Watson, the computer that defeated elite Jeopardy players in February is re-thinking domination, by helping diagnose and treat patients.
Read the full article via Mashable
Watson, the computer that defeated elite Jeopardy players in February is re-thinking domination, by helping diagnose and treat patients.
Read the full article via Mashable
I consider myself to be fortunate and cannot imagine being born anywhere else in the world. As an American, I realize that I take many elements of my life for granted. Among these are my personal freedom, education, public infrastructure, clean drinking water, the ability to find a satisfying career and the relatively safe communities that we have to choose from.
But we didn’t do anything to enable our success – we just happened to be born in a place that values liberty and the capacity to become anything that you want. At least it seems as though this particular mantra has been communicated to us since we were young.
This approach has a tendency to create a population that remains motivated and even helps maintain a degree of optimism. Obviously this frame of mind isn’t present throughout the world, especially in countries that are classified as underdeveloped. Within a country that is classified by this terminology, it can be challenging to cultivate happiness and a degree of optimism. Citizens don’t envision more fulfilling days, because they grow accustomed to the reality that they experience on a daily basis.
It can be hard to understand another perspective and way of life, especially if you haven’t experienced it for yourself. This seems to be the case for a majority of individuals that live in the United States. We cannot actually fathom the reality in opposing countries that are less fortunate than us. We can only imagine what it would be like, but will never have to face such dire circumstances. Even though we cannot fully understand what it would be like, that doesn’t excuse us from at least trying to permit growth and prospective success in such places.
As a result, I believe that more developed countries have an obligation to help enable success in underdeveloped nations. It could either be financially, democratically or even emotionally. Less fortunate countries and individuals want to feel as though they aren’t alone in the lingering chaos.
However it can be tough to decipher if assistance will truly benefit an underdeveloped country. If the support happens to be economic, it can be difficult to guarantee that the monetary help won’t be utilized in selfish ways, by manipulative individuals. Who knows, it may not even reach the individuals that truly need it.
They may not even have the ability to drink fresh water and shower on a daily basis. Many remain rural and don’t consist of public transportation and urban development, making citizens to some extent stationary. This limits their potential for job opportunities, unless they are employed within the place they directly live. With this in mind, more fortunate countries should even consider commencing businesses in such locations, which will hopefully help provide stability and opportunities for personal economic growth.
If they do incorporate business in such a place, they need to make sure to not take advantage of the situation. They must provide considerable wages that can benefit citizens, who happen to be on the low end of the socioeconomic spectrum. The work must also be safe and ethical, without potential for health issues and prospective concerns that may occur because of the work itself.
Organizations may also need to provide transportation to and from work. Not to mention, external assistance can even help create a safer environment within particular communities. People in ominous circumstances may potentially resort to crime, which generates unsafe neighbors in devastated areas. This can be another area for interaction by more fortunate countries, which may have resources to provide heightened security.
All in all, I cannot help but question if developed nations have an obligation to facilitate success in such countries. We have extensive resources and seemingly unlimited opportunities for citizens to flourish from. At times our resources even seem quite unnecessary, especially considering they have been ingrained in our lives since youth. Take the time to consider those that are less fortunate, who need assistance – assistance that we merely take care granted on a perpetual basis.
That is why it is crucial to create a degree of confidence with your communication skills. Like anything else in life, your communication skills can be honed and you can become proficient with perpetual use and practice.
Moreover as a public relations and mass communications graduate, I feel as though I fully contemplate the importance of credibility, honesty and transparency, which can be facilitated and help establish relationships with the individuals you interact with.
Listed below are a few recommendations for creating a quality first impression that will hopefully enable sustained interaction in whatever capacity.
1. Make eye contact and make sure they feel utterly comfortable. This will help convey a degree of confidence. It also helps assure that they feel as though you are fully engaged and respect the elements they are corresponding about. Especially with organizational interactions; because you want them to feel completely confident in your ability to aid them along the way. I would say that your initial reaction towards a person will create a lasting persona, which may be challenging to change once the thought has entered their mind.
2. Stand up and shake their hand. This documents your willingness to truly connect with them and allows you to establish common ground from the commencement of your dialogue. You can even impress them with the hand shake alone, depending on the firmness of your shake. Practice with your close associates and make sure they would be willing to work with you, based on the demeanor and attitude that your represent. You may not think this can be illustrated with a mere hand shake, but you never know.
3. Ask them if they need anything and assure them that they are the focal point of all your energy. This will allow them to see your utilitarian nature and willingness to help. People want to feel as though your relationship or pending interaction is valuable from your perspective. The goal should be to convey a degree of professional and maturity, regardless of the avenue for connection. It could either be regarding personal matters or even a professional acquaintance; it really doesn’t matter and you should strive to remain affianced nonetheless.
4. Follow-up and make sure to thank them for their time. People love to hear that you fully appreciate their ability to meet and take time out of their busy day. We all more than likely have families and a collective of obligations, which can make it difficult to allocate time towards opposing individuals. This can be especially challenging in the digital world that we live in. Even if it is merely a phone call, it is better than nothing. Personally I would recommend a hand written note or email expressing your gratitude. They won’t necessarily expect it, but maybe you will make their day slightly more optimistic.
Just remember that communication can be a vehicle to success or even impediment. Remain confident and never doubt your ability to connect with people from varying perspectives. At the root of it all, we are all human beings and we require others to fully experience life.
Regardless of the implications, I am intrigued by the possibility of what’s to come and where the trends will ultimately lead. However, even with excitement there comes a degree of obfuscation. One can never truly predict the course of time and we will have to wait to see where the developments in digital technology occur.
Nonetheless, social media has already brought about innovation and has even changed over time to become more user-friendly. Individuals now have the convenience of updating one aggregate site, which will post a message on a collection of different social environments.
Who would have thought this could become a reality in the digital world, especially considering the social media advent is to some extent, still in its youth? Even though it may seem unexpected, the ability to cross-post is evident and I don’t believe it’s going anywhere in the near future; at least as far as I am concerned.
For example, I facilitate posts with HootSuite and Ping.Fm, which allows me to maximize efficiency, by taking less than five seconds to express my ideas on approximately fifteen social websites, simultaneously. In my case, the updates generally include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, Orkut, Digg, GoogleBuzz, Delicious, Friendster and LinkedIn, just to name a few.
Social media has also continued to become more interconnected. This means that most platforms have the option of syncing with other sites. I even have the option of connecting my blogs to HootSuite as well, which can create a haven for news aggregation, information and continual communication.
Moreover, social media junkies can continue to update their status and post a message on as many networks as they would like. This can even be more beneficial for businesses; they can have one individual responsible for social marketing and allow that individual to do it with utmost convenience and efficiency.
HootSuite even allows you to schedule messages periodically. This means that businesses can determine a network strategy and post messages automatically, regardless of the time of the day. With this in mind, organizations can specifically target messages to individuals that are time-sensitive and relevant to the business itself.
The reason this is so important, is because social media doesn’t necessarily influence sales or participation; it is more of a vehicle to increase recognition, awareness, web-influence and potentially SEO (search engine optimization).
Business can also establish credibility, integrity and a degree of trustworthiness, merely by interacting with a niche portion of the population on-line. Obviously, it needs to be in a positive and helpful manner, to yield the results that companies are striving for. Nonetheless, a companies’ approach is generally dependant on their particular organizational mantra and overall goal structure.
All-in-all, businesses should consider commencing a social media strategy, if of course they haven’t already. The strategy doesn’t necessarily need to be perfected from the onslaught either. Through time and social participation, businesses can literally generate a social prescription for the company, which speaks from experience and contains a frame of reference for comparison.
Basically, this prescription will become a remedy for the company and involve a transformation, once businesses have an understanding of the landscape they are working with. Just remember, there isn’t necessarily an incorrect way to conduct social marketing – just give it a try and see what happens. There are no rules to abide by and the conditions are still relatively new.
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