Ten Commandments of Intercultural Communication

I. Be aware of differing social values.  Social values may differ from people to people and place to place.  One example of social values that people tends to have different values on is self-improvement.  One place social values differs is on the job.  Some people tends to see self-improvement as an opportunity to improve who they are as a worker, and other see it as wasting time.

 II. Be aware of differing status symbols and how to demonstrate them.   The United States is a place of opportunity for everyone.  But this country has status symbols to show and demonstrate the power that he or she possesses.  For an example, the President of the United States has status symbol.  He would be considered as a status symbol and his power and authority gives him the right to represent the United States in other country.

 III. Be aware of decision making customs: not all people like to make decisions quickly and efficiently.  A decision making customs are generally used in a place like car dealers.  Sometimes it feels like a person has to make a quick decision right away on a large purchase.

 IV. Be aware of concepts of time: not all people like to see time as money.  Time is money could be used when a person is at work and always taking smoke breaks 3 or 4 times a day.  Time is being wasted outside instead of being productive inside producing work.

V. Be aware of personal space: people from different cultures have different 'comfort zones'.  This is one of the biggest culture different is personal space.  Sometimes when riding the evaluator, people are so close I tend to get shifty.  I do not like people in my personal space.

 VI. Be aware of cultural context: people from certain cultures (called 'high-context cultures) rely less on verbal communication and more on the context of nonverbal actions and environmental settings to convey meaning. People from low-context cultures like the USA rely more on verbal communication and less on circumstances and implied meaning to convey meaning.  The people that fit in this category are your rich and famous people.  Most of the time, their asses speak for them instead of telling someone how much they are worth.

 VII. Be aware of body language: learn the basic differences in the way people supplement their words with body movement.  In the African-American community, I tend to see more body language as a way of expression.  In addition, body language is the strong clue to what a person is trying to rely to his or her audience.

VIII. Be aware of different etiquette rules or manners: what is polite in one culture may be considered rude in another.  This etiquette rules and the lack thereof is often found at the dinner table or a restaurant.  Sometimes one would see a person blowing their noses at the table.

 IX. Be aware of legal and ethical behavior.  These activities such as violation of legal matters and ethical behavior are often violated in a budget or accounting fields.  Because the activities are sometimes in the gray area, one would not know whether he or she is breaking a law.  However, when he or she is unsure of particular activities, the activities should go to the legal team in the agency for recommendation of approval.

X. Be aware of language barriers: English is the most prevalent language in international business, but it's a mistake to assume that everyone understands it.  Some times at work, the people that are staff on the building maintenance team are people with English barriers.  Sometimes it is very hard to communicate with them because both parties speak two different languages.

Reference

Hahn, M.  (December 2005).  Ezine Articles.     Ten Commandments of Intercultural Communication.  Retrieved on November 24, 2011 from http://ezinearticles.com/?Ten-Commandments-of-Intercultural-Communication&id=120247

The Movement of Medias

As one revisit the days of old, one will discover that many things in life have changed.  One of the most significant changes in life is the way humans communicate to each other.  In the days of old, face-to-face communication was important.  These days, communicating over a media is sufficient for at least two parties to communicate.  Face time does not seem to be as important as it once was in the days of old.  As one begins to explore how humans communicate in the 21^st Century, it will amaze them to see how people now seem to bond over mass media.  It seems that networking is the thing of the future.  It gives the impression that using all types of mass Medias are the wave of the future for social networking.  It appears that face time with people are not important as it use to be in the past years.  There are different types of mass Medias that are the new wave of the 21^st Century.  The four mass Medias are Twitter and Facebook, which are social networking, Radio produces sound waves, and television projects pictures for entertainment.  Social media via internet are the 21^st century movement in mass media.

~~~ Twitter ~~~~

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service which intend to send and receive information about each user.  When Twitter was being form in the minds of others, 10 people brought this vision into a multi-million operation.  These 10 people cause the vision and hoped that they will be able to see the American business people connect via web.  The startup operation took place in San Francisco.  T  It is an Internet base program.  It has limited character usages per tweet.  It’s like SMS on the cell phone.  Twitter is intended for all users whether its business or just for pleasure.  This microblogging site is being used in other situation.  An article said that a Judge is requested information from Twitter on three stakeholders.  “SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Thursday ruled that Twitter, the popular microblogging platform, must reveal information about three of its account holders who are under investigation for their possible links to the WikiLeaks whistle-blower site.  The case has become a flash point for online privacy and speech, in part because the Justice Department sought the information without a search warrant last year.  Instead, on the basis of a 1994 law called the Stored Communications Act, the government demanded that Twitter provide the Internet protocol addresses of three of its users, among other things.  An Internet protocol address identifies and gives the location of a computer used to log onto the Internet.” (Somini)

~~~ Facebook ~~~~

Facebook is a social networking service media.  It is an internet based program that is access over the internet at its own website.  Facebook is currently being used by mostly all age groups.  This media contain some personal information about the user.  Each user is able to exchange information about each other.  One restriction is that the user has to be at least 13 years of age.  “The company, founded in 2004 by a Harvard sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg, began life catering first to Harvard students and then to all high school and college students. It has since evolved into a broadly popular online destination used by teenagers and adults of all ages. In country after country, Facebook has cemented itself as the leader, often displacing other social networks.”  (Wyld)  The address to Facebook is www.facebook.com.  One can access this website for free of charge.  The information on this particular is secure which is stated by the owner, but one cannot trust public website with sensitive information.  The user has to ensure privacy of one’s personal information at all time. 

~~~ Radio ~~~~

Radio is more voice base device.  It is to transmit information for the users.  The listeners only can hear information without visual view.  All ages can listen to the information that is being projected over the radio.  Radio had another purpose to why it was created.  “In 1901, radiotelegraph service was instituted between five Hawaiian Islands. By 1903, a Marconi station located in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, carried an exchange or greetings between President Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VII. In 1905 the naval battle of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese war was reported by wireless, and in 1906 the U.S. Weather Bureau experimented with radiotelegraphy to speed notice of weather conditions.”  (Bellis)  Therefore, from the birth of a radio until now, people have found it to be useful throughout time.  The movement of the radio had travel from being the one way a person receive information to a choice of options for the people.  The radio structure had been recreated to look like any object that one can envision.

~~~ Television ~~~~

Television is a telecommunication medium for all groups.  It is not an interaction device, but it is simple for entertainment purpose and for knowledge base.  It gives a visual base program for the viewing audiences.  “Early inventors attempted to either build a mechanical television system based on the technology of Paul Nipkow's rotating disks; or they attempted to build an electronic television system using a cathode ray tube developed independently in 1907 by English inventor A.A. Campbell-Swinton and Russian scientist Boris Rosing.  Electronic television systems worked better and eventual replaced mechanical systems.”  (Bellis)  As one view and explore the movement of television, the viewer or the explorer will notice that the component in a television set has changed tremendous.  The functionality and appearance had changed from a black and white picture to color pictures, the outer casing has decrease from an enormous floor model box to a flat screen television, and the consumers are using the television set to project family photos as well as the internet activities.

General Idea for a Blog

Blog

In order to understand the different dynamics of a blog, one would first have to understand what a blog outside from facebook, twitter, and other communication medium.  A blog is an online journal from an individual or group of people that’s updates the activities, thoughts, or beliefs of the present mission.

Purpose

Blogs have much functionality to the creature.  Some people uses blogs to information the public of a particular subject or somewhere the person has been that he or she thought was interesting to post.  Some people use blogs to display original thoughts and ideas.  Others people use blogs in a forum setting to get other people ideas on different subject matter.  The bloggers need to ensure that the words they use are politically correct, not offensive and they should stay on the topic especially if the blog is for a business.

Design

Blogs are not just limited to words.  Blogs are also consisting of links to different website, pictures, audios, videos.  The blogs are available to the universe because it is an online activity.  When adding design to the medium, it has to be tasteful.  If it is a business blog, it has to be presented I a professional manner.

 Content

In order to have a great blog, the originator has to display information that is very useful and unique.  Because online readers scan content, the information has to be clear.  Displaying visual cues would help the readers understand the message of the blog.

Audience

The one thing that a person has to keep in mind that the audience is not limited to a certain profession or age group, but the universe has access to all blogs.  Keep in mind that once the information has been posted, one cannot retract it because the information has already been dissimulated and seen by the universe.