krcoburn

According to Wikipedia, the word renaissance comes from the French meaning "rebirth". This cultural movement lasted from the 14th century to the 17th century. The movement first began in Italy and then moved across Europe. The European Renaissance was best known for its Intellectual pursuit in art and painting. Some considered it a break from Mideival thought and practice where some thought of the time as pessimism and nostalgia of the classical times.

Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo's contribution during this era coined the term "Renaissance Men". Since Dr. Gillette constantly refers to himslef as a "renaissance man" I began to wonder what this term actually means. This word is found in relation to "polymath" and "Homo Universalis". This term can be used to describe a person that is "well educated or who excels, in a wide variety of subjects or fields"(Wikipedia, 2007).

I would like to think that I am a "renaissance woman" or in the training to be one. I have always had a wide range of interests. This range goes from technology to musical theatre and back to sociology. I guess all of CICS masters candidates could be considered “Renaissance men and women” since our program trains and almost morphs us into well-rounded diverse individuals.

Wikipedia (2007). Retrieved on November 28, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath.

Posted by Kristina Coburn at 03:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Methods of Communication
In order establish my own definition of Human Communications, I first had to analyze the different ways to communicate, and if that really is considered communicating effectively. One can achieve communication through non-verbal communication or body language, and verbal communication. Within this theory I have chosen to combine oral and written communication along with verbal communication.
Non-verbal communication is the most basic form of communication. This form of communicating can only be transmitted through sight. Non-verbal communication can be considered gesturing or body language. This can be as simple as crossing your arms or slamming down your fist. Without communicating verbally an emotion such as anger can be perceived to a second party through transmitters mannerisms.
Verbal communication can be defined as communicating by words and or writing. This style of communication is considered the most common and is often mistaken as the only method of communicating. An example of verbal communication can be seen with two people having a conversation. In verbal communication there must be a transmitter and a receiver. According to Introduction to Communications Technologies: A guide for non-engineers, the basis of human communication can be found in “ a type of transmit/ receive/ confirms format” . Within this definition of Human Communication the transmit is considered the individual sending the information or beginning the conversation and the receiver is the person that is being spoken to and then finally understands and acknowledges.
According to the Shannon Weaver model of communication, communication must first start by leaving the source and traveling through a channel. An example of a channel may include air, fiber optic, or cable. The message must then be sent to the second party to encode the information, this could also be thought of as understanding the message sent from the source. After encoding the message the sink, or second party in this situation, must decode the message to have an appropriate response. Then repeating the action and go through the channel once again .

Beyond the Words
The next step to obtaining effective communication is to accomplish understanding. In order to accomplish this a common language must exist. For example, if the source sends a message in French but the second party only speaks English, communication cannot take place. Technology can be seen as an example of this concept, if a message is sent from a computer but the second computer that is being sent the message is not equipped to translate the code message, the communication fails.
Efficient human communication involves more than speaking to another party, stomping your feet, or sharing a common language. In order to obtain clarity of the conversation, the significance or meaning of the message must be known . Without fully understanding the reason behind the message a person cannot respond appropriately in the conversation. To achieve effective communication the receiver must be considered “on the same page” as the transmitter. Imagine, the receiver being a blank page with no predisposed ideas or beliefs and then the transmitter communicating their thought and the receiver perceiving the idea the same as the transmitter. This level of communication is extremely difficult to master and is extremely rare. Since as individuals we all perceive things in different ways, this makes this level of communicating complex.
The art of human communication is an intricate subject. To truly communicate more than the definitions of the basic methods of communication must be acknowledged. An alteration of perspective must exist between the parties involved. By combining multiple theories and adding my own personal experiences and beliefs, I have established my own theory on the definition of human communication.

Bibliography
Jones, Stephan & Kovac, Ron. (2003). Introduction to Communications Technologies: A
Guide for Non-Engineers. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press LLC.
Gillette, Jay. ICS 602 seminar. Muncie, IN. 20, August, 2007.

Posted by Kristina Coburn at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been thinking alot about the word failure and how it impacts our society. According to Wikipedia, Failure is defined as "referring to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective" (www.wikipedia.com). As we have talked about in ICS602 failure is not usually discussed because we usually do not want to be thought of as a failure. Dr.Gillette usually describes the word "failure" as the dirty "F" word. I think if individuals were more open with their so-called failures in life then others following in their footsteps can learn from their mistakes. I do agree with Dr. Gillette that we should welcome failure and taking chances because without taking chances we never know what we are made of. At this weekends placement seminar a speaker stated "Never allow the risk of failure to overpower the opportunity to succeed". I think this quote is a great statement to live by and I will state that I am also guilty of fearing failure rather than taking chances at times. This program has taught me that I need to constantly be challenging myself in order to grow as an individual and if I always stay in my comfort zone because I fear failing than I will stay stagnant.

Another quote that I think is profound is "Our only competition is ourselves". I think alot of what people view as failure in life is when they compare themselves to other individuals in life. Where it is good to strive in life and have goals it is also good to look at how far you have come in life. I believe it is better to analyze our individual growth than compare ourselves to others. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and where one person may be stronger in technical information the other may be more of a leader.

Posted by Kristina Coburn at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I took some notes based off of the speakers and alumni this past weekend on thought that this might be beneficial information for my colleagues as well. Our alumni Scott Daniels put my group through a rigorous and challenging interview process to give us a feel of the kind of questions or interview methods that we might come across during our interviews.

Some examples of questions he asked are as follows:
How much money do you want?
What would be an ideal day at work for you?
Give some examples or situations in which you were a leader?
If you were trying to close a sale with an individual but they told you they did not want to be bothered, what would you do?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
What makes you happy?
Other than what is on your resume, what should I know about you?
Why should I hire you?
How would you define a leader?
Why should I hire you over your peers?

Also, a question that he liked to be asked was...
What would be the next step in the interviewing process?

The day was informative and good practice before heading out into the business world. I highly recommend it.

Posted by Kristina Coburn at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)