Sunday, January 26, 2020

How Do People Become Digital Natives Media Essay

How Do People Become Digital Natives Media Essay Helsper and Eynon argue that breadth of use, experience, self-efficacy and education are just as, if not more, important than age in explaining how people become digital natives (Helsper Eynon, 2010). But first, we have to understand who can be classified as a digital native. The term was coined by Mark Prensky in his work, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, published in 2001. Prensky described the generation of young people born since 1980 as digital natives due to what he perceived as an innate confidence in using new technologies such as the internet, videogames, mobile telephony and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. (Selwyn, 2009) A  digital native  is someone who was born around after 1980 and has grown up surrounded by devices such as cell phones and computers. Through interacting with these devices from an early age, they have a greater understanding of technology than a digital immigrant. A digital immigrant, on the other hand, is a person born before the introduction of digital technology and have learnt to adapt their lives around technology. A digital native is unique because they have grown up with digital technologies. The exposure to these technologies from early in their lives has made these students native speakers of the digital language. A distinguishing characteristic that Marc Prensky points out is, todays students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. (Prensky, 2001) A few key characteristics of digital natives are always online. By age 20, Dr. Urs Gasser from Harvards Berman centre points out that, kids will have spent 20,000 hours online -the same amount of time a professional piano player would have spent practicing. They tend to be very open about themselves online. It is said that 35% girls and 25% of boys write blogs. This usually works to be an advantage to HR sectors of various companies as they can Google a candidate with ease. They often experience work with community builders, and are responsive to intrinsic motivations. However, a group of academics led by Sue Bennett of the University of Wollongong set out to debunk the whole idea of digital natives in 2008. They say that the idea that digital natives learn in a different manner can actually have diverse consequences in the field of education. (Monitor: The Next Generation Unplugged, 2010) Being born in the digital age has had many significant impacts on fundamental features of human experience. They are wired differently. This affects the way they think and the way they learn. Unlike digital immigrants, digital natives dont have to print out email or other materials for later reading. They usually can read of the screen of the computer. If they want to show someone a website, for example, they just have to send the link to the person in question. Digital natives are concerned about doing things faster. For example, if a digital immigrant were to ask for the address of a five people in a set of people, they would take at least 15 minutes per person writing all the information. A digital native would however search for the facebook profile of the person which would take 15 minutes in total. Brains have different developmental experiences and therefore develop differently. Also, people who experience different inputs from the culture that surrounds them, think differently. (Prensky, 2001) Children raised with the computer think differently from the rest of us. They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. Its as though their cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential. (Winn) Digital natives crave instant responses for their actions as a result of their experiences. Traditional schooling does not cater for such characteristics. One study showed that students in class get to ask a question every 10 hours. (Prensky, 2001) The  digital divide  is the gap between people with access to information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. It includes the imbalance both in physical access to  technology  and the resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital citizen.    Simply put, the digital divide is the empty space between the two armies, the space they come to do battle. One side of the arena are the digital natives and on the other side, the digital immigrants. There is a huge gap between the two as I pointed out earlier on in the essay. Both generations (digital natives and digital immigrants) are forced to meet which commonly results in conflicting ideologies of digital technology. The everyday regime of life at work is becoming more technologically advanced with improved computers in offices, more complicated machinery in industry etc. With technology rapidly improving, it is getting harder and harder for digital immigrants to keep up. But this is not something new. Neuroscientists everywhere tells us that the brain adapts itself to the technology we use.   It is not just technology that alters our behaviour and habits. It actually changes the way our mind works, and alters the physical structure of our brain. Connections between neurons are created, strengthened, or diminished and severed based on interactions with the world. (davidweedmark). For e.g. take away technology from a teenager for a day and you will see the difference for yourself. From both extremes there is a healthy middle ground. The availability of calculators should not mean that multiplication tables should not be memorized, but it does not imply that calculators should be banned. As Prensky pointed out, there is no reason that a generation that can memorize over 100 Pokemon characters à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ cant learn the names, populations, capitals and relationships of all the 101 nations in the world. (Prensky, 2001) Helsper and Eynon argue that breadth of use, experience, self-efficacy and education are just as, if not more, important than age in explaining how people become digital natives (Helsper Eynon, 2010). Personally, I agree with the statement. There are four factors that determine whether a person is digital native Breadth of use, self-efficacy, education and age. Breadth of use, as mentioned by Helsper and Eynon refers to the number of times a person uses the internet or any electronic source qualifies them to be that considered as a digital native. As indicated by the graph below, there is an increasing trend in internet usage. singapore internet.JPG The impulse of a digital native to search for information would be going onto the internet, rather than newspapers or books. Unlike the digital immigrants, as defined by (Prensky, 2001) they are people who have lesser knowledge about the internet and the usage of it. Experience, to determine whether a person is a digital native or not, is defined as those who have been on the Internet the longest, while they might not have grown up with the Internet when young, they have been submerged in it for the longest period of time (Helsper Eynon, 2010). It is right to say that those working in the Information Technology (IT) sector will be better off than those who are novices to computer software. The years of experience of these experts determines how good they are in IT. A young person who is below the age of 30 is considered digital native as they will be able to figure out the program easily. This is due to the fact that when digital natives come out into the world, most of the technologies have already been so advanced, some of which are computerised, therefore it is not surprising to know that these natives are already submerged in the digital world. Self-efficacy refers to a persons belief that they can perform adequately in a situation. (Wood, Zeffane, Fromholtz, Wiesner, Creed, 2010). Gender is a glaring is an example for self-efficacy. Many tend to have a perception that boys are better in Mathematics and Physics than girls. Due to this, the self-efficacy produced from boys will be higher; hence their thought processes are better. Likewise for self-efficacy in digital natives, as many perceive that young people, who are born after 1980, to be better at IT skills and knowledge. This led to the increase in their (digital natives) self-efficacy, which also resulted in them being better than the older people digitally. Education simply means the depth with which people are knowledgeable in technical skills and knowledge, and whether education can determine whether someone is a digital native. According to (Prensky, 2001), the single biggest problem facing education today is that our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language. Based on the arguments provided in this essay, it can be concluded that Helsper and Eynons argument that breadth of use, experience, self-efficacy and education are just as, if not more, important than age in explaining how people become digital natives (Helsper Eynon, 2010) holds water. All the factors mentioned are all equally important in defining digital natives. Breadth of use shows us the number of people who use internet on a daily basis. Experience is dependent on the duration one has worked with technology. A digital native is also determined by the self-efficaciousness they exhibit is towards modern technology such as computers and electronic devices. A strong educational background does not prove the existence of digital natives as many digital natives in this world are not well-educated. These factors are as important as age.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Marketing Glitz

Individual Assignment – Glitzz Case Study 1. What factors influence the pricing decisions for a product such as Glitzz? Analyze the factors and comment on the range of prices that can be set for Glitzz. The factors that influence the pricing decisions for Glitzz are the pricing objectives, costs, and demand. The pricing objectives will be needed to direct the role of the price in the market. Higher prices will need to be set if the objective is to have higher profit margin instead of higher market share. However, if the objective is to survive in the industry, the prices need to be low to get more sales to meet its operating cost.For the case of Glitzz, the pricing objective is between having higher market share and to survive in the industry. Costs play an important role in the pricing decision as it set the minimum price for the product in order for the company to operate and cover their cost to prevent losses. There are five cost concepts, namely the fixed cost, variable co st, unit variable cost and marginal cost and total cost. Fixed cost is the sum of expense of the firm that is stable and do not change with the quantity of a product that is produced and sold. The fixed cost for Glitzz would be the machineries, rent of factory building, and insurance.The variable cost is the sum of expenses of that firm that vary directly with the quantity of the product that is produced and sold. The variable cost for Glitzz would be direct labour and raw material used to produce the bottle of jewelry cleaner. Total cost is the total expense incurred by the firm in the process of producing and marketing the product. Unit variable cost is the variable cost expressed on per unit basis and the marginal cost is the change in the total cost that results from producing and marketing one additional unit of product.Demand is also one of the important factors for pricing decision as it helps to relate the quantity sold with the price. Demand is dependent on the key factors, consumer taste, consumer income and the price and availability of similar products. They look into the consumers willingness and their ability to pay for the product. As stated in the case study, very few consumers are willing to pay a price which is higher than $20. Hence, the consumers willingness to pay and affordability for the product needs to be lesser than $20. In the case of Glitzz, the type of competitive market is monopolistic competition.There are similar products in the market but Glitzz will be competing with the non price factor which is their special formula for the cleaner with natural ingredient that is gentle on skin. This is to stand out from their competitors like the Brilliant Restorer and Connoisseurs by charging at a slightly different price as compared to its competitors. Therefore, the price has to be set at an affordable range around $12 to $20 in order to manage long run profit and develop a quality product to penetrate the competitive market.This price s hould not be lower than the cost and its competitors due to its unique non price factor that their competitors did not offer. 2. What price would you recommend for Glitzz? Why? I would recommend Glizz to set their price at $17. 90. Most of its competitors like the Brilliant Restorer and Connoisseurs are setting their prices ranging from $6. 97 to $16. 90. As Glitzz is a newly packaged product that is entering the monopolistic competitive market, it has to be competition oriented.With the pricing objective to gain market share, they are not able to gain market share by having price war. Hence, the price has to be set in a way that it does not deviate much from its competitors. Furthermore, the price is also priced odd-even as theory shown that the demand increases when the price drop. Thus, pricing at $17. 90, it seems to indicate that the price has dropped from $18. This can help as way to increase their demand by having customers to kick start their first purchase of Glitzz product in order for Glitzz to pave its place in the market.However, the price is set slightly above the competitors as a form of prestige pricing to attract quality customers as Glitzz is offering a product of quality with the natural ingredient used for its jewelry cleaning solution that is gentle on skin, non-corrosive and nonabrasive. A product that brings positive benefits to the customers should not set its price at a very low rate as it will devalue the product and lost credibility for the benefits that the product has promised. In addition, the price should not be over $ 20 as research has been conducted to show that very few customers are willing to pay above $20 for the product. . What Strategy would you propose for Glitzz? What costs and expenses would be involved? Given your recommended price in (2), what would be the breakeven point? I would recommend Glitzz to use Flexible-price policy together with demand and competition oriented approaches like prestige, odd-even and above- market pricing. Both the demand and competition oriented approaches focus on consumer demand, revenue implication and the markets performance and this helps Glitzz to stay competitive and in operation.Moreover, with flexible pricing policy, Glitzz is able to use price discrimination by setting different prices for different type of customers. The price can be set at a discount for business to business customers like Lee Hwa. Glitzzs product will be frequently used by jelwelry shops like Lee Hwa as Lee Hwas products are the jewelries. The jewelries have to be kept clean and shiny to attract consumers attention and desire to purchase their jewelries. Hence, Gltizzs product will come in handy to facilitate the jewelry shops sales as it aids in the cleaning and polishing of the jewelries.Hence, being the main stream of customers for Glitzz with their high usage and quantity purchased, Glitzz can lower their price and gives discounts to these jewelry shops. On the other hand, the price w ill be higher for the mass market as compared to the jewelry shops due to the lower usage and quantity purchased. The consumers in the mass market will purchased the jewelry cleaning product less frequently as they do not have the need to maintain their jewelry at its best condition everyday and the product is commonly used especially during special occasion like New year or parties.Hence, Glizz is able to set at higher price for the mass market at departmental stores like Robinsons. In addition, setting a higher price could also allow Glitzz to earn a smaller amount of profit when there are seasonal discounts for their product in the departmental stores. The cost and expense involved were the consultation cost ($5000), cost of the content and packaging (20000 x $5= $ 100 000) and budget for advertising ($ 1-2 million).The budget for advertising will somewhat made up the majority of the cost as these activities are important for the long-term future of the products by developing bra nd awareness and preference. The activities will include advertising cost on mass media, promotions and marketing cost that are incurred. Assuming that budget for advertising is $1million, Fixed Cost= $5000+$1000000=$1005000 Unit Variable cost = $5 Recommended Unit Price in Question 2 = $17. 90 Break-even point (BEP) = Fixed Cost/ (Unit Price- Unit variable cost) = 77906. 9767 = 77907 Quantity (round up to nearest whole number)

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

What Is Biochemistry - 699 Words

What is Biochemistry and why you should study it? Biochemistry or sometimes we called it as biological chemistry is defined as a scientific study of the chemistry of living organisms, especially the structure, the behavior of a living thing and the function of their chemical component such as proteins ,carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Many of these molecules are complex molecules called polymers, which are made up of monomer subunits. Most people consider biochemistry to be same with molecular biology. Nowadays, biochemistry has become the root for understanding all biological processes. It has provided widely explanations for the causes of many diseases in humans, animals and plants. As a student, we should study it†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, knowledge of biochemistry is also widely spread in the scope of physiology, microbiology, pharmacology and the clinical study of chemistry. In these field, biochemist will investigate or observe the mechanism of a drug action, planning a research pertaining to the organ function and to study the diagnosis and the therapy that can be applied to the diseases and the assessment of health. As a conclusion, biochemistry form an important part of essential science because biochemistry provides the foundation for understanding all the biological process in life. Biochemistry have solved many diseases problem by suggestion of ways on how to treat the diseases and provided the explanation for many causes of diseases in humans, plants and animals. Besides that, biochemistry is also significant in the other disciplines, especially physiology, nutrition, molecular biology, and genetics, where as its discoveries have made a profound impact in medicine, agriculture, industry, and many other areas of human activity. 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