Partime Job

Long Jump

2009-05-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

The long jump is an athletics (track and field) event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far from the take-off point as possible.Competitors sprint down a runway (usually coated with the same rubberized surface as running tracks, crumb rubber also vulcanized rubber) and jump as far as they can from behind a foul line (commonly referred to as the "board", and usually defined by the trailing edge of a takeoff board embedded flush with the runway surface, or a painted mark on the runway) into a pit filled with finely ground gravel or sand. The distance traveled by a jumper is often referred to as the "mark" because it is the distance to the nearest mark made in the sand from the foul line. If the competitor starts the leap with any part of the foot past the foul line, the jump is declared illegal and no distance is recorded. At the elite level, a layer of plasticine is placed immediately after the board to detect this occurrence.

Otherwise, an official (similar to a referee) will observe the jump and make the determination. The competitor can initiate the jump from any point behind the foul line; however, the distance measured will always be from the foul line. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the competitor to get as close to the foul line as possible.

Usually, each competitor has a set number of attempts to make his or her longest jump, and only the longest legal jump counts towards the results. Typically, competitors have three trial jumps with which to make their best effort. Higher level competitions are split into two rounds: trials and finals. In competitions containing a final round, only a select number of competitors are invited to return for further competition. The number of competitors chosen to return to the final round is determined before the start of the meet by a committee composed of coaches and officials. It is standard practice to allow one more competitor than the number of scoring positions to return to the final round. For example, if a given meet allows the top eight competitors to score points, then the top nine competitors will be selected to compete in the final round. Taking an extra competitor to the final round helps to allow that athlete to move into a scoring position if the competitor can improve on his or her best mark of the competition. Final rounds are viewed as an additional three jumps, as they do not have any priority to those scored in the trial round. The competitor with the longest legal jump (from either the trial or final rounds) at the end of competition is declared the winner. (For specific rules and regulations in United States Track & Field see Rule 185[1]).

There are four main components of the long jump: the approach run, the last two strides, takeoff and action in the air, and landing. Speed in the run-up, or approach, and a high leap off the board are the fundamentals of success. Because speed is such an important factor of the approach, it is not surprising that many long jumpers also compete successfully in sprints. A classic example of this long jump / sprint doubling is performances by Carl Lewis.The long jump is notable for two of the longest-standing world records in any track and field event. In 1935, Jesse Owens set a long jump world record that was not broken until 1960 by Ralph Boston. Later, Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 meters (29 feet, 2-1/2 inches) at the 1968 Summer Olympics at an altitude of 7,349 feet, a jump not exceeded until 1991. On The current world record for women is held by Galina Chistyakova of the former Soviet Union who leapt 7.52 m (24.7 ft) in Leningrad in 1988.

High Jump

2009-05-24T08:15:00.002-07:00

The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of any devices. It has been contested since the Olympic Games of ancient Greece. Over the centuries since, competitors have introduced increasingly more effective techniques to arrive at the current form. Javier Sotomayor (Cuba) is both the indoor and outdoor world record holder in this event with jumps of 2.43 metres (7 ft 11.67 in) and 2.45 metres (8 ft 0.46 in), respectively. Sotomayor's record, set in 1993, is the longest standing in the history of the men's high jump. Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria) has held the women's world record 2.09 metres (6 ft 10.28 in) since 1987, the longest-held record in the event.

The first recorded high jump event took place in Scotland in the 19th century. Early jumpers used either an elaborate straight-on approach or a scissors technique. In the latter, the bar was approached diagonally, and the jumper threw first the inside leg and then the other over the bar in a scissoring motion. Around the turn of the 20th century, techniques began to modernise, starting with the Irish-American M.F. Sweeney's Eastern cut-off. By taking off as if with the scissors, but extending his back and flattening out over the bar, the Sweeney achieved a more economic clearance and raised the world record to 6 feet 5.625 inches (1.97 m) in 1895.

Another American, M.F. Horine, developed an even more efficient technique, the Western roll. In this style, the bar again is approached on a diagonal, but the inner leg is used for the take-off, while the outer leg is thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar. Horine increased the world standard to 6 feet 7 inches (2.0 m) in 1912. His technique predominated through the Berlin Olympics of 1936, in which the event was won by Cornelius Johnson at 2.03 metres (6 ft 8 in).

American and Russian jumpers held the playing field for the next four decades, and they pioneered the evolution of the straddle technique. Straddle jumpers took off as in the Western roll, but rotated their (belly-down) torso around the bar, obtaining the most economical clearance up to that time. Straddle-jumper Charles Dumas broke the elusive 7 feet (2.13 m) barrier in 1956, and American John Thomas pushed the world mark to 2.23 metres (7 ft 4 in) in 1960. Valeriy Brumel took over the event for the next four years. The elegant Soviet jumper radically sped up his approach run, took the record up to 2.28 metres (7 ft 6 in), and won the Olympic gold medal in 1964, before a motorcycle accident ended his career.
High jump shoes are different from most other track shoes in that there are an additional four holes in the heel of the takeoff shoe, where the user can insert spikes for increased traction. These extra heel spikes aid greatly in the last four to five steps of the J-approach, allowing the jumper to run on his or her curve at a fast speed without slipping. Some high jump shoes are even more technologically developed and in addition to the extra spikes on the heel, the shoes are modified to lean the direction of the approach to provide further support while running their curve. As well as the approach, high jump shoes also help and support the jumper's takeoff. The IAAF regulations specify a maximum sole thickness for both high jump and long jump shoes; competitors in all other events may wear shoes with soles of any thickness.

Javelin throw

2009-05-24T08:15:00.001-07:00

The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 meters in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon.The size, shape, minimum weight, and center of gravity of the javelin implement itself are all defined by IAAF rules. In international competition, men throw a javelin between 2.6 and 2.7 meters in length and (at least) 800 grams in weight, and women throw a javelin between 2.2 and 2.3 meters in length and (at least) 600 grams in weight. The javelin is equipped with a grip, approximately 150 mm wide, made of cord and located at the javelin's center of gravity (0.9 to 1.06 meters or 0.8 to 0.92 meters from the tip of the javelin for men's and women's implements, respectively).

Unlike the other throwing events (shotput, discus, and hammer), the technique used to throw the javelin is dictated by IAAF rules and "non-orthodox" techniques are not permitted. The javelin must be held at its grip and thrown overhand, over the athlete's shoulder or upper arm. Further, the athlete is prohibited from turning completely around such that his back faces the direction of throw. In practice, this prevents athletes from attempting to spin and hurl the javelin sidearm in the style of a discus throw. Instead of being confined to a circle, javelin throwers are provided with a runway 4 meters wide and at least 30 meters in length, ending in a curved arc from which their throw will be measured; athletes typically use this distance to gain momentum in a "run-up" to their throw, Also Gaining power in there throw. Like the other throwing events, the competitor may not leave the throwing area (the runway) until after the implement lands. The need to come to a stop behind the throwing arc limits both how close the athlete can come to the line before the release as well as the maximum speed achieved at the time of release.

The javelin is thrown towards a "sector" covering an angle of 29 degrees extending outwards from the arc at the end of the runway. A throw is legal only if the tip of the javelin lands within this sector, and the tip strikes the ground before any other part of the javelin. The distance of the throw is measured from the throwing arc to the point where the tip of the javelin landed, rounded down to the nearest centimeter.

Competition rules are similar to other throwing events: a round consists of one attempt by each competitor in turn, and competitions typically consist of three to six rounds. The competitor with the longest single legal throw (over all rounds) is the winner; in the case of a tie the competitors' second-longest throws are also considered. Competitions involving large numbers of athletes sometimes use a "cut": all competitors compete in the first three rounds, but only athletes who are currently among the top eight or have achieved some minimum distance are permitted to attempt to improve on their distance in additional rounds (typically three).

Football

2009-05-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players, and is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world. It is a football variant played on a rectangular grass or artificial turf field, with a goal in the centre of each of the short ends. The object of the game is to score by manoeuvring the ball into the opposing goal. In general play, the goalkeepers are the only players allowed to use their hands or arms to propel the ball; the rest of the team usually use their feet to kick the ball into position, occasionally using their torso or head to intercept a ball in midair. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition.

The modern game was codified in England following the formation of The Football Association, whose 1863 Laws of the Game created the foundations for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed internationally by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), commonly known by the acronym FIFA. The most prestigious international football competition is the FIFA World Cup, held every four years. This event, the most widely viewed in the world, boasts an audience twice that of the Summer Olympic Games.

Football is played in accordance with a set of rules known as the Laws of the Game. The game is played using a single spherical ball, known as the football. Two teams of eleven players each compete to get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts and under the bar), thereby scoring a goal. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner; if both teams have scored an equal number of goals then the game is a draw. Each team is led by a captain.
The primary rule is that players (other than goalkeepers) may not deliberately handle the ball with their hands or arms during play (though they do use their hands during a throw-in restart). Although players usually use their feet to move the ball around, they may use any part of their bodies other than their hands or arms.Within normal play, all players are free to play the ball in any direction and move throughout the pitch, though the ball cannot be received in an offside position.

In typical game play, players attempt to create goal scoring opportunities through individual control of the ball, such as by dribbling, passing the ball to a team-mate, and by taking shots at the goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper. Opposing players may try to regain control of the ball by intercepting a pass or through tackling the opponent in possession of the ball; however, physical contact between opponents is restricted. Football is generally a free-flowing game, with play stopping only when the ball has left the field of play or when play is stopped by the referee.

Hockey

2009-05-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hockey is any of a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball, or a hard, round, rubber or heavy plastic disc called a puck, into the opponent's net or goal, using a hockey stick.Field hockey is played on gravel, natural grass, sand-based or water-based artificial turf, with a small, hard ball. The game is popular among both males and females in many parts of the world, particularly in Europe, Asia, Australia, and South Africa. In most countries, the game is played between single-sex sides, although they can be mixed-sex.

The governing body is the 116-member International Hockey Federation (FIH). Men's Field hockey has been played at each summer Olympic Games since 1908 (except 1912 and 1924), while Women's Field Hockey has been played each summer Olympic Games since 1980.Modern field hockey sticks are J-shaped and constructed of a composite of wood, glass fibre or carbon fibre (sometimes both) and have a curved hook at the playing end, a flat surface on the playing side and curved surface on the rear side. While current field hockey appeared in the mid-18th century in England, primarily in schools, it was not until the first half of the 19th century that it became firmly established. The first club was created in 1849 at Blackheath in south-east London. Field hockey is the national sport of India and Pakistan.

Ice hockey is played on a large flat area of ice, using a three inch (76.2 mm) diameter vulcanized rubber disc called a puck. This puck is often frozen before high-level games to decrease the amount of bouncing and friction on the ice. The game is contested between two teams of skaters. The game is played all over North America, Europe and in many other countries around the world to varying extent. It is the most popular sport in Canada, Finland, the Czech Republic, and in Sweden.
The governing body is the 64-member International Ice Hockey Federation, (IIHF). Men's ice hockey has been played at the Winter Olympics since 1924, and was in the 1920 Summer Olympics. Women's ice hockey was added to the Winter Olympics in 1998. North America's National Hockey League (NHL) is the strongest professional ice hockey league, drawing top ice hockey players from around the globe. The NHL rules are slightly different from those used in Olympic ice hockey: the periods are 20 minutes long, counting downwards. There are three periods.

Ice hockey sticks are long L-shaped sticks made of wood, graphite, or composites with a blade at the bottom that can lie flat on the playing surface when the stick is held upright and can curve either way, legally, as to help a left- or right-handed player gain an advantage.There are early representations and reports of ice hockey-type games being played on ice in the Netherlands, and reports from Canada from the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the modern game was initially organized by students at McGill University, Montreal in 1875 who, by two years later, codified the first set of ice hockey rules and organized the first teams.

Glima

2009-05-24T08:07:00.001-07:00

Glima remains, as it always has been, friendly recreation and a gentleman's sport, but as the lösatags version (described below) shows it also has a rougher side.The core of the system are eight main bragd (techniques), which form the basic training for approximately 50 ways to execute a throw or takedown. Glima is a very old combative style.

The first version is by far the most widespread and the one typically associated with the term glima. Indeed, most people would say the term should be restricted to this kind only, and it is this version which is Iceland's national sport. Historically it was also the one put in highest esteem for favoring technique over strength.

Each of the two wrestlers wears a special belt around the waist and separate, additional belts on the lower thighs of each leg, which connect to the main belt with vertical straps. A fixed grip is then taken with one hand in the belt and the other in the trousers at thigh height. From this position the glima-wrestler attempts to trip and throw his opponent.

There are a number of modern submission Glima enthusiasts whose foundation lies in catch Glima as well as no small number whose training "lineage" traces back to catch-Glima.Rough and tumble fighting was the original American no holds barred (real no rules) underground hybrid "sport" that had but one rule - you win by knocking the man out or making him say "enough."

In this style of glima, a thrown wrestler may attempt to land on his feet and hands and if he succeeds in doing so he has not lost the fall. The winning condition in this type of glima is to make the opponent touch the ground with an area of the body between the elbow and the knee.

Chess

2009-05-24T08:06:00.001-07:00

Chess is a recreational and competitive game played between two players. The current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar, much older games of Indian and Persian origin. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.

The game is played on a square chequered chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player (one controlling the white pieces, the other controlling the black pieces) controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king, whereby the king is under immediate attack (in "check") and there is no way to remove it from attack on the next move.

The tradition of organized competitive chess started in the 16th century and has developed extensively. Chess today is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; Viswanathan Anand is the current World Champion. Theoreticians have developed extensive chess strategies and tactics since the game's inception. Aspects of art are found in chess composition.

One of the goals of early computer scientists was to create a chess-playing machine. Today's chess is deeply influenced by the abilities of current chess programs and the ability to play against others online. In 1997, Deep Blue became the first computer to beat the reigning World Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov.
Chess games do not have to end in checkmate — either player may resign if the situation looks hopeless. If it is a timed game a player may run out of time and lose, even with a much superior position. Games also may end in a draw (tie). A draw can occur in several situations, including draw by agreement, stalemate, threefold repetition of a position, the fifty-move rule, or a draw by impossibility of checkmate (usually because of insufficient material to checkmate).

Besides casual games without exact timing, chess is also played with a time control, mostly by club and professional players. If a player's time runs out before the game is completed, the game is automatically lost (provided his opponent has enough pieces left to deliver checkmate). The timing ranges from long games played up to seven hours to shorter rapid chess games lasting usually 30 minutes or one hour per game. Even shorter is blitz chess with a time control of three to fifteen minutes for each player, or bullet chess (under three minutes).

Catch Wrestling

2009-05-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

Catch wrestling is a style of wrestling. Catch wrestling is arguably the ancestor of modern grappling, professional wrestling, mixed martial arts and no-holds-barred competition. Catch wrestling's origins lie in a variety of styles, Asia (e.g. Pahlavi). 'Collar-and-elbow' refers to the initial hold of the wrestlers.

The term is sometimes used in a restricted sense to refer only to the style of professional wrestling as practiced in United States carnivals just before and after 1900. Under this stricter definition, "catch wrestling" is one of many styles of professional wrestling, specifically as practiced in carnivals and at public exhibitions from after the American Civil War until the Great Depression.

There are a number of modern submission wrestling enthusiasts whose foundation lies in catch wrestling as well as no small number whose training "lineage" traces back to catch-wrestling.Rough and tumble fighting was the original American no holds barred (real no rules) underground hybrid "sport" that had but one rule - you win by knocking the man out or making him say "enough."

The art began with Mitsuyo Maeda (aka Conde Koma, or Count Combat in English), an expert Japanese judoka and member of the Kodokan. Maeda was one of five of the Kodokan's top groundwork experts that Judo's founder Kano Jigoro sent overseas to spread his art to the world.

All techniques were allowed (eye gouging, groin clawing, hair pulling, biting, scratching and pressuring). Later when the Lancashire wrestling style made it to the US and was blended with the "rough and tumble" mentality, and the gambling involved, the very aggressive American catch-as-catch-can style of wrestling emerged and created some of the most outstanding grapplers in the world.

Cycling

2009-05-24T08:02:00.001-07:00

Cycling is the use of bicycles, or - less commonly - unicycles, tricycles, quadricycles and other similar wheeled human powered vehicles (HPVs) as a means of transport, a form of recreation or a sport. It is done on roads and paths, across open country or even over snow and ice (ice biking).Bicycles, the most common form of cycle, were introduced in the 19th century and now number about one billion worldwide.

Regular conferences on cycling for transport are held.Utility bicycle featuring rear internal hub brake, chaincase and mudguards, kickstand for parking, permanently attached dynamo-powered lamps and upswept handlebars for a more comfortable grip position.In many countries, the most commonly used vehicle for road transport is a utility bicycle.

These have frames with relaxed geometry, protecting the rider from shocks from the road, and easing steering at low speeds.Road bikes tend to have a more upright shape and a shorter wheelbase, which make the bike more mobile but harder to ride slowly. The design, coupled with low or dropped handlebars, requires the rider to bend forward more, utilizing stronger muscles and reducing air resistance at high speed.
The price of a new bicycle can range from US$50 to more than US$20,000, depending on quality, type and weight (the most exotic road bicycles can weigh as little as 3.2kg (7 lb). Being measured for a bike and taking it for a test ride are recommended before buying.

The bicycles used for artistic cycling are a form of fixed gear bicycle. The gearing of the chainring and sprocket are run at or near a one to one ratio, but the chainring may not have fewer teeth than the sprocket. The wheels must be of equal size and are closely spaced in order to make tricks, such as wheelies, easier to perform.

Rock climbing

2009-05-24T08:01:00.001-07:00

Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up or across natural rock formations or man-made rock walls with the goal of reaching the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route. Rock climbing is similar to scrambling (another activity involving the scaling of hills and similar formations), but climbing is generally differentiated by its need for the use of the climber's hands to hold his or her own weight and not just provide balance.

Rock climbing is a physically and mentally demanding sport, one that often tests a climber's strength, endurance, agility, and balance along with his or her mental control. It can be a dangerous sport and knowledge of proper climbing techniques and usage of specialized climbing equipment is crucial for the safe completion of routes.
Because of the wide range and variety of rock formations around the world rock climbing has been separated into several different styles and sub-disciplines that are described below. At its most basic, rock climbing involves climbing a route with one's own hands and feet and little more than a cushioned bouldering pad in the way of protection.

Here routes are commonly referred to as problems (a British appellation) because the nature of the climb is often short, curious, and much like problem solving. Sometimes these problems are eliminates, meaning certain artificial restrictions are imposed.To reduce the risk of injury from a fall, climbers rarely go higher than 3-5 meters above the ground.

This style of climbing is referred to as bouldering, since the relevant routes are usually found on boulders no more than 10 to 15 feet tall.As routes get higher off the ground, the increased risk of life-threatening injuries necessitates additional safety measures. A variety of specialized climbing techniques and climbing equipment exists to provide that safety.

Pin Bowling

2009-05-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Five-pin bowling is a bowling variant which is played only in Canada, where most bowling alleys offer it, either alone or in combination with ten-pin bowling. It was devised around 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Club, in response to customers who complained that the ten-pin game was too strenuous.

He cut five tenpins down to about 75% of their size, and used hand-sized hard rubber balls, thus inventing the original version of five-pin bowling. The balls in five-pin are small enough to fit in the hand and therefore have no fingerholes. At the end of the lane there are five pins arranged in a V.

In size they are midway between duckpins and ten-pins, and they have a heavy rubber band around their middles to make them move farther when struck. The centre pin is worth five points if knocked down, those on either side, three each, and the outermost pins, two each, giving a total of 15 in each frame.
Ten-pin bowling (or more commonly, just "bowling") is a competitive sport in which a player (the “bowler”) rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic (polyurethane) lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.The 41.5-inch (105 cm) wide, 60-foot (18 m) lane is bordered along its length by "gutters”—semicircular channels designed to collect errant balls which also pose an obstacle to advanced bowlers, because a straight ball cannot be rolled on a regulation lane at the angle required to consistently carry (knock down) all ten pins for a strike.

Most skillful bowlers will roll a more difficult-to-control hook ball to overcome this. There is a foul line at the end of the lane nearest to the bowler: if any part of a bowler’s body touches the lane side of this line after the ball is delivered (rolled), it is called a foul and any pins knocked over by that delivery are not scored.

Boat Surfing

2009-05-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

Surfing refers to a person or boat riding down a wave and thereby gathering speed from the downward movement. Most commonly, the term is used for a surface water sport in which the person surfing is carried along the face of a breaking ocean wave (the "surf") standing on a surfboard. Surfboards can also be used on rivers on standing waves.

Both are sometimes called stand-up surfing, to distinguish it from bodyboarding, in which the individual riding the wave does not stand up on the board and only partly raises his upper body from the board.Two major subdivisions within contemporary stand-up surfing are reflected by the differences in surfboard design and riding style of longboarding.

And shortboarding. In tow-in surfing (most often, but not exclusively, associated with big wave surfing), a surfer is towed into the wave by a motorized water vehicle, such as a jetski, generally because standard paddling is often ineffective when trying to match a large wave's higher speed.A windsurfer holds the world speed record for sailing craft (see below); and, windsurfers can perform jumps, inverted loops, spinning maneuvers, and other "freestyle" moves that cannot be matched by any sailboat.

Windsurfers were the first to ride the world's largest waves, such as Jaws on the island of Maui, and, with very few exceptions, it was not until the advent of tow-in surfing that waves of that size became accessible to traditional surfers.Depending on wave size and direction and on wind conditions, also sailboats surf, namely on larger waves on open sailing waters. Unlike "surfers", sailors usually do not surf in beach waves, and they usually do not go out in order to surf; instead, the wave and wind conditions may let them boat surf while during a sailing trip.

Snowboarding

2009-05-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is either partially or fully covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set into a mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the United States in the 1960s and the 1970s and became a Winter Olympic Sport in 1998.

Poppen’s Snurfer started to be manufactured as a toy the following year. It was essentially a skateboard without wheels, steered by a hand-held rope, and lacked bindings, but had provisions to cause footwear to adhere.During the 1970s and 1980s as snowboarding became more popular, pioneers such as Dimitrije Milovich, Jake Burton Carpenter (founder of Burton Snowboards from Londonderry, Vermont.

Tom Sims (founder of Sims Snowboards) and Mike Olson (founder of Gnu snowboards) came up with new designs for boards and mechanisms that had slowly developed into the snowboards and other related equipment that we know today.Dimitrije Milovich, an east coast surfer, had the idea of sliding on cafeteria trays.Sconce originally designed the downhill skateboard with the help of a computer to eliminate speed wobbles at any speed. The Glendora Mountain Road racers and the Huntington Beach based Underground Racing Association were constantly racing down Glendora Mountain Road until the advent of strict laws against the sport.

From this he started developing his snowboard designs. In 1972, he started a company called the Winterstick, which was mentioned in 1975 by Newsweek magazine. The Winterstick was based on the design and feel of a surfboard, but worked the same way as skis. In the spring of 1976 Welsh skateboarders Jon Roberts and Pete Matthews developed a Plywood deck with foot bindings for use on the Dry Ski Slope at the school camp, Ogmore-by-Sea, Wales. UK

Sky Surfing

2009-05-24T07:55:00.002-07:00

Sky surfing is a type of skydiving in which the skydiver wears a board attached to his or her feet and performs surfing-style aerobatics during freefall.The boards used are generally smaller than actual surfboards, and look more like snowboards or large skateboards.

The attachment to the feet is normally made removable, so that if the skydiver loses control or has difficulty opening their parachute, the board can be jettisoned.Skysurfing is a distinct skill requiring considerable practice. The simplest skysurfing technique is to stand upright on the board during freefall, and tilt the nose of the board down to generate forward movement.

However even this basic technique is a balancing act which experienced skydivers find tricky to learn. The extra drag of the board tends to upset the balance and make the skydiver flip over. The jumper must also learn to control the board and their body position so as to open the parachute in a stable configuration.

More advanced aerobatics such as loops, rolls and helicopter spins, are more difficult still and are tackled once the basics have been mastered.Because of the possibility of dropping the board, not every skydiving club permits skysurfing, and only a minority of skydivers have attempted this recent specialisation in the sport.
Later 'Dimension Streetboards', comprising of former snakeboard riders bought the patent from MV Sports so that they could produce newer streetboards. Dimension Streetboards have also allowed other companys to manufacture boards, Highland Streetboards and GrossO Boards. Although the industry is still small it is said to be showing signs of consistent growth within the past 3 years.

Soft ball

2009-05-24T07:55:00.001-07:00

Softball is a team sport popular especially in the United States. It is a direct descendant of baseball and the rules of both sports are substantially similar. Softball was invented by George Hancock in Chicago, Illinois. The first softball game was played using a rolled up boxing glove as a ball and a broomstick as a bat. The first version of softball was invented in Chicago, Illinois on Thanksgiving Day, 1887 by George Hancock as a winter version of baseball.

Yale and Harvard alumni had gathered at the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago to hear the score of the annual football game. When the score was announced and bets were paid, a Yale alumnus threw a boxing glove at a Harvard supporter. The other person grabbed a stick and swung at it. The Farragut Club soon set rules for the game, which spread quickly to outsiders.

Hancock called "Play ball!" and the game began. Hancock took a boxing glove and tied it into a ball. A broom handle was used as a bat. The first softball game ended with a score of 44-40. The ball, being soft, was fielded barehanded rather than with gloves like those which had been introduced to baseball in 1882. Hancock developed a ball and an undersized bat in the next week.

The Farragut Club soon set rules for the game, which spread quickly to outsiders. The game, under the name of "Indoor-Outdoor", was moved outside next year, and the first rules were published in 1889. Rober may not have been familiar with the Farragut Club rules. The first softball league outside the United States was organized in Toronto in 1897.

Although softball is assumed to be older than baseball, literary references to early forms of "base-ball" in England pre-date use of the term "rounders". Rounders is now played from school-level to international.Rounders, in many respects identical to Baseball, where it is called Baseball in its earliest references . Although primarily played in primary schools among young children, its noted as being extremely popular with girls who have organised leagues throughout Britain.

Pespallo

2009-05-24T07:54:00.001-07:00

Pesäpallo [pesæpɑlːo] (Swedish: Boboll, also referred to as "Finnish baseball") is a fast-moving ball sport that's quite often referred to as the national sport of Finland and has some presence in other countries, such as Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, and Northern Ontario in Canada (Both Canada and Australia have high Finnish and Scandinavian populations). The game is similar to bran boll, rounders, baseball and lapta.

Pesäpallo was developed and refined by Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala, who based it on baseball and some local games, around 1910–1920. The rules have remained the same since, aside from some fine-tuning in the 1990s by the Pesäpalloliitto, the governing pesäpallo federation in Finland. The basic structure of the game is identical to baseball's.

The first bounce of the ball is decisive: It must bounce within the play area, and may then roll over a line and still be in play. The back line on the fly counts as a [strike/foul ball]. The foul lines are also on the sides and the front of the field. So if a player hits a very hard hit that would be a certain home run in baseball, it's counted as a strike/foul in pesäpallo.

A batting team's batting inning ends not when three batters have failed to score, but when either three batters have all been physically beaten by the ball (a ball catch straight off the bat does not suffice, it is called 'koppi' a middle ground between scoring and being out) .when the entire regular team of nine has batted and are all either in koppi, out on a base or run-out (but if a player scores, he liberates all his koppi players, making them eligible to bat again in that inning)
The batting pitch consists of a wicket 20 yards long, at each end of which are placed 2 (not 3) stumps slightly less than one balls width apart. There are no boundaries on the fielding area, and fielders may stand anywhere they wish, althoug the most common arrangements are a variation on cricket fielding positions. The game is played between two teams, usually of 11, although at Lee Abbey (see below) teams are of unlimited size.

Interesting Games (Kilikiti & Oina)

2009-05-24T07:50:00.002-07:00

Kilikiti (syn. kirikiti, Samoan cricket, pronounced ki-ree-kiss) is one of several forms of cricket. Originating in Samoa (English missionaries introduced their game of cricket in the early 19th century), it spread throughout Polynesia and can now be found around the world in areas with strong Polynesia populations. The game is the national sport of Samoa, it is played in Tuvalu, and is particularly popular in New Zealand.

The ball is made of a very hard rubber wrapped in pendants. Players are not protected by any padding or masks, and will often wear only a lava-lava. The sennit-wrapped wooden bats, which are shaped to individual players' likings and can be over a meter long, are three-sided, which means that the path of a hit ball is extremely hard to predict.

There is no limit to team size, and teams are made up of whoever turns up regardless of gender or age (tourist accounts referenced below mention that strangers are often welcomed). Players are typically all-rounder’s. A kilikiti game is a multi-day community event full of singing, dancing, and feasting.

Oina is a Romanian traditional ball sport, similar in many ways to baseballOina was first mentioned during the rule of Vlaicu Void in 1364, when it spread all across Wallachia. It originated as a game played by shepherds.In 1899, Spiru Haret, the minister of education decided that oina was to be played in schools in Physical education classes. He organized the first annual oina competitions.

The Romanian Oina Federation was founded in 1932, and reactivated at the beginning of the 1950s.Today, there are two Oina Federations: one in Bucharest, Romania and another one in Chişinău, Moldova.There are two teams, one that is "at bat" ("la bătaie") and one that is "at catching" ("la prindere").

The game begins with the team "at bat", with one of the players throwing the ball while another player of the same team has to hit it with a wooden bat ("bâtă") and send it as far as he can towards the adversary field. After that, the player has to run the "back-and-forth lanes" (culoarele de ducere şi întoarcere).

Gilli – Danda

2009-05-24T07:50:00.001-07:00

Gilli-danda) or gulli-danda or Guli Danda is an amateur sport, similar to cricket, that is popular among youth in the Indian subcontinent. It is called dānggűli in Bungle, chinni-dandu in Kannada,'kuttiyum kolum' in Malayalam, viti-dandu in Marathi, kitti-pullu in Tamil, and gooti-billa in Telugu. This sport is generally played in the rural and small towns of Indian subcontinent. It is widely played in Punjab (India) and rural areas of the North-West Frontier Province (Pakistan).

There are no records of the games origin in south Asian sub continent or its existence before the arrival of Europeans. However a similar game by name of Lippa has history of being played in Italy and Southern Europe. It is possible that this game was brought from Europe during the time of Alexander or British.

Gilli-danda have no official requirements for equipment. The game is played with a gilli or guli and danda, which are both wooden sticks. The danda is longer (suitably handmade by the player) which one can swing easily. The gilli is smaller and is tapered on both sides so that the ends become conical shaped. The gilli is analogous to a cricket bail and the danda is analogous to cricket bat.

In some versions, the points a striker scores is dependent on the distance the gilli falls from the striking point. The distance is measured in terms of the length of the danda, or in some cases the length of the gilli. Scoring also depends on how many times the gilli was hit in the air in one strike. Say when it traveled a distance 'd' with two mid-air strikes, the total point is doubled.

French Cricket

2009-05-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

French cricket is an informal form of cricket where a ball (usually a tennis ball) is bowled underarm at the legs of another player holding either a cricket bat or a tennis racquet. The player holding the bat, the batsman, is required to block and defend his wicket, with the batsman's legs taking the place of stumps. The batsman is not allowed to move his legs and in some variants, the batsman can only hit the ball in a direct upward or scooping-like motion.

Any number of fielders can stand around the batsman, and any fielder can bowl at the batsman from any angle. Once the fielder has fielded the ball they cannot take any steps until they have bowled the ball but can generally throw or bowl the ball how they like. The batsman is bowled out when his legs are hit below the knee and he can also be caught out. The bowler or fielder who bowls or catches the batsman out normally replaces him.

Often, the batsman is only allowed to turn to face the next delivery if he hits the ball. If he misses and is not bowled, he must attempt to play the next ball (which is bowled from where the ball ended up after the previous delivery) without being allowed to turn to face it. In some variations, the batsman is not allowed to turn at all, and is declared out if his feet move.

Interestingly, it is not played by the French, and the origin of the name remains to be explained. Suggested possibilities include juxtaposition with the English origin of regular cricket. It seems likely that as the game is a lesser version on regular cricket that the name is intended to mock both the game and the French — just as a "French cut" in real cricket is a poorly executed cut shot which almost gets a batsman out.

Cricket Types

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Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. It has long been considered the ultimate test of playing ability between cricketing nations. It remains the most prestigious form of the game, although the comparatively new One Day International and Twenty20 formats are now more popular amongst some audiences.[
The name "Test" may have arisen from the idea that the matches are a "test of strength and competency" between the sides involved. It seems to have been used first to describe an English team that toured Australia in 1861–62, although those matches are not considered Test matches today.

The first officially recognized Test match commenced on the 15 March 1877, contested by England and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Australia won by 45 runs. England won the second ever match (also at the MCG) by four wickets, thus drawing the series 1–1. This was not the first ever international cricket match however, which was played between Canada and the United States, on the 24th and 25th of September 1844.

Test matches are a subset of first-class cricket. However, the step up in required skill from normal first-class cricket to Test cricket is considerable, with many players who excel in the first-class game proving unable to compete in Test cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams which have "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC)

Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are always observed. Club cricket is also now played in the United States and Canada, as both countries have large communities of immigrants from mainstream cricket-playing regions such as the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia.

Club cricket is usually played in league or cup format. Games are limited by either time or over’s. Limited overs games usually last between 20 and 60 overs per innings. A less common, but more traditional, format is limiting the game by time only. Games can range from a few hours in the evening to two days long.Matches are generally of one innings per side except in two day games (mainly played in Australia and New Zealand). Two day matches are played over both Saturday and Sunday, or, alternatively, over successive Saturdays (though this can sometimes have unfortunate effects on the game where the condition of the pitch and ground changes radically from one week to the next). These matches usually have two innings per side.

Cricket

2009-05-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

Cricket is a bat-and-ball team sport that originated in southern England. The earliest definite reference is dated 1598, and it is now played in more than 100 countries. There are several forms of cricket; at its highest level is Test cricket. Test cricket is followed in rank by One Day International cricket, the format of the Cricket World Cup. The last World Cup was televised in over 200 countries to a viewing audience estimated at more than two billion viewers.

A cricket match is contested by two teams, usually of eleven players each and is played on a grass field in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20 m) long called a pitch. A wicket, usually made of wood, is placed at each end of the pitch and used as a target.The bowler, a player from the fielding team, bowls a hard leather, fist-sized, 5.5-ounce (160 g) cricket ball from the vicinity of one wicket towards the other, which is guarded by the batsman, a player from the opposing team.
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Meanwhile, the other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field as fielders, players who retrieve the ball in an effort to stop the batsman scoring runs, and if possible to get him or her out. The batsman—if he or she does not get out—may run between the wickets, exchanging ends with a second batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been stationed at the other end of the pitch.

Each completed exchange of ends scores one run. Runs are also scored if the batsman hits the ball to the boundary of the playing area. The number of runs scored and the number of players out are the main factors that determine the eventual match result.There are several variations as to how long a game of cricket can last.

Games

2009-05-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

Bat-and-ball games, or safe haven games to avoid confusion with the club games like golf and hockey, are field games played by two teams. The teams alternate between "batting" and "fielding" roles, sometimes called in "at bat" and out "in the field" or simply in and out. Only the batting team may score, so the fielding team is defending, but they have equal chances in both roles. The game is counted rather than timed.

A player on the fielding team puts the ball in play with a delivery whose restriction depends on the game. A player on the batting team attempts to strike the delivered ball, commonly with a "bat", which is a club governed by the rules of the game. After striking the ball, the batter may become a runner trying to reach a "base" or safe haven.

While in contact with a base, the runner is safe from the fielding team and in a position to score runs. Leaving a safe haven places the runner in danger of being put out. The teams switch roles when the fielding team puts the batting team out, which varies by game. In modern baseball the fielders put three players out; in cricket they retire all players but one.

Some games permit multiple runners and some have multiple bases to run in sequence. Batting may occur, and running begin, at one of the bases. The movement between those "safe havens" is governed by the rules of the game.Globally cricket and baseball are the two most popular games in the family By the late nineteenth century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. Baseball on the professional, amateur, and youth levels is now popular in North America, parts of Central and South America and the Caribbean, and parts of East and Southeast Asia. The game is sometimes referred to as hardball in contrast to the derivative game of softball.

Street Racing

2009-05-23T05:55:00.000-07:00

Street racing is a form of unsanctioned and illegal auto racing which takes place on public roads. Street racing can either be spontaneous or well-planned and coordinated. Well coordinated races, in comparison, are planned in advance and often have people communicating via 2-way radio/citizens' band radio and using police scanners and GPS units to mark locations of local police hot spots. (See participants, below).

Street racing is reported to have originated prior to the 1930s due to alcohol prohibition in some parts of the United States. At the time smugglers of unrefined and illegal alcohol would try to find ways to make more power and achieve better handling from their engine and suspension.Street racing's heyday was the late 1940s and early 1950s, at just the time organized stock-car racing and drag racing were becoming commercial spectator sports. All across the country, every city and town had semi-formalized street-racing, with matches typically being arranged in the parking lot of a local drive-in restaurant, and the races themselves being run on a deserted road on the edge of town.

Typical was the medium-sized city of Pasadena, California, where the "staging area" was the Rite Spot drive-in on the western city limits, and the races themselves often took place on a road that gave access to the Rose Bowl but had virtually no traffic most of the time. One of the most successful Pasadena street racers was Peter Joseph Massett (1936-2002).While rules vary from country to country, most series require that the competitors start with a standard body shell, but virtually every other component is allowed to be heavily modified for racing, including engines, suspension, brakes, wheels and tires. Wings are usually added to the front and rear of the cars.

Regulations are usually designed to limit costs by banning some of the more exotic technologies available (for instance, many series insist on a "control tyre" that all competitors must use) and keep the racing close (sometimes by a "lead trophy" where winning a race requires the winner's car to be heavier for subsequent races).Whilst not nearly as fast as Formula One, the similarity of the cars both to each other and to fans' own vehicles makes for entertaining, well-supported racing. The lesser impact of aerodynamics also means that following cars have a much easier time of passing than F1, and the more substantial bodies of the cars makes the occasional nudging for overtaking much more acceptable as part of racing.

Adventurous Racing

2009-05-23T05:54:00.001-07:00

Ice racing is a form of motor racing. It utilizes cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, All-terrain vehicles, or other motorized vehicles. Ice racing takes place on frozen lakes or rivers, or on carefully groomed frozen lots. As cold weather is a requirement for natural ice, it is usually found at higher latitudes in Canada, the northern United States, and in northern Europe, although limited indoor events are held in warmer climates, typically on ice hockey rinks ( motorcycles and ATVs only ).

Tracks in North America vary widely, from 1/4 mile (~400 m) long ovals to several mile-long road course designs.Ice racing includes a motorcycle class which is the equivalent of Speedway on ice. Bikes race anti-clockwise around oval tracks between 260 m (0.16 mi) and 425 m (0.264 mi) in length. The race structure and scoring is similar to Speedway.

The bikes bear a passing resemblance to those used for speedway, but have a longer wheelbase and a more rigid frame. The sport is divided into classes for full-rubber and studded tires. The studded tire category involves competitors riding on bikes with spikes up to 30 millimetres (1.2 in) in length screwed into each tread-less tyre, each bike has 90 spikes on the front tyre and 200-500 on the rearIn motor sport, road racing is racing held on public roads, as opposed to at a race track or off-road racing. Different types of event exist, in both automobile racing and motorcycle racing.A small portion of these automobile race tracks are called temporary street courses.

Road racing can be of two types: in the first, car or motorcycle races are run on specially built, closed circuit courses; in the second, public roads are temporarily closed off for the purpose of conducting a race. Notable examples of this include the Monaco Grand Prix which is conducted on the city streets of the small principality, the Mille Milieu, the Teargas Florio, and the Isle of Man. The Tourist Trophy, probably the most famous motorcycle race of its type, takes place over the Snaefell Mountain Course, as well as the North West 200 in Ireland. Also the Ulster Grand Prix and at a dozen pure "closed road" circuits unique to Ireland.[(MCUI)]Of the former, closed circuit type, purpose-built race tracks are used that, due to their irregular shapes and many turns and curves, resemble true road courses.

Racing

2009-05-23T05:53:00.000-07:00

Auto racing (also known as automobile racing, motor racing or car racing) is a motor sport involving racing cars. It is one of the world's most watched television sports With auto construction and racing dominated by France, the French automobile club ACF staged a number of major international races, usually from or to Paris, connecting with another major city in Europe or France.

These very successful races ended in 1903 when Marcel Renault was involved in a fatal accident near Angouleme in the Paris-Madrid race. Nine fatalities caused the French Single-seater (open-wheel) racing is one of the most popular forms of motorsport, with cars designed specifically for high-speed racing. The wheels are not covered, and the cars often have aerofoil wings front and rear to produce down force and enhance adhesion to the track. In Europe and Asia, open wheeled racing is commonly referred to as "Formula", with appropriate hierarchical suffixes. In North America.

The sport is usually arranged to follow an "international" format (such as F1), a "regional" format (such as the Formula 3 Euro Series), or a "domestic", or county-specific format (such as the German Formula 3 championship, or the British Formula Ford). the "Formula" terminology is not followed (with the exception of F1).Board track, or motordrome, racing was a type of Motors port, popular in the United States between the second and third decades of the 20th century, where competition was conducted on oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks. Although the tracks most often used motorcycles, many different types of racing automobiles also competed, enough so as to see the majority .

By the early 1930s, board track racing had fallen out of favor, and into eventual obsolescence, due to both its perceived dangers and the high cost of maintenance of the wooden racing surfaces. However, several of its most notable aspects have continued to influence American motorsports philosophy to the present day, including: A technical emphasis on raw speed produced by the steep inclinations; ample track width to allow steady overtaking between competitors; and the development of extensive grandstands surrounding many of the courses.The banking in the corners of board tracks started at 25° in 1911, like bicycles tracks were.

The banking was increased until 60° was common. The effect of the banking was higher cornering speed and higher G-force on drivers. Fans sat on the top of the track looking down at the racers. 1920s American national championship races contested at such venues.

Sports

2009-05-23T05:48:00.002-07:00

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports (a common name for some card games and board games with little to no element of chance) and motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors.

Sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. Some view sports as differing from games based on the fact that there are usually higher levels of organization and profit (not always monetary) involved in sports. Accurate records are kept and updated for most sports at the highest levels, while failures and accomplishments are widely announced in sport news.

The term sports is sometimes extended to encompass all competitive activities in which offense and defense are played, regardless of the level of physical activity. Both games of skill and motor sport exhibit many of the characteristics of physical sports, such as skill, sportsmanship, and at the highest levels, even professional sponsorship associated with physical sports.

Sports that are subjectively judged are distinct from other judged activities such as beauty pageants and bodybuilding shows, because in the former the activity performed is the primary focus of evaluation, rather than the physical attributes of the contestant as in the latter (although "presentation" or "presence" may also be judged in both activities).

The pain and success come tighter in sports , on the given day the spirited effect will give good result that is great encouraging point in Sports. Sports will relive our tension atmost it will give pleasure for mind and will allow to do the things in proper and spirited way.

Home Schooling

2009-05-23T05:48:00.001-07:00

Homeschooling[ or homeschool (also called home education or home learning) is the education of children at home, typically by parents or professional tutors, rather than in a public or private school. Although prior to the introduction of compulsory school attendance laws, most childhood education occurred within the family or community, homeschooling in the modern sense is an alternative in developed countries to formal education.

In many places homeschooling is a legal option for parents who wish to provide their children with a different learning environment than exists in nearby schools. The motivations for homeschooling range from a dissatisfaction with the schools in their area to the desire for better academic test results. It is also an alternative for families living in isolated rural locations and those who choose, for practical or personal reasons, not to have their children attend school.

Homeschooling may also refer to instruction in the home under the supervision of correspondence schools or umbrella schools. In some places, an approved curriculum is legally required if children are to be home-schooled. A curriculum-free philosophy of homeschooling may be called unschooling, a term coined in 1977 by American educator John Holt in his magazine Growing Without Schooling.

Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, although the laws and regulations vary widely from state to state. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association has a guide to the laws in all 50 states. Homeschooling is an alternative to public or private schooling for a growing number of families. Some families keep their children home because they weren’t getting what they needed at school. Some school them at home because of their religious beliefs. Others think they can give their children a better education.

Schools

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Public schools are paid for by, well, the public, through local and state taxes. By law, public schools must educate all children, including students with special needs. To enroll in a public school you simply register your child by filling out the necessary paperwork. Most public schools offer a general program, which usually includes math, English, reading, writing, science, history and physical education. Most good public schools offer programs in music and art. The curriculum should be based on state standards and will be measured through standardized tests. Public Schools are funded from tuition, fundraising, and private grants. If you send your child to a private school, you can expect to pay tuition ranging anywhere from $2,000 to over $10,000 per year.

Some schools and outside groups offer scholarships to families with economic challenges. Private schools are selective, meaning they don’t have to accept your child. In many private schools admission is very competitive. Public-school education is the most common form of education. The United States and is provided mainly by local governments, with control and funding coming from three levels: federal, state, and local. Curricula, funding, teaching, and other policies are set through locally elected school boards by jurisdiction over school districts.

The school districts are special-purpose districts authorized by provisions of state law Charter schools are public schools that operate independently from a district. They often offer a more specialized or experimental program. They are still free and the school may not turn away applicants. If the school receives more applicants than it has room for, most use a system like a lottery to decide whom to admit, and whom to put on a waiting list. Charter schools are elementary or secondary schools in the United States that receive public money but have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter.

While charter schools provide an alternative to other public schools, they are part of the public education system and are not allowed to charge tuition. Where space at a charter school is limited, admission is frequently allocated by lottery based admissions. Some charter schools provide a curriculum that specializes in a certain field-- e.g. arts, mathematics, etc. Others simply seek to provide a better and more efficient general education than nearby public schools.

Secondary & Higher Education

2009-05-23T05:46:00.001-07:00

Higher education refers to a level of education that is provided by universities, vocational universities, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, institutes of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as vocational schools, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic degrees or professional certifications.Since 1950, Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education. At the world level, the United Nations' International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, guarantees this right under its Article 13, which states that "higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education".

In most developed countries, a high proportion of the population (up to 50%), now enter higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.There can be disagreement about what precisely constitutes post-secondary or tertiary education: "It is not always clear, though, what tertiary education includes. Is it only that which results in a formal qualification or might it include leisure classes? In the UK, are A-levels tertiary education as they are post-compulsory, but taught in school settings, as well as colleges Is professional updating or on-the-job training part of tertiary education, even if it does not follow successful completion of secondary education.

Secondary education is the stage of education following primary school. Secondary education is generally the final stage of compulsory education. The next stage of education is usually college or university. Secondary education is characterized by transition from the typically compulsory, comprehensive primary education for minors to the optional, selective tertiary, "post-secondary", or "higher" education (e.g., university, vocational school) for adults. Depending on the system, schools for this period or a part of it may be called secondary schools, high schools, gymnasia, lyceums, middle schools, colleges, vocational schools and preparatory schools, and the exact meaning of any of these varies between the systems.

The exact boundary between primary and secondary education varies from country to country and even within them, but is generally around the fifth to the tenth year of education. Secondary education occurs mainly during the teenage years. In the United States and Canada primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as K-12 education. In Australia it is known as P-12 education

Education

2009-05-23T05:45:00.001-07:00

Education is the learning of knowledge, information and skills during the course of life. Teachers may draw on many subjects, including reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. Teachers in specialized professions such as astrophysics, law, or zoology may teach only a certain subject,usually as professors at institutions of higher learning. There is much specialist instruction in fields for those who want specific skills, such as required to be a pilot, for example. Finally, there is an array of educational opportunity at the informal level- such as with museums, libraries and the Internet. Informal education also includes knowledge and skills learned during the course of life, including education that comes from experience

The right to education has been described as a basic human right: since 1952, Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education. At world level, the United Nations' International Covenant on Economic.As academic education is more and more the norm and standard, companies and individuals are looking less at normal education as to what is deemed a good solid educated person/worker. Most well-educated and successful entrepreneurs have high communication skills with humanistic and warm "emotional intelligence".

Primary (or elementary) education consists of the first years of formal, structured education. In general, primary education consists of six or seven years of schooling starting at the age of 5 or 6, although this varies between, and sometimes within, countries. Globally, around 70% of primary-age children are enrolled in primary education, and this proportion is rising. Under the Education for All programs driven by UNESCO, most countries have committed to achieving universal enrollment in primary education by 2015, and in many countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education.

The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age. Some education systems have separate middle schools, with the transition to the final stage of secondary education taking place at around the age of fourteen. Primary education is the first stage of compulsory education. It is preceded by pre-school or nursery education and is followed by secondary education. In North America this stage of education is usually known as elementary education.In most countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education, though in many jurisdictions it is permissible for parents to provide it.

Database Marketing

2009-05-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

Database marketing is a form of direct marketing using databases of customers or potential customers to generate personalized communications in order to promote a product or service for marketing purposes. The method of communication can be any addressable medium, as in direct marketing.The distinction between direct and database marketing stems primarily from the attention paid to the analysis of data. Database marketing emphasizes the use of statistical techniques to develop models of customer behavior, which are then used to select customers for communications. As a consequence, database marketers also tend to be heavy users of data warehouses, because having a greater amount of data about customers increases the likelihood that a more accurate model can be built.

The "database" is usually name, address, and transaction history details from internal sales or delivery systems, or a bought-in compiled "list" from another organization, which has captured that information from its customers. Typical sources of compiled lists are charity donation forms, application forms for any free product or contest, product warranty cards, subscription forms, and credit application forms.The communications generated by database marketing may be described as junk mail or spam, if it is unwanted by the addressee. Direct and database marketing organizations, on the other hand, argue that a targeted letter or e-mail to a customer, who wants to be contacted about offerings that may interest the customer, benefits both the customer and the marketer.

Some countries and some organizations insist that individuals are able to prevent entry to or delete their name and address details from database marketing lists.Although organizations of any size can employ database marketing, it is particularly well-suited to companies with large numbers of customers. This is because a large population provides greater opportunity to find segments of customers or prospects that can be communicated with in a customized manner. In smaller (and more homogeneous) databases, it will be difficult to justify on economic terms the investment required to differentiate messages. As a result, database marketing has flourished in sectors, such as financial services, telecommunications, and retail, all of which have the ability to generate significant amounts transaction data for millions of customers.

Database marketing applications can be divided logically between those marketing programs that reach existing customers and those that are aimed at prospective customers.In general, database marketers seek to have as much data available about customers and prospects as possible.For marketing to existing customers, more sophisticated marketers often build elaborate databases of customer information. These may include a variety of data, including name and address, history of shopping and purchases, demographics, and the history of past communications to and from customers. For larger companies with millions of customers, such data warehouses can often be multiple terabytes in size.

Direct marketing

2009-05-23T05:43:00.000-07:00

Direct marketing is a sub-discipline and type of marketing. There are two main definitional characteristics which distinguish it from other types of marketing. The first is that it attempts to send its messages directly to consumers, without the use of intervening media. This involves commercial communication (direct mail, e-mail, telemarketing) with consumers or businesses, usually unsolicited. The second characteristic is that it is focused on driving purchases that can be attributed to a specific "call-to-action." This aspect of direct marketing involves an emphasis on trackable, measurable positive (but not negative) responses from consumers (known simply as "response" in the industry) regardless of medium.

If the advertisement asks the prospect to take a specific action, for instance call a free phone number or visit a website, then the effort is considered to be direct response advertising.The term direct marketing is believed to have been first used in 1961 in a speech by Lester Wunderman, who pioneered direct marketing techniques with brands such as American Express and Columbia Records.[citation needed] The term junk mail, referring to unsolicited commercial ads delivered via post office or directly deposited in consumers' mail boxes, can be traced back to 1954.[1] The term spam, meaning "unsolicited commercial email", can be traced back to March 31, 1993,[2] although in its first few months it merely referred to inadvertently posting a message so many times on UseNet that the repetitions effectively drowned out the normal flow of conversation.

Although Wunderman may have been the first to use the term direct marketing, the practice of mail order selling (direct marketing via mail) essentially began in the U.S. upon invention of the typewriter in 1867.The first modern mail-order catalog was produced by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872.[citation needed] The Direct Mail Advertising Association, predecessor of the present-day Direct Marketing Association, was first established in 1917.[citation needed] Third class bulk mail postage rates were established in 1928.Direct marketing's history in Europe can be traced to the 15th century. Upon Gutenberg's invention of movable type, the first trade catalogs from printer-publishers appeared sometime around 1450.[citation needed].

Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers, because in many cases its positive effect (but not negative results) can be measured directly. For example, if a marketer sends out one million solicitations by mail, and ten thousand customers can be tracked as having responded to the promotion, the marketer can say with some confidence that the campaign led directly to the responses. The number of recipients who are offended by the junk mail/spam, however, is not easily measured. By contrast, measurement of other media must often be indirect, since there is no direct response from a consumer. Measurement of results, a fundamental element in successful direct marketing, is explored in greater detail elsewhere in this article. Yet since the start of the Internet-age the challenges of Chief Marketing Executives (CMOs) are tracking direct marketing responses and measuring results.

Executive director

2009-05-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

An executive director is the senior manager or executive officer of an organization, company, or corporation. The position is comparable to a chief executive officer (CEO) or managing director. An executive director is usually remunerated for his or her work.Senior employees of North American non-profit organizations are usually called the Executive Director instead of Chief Executive Officer, in order to avoid the business connotations which the latter name evokes. Small groups and membership organizations may use the term executive secretary.

It also distinguishes them from other members of the board of directors (who are not remunerated for their roles) and from non-executive directors, who are not actively involved in running the corporation. Charities in England and Wales tend to call the senior employee director, as the governing body is usually a board of trustees.The role of the executive director is to design, develop and implement strategic plans for their organization in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner. The executive director is also responsible for the day-to-day operation of the organization, including managing committees and staff and developing business plans in collaboration with the board for the future of the organization.

In essence, the board grants the executive director the authority to run the organization. The executive director is accountable to the president of the board and reports to the board on a regular basis - quarterly, semiannually, or annually. The board may offer suggestions and ideas about how to improve the organization, but the executive director decides whether or not, and how, to implement these ideas.The executive director is a leadership role for an organization and often fulfills a motivational role in addition to office-based work.

Executive directors motivate and mentor members, volunteers, and staff, and may chair meetings. The executive director leads the organization and develops its organizational culture.As the title suggests, the executive director needs to be informed of everything that goes on in the organization. This includes staff, membership, budget, company assets, and all other company resources, to help make the best use of them and raise the organization's profitability and profile.

Managing director

2009-05-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

Managing director is the term used for the chief executive of many limited companies in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and some other English speaking countries. The title reflects his or her role as both a member of the Board of Directors but also as the senior manager.In larger organisations, including investment banks and other financial institutions, "managing director" does not refer to the chief executive but can rather refer to the head of a major business unit.The term Chief Executive (or in other countries Chief Executive Officer or just "CEO") is in general usage in the United Kingdom for the senior executive of public limited companies, charities and Executive Agencies. At subsidiary companies usage is more variable, with managing director often preferred.

The role of a Managing Director (MD) is to design, develop and implement the strategic plan for his or her company in the most cost effective and time efficient manner.The Managing director is responsible for both the day-to-day running of the company and developing business plans for the long term future of the organisation. The Managing director is accountable to the board and the shareholders of the company. It is the board that grants the Managing Director the authority to "run" the company.In addition to the Managing Director, most companies have a Board of Directors.

This board usually consists of such posts as: Finance Director, Sales Director, IT Director, Marketing Director, Technical Director and Chairman. In addition to these posts there may be a number of other directors including non-executive directors.The Managing Director is a leadership role for an organisation and he fulfills a motivational role for his workers in addition to his more office-based work. MDs motivate and mentor members of the management team and chair meetings. The MD leads the company and develops the corporate culture for the organisation.As the title suggests, the Managing director needs to manage everything. This includes the staff, the customers, the budget, the company's assets and all other company resources to make the best use of them and increase the company's profitability.

The MD or Senior MD reports to the Board of Directors on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual or every decade basis to keep them informed of how the company is doing. The board will offer suggestions and ideas about how to improve the company to the Managing Director. It is the MD's responsibility to implement, improve upon or ignore these ideas.The MD is legally responsible for the company's affairs, so he must comply with the appropriate rules and regulations set out in corporate law. These include following the proper audit procedure and not allowing the company to break any trade embargoes or deal in any illegal goods. In the United States, the term refers to a person in charge of a specific aspect of a business. This can be an officer or Director of the corporation in which the individual is employed In some businesses, a General Manager (GM) can share many of the same roles as an MD, but is not a Director, and a GM is not a member of the Board of Directors.

Banking

2009-05-22T23:43:00.002-07:00

A bank is a government-licensed financial institution[citation needed] whose primary activity is to lend in order to increase economic growth. Many other financial activities were added over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds. In some countries such as Germany, banks are the primary owners of industrial corporations while in other countries such as the United States banks are prohibited from owning non-financial companies. In Japan, banks are usually the nexus of a cross-share holding entity known as the zaibatsu. In France, bancassurance is prevalent, as most banks offer insurance services (and now real estate services) to their clients.

The level of government regulation of the banking industry varies widely, with counties such as Iceland, the United Kingdom and the United States having relatively light regulation of the banking sector, and countries such as China having relatively heavier regulation (including stricter regulations regarding the level of reserves).Banks have influenced economies and politics for centuries. Historically, the primary purpose of a bank was to provide loans to trading companies. Banks provided funds to allow businesses to purchase inventory, and collected those funds back with interest when the goods were sold. For centuries, the banking industry only dealt with businesses, not consumers.

Banking services have expanded to include services directed at individuals, and risk in these much smaller transactions are pooled.Banks act as payment agents by conducting checking or current accounts for customers, paying cheques drawn by customers on the bank, and collecting cheques deposited to customers' current accounts. Banks also enable customer payments via other payment methods such as telegraphic transfer, EFTPOS, and ATM.Banks borrow money by accepting funds deposited on current accounts, by accepting term deposits, and by issuing debt securities such as banknotes and bonds. Banks lend money by making advances to customers on current accounts, by making installment loans, and by investing in marketable debt securities and other forms of money lending.Banks provide almost all payment services, and a bank account is considered indispensable by most businesses, individuals and governments.

Non-banks that provide payment services such as remittance companies are not normally considered an adequate substitute for having a bank account.Banks borrow most funds from households and non-financial businesses, and lend most funds to households and non-financial businesses, but non-bank lenders provide a significant and in many cases adequate substitute for bank loans, and money market funds, cash management trusts and other non-bank financial institutions in many cases provide an adequate substitute to banks for lending savings.

Trade marketing

2009-05-22T23:43:00.001-07:00

Trade marketing is a discipline of marketing that relates to increasing the demand at wholesaler, retailer, or distributor level rather than at the consumer level. However, you need to continue with your Brand Management strategies to sustain the need at the consumer end. A consumer is the one who identifies and purchases a product from a retailer. To ensure that a retailer promotes your product against competitors', you must market your product to the retailers, also. Trade marketing might also include offering various tangible/intangible benefits to retailers. The alignment of sales and marketing discipline to profitability. It is used to satisfy the needs and wants of the consumers.

With the shift of consumer shopping behavior, 70 percent of shopping decisions are now made at the trade or what marketing practitioners refer to as "point-of-purchase". This new trend leads to the greater importance of merchandising and shopper promotions than consumer directed programs. Below the line promotions have become the focus of most consumer goods companies in order to drive higher sales. As retailer giants continually expand throughout every opportune territory, the role of merchandising in generating growth becomes more prioritized.

Distributor/Dealers are channel trade partners who act as a medium to ensure stock delivery/availability for the consumer across the geographies. The role of these entities is absolutely critical as they help in ensuring that the product is widely distributed and available for the end consumer. The key benefit of these entities is in ensuring that the distribution costs are lower for the manufacturer and simultatenously the products are available for the end consumer. The distributor and dealers operate on a base trade margin (factored in the cost of the product by the manufacturer). Along with the base margin the trade partners also get additional schemes/incentives which keep on varying from time to time and product to product.The dealer could be a Retailer (selling to end consumer directly), wholesaler (selling to other retailers primarily) or an Modern Retailer (i.e. Self service stores like the Walmart, Careffour, Tesco etc which are into both the consumer retailing and wholesaling).

Sales outlet means a retailer. A retailer is also one of customers in trade marketing targets. Plans of trade marketing is targeting customers and shoppers. Therefore, trade marketing should provide sales outlets with customer & shopper-based value creation plans. Sales outlets (customers) are a place that manufacturer can meet shoppers and consumers.hej
Basic method of trade marketing is focusing on sales fundamentals, such as Distribution, Display, Promotion and Price. With data and knowledge of sales fundamentals, trade marketing develops market strategy aligned with brand strategy. In order to deliver sales volume and value, trade marketing support sales forces with well-designed fundamental enhancement plans.

Technical marketing

2009-05-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

The term technical marketing originated at the beginning of the explosion of the commercial Internet. Technical Marketing bridges the gap between engineering and sales. In a sentence it can be condensed to, “the art of bringing together significant research on a product and presenting the 'Delta' features in a dramatic way".As the computer industry continued to mature toward the turn of the millennium, there continued to exist a gap between engineering and sales.

Engineers were highly talented at building brilliant and powerful computer systems, and sales were equally proficient at relationship management and generating revenue. System’s Engineers oftentimes filled that gap but they’re focus was on revenue and not marketing. There was an increasing need for marketing talent to bridge the gap between sales and engineering, to take the products engineers had built and articulate them in a meaningful way so that sales people and systems engineers could convert them into sales revenue. More and more companies in the Silicon Valley began to hire “Technical Marketing Engineers” to bridge the gap between sales and engineering, and to increase sales revenue.

Technical Marketing has become a key role in bringing products to market and a key component in competitive strategy in maximizing industry leadership and revenue.Many companies today have a customer focus (or market orientation). This implies that the company focuses its activities and products on consumer demands. Generally there are three ways of doing this: the customer-driven approach, the sense of identifying market changes and the product innovation approach.

In the consumer-driven approach, consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. No strategy is pursued until it passes the test of consumer research. Every aspect of a market offering, including the nature of the product itself, is driven by the needs of potential consumers. The starting point is always the consumer. The rationale for this approach is that there is no point spending R&D funds developing products that people will not buy. History attests to many products that were commercial failures in spite of being technological breakthroughs.
A formal approach to this customer-focused marketing is known as SIVA (Solution, Information, Value, Access). This system is basically the four Ps renamed and reworded to provide a customer focus.

Call centre

2009-05-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, clientele, product services, and debt collection are also made. In addition to a call centre, collective handling of letters, faxes, live chat, and e-mails at one location is known as a contact centre.

A call centre is often operated through an extensive open workspace for call centre agents, with work stations that include a computer for each agent, a telephone set/headset connected to a telecom switch, and one or more supervisor stations. It can be independently operated or networked with additional centres, often linked to a corporate computer network, including mainframes, microcomputers and LANs. Increasingly, the voice and data pathways into the centre are linked through a set of new technologies called computer telephony integration (CTI).Most major businesses use call centres to interact with their customers.

Examples include utility companies, mail order catalogue retailers, and customer support for computer hardware and software. Some businesses even service internal functions through call centres. Examples of this include help desks, retail financial support, and sales support. Call centre technology is subject to improvements and innovations. Some of these technologies include speech recognition and speech synthesis software to allow computers to handle first level of customer support, text mining and natural language processing to allow better customer handling, agent training by automatic mining of best practices from past interactions, and many other technologies to improve agent productivity and customer satisfaction.

Automatic lead selection or lead stearing is also intended to improve efficiencies, both for inbound and outbound campaigns, whereby inbound calls are intended to quickly land with the appropriate agent to handle the task, whilst minimising wait times and long lists of irrelevant options for people calling in, as well as for outbound calls, where lead selection allows management to designate what type of leads go to which agent based on factors including skill, socio-economic factors and past performance and percentage likelihood of closing a sale per lead. The concept of the Universal Queue standardises the processing of communications across multiple technologies such as fax, phone, and email.

Telemarketing

2009-05-22T23:39:00.002-07:00

Telemarketing (known as telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits to prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call.Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches programmed to be played over the phone via automatic dialing. Telemarketing has come under fire in recent years, being viewed as an annoyance by many.

Some people believe that in the 1950s, DialAmerica Marketing, Inc became the first company completely dedicated to inbound and outbound telephone sales and services. The company, spun-off and sold by Time, Inc. magazine in 1976, became the largest provider of telephone sales and services to magazine publishing companies. The term telemarketing was first used extensively in the late 1970s to describe Bell System communications which related to new uses for the outbound WATS and inbound Toll-free services.

telemarketing may be done from a company office, from a call centre, or from home. It may involve either a live operator or a recorded message, in which case it is known as "automated telemarketing" using voice broadcasting. "Robocalling" is a form of voice broadcasting which is most frequently associated with political messages.An effective telemarketing process often involves two or more calls. The first call (or series of calls) determines the customer’s needs. The final call (or series of calls) motivates the customer to make a purchase.

Prospective customers are identified by various means, including past purchase history, previous requests for information, credit limit, competition entry forms, and application forms. Names may also be purchased from another company's consumer database or obtained from a telephone directory or another public list. The qualification process is intended to determine which customers are most likely to purchase the product or service.

Charitable organizations, alumni associations, and political parties often use telemarketing to solicit donations. Marketing research companies use telemarketing techniques to survey the prospective or past customers of a client’s business in order to assess market acceptance of or satisfaction with a particular product, service, brand, or company. Public opinion polls are conducted in a similar manner.Telemarketing techniques are also applied to other forms of electronic marketing using e-mail or fax messages, in which case they are frequently considered spam by other people.

Medical transcriptionist

2009-05-22T23:39:00.001-07:00

An individual who performs medical transcription is known as a medical transcriptionist or an MT. The equipment the MT uses is called a medical transcriber. The individual who performs medical transcription should always be called a "medical transcriptionist." A medical transcriptionist is the person responsible for converting the patient's medical records into typewritten format rather than handwritten, the latter more prone to misinterpretation by other healthcare providers. The term transcriber describes the electronic equipment used in performing medical transcription, e.g., a cassette player with foot controls operated by the MT for report playback and transcription. In the late 1990s, medical transcriptionists were also given the title of Medical Language Specialist or Health Information Management (HIM) paraprofessional.

There are no "formal" educational requirements to be a medical transcriptionist. Education and training can be obtained through traditional schooling, certificate or diploma programs, distance learning, and/or on-the-job training offered in some hospitals, although there are foreign countries currently employing transcriptionists that require 18 months to 2 years of specialized MT training. Working in medical transcription leads to a mastery in medical terminology and editing, MT ability to listen and type simultaneously, utilization of playback controls on the transcriber (machine), and use of foot pedal to play and adjust dictations - all while maintaining a steady rhythm of execution.

While medical transcription does not mandate registration or certification, individual MTs may seek out registration/certification for personal or professional reasons. Obtaining a certificate from a medical transcription training program does not entitle an MT to use the title of Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT). The CMT credential is earned by passing a certification examination conducted solely by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), formerly the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT), as the credentialing designation they created. AHDI also offers the credential of Registered Medical Transcriptionist (RMT). According to AHDI, the RMT is an entry-level credential while the CMT is an advanced level. AHDI maintains a list of approved medical transcription schools.

There is a great degree of internal debate about which training program best prepares a MT for industry work. Yet, whether one has learned medical transcription from an online course, community college, high school night course, or on-the-job training in a doctor's office or hospital, a knowledgeable MT is highly valued.In lieu of these AHDI certification credentials, MTs who can consistently and accurately transcribe multiple document work-types and return reports within a reasonable turnaround-time (TAT) are sought after. TATs set by the service provider or agreed to by the transcriptionist should be reasonable but consistent with the need to return the document to the patient's record in a timely manner.

Management assistant

2009-05-22T23:38:00.001-07:00

An executive secretary is a management assistant but a management assistant is not an executive secretary. The role of management assistant (or assistant in short) combines several functions and is found in every corporate and authority sector. The task package is adapted to the circumstances: sector, size, company, management style, etc., and is, therefore, not standardised.A possible competence profile for the role has been defined by the Sociaal-Economische Raad van Vlaanderen (Belgium) for management assistants, as follows:

“The management assistant is attached to one or several people for whom he/she fulfils a package of tasks dependent on a specific situation. He/she works for this hierarchical group in the preparation and support of their activities. Administratively and organisationally, the manager depends on the assistant: he/she deals with the organisation of activities, manages information and correspondence and with the time and priority management of the manager. The management assistant has insight to the core activities and strategies of the organisation and handles confidential information discreetly.”

The description says a lot about the role but far from everything. Commitment, flexibility and language ability are qualities that are highly appreciated. The management assistant is the right hand of a manager, supports a group of managers or a whole department. One assistant can form a team with other assistants, if not temporarily lead or co-ordinate projects. The possibilities are as diverse as the life of the company itself. Initiative and responsibility are facets of the job from which management assistants often get the greatest pleasure.

That also indicates the evolution from classic secretary to co-manager that the role has undergone.In Belgium, most management assistants have a bachelor's degree. The level of bachelor in office management is ideal for management assistants. The choice of studies would also suit students of courses such as economics-modern languages, commercial languages, secretarial languages or office administration. Other possible studies are those of bachelor of secretarial languages, bachelor in commercial communication or communication management.

Personal assistant

2009-05-22T23:37:00.001-07:00

Personal Assistants are now key players in all major businesses globally. The role of a business PA has developed enormously over recent years expanded and in most cases individual PAs are now seen to have managerial or executive status. With this seniority comes responsibility and PA are increasingly operating in direct support of their boss in the operation of his/her duties. The primary duty remains the management of their bosses' time; scheduling it, diary management and co-ordination of all demands to achieve the maximum effectiveness of the person's day. Routine duties remain but senior PAs often have a junior to screen incoming calls, check emails, review documentation, send mail, do basic research, scheduling reservations, booking travel and meetings.

Whereas previously it was thought that a PA was a fashionable term for what used to be a secretary, a modern PA does much more. More senior PAs are sometimes called Executive Assistants and with a move to home working there has been a recent growth in the use of Virtual Assistants (VAs)- these people often work for several executives in one company or on a consultancy basis for various business leaders.A Senior PA, sometimes referred to as an Executive Assistant may from time to time act as proxy for the executive, representing him/her in meetings or communications.

Business PA job duties can range from important tasks such as attending management meetings, briefing juniors, giving executive opinions, contract negotiations, project management, staff management and training and HR issues to include lesser but equally essential daily tasks such as shopping and collecting personal items such as dry cleaning. The latter reflects a regular confusion shared by the media about the role of a PA. When challenged on a TV breakfast show and asked if his PA collected his laundry Gareth Osborne, the Director General of the Association of Personal Assistants (APA), said "Yes but I also collect hers, it depends who is doing the more important task at the time!"A PA is their employer's "go to" person. The job has a wide range of requirements and can often be extremely demanding as employers normally expect their assistants to be there whenever they need them. An older term for a PA was a "Girl Friday" or a "Man Friday".

To do their jobs well, all personal assistants must apply excellent organizational skills, tact, diplomacy, effective communication skills, maintain confidentiality in sensitive matters, and display excellent judgement. These are the same "soft" skills required for many other professional roles, such as middle management, public relations, and high-level administrative assistance. The best personal assistants have the ability to anticipate their employer's needs and take care of them before they are asked to do so.In a survey of the Managing Directors of the Top 5,000 businesses in the UK, they concluded that having a PA made them more than 32% more effective

Clerk

2009-05-22T23:32:00.002-07:00

Clerk, the vocational title, commonly refers to a white-collar worker who conducts general office or, in some instances, sales tasks. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service counters and other administrative tasks.[1] In American English, this includes shop staff, but in British English, such people are known as shop assistants and are not considered to be clerks. The word clerk, derived from the Latin clericus meaning 'cleric', i.e. clergyman (Latin was the foremost language used at most early medieval courts, writing mainly entrusted to clergy as most laymen couldn't read), can denote someone who works in an office and whose duties include record-keeping or correspondence.

The word entered English from Scots Gaelic clèireach also derived from Latin clericus, which in turn derived from Greek κληρικός (klerikos) "of the clergy"In a medieval context, the word meant "Scholar" and still related to the word "cleric". Even today, the term Clerk regular designates a type of regular clerics. The cognate terms in some languages, e.g. Klerk in Dutch, became restricted to a specific, fairly low rank in the administrative hierarchy.Due to the majority of clerical positions being held by women, the sector is largely un-unionized. With the decline of the industrial sector and the rise of white-collar jobs, the labor movement needed to tap into this large pool of potential members in order to sustain the movement.

Much debate exists as to what strategies to adopt when organizing female clerical workers. Some claim that focusing on gender sensitive issues would be the most effective route, since women tend to shy away from the male-dominated unions.[12] Others argue that women are just as militant as men when it comes to getting grievances heard, such as the willingness of female employees of a Wisconsin insurance company to fight against management’s discriminatory practices. [13] Still others contend that the problem does not lie with the tactics used to “sell” the union to the workers, but in developing “leadership from among the workers and train[ing] them to organize their fellow worker.

Clerical workers are perhaps the largest occupational group in the United States. In 2004 there were 3.1 million general office clerks, 1.5 million office administrative supervisors and 4.1 million secretariesClerical occupations often do not require a college degree, though some college education or 1 to 2 years in vocational programs are common qualifications. Familiarity with office equipment and certain software programs is also often required. Employers may provide clerical training. The median salary for clerks is $23,000, while the national median income for workers age 25 or older is $33,000. Median salaries ranged from $22,770 for general office clerks to $34,970 for secretaries and $41,030 for administrative supervisors. Clerical workers are considered working class by American sociologists such as William Thompson, Joseph Hickey or James Henslin as they perform highly routinized tasks with relatively little autonomy. Sociologist Dennis Gilbert, argues that the white and blue collar divide has shifted to a divide between professionals, including some semi-professionals, and routinized white collar workers White collar office supervisors may be considered lower middle class with some secretaries being located in that part of the socio-economic strata where the working and middle classes overlap.

Executive assistant

2009-05-22T23:32:00.001-07:00

An executive assistant differs slightly from administrative assistant in the connotation of supporting an officer of a company, either public or private, who carries the authority to make crucial decisions affecting the direction of said organization, and is therefore a sought-after resource in decision-making and policy setting. The executive assistant performs the usual roles of managing correspondence, preparing research, and communication while also acting as the "gatekeeper," understanding in varying degree the requirements of the executive, and with an ability through this understanding to decide which scheduled events or meetings are most appropriate for allocation of the executive's time.

Executive Assistants may be referred to by the more generic title of a Personal Assistant; for example PA to the Managing Director or equally EA to the Managing Director.An executive assistant may from time to time act as proxy for the executive, representing him/her in meetings or communications.An executive assistant differs from an administrative assistant or secretary also in that he or she is expected to possess a higher degree of business acumen, as well as the capacity to influence others on behalf of the executive.

A certain amount of project management is commonly required of an executive assistant, as well as the ability to accept the delegation of less consequential executive tasks.Some executive assistants and administrative assistants may work together as a team. The role of the administrative assistant varies widely between and even within organizations. In some cases, the executive assistant delegates work to the administrative assistant based on competence, experience, knowledge of the context, confidentiality, priority, urgency and availability. Some administrative assistants tend to focus on mundane tasks planning travel, meetings and expediting routine emails.

Others act as project leaders or office managers and undertake complex tasks. Both positions can be a dead end or a stepping stone to a gratifying management career. Think of leading companies such as Carly Fiorina (Lucent, Hewlett-Packard), Colleen Barrett (Southwest Airlines) and Robin Eisenbrei (Morrison Metalweld).There are a number of organisations representing the needs of EAs and PAs globally. In the UK one is the Association of Personal Assistants (APA) - a not-for-profit organisation representing the professional needs of PAs - www.paprofessional.com. and www.WeRunTheCompany.com.

Secretary

2009-05-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

A secretary is either an administrative assistant in business office administration, or a certain type of mid- or high-level governmental position, such as a Secretary of State.The executive secretary (sometimes called administrative assistant or associate) has a myriad of administrative duties. Traditionally, these duties were mostly related to correspondence, such as the typing out of letters. The advent of word processing has significantly reduced the time that such duties require, with the result that many new tasks have come under the purview of the secretary. These might include managing budgets and doing bookkeeping, maintaining websites, and making travel arrangements.

Secretaries might manage all the administrative details of running a high level conference or arrange the catering for a typical lunch meeting. Often executives will ask their assistant to take meeting minutes and prepare meeting documents for review. To record spoken information effectively a secretary has to learn a speedwriting or shorthand skill. Methods such as EasyScript Speed Writing and Alphabetic Shorthand are based on mastering a small set of abbreviating rules rather than memorizing individual abbreviations for each word offer a shorter learning curve.

They may also do personnel paperwork which used to be thought of as a Human Relations function; this might also include understanding the complex rules regarding Visa and Immigration.To be successful today the executive assistant must have a broad level of skills and be creative in managing new situations. As such a 4 year degree (Bachelors of Arts) is often preferred and a 2 year degree is usually a requirement.The governmental title usually refers to a department-head type of position, though positions such as that of the United Nations Secretary-General may also describe the leader of an organization.

Since the Renaissance until the late 19th century, men involved in the daily correspondence and the activities of the mighty had assumed the title of secretary (or in other cases, "clerk").With time, like many titles, the term was applied to more and varied functions, leading to compound titles to specify various secretarial work better, like general secretary, financial secretary or Secretary of state. Just "secretary" remained in use either as an abbreviation when clear in the context or for relatively modest positions such as administrative assistant of the officer(s) in charge, either individually or as member of a secretariat. As such less influential posts became more feminine and common with the multiplication of bureaucracies in the public and private sectors, new words were also coined to describe them, such as personal assistant.

Technician

2009-05-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

A technician is generally someone in a technological field who has a relatively practical understanding of the general theoretical principles of that field, e.g., as compared to an engineer in that field. They are generally much more versed in technique compared to the average layman, or even the professional in that field. A mid-level of understanding of theory, and a high-level of technique, is generally mastered by the technician in order to become expert in a specific tool domain. This may be part of a larger (production) process. Hence, an audio technician, while not as learned in acoustics as a physicist or an acoustical engineer, will generally know more than other studio personnel, including performers, and will be able to operate designed sound equipment. Technicians may be classified as either skilled workers or semi-skilled workers.

Technicians may be found working in a variety of fields, and they usually have a job title with the designation 'technician' following the particular category of work. Thus a 'stage technician' is a worker who provides technical support for putting on a play, while a 'medical technician' is an employee who provides technical support in the medical industry or to the medical profession.An engineering technician is a person who has relatively practical understanding of the general theoretical principles of the specific branch of engineering in which they work.

Engineering technicians solve technical problems. Some help engineers and scientists do research and development. They build or set up equipment. They do experiments. They collect data and calculate results. They might also help to make a model of new equipment. Some technicians work in quality control. They check products, do tests, and collect data. In manufacturing, they help to design and develop products. They also find ways to produce things efficiently.[2] They may also be persons who produce technical drawings or engineering drawings.Technical engineer is a professional title created in several countries for professionals that were awarded a short-cycle 2- to 4-year undergraduate degree (associate degree or bachelor's degree) in a technical engineering field. Technical engineers are neither full chartered engineers nor professional engineers, and are usually allowed to perform a limited number of well defined tasks in engineering and industry.

Technical engineers apply scientific and engineering skills usually gained in postsecondary programs below the bachelor's degree level or through short-cycle bachelor's degrees. However, some university institutions award undergraduate degrees in the field of engineering which may confer the title of technical engineer to the student, who is, however, eligible to become a full chartered engineer after further studies.Technical engineering degrees are generally offered by non-university higher education institutions like technical colleges, technical institutes, industrial schools, polytechnics, and community colleges. University institutions having 4-year programs usually do not offer technical engineering training, but undergraduate courses in science and engineering, are useful for obtaining a job as a technical engineer. Many 3 and 4-year colleges and universities offer bachelor's degrees in engineering, but graduates of these programs often are hired to work as technologists or applied engineers after further studies, not technicians. In some countries, there were vocational education schools that may have also confered the title without awarding any degrees.

Foreman

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construction, the foreman is the worker or tradesman who is in charge of the construction crew. While traditionally this role has been assumed by a senior male worker, the title in the modern sense is gender non-specific in intent. Normally the foreman is a construction worker with many years of experience in a particular trade who is charged with organizing the overall construction of a particular project. Typically the foreman is a person with specialist knowledge of a given trade who has moved into the position and is now focused on an overall management of all trades rather than any particular specialized group.A good foreman is said by many engineers to be the keystone of their projects.

Foremen are best understood as Project Managers who have come to that position after experience as a construction worker, as opposed to an individual who has followed a professional project management development program (for example a Lean Six Sigma Certificate).To be accepted onto the Foreman of Signals course, each individual candidate must follow a strict selection process that starts 15 months before the course start date. From June to December the candidates must complete Tutor Marked Assessments (TMAs) which are submitted monthly. In February the candidates sit two three-hour exams, which are co-ordinated to start concurrently around the world.
Successful candidates then attend a one week selection board where different management and technical tasks are used to assess the candidates suitability to the task of becoming a Foreman of Signals.

There are usually close to a hundred eligible candidates every year, however, the board only selects between 16 and 20 students for each course, which typically commences in the first week of September every year.Foremen of Signals are the most highly qualified non-commissioned signal equipment managers and Incorporated Engineers in the Royal Corps of Signals.

A soldier selected for Foreman of Signals training must hold a minimum qualification of Class 1 Technician. Students currently undertake a BSc(Hons) in Telecommunications Systems Engineering accredited by Bournemouth University. On completion of the course, the soldier is promoted to Staff Sergeant if the rank is not already held, and assumes the appointment of Foreman of Signals. The holder of the appointment can be promoted through the ranks from Staff Sergeant, to Warrant Officer Class 2, then Warrant Officer Class 1. To distinguish the appointment the suffix of FofS is used (i.e. SSgt(FofS), WO2(FofS), WO1(FofS)).

Supply chain

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A 'supply chain is the system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to the end customer. In sophisticated supply chain systems, used products may re-enter the supply chain at any point where residual value is recyclable. Supply chains link value chains.

A typical supply chain begins with ecological and biological regulation of natural resources, followed by the human extraction of raw material, and includes several production links (e.g., component construction, assembly, and merging) before moving on to several layers of storage facilities of ever-decreasing size and ever more remote geographical locations, and finally reaching the consumer.Many of the exchanges encountered in the supply chain will therefore be between different companies that will seek to maximize their revenue within their sphere of interest, but may have little or no knowledge or interest in the remaining players in the supply chain.

More recently, the loosely coupled, self-organizing network of businesses that cooperates to provide product and service offerings has been called the Extended Enterprise.There are a variety of supply chain models, which address both the upstream and downstream sides.

The SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) model, developed by the Supply Chain Council, measures total supply chain performance. It is a process reference model for supply-chain management, spanning from the supplier's supplier to the customer's customer.[3]. It includes delivery and order fulfillment performance, production flexibility, warranty and returns processing costs, inventory and asset turns, and other factors in evaluating the overall effective performance of a supply chain.
The Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF) introduced another Supply Chain Model. This framework [4] is built on eight key business processes that are both cross-functional and cross-firm in nature. Each process is managed by a cross-functional team, including representatives from logistics, production, purchasing, finance, marketing and research and development. While each process will interface with key customers and suppliers, the customer relationship management and supplier relationship management processes form the critical linkages in the supply chain.

Finance

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The field of finance refers to the concepts of time, money and risk and how they are interrelated. Banks are the main facilitators of funding through the provision of credit, although private equity, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other organizations have become important. Financial assets, known as investments, are financially managed with careful attention to financial risk management to control financial risk. Financial instruments allow many forms of securitized assets to be traded on securities exchanges such as stock exchanges, including debt such as bonds as well as equity in publicly-traded corporations.

An entity whose income exceeds its expenditure can lend or invest the excess income. On the other hand, an entity whose income is less than its expenditure can raise capital by borrowing or selling equity claims, decreasing its expenses, or increasing its income. The lender can find a borrower, a financial intermediary such as a bank, or buy notes or bonds in the bond market. The lender receives interest, the borrower pays a higher interest than the lender receives, and the financial intermediary pockets the difference.

A bank aggregates the activities of many borrowers and lenders. A bank accepts deposits from lenders, on which it pays the interest. The bank then lends these deposits to borrowers. Banks allow borrowers and lenders, of different sizes, to coordinate their activity. Banks are thus compensators of money flows in space.A specific example of corporate finance is the sale of stock by a company to institutional investors like investment banks, who in turn generally sell it to the public. The stock gives whoever owns it part ownership in that company. If you buy one share of XYZ Inc, and they have 100 shares outstanding (held by investors), you are 1/100 owner of that company. Of course, in return for the stock, the company receives cash, which it uses to expand its business; this process is known as "equity financing".

Equity financing mixed with the sale of bonds (or any other debt financing) is called the company's capital structure.Finance is used by individuals (personal finance), by governments (public finance), by businesses (corporate finance), as well as by a wide variety of organizations including schools and non-profit organizations. In general, the goals of each of the above activities are achieved through the use of appropriate financial instruments and methodologies, with consideration to their institutional setting.Finance is one of the most important aspects of business management. Without proper financial planning a new enterprise is unlikely to be successful. Managing money (a liquid asset) is essential to ensure a secure future, both for the individual and an organization.

Accountant

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An Accountant is a practitioner of accountancy, which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and other decision makers make resource allocation decisions. The word "Accountant" is derived from the French "Computer' which took its origin from the Latin "Computare". The word was formerly written in English as "Accomptant", but in process of time the word, which was always pronounced by dropping the "p", became gradually changed both in pronunciation and in orthography to its present form.

n the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and several other Commonwealth of Nations countries, the equivalents of Certified Public Accountant (CPA) include Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA), Chartered Accountant (CA or ACA), Chartered Management Accountant, International Accountant (AAIA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA - Ireland and CPA - Hong Kong), Certified General Accountant (CGA - Canada), Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA - Australia) and members of the NIA (Australia).

n Canada, there are three recognized accounting bodies: the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CA) and the provincial and territorial CA Institutes, the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA), and the Society of Management Accountants of Canada, also known as the Certified Management Accountants (CMA). CA and CGA were created by Acts of Parliament in 1902 and 1913 respectively and CMA was established in 1920.

The CA program focuses on public accounting and candidates must obtain auditing experience from public accounting firms; the CGA program takes a general approach allowing candidates to focus in their own financial career choices; the CMA program focuses in management accounting. The CA and CMA programs require a candidate to obtain a degree as a program entry requirement. The CGA program requires a degree as an exit requirement prior to certification.

Distributed Proofreaders

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Distributed Proofreaders (commonly abbreviated as DP or PGDP) is a web-based project that supports the development of e-texts for Project Gutenberg by allowing many people to work together in proofreading drafts of e-texts for errors.Public domain works, typically books with expired copyright, are scanned by volunteers or culled from digitalization projects, and the images are run through optical character recognition (OCR) software. Since OCR software is far from perfect, often a large number of errors appear in the resulting text.

To correct them, pages are made available to volunteers via the Internet; the original page image and the recognized text appear side by side. This process thereby distributes the time-consuming error-correction process, akin to distributed computing.Each page is proofread and formatted many times, and then a post-processor combines the pages and prepares the text for uploading to Project Gutenberg.Besides custom software created to support the project, DP also runs a forum and a wiki for project coordinators and participants.

In addition to preserving Canadiana, DP Canada is notable because it is the first major effort to take advantage of Canada's copyright laws which may allow more works to be preserved. Like copyright law in most other countries, Canada has a "life plus 50" copyright term. This means that works by authors who died more than fifty years ago may be preserved in Canada, whereas in other parts of the world those works may not be distributed because they are still copyright.

Notable authors whose works may be preserved in Canada but not other parts of the world include A. A. Milne, Walter de la Mare, Sheila Kaye-Smith and Amy Carmichael. Distributed Proofreaders was founded by Charles Franks in 1996 as an independent site to assist Project Gutenberg. Distributed Proofreaders became an official Project Gutenberg site in 1992.

On 8 November 1992, Distributed Proofreaders was slashdotted, and more than 4,000 new members joined in one day, causing an influx of new proofreaders and software developers, which helped to greatly increase the quantity and quality of e-text production. Distributed Proofreaders posted their 5,000th text to Project Gutenberg in August 2004, and in March 1997, the 10,000th DP-produced e-text was posted to Project Gutenberg. As of December 1997 the 11,000+ DP-contributed e-texts comprised almost half of works in Project Gutenberg.

On 31 July 1998, the Distributed Proofreaders Foundation was formed to provide Distributed Proofreaders with its own legal entity and not-for-profit status. IRS approval of section 501(c)(3) status was granted retroactive to 7 April 1988.

Proofreading

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Proof-reading traditionally means reading a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors. Modern proofreading often requires reading copy at earlier stages as well. A proof copy is a version of a manuscript that has been typeset after copy-editing. Proof typescripts often contain typographical errors introduced by mistyping (hence the word typo to refer to misplaced, missing or incorrect characters). Traditionally, a proofreader checks the typeset copy and marks any errors using standard proof correction marks (such as those specified in style manuals,

By house style, or, more broadly, by the international standard ISO 5776, or, for English, the British Standard BS-5261:2). This process may be known as a line edit. The proof is then returned to the typesetter for correction, and in many cases the production of a second proof copy (often known as a revise). Proofreading is considered a specific skill that must be learned because it is in the nature of the mind to correct errors automatically. Someone not trained in proofreading may not see errors such as missing words or improper usage .

Their mind is showing them what it is trained to recognize as correct. DP Proofreading GuidelinesThe term proofreading is sometimes used incorrectly to refer to copy-editing. This is a separate activity, although there is some overlap between the two. Proofreading consists of reviewing any text, either hard copy on paper or electronic copy on a computer, and checking for typos and formatting errors. This may be done either against an original document or "blind" (without checking against any other source).

Many modern proofreaders are also required to take on some light copy-editing duties, such as checking for grammar and consistency issues.Examples of proof-readers in fiction include History of the Siege of Lisbon (Historia do Cerco de Lisboa), a novel of 1989 by Nobel laureate Jose Saramago and the short story Proofs in George Steiner's Proofs and Three Parables (1992). Someone not trained in proofreading may not see errors such as missing words or improper usage because their mind is showing them what it is trained to recognize as correct. DP Proofreading Guidelines

Film editing

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Film editing is the process of selecting and joining together shots, connecting the resulting sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling. Film editing is the only art that is unique to cinema, separating film-making from other art forms that preceded it (such as photography, theater, dance, writing, and directing), although there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms like poetry or novel writing. Film editing is often referred to as the "invisible art" because when it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the editor's work.

On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling shots into a coherent whole. A film editor is a person who practices film editing by assembling the footage. However, the job of an editor isn’t simply to mechanically put pieces of a film together, cut off film slates, or edit dialogue scenes. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively "redirect" and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic role in the making of a film.

With the advent of digital editing, film editors and their assistants have become responsible for many areas of filmmaking that used to be the responsibility of others. For instance, in past years, picture editors dealt only with just that -- picture. Sound, music, and (more recently) visual effects editors dealt with the practicalities of other aspects of the editing process, usually under the direction of the picture editor and director. However, digital systems have increasingly put these responsibilities on the picture editor. It is common, especially on lower budget films, for the assistant editors or even the editor to cut in music, mock up visual effects, and add sound effects or other sound replacements.

These temporary elements are usually replaced with more refined final elements by the sound, music, and visual effects teams hired to complete the picture.Film editing is an art that can be used in diverse ways. It can create sensually provocative montages; become a laboratory for experimental cinema; bring out the emotional truth in an actor's performance; create a point of view on otherwise obtuse events; guide the telling and pace of a story; create an illusion of danger where there is none; and even create a vital subconscious emotional connection to the viewer, among many other possibilities.

Digital audio & Video editor

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A digital audio editor is a computer application for audio editing, i.e. manipulating digital audio. Digital audio editors are the main software component of a digital audio workstation.Editors designed for use with music typically allow the user to do the followingRecord audio from one or more inputs and store recordings in the computer's memory as digital audioEdit the start time, stop time, and duration of any sound on the audio timelineFade into or out of a clip (e.g. an S-fade out during applause after a performance), or between clips (e.g. crossfading between takes)Mix multiple sound sources/tracks, combine them at various volume levels and pan from channel to channel to one or more output tracks.

Apply simple or advanced effects or filters, including compression, expansion, flanging, reverb, audio noise reduction and equalization to change the audioPlayback sound (often after being mixed) that can be sent to one or more outputs, such as speakers, additional processors, or a recording mediumConversion between different audio file formats, or between different sound quality levelsTypically these tasks can be performed in a manner that is both non-linear and non-destructive.

Video editing is the process of re-arranging or modifying segments of video to form another piece of video. The goals of video editing are the same as in film editing — the removal of unwanted footage,or parts of video, the isolation of desired footage, and the arrangement of footage in time to synthesize a new piece of footage.Early video recorders were very expensive, and the quality degradation caused by copying was so great, 2 inch Quadruplex videotape was edited by visualizing the recorded track with ferrofluid, cutting with a razor blade or guillotine cutter and splicing with tape.

Improvements in quality and economy, and the invention of the flying erase head, allowed new video to be inserted cleanly into an existing tape. This technique was referred to as linear editing. If an early scene needed to be lengthened, all the later scenes would need to be added again. Multiple sources could be played back simultaneously through a vision mixer to be mixed or keyed.Modern non-linear editing systems are computer-based, though there was a transitional analog period using multiple source VCRs or LaserDisc players. Footage is played and captured on a hard drive. Content is ingested and recorded natively in the approriate codec which will be used by software such as Avid's Media Composer and Xpress Pro, Apple's Final Cut Pro, and Adobe's Premiere to manipulate the captured footage. High definition video is becoming more popular and can be readily edited using the same software along with related motion graphics programs. Clips are arranged on a timeline, music tracks and titles are added, effects can be created, and the finished program is "rendered" into a finished video. The video may then be distributed in a variety of ways including DVD, web streaming, Quicktime Movies, iPod, CD-ROM, or videotape.

Editing

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Editing is the process of preparing language, images, sound, video, or film through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media. A person who edits is called an editor. In a sense, the editing process originates with the idea for the work itself and continues in the relationship between the author and the editor. Editing is, therefore, also a practice that includes creative skills, human relations, and a precise set of methods.

There are various levels of editorial positions in publishing. Typically, one finds junior editorial assistants reporting to the senior-level editorial staff and directors who report to senior executive editors. Senior executive editors are responsible for developing a product to its final release. The smaller the publication, the more these roles run together. In particular, the substantive editor and copy editor often overlap: fact-checking and rewriting can be the responsibility of either.

Newspaper and wire services copy editors correct spelling, grammar, and matters of house style, design pages and select of news stories for inclusion. At UK and Australian newspapers, the term is "sub-editor." They may choose the layout of the publication and communicate with the printer — a production editor. This and similar jobs are also called "layout editor," "design editor," "news designer," or — more so in the past — "makeup editor." Magazine editors include a top-level editor may be called an editor-in-chief. Frequent and esteemed contributors to a magazine may acquire a title of editor at-large or contributing editor (See below.)
In the book publishing industry, editors organize anthologies and other compilations, produce definitive editions of a classic author's works ("scholarly editor"); and organize and manage contributions to a multi-author book (symposium editor or volume editor). Finding marketable ideas and presenting them to appropriate authors: a sponsoring editor. Obtaining copy or recruiting authors such as: an acquisitions editor or a commissioning editor for a publishing house.

Improving an author's writing so that they indeed say what they mean to say in an effective manner; a substantive editor. Depending on the writer's competence, this editing can sometimes turn into ghost writing. Substantive editing is seldom a title. Many types of editors do this type of work, either in-house at a publisher or on an independent basis. Changes to the publishing industry since the 1980s have resulted in nearly all copy editing of book manuscripts being outsourced to freelance copy editors.

Freelancer

2009-05-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is a self-employed person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any particular employer. The term "freelance" was first coined by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) in his well-known historical romance Ivanhoe to describe a "medieval mercenary warrior" (or "free-lance"). The phrase later transitioned to a figurative noun around the 1860s and was then officially recognized as a verb in 1903 by various authorities in etymology such as the Oxford English Dictionary. Only in modern times has the term morphed from a noun (a freelance) into an adjective (a freelance journalist), various verb forms (a journalist who freelances) and an adverb (she worked freelance), and then from the verb into the derived, now commonly-used, noun form "freelancer".

The author and poet Ernest William Hornung (1866–1921) also used the term in "The Gift of the Emperor" to describe something of poor quality: "I warmed to my woes. It was no easy matter to keep your end up as a raw freelance of letters; for my part, I was afraid I wrote neither well enough nor ill enough for success."Fields where freelancing is especially common include journalism and other forms of writing, copywriting, computer programming and graphic design, consulting, and many other professional and creative services.

Freelance practice varies greatly. Some require clients to sign written contracts, while others may perform work based on verbal agreements, perhaps enforceable through the very nature of the work. Some freelancers may provide written estimates of work and request deposits from clients.Payment for freelance work also varies greatly. Freelancers may charge by the day or hour, or on a per-project basis. Instead of a flat rate or fee, some consultants have adopted a value-based pricing method based on the perceived value of the results to the client. By custom, payment arrangements may be upfront, percentage upfront, or upon completion. For more complex projects, a contract may set a payment schedule based on milestones or outcomes.

Note that, in most professions involving creation of intellectual property, "freelance" and its derivative terms are often reserved for workers who create works on their own initiative, then look for someone to publish them. They typically keep the copyright to their works and sell the rights to publishers in time-limited contracts. In contrast, workers who are hired to create a work according to the publishers' or other customers' specifications are referred to as "independent contractors" and similar terms. They have no copyright to the works, which are written as works made for hire, a category of intellectual property defined in US copyright law — Section 101, Copyright Act of 1976

Jewelry & Textile designer

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A jewelry designer is defined as a person who renders, creates, and models original Jewelry creations. By profession this person would be trained in the knowledge of metalsmithing and design. Historically jewelry designers originated as goldsmiths in the cultural aspects of Etruscan Civilization and became more dominant through ancient Greek and Roman cultures. In Ancient Macedonia from Thessaloniki however, the art of milling and rolling 24K Gold rose to the highest form and ignited the origins of what later 18th century jewelers such as the family of Castellani used in Italian Archeological jewelry.

Today's jewelry designers are often professionals with knowledge of Gemology, Metalsmithing and Rendering in order to cater to large volumes of consumers as well as private clients. These designs can be initially created in a special jewelers model wax or even in metal (silver) in order to create a mold where an unlimited number of these same pieces can be cast in gold, silver or platinum.There are also modern jewelry making methods.

These are gaining popularity and some of the styles are beading, resin jewelry, lampwork and photo jewelry.Textile design is the process of creating designs for knitted, woven or printed fabrics. Successful textile designers marry a creative vision of what a finished textile will look like with a deep understanding of the technical aspects of production and the properties of fiber, yarn, and dyes.

Designs for both woven and printed textiles often begin with a drawing or watercolor sketch of the finished design. Traditionally, drawings of woven textile patterns were translated onto special forms of graph paper called point papers which were used by the weavers in setting up their looms. Today, most professional textile designers use some form of computer-aided design software created expressly for this purpose.

Merchandising Job

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Merchandising refers to the methods, practices and operations conducted to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. The term is understood to have different specific meanings depending on the context. Merchandise is a sale goods at a storeIn marketing, one of the definitions of merchandising is the practice in which the brand or image from one product or service is used to sell another. Trademarked brand names, logos, or character images are licensed to manufacturers of products such as toys or clothing, which then make items in or emblazoned with the image of the license, hoping they'll sell better than the same item with no such image.

Merchandising for children is most prominently seen in connection with films and games, usually those in current release and with television shows oriented towards children. Merchandising, especially in connection with child-oriented films and TV shows, often consists of toys made in the likeness of the show's characters (action figures) or items which they use. However, sometimes it can be the other way around, with the show written to include the toys, as advertising for the merchandise.

The first major example of this was the TV show "He-man and the Masters of the Universe," in the early 1980s, but this practice has been common in children's broadcasting ever since.Sometimes merchandising from a television show can grow far beyond the original show, even lasting decades after the show has largely disappeared from popularity. In other cases, large amounts of merchandise can be generated from a pitifully small amount of source material (Mashimaro).

The most common adult-oriented merchandising is that related to professional sports teams (and their players).A smaller niche in merchandising is the marketing of more adult-oriented products in connection with similarly adult-oriented films and TV shows. This is common especially with the science fiction and horror genres. (Examples: Star Trek, McFarlane Toys) Occasionally shows which were intended more for children find a following among adults, and you can see a bit of a crossover, with products from that show oriented towards both adults and children. (Gundam model kits)

Designer label

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The term designer label refers to clothing and other personal accessory items sold under an often prestigious marquee which is commonly named after a designer. The term is most often only applied to luxury items. Examples includes labels such as Kenneth Cole, Gucci, Arkadius, Armani, Calvin Klein, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Valentino, Chanel, Miu Miu, Just Cavalli and others. which are derived from the company's founder and most iconic designer. Other clothing (and accessories) marquee names do not directly refer to the company's founder:

Example are , Dooney & Bourke, United Colors of Benetton, and L. L. Bean may be referred to as designer labels. While members of the upper middle class, or the mass affluent, are perhaps the most commonly targeted customers of these designer labels, some marquees—such as Cartier—tend to a wealthier customer base.While a relationship between consumer products and social class may exist to some extent, it should be noted that any notion connecting consumer products to class status is of highly subjective and vague nature.

One interesting trend concerning designer label garments is that although in the past they have been regarded as elitist and generally the province of the rich and wealthy, the deep recession that started to bite in the United States in 2008 saw thousands of women's designer label fashion items making their way into recycle stores online. Labels like Ralph Lauren, Zac Posen and Chanel were now affordable to the general population.

Some labels that have sold in leading retail stores for thousands of dollars could now be bought for hundreds of dollars.Is this a trend pointing to the diminishing value in designer label names or is this a one-off phenomenon attributable to the global financial crisis. Many accessory designers start from home, that's the beauty of this business. A kitchen countertop would be sufficient, if you don't have an extra room. You can still live your life without interrupted by this new venture, that's why becoming an accessory designer is one of many homemakers' dreams.

Garment Designer

2009-05-22T04:57:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Garment Styler for Windows or Macintosh is a garment design program that has been on the market of the past few years. It allows sewers to print a pattern, in tiled pages from a standard printer, to tape together. It also allows knitters to build and chart a garment. Knitters quickly found that the paper pattern was an excellent tool to use for blocking knits into perfect shape. See our Garment Styler page for more information on this version.Styler's 'big sister', Garment Designer is now available. Garment Designer contains all the feature of our Garment Styler program, 'plus more' . Those of you who own Styler may upgrade to the Designer version. Garment Designer utilizes a security process that requires the user to enter a security code upon the installation.

This is a one-time process and is easily done if you have an Internet connection. If your computer is not online you may call us to assist you over the phone. Please call or email if you have questions. Garment Designer provides a multitude of features which make your design world not only simple, but very visual, and in general, a lot of fun. Before we begin to discuss all the new features users will find, let's quickly overview the basic approach to design that Garment Styler provides. Since the Designer version includes all of Styler's features, this will set a good foundation.

The premise of the Garment Styler is that a user may choose a standard size to begin the design process. These include Women's 2-50, Men's 32-50, Children's and Infant's, sizes as well as several dolls and even some stuffed animals. Simply choose the menu, and slide up or down to the desired size. Or, if one prefers, he/she may enter one's own personal measurements and create a pattern that works with the shape of their body. Once you've chosen a style, you see a sloper of your body, in green on the screen. The pattern (in black) surrounds the sloper and with the grid feature tuned on, one can quickly see how much ease is allowed in any given style. For further information, one can turn on the garment's dimensions and quickly see a schematic presentation of the garment.

To build a garment, you simply choose amongst the numerous menu items in each of the sub design groups; body style, neckline, armhole, shoulder, and sleeve. This mix and match approach provides hundreds of thousands of combinations for the user to explore. In addition, you may add bands or ribs to the garment and the software will understand to remove them when charting a pattern piece. Garment Styler allows one to print out knitting instructions (in a knitters cheat sheet format), which is ideal for machine knitters. It also allows you to print the pattern pieces in full scale as well as half and quarter scale. These are helpful for those who want to draw on the pattern and then use a knit leader/radar to shape the garment and apply intarsia, etc.

Logistics

2009-05-22T04:56:00.000-07:00

Logistics is the management of the flow of goods, information and other resources, including energy and people, between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the requirements of consumers (frequently, and originally, military organizations). Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material-handling, and packaging, and occasionally security. Logistics is a channel of the supply chain which adds the value of time and place utility.

The term "logistics" originates from the ancient Greek "λόγος" ("logos"—"ratio, word, calculation, reason, speech, oration").Logistics is considered to have originated in the military's need to supply themselves with arms, ammunition and rations as they moved from their base to a forward position. In ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine empires, there were military officers with the title ‘Logistikas’ who were responsible for financial and supply distribution matters.

The Oxford English dictionary defines logistics as: “The branch of military science having to do with procuring, maintaining and transporting material, personnel and facilities.”Another dictionary definition is: "The time related positioning of resources." As such, logistics is commonly seen as a branch of engineering which creates "people systems" rather than "machine systems." ELEMENTS OF LOGISTICS

LS Integrated Logistics Support is a discipline used in military industries to ensure an easy supportable system with a robust customer service (logistic) concept at the lowest cost and in line with (often high) reliability, availability, maintainability and other requirements as defined for the project.In military logistics, logistics officers manage how and when to move resources to the places they are needed. In military science, maintaining one's supply lines while disrupting those of the enemy is a crucial—some would say the most crucial—element of military strategy, since an armed force without resources and transportation is defenseless.The defeat of the British in the American War of Independence, and the defeat of Erwin Rommel in World War II, have been largely attributed to logistical failure.[citation needed] The historical leaders Hannibal Barca, Alexander the Great, and the Duke of Wellington are considered to have been logistical geniuses.

Biotechnology

2009-05-22T04:55:00.000-07:00

Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as:Any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.Biotechnology is often used to refer to genetic engineering technology of the 21st century, however the term encompasses a wider range and history of procedures for modifying biological organisms according to the needs of humanity.

Going back to the initial modifications of native plants into improved food crops through artificial selection and hybridization. Bioengineering is the science upon which all biotechnological applications are based. With the development of new approaches and modern techniques, traditional biotechnology industries are also acquiring new horizons enabling them to improve the quality of their products and increase the productivity of their systems. Before 1971, the term, biotechnology, was primarily used in the food processing and agriculture industries.

Since the 1970s, it began to be used by the Western scientific establishment to refer to laboratory-based techniques being developed in biological research, such as recombinant DNA or tissue culture-based processes, or horizontal gene transfer in living plants, using vectors such as the Agrobacterium bacteria to transfer DNA into a host organism. In fact, the term should be used in a much broader sense to describe the whole range of methods, both ancient and modern, used to manipulate organic materials to reach the demands of food production.

So the term could be defined as, "The application of indigenous and/or scientific knowledge to the management of (parts of) microorganisms, or of cells and tissues of higher organisms, so that these supply goods and services of use to the food industry and its consumers. Biotechnology combines disciplines like genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology and cell biology, which are in turn linked to practical disciplines like chemical engineering, information technology, and biorobotics. Patho-biotechnology describes the exploitation of pathogens or pathogen derived compounds for beneficial effect.

Engineering

2009-05-22T04:53:00.000-07:00

Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying technical and scientific knowledge and utilizing natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective and meet specified criteria. The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD, the predecessor of ABET) has defined engineering as follows:“[T]he creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property.

One who practices engineering is called an engineer, and those licensed to do so may have more formal designations such as European Engineer, Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer, or Incorporated Engineer. The broad discipline of engineering encompasses a range of more specialized subdisciplines, each with a more specific emphasis on certain fields of application and particular areas of technology. The concept of engineering has existed since ancient times as humans devised fundamental inventions such as the pulley, lever, and wheel.

Each of these inventions is consistent with the modern definition of engineering, exploiting basic mechanical principles to develop useful tools and objects. The term engineering itself has a much more recent etymology, deriving from the word engineer, which itself dates back to 1325, when an engine’er (literally, one who operates an engine) originally referred to “a constructor of military engines.” In this context, now obsolete, an “engine” referred to a military machine, i. e., a mechanical contraption used in war (for example, a catapult).

The word “engine” itself is of even older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium (c. 1250), meaning “innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention. Later, as the design of civilian structures such as bridges and buildings matured as a technical discipline, the term civil engineering entered the lexicon as a way to distinguish between those specializing in the construction of such non-military projects and those involved in the older discipline of military engineering

Quality control Analyst

2009-05-22T04:50:00.000-07:00

engineering and manufacturing, quality control and quality engineering are used in developing systems to ensure products or services are designed and produced to meet or exceed customer requirements. These systems are often developed in conjunction with other business and engineering disciplines using a cross-functional approach.Quality control is that branch of engineering and manufacturing,which deals with the assurance and failure testing in design and production of products or services,to meet or exceed customer requirements.

When the first specialized craftsmen arose manufacturing tools for others, the principle of quality control was simple: "let the buyer beware" (caveat emptor).Early civil engineering projects, however, needed to be built to specifications. For instance, the four sides of the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza are perpendicular to within 3.5 arcseconds.During the Middle Ages, guilds took the responsibility of quality control upon themselves.Royal governments purchasing material were interested in quality control as customers.

For instance, King John of England appointed a certain William Wrotham to supervise the construction and repair of ships. Some centuries later, but also in England, Samuel Pepys, Secretary to the Admiralty, appointed multiple such overseers. After World War II, the United States continued to apply the concepts of inspection and sampling to remove defective product from production lines. However, there were many individuals trying to lead U.S. industries towards a more collaborative approach to quality. Excluding the U.S., many countries' manufacturing capabilities were destroyed during the war.

This placed American business in a position where advances in the collaborative approaches to quality were essentially ignored.After World War II, the U.S. sent General Douglas MacArthur to oversee the re-building of Japan. During this time, General MacArthur invited two key individuals in the development of modern quality concepts: W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran. Both individuals promoted the collaborative concepts of quality to Japanese business and technical groups, and these groups utilized these concepts in the redevelopment of the Japanese economy.

Storekeeper

2009-05-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

One of the oldest Navy Ratings, Storekeepers are tasked with maintaining ship or company supply stores. Their responsibilities generally include purchasing and procurement, shipping and receiving, and issuing of equipment, tools, consumable items or anything else obtained through the Naval Supply System. In November, 2008, the Navy announced the merger of the storekeeper and postal clerk ratings to become the logistics specialist rating[1], effective beginning October 2009.

Storekeepers fall under the authority of a supply officer. The exception to this is in the case of the Independent Storekeeper NEC which trains E-6 and above to operate independently of a Supply Officer. The best example of this is the Storekeeper(s) tasked with operating the Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily Weapon's Department. The department, a semi-autonomous entity within NAS Sigonella, is headed by a weapons officer to whom the Storekeepers report. Since there is no Supply Officer within a weapons department, the task of signing requisitions falls upon the Independent Duty SK.

Storekeepers are referred to, as all other Navy rates, by rate and rank combined. If a sailor is a Petty Officer Third Class holding the rate of Storekeeper, he or she would be referred to as Storekeeper Third Class or more commonly, SK3. With the recent merger of Storekeepers (SK) and Aviation Storekeepers (AK), Storekeepers can be found serving any Naval platform. For this reason, Storekeepers can be found with virtually every warfare pin offered by the Navy with only a few exceptions. Of the warfare qualification held by storekeepers, included are Aviation Warfare (AW), Surface Warfare (SW), Seabee Combat Warfare (SCW), Submarine Warfare Specialist (SS).

The SK rate is also a source rating for Explosive Ordnance Disposal, the Navy SEALS, Navy Divers and SWCC. Thus enabling Storekeepers to be stationed virtually anywhere and take on diverse duties.Storekeepers are trained at the Naval Technical Training Center in Meridian, Mississippi. Undesignated or non-rate sailors may also strike for SK without attending NTTC Meridian's Storekeeper "A" School. Coast Guard Storekeepers get training in Petaluma, Ca.

Marketing

2009-05-22T04:48:00.001-07:00

Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to market, as in shopping, or going to a market to sell goods or services. Marketing practice tends to be seen as a creative industry, which includes advertising, distribution and selling.

It is also concerned with anticipating the customers' future needs and wants, which are often discovered through market research. Seen from a systems point of view, sales process engineering views marketing as a set of processes that are interconnected and interdependent with other functions, whose methods can be improved using a variety of relatively new approaches.Marketing is influenced by many of the social sciences, particularly psychology, sociology, and economics.

Anthropology and neuroscience are also small but growing influences. Market research underpins these activities. Through advertising, it is also related to many of the creative arts. The marketing literature is also infamous for re-inventing itself and its vocabulary according to the times and the culture. A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes products and services from competitive offerings. A brand represents the consumers' experience with an organization, product, or service.

A brand is more than a name, design or symbol. Brand reflects personality of the company which is organizational culture. A brand has also been defined as an identifiable entity that makes a specific value based on promises made and kept either actively or passively. Branding means creating reference of certain products in mind. Co-branding involves marketing activity involving two or more products.

Sales

2009-05-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

A sale is the pinnacle activity involved in selling products or services in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity.A sale is completed by the seller, the owner of the goods. It starts with consent (or agreement) to an acquisition or appropriation or request followed by the passing of title (property or ownership) in the item and the application and due settlement of a price, the obligation for which arises due to the seller's requirement to pass ownership, being a price the seller is happy to part with ownership of or any claim upon the item.

The purchaser, though a party to the sale, does not execute the sale, only the seller does that. To be precise the sale completes prior to the payment and gives rise to the obligation of payment. If the seller completes the first two above stages (consent and passing ownership) of the sale prior to settlement of the price the sale is still valid and gives rise to an obligation to pay.Marketing and sales are very different, but have the same goal. Marketing improves the selling environment and plays a very important role in sales. If the marketing department generates a potential customers list, it can be beneficial for sales. The marketing department's goal is to increase the number of interactions between potential customers and the sales team using promotional techniques such as advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and public relations, creating new sales channels, or creating new products (new product development), among other things.The relatively new field of Sales process engineering views "sales" as the output of a larger system, not just that of one department.

The larger system includes many functional areas within an organization. From this perspective, sales and marketing (among others, such as customer service) are labels for a number of processes whose inputs and outputs supply one another to varying degrees. Considered in this way, to improve the "output" (namely, sales) the broader sales process needs to be studied and improved as would any system, since the component functional areas interact and are interdependent[5].

In most large corporations, the marketing department is structured in a similar fashion to the sales department[citation needed] and the managers of these teams must coordinate efforts in order to drive profits and business success. For example, an "inbound" focused campaign seeks to drive more customers "through the door" giving the sales department a better chance of selling their product to the consumer. A good marketing program would address any potential downsides as well.
The Sales department's goal would be to improve the interaction between the customer and the sales facility or mechanism (example, web site) and/or salesperson. Sales management would break down the selling process and then increase the effectiveness of the discreet processes as well as the interaction between processes. For example, in many out-bound sales environments, the typical process is out bound calling, the sales pitch, handling objections, opportunity identification, and the close. Each step of the process has sales-related issues, skills, and training needs as well as marketing solutions to improve each discrete step, as well as the whole process.

Web design

2009-05-22T04:45:00.000-07:00

Web design is the skill of designing hypertext presentations of content that is delivered to an end-user through the World Wide Web, by way of a Web browser or other Web-enabled software like Internet television clients, microblogging clients and RSS readers.The process of designing Web pages, Web sites, Web applications or multimedia for the Web may utilize multiple disciplines, such as animation, authoring, communication design, corporate identity, graphic design, human-computer interaction, information architecture, interaction design, photography, search engine optimization and typography.

Web pages and Web sites can be static pages, or can be programmed to be dynamic pages that automatically adapt content or visual appearance depending on a variety of factors, such as input from the end-user, input from the Webmaster or changes in the computing environment (such as the site's associated database having been modified).With growing specialization within communication design and information technology fields, there is a strong tendency to draw a clear line between web design specifically for web pages and web development for the overall logistics of all web-based services.

As the Web and web design progressed, the markup language changed to become more complex and flexible, giving the ability to add objects like images and tables to a page. Features like tables, which were originally intended to be used to display tabular information, were soon subverted for use as invisible layout devices. With the advent of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), table-based layout is commonly regarded as outdated. Database integration technologies such as server-side scripting and design standards like W3C further changed and enhanced the way the Web is made. As times change, websites are changing the code on the inside and visual design on the outside with ever-evolving programs and utilities.

With the progression of the Web, tens of thousands of web design companies have been established around the world to serve the growing demand for such work. As with much of the information technology industry, many web design companies have been established in technology parks in the developing world as well as many Western design companies setting up offices in countries such as India, Romania, and Russia to take advantage of the relatively lower labor rates found in such countries.

Advertising

2009-05-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. “While now central to the contemporary global economy and the reproduction of global production networks, it is only quite recently that advertising has been more than a marginal influence on patterns of sales and production. The formation of modern advertising was intimately bound up with the emergence of new forms of monopoly capitalism around the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century as one element in corporate strategies to create, organize and where possible control markets, especially for mass produced consumer goods. Mass production necessitated mass consumption, and this in turn required a certain homogenization of consumer tastes for final products. At its limit, this involved seeking to create ‘world cultural convergence’, to homogenize consumer tastes and engineer a ‘convergence of lifestyle, culture and behaviours among consumer segments across the world’.”

Many advertisements are designed to generate increased consumption of those products and services through the creation and reinvention of the "brand image" . For these purposes, advertisements sometimes embed their persuasive message with factual information. Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including television, radio, cinema, magazines, newspapers, video games, the Internet, carrier bags and billboards. Advertising is often placed by an advertising agency on behalf of a company or other organization.[citation needed]

Organizations that frequently spend large sums of money on advertising that sells what is not, strictly speaking, a product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations, and military recruiters. Non-profit organizations are not typical advertising clients, and may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as public service announcements. Money spent on advertising has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2007, spending on advertising has been estimated at over $150 billion.

In the United States and $385 billion worldwide, and the latter to exceed $450 billion by 2010.While advertising can be seen as necessary for economic growth, it is not without social costs. Unsolicited Commercial Email and other forms of spam have become so prevalent as to have become a major nuisance to users of these services, as well as being a financial burden on internet service providers. Advertising is increasingly invading public spaces, such as schools, which some critics argue is a form of child exploitation.

Journalism

2009-05-22T04:43:00.000-07:00

Journalism is the field concerned with producing news reports and editorials through various forms of media including newspapers, magazines, radio and television, and the Internet. Journalists—be they writers, editors or photographers; broadcast presenters or producers—serve as the chief purveyors of information and opinion in contemporary mass society. "News is what the consensus of journalists determines it to be." From informal beginnings in the Europe of the 18th century, stimulated by the arrival of mechanized printing—in due course by mass production and in the 20th century by electronic communications technology—today's engines of journalistic enterprise include large corporations with global reach.

The formal status of journalism has varied historically and, still varies vastly, from country to country. The modern state and hierarchical power structures in general have tended to see the unrestricted flow of information as a potential threat, and inimical to their own proper function. Hitler described the Press as a "machine for mass instruction," ideally, a "kind of school for adults." Journalism at its most vigorous, by contrast, tends to be propelled by the implications at least of the attitude epitomized by the Australian journalist John Pilger

"Secretive power loathes journalists who do their job, who push back screens, peer behind façades, lift rocks. Opprobrium from on high is their badge of honour."Censorship, governmental restriction or even active repression of individual journalists and non-state organs of communication continue to cause, at best, intermittent friction in most countries. Few formal democracies and no authoritarian governments make provision for protection of press freedom implied by the term Fourth Estate.

The rise of internet technology, in particular the advent of blogging and social networking software, further destabilize journalism as traditionally understood, and its practitioners as a distinct professional category. Combined with the increasing leakage of advertising revenue from print and broadcast media to the internet, the full impact of the arrival of the citizen journalist—potentially positive (proliferation having thus far proved more difficult to police) as well as negative—is yet to be seen.

Job

2009-05-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

A job is a role served by a person or thing, usually involving productive work. A person usually begins a job by becoming an employee, volunteering, or starting a business. The duration of a job may range from an hour (in the case of odd jobs) to a lifetime (in the case of some judges). If a person favors or is trained for a certain type of job, they may have an occupation. The series of jobs a person holds in their life is their career.

The word job dates to the industrial revolution, having its root in gobbe, or a lump of something, the modern derivation of which is gob, as in i like gobs and gobs of ketsup on my sandwich. A job was originally conceived of as "a pile of things to do"Most people spend a good portion of their waking time doing a regular job. Exceptions are if you are a student or retired.Jobs come in great variety:

full time jobs, part time jobs, temporary work, odd jobs, summer jobs, self-employmentPeople may have a chosen occupation for which they have received training or a degree.Someone may pursue a vocation but support themselves financially with a day job. Those who do not hold down a steady job may do odd jobs or be unemployed. Getting a first job is an important rite of passage in many cultures. Youth may start by doing household work, odd jobs, or working for a family business. In many countries, school children get summer jobs during their longer vacation period. Students enrolled in higher education can apply for internships.

Resumes are used to summarize information about a person in order to interest potential employers and get a job interview.Labourers often talk of "getting a job", or "having a job". This conceptual metaphor of a "job" as a possession has led to its use in slogans such as "money for jobs, not bombs". Similar conceptions are that of "land" as a possession (real estate) or intellectual rights as a possession (intellectual property). The Online Etymology Dictionary explains that the origin of "job" is from the obsolete phrase "jobbe of work" in the sense of "piece of work", and most dictionaries list the Middle English "gobbe" meaning "lump" (gob) as the origin of "jobbe". Attempts to link the word to the biblical character Job seem to be folk etymology
Industrialisation involves machines taking on a role in producing goods without direct operation by a person.

Graphic Designer

2009-05-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

A graphic designer (sometimes referred to mistakenly as a graphics designer, sometimes termed a graphic artist) is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and advertising. They are also sometimes responsible for typesetting, illustration and web design, or take a teaching position, although these specialties may be assigned to specialists in various graphic design occupations. A core responsibility of the designer's job is to present information in a way that is both accessible and aesthetic.[1]

A degree (or occasionally certificates from accredited trade schools) is usually, though not always, considered essential for a graphic design position. After a career history has been established, though, the graphic designer's experience and number of years in the business are considered the primary qualifications. A portfolio, which is the primary method for demonstrating these qualifications, is usually required to be shown at job interviews, and is constantly developed throughout a designer's career.

One can obtain an AAS, BA, BFA, MFA or an MPhil / PhD in graphic design. Degree programs available vary depending upon the institution, although typical U.S. graphic design jobs require at least some form of Bachelor's degree.Current graphic designer jobs demand proficiency in one or more graphic design software programs, relevant to the job function, such as proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite. If a web designer, he or she should understand HTML and other programming languages to design websites.

If a print designer, he or she should understand the processes involved in printing to be able to produce press-ready artwork.The graphic designer's Career portfolio in the past fifty years was usually a black book or large binder in which samples of the artist's best printed pieces were carried to show prospective clients or employers. Over the past 20 years, portfolios have become increasingly digitized, and may be entirely digitized and available on the Internet, CD, or DVD.

News Presentator

2009-05-21T08:38:00.001-07:00

A news presenter is, broadly speaking, a person that presents a news show on television, radio or the Internet. The term is not commonly used by people in the industry as they tend to use more descriptive - and sometimes country-specific - terms. Examples include "newsreader", "newscaster", and "news anchor". A newscaster is a presenter of a news bulletin who is himself or herself a working journalist and news gatherer as well as a participant in compiling the script to be delivered in a news bulletin.

Prior to the television era, radio-news broadcasts often mixed news with opinion and each presenter strove for a distinctive style. These presenters were referred to as commentators. The last remaining news presenter of this type was Paul Harvey. The term newscaster came into common use to distinguish presenters of straight news broadcasts from commentators. However in the UK, ITN's presenters are referred to as newscasters (and have been since the 1950s), whilst those working at the BBC are called newsreaders.

In the United States and Canada, presenters of news broadcasts are referred to as news anchors (sometimes anchorperson, anchorman, or anchorwoman) instead of "newscasters". An anchorman traditionally is a television personality who presents material prepared for a news program and, at times, must improvise commentary for live presentation. Many news anchors are also involved in writing and/or editing the news for their programmers.

The term "anchorman" was coined by producer Don Hewitt. PBS cites its first usage as being on July 7, 1952, to describe Walter Cronkite's role at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. According to Hewitt, the term was in reference to the "anchor leg" of a relay race. News anchors are also involved in various other useful activities which will take forward their responsibilities to perform at the highest level and achieve the best possible results for the desired work.

Film Producer

2009-05-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors. The producer is involved throughout all phases of the film-making process from development to completion of a project. In the first half of the 20th century, the producer also tended to wield ultimate creative control on a film project. In the U.S., with the demise of Hollywood's studio system in the 1950s, creative control began to shift into the hands of the director.

Changes in movie and film distribution and marketing in the 1970s and '80s gave rise to the modern-day phenomenon of the Hollywood blockbuster, which tended to bring power back into the hands of the producer. While marketing and advertising for films accentuates the role of the director, apart from a few well-known film-makers, it is usually the producer who has the greatest degree of control in the American film industry.[citation needed]. Many producers today are paid as a minimum 120,000 to 300,000 a movie

Traditionally, the producer is considered the chief of staff while the director is in charge of the line. This "staff and line" organization mirrors that of most large corporations and the military. Under this arrangement, the producer has overall control of the project and can terminate the director, but the director actually makes the film[1]. The "line producer" is thus a producer who assists with day-to-day financial and production concerns "on the line" as the film is being made.
Producer: the individual who has the greatest involvement and oversight among a film's various producers. In smaller companies or independent projects, may be the equivalent of the executive producer. •

Executive producer: In major productions, usually a representative or CEO of the film studio - although the title may be given as an honorarium to a major investor - often oversees the financial, administrative and creative aspects of production, though not technical aspects. In smaller companies or independent projects, may be synonymous with creator/writer. A producer who reports to the Executive Producer and provides money to finance a project. In large productions, the co-producer is more involved in the day-to-day production. In independent projects, the title can connote an involvement in the inception of the production.

Animation

2009-05-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although several other forms of presenting animation also exist.

Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of motion drawing can be found in paleolithic cave paintings, where animals are depicted with multiple legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion.A 5,200 year old earthen bowl found in Iran in Shahr-i Sokhta has five images of a goat painted along the sides. This has been claimed to be an example of early animation. However, since no equipment existed to show the images in motion.

such a series of images cannot be called animation in a true sense of the wordhe phenakistoscope, praxinoscope, as well as the common flip book were early popular animation devices invented during the 1800s, while a Chinese zoetrope-type device was invented already in 180 AD.[6][7][8][9] These devices produced movement from sequential drawings using technological means, but animation did not really develop much further until the advent of cinematography.

There is no single person who can be considered the "creator" of the art of film animation, as there were several people doing several projects which could be considered various types of animation all around the same time. Georges Méliès was a creator of special-effect films; he was generally one of the first people to use animation with his technique. He discovered a technique by accident which was to stop the camera rolling to change something in the scene, and then continue rolling the film. This idea was later known as stop-motion animation