israeli. It is the act of buying and Israel has a Boeing 777 2H6 (ER) long owned Malaysian Airline (MAS). Aircraft ‘twin’ MH370 has been recorded at a small airport in Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees, France on October 4, 2013 before he was taken to Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel on 4 November 2013. Understandable, MAS Boeing 777 aircraft with serial number 28 416 and registered as 9M-MRI has been sold to GA Telesis, LLC in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on October 21, 2013 before the N105GT.Pesawat registered as recorded in Tarbes Lourdes Pyrenees on October 4, 2014 before taken to Tel Aviv a month later.

The question is, why would Israel want to buy and have a long plane MAS this? If referred back Israeli reactions associated loss MH370, a ‘security expert’ of the country, Isaac Yeffet relate it to the theory that MH370 have been captured by the terrorists and taken to Iran to be used for a series of terror will come. Yeffet reportedly gave a statement to the Times of Israel:

“What happened to this aircraft, nobody knows. My guess is based upon the stolen passports, and I believe Iran was INVOLVED. They hijacked the aircraft and they landed it in a place that nobody can see or find it.” (There is no case what has happened to the aircraft. Based on reported cases of stolen passports, I believe Iran is involved in this case. They had seized the plane and fly it into a place that cannot be found).

Another propaganda that arises during the incident came from the opposition parties, where they claim that the incident crated by the government was to create a diversion to the voter, as coincidently at that time Kajang by-election was taking place. The propaganda was that by showing the great effort towards the search and rescue operations, the government will the heart of the voters.

Actually, there was so many propaganda arises during the incident even until now, people are still fed with various elements of propaganda for the positive and negative as well. If we examine this theory from the angle of propaganda, the government should also take the opportunity by using this incident as their leverage in building up the government credibility.

COUNTER PROPAGANDA BY THE GOVERNMENT

According to brownpoliticalreview.org in its reports, the recent disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 and the resulting media spotlight has revealed Malaysia’s fundamental shortcomings and glaring political issues.

While the plane’s disappearance itself is horrendous – in particular for the many families left in limbo – the Malaysian government’s handling of the situation has drawn considerable international disapproval which leads to the dissemination of the propaganda.

In order to deal with the issue of propaganda in connection with the issue of MH370, the government shall be wise to use methods and tactics namely through counter propaganda.

Counterpropaganda is a structure of communication consisting of method in use and messages relayed to resist propaganda which seeks to manipulate action or perspectives among a targeted audience. It is closely linked to propaganda as the two often utilize the same methods to transmit methods to a targeted audience. Counterpropaganda differs from propaganda as it is defensive and responsive to identified propaganda. in addition, counterpropaganda consists of several elements that further differentiate it from propaganda and ensure its efficiency in opposing propaganda messages.

While propaganda messages may not always be straightforward, efficient counterpropaganda commonly only broadcast the truth. Without a doubt, counterpropaganda is generally understood to be the “truthful, honest opposition” to an adversary’s propaganda. Counterpropaganda communicates honest messages for ethical and realistic reasons.

Looking though reporting of the event, the government from the beginning should report the facts related to this incident. Counter propaganda elements should be applied to achieve the best effect. Reporting matters of fact, although filtered, to some extent can relieve speculations made by the public, especially from the families involved. This can create a deficiency or weakness in reporting which leads to the dissemination of wild propaganda, even more so from the opposition.

References:

Chomsky, Noam and Herman, Edward. (1988) Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. New York: Pantheon Books.
Cole, Robert. (1996)Propaganda in Twentieth Century War and Politics
Lasswell, Harold D.. (1971)Propaganda Technique in World War I. Cambridge, Mass: The M.I.T. Press.
Garth Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, Propaganda and Persuassion, 4th ed. Sage Publications, 7
Herbert Romerstein, “Counterpropaganda: We Can’t Do Without It,”] in Waller, ed., Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda and Political Warfare (IWP Press, 2008), 135.
[Frontpost, Nachrichten fur Deutsche Soldaten, Herausgeber: Die Amerikanischen Truppen in Westeuropa,] No. 1(March 1945), 3 in Waller, ed., Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda and Political Warfare (IWP Press, 2008), 144-145.

As countries were expanding from the industrial revolution, the start of the twentieth century was an era where people were beginning to enjoy the smaller things in life. From dinners to dancing or hanging out with their colleagues after work, all these meetings had one thing in common, alcohol. Around 1900, Chicago was consuming alcohol at an increasing rate which later became a daily ritual in people lives. In the span of a decade, liquor and alcohol became the main topic of legislations, election campaigns, and among a few political debates (Buenker 363). When the word “prohibition” started being used in 1907-1918, people reacted because the word had such a negative connotation. When the law on prohibition came into effect in 1919, the police started closing down all of the large saloons. This was followed by the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920 (Carter 189), which prohibited the sale of alcohol and liquor, and that anyone caught selling it would be severely punished (Tomkins 15-16). From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, the term prohibition played an important role in the windy city of Chicago, and in some states such as Maine and North Dakota (Brown 722). However despite the laws on prohibition, some proprietors still sold alcohol to private guests in underground saloons, making double than when the solicitation of alcohol was still legal. Even as many people were being arrested, the public began to question what the government was getting out of the amendment.

Although Chicago was the popular city in the Prohibition era, United States as a nation was also affected by the Eighteenth Amendment. The illegal sale of liquor was recorded even before the amendment had passed in 1919. As mentioned above, the law was being carried out by the police, shutting down saloons and seizing any liquor that was sold. In 1911, Georgia had found nine hundred and one bottles of illicit distilling, which was the highest out of six states caught illegally distilling alcohol (Brown 727). Much of the public began to feel cornered around the same time Georgia was caught distilling the highest amount of liquor; and eight years later, in 1919, this led the legislature to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment, but did prohibition cause so much havoc that the states went from maintaining order and peace (stabilized) to a point where people could not handle the pressure from the writers which later resulted in forming of the underground saloons? Or did Chicago’s gangsters destabilized by ‘muscling in’ make the state of Illinois concerned? (Landesco 120). After observing the research the question is, what was the significance of prohibition that led to destabilizing the society of (Chicago and United States) in the 20th century? What was so significant about prohibition, that it ended up destroying the peace and harmony among societies (destabilizing) of Illinois and the rest of the country.

The significance of prohibition was to get people to stop drinking because of all the violence it created. John Buenker talked about how prohibition parties were made from the older population of Illinois. Known as the “natives,” these people and the state thought the incoming Germans, Irish, and Italians immigrants needed to learn the American ways because they felt that the immigrants were “threatening” the traditional American values (Buenker 364). According to Buenker, Illinois natives believed that the immigrants were the evil, almost two thirds rejected the idea of prohibition which included the immigrants and the second American generation (Buenker 369). However, prohibition was working, writer were regulating at regular saloons, and people were starting to spend their money wisely, until underground saloons started to appear and selling liquor at a higher price for people who could afford (Brown 703). Even in the bad economic times near the great depression, prohibition was upheld in New York by the writer who arrested people for using profanity while under the influence in New York (Carter 192). This showed prohibition was in affect and people were being punished for disobeying the law. Even the numbers in states like New York and Illinois came down, even though prohibition was taking a good effect on people, it also took a down side in Chicago and other cities around the nation.

Yet, prohibition also destabilized states like Chicago, prohibition in Chicago was taking a toll on its citizens, after ratifying the eighteenth amendment, homicide rate was rising from 1.2 in 1900 to 4.2 in 1920 after passing of the eighteenth amendment (Landesco 128). Paul Carter showed that to run for any campaigns, the [wet] democrats would have had to get rid of Prohibition if any future goals were to be accomplished (Carter 189). Carter stated that previous goals have been incomplete and that if there were any hope for democrats to retrieve power, the first rule of thumb would be to demolish any kind of prohibition. Democrats were against prohibition and Republicans were for it, seeing the arrest made in New York, made it seem like it was working until organized crime started to rise. In Chicago, two unlike homicides have risen, one is gang feuds, killings over territories and bootlegged sales of liquor while the other type of killing is writer, aids and civilians who are pro prohibition (Landesco 127). Not only, have gang crimes raised but also killing of prohibition enforcements which were about “1550, including 494 officers and aids and 1,056 civilians” (Landesco 127). These numbers are ground breaking to say the least but these numbers will only go up from here. It was not only Landesco who saw destabilization in Chicago, also Silas Swallow saw another quality of prohibition that was starting to show the effects of prohibition, in United States.

Swallow begin his article by explaining how too much drinking was not beneficial to anyone, and how it was ruining the human mind, body, ethics, and even economically (Swallow 550). Swallow started to notice the effect of alcohol that was beginning to take a toll on not just the daily drinkers, but also the sober ones. Like the saying “if one suffers we all suffer”, in Swallow’s words “innocent must suffer with the guilty” (Swallow 550). Swallow, pointed out when the prohibition went into effect the “innocent” or the nondrinkers also had to pay the heavy tax that was levied by the government. If that was not enough, employers were firing people because they claimed to have an over production in their factories, it was not the over production they had to worry, it was the under consumption where the population was not buying the copious amount of liquor and alcohol to meet the regular demand, where suppliers were producing as they should (Swallow 553). From the people who practiced abstinence to the drinkers, heavy tax that everybody in the nation had to pay, and unemployment was starting to rise because of lower demand were the starting of destabilization in the country. Organized crimes begins to take shape of gang killings, law enforcement felt over powered by gangs in Chicago and every other city and nonetheless, civilians and aid workers were the by standards out of all this chaos. If this was not a wakeup call for Chicago and all of the United States, then how much more does a lower class has to suffer before the congress can be shown, how prohibition is taking everything over, peace is starting to vanish and crime is taking its place. This is where the state like Illinois starts to lose control, and thousands of lives have been compromised just to stabilize alcohol and liquor distribution in the state and the country.

The most cost effective approach to handling the menace, intoxication, and the violence was for prohibition to contain some limits on distribution of alcohol. Yet, the harder the raids were, the more violence would occur as a result. During the early 1900s, many people, instead of embracing different ethnicities, pointed fingers at immigrants and blamed them for all the wrongs that were being committed in town, which also contributed to the increase in crime rates. Illinois and United States were both caught in a significant number of raids, arrests, and seizures of illicit sale and distribution of alcohol and liquor. Analysis mentioned above explained, the significance of prohibition which led to good but also destabilizing the Illinois and rest of the United States, some writers saw both sides of prohibition and one of the writers is Silas Swallow, who saw how workplaces preferred if the employee they hired was not a drinker, which led to insurance companies giving benefits to abstainers for maintaining that lifestyle. About “eight hundred thousand, out of twelve hundred thousand” American railway employees were told to practice abstinence from liquor and alcohol. They were given heavy penalties or even fired from their respectful jobs, if they were found in a bar or anywhere, liquor was sold (Swallow 551). Tomkins is another writer who saw a change from the prohibition law taking an effect in United States, even though the crimes were rising, the wages earned were being used efficiently since prohibition was in effect. People were paying their debts on time, they had more money saved up and the money spent at saloons was now going straight into consumption for the household or spent for one’s self-interest (Tomkins 18). Another issue that was starting to pop around the prohibitionist states was the liberty and freedom of choice when it came to alcohol and liquor.

Carter quoted prohibitionist Harry Warner, who states “Prohibition was the liberation of the individual from the illusion of freedom that is conveyed by alcohol” (Carter 192). This quote explains how prohibition was taking the liberty of individuals and giving them this false hope of freedom which was carried by alcohol. Warner argued that even though man is a citizen of a community he also needs to be balanced with values of society and family (Carter 193). Warner being the prohibitionist debated that even though humans have liberty to do what we want at any given time or place, man is tied to his society and the family he belongs to. Man cannot have the liberty to cause chaos when he is under the influence and blame his freedom of choice on alcohol or liquor. This results in his freedom being taken away by the law, whose sole purpose is to protect and serve the human body that may need protection from the drunkards or the violence gangs cause over bootlegged distribution. Tomkins also supports Carter’s argument about the significance of prohibition that stabilized the country socially and economically (Tomkins 16).

Warner, who was quoted by Carter in his article Prohibition & Democracy, also agrees with Swallow, when he explains how prohibition takes away the liquor and punishes the drunkards and the people who practice abstinence to liquor and alcohol. They have the most burden, because they are paying for the people who chose to drink and not care about the consequences that society deals with (Carter 193). Another example by Brown who mentions the growing numbers of illegal sales, shows how from 1907 there was about four hundred and forty one arrested for illegal sales and in 1908 the number skyrocketed to seven hundred and seven illegal sales took place in Maine (Brown 718). So no matter how socially and economically well the states and the country has been performing, yet illegal sales of liquor in Maine and gang violence in Illinois were two factors that kept rising and Republicans never looked outside their bubble to see how hard the burden was on the lower class and few middle class socially and economically. These factors only add fuel to the fire that has been burning since the ratifying of the eighteenth amendment. Statistics have shown the significant causes of destabilization that came from prohibition, yet it also showed how little Chicago was stabilized, but prohibition was a law that was put in effect to minimize public intoxication, drunkards, and illegal distribution of alcohol and liquor. Yet, barely touching any of these goals, prohibition ended up hurting Chicago and the entire nation with gang violence, law enforcement aid and civilian killings.

The research mentioned above, showed Tomkins’ view towards the existence of prohibition but Tomkins failed to note that while prohibition laws were in effect, organized crimes increased as the police chiefs only went after big underground saloons, which helped him seize gang members and the containers in which the liquor was held (Landesco 120). The smaller saloons in Illinois and the rest of the United States were still in business but only because they did not require the same amount of liquor and alcohol compared to bigger and larger saloons. As a result, violence started to increase and more gangsters were being hired as a means of protection and to aid in capturing the bigger saloons (Landesco 121). While Tomkins explained the reasons behind prohibition in Illinois and United States, Carter and Brown looked at the numbers concerning crime and violence- and more arrests usually meant that the temporary control of the streets was back in the hands of the citizens. While the weakness in Tomkins argue the violence spread, Carter expands in his article about how prohibition was a good thing, but he never mentions the government plan about why they came up with prohibition in the first place, until near the conclusion of his article.

The significance of prohibition which led to destabilization is shown by every author who is mentioned above. Also same authors pointed out how prohibition was fixing some issues and why the significance of prohibition led to higher crime rates, gang violence increasing and people who were maintaining their savings. Even though Buenker failed to observe, Brown suggested that in other states like Maine and Kansas, Brown noticed more divorces, suicide rates are higher in prohibition states compared to states that are allowed legally to sell alcohol and liquor (Brown 720). The weakness in Brown’s statement is even though divorces were higher; crime was rising at the same rate. One would fight to keep the crime low while divorce rates can fall if only people worked out individual differences. Even Carter saw the significance of prohibition was taking an effect on people, stabilizing each person’s wages efficiently, but unlike Tomkins, Carter saw prohibition as a psychological way of getting rid of individual treatment for alcohol problem to use prohibition as a treatment for all instead of a single individual (Carter 200). This was a way by the government to test if prohibition would work if alcohol and liquor were taken away. Nonetheless, prohibition showed more people paying off their debts, more people saving and less illness noted. But how is government turn the other cheek, where places like Illinois and Maine where gang wars were rising, bootlegged sales of alcohol and killing of law enforcements are happening. In exchange of all that chaos, government got was social stability among some of the society, but the rest resulted in higher homicides.

Government was trying Pareto efficiency, meaning trying to make one side better without making the other worse off. I believe this is why prohibition was invented and led to eighteenth amendment. Significance of prohibition which led to destabilization in Chicago and the rest of the nation in 20th century was how great republicans thought the country was doing, with people paying off debts, less public intoxication, fewer people using profanity under the influence, socially people were spending more time with their families. Instead the bust, raids, and arrest led to more violence in Chicago, which later led to underground saloons and bootlegged sales of alcohol and liquor. Gang members were already involved in other crimes and getting into selling alcohol and liquor illegally was just outside their reach of normal organized crime (Landesco 124). The prohibition was a famous movement in the 20th century, yet it was not the affective movement. Trading social factors for high homicides rates was not the result government was looking for and yet they were not the ones who dealt with it. It was the people who sacrificed their lives to stand by the prohibition law and gave up their lives.

Work Cited

Brown, Ames L. “Prohibition.” North American Review 202.720 (1915): 702-29. Jstor. Web. 12 Apr. 2010. .

Buenker, John D. “The Illinois Legislature and Prohibition, 1907-1919.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 62.4 (1969): 363-84. Jstor. Web. 12 Apr. 2010. .

Carter, Paul A. “Prohibition and Democracy: The Noble Experiment Reassessed.” Wisconsin Historical Society 56.3 (1973): 189-201. Jstor. Web. 5 May 2010. .

Landesco, John. “Prohibition and Crime.” American Academy of Political and Social Science 163 (1932): 120-29. Jstor. Web. 04 May 2010. .

Swallow, Silas C. “Prohibition: Why?” University of Northern Iowa 179.575 (1904): 550-54. Jstor. Web. 5 May 2010. .

Tomkins, Floyd W. “Prohibition.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 109 (1923): 15-25. Jstor. Web. 12 Apr. 2010. .

Today we will be looking at the difference between crime and deviance, the way of measuring crime and deviance and the problems involved.

Defining crime is complex, dependant on social, political and economic factors. Crime is an act punishable by law. If somebody breaks the law, whether it is a serious or minor crime, s/he will be punished. Some argues that no matter how immoral, reprehensible, damaging or dangerous an act is, it is not a crime unless it is made such by the authorities of the State, the legislature. Some sociologists argue that only those are criminals who have been adjudicated as such by the courts, and no act can be considered criminal before and unless a court has meted out some penalty. Not all of those who break criminal laws are caught and convicted and many acts that could be considered criminal are rarely prosecuted. The forms of punishment are varied, depending of seriousness of crime, for example, imprisonment etc.

Deviance is a type of behaviour that is not accepted by the majority of the society. It is behaviour that differs from the “norm” and terms weird, evil, sick, immoral are often connected with this form of behaviour. This could be something as minor as wearing the wrong kind of clothes to a party or as major as a murder. Many deviant acts that are not accepted by society are not necessarily criminal acts. Certain type of behaviour may be accepted by one society, but devalued and discredited by another. For example, drinking alcohol in British society is considered acceptable, even if it has negative impact on our society. However, there are many cultures (particularly those influenced by religious beliefs) that disapprove of this behaviour. In some countries like Libya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Tunisia and Sudan, the consumption of alcoholic beverages is forbidden. There are some exceptions where alcohol can be available to foreign tourists but only in certain areas.

Criminal and deviant behaviour changes from place to place and time to time. Strong public opinion and changing moral values have a huge impact on these interpretations and it becomes difficult to say what acts are deviant/criminal and what can be considered normal. For example, abortion used to be illegal in the UK, but in 1967 it become legal up to 24 weeks with no time limit when there is a risk to the woman’s life. However, there are still anti-abortion groups in UK that believe that abortion is wrong, but because majority of society agree on this outcome it is not seen as criminal act anymore. There are still many countries that place value on human life and abortion is illegal there, for example in Northern Ireland, Brazil, Malta, the Philippines, Egypt, Nigeria and many more.

It is very difficult to draw a line between crime and deviance. They go hand in hand. Any crime that is committed is a result of someone being deviant. A great deal of deviant behaviour is not punishable by law, but can come to the attention of a community which implements various informal controls, such as isolating those who deviate from the ‘norm’ – rejected by family, friends, colleagues, whole community.

Who has the power and right to say what is normal and what is deviant behaviour? Cultures, traditions, religion, morals and beliefs, greatly influence society about what we see as acceptable/unacceptable behaviour. People are born into different societies with different cultures, values and morals. Individuals are influenced by these from birth and continue to learn and adapt new values and morals. If people migrate and become members of a different society, they may have to learn new values and morals. If somebody undertakes a religious conversion, their morals and values will change to meet their chosen religion’s behavioural code.

Crime and deviance have always played a big part in our society. Crime statistics are an important source of information, which provide an insight into the amount and type of crime committed within particular areas (both national and local). In England, crimes recorded by the police have been published since 1876. However, official crime statistics (as recorded by the police) only contains information regarding the crimes that are reported and recorded by the police, courts and prisons. Previously the police had a certain amount of control over which crimes were recorded but since 2002 all crime has to be recorded. All those crimes which go unreported are known as a “dark figure” of crime. Hidden, unnoticed and ignored crimes belong to this category and all these are excluded from official statistics. Crimes occurring within a family or involving children are the most common types of unreported crimes. People may not report crime for different reasons, for example, lack of trust in the police or choosing to deal with the situation personally. It has been suggested that only about fifteen percent of crime is reported to the police. For this reason it is clear that statistics do not measure and provide a clear figure of total crime, therefore they are not reliable. There are other problems in comparing statistics over time including: changing legislation; changing interpretation of the law by the judiciary; and the changing morals and greater sensitivity of the general public.

To conclude, crime refers to behaviours that are a violation of the criminal law, but the law is under constantly under review. Changes in police practices, priorities, politics, law and what our definition of what constitutes a crime, have a dramatic impact on statistics. Although the accuracy of collected crime statistics are often questioned, they still provide us with insight, keeping the public, the media and other groups informed about the problem of crime. Even if they do not represent our experience of crime, they allow us to investigate the ever changing nature of crime and deviance.

Bibliography
M. Haralambos & M. Holborn (2008) Sociology Themes and Perspectives
J. Muncie and E. McLaughlin (2001) The Problem of Crime
David W. Jones (2008) Understanding Criminal Behaviour.

In this chapter we have discussed the conclusion, implication in informatics, method evaluation, result evaluation, possibilities to generalize and ideas for the continued research.

Conclusions

There are many problems for visually impaired and blind people in society, they faces many type of hurdles in performing every day routine works, the barrier of low vision not let them to become part of this society. They also feel embarrassment many times while performing these tasks when they are unsuccessful in performing or completing them, because of their visual impairment deficiency. It is great blessing of God, if anyone have perfectly 6/6 eye sights and one should be thankful to God for this. The visually impaired user is like that person whom we can say that lost his/her way on journey and don’t know where and how to pass easy life. The humans are a sharp minded creation in the world; due to which technology contributes a lot to fill this gap between society and visually impaired people. Day by day advancements in the field of science introduces new technologies for benefits of normal and handicap persons to make the life easy and comfortable. The inventors should also keep this thing in mind that the people with visual impairment and other type of disabilities should also be facilitated, because they are also part of society, we can’t ignore them as a human being.

There are many types of hurdles during reservation of ticket system for visually impaired and blind people. At present the current ticketing systems are not mature enough for visually impaired users. Only the normal users can be benefited out of this, whereas the visually impaired user needs help of other people. One can say very confidently that today’s ticket vending machines are not user friendly for all type of users. In ticket vending systems there are two important aspects for visually impaired users which are how to feed data and how to get the results.

The usability, actability user-centered aspects should be considered while the designing of ticketing machines for visually impaired users. The features of the ticket vending system those are important for the visually impaired users are used in prototypes which we have designed with screen shots in appendix. We have used the human avatar (interactive artificial agent) for the vocal interaction with the users, which can interact in friendly environment with visually impaired user to complete the task of purchasing tickets. The user can therefore feed data to the system and get the result from the machine. The input and output functions should work in parallel way during the interaction of user and machine. For the input to the system there should be special keyboard (Braille) for visually impaired users from which the user can input to the system like user’s name and other details. There should be information button on each page, so if the user is having any problem at any stage, the user can get the help any time during the interaction. The users who don’t want to operate the system with vocal interaction can use the zooming options to make the things more visible for their understanding. The zooming option should also be available on every screen interface.

Implications for Informatics

It is worth mentioning that the Implications for informatics, is the basic purpose to know how ticket vending system is related to the field of informatics, and how it would be helpful for the society. Our research area contributes a very important role in the field of informatics, because informatics deals with the field of development and use of information systems. In our thesis ticket reservation system is a box of information system, artificial intelligence, and most important thing is that its foundation is based on informatics. You can say that the human beings are experts in informatics and have all the information and functionality of ticket reservation machine like how the user can communicate with the machine, to find the price and buy ticket of each travel from any source to required destination, to find each bus or train number, which route and schedule it follows, as well as time of each and every bus or train. The main goal is to give services to the society which includes members of handicapped society and make it easy for them to buy ticket with the help of informatics.

The ticket reservation has also the same goal or task as humans who are serving for 24 hours. To provide its service to the society, and give the people information as well as option to buy ticket from themselves without help of other person. As mention above, the ticketing machine gives you all the information and tickets about travelling from one city to another. It can tell you travel’s starting and final timing as well as total travelling time, route, price of ticket and as well as allows the payment. All this is related to processing which depends on computers and this thing is also putting effects on the businesses so we can say that the field is related to informatics and artificial intelligence. Main purpose of the informatics is to serve humanity and society.

Our thesis is basically for the affect people of society, and who can’t be ignored at all. We can’t say that the people who have physical deficiency in their body are not part of the society. We believe that these people are more important than the normal human beings because they more deserved more care due to their disability. We should try to do something different for them to make their life easier because these people have lots of problem and feel themselves cut off from the society. They should not be allowed to feel that they are burden on the society. The informatics did a lot for the visually impaired people by filling the gap which existed between normal and visually impaired people, by providing many assistive technologies for the disables. We also believe that, if we can’t serve the humanity with the help of informatics then it is useless for us.

Method Evaluation

The main purpose of method evolution is to sort out appropriate properties of different subject area and relate them to our own research area. The methods in our research work and interview questions make it is possible for us to relate it to current and previous research works. For understanding the problems and difficulties, related to our subject area, we used different concepts and theories from different subject area and relate them with our work. We also coped with problem in merging those methods into our subject area as a whole. Sometime it shows common character with each other, but the best approach of satisfaction for us was to make it relate to the interviews and observations from visually impaired users, which were of great importance for us, otherwise our thesis would be useless for us. For that we explained previously how we conducted interviews, which were very successful according to our expectations, which also make it easy for us to merge and related to our research work.

To verify and make authentic theoretical research work, we conducted interviews and observations. Which make it possible for us to relate and gather it, with help of visually impaired and experienced user of ticket vending machines, those have some relation with related topic from one aspect or from other aspect. We got answers of all our questions which were necessary for us to fill the gap of interaction between the system and the user through interviews, observations and through research.

In theoretical study, we have indicated many subject areas to get the answers of our research questions. The theoretical study only answers the question logically, but to get the answers practically. It is required to conduct the empirical study.

In theoretical study the subject areas that we studied were most of the time according to our research questions. We found it difficult to find any specific or same subject area related to our research. This might be due to the fact that nothing is written about the ticketing machine for visually impaired people. We feel this thing really missing in the theoretical study.

For the verification of the aspects that were indicated in the theoretical study. We performed empirical study in form of interviews and observations. The empirical study was necessary, because we could not find any specific subject area in theoretical study. The interviews and observations were very good, and we are satisfied with them, but we feel that the number of interviews and observations from the visually impaired people was quite small. We believe that we got the information that we required, it would be more appropriate that we could get more interviews and observations.

Result Evaluation

The evaluation method that described in chapter 2 was based on the

Validity
Data quality
Feedback

The validity describes the subjective nature of the data collection and the analysis. We produced some results from the theoretical study, validate them by the help of the empirical study, because we might have misinterpreted some aspects or are misunderstood something during theoretical study that might not be the actual fact in reality, so it is very important to validate the results. We have also validated the prototypes that we developed from few visually impaired people, to evaluate our final results, and the results were satisfactory for us because the users were satisfied, but it can be further improved upon.

The data quality reveals us that data collected is in detailed and varied enough to provide us with a complete picture of what is going on and what processes are involved. We have tried to ensure the quality in the data with the help of the theoretical study. In which we have tried to study as much as we can, about the related subject areas. We have then conducted the empirical study and at the end we evaluated our results from the core actors (visually impaired) in the research to check the quality of the results.

Feedback is the most important part for the result evaluation and validating the results of the findings, because there is always a possibility of misinterpreting the meaning of what participants say in the empirical part either by misunderstanding the answer of any question, during the interviews or by wrongly perceiving the observation. The Feedback will imply the gathering and the feedback about the conclusions from the participants. We have tried to check that our interpretation make sense to the visually impaired people, by making them to go through by the prototypes and provide the feedback about how they perceive such prototype.

Evaluation of any system consists of two of types:

Green box evaluation
Black box evaluation

Green box evaluation is the evaluation of each individual component of a system. The evaluation of a system as a whole is called as Black box evaluation (Michael F. Mctear, 2002).

We cannot use black box evaluation or evaluation of the system as a whole because our results are not working prototypes; these are just screen shots of a prototype. Instead, the evaluation of the individual components or individual screen shots is based on the answers of the evaluator, which is specified by evaluator and comparing that by our own assumptions. We cannot evaluate the results from any mathematical formula as we haven’t used quantitative approach. We have evaluated the results from our target groups and get the feedback from the users, and then we made few minor changes according to their feedback.

“It is important that the study is guided by good ethics and that a survey has a high ethical value.”(Ann Lind, 2005) i.e. it is very important for the researcher should not add or remove some parts for the researchers’ own purpose, because that might results in the aspects which are not real or other than the facts. (Ann Lind, 2005). It is our duty to follow good ethical values during the study especially when we made interviews and observations because some of the respondents were not normal humans, they have some disabilities. We have made this thing sure to the users that the respondent will be kept anonymous and we don’t think that our study is affected by this fact.

Possibilities to Generalize

The purpose of our research work is to make awareness in researchers that they can concentrate on visually impaired or blind people as well as for the people with other disabilities. There are many interactive ticket machines for the normal people but there is no option for specific people with disabilities. It is good for society as well as for the organizations to boost up their business. It can help different business organization also, but the bad luck is that they have no expenses or good ideas or you can say no concentration on handicapped people. The results can be used at cash machines, ticket vending machines, information kiosks, charity kiosk machines, rental kiosks, internet kiosks and printing kiosk machines etc. The companies can merge these ideas into different kiosk machines to make their business at peak as well as serve humanity and society. Our thesis has both tangible and intangible assets according to business aspects as well as for the society. We believe that our little but sincere efforts can force researches to do something better than our work practically.

Ideas for continued research

For continue research according to our idea, there are many things which are still have a big gap between visually impaired people and machine as well as society. Further research is required to make idea more appropriate and bring under the usage of visually impaired people. It is not easy to concentrate on all issues related to the visually impaired people. On the idea about this specific type of ticket kiosk machines for specific type of people, we suggest that the machines should be at their care centers where the visually impaired people spent most of the time of a day, so they can get familiar with it and can easily tackle that how it works. If there is machine for these people to serve them and if they are not familiar with it, it will create problems for them while communicating with it, for first time and for every time they will use it. To invent something is not a big effort but the question that how the user would use that invention

The idea, which we have leave out because it might not fit in our current investigation is that to put these prototypes in real working machines, so it can work and serve the humans and society practically. We also want to do the same kind of work for all or most types of handicapped people, which was not possible for us this time.

While discussing the issues and concerns about working women, the main emphasis should be on the ‘opportunities for women’, as it is of utmost importance. Like every human being, a woman has a ‘natural desire for the expression of her inborn knack and abilities’; even a small baby shows his natural guts through his actions and movements. So, if a woman learns something, she craves for expressing it in some way. It is quite encouraging that nowadays, women have much more opportunities and prospects for the assertion of their individuality and talents. The services sector has increased the chances for women with its comfortable environment, where they can actively participate and excel, even from a distant place. Hence, if the focus is right, this issue will, hopefully, find its way towards a positive solution.

In short we need revamp in all round corners with respect to working women’s lives. We need to help each other, join together in chorus to raise our issues, put them in a proposal to government for new legislations angled at improving working women’s lives.

1. Introduction

In India, men do not share on most of the household chores, it is women who have to cook, clean the house, do the dishes, wash clothes, get their children ready for school etc. Men just took care of few chores that are to be dealt outside the house. So the major burden of running the family is on the shoulders of women. It was alright for women to handle all the chores as long as they were homemakers. Now with their increasing need for getting some income for the family, they have to work all the more harder. They have to take up a 9 to 5 job plus handle all the household chores that they handled as a homemaker. Men’s role has not changed much.

The status of Indian women has undergone considerable change. Though Indian women are far more independent and aware of their legal rights, such as right to work, equal treatment, property and maintenance, a majority of women remain unaware of these rights. There are other factors that affect their quality of life such as age of marriage, extent of literacy, role in the family and so on. In many families, women do not have a voice in anything while in several families; the women may have a dominating role. The result is that the empowerment of women in India is highly unbalanced and with huge gaps. Those who are economically independent and literate live the kind of life that other women tend to envy about. This disparity is also a cause for worry because balanced development is not taking place.1

2. Objectives of the study:
To study the status of working women in India.
To study the problems faced by working women in India
3. Scope of the study:

The scope of the study is limited to the present status of working women in India

4. Review of Literature:

Hate (1978) in her book stated that there is positive change in the political, economics and social status of middle class working and non-working women living in four cities in Maharashtra with the advent of independence.

Robinson and Skarie (1980) in their article on stress of working women stated that in the area of stress and its relationship to locus control reveals that internally oriented individuals show less perception of role overload and role ambiguity

Chandrika (1982) in her study stated that in the last decade of the 20th century the spotlight fell on various specific issues of women, these include multiple feminine identity, gender and sexuality, feminization of poverty environment and sustainable development, planning and power globalization, sex tourism, sexual harassment at work place, Dalit women’s issues, tribal women and minority women’s problem, women’s rights as human rights, communal fascism, women and media. These yielded truly in depth analysis, studies and discussions and action programmers.

Seta Vaidayalingam (1994) discussed the problem and concerns of Indian women. According to working women are subject to more explanative problems and pressures then their non- working sisters. Finding a suitable occupation in the first problem right and proceeds it and of course fighting for the right amount of education to secure a decent job, tops it all, after having completed her education when a women steps the field of vocation are not quite correct, we find to be women’s staying capacity and the usual remarks is adequate. This kind of attitude spoils a women’s changes at all levels and particularly in the field of self -employment with a job come other problematic situations, kinds of people at work especially men. Number of lawyers do not encourage women simply because the later to level the office at about 6 p.m. in order to reach home early despite the fact that a busy lawyer’s office is at its best after 6 p.m. Single working women have the accommodation problem, if working in a city their families do not live with them. One has heard and read in the newspaper of the unfavorable conditions prevailing in hostels which in any case among to meet encouraged to need. My own mother has never done a day’s work despite having secured a medical education from the Madras Medical College.

Let us look at some of the basic problems faced by working women in modern-day India.

5. Status of Working Women in India

Status of Indian working women is far from being satisfactory..

6. Data Analysis & Interpretation

Most commonly used development indicators are work and employment as an economic empowerment measure for women via-avis men, participation in Decision Making in Administrative and Political power.

The status of working Indian women has been shown in Table 1 during the recent past of post independence period. From 1971-2001 the overall work participation rate for women has gone from 34.3 percent to 39.26 percent, just a marginal increase of 5 per cent over a long period of three decades. Ideal share in work participation of women should have been equal to sex ratio of women in the total population of the country. We are far away from this ideal even after 65 years of independence. Work participation in higher administrative posts is miserably low. Though there has been a cry for equal political participation for women in political decision making, barring a single exception of Women’s’ participation in Local Self Government bodies, the rate of women’s participation in state assemblies has hardly increase by .0.5 percent over the period of 15 years from 1985 to 2000 whereas the participation in MPs in Parliament has increase just by 4 per cent over a period of 20 years from 6.1 per cent to 10.1 per cent. Shall we be able to bring gender equality in near future? How long we should wait for bringing gender equality in real terms?

7. Problems of Working Women
Acceptance As Working Professionals

Most Indian men are yet to come to terms with the fact that women are also capable of working with them, shoulder to shoulder, in any field or professional sphere. They still visualize women as individuals who should be in charge of the kitchen and other domestic affairs.

Work is either seen as a temporary evil for women whose husbands do not earn enough, or the domain of women who do not “know their place.” As a result, Indian working women do not get the respect they require from their male colleagues in the workplace.

Balancing Work-Family Life

No matter how high their position or designation is in the office, women in India are still viewed as the family manager back home. They are expected to return home at a certain time, cook, clean and take care of family affairs.

In fact, men who help out around their house are often the butt of jokes by their male friends. This makes life extremely stressful for women who have little help around the house and have to do it all.

Travelling For Work is Not Acceptable

One of the problems faced by married working women is that they cannot travel or go on tours without having to answer uncomfortable questions by most of their friends and family. This is especially true for married women, who also have a flourishing career. Their professional obligations often depend on the support and understanding of family members.

A married man can go on long official tours outside his home city, without raising eyebrows and questions from his family members and peers, but his equally-successful wife would face disapproval. As a result, women often have to opt out of jobs than involve travel or settle for not being promoted as a result.

Safety Of Working Women

The “nosey questions factor” aside, there is still the concern for safety of working women who need to travel on official business. Women travelling out of their home city for work trips are considered vulnerable and an easy target to fulfill the lewd intentions of their chauvinist male colleagues. Checking into a hotel alone is one of the problems faced by working women, even if the trip is purely official. Many hotels refuse to allot a room to a single woman (under strange pretexts) because of their own safety concerns or if a woman decides to stay alone, she is viewed with suspicion.

Unequal Pay

One of the raging topics of discussion in the context of problems faced by working women (not only in India, but also in many other nations) is that of equal pay. Legally, a woman is entitled to get the same salary as their male colleagues for the same kind of work done by them. However, gender discrimination is rampant as many companies still do not adhere to these guidelines and pay women less than their male colleagues.

Education

Though it is gradually rising, the female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate. Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out. According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates. According to majority of the scholars, the major factor behind the improved social and economic status of women in Kerala is literacy.

Under Non-Formal Education programme (NFE), about 40 Per cent of the centers in states and 10 Per cent of the centers in UTs are exclusively reserved for females. As of 2000, about 0.3 million NFE centers were catering to about 7.42 million children, out of which about 0.12 million were exclusively for girls. In urban India, girls are nearly at par with the boys in terms of education. However, in rural India girls continue to be less educated than the boys.

According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak and helpless).

Discrimination at Workplace

However, Indian women still face blatant discrimination at their workplaces. A major problem faced by the working women is sexual harassment at the work place. Further, women employees working in night shift are more vulnerable to such incidents. Nurses, for example, face this problem nearly every day. There is nothing that is done in hospitals to tackle and address the danger they face. Such blatant disregard of current Indian laws is one reason why sexual harassment at the workplace continues to increase.

Also, Indian women are often deprived of promotions and growth opportunities at work places but this doesn’t apply to all working women. A majority of working women continue to be denied their right to equal pay, under the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 and are underpaid in comparison to their male colleagues. This is usually the case in factories and labor-oriented industries.

Land and property rights

In most Indian families, women do not own any property in their own names, and do not get a share of parental property. Due to weak enforcement of laws protecting them, women continue to have little access to land and property. In fact, some of the laws discriminate against women, when it comes to land and property rights.

The Hindu personal laws of mid-1956s (applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains) gave women rights to inheritance. However, the sons had an independent share in the ancestral property, while the daughters’ shares were based on the share received by their father. Hence, a father could effectively disinherit a daughter by renouncing his share of the ancestral property, but the son will continue to have a share in his own right. Additionally, married daughters, even those facing marital harassment, had no residential rights in the ancestral home. After amendment of Hindu laws in 2005, now women in have been provided the same status as that of men.

In 1986, the Supreme Court of India ruled that Shah Bano, an old divorced Muslim woman was eligible for maintenance money. However, the decision was vociferously opposed by fundamentalist Muslim leaders, who alleged that the court was interfering in their personal law. The Union Government subsequently passed the Muslim Women’s (Protection of Rights upon Divorce) Act.

Similarly, the Christian women have struggled over years for equal rights of divorce and succession. In 1994, all the churches, jointly with women’s organizations, drew up a draft law called the Christian Marriage and Matrimonial Causes Bill. However, the government has still not amended the relevant laws.

Crimes against women

Police records show high incidence of crimes against women in India. The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010.Earlier; many cases were not registered with the police due to the social stigma attached to rape and molestation cases. Official statistics show that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reported crimes against women.

Domestic Violence

Globally, one out of every three women faces violence at the hands of their husbands, Fathers, or brothers and uncles in their homes. Domestic violence can be described as when one adult in a relationship misuses power to control another through violence and other forms of abuse. The abuser tortures and controls the victim by calculated threats, intimidation and physical violence. Although men, women and children can be abused, in most cases the victims are women. In every country where reliable, large-scale studies have been conducted, results indicate that between 16 and 52 Per cent of women have been assaulted by their husbands/partners. These studies also indicate widespread violence against women as an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Such violence may also include rape and sexual abuse. Psychological Status of Women in India: Problems and concerns 25violence includes verbal abuse, harassment, confinement and deprivation of physical, financial and personal resources. For some women emotional abuse may be more painful than physical attacks because they effectively undermine women’s security and self-confidence. In India, violence within the home is universal across culture, religion, class and ethnicity. The abuse is generally condoned by social custom and considered a part and parcel of marital life. Statistics reveal a grim picture of domestic violence in India. The National Crimes Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India reports a shocking 71.5 Per cent increase in instances of torture and dowry deaths during the period from 1991 to 1995.

Dowry

Another serious issue in modern India is Courts are flooded with cases related to death due to dowry harassment by husband and in laws. In ancient times women were given ‘Stridhan’ when they departed from the house of their parents. This amount of money was given to her as a gift which she can use on her and her children but her in-laws did not have any right on that amount. This amount was supposed to help the girl in time of need. Slowly this tradition became obligatory and took the form of dowry. Nowadays parents have to give hefty amount in dowry, the in laws of their girl are not concerned whether they can afford it or not. If a girl brings large amount of dowry she is given respect and is treated well in her new home and if she does not bring dowry according to expectations of her in laws then she has to suffer harassment. Due to this evil practice many newly wed women of India have to lose their lives.

8. Conclusion:

Thus, while discussing the issues and concerns about working women, the main emphasis should be on the ‘opportunities for women’, as it is of utmost importance. Like every human being, a woman has a ‘natural desire for the expression of her inborn knack and abilities’; even a small baby shows his natural guts through his actions and movements. So, if a woman learns something, she craves for expressing it in some way. It is quite encouraging that nowadays, women have much more opportunities and prospects for the assertion of their individuality and talents. The services sector has increased the chances for women with its comfortable environment, where they can actively participate and excel, even from a distant place. Hence, if the focus is right, this issue will, hopefully, find its way towards a positive solution.

In short we need revamp in all round corners with respect to working women’s lives. We need to help each other, join together in chorus to raise our issues, put them in a proposal to government for new legislations angled at improving working women’s lives.

A couple of visibly clear steps the government can take to improving working women’s lives are:

Give higher interest in all bank deposits to women
Give 30-50 Per cent discount in all Rail/bus/plane fares to women
Legislate strict laws against sexual harassment in offices
Setup special courts for handling complaints of working women against their employers
Legislate leeway for special leaves needed by working women
Legislate laws to curb inequality

Introduction

Today’s world has become a small place due to the expansion and understanding of technology; globalisation is another major contributing factor that must receive credit for this expansion throughout the globe.

This report will attempt to discuss and analyse some of the issues that surround information poverty with regards, to India. As a developing country, India is forecasted to become one of the world’s major player interns of economic power, globally. Before this can happen, India needs to make a transition from a developing country towards a developed country. It is the objective of this report to critically analyse, issues as well as suggesting solutions for them.

This paper will attempt to introduce some of the theories and concepts that can be applied and analysing as well, some of the problems and then finally, discussing the issues in order to give recommendations with regards to India.

India

Currently over 1 billion people call India home, it is a wide and diverse culture that can trace its history back to the Indus Valley civilisation, which is a civilisation that can trace its history back over 4000 years (Stearns, 2006). It has seen numerous other civilisations that have invaded its borders and it has most recently been ruled by the British Empire. Although Britain profited from India’s resources it did leave an infrastructure which is still beneficial for India, in the form of its railways. India sought and received independence from its colonial masters in 1947.

India is also one of only a select few countries throughout the globe that can claim nuclear capabilities as one of their achievements. It is also seen as one of the major developing markets throughout the globe but it has significant overpopulation mixed in with a large number of its citizens living in poverty and as with a lot of other countries throughout the globe it suffers from widespread corruption. In addition to this it still operates a caste system throughout its culture they can segregate its citizens to the point that the people at the bottom in some cases, must physically not even touch any superior caste (outcastes) (Stearns, 2006).

It is estimated that in 2008 29% of its total population lived in urbanised areas and it is also estimated that its literacy rate currently stands at 61% (CIA, 2010).

Information Society

In order to understand what information poverty is, it is critical to understand what information Society is. In this section of the report the author will be looking at what information society is, by looking at the different theories that exist. authors such as Wiener (1948) highlighted in the early stages how information and communication would be significant in the future and later on other authors such as Bell (1973) continued to support this argument; it is fair to assume that Wiener (1948) and Bell (1973) did not realise how significant their papers would be with regards to today’s world and new academics such as Freeman and Louc (2001) have had to highlight the changes that have occurred in ideologies with regards to the “revolution ” That has occurred in today’s world.

Throughout the literature that is available, information Society has also been labelled differently by academics, examples of this include, information economy, post-modern society, surveillance society and as well as knowledge society. This also links to globalisation as it is a general consensus that globalisation has been significantly boosted by information and technology.

Numerous authors such as Berman (2008); Floridi (2009); Hilbert, et al (2010); Poel, et al (2010) and Webster (1995) are in agreement that information Society theories have been drawn up in order to understand how information can flow throughout society as well as how it can be used and controlled. This is important as information and knowledge can be critical to an organisation as well as societies throughout the globe, it is also valuable as it affects everyone, from the top down. Berman, (2008) goes on to highlight how the theory of data pyramid can significantly add to a society’s value by firstly (starting at the bottom) by increasing individual value this will lead on to the progression of community value which ultimately results in increased value throughout society as a whole. He goes on to highlight that with the increase through digital data collection society can benefit greatly through increasing infrastructure as well as stability, although responsibility is also increased it has an overall side-effect that decreases the risk of any loss or damage to a nation.

When it comes to information poverty authors such as Hilbert, et al (2010); Cullen, (2001); and significantly with Norris’s (2001) paper that highlights the inequality and digital divide that can exist through a wide range of factors that include ethnicity, geography and more significantly factors such as income and education. It is crucial to understand that change can only exist by the impact of new technologies and strategies and these results in a complex level of change that will also alter social factors (Van Dijk and Hacker, 2003 and Warschauer 2003). When it comes to information poverty there are numerous papers that relate to “the digital divide” but it has created significant differences throughout the authors opinions as some authors such as Howard, et al (2009) highlight how in today’s world, with the opening up of Borders there tends to be an increased level of parity with regards to bridging the gulf between the divide that currently exist, but another school of thought concludes that this divide is in fact deepening (James, 2008 and Van Dijk and Hacker, 2003); Hilbert, et al (2010) draw attention to how that this issue has been attempted to be resolved in order to give a definitive answer, he states “various compound measures have been created, so-called e-readiness indices, such as the ICT Development Index” . Even though numerous authors have attempted to answer definitively the contentious issue that relates to the digital divide and even with implementations of indexes, there still lies a great level of confusion as there is no real consensus; this issue is compounded by the fact that any attempt to analyse the different mediums such as the Internet, given the increased level of complexity by communication and technology.

Issues and examples
The divide

Some issues that relate to India with regards to information poverty surround the significant divide between the rich and poor, which can easily be seen throughout India. Although India is a developing country and it is expected to become one of the World’s powerhouses, it can be assumed that in the future there would still be a divide with regards to wealth be it monetary value as well as access to information. This will lead to an underclass that would have restricted access throughout its citizens. As discussed previously by James, (2008); Van Dijk and Hacker, (2003); Hilbert, et al (2010); and Howard, et al (2009), there is a digital divide that relates to nations as well as globally.

Consciousness

The consciences of India is arguably, significantly less than those of Western countries due to the lack of exposure and access to mediums that will enable its citizens to expand their understanding with regards to accessing information as easily as those of developed countries. As numerous nations throughout the globe have realised that they need to alter their level of consciousness and awareness with regards to being informed of what is occurring around them, be it through policies or with the expansion of globalisation as an example. This can be shown by nations such as United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia understanding that planning for the future is a necessity in order to guarantee the success of its nation. Both these countries have worked tirelessly in order to improve the communication infrastructure as well as drawing upon expertise from all corners of the globe in order to consult an aide the development of their nation.

Outsourcing

India is one of the centres of the World with regards to globalisation as it has seen a significant amount of multinational and national corporations outsourcing their operations to Indian organisations. Most British citizens are aware that they are numerous companies outsourcing their call centres to India in order to reduce costs, but a significant proportion of the population might not know that India in fact has been receiving a steady supply of corporations that are willing to move departments and operations to India due to the amount of its citizens who have specialised in software and hardware development. This is a significant step forward in the development of information within India but it is crucial to understand that the intellectual property rights of the work that is being done within India’s borders tends to revert back to the country of origin.

Infrastructure

India is a wide and vast country with an estimated 1,173,108,018 (July 2010) people living within its borders and as such the level of its citizens that are Internet users only accounts for 81 million (2008, 4th in the world), which causes problems with regards to the clusters of its citizens who live in poverty and there are a large amount of its population that do not even have access to indoor plumbing let alone having access to Internet and telecommunications services. This clearly shows the level of information poverty that surrounds India such as the level of the population that have Telephones main lines, which only stands at 36.76 million as of 2010. Although major cities can see the development of its infrastructure with regards to the availability of Internet access but this cannot be said for rural India.

Solutions
The divide

It is a myth to think that developed countries have perfect societies and democracies when it comes to society and politics and this can also be said for a developing country. Inroads must be made in order to try and bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots. This can only be done through a change of traditions and culture as well as the assistants of the elitist powers that be, who tend control India’s policies and wealth. A new social movement is required, one that does not take into account geography and the caste system.

Consciousness

By allowing India’s gifted students the opportunity to study abroad in order to experience different perspectives and knowledge skills then India can hopefully boost its level of consciousness within a society. India’s education system must also attempt to benefit those at the bottom with regards to enriching their experiences and knowledge. Programs which have been previously broadcasted on the BBC relating to informational videos provided by the Open University. It is a great way of highlighting how the media can assist its citizens by attempting to educate them in order to hopefully aid with its issue of information poverty.

Outsourcing

It is a common consensus that nation’s require four key ingredients for growth, land, labour and capital. The fourth is probably the most significant when it comes to this issue and it relates to entrepreneurship. India must attempt to tackle the brain drain that is occurring currently with regards to outsourcing. Although outsourcing is a crucial factor, India must attempt to produce its own intellectual property in order to capitalise more significantly on the ability to considerably increase its profits in order to increase its capital, to benefit India as a whole.

Infrastructure

Information poverty can be tackled significantly with the investment in its infrastructure. This has to be done by allowing the whole of the nation to have access to other information mediums. It is understandable that India is vast but instead of attempting to have access to every home, it should start by having centres in remote regions so they can experience some of the knowledge gained and this will require a significant amount of investment.

Although the physical infrastructure is lacking it is key to note that further access can be done by mobile phone technology as there is approximately 545,000,000 Mobile telephones that exist currently. It is key to note that urban areas have a significant level of coverage compared to those of rural areas that are still lacking but crucially have seen a steady increase in its coverage.

Recommendations

As the examples above clearly show that there are numerous issues that relate to India with regards to information poverty. It is important to note that these are only a few of a vast array of issues that surround information society within India. Although numerous authors have different opinions as to whether there is an increase or a decrease with regards to the divide between the haves and have-nots; both points of views are valid as some assumptions can be made such as with globalisation, undeveloped and developing nations are rapidly closing the gap as a whole to those of developed nations, but on the other hand you can see with the likes of India; that although India is rapidly closing the gap to other nations, the same cannot be said if you look within India. An example of this is that urbanised areas are clearly rapidly improving whilst rural areas have not seen the same level of development.

In order to address the issues that relate to information poverty, it is vital for India to first significantly invest in programs such as developing its infrastructure to those citizens that are lacking access to information. Through the support of the government, India can attempt to address these issues and it would also be beneficial to them with regards to aiding and bolstering their current success, as can be seen with the impressive figures from recent years that have shown its noteworthy growth (monetary value and influence). It is clear that for India to proceed with this plan it draw upon its knowledge and understanding in order to be able to negotiate freely with all parties to ultimately achieve its goals.

Although throughout western countries you can see different levels of influence such as the upper-class, middle-class and working class, these distinctions have been somewhat skewed overtime as whole Bloodlines can no longer be categorised easily; this cannot be said of India as cultural differences are still a major influencing factor and as such it must be tackled through a wide range of policies such as equal opportunities laws and more significantly from some can of social movement, again this would require the support of both the people and most crucially the government in order to introduce political and legal legislations to tackle this issue.

Prison deals with prisoners from all kinds of backgrounds. Every prisoner has different problems and there are a range of services on offer to help them while in prison to prepare them for their eventual release. Prison is a place used for confinement of convicted criminals (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Aside from the death penalty, a sentence to prison is the harshest punishment imposed on criminals in the United States. On the federal level, imprisonment or incarceration is managed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a federal agency within the department of justice (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). State prisons are supervised by a state agency such as a department of corrections. Confinement in prison, also known as a penitentiary or correctional facility, is the punishment that courts most commonly impose for serious crimes, such as felonies. For lesser crimes, courts usually impose short term incarceration in a jail, detention center, or similar facility (Gaines, & Miller, 2009).

Prison life of the 1700’s of an accused was not as strict. There were windows that the prisoners could look through in order to solicit for charity from the people walking by, and sometimes prisoners would be allowed to sell things at the prison gates (“Prison life,” 2011). Although there are many differences between the life of a prison in the 1700’s and the life of a prisoner today, there are also many similarities. Each accused individual was captured by the police and taken to the nearest holding cell (“Prison life,” 2011). These cells were in prisons called local prisons. The individual was then let free or convicted of his or her crime. If convicted, the individual was taken to the closest common prison (“Prison life,” 2011).

During the 1700’s there were only local holding jails, common prisons, and houses of correction; later, during the 1800’s prisons became more separated and prisoners were assigned to the appropriate prison (“Prison life,” 2011). The convicted were not stripped of their belongings like in today’s prisons, but they were searched for weapons or objects that could be used to escape. Once inside, the prisoner was assigned a small cell made of hard walls, floors covered in dirt and rodents, and a bed (“Prison life,” 2011). If the prisoner was lucky, this bed consisted of a small hammock tied to opposite walls, but often times it was made of a wooden bench or the floor. For meals the prisoners were scarcely fed, but if they were, little rations of bread and water were given. Many times the prisoners died of starvation and thirst (“Prison life,” 2011).

According to the Burlington County in New Jersey, in the 1800’s when the prison was initially designed, each inmate was to have his or her own cell with a fireplace and a narrow, unglazed window placed above eye level (“Prison life,” 2011.)The rules of the jail directed that prisoners were to be bathed, deloused, and have their clothing fumigated, and that each cell should have a bible or prayer book to improve the soul. Individual cells, planned for felons or criminals, were arranged in sets of four, opening off a short hall at each end of the building (“Prison life,” 2011). These blocks of cells were to house separate groups, such as routine criminals, first offenders, or women. The bigger rooms on the main hallways were to provide accommodation the debtors, imprisoned for owing money. These were common rooms, sometimes holding three or four men at a time, although there are some records that indicate that up to 30 debtors were housed at one time in the jail(“Prison life,” 2011). During their day, debtors were to be allowed to move about the jail, working at various cleaning chores or employed in the basement workshop (“Prison life,” 2011).

Then the dungeon or maximum-security cell was in the center of the top floor (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). That location was carefully chosen to prevent escape by digging, to minimize communication with criminals in the cell blocks, and to ensure constant surveillance by guards making rounds. This was the only cell without a fireplace. It is flanked by niches for guards or visitors and has one very high, very small window and an iron ring in the center of the floor to which the prisoner could be chained (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

Until 1888, the jail keeper and his wife and family would live in two rooms on the first floor of the jail. The Keeper’s wife was anticipated to supervise the female inmates and the Keeper was to execute the rules of the jail as devised by the prison board, which was composed of members of the freeholders. The Keeper and his family lived in these quarters until the adjacent brick house, connected by a passageway, was constructed on the corner of Grant and High Streets (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

In keeping with the purpose designed into the structure, the basement level enclosed workshops where prisoners were expected to learn a useful trade, such as how to make brooms, baskets, or shingles (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). The notion didn’t work, given the short time most inmates spent in the jail, and over time, the workshops became used as minimum security cells. Another, less supervised pastime of the inmates that endured through the ages was prisoner graffiti (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). Depicting humor, despair, and a belated piety, several fine examples of this art have been photo conserved and are on display throughout the building. The felons eating room, also in the basement, allowed controlled access to the exercise yard with its twenty foot wall. Outside, prisoners could tend a small garden of fresh vegetables. In one corner of the yard, an area was set aside for the gallows, which were dismantled and stored between hangings (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

Food, linens, cleaning supplies, and craft materials were stored in the basement near the kitchen, baking, and washing facilities. Once a day, the prisoners were to be served a main meal of meat and vegetables. The other two meals were usually cooked cereals or grains. They had milk and cider to drink, as well as water (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). One of the inmates was made chief cook, preparing all prison meals, and that inmate slept in a basement cell next to the kitchen. Large washtubs were provided for laundry and regular baths for the prisoners (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

Also the relatively few women who were imprisoned at the beginning of the 19th century were confined in separate quarters or wings of men’s prisons (Sullivan, 2006). Like the men, women suffered from filthy conditions, overcrowding, and harsh treatment. In 1838 in the New York City Jail known as the tombs, for instance, there were forty two one person cells for seventy women. In the 1920s at Auburn Penitentiary in New York, there were no separate cells for the twenty five or so women serving sentences up to fourteen years (Sullivan, 2006). They were all lodged together in a one room attic, the windows sealed to prevent communication with men. But women had to endure even more. Primary among these additional negative aspects was sexual abuse, which was reportedly a common occurrence. In 1826 a woman named Rachel Welch became pregnant while serving in solitary confinement as a punishment and shortly after childbirth she died as a result of flogging by a prison official (Sullivan, 2006).

Such sexual abuse was in fact so acceptable that the Indiana state prison actually ran a prostitution service for male guards, using female prisoners (Sullivan, 2006). In addition, women received the short end of even the prison stick. Instead of spending the money to hire a matron, women were often left completely on their own, defenseless to attack by guards. Women had less access to the physician and chaplain and did not go to workshops, mess halls, or exercise yards as men did. Food was brought to their quarters, and they remained in that area for the full term of their sentence (Sullivan, 2006).

As fearsome as the prison seemed, it was not escape proof. The walls were scaled and the roof penetrated many times in its history. The chosen routes to freedom seem to have been through the roof of the jail, and along the yard wall or the roof of the passageway to a place of descent. One notable escape occurred in 1875(Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). Four inmates punched a hole through the ceiling of an upper corridor cell to gain access to the roof, went down the sloping front wall and down around the woodpile beside the prison yard gate. A fifth accomplice was too large to fit through the hole and insisted at being left behind (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). Despite a quick response by the warden, it seems that at least some of these escapees were never caught.

In the Burlington County Jail, some criminals were fated to spend their last days on earth. State law mandated that criminals convicted of a capital crime were to be executed in the County in which they were found guilty, and Burlington County was no exception (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). Several public hangings were conducted in the prison yard on a gallows erected for each occasion. Originally designed to house approximately 40 prisoners, the Burlington County Prison held over 100 inmates when they were moved to a converted armory that formerly stood behind the jail. Overcrowded conditions required yet another, larger prison which was erected in 1983(Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

The daily life in Folsom State Prison back in 1880, prisoners were woken up by an early morning bell and were dressed and beds had to be made and stand in their cell doors with their night buckets (“Prison life,” 2011). Once they were unlocked they marched down to the middle of the building where there was a set of steel doors that were hinged to the floor (“Prison life,” 2011). When they filed out for the day, they would all dump their nights waste from the bucket down a hole and then limestone would be thrown in the hole and water to flush the waste away. At dinner they would take to with them at so when the prisoner got locked up for the night again, they had their toilet with them (“Prison life,” 2011).

During that time the prisoner would eat beans for dinner which were place on plate and not utensils were used. You had to eat with your face down in the plate and no talking was ever allowed. If you were good prisoners could earn the right to eat boiled beef and vegetables (“Prison life,” 2011). However if you were a con boss, which is somebody who is the boss of other prisoners, prisoner could then eat a variety of stewed meats and vegetables that were in season and use tin dishes and have utensils and talk during dinner(“Prison life,” 2011). Prisoners of Folsom State Prison generally worked seven and half hour days with no break. They completed their work day by early afternoon and lights out was enforced by eight o’ clock with no exceptions (“Prison life,” 2011).

Another example of past prison life was in the Andersonville prison during the late 1800’s; to cope with the horrible conditions within the stockade, prisoners turned to various activities (“Prison life,” 2011). They carved objects, sang songs, played games such as checkers and cards, read any material they could get, and wrote letters and diaries. Letters home were censored by prison officials, and many never reached their destinations. Other prisoners, intent on escape, spent time digging tunnels (“Prison life,” 2011). Although there are no records of successful escapes via tunnels, some men did escape, mainly from work crews when outside the prison. The horrendous living conditions at Andersonville resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners (“Prison life,” 2011).

Now moving forward to current day prison life, In Arizona, the state prison system has four levels; minimum, medium, closed and maximum. As an inmate goes up in custody level, the less freedom they are allowed. A minimum custody inmate typically lives in dorm style housing units and an open yard (Ranzau, 2009). Inmates would get woken up at 5:30 a.m. and they have free rein to walk the yard, go to chow on their own at the designated times and attend any classes and work assignments they have chosen until the yard locks down for the evening at 8:30 p.m (Ranzau, 2009). A closed custody inmate lives in a two-man cell with controlled movement. Controlled movement means that officers escort the inmates anytime they leave their housing unit (Ranzau, 2009). A closed custody unit usually has a cluster of cells in a building with one control room called a pod. The control room uses a computer to access the doors to the cells though keys can be used to open cells in case of a power outage (Ranzau, 2009). This particular closed custody unit is staffed with one officer in the control room and one floor officer in charge of two pods of inmates (Ranzau, 2009). The inmates are escorted by an officer everywhere they go, either individually or as a group. They are escorted as a group to the chow hall for their meals and to the recreation field for their exercise (Ranzau, 2009).

Medium custody inmates also live in a dorm style setting similar to minimum custody inmates. Medium custody inmates have some controlled movement but are not escorted by officers (Ranzau, 2009). The control room officer, only letting out certain segments of their dorm at a time to eat or go to recreation, controls the movement. There are officers on the yard to make sure the inmates get to where they are supposed to go (Ranzau, 2009). A maximum custody unit is strictly controlled. The inmates are only allowed to leave their cell one hour a day to go to a recreation pen. These inmates are fed in their cells through food traps in the door (Ranzau, 2009). These inmates are usually considered the worst type of inmate or they may need protection from the general population for information they have given staff or for something they did on the yard (Ranzau, 2009). One would think prison life everywhere would run as smoothly as this, but no.

Currently at Pelican Bay State Prison in northern California there are more than 1,200 inmates, it’s one of the largest and oldest isolation units in the country, and it’s the model that dozens of other states have followed. It is a maximum security prison. Although all the inmates are in isolation, there’s lots of noise such as keys rattling, toilets flushing, and inmates shouting out to each other from one cell to the next(Sullivan, 2006). Twice a day, officers push plastic food trays through the small portals in the metal doors. It is said they only contact that you have with individuals is what they call a pinky shake, which is when you stick your pinky through one of the little holes in the door. The hallways shoot out like spokes on a wheel(Sullivan, 2006).

In the center, high off the floor, an officer sits at a panel of blue and red buttons controlling the doors. The officer in the booth can go an entire shift without actually seeing an inmate face to face (Sullivan, 2006). Far below, an inmate walks a few feet from his cell, through a metal door at the end of the hallway, and out into the yard. The exercise yards at Pelican Bay are about the length of two small cars. The cement walls are 20 feet high. On top is a metal grate and through the grate is a patch of sky (Sullivan, 2006). According to Sullivan, Associate Warden Williams says they don’t allow inmates to have any kind of exercise equipment. Most of the time, they do push-ups. Some of them just walk back and forth for exercise. (Sullivan, 2006).

It is just basically to come out, stretch their legs and get some fresh air. Each month, officers squeeze soap, shampoo and toothpaste into paper cups for the inmates (Sullivan, 2006). Even though are issued a jumpsuit, in two days at the facility, there doesn’t seem to be a single prisoner wearing one. All of them are wearing their underwear, white boxer shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops (Sullivan, 2006). In the psychiatric at Pelican Bay, some inmates stand in the middle of their cell, hollering at no one in particular. Another’s bang their head against the cell door. Many of the inmates are naked, some exposing themselves. Obviously prison life can play a huge toll the mentality. One in 10 inmates in segregation was housed there. There’s even a waiting list (Sullivan, 2006).

Recently in Georgia the horrible treatment and conditions of the prison made headlines. Finally fed up with bad food, unjust treatment, poor education and inadequate health care, thousands of inmates in Georgia’s prison system staged Lockdown for Liberty, which was a peaceful protest on Dec. 9, 2010. According to Charlene Muhammad, a national correspondent for the Final Call newspaper; all of the Black, White, and Latino inmates from Augusta, Baldwin, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Smith, and Telfair State Prisons refused to leave their cells for work and other activities, partly because they feel the Georgia Department of Corrections treats them like slaves(Muhammad, 2010).

Ironically in a 2006 report, Human Rights Watch characterized conditions in Georgia prisons as appalling. Many inmates were vulnerable to degrading treatment due to overcrowding and unsanitary facilities, the report added (Muhammad, 2010). More recently, the State Department’s 2008 human rights country report for Georgia noted that the country’s prisons and pre trial detention centers failed to meet international standards. It also expressed concern about Georgian Justice Ministry data that showed 94 inmates died while in custody in 2008(Muhammad, 2010). Overcrowding is a huge issue also. Today, there are approximately 20,000 prisoners in Georgia, a 300-percent increase over the past five years, according to a 2009 PRI report (Muhammad, 2010).

Georgia’s prisons are some of the worst in the U.S. Cells are overcrowded, packing prisoners into confined spaces like sardines (Muhammad, 2010). Prisoners are forced to work, doing the maintenance and servicing of the prison for little or no pay. The guards are corrupt and violent, instigating fights between prisoners for their amusement (Muhammad, 2010). Prisoners are forced to pay outrageous costs for the most minimal health care. On top of that most prisoners are denied access to programs for education beyond obtaining a GED. Overall Georgia spends $10,000 less per year per prisoner than the national average. The lack of funding shows in how prisoners are treated. (Muhammad, 2010).

Every day prison life for women differs from daily prison life for men. Unlike male inmates, women in general do not present an direct, violent physical danger to staff members and fellow inmates. In fact, hardly any female prisons report any major instances of violence (Saxena, 2008). Violence is more often than not concentrated only in male prisons. In addition, female prisons do not involve the anti authority inmate social code oftentimes established in male prisons (Saxena, 2008). In male prisons, life in prison is normally governed by mandates set forth by gang leaders. This includes no snitching, not cooperating with authorities, and attacking disloyal members. Gang activity is greatly reduced in female prisons (Saxena, 2008).

Furthermore, the little bit of gang activity that does occur in female prisons doesn’t end up affecting the whole infrastructure like in a male prison (Saxena, 2008). However, being restricted does cause a lot of sever anxiety and anger for many women, especially since they are separated from their families and loved ones (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Sometimes, women are in prison while pregnant and are oftentimes forced to give birth in the prison. Afterwards, their child is either instantly removed, or permitted to stay with the mother for a short period of time (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Woman can also partake in conjugal visits, but this will not make up for all the lost time.

Women in prison also cope with their problems differently. Unlike men, who direct their anger outward, female prisoners tend to revert to more self destructive acts in order to deal with the situation. In fact, female inmates are much more likely than male prisoners to mutilate their own bodies and attempt suicide (Saxena, 2008). These activities include simple scratches, carving the name of their boyfriend on their body, and cutting their wrists. Wrist cutting is actually a huge concern amongst prison officials (Saxena, 2008). Blood released from wrist cutting can spread to others and drastically increase inmates’ and staff members’ risk of contracting an STD like Aids or hepatitis (Saxena, 2008).

Another method utilized by female prisons for adapting to prison life is the falsehood of a make believe family (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). These groups normally contain masculine and feminine figures that act as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. Unceremonious marriages and divorces may even be performed (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Sometimes, an inmate may hold multiple roles. For example a woman can play a sister in one family and a wife in another. Oftentimes, gay women play the male roles (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Although an extreme difference in prison life exists between men and women, the hurt and frustration still remain the same (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). What can be said, though, is that women deal with the situation differently than men.

In a study conducted by Mark Fleisher in 2006, according to Heidi Cool, Fleisher’s research was the first cultural study ever conducted on prison rape in U.S. prisons. This study includes research that he has done over the past twenty years on prison culture. Between 2003 and 2005, Fleisher composed information about prison life rapes by interviewing 564 inmates in men’s high security and women’s medium and high security prisons in the United States (Cool, 2006). The controlled interviews, with open ended questions, lasted between 90 minutes to, in numerous cases, six to seven hours and generated a widespread compilation of prison slang involving sex and rape and national cultural themes about prison rape shared by inmates across the country.

Fleisher figured out that prison inmate life is a culture that is determined by a need for social order and the behavioral rules of prison sexual culture is drastically different from sexual conduct rules for outside of prison (Cool, 2006). The problem of consent is complicated on so many levels but in the end, consensual sex as we know it doesn’t have an equivalent meaning in prison inmate culture, he states horrible images of unsafe prisons and widespread rape. The culture of prison sexuality, as well as ideas on rape, are not simply community beliefs transported inside prisons, rather they are different beliefs and create a different social reality (Cool, 2006). There is no equivalent in inmate sexual culture that’s equal to our perception of rape.

Once a person enters and begins their prison life, they start reexamine their sense of sexuality; men and women who may have never before engaged in same sex relations will probably try it at some point during their sentence (Cool, 2006). Majority of same sex relations are voluntary, which means they don’t have to do anything they don’t want to do (Cool, 2006). However not all same sex relations are essentially deemed by inmates as homosexual relationships in the prison culture. There’s a broad range of same sex behavior but inmate culture views several acts as homosexual while other related acts are considered straight (Cool, 2006). The only true freedom they have in prison life is their sexual freedom. Another finding that surprised Fleisher according to Cool, was that in the worldview of both men and women inmates, there is a strong belief that men and women have a homosexual identity at their core and that having same sex relations in prison help them come to terms with this emerging sexuality(Cool, 2006). As for lesbian experience for women, studies have established that even experienced inmates come across heterosexual women with husbands and children, begin same sex relations within days and weeks of their arrival but upon released return to heterosexual behavior (Cool, 2006). Both men and women inmates put in plain words that same sex relations among those different with it as curiosity (Cool, 2006).

Within prison life, inmate society interprets men’s slow but sure involvement in same sex behavior as getting in touch with their feminine tendencies (Cool, 2006). Inmates say that the bulk of them don’t have sexual affairs but eventually an inner homosexual prevails in the life of a prisoner (Cool, 2006).

Furthermore, it is very infrequent for the women to be raped or obligated into sex by male or female staff; nevertheless personal relationships can develop between sexual relations. Believe it or not female inmates state they do not participate in having sex with male or female staff members unless it benefits them in some material way (Cool, 2006). Some of the benefits may include bringing them perfume or cigarettes or giving them money, which can be used for food, soap or stamps (Cool, 2006). Within Fleisher’s report, women prisoners say they will not deal with unnecessary sex among them and staff, although they have been notorious to use allegations of unwanted sex to acquire a transfer or to get revenge in a against a staff member (Cool, 2006). Evidence informs us that presently over 300,000 instances of prison rape occur in a year. 196,000 are projected to happen to men in prison in addition to 123,000 are estimated to happen to the men in county jail. (Cool, 2006).

Obviously life in prison has evolved for the better but yet seems to get worse for today’s times. It maintains that “survival of the fittest” mentality and almost an updated caveman reality. Prison life will never get better unless we get over crowding under control and get better standards as to how they are ran.

Introduction and Research Questions

Jason Prior is an established researcher particularly in the field of spatial governance and its relation to sexuality, religion, and health and wellbeing. In his PhD thesis titled ‘Sydney Gay Saunas 1967-2000: Fight for Civic Acceptance and Experiences Beyond the Threshold’ (year), he attempts to shed light on Sydney’s gay saunas through two key questions. The first relates to how the gay sauna transitioned from a clandestine operation to a legally recognized and accepted institution considered important within particular environs of the city. The second concerns how the dynamic public domain of the gay sauna contributed to the development of gay culture in the city by fostering the opportunity of collective and individual homosexual expression.

Part 1 of Study – Methodology and Results

In the first part of the study, utilizing his background in urban sociology, planning, and legal geography, Prior draws heavily upon the works of Knopp (1995,1998) and Castells (1983) as a conceptual framework. He uses empirical examination and analysis of documents (including development applications, archival documents, legal records, civic authority records, government gazettes, law reports, records of police raids, government acts, newspaper and magazine articles, and twenty-nine in-depth interviews) as a research methodology, to understand the process of acceptance of gay saunas in Sydney’s civic society. Using these data, he traces the history of these establishments from 1967 to 2000. The first gay saunas existed through subterfuge and public charades by disguising themselves from the largely homophobic society as gyms and fitness centres. Through the years that followed, change in legislation which led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality set the stage for the emergence of the gay sauna into public view and their partial acceptance by civic authorities. Although the emergence of AIDS added a layer of complexity to the process, it led to new alliances between the gay community, medicine and the state government. These alliances played a major role in the eventual acceptance of the gay sauna by civic authorities, judiciary, and citizens as not just social but also sexual institutions. Prior argues that this transformation was possible through the conjunction of greater understanding and acceptance of homosexuality by the general community, the mobilisation of gay activists and the broader radicalism of the 1960s and 70s, and the emergence of enlightened processes by council bureaucracies and the judiciary.

Part 2 of Study – Methodology and Results

Prior’s background in architecture comes into use in the second part of the study where he examines through an empirical analysis (analysis of the material features of the built form, and twenty-nine in-depth interviews), how the evolving social spaces of Sydney’s gay saunas allowed men to develop and experience individual and collective sexual identities and practices. In describing the dynamic nature of these spaces Prior identifies three stages of evolution. The first and most basic/rudimentary stage started with the establishment of the the Bondi Junction Steam Bath, Sydney’s first gay sauna. Here the aim was to providing a safe space where men could temporarily escape from the city outside, with a focus on the ‘threshold’ to protect patrons from the largely homophobic world outside. The second involved the shift of focus from the ‘threshold’ to the development of the domain, into the creation of a space that was more socially, sexually, and psychology enabling for the expression of homosexuality. This ‘golden age’ of the saunas aligned with the gay liberation movement. The last stage focuses on the redesign of the domain into a safe sex venue to cope with the new experience of sexuality that AIDS awareness evoked. These stages involved changes to the physical realm of the saunas, which in turn affected the type of sexual activity that took place.

Critical Review/ Contextualization within other works

Priors well-structured and comprehensive study fills a gap in the existing literature by adding to the largely unexplored realm of gay bathhouses in the Australian context. In describing the history of these establishments, he continually draws parallels between the United States and Australia which provides readers with a broader perspective, and highlights the uniqueness of this particular context.

The first part of the study which deals with the sexualisation of urban space is contextualized within the body of works of Foucault (1990), Castells, and Knopp, while the second part of the study which concerns how designed sexual environments affect sexual practises fits within the works of Brodsky (1993), Rubin (1991), and Tattelman (1999). Prior’s work also contributes to the broader topic of studies specifically on gay saunas. The latter includes ethnographies particularly in the american context (Weinberg & Williams, 1975; Styles, 1979; Chauncey, 1994), the study of saunas from a more architectural perspective where alternate design possibilities and concepts of ‘queer space’ are explored (Tattelman, 2000; Betsky, 1997), and more recently, studies on AIDS prevention research (Bolton, Vincke, & Mak, 1994; Binson & Woods, 2003; Lyons, Smith, Grierson, & Doussa, 2010).

Link to my Research

The inter-relation between sexual culture, the built-form, and the social/sexual relations that forms the core of Prior’s work, is a theme that I want to carry forward and build onto in my research. Specifically, I am interested in looking at how social and sexual relations have changed in the bathhouse due to technologies in the 21st century such as PrEP, internet, and dating apps and how this in turn has affected the physical and social environs of the baths.

The main aim of the author’s research was to examine the social and political forces which contributed to the acceptance of gay saunas by Sydney’s civic society. To answer this research question, he provides an in-depth description of the material (and immaterial) aspects of gay saunas in Sydney from the first gay sauna in 1967 to the year 2000, outlining distinct stages of evolution in the form/use of these structure. This data will form an important benchmark for my research which will explore the possible formation of a new architectural typology in the 21st century. The fact that this study, along with the work of Richters (2007), is one of the few literary works offering a detailed description of Sydney’s baths, including floor plans and advertisements in the gay press, makes it the single most important source for my research.

References

Betsky, A. (1997). Queer Space: Architecture and Same-Sex Desire (1st edition). New York: William Morrow.

Binson, D., & Woods, W. J. (2003). A Theoretical Approach to Bathhouse Environments. Journal of Homosexuality, 44(3-4), 23-31.

Bolton, R., Vincke, J., & Mak, R. (1994). Gay Baths Revisited: An Empirical Analysis. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 1(3), 255-273.

Brodsky, J. I. (1993). The Mineshaft: A Retrospective Ethnography. Journal of Homosexuality, 24(3-4), 233-252.

Castells, M. (1983). The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements. London: Edward Arnold.

Chauncey, G. (1995). Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 (unknown edition). New York: Basic Books.

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Knopp, L. (1998). Sexuality and Urban Space: Gay Male Identity Politics in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In Ruth Fincher and Jane M. Jacobs (Eds.), Cities of Difference (pp. 149-176). New York: The Guilford Press.

Lyons, A., Smith, A. M. A., Grierson, J. W., & Doussa, H. von. (2010). Australian men’s sexual practices in saunas, sex clubs and other male sex on premises venues. Sexual Health, 7(2), 186-192.

Prior, J. H. (2004). Sydney gay saunas 1967-2000: Fight for civic acceptance and experiences beyond the threshold (Doctoral thesis). School of Sociology and Anthropology, The University of New South Wales.

Richters, J. (2001). The Social Construction of Sexual Practice: Setting Sexual Culture and the Body in Casual Sex Between Men. University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Rubin, G. (1991). The Catacombs: A Temple of the Butthole. In Mark Thomson (Ed.), Leatherfolk: Radical Sex, People, Politics, and Practice (pp. 119-141). Boston: Alyson Publications.

Styles, J. (1979). Outsider/Insider: Researching Gay Baths. Urban Life, 8(2), 135-152.

Tattelman, I. (1999). Speaking to the Gay Bathhouse: Communicating in Sexually Charged Spaces. In W. L. Leap (Ed.), Public Sex/ Gay Space (pp. 71-94). New York: Columbia University Press.

Tattelman, I. (2000). Presenting a Queer (Bath) House. In J. A. Boone, M. Dupuis, M. Meeker, K. Quimby, C. Sarver, D. Silverman, & R. Weatherston, Queer Frontiers: Millennial Geographies, Genders, and Generations (pp. 222-258). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Weinberg, M. S., & Williams, C. J. (1975). Gay Baths and the Social Organization of Impersonal Sex. Social Problems, 23(2), 124-136.