Author: J. Christy McKibben

By J. Christy McKibben

Big data is a term that most of us have heard, but one that most of us may have a difficult time defining. Big data is a method built on “the ability of society to harness information in novel ways to produce useful insights or goods and services of significant value” (Mayer-Schonberger & Cukier, 2013). Basically, big data can take information and use it to predict what is, or what may be, needed by some. Big data may be a useful tool to predict and prevent health outbreaks across the globe. It’s also used to help companies sell more products and services using an analytical approach—so they can market to a more spot-on target audience.

Illness Detection

Big data has been used to detect potential outbreaks of diseases, such as the flu. For instance, Google’s software looks “for correlations between the frequency of certain search queries and the spread of the flu over time and space” (Mayer-Schonberger & Cukier, 2013). Google used “450 million different mathematical models” to test and see if they could come up with potential areas of flu outbreaks (Mayer-Schonberger & Cukier, 2013). Once they did this with their software, they found “a combination of 45 search terms that…had a strong correlation between their prediction and the official figures nationwide” (Mayer-Schonberger & Cukier, 2013). So in real time, individuals across the world would enter in different search terms. Some of these words or terms may have been: cough, fever, high temperature, fever, chills, sore throat, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Google’s software and mathematical equations were then able to do the work quickly and communicate this information to public health officials

Stalking Potential Customers?

Another, and often controversial, practice is the use of big data by companies to sell more of their products and services. Companies use big data to find a more fitting target audience for their products and/or services. For instance, I recently bought my mother flowers from a large well-known online company. For the last several weeks, when I travel to different websites while doing research for school or work, I’ve been bombarded with ads. These ads are from the flower company I did business with, as well as other flower and plant companies. These companies have seen what I’ve purchased and “suggest” that I may be interested in purchasing from their company. Edd Wilder-James, former contributor to Forbes, states that, in part, big data has become a “smattering of privacy-invading personal data collection.”

One important aspect of big data for companies is the crucial concept of customer retention. According to IBM, “Analyzing big data can help you discover ways to improve customer interactions, add value and build relationships that last.” In other words, find out what your customers want, treat them well, give them what they want, and they won’t look elsewhere.

It’s Here to Stay

According to T.H. Davenport and J. Dyché, “online and startup firms…[such as]…Google, eBay, LinkedIn, and Facebook were built around big data from the beginning”…[because they were untraditional firms without]…traditional IT infrastructures.” These new organizations paved the way for more companies, both small and large to use big data to improve their marketing and sales. With big data being a new concept, it is hard to predict what the future of it will hold. No matter if it’s used to predict global health crises, environmental concerns, or to potentially invade someone’s privacy—big data is here to stay.

J. Christy McKibben

Reference (Print)

Mayer-Schonberger, V., & Cukier, K. (2013). Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, And Think. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Image 1 via Pixabay by TheDigitalArtist
Image 2 via Pixabay by kaboompics

By J. Christy McKibben

DITA stands for Darwin Information Typing Architecture. It’s “an open content standard that defines a common structure for content that promotes the consistent creation, sharing and reuse of content” (Rockley, Manning, & Cooper, 2009).

According to Tony Self, “DITA is many things in one. It is:

• an XML language
• a writing methodology
• a topic-based information architecture
• a structured authoring platform.”

A Modular Approach

DITA changes everything for writers. Authors now use a semantic approach, which includes a “modular approach…[a] “reuse philosophy,…[and a] minimalism theory” (Rockley et al., 2009). DITA is important to technical communications because it “separates content from its presentation by using document semantics as the basis for mark-up.” It’s a modular document approach and is different from “linear writing.” Linear writing concentrates on going from page 1 to 100. However, modular work focuses on the topics, and then sends out different forms in different media.

When using DITA, a neutral format is used. So authors have to just concentrate on the writing, and not on the formatting. There is no need for the technical communicator to focus on “page size, font, color, indent, margin, leading, spacing, headers, footers, bolding, kerning, padding, alignment and numbering.” The “styling and aesthetic presentation is another job” often done by a graphic designer or programmer. This is helpful to technical communicators because they only need to think about writing topics, not documents.

Consistency as a Best Practice

Another way in which DITA is important to technical communications is consistency due to the reuse philosophy. Consistency is important in technical communication and should always be a best practice. Best practice is “The adoption of work practices that reflect the most efficient and effective that are practically possible.” DITA was created and designed to “support the reuse of content where you ‘write once, use many’” (Rockley et al., 1999). This means that content only needs to be created once, when changes are needed or desired, it only needs to be changed in one place (the source content). (Rockley et al., 1999) report that some examples of products that reuse content include:

• “Help, manuals and HTML pages (common content, different outputs)
• Product suite information where there is common functionality across each of the products
• Training and documentation where the training draws on the tasks in the documentation”

Single-sourcing, also known as single source publishing, is when a single document is used to create other kinds of documents. One document is used for different formats; this increases the usability of the original document. In other words, the only editing that needs to be done is in one place, the source content. Because the source content can be reused, more consistency is created for the documents. Because edits only need to be made in one place, there is less chance for error—and this saves time and money for the writer, editor, and organization.

According to Tony Self, there have been many new influences in technical communication, some of which are:

• “Globalization
• Embedded User Actions
• Modularity
• Dublin Core
• Facets
• Single-sourcing
• Re-use
• Agile”

Metadata and Reuse

Another interesting and important part of DITA is metadata. (Rockley et al., 1999) state, “Metadata is the glue that enables the system (and by extension, you) to find the information you need. It’s the ‘stuff’ that allows computers to be ‘smart.’ It’s the stuff that makes ‘intelligent content’ intelligent. And when it’s missing or poorly implemented, it’s what makes us slap the side of the computer in frustration when we can’t find what we’re looking for.”

Through reuse, greater consistency has become possible with DITA. Authors can now focus more on the writing, and not at all (or at least not as much) on formatting. The style of writing is different using DITA, a modular approach instead of linear writing, and this does take some getting used to for some authors. DITA has most definitely made a huge impact and has changed everything for technical communicators.

J. Christy McKibben

Reference (print)

Rockley, A., Manning, S., & Cooper, C. (2009). DITA 101: Fundamentals of DITA for Authors and Managers. The Rockley Group Inc.

Image 1 via Pixabay by PublicDomainPictures
Image 2 via Pixabay by StockSnap

By J. Christy McKibben

Technology today is ever-changing, and this is no different in the world of Commercial Photography. To keep up with this technology, and the gap that seems to be closing in between photography and videography, photographers need to have at least a basic understanding of how to shoot video. Hybrid photography is an up-and-coming blend of photography, movement, and even sound; and it may be the future of Commercial Photography.

Giggles, Gallops, and Accents

What exactly is hybrid photography? According to ImageMaven, “Hybrid photography is the combining of photos + video + audio. The resulting format is a video eProduct that is viewable on mobile devices, social media, your website, YouTube and other video sharing services.”

There are already working examples of this new hybrid technology. Vincent Laforet, a former Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times staff photographer several years ago “moved to L.A. to embark on a new career as a director of photography on movies.” Laforet is working with a hybrid stills-plus video camera and states that working with it “is one of the most dramatic things to happen in the history of video. Now, for a small investment, you can shoot videos that look as good as (shooting) film with motion-picture equipment that sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Hybrid Equals Success

We will explore the benefits Commercial Photographers may find in learning new hybrid technology. For the sake of their businesses, it is imperative that they understand, and try to embrace as much as possible, this new technology. It may just get them ahead of their competition.

Hybrid photography will be important because it’s what clients are beginning to ask for, and photography is a business like anything else—so you’ve got to please the client! At this point hybrid photography is a new medium, but in the future the expectation of a Commercial Photographer will be that they have hybrid photography skills. There is a precedence to that prediction. According to Giulio Sciorio, “[back when] we transitioned from film to digital photography…” [it eventually became a requirement that photographers know how to work with digital. So, in the future if you choose to just photograph stills…great—you can work in photography as a hobby; but if you are only able to offer] “one product and one that is not in demand” you will not have a successful business.

Give It to Them!

Another reason hybrid photography may change the way Commercial Photographers work and are defined is because of the ability to capture that one special moment in time. Patrick Hall states “because video currently captures 24 – 300 frames a second, it becomes possible to record the absolute perfect shot of wildlife or a key moment during a sporting event. Combine these high frame rates with the growing need for web resolution media and you have a pretty powerful new tool for the photojournalist.” Because video captures so many frames, “we are now able to pinpoint the exact fraction of a second that a real genuine emotion happens, and those tiny changes in expression can produce completely different reactions from the audience viewing the media…[so it’s] easy to see how ultra high definition video could be a huge game-changer.”

Some Commercial Photographers may not welcome hybrid photography with open arms. There will surely be some who will refuse to move away from traditional Commercial Photography, and there will more than likely be many who will venture into hybrid photography begrudgingly. But if an individual wants to survive as a Commercial Photographer, they may not have a choice whether to make the move to hybrid photography. People and businesses want what they want, and will not be discouraged by a Commercial Photographer refusing to do hybrid photography. They will just move on and hire someone who will do as they wish. As Will Crockett states “Think what people want and let’s go give it to them. Not what we can do and try and sell it to them.” If people and businesses choose to use hybrid photography, it is not the job of the Commercial Photographer to talk them out of it. Their job is to figure out how to give the client or prospective client what they want and find a way to make it happen.

Differentiate Yourself

These changes in Commercial Photography will make photographers even more valuable than they are today; as long as they continue to educate themselves about the ever-changing technologies. Giulio Sciorio states, “Shooting a hybrid of stills, motion and sound has many benefits to the working professional.” According to Giulio Sciorio, the benefits of hybrid photography include:

• “Everyone with a phone has the ability to shoot HD video. It is our job to differentiate ourselves from these consumers.
• Shooting a hybrid of still, motion and video well separates you from the consumer.
• Offering additional services such as motion capture gives your business another service to offer your clients.
• Offering new services such as hybrid e-products will help you grow your current clients as well as attract new clients.”

Gail Mooney, who works as a still photographer and filmmaker, believes there are ten things that can help professional photographers sustain a long career:

1. “Grow or die
2. Be yourself
3. Don’t operate in a vacuum
4. Don’t focus on the gear
5. Embrace failure
6. Do the work
7. Get rid of the resistance
8. Don’t set out to prove yourself
9. Enjoy the good times – but be prepared for the bad times
10. Keep your passion and enthusiasm”

As you can see, Mooney’s tips may actually be applied to any career. These are especially good suggestions for Commercial Photographers as they move into hybrid technology—and the unknown future of photography. Commercial Photographers aren’t going anywhere. But, they must accept that technology is changing. The definition of a photographer, as we know it now, may be much different in the future.

J. Christy McKibben

Image 1 via Wikimedia Commons by Victor Grigas
Image 2 via flickr by brando
Image 3 via PIXY#ORG

By J. Christy McKibben

Many white, middle-class housewives of the 1950s and 1960s thought they were crazy. To outsiders, they appeared to have it all. They had husbands, children, and homes in the suburbs. American society at that time considered their lives perfect. But something was missing for many of these women; they just weren’t happy with their lives. The Feminine Mystique was published in 1963 and changed the lives of numerous people. The book provided a shift in the readers’ perception of their lives. It finally became clear to them that there wasn’t anything wrong or abnormal with what they were feeling; the problem was with the societal view of a “woman’s place.” This change in perception is one of the reasons The Feminine Mystique is an important historical text.

The War Against “Singleness”

After World War II there was a “war against singleness…less than 10 percent of the public believed an unmarried person could be happy.” Single women were no longer hired as teachers because society “now wanted marriage to be mandatory” so children would not be “damaged psychologically by…spinster teacher[s].” Judy McKibben, a child in the 1950s, remembers “All of my teachers at that time were married women. It was unusual to have an unmarried teacher.”

For white, married, middle-class women, the expectation was that they stay home to take care of the children and their homes in the 1950s. Judy McKibben, who grew up in a lower-middle-class household in Portsmouth, Virginia, and has never read The Feminine Mystique, agrees, saying “Women’s roles were to stay at home cooking, cleaning, and raising the kids. I was a child in the 50s, but the moms I knew seemed content and happy enough to keep a nice home and not have to go to work.”

However, many women hid their struggles. They were told by society that they should accept “the role” and be “receptive, bearing, nurturing.” If they were unhappy and feeling unfulfilled, there was something wrong with them. Doctors would often prescribe medications, such as tranquilizers, to try to “fix” the “housewife syndrome.” Some women were even committed to mental hospitals to try to correct “their ‘distorted perceptions’ about male persecution” and “learn to value their ‘feminine social role.’”

Society Was the Problem

The Feminine Mystique was published in 1963 and affected many women. One reader of the book, who had sought psychiatric help the previous year, “sent a copy to her therapist,” including a “note saying he should read it before he ever again told a woman that all she needed was to come to terms with her ‘feminine nature.’” Another woman, before reading the book, recalled “I had the feeling (at 25!) that my life was over, and that nothing interesting would ever happen to me again…I told myself that the fix I was in was my own fault, that there was something wrong with me.” After reading The Feminine Mystique, women realized that they weren’t the problem “society [was] the problem.”

Judy McKibben recalls the changes from the 1950s to the 1960s “when I was a young kid [in the 1950s] it was odd if a woman was still single in her mid-20s. But as a teenager and young adult in the 60s women didn’t get married right out of high school as often. If you were single and in your thirties, you were considered a career woman, which wasn’t so bad anymore.” Judy continues “In the 60s it seemed that there were a lot more women in the workforce and there was more available childcare. A lot of families needed two incomes so they could keep up with the newest technologies and get a second car.”

Affected By the Message

The Feminine Mystique focused on the struggles of white, middle-class housewives, but those women weren’t the only people who were affected by the message. Although the struggles of African-American women were not included in The Feminine Mystique, some were still affected by the book. For instance, “Gloria Hull, a black feminist scholar and poet…read it in 1970 and…even today she remains “‘struck by its clear passion and radical persuasion.’”

The Feminine Mystique contains “diatribes against homosexuals,” but one stay-at-home gay man read the book in the 1990s and took “comfort from the idea that the depression he had at first experienced as a personal inadequacy was an understandable reaction to the lack of independent meaning in his life.”

The book also had an effect on some men growing up in the 1960s, even influencing the kind of women they dated and later married. The Feminine Mystique has flaws, but it did have a positive influence on many people. The book helped change perceptions and attitudes towards women’s roles, and for this reason, it is an important historical text.

J. Christy McKibben

Resources (Print & Interview)

Collins, G., 2003. America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Coontz, S., 2012. A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Judy McKibben, interview October 3, 2013.

Image 1 via Pixabay by ArtsyBee
Image 2 via Pixabay by ArtsyBee

By J. Christy McKibben

As is true with the roles of all women in most societies and cultures of the world, the rules in Theravada Buddhism make it clear that “the order of female monks is subordinate to that of men” (Swearer 2010). Yes, it’s true that there are Theravada Buddhist doctrines that mention that it’s possible for women to attain the ultimate goal of Nibbana, just as their male counterparts. However, it’s still made very clear that there isn’t equality between females or males—whether they are monks, nuns, or laypersons. Although women currently face a difficult path entering the monastic order in Theravada Buddhism, there are places where women are flourishing. These women give hope to future girls and women who aspire to live a monastic life.

Life Passage

In Southeast Asia, there are rituals held where adolescent boys receive “life passage” into the monastic order as novices. Quite often these young boys enter the monastic order to become educated; this is especially common amongst the poor children. The “bright and highly motivated” novice monk may even go on to complete college or move even further to obtain an advanced degree. Many monks make the decision to disrobe and take a non-religious job after teaching for several years. Most of the Theravada monks come from quite humble or even poor backgrounds; so living the Middle Way of Buddhism generally allows them a “definite improvement” to their “social or economic status” (Swearer 2010).

For girls and women, there aren’t as many opportunities to enter the monastic life in Theravada Buddhism. For example, “only Myanmar affords a parallel adolescent life passage ritual for women” into Buddhism, among the “Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhist countries” (Swearer 2010). Myanmar offers what is called a shinbyu ceremony, a celebration in which individuals of all ages and both sexes attend. The shinbyu is held in a structure that is made to look like a palace. Girls and boys dress in princess and prince costumes and sit on a stage in the center of the pavilion. While sitting on stage, mimes and storytellers perform historical stories and reenactments of the Buddha’s important life events, for the entertainment of the young girls and boys, as well as the audience. Once the entertainers have completed their programs, it is time for the “passage ritual.” The girls get their ears pierced, or “bored,” then the “boys’ heads are shaved.” The piercing of the girls’ ears indicates their passageway into “adult female roles.” However, the boys, in addition to having their heads shaved, take vows to become novice monks that prepare them “to assume adult male roles in society” (Swearer 2010).

A Spiritual Monastic Life

Groups of women who have chosen to turn their backs on worldly life, and instead pursue a monastic life (renunciants), are thriving in Southeast Asia today—but they are not technically bhikkhuni (members of the Theravada monastic order). Women who have decided to pursue a monastic life have come to “enjoy a higher social and spiritual status” (Swearer 2010) in Myanmar as compared to their female counterparts in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. In fact, the renunciant women in Myanmar manage “their own monasteries, pursue higher Buddhist studies, and take the national Pali exams” (Swearer 2010). These female renunciant women of Myanmar are allowed to collect donations and are sometimes allowed to have a novice ordination, similar to the male novice monks. The women in Myanmar are allowed to partake in more “religious-cultural institutions and practices” (Swearer 2010); which sets them apart from their Cambodian, Laos, and Thai counterparts.

It’s interesting to note that some Buddhist texts, written by male monks, were written in a positive way about females who gave up the worldly life for a spiritual monastic life (renunciants), as well as the generosity of the female laypeople. However, the same authors’ in the same texts, also find negativity in these women’s life choices. Some of the texts refer to these same women as “a threat to the male renunciant order and as greedy, weak in wisdom, and inferior to men” (Swearer 2010).

Charles F. Keyes interprets some Theravada Buddhist traditions as showing women in a more positive light, including women’s ability to overcome attachment. Mr. Keyes interprets some of the sermons, images, and traditions as women having more sensitivity and understanding of the suffering of others due to attachment; and that because of this, women naturally “embody more positive Buddhist values than do men” (Swearer 2010). As Mr. Keyes interprets it, men are more likely to act on immoral acts, and therefore need to be in a monastery to be trained against their natural tendencies. Whereas with women, these virtues “occur naturally” (Swearer 2010).

A Woman’s Role

Just as the rest of the world changes, transformations are also being made in the Theravada Buddhist world. There are Buddhist women’s movements and organizations that both Buddhist nuns and Buddhist laywomen are involved in and even lead. One role the Buddhist women’s movement is trying to help change is the traditional role of Southeast Asian women. As in many societies across the world, women were thought of only as wives and mothers. The Southeast Asian society is traditionally a patriarchal society, so women were “primarily defined by men in relationship to men” (Swearer 2010). For instance, in the Theravada Buddhist world, this placed women in the roles of becoming wives, then mothers who gave birth to sons—who then became monks. Then, the mothers would make the food to donate to the monks and the monasteries. So women’s roles in life were all about taking care of the boys and men in their lives.

As with all societies, there is much change occurring in Southeast Asia. As occurs with any change, some are more open to these transformations than others. With the Theravada Buddhist women’s movements and organizations, it does seem that women are trying to find a larger, or—even more importantly—a more defined role in Theravada Buddhism.

J. Christy McKibben

Resources
Swearer, Donald K. The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia. New York: SUNY, 2010.

Image 1 via Pixabay by suc
Image 2 via Pixabay by Peggy_Marco
Image 3 via Pixabay by jennycleary