“Wine of Astonishment” Analysis

Setting In  The Wine of Astonishment, the setting is very significant as it gives the reader a better understanding of the background and atmosphere of the story. The story is set over a twenty year period somewhere between nineteen thirty two and nineteen fifty one. It is in a small, remote village in Trinidad called Bonasse where everything takes place. The setting is one of the best techniques in a story, as it has the power to make us feel like we are actually in the story and watching everything take place right before our eyes.The village setting is surrounded by African folk culture which is seen by the stick fighting and chantwell traditions, the communal pride in Bolo's prowess over Ivan Morton's achievements. By this rural setting the reader has to consider their way of life seen by Eva's plantain crushing to the calypsos by light of the flambeau outside Buntin's shop as well as their economic background which at that time was predominantly agricultural with the plating o f cocoa and sugar. It also makes the characterization more intimate where we see love between Joyce and Clyde.The events more symbolic such as the Spiritual Baptist religion which plays a pivotal part in the story. Characterization EVA Eva is the narrator of the story ‘Wine of Astonishment’. She is the wife of Bee and the mother of five. Eva lives in the village of Bonasse with Bee and the three younger of her children. She is of African descent and is of the Shouter Baptist faith. She is a very religious woman and she believes all things happen for a reason. She believes that God gives them all their trials and tribulations because they can bear them.She is a loving mother as she tells her son Reggie that even though he failed his examination, he still had his life in front of him. Her motherly nature is also shown when she was worried about Joyce, her daughter, and Clyde’s relationship. Eva and Bee have been married for twenty-three years and are very close to each other. Eva tries to help Bee by convincing him that they could bear their burdens and convincing him that Ivan Morton would help them. She also tells him that while they do not have as much as others, they have the necessities, and need no more. BEE Bee is the leader of the Shouter Baptist Church in Bonasse.He is married to Eva and has five children, three of which lives with him and his wife in Bonasse. He is of African descent. He is often burdened by his position, yet he cannot simply leave, he must go on, as seen when Eva narrates in page 3, â€Å"†¦and maybe he want to say to hell with the church, to hell with Ivan Morton, to hell with everything, but he can’t get out the web, he must go on hoping. † Ivan Morton was in the Council for Bonasse and Bee sacrificed for him to be there, however Ivan Morton was doing nothing to help the Shouter Baptists and that frustrated Bee greatly.He is very religious and hates the fact that they could not worship God in t heir own way but had to abide to the laws. He relies on his wife, Eva, as his confident and supporter. She helps him to get back up when he is down. Bee seems to be very wary of letting his last son, Reggie, to go to high school because he fears what it may make him. Narrative Technique The story is told in first person, as the narrator is known to be Eva a main character of the play.The first person narrative, captures the attention of the reader in an early stage of the piece of literature, understanding and wanting to understand the situation that the narrator would currently be involved in . We look at the story through her point of view and see the turn of events as they occur through her eyes. Most of the story is written in dialect, as it would be the way that Eva, the story teller would commonly be speaking. It also encourages the readers to be in favor of one party(s) in the story, not having the input of another narrator or that of an omniscient narrator, who would not giv e the story only one point of view.This narrative technique is very useful in capturing the reader’s attention as it helps him/her (as the case may be) get a better grasp into what’s going on within that person’s life and having full access to that person’s most private thoughts and feelings. As it is in Eva’s case, we see her life and struggles within herself, causing the reader to take a special interest in Eva and to empathize for her in whatever situation she is facing, as she describes it to the reader(s).

Educational leaders in a globalising world

IntroductionThis study shall analyze and depict the extent to which leading is shared in an educational environment such as a higher educational establishment. It shall place and discourse some concerns and jobs in this country, which consequence pupils, such as myself, go toing such establishments. The treatment will be with mention to a suited literature reappraisal and based on my ain experience.DiscussionLeithwood and Riehl ( 2003 ) highlight that in these times school leaders are being held accountable for how well instructors teach and how much pupils learn. They ask the undermentioned inquiry. How does leading work within a high quality educational establishment? Leithwood and Riehl provide two maps of effectual leading, viz. supplying way and exerting influence. While it is frequently difficult to trap point good leading it is frequently easier to see hapless leading in action. Summarizing the major findings from research on school leading techniques, Leithwood and Riehl list five chief claims. First leading straight influences pupil acquisition, either by assisting to advance vision and ensuring resources and procedures are in topographic point. Second there are other of import leaders apart from instructors and decision makers. School principals have been found to assist instructors embrace ends and work together towards continual betterment. Third identifying and undermentioned leading patterns are important in developing the organisation as a whole. Fourthly, school squad leaders when held accountable to orientated school policies respond more fruitfully. Finally school staff respond fruitfully to educating diverse groups of pupils. Their study finds that school leading is most successful when it is focused oninstruction and acquisition. Problems may happen if leading maps are distributed across many informal functions in a school. Responsibility should be coordinated and clear about who takes duty and for what. From a pupil position this is besides really of import since as pupils we need to cognize who to turn to for equal learning support and if there is a job who to turn to. Bottery ( 2006 ) argues that a globalising universe is now the context within which educational leaders need to border their work proposing that an apprehension of the planetary nature of policy issues, and of their impact upon educational work, needs to be incorporated into a re construct of school functions and duties. Economic, political, demographic, cultural, technological, American, lingual and environmental globalisation factors are all countries that need to be considered for effectual educational leading. Gale and Densmore ( 2003 ) identify parametric quantities for how educational leaders might react to the economic and societal conditions presently being experienced. One chief concern for educational leaders at the minute is that instructor groups often do non hold the power to make up one's mind what the budget of their establishment will be. They may merely apportion the financess that are assigned to them from higher direction, and merely so as the last measure in the procedure. As pupils we are frequently frustrated by this every bit frequently we and our immediate educational instructor and or leader are frequently in the best place to see where financess would straight and most usefully better our larning experience. Hence leading as a shared squad frequently brings penetration at assorted degrees that upper direction may non hold the grasp of. Timperley ( 2005 ) besides agrees that the thought of leading should be distributed across multiple people and state of affairss. This proves to be the most utile model for understanding the worlds of schools and how they might be improved. This alternate involves believing of leading in footings of activities and interactions that are distributed across multiple people and state of affairss. He besides notes that leading has ever been distributed within good organisations. Lambert ( 2002 ) recommends that leading capacity among all members of the school community should be encouraged instead that merely looking to the principal entirely for instructional leading. Leadership is the professional work of everyone in the school. Out of that changed civilization will originate a new vision of professional pattern associating taking and larning. Burford ( 2001 ) wants us to see leading as truly a challenge to make and keep, ethical, reliable relevant and joyful relationships within a acquisition community. Education should non be seen as a concern. Burford challenges current leaders to be â€Å" ethically fit † leaders, committed bonders and theoretical accounts of beliefs and values for kids in a context that is about tolerance, understanding and joy. As our current intelligence is dominated by wars, such as those in Iraq and Afganistan, we need it now more than any clip in the last 20 old ages if we are to be true to our vision of a better universe for our kids and their communities. As a pupil we do look up to our educational leaders so this accomplishment is indispensable in harbouring an effectual and actuating larning environment. West-Burnham ( 2004 ) argues that our current thought about leading development is excessively to a great extent focused on the calling of the person. Leadership needs to set greater accent on constructions, procedures and relationships from a more corporate capacity. In add-on he highlights that trust is the â€Å"social glue† of organisational life and that frequently organizations that are high on the trust list tend to surpass other schools that are non. This alteration nevertheless may necessitate to come from the initial leader concerned, which shall in the terminal benefit both the leader and the administration. As a pupil we frequently see educational leaders constrained by their instruction duties where the instruction falls 2nd topographic point to their research activities. In this respect greater clip for both activities should be managed so that the leader concerned can stand out in both countries. From surveies in Australia, Gurr, Lawrie and Mulford ( 2006 ) showed important parts from principals in the countries of capacity edifice and instruction and acquisition. They farther concluded that principals remain an of import and important figure in finding the success of a school. The importance of the principals ‘ values and beliefs as a subject is found in both surveies, as is their of import parts in the countries of capacity edifice and instruction and acquisition. In footings of mentoring and teaming, Drago-Severson and Pinto ( 2006 ) conclude that a school ‘s human resources and puting more grownups in the schoolroom, supply chances for instructor acquisition by cut downing isolation and edifice a more collegial environment. Cranston & A ; Ehrich ( 2004 ) look into the effectivity of Senior Management squads within the direction of Australian schools. They find that the direction squads can offers educational leaders a tool by which they can reply how effectual a squad is and besides how might it be made more effectual. They besides facilitate the development of constructive schemes to better those facets of the squads deemed, by the squad, to be necessitating attending. Duignan and Bezzina ( 2006 ) highlight that the more instructors know and the more skilled they are in learning, the more successful schools will be in progressing acquisition. Whether instructors will cognize more and go more skilled, he suggested, depends on the support they get from policies and context. They point out that in many topographic points, instruction is undervalued, and the conditions for back uping instructors are developing. This state of affairs has effects for the life calling of instructors and schools. Foster ( 2005 ) investigates the ways school betterments, intending the sweetening of pupil acquisition, is generated by principals and other school members. The findings are that competent administrative and teacher leading contribute to school success. In add-on leading is found to be a shared societal influence procedure. As a pupil myself we frequently feel excluded from taking in the school betterment. By giving us pupils greater input in our acquisition waies frequently greater larning efficiency can be achieved. Slater ( 2005 ) draws on the consequences of a larger qualitative, self-contained focal point group study that identified effectual behaviours for school principals to join forces successfully. He asks what are the ways in which the principal influences coaction? Collaboration has the potency to better pupil results and to back up school-wide determination devising. The collaborative behavior of principals in the survey by Slater have been shown to be linked to the affectional sphere. Hence a challenge for principals who wish to work in collaborative ways involves recognizing, apprehension, and pull offing the emotional facets of the collaborative procedure. In add-on Slater points out that more educational leaders must larn to pull off emotionally every bit good as rationally.DecisionMost surveies on educational leading agree that while holding strong leaders, such as a principal is indispensable to the efficient running of an educational school, the leading is most effectual when d istributed across multiple leaders and shared. While a strong direction squad can supply indispensable support for ever inquiring how the school may be made more effectual, a stronger and more effectual learning experience can ensue if the leading is shared down the line, nevertheless the duty for these functions should be good defined within the organisation. In add-on educational establishments should non be seen as a concern and school leading is most successful when it is focused on instruction and acquisition.MentionsBottery, M. ( 2006 ) . Educational leaders in a globalising universe: a new set of precedences? School Leadership & A ; Management, 26 ( 1 ) :5-22 Burford, C. ( 2001 ) . Future Catholic School Leadership: The Search For Joy and Justice. Presentation: Twin Towers Services Club, Coolangatta 2 Cranston, N. & A ; Ehrich, L. ( 2004 ) Leading with, and through, effectual squads, Rehearsing Administrator, 26 ( 4 ) :24-27. Duignan, P. , Bezzina, M. ( 2006 ) . Constructing a capacity for shared leading in schools – Teachers as leaders of educational alteration. Retrieved on 24th August 2009 fromhypertext transfer protocol: //www.uow.edu.au/educ/research/CEL/conferenceproceedings/2006/DUIGNAN % 20P % 20Paper % 2006.pdf Drago-Severson, E. Pinto, K, C. ( 2006 ) . School leading for cut downing teacher isolation: Drawing from the well of human resources. : International Journal of Leadership in Education, 9 ( 2 ) :129-155 Foster, R. ( 2005 ) Leadership and secondary school betterment: instance surveies of tensenesss and possibilities, International Journal of Leadership in Education, 8 ( 1 ) :35-52 Gale, T. , Densmore, K. ( 2003 ) . Democratic educational leading in modern-day times Journal of Leadership in Education, 6 ( 2 ) :119-136 Gurr, D. , Lawrie, D. , Mulford, B. ( 2006 ) . Models of successful chief leading Journal of Leadership & A ; Management, 26 ( 4 ) :371-395 Slater, L. ( 2005 ) . Leadership for coaction: An affectional procedure. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 8 ( 4 ) :321-333 Timperley, H, S. ( 2005 ) . Distributed leading: developing theory from pattern. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 37 ( 4 ) :395-420 Lambert, L. ( 2002 ) . A Model for Shared Leadership. Educational Leadership, 59 ( 8 ) :37-40 Leithwood, K. , Riehl, C. , ( 2003 ) . What We Know about Successful School Leadership. Retrieved on 24th August 2009 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ncsl.org.uk/media/F7B/98/randd-leithwood-successful-leadership.pdf West-Burnham, J. ( 2004 ) . Constructing leading capacity: Helping leaders learn. National College for School Leadership. England: NCSL. Retrieved on 24th August 2009 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leading-change/Strategic-leadership/Building-Leadership-Capacity-Helping-Leaders-Learn

Merchandising in sports marketing.

Merchandising in sports marketing. Merchandising is defined as all the activities having to do with the right merchandise at the right price at the right quantities at the right time in the right place with the proper controls. Marketing is the commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer. By combining the aspects of merchandising and marketing into a sports spectrum, sports merchandising is the way professional sports teams and organizations market and deliver their products to the consumer. The vast majority of the marketing effort for sports team is accomplished through the playing of the teams' games. Professional sports are able to create an incredible amount of exposure during their games because their uniforms, team colors, and logos are on display for the course of the game to both those in attendance, and the people watching the game on television. Teams use different tactics and marketing maneuvers to increase interest and sales in their apparel.English: A sample NFL schedule We will focus on the merchandising efforts of the National Football league (NFL), the leader in professional sports organizations in merchandising. We will look at the overall merchandising effort as well as how the league markets itself through various different avenues.When looking at the merchandising effort of professional sports teams, you must look at the top dog in this, the National Football League (NFL). Football is king in the industry for many reasons, none larger than the vast popularity and viewing of the sport. In a survey by ESPN/Chilton sports, two-thirds of all Americans consider themselves to be football fans. Maybe even more shocking is the fact that forty-three percent of all women consider themselves to football fans. When looking at the definition for merchandising, we can evaluate the NFL using the 5 "right" of merchandising. In looking at the 5 "rights," we begin...

The Meiji Period of Restoration †Japanese History Paper

The Meiji Period of Restoration – Japanese History Paper Free Online Research Papers The Meiji Period of Restoration Japanese History Paper The Meiji period brought about the rapid modernization of Japanese politics, culture, and foreign relations which resulted in Japans attaining the status of the leading country in Asia and a world economic and political power. However, looking back on the Meiji Restoration, it becomes unclear as to whether it was a smooth transition, or a dramatic breaking point in Japanese history. (In order to determine the significance of the Meiji Restoration, an examination of the proceeding system of governance, culture and foreign relations is necessary.) The first part of this essay will discuss the Tokugawa period; the second will examine the Meiji Restoration. The last will analyze the Restoration itself and the changes that were made politically, culturally, and in foreign relations and conclusions on the nature of the Restoration will be drawn based on the given information. The political structure of the Tokugawa period was quite simple. At the head of the government was the Shogun, who was the main executive power. Under the shogun were the daimyo, who were very similar to governors. There were three â€Å"sections† of daimyo, family of the Tokugawa were called Shinpan, allies were called fudai, and enemies of the Tokugawa were called tozama. The last level of government was the samurai, who were leading men in the society who were traditionally military fighters, but formed the main bureaucracy of the Tokugawa government. This form of government is commonly referred to as the bakuhan, and shaped the culture of Japan during the Tokugawa Period. It should be noted that the Tokugawa government was quite strict. In his journals, Perry noted this and wrote, â€Å"It is evident that nothing but the fear of punishment deterred them from entering into free intercourse with us, but they were closely watched; and it may be inferred that he higher class would be equally inclined to greater intimacy if they in their turn were not also watched.† (Commodore Perry’s Journal, pg 180) The culture of Tokugawa Japan was very different from the culture after the Meiji Restoration. The Japanese were a proud people, and regarded their nation very highly. However, the people were very traditional, and really knew little about change and participation in the government. In the Tokugawa Period, social class was very important, and was determined by a person’s heredity. There were four main social groups: samurai, farmers, merchants, and artisans. Outside of these four main classes, there were other people in society, such as priests, imperial workers, and sex workers. The largest group was the farmers, who made up about 80 percent of the population. Most Japanese people lived in the country, with only 5-6 percent living on the larger cities. Besides the confines of heredity, the culture of Tokugawa was lively. The people did not concern themselves in politics, so in their free time, there was art and music, plays and religions parties, entertainment, and the Licensed Quarters for the adventurous. Buddhism was the prominent religion. Inside of their circumscribed world, the people enjoyed considerable autonomy as long as they paid their taxes. Women had their place in the culture; they were very important in the home and to their husbands and were generally treated with respect. They were not on the same level as the men however. Overall, Tokugawa culture created a peaceful Japan. The people were content, the government was stable, the economy was strong, and these aspects led to a positive culture in Japan, at least till the early 1800’s. The last aspect of the Tokugawa Period related to politics, government, and culture: foreign relations. The government in Japan, before 1850, had no desire to interact with any foreign countries. This isolationist policy was called Sakoku. The reasons for this policy are unclear, but Japan clearly did not want to have anything to do with the world. The Tokugawa government did not attempt to have relationships with any surrounding nations, and discouraged other Asian nations from interacting with Japan. This policy of the government was enforced from the top down. When foreigners, such as the Dutch, came to Japan, the people were forbidden to interact with them. This was because the government resented having the Dutch, or any other foreign power, in their country. So, during the Tokugawa period, Japan strove to be isolated from the World, both politically and culturally. In the mid 1800’s, the rule of the Tokugawa started to crumble. The political structure was growing weak and outdated, as was Japan’s social structure, and its foreign relations. In 1868, the Tokugawa rule officially collapsed and the Meiji took over power. The Meiji Restoration was headed by discontented samurai who were not satisfied with their position under the Tokugawa. After studying the politics, culture, and foreign relations of the Tokugawa period, these same aspects of the Meiji Period need to be examined to determine the whether the Meiji Restoration was a dramatic break point, or merely a transition. The first changes made were in the political structure and government. The Meiji decided that the politically fragmented system of the daimyo had to be completely overhauled. So immediately (after coming into power) in 1868, prefectures were established to replace the daimyo. The main goal in establishing the prefects was (to create) a national and bureaucratic state. All of the leaders of the prefects would report directly to the emperor in Tokyo, and would collect taxes to pay the samurai and the central government. These prefects extended the power and reach of the central government. A Genroin (senate) was also established. The second major political change was the rise of the emperor. In Tokugawa Japan, the emperor was more of a figurehead, but under the Meiji, the emperor held extensive executive power. The rise of the emperor gave the government legitimacy in the eyes of the people. The creation of this new bureaucratic state was a very important step in the history of modern Japan. The Meiji leaders inherited and modified the Tokugawa bureaucratic rule of the samurai. The (final) success of the Meiji Restoration of the government came in 1889 when a Constitution was written and ratified. The Constitution gave Japanese people rights they didn’t have before. In Chapter II of the Constitution I has laws such as, â€Å"No Japanese subject shall be arrested†¦unless according the law.† (Meiji Constitution, Chapter II, Article 23) There were more laws that protected the people, this (being but) is only one example. Japan was now under an ordered and stable rule, one that was modern and centralized with the holy emperor at its head. The culture of Japan also underwent major changes during the Meiji Restoration. The first, and most significant change that was made was the abolishment of the class system in Japan. With the abolishment of the class system, the Japanese emphasis on heredity was destroyed. Ones family line no longer determined what social class they would belong too, but rather, social standing was determined by ambition, education, and wealth. So, personal ability became extremely important for the first time. The second significant change in culture related to the emperor. With the rise of the prestige and importance of the emperor and empress, Japan’s culture changed to one (of) loyal to the royal family. Nationalism grew exponentially among the common people, who now had someone to look (up) to in their government. Shinmin No Michi wrote, â€Å"The Imperial family is the fountain source of the Japanese nation, and the national and private lives issue from this.† (Sources of Japanese Traditions, pg. 1001) Popular rights and freedoms also became very important. Under Tokugawa rule, individuals did not have very much personal freedom, but under the Meiji, commoners had freedom. The third significant cultural change was a move away from traditionalism and into modernity. During the Tokugawa period, the people thought little of change and progress, but the Meiji Restoration changed that completely. Once the rigid social structures were abolished, the people before to flex their cultural muscles. They moved into the large cities where they enjoyed markets and shopping. Cafes appeared that offered good food, conversation, and also the Jokyu (modern prostitute). These were a classier alterative to the relatively poor Licensed Quarter. After the change in culture and government came significant changes to foreign relations we well Previously, Japan had been very isolated. But after the Meiji restoration, Japan became more and more exposed to Western culture, and realized that it was falling behind the world. So, Japan began taking huge steps to learn about the West. The most important was the Iwakura Embassy (1871-1873). In this, the Japanese reformed treaties it held with other countries, and also sent people to other countries to study them in detail and report back to Japan. Basically, Japan opened itself up to the influence of the world, everything from fashion to government and imperialism. Based on (a careful analysis of )this information on Japan before the Meiji Restoration (Tokugawa Rule) and after, the answer to the question of whether it was a â€Å"dramatic break point’ in Japanese history is no. (Not sure if this is the conclusion that you are supporting. All of your example and analysis show a significant contrast between the Tokugawa Rule and the Meiji rule. If all of these differences and contrast are true then the conclusion should be, yes, this was a breakpoint in Japanese history. ) History shows the Tokugawa rule set many of the foundations needed by the Meiji for their Restoration. Tokugawa politics were becoming outdated and ineffective, the culture was suppressive and not malleable, and Japan could not remain isolated from the world for very long in the dramatic global changes in the mid-1850’s. Japan was ripe for change, and it seems that the Meiji Restoration should be called a dramatic change, and not a breaking point in the his tory of Japan. The reasons the Restoration was so sudden was because Japan had held off on change for many years during the Tokugawa rule. And when it collapsed and the Meiji took over, Japan was ready for something new. The Meiji Restoration would not have been so easy had Japan not been ready for significant changes in their government, culture, and foreign relations. So, based on the facts given, the Meiji Restoration was not a break in Japanese culture, but merely a culmination of circumstances that warranted and encouraged drastic changes in Japan in 1868 and the years following. Research Papers on The Meiji Period of Restoration - Japanese History PaperAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraQuebec and CanadaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaBringing Democracy to AfricaWhere Wild and West MeetCapital PunishmentNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2

Proof That Publishing More Content Wont Grow Blog Traffic

Proof That Publishing More Content Wont Grow Blog Traffic Its a little bold to say that publishing more content wont grow your blog traffic. I mean, more content + more social shares = more blog traffic Right? But this comes  from experience of what happened to us at when we published more content recently. Our social shares dropped  and our blog traffic wasnt too impressive either. And thats happened to us twice after we increased our publishing frequency. So I had to ask myself, Hey Nathan, could there really be a sweet spot for how many posts we should  publish a week to get the most social shares and blog traffic? After all, the answer may not be a lot of blog posts a week, but only a couple. And thats exactly what I found out. How To Publish More Content (And Get Less Blog Traffic) #blogging #contentmarketingWhy Publishing More Content Wont (Necessarily) Grow Your Blog Traffic Well- to be clear- it might but it also might not be worth your effort. Four weeks ago, we switched from publishing two posts a week to three. Thats a lot more content to create (especially considering our posts average 2,000 words and have about 8 graphics in them). So we really wanted to make sure the payoff was worth our time. This is what publishing 2 posts a week looked like. Before we made the switch to publish more content, 4 blog posts (2 a week)  averaged these stats within 2 weeks of being published: Social shares averaged 561 per post. Pageviews averaged 6,074 per post. Comments from readers averaged 6.5 per post. Not bad. So we should have been  able to get a  lot more results with 3  posts a week, right? This is what publishing 3 posts a week looked like. This is what our stats looks like for 6 blog posts (3 a week) within 2 weeks of being published: Social shares averaged 325  per post. Pageviews averaged 4,367  per post. Comments from readers averaged 3 per post. Not so good. This is what it looks like when you compare the  data. So whatever, right? I mean, thats not so bad. In fact, didnt blog traffic increase because we published more content? When you compare the data, switching from publishing 2  blog posts a week to 3: Decreased social shares an average of 236 per post. Thats a grand total of 1,950  which was 294  less than the previous average of 2,244. Yikes. Increased pageviews by 317.5 per post. Yes, that is an increase. It makes a total of 26,204 pageviews compared to 24,299. Thats an increase of only 1,905 pageviews to publish 2 more blog posts in a 2-week period. Decreased comments by 4 per post. So thats 17 compared to the previous 26. So Im kind of full of crap, right? I mean, we did increase our blog traffic. But to me, its not worth publishing two more posts to get fewer than a thousand pageviews per post. But was it really the publishing frequency? Now, there are a ton of outliers to consider into this: Who were the authors and did they have lots of followers? Were the topics we chose to cover not quite right for our audience? Should  we have experimented more with different publish days and times? Should we have shared our content differently with social media? Did we mess up when we emailed our subscribers (aka, you guys)? Did we give this study enough time for our audience to get used to the change? Not to mention: All of these posts target specific keywords that should help us grow our blog traffic in the long term. The posts published in the 3-a-week periods have been gaining a lot of  social shares just this week. Blog traffic has increased for all 10 posts in this study. And Im sure there were a billion other things on my mind once I realized our posts werent performing as well as they used to. Proof That Publishing More Content Wont Grow Your #Blog Traffic (And How To Do That)So I became Sherlock Holmes. The thing was our samples from each data set (2 posts a week,  3 posts a week) were very average for our content (no outliers to throw off the data I analyzed). I even looked at our email open rates: They were nearly the same as always. And during the testing time when we published 3 blog posts a week, we grew our  number of email subscribers. But the moment  our social media shares dropped, so did our blog traffic. My biggest conjecture on this: We gave our audience (you guys) so much content to share that you had to pick and choose what was worthy enough for you to share.  Even if we published 3  awesome posts a week, you needed a little diversity in your social shares- not all from one source. So when social shares drop, so does blog traffic. And that, my dear  Watson, is a complete guess. What do you think? Id love to hear your thoughts about this in the comments. 10 Things You Should Learn From Publishing More Content Honestly, it could have been a dozen things that led to a bit less blog traffic than I was hoping for. So here are my lessons learned from this experiment that will help you choose the right publishing frequency for your blog: 1. Dont be afraid to try new things. While this analysis is a bit young (it happened with content we published in February), I learned a lot by publishing more content. The entire team here at worked hard to mature our processes to create content super efficiently. That is a huge win well keep with us as we continue to create content our readers should really love. And we would have never known that publishing more might not be what our audience wants until we did it. And you can bet that Ill continue to look at the results of those posts to see if my thoughts about this change in a couple months. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. - Warren Bennis Should the drop in blog traffic prevent us from publishing more content? This experiment- though ultimately not resulting in  the blog traffic I wanted- didnt impact our email subscribers, let alone product signups. Both of those figures were the highest theyve ever been at this time. So that is definitely something to consider for this: Should we really publish less content if stats like new signups are so high? Never be satisfied with status quo. Youll never know if you could be doing something that ends with much higher results. 2. Base your publishing decisions on data. I mentioned that weve bounced around with our publishing frequency a lot at . Thats a little funny coming from the guys who preach how to publish more consistent content, right? This is what our publishing frequency looked like for a couple months in 2014: The point is, we were testing to figure out what would work best for us. We were publishing the content we had. And we werent afraid to get scrappy to get things done. But in the end, we started focusing on publishing the right amount of times to get the most out of our content. By the time November rolled around last year, that right amount for us was twice a week. And hey, at the time, we saw blog traffic increase as we published less content. We published that way to create our own data. But, whats really ironic about this, is that theres already some data that basically says companies  that increase their publishing frequency from 3–5 times a month to 6–8 nearly double their leads.  So while this data is about leads and not blog traffic, publishing 2 posts a week should be a sweet spot. If there isnt any data, make your own. #contentmarketingIt would have been cool to know that information before we started just to measure that even better! 3. Plan  your publishing frequency to  achieve your marketing goals. I would have never cared about these slight changes- or added up the totals for this study- if I wasnt counting on every single blog post to contribute to a much larger goal. For every post we publish at , I measure initial success by the number of social shares and pageviews. For the special posts when we create free blog giveaways, I also monitor how many times you guys download those resources (infographics, checklists, templates, e-books, and more). Every post must contribute to our overall marketing goals to increase: Social media shares. Traffic in general. Email subscribers. signups. Doing the math, its easy to see how publishing more content may help us achieve our goals: Just divide your metrics goal by what an average blog post contributes to that goal. Thats a really rough estimate of how many posts you need to write to hit that goal. 4. Build momentum as you establish your publishing frequency. You shouldnt just rush in to publishing  more content. When we went from publishing 2 posts a week to publishing 3, we just switched to 3 and kept going. In hindsight, I wish I had given the team a bit of breathing room to build up our momentum by staggering several weeks  of publishing 2 posts then 3 posts. That would have helped us work through our processes with a bit less runaround.  But we  got it done because the entire team  had the ambition  to do it (and thanks for helping me out, Ashton and Krista!). Even for the pros, we still need to understand that running a marathon without training ends in fatigue. 5. Test the best days and times for publishing and sharing. A year ago,  we would literally publish new posts every single day of the work week. Then wed publish 3  posts the next week, and 4  the following. Were no strangers to testing what will work for us to achieve our marketing goals. But we needed to do that to know what would work for us. So when we decided to bump our frequency up to 3 posts a week, we used data from the best times to publish and  chose Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday since blog posts published later in the week tend to perform a bit lower. We also bounced this idea off a few of our friends in a content marketing community to get their opinions on the best times to publish. Sometimes its worth it to publish on different days and times to understand how that impacts your blogs performance. 6. Analyze your data to actually know if youre reaching your goals. There is no way Id be writing this post if I didnt plan time to analyze our data. You write every post for a reason. Measure its success against that metric. Here is an easy way to do it: Divide your overarching goal by the number of posts you want to publish. That will give you a rough estimate for your goal per post. Tip: This is  similar to what you did in lesson #3. But its not the same. If you want to hit a marketing goal by maintaining the amount your  current posts contribute to that goal, go with lesson #3. The algorithm shared here actually gives you something to shoot for to  improve every post to hit your goal. From here, you can determine new ways to promote your content to get the blog traffic (among other goals) your content deserves. You write every post for a reason. Measure every posts  success. #blogging7. Dont believe what they say about vanity metrics. unless they say that vanity metrics like social shares matter. There is so much to learn by understanding how people share your content. For example: People read what they know is popular. People share what they know is popular. People subscribe to what they know is popular. And beyond that- social shares provide a solid gauge on how your content is performing. I noticed something was strange with our content when we started publishing 3 posts a week because our social shares count was lower than it had been in a long time. From there, I completely analyzed our blog traffic patterns to gather the data in this post. And that ultimately helped me make the decision to publish only 2 posts a week. 8. Understand the trade-off for quality versus quantity (and go for quality). Yeah, yeah. You already know this. But here is what we did to be able to publish more content: Free blog giveaways dropped from being in 3 of 4 posts to 2 of 6 posts. Thats a bit of a hit for additional resources that we know you guys find super helpful. And thats how we also get a lot of new email subscribers for our content. Graphics per post on average fell from an average of 7.5 to 6. Content length also dropped slightly  (with a couple outliers). While we made sure the topics were awesome- and the content was  great stuff you should have really liked- we did sacrifice a few bonuses we usually had in our content to be able to publish more. So, once again, someone just told  you that sacrificing content quality for quantity takes a hit on your social shares and blog traffic. But this time you  can actually see the data that backs up that claim.

The future of haute couture Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The future of haute couture - Research Proposal Example Sull and Turconi (2008), for example, identified one particular pattern, which is the recent focus of fashion houses to implement the so-called fast fashion, a concept typified by democratized fashion. There is a growing literature on emerging influences, studies offering empirical and theoretical evidences, that could collectively help identify future trends and practices. This researcher believes that it is possible to gain insight on the future of haute couture based on a description and analysis of what has been found today and what are expected in the near future. By identifying current and future variables that influence fashion, meaningful insights will be obtained. The body of literature on haute couture is comprehensive. There are several studies that could serve to demonstrate specific relevance to this research. A case in point is the investigation of Joy et al. (2012), which reported the role of sustainability and ethics in haute couture. These variables are recent phenomenon that emerged with the recent attention given to sustainability, climate change and environmental issues. There is also Claudios research on the environmental impact of the clothing industry. While it evaluated the environmental footprint of the clothing industry, the study also highlighted increasing concern for sustainability and the focus on lessening environmental damage. This researcher also intends to examine works (i.e. Magnenat-Thalmann & Volino, 2005) that detail the processes in high-fashion such as design and marketing. The study’s outcomes are expected to benefit researchers, fashion designers, entrepreneurs, academics and others who are interested in the subject. The primary importance is based on the projected outlook that could help identify trends and practices or launch new design, marketing, management and operational philosophies in the haute couture

Policy-making in the Federal System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Policy-making in the Federal System - Essay Example The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, was signed into law by President Obama in March 23, 2010 and is considered to be a major overhaul in the U.S healthcare since 1965. This paper explores how Obamacare works, the program’s pros and cons, if it is achieving its objectives and federalism issues raised by the program. Summary of the History of Obamacare The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was introduced as a bill in 2009 during 111th Congress session and passed on November 7, 2009. John Dingell of Michigan, who was also the House Dean, sponsored the bill. President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law on March 31, 2010 (Tate, 2012). The ACA is aimed expanding insurance access to approximately 32 million uninsured Americans, emphasizing prevention and wellness, increasing consumer protections, improving quality and system performance, increasing the workforce in health care and curbing escalating cost of health ca re in the United States (Tate, 2012). The individual mandate, which is a major component of the ACA, is perceived by many to be unconstitutional. The individual mandate of the ACA â€Å"requires millions of Americans to purchase health insurance from a private company for the rest of their lives or face annual penalties† (Sekulow, 2012, Para 10). ... The Constitution of the United States protects the liberty of the citizens (Benedict, 2006). Historically, the ACA presents the very first incident where the U.S Congress mandated American citizens to buy a private company product. According to Sekulow (2012), under the Commerce Clause, the Congress has no jurisdiction to compel any individual to purchase any product from a private company. Therefore, the mandated ACA has raised issues of â€Å"federalism† because the provisions of the Act are deemed unconstitutional. The Main Pros and Cons of Obamacare Despite the fact that the Obamacare has been under intense criticism, it comes with numerous benefits, particularly for low and middle income earners. However, it also has some cons, but these should not be the cause for its rejection as it was purely made out of good intent for Americans. Pros of Obamacare Increased accessibility to affordable health care insurance to millions of uninsured Americans More than half of uninsured individuals will obtain free or low cost health insurance via state Health Insurance Marketplace. Expansion of CHIP to cover a maximum of 9 million children Expansion of Medicaid to 15.9 million females, males and children who are 138 percent below poverty line Small businesses stand the chance benefit from tax credits of up to 50 percent of health insurance costs on their employees Obamacare curbs high cost of health care Cons of Obamacare Making insurance available and affordable to millions of uninsured individuals involves increase in taxes, especially for high-income earners. Individual mandate demands that every American must obtain health coverage by January 2014. The expansion of Medicaid is done using Federal