Bivins- Lets get ethical

Bivins piece on ethics starts with talking about what he calls “stakeholders.” A “stakeholder is defined as anyone who is effected by our decisions or who is effected by our decisions. We are linked to our stakeholders by the effect our actions have on them as well as them as well as vise versa. As members of society we have different moral obligations to different groups of society. Though I found that it was interesting that there are four primary claimant groups that we are have different obligation towards, those being either clients or customers, the organization for which a person works, the profession of which we are a part, and society as a whole, the part of the reading I found really intriguing was the theory by James Grunig.

 

Educator James Grunig, who has a very interesting theory regarding linkages

 Grunig’s Theory

Grunig says that there are several linkages that are common to most organizations: providers, suppliers, receivers, associates and issue-defined associates.

. Providers- Provide the authority and resources necessary for the organization to exist. Examples include: Government agencies, legislative authorities, and board of directors.

Suppliers- furnish materials and other sources of needed input for the organization to exist.

. Receivers- Simply use the output of the organization

. Associates- The Organizations with similar interests or that have similar problems

Issue-defined constituents- Are those that arise as issues-dictate.

WHY DO i FIND GRUNIG’S THEORY SO INTERESTING?

.  I find his theory interesting simply because I can apply his linkages to my life here at Furman University

The providers for me here have been the people in the Admissions Office that accepted my application and enabled me to come here.

. The Suppliers that have been her for me while I have been at Furman have been my Professors because they have supplied me with the knowledge that it takes for me to exist in socieety

The Receivers during my time at Furman have been myself and my fellow students because we are acting like sponges and taking in all the knowledge that the Professors are providing us with.

. The associates during my time at Furman have been my friends and my fellow students because we all face similar challenges such as taking exams and trying to get the best grade point average possible.

The Issue-defined constituents during my time here at Furman would be anyone that comes from out of town to watch a particular sporting event

Engaging readers in a conversation

In this new world of social media, it has become common for people to want to always become interactive, and engage in conversation. That desire to become more interactive has spread to News rooms across the nation, as they try to engage their readers.

Different approaches to increase interaction

• Allowing users to customize their site.
• Opening up to users databases such as those for public spending and hotel reviews
• Providing extended coverage that would otherwise not be available on print or air.
• Administrating bulletin boards and chat.

The paper called the News & Record has been really making an effort to become more interactive. One of their editors named Lex Alexander, said that their goal in doing so hope to “better understand how we can work with the internet to expand the quantity and quality of the local news information, and dialogue we provide.”

Different proposals the News Paper has considered

• Assigning local bloggers to cover events that the paper does not.
• Recruiting one blogger per neighborhood
• Making “Letters to the Editor” into a blog.
• Digitizing Activities and making them, available online, free

The Lawrence-Journal World

The Lawrence Journal World is a newspaper that is experimenting with customizable newspapers and allowing its subscribers to tailor their own addition of the paper. While this may be a great idea and most people love these new innovations that newspapers are trying, for me it is terrifying.

Why is this terrifying to me?

These new innovations of newspapers where the direction is headed more online terrifies me, because I am not technically gifted when it comes to dealing with doing things online. I know that is awful for me to say for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I have been taking this Digital Communications class, and I should be feeling more confident with doing things online, like blogging, but the truth is, I am still not confident in my abilities. I am also petrified because I have an internship this summer at New England Sports Network, where they will probably ask me to do a lot of digital stuff, and I do not want to let them down.

That headstone is almost correct, what it should say instead is, “The Traditional” Newspaper Industry R.I.P.

Medical innovations

 

 

One of the greatest inventions that has taken the world by storm and has made the lives of people with physical disabilities a whole lot easier was the invention of the modern elevator. The elevator, which was invented by Elisha Otis, who ironically happens to be a distant relative of mine, was first introduced to the public at the Crystal Palace Exposition in 1854. Now elevators are old news and are featured in just about every building. However, one of the greatest parts about living in the twenty-first century with a disability is that scientific innovations are constantly making it our dreams come true.

A picture of the modern elevator first being demonstrated in New York in 1835.

 

 

Biofeedback

 

Biofeedback was first popularized by the Brucker Institute in Miami Florida, which was founded by Dr. Bernard Brucker. Brucker’s method of biofeedback uses subtle and innovative techniques to help restore and reeducate the brainwaves and help make new pathways for the brain’s signals. This is done by hooking the patient up to electrodes on to the head and the affected body parts. Then, as the electrodes are working, you look at a screen that is showing your muscle movement, and as you repeatedly look at the screen while you are doing various activities, your brain will start to realize how your muscle is supposed to behave, and thus create new muscle memory. Biofeedback is most effective for people, like myself, with Cerebral Palsy,

Image of a guy using biofeedback. As you can see, he is hooked up to electrodes which are then picking up his muscle activity and then showing them on the screen. The hope is that with enough practice, his brain and muscles will be able to remember what that feels like and eventually duplicate it. Also featured in the picture is Dr. Bernard Brucker, who sadly passed away in 2008.

The Exoskeleton

The Exsokeleton is a wearable suit that helps people who have suffered stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury(like Cerebral Palsy) and other forms of extreme weakness be able to experience what it is like to walk. People who thought they could not will finally be able to experience independence. Able bodied people take walking for granted, but I am not ashamed to say that tears are starting to accumulate in my eyes as I contemplate the possibilities that this suit could open up. The suit is primarily used in rehab centers but it has recently become available for commercial use. The only issue is right now the suit weighs about 55 pounds and costs about 40 thousand dollars.

 

Three people wearing the Exoskeleton getting ready to feel what it is like to walk again and experience independence

Watch this video of the Exoskeleton and marvel at how far medical innovation has come!

Disability Advancements

Being born with a physical disability has its own unique set of challenges. For instance, when most able body kids see a flight of stairs they will not give it a second thought and will walk those stairs without a problem. For me, and I think most people with physical disabilities, stairs is public enemy number one. However, it is not just stairs: narrow doorways are a pain, heavy doors, big thresholds as well as much more. Being born with a physical disability requires you to approach everyday life with a different mindset and to approach each obstacle with the determination that “where there is a will there is a way.” In terms o making places more accessible for people with disabilities, many improvements have been made but there is still a long way to go.

The Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed into law in 1990. This law, which was the first law helped people with disabilities, prohibited discrimination of disabled people employment, public services or in public venues.

President George H. W. Bush signing into law the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990

                                             Colleges and Universities

Any student with physical disabilities has to take that into account when selecting where they will be going to school for the next four years. Some factors to take into account when assessing the stability of a campus: The size of the campus, the terrain of the campus, number of accessible entrances and size of the dorm rooms, Personally, one of the major factors that I looked for was the climate of the school because Cerebral Palsy does not react well to the cold. Thankfully, we do not have to search for all this information because it is all laid out for you on  this website

What are the criteria for declaring a school handicapped accessible?

There is a whole list of standards and codes that is way to complicated for me explain in s timely and understandable manner that would make sense to any of you, so in order to spare a you guys a headache, I will just point you to the ADA guidelines website if you would like to take a more in depth look at ADA guidelines.

Over the years much has been done to bridge the gap in society of students not only with physical disabilities not only by building ramps, or making the dorm rooms bigger and things of that nature but also helping students out from an academic standpoint. For instance, many colleges have what is called an Office of Disabilities Services, where students with disabilities are allowed to take their exams and are given extended time. It often takes students with disabilities longer to perform basic tasks such as writing on tests. So, why should they be punished from academic standpoint because of something we cannot control? The answer is: We should not. That is why the Offices of Disabilities services, for me at Furman University, and for many students has been a blessing.

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