Advantages And Disadvantages Of Longevity Sociology Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Longevity Sociology Essay The dramatic increase in average life expectancy during the twentieth century ranks as one of societys greatest achievements. While most babies born in 1900 did not live past age 50, life expectancy at birth now exceeds eighty-three years in Japan and is at least eighty-one years in several other countries (United Nations, 2011). Life expectancy is increasing so fast that half the babies born in 2007 will live to be at least 103, while half the Japanese babies born in the same year will reach the age of 107 (Boseley, 2009). It is certain that people are glad to live a longer life since longevity is the pursuit of most humans. However, longevity has also caused a lot of problems to society, such as financial burden, lack of resources and so on. This essay is to discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of the fact that people are living a longer life so that a clear picture of the situation is shown. The advantages of longevity can be seen from both individuals and the society. As for individuals, longevity has always been considered as a kind of treasure and fortune. And wisdom is usually linked with the elder. Death has always been regarded as something frightening and most people want to live a long life. Living longer means one can stay with his or her family longer and enjoy a happy later life. People spend most of their life working and taking care of their family. So it is simple common sense that people deserve a healthy and peaceful old age after the amount of paid work. Some people die without enjoying a pleasant twilight years, which is a great pity. On the other hand, that people live longer provides an opportunity for their children to return the care they have received from parents. As a saying goes, the tree may crave calm, but the wind will not drop and the off springs want to support but for the non-existent families. It is a pain and lifelong regret for many people. With parents living longer, children can have more time to stay with and s how filial respect to them. So longevity helps to promote the harmonious relationship among family members. As for society, longevity allows people to contribute more to the world with their talent and wisdom. So many prominent scientists and scholars and other elites died with regret that they could not accomplish their plan. For example, Zhu Shenghao, a talented Chinese translator of Shakespeares works, passed away at the age of 32 due to illness. If he could live longer, there might be more Chinese versions of Shakespeare and more people could appreciate the Chinese translation art. Another illustration is the early death of English poets such as Byron who died at 36, Shelley at 29 and Keats at 25. All of them are supremely gifted and great treasure to the academia but die so young. When their poems are read by people nowadays in modern time, their rich talent can still raise great admiration. What a pity it is for the world to witness the loss of so many extraordinary talents. Since people are enjoying a longer life now, scientists can discover and invent more, scholars can write more and artists can compose more. Therefore, people living longer can make more contributions to the world. Moreover, business markets can also benefit from the reality that people live longer. Traditionally, it is believed that a person has three major periods of life: childhood, adulthood and old age. However, old age is now evolving into two segments, a third age (young old) and a fourth age (oldest old). Recognition of the older population as a major market for business is beginning, as evidenced by an increasing number of articles about the silver market. Because a great deal of wealth is held by the older population and the number of elders is increasing relative to other age groups, it makes sense for business to design products appealing to the older market, and to direct advertising to them. Consumption by the older population can stimulate the economy. The economic power of older adults also can act as a force to change the ageist stereotypes often perpetuated by advertising (Uhlenberg, 2013). In addition, since old people need to be taken care of, more nursing homes need to be b uilt. This offers more jobs so that the unemployment can be reduced and social stability can be maintained. Thus, it is beneficial to both individuals and the society with people living longer from the perspective presented above. The Disadvantages of Longevity The most obvious disadvantage of longevity people are facing now is the aging problem. The U.N. Population Division projects that people older than age 60 will increase from just less than 800 million in 2011 (11 percent of world population) to more than 2 billion in 2050 (22 percent). That is to say, by 2050, almost a quarter of the world population will be the aged. When walking in the street, one old person out of four will be seen. In a world with low fertility, low mortality, and restricted immigration, countries must deal with the reality of having 20 percent or 30 percent of their populations older than age 65 (Uhlenberg, 2013). The aging population causes a series of problems to the society. First of all, old people have to be taken care of, which leave great burden to their family as well as the society. According to an article published in the journal Corporate Adviser, MGM Advantage calculates the current level of annual household expenditure where the main occupant is aged 75 and over at more than  £6,000. So if someone lived until they were 100, between their 75th and 100th birthday not including inflation, they would need to find around  £400,000 to live. This, combined with falling annuity rates, will lead to more pensioners falling below the poverty line. (Corporate Adviser 2011) Though that people live longer is good news, the fact that should not be neglected is that this has a huge financial burden on people. The great pressure to support old parents may lead to the cracks of relationship between children and parents. There are reports about old people who cannot afford to live in nursing homes and have no child to rely on. So it is the responsibility of t he government to help the old. In developed countries, where acute care and institutional long-term-care services are widely available, the use of medical care services by adults rises with age, and per capita expenditures on healthcare are relatively high among older age groups. Accordingly, the rising proportion of older people places upward pressure on overall healthcare spending in the developed world (Kinsella, Beard and Suzman, 2013). Secondly, longevity does not necessary mean health. The rate of getting illness increases with the growth of old age. In spite of the advances in medical technology, there are still many diseases that cannot be treated efficiently. For example, the prevalence of dementia increases dramatically with age, and the projected costs of caring for the growing numbers of people with dementia are daunting. The World Alzheimer Report 2012 (Alzheimers Disease International, 2012) estimates that the total worldwide cost of dementia exceeded US$600 billion in 2010, including informal care provided by family and others, social care provided by community care professionals, and direct costs of medical care. An Australian study has estimated that around 10 percent of the expected increase in healthcare costs anticipated over the next twenty years will be due to this condition alone (Vos, et al., 2007). In addition, longer life expectancy and lower fertility rate may lead to lack of young working forces. The world with less young people will become less vigorous. And the increasing population is challenging the tolerance of the planet people are living on for most of the resources people are consuming are non-renewable. So it is urgent for human beings to do the best to protect the environment and save energy. Otherwise, longevity will become meaningless if one cannot live with contentment Therefore, longer life expectancy of human beings creates burden to society and environment. However, the problems can be dealt with if people around the world work together. Conclusion Both the advantages and disadvantages of longevity have been discussed in detail above in this essay. Overall, the advantages of longer life span outweigh its disadvantages. It is obvious that though longer life expectancy puts burden on the society and environment, the problems caused can be tackled with the joint efforts made by people and it is urgent for human beings to do the best to save the environment and find out solution to the difficulties caused by the larger and larger population on the planet. On the other hand, the benefits both people and the world can get from the phenomenon of people living longer are irreplaceable and undeniable. It is the truth that longevity is a symbol of civilization and better life.

The Pulfrich phenomenon

The Pulfrich phenomenon Introduction What is the Pulfrich Phenomenon? The Pulfrich Phenomenon is a three dimensional illusion where a moving object is seen to move in an anomalous pathway when viewed binocularly with a light attenuating filter placed in front of one eye. This creates the illusion that an object oscillating on a frontal plane appears to follow an elliptical pathway. The most widely accepted theory for this illusion is that reducing the brightness of a stimulus to the retina of one eye causes relatively slower excitation of the photoreceptors (www.suic.edu) and therefore a delayed processing of the image relative to the other eye. (1) This creates a latency difference between the two eyes and as a result, information for two different scenes from each retina arrives at the visual cortex at the same time. Information from one eye will arrive at the cortex milliseconds later than the other. A geometric disparity is registered cortically from the input of the two eyes (7) and this leads to the incorrect perception of the movement and relati ve positions of objects observed by the individual. Many ocular or neurological disorders that affect the visual pathway can produce a delay in signal transmission to the brain, creating a geometric disparity. The illusions created by this geometric disparity produce troublesome symptoms for individuals with a condition and is why many patients experience problems in everyday life as a result of the phenomenon.(5) Who first discovered the Phenomenon? Carl Pulfrich, a physicist with the Zeiss Company, described the phenomenon in 1922. He was not able to observe the effect himself however due to a childhood injury, which left him blind in one eye by 1905. The phenomenon was first noted earlier however by astronomers using stereo-comparators to search for planets.(3) Demonstrating the phenomenon The Pulfrich phenomenon can be observed in a normal individual by binocularly viewing a swinging pendulum bob whilst holding a neutral density filter in front of one eye. The pendulum bob or target used to elicit the phenomenon may take the form of a mechanical or computerized target. The neutral density filter lowers the retinal illumination of the eye it covers, and this creates the difference in signal transmission time between the two eyes. This delay created by a reduction in retinal illumination is supported by several psychophysical and electro-physical investigations.(1)((8,9)) The geometric disparity created by the visual latency difference between the eyes is interpreted by the brain as depth by the binocular disparity detectors.(2) This is why the pendulum bob is perceived to oscillate in an elliptical motion instead of moving along a frontal plane. The perceived direction of the pendulums swing is dependent on which eye the filter is covering; the pendulum appears to rota te clockwise when the filter is placed in front of the left eye and anti-clockwise when it is in front of the right eye. Provoked and Spontaneous Pulfrich Phenomenons When the Pulfrich phenomenon is induced in a normal individual i.e. using neutral density filters, the phenomenon is sometimes called the provoked Pulfrich effect. Since a delay can occur in individuals with ocular or neurological disorders that affect the visual pathway, the Pulfrich effect can occur spontaneously. Such diseases which may result in a spontaneous Pulfrich effect include optic neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve which can cause swelling and destruction of the myelin sheath covering the optic nerve. Since this myelin sheath helps conduct nerve impulses along its axons faster than non-myelinated axons, its destruction will lead to a slower transmission to the occipital cortex, where the information is processed. Optic neuropathies with bilaterally asymmetrical demyelination are thought to be the most common causes of the Pulfrich Phenomenon and the visual symptoms it is associated with. (website) Systemic conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, a demyelinating d isease were the fatty myelin sheaths around axons are damaged (Miller DH, Leary SM (October 2007). Primary-progressive multiple sclerosis), can lead to many individuals experiencing the Pulfrich Phenomenon. The Pulfrich Phenomenon has also been reported in many other diseases such as unilateral cataract or asymmetrical bilateral cataract. A cataract may reduce retinal illumination or produce retinal blur thus leading to a visual latency in the visual pathway of the affected eye causing the phenomenon in the individual. Anisometropic amblyopia, strabismus, corneal opacity, anisocoria, unilateral mydriasis, Central serous retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration have all been accountable to produce the Pulfrich effect to some extent in an individual. Retinal blur has also been thought to be cause of the effect, most noticeable in smaller targets. Sokol and Moskowitz (cat(13)) showed that a 12 ms increase in the visual latency resulted from a 3 dioptre refractive error.() A spontaneous Pulfrich phenomenon is not uncommon and has been found quite frequently in studies with patients with ocular and neurological disorders. It was found in 24 out of 93 patients with recovered optic neuritis, 16 out of 29 patients with uncomplicated unilateral cataract and three out of 70 patients with various strabismus problems.(3) Factors affecting the magnitude of the Phenomenon seen The magnitude of the Pulfrich Phenomenon seen depends on a number of factors with retinal illumination being one of the most significant. The magnitude of Pulfrich effect seen i.e. the depth of the elliptical trajectory, is larger for increasing disparity of retinal illumination between the two eyes. This may occur in a patient with a spontaneous Pulfrich phenomenon, for example when one eye has a much denser cataract than the fellow eye. It may also occur in cases of uniocular mydriasis when anisocoria could be induced. (2) The eye with the larger pupil receives increased retinal illumination than the other eye with a smaller pupil and therefore the phenomenon may be induced. This may also occur when the Pulfrich phenomenon is provoked, i.e. when a neutral density filter covering the eye is increased in depth. Lit ((2)12) has shown that the magnitude of the Pulfrich effect seen, that is the size of the ellipse, is proportional to the density of the filter used. The distance from which a pendulum or similar target is viewed, also has an effect on the magnitude of the Pulfrich phenomenon seen. An increase in the magnitude of the phenomenon can be observed as the distance between the observer and target increases. Target velocity also contributes to the magnitude of the Pulfrich phenomenon. As the target velocity increases, so does the magnitude of the Pulfrich effect seen by the observer, leading to much more noticeable illusions and increased visual symptoms. Symptoms experienced due to the Phenomenon The symptoms expressed by a patient with the Pulfrich phenomenon to a general practitioner or optometrist can be quite strange. Objects appear to move in incorrect pathways when either the observer or the target is in motion.(3) Objects moving up and down however will not demonstrate this effect or lead to symptoms as a result of misjudged distances. These symptoms experienced lead to difficulties in everyday tasks. Tasks such as driving and various ball game activities like football, which require good perception of moving objects, have been found to be more difficult for patients who have the Pulfrich phenomenon. Even the simplest of tasks such as navigating through doorways or pouring a drink have been found to produce an increased level of difficulty for such patients. Several studies have revealed that visual impairment leads to increased car accidents and difficulty driving. Visual perception has a key role in the safe operation of a vehicle, helping prevent driving errors and therefore prevent accidents and fatalities. In order to drive safely, a driver must be able to act and react to the changing environment around him/her. This requires the ability to correctly estimate the relative positions of moving and non-moving objects. Some Patients with a spontaneous Pulfrich phenomenon have complained of oncoming cars apparently swerving across the road towards them. This visual perception could lead to a serious accident and therefore must be treated to help prevent any casualties. Individuals who were later diagnosed with pathologies thought to be the cause of a spontaneous Pulfrich Phenomenon have reported the illusion that whilst driving, oncoming cars appear to swerve across the road towards them. Perception of this would lead to the driver maki ng a sharp turn away to escape what he/she thinks is a certain accident. Forty years ago, a traffic accident was reported which occurred as a result of an induced Pulfrich phenomenon due to unilateral pupillary dilation. (reference) Since then, many investigations have been carried out to learn more about the effect a spontaneous Pulfrich phenomenon has on driving. It was found that many individuals had problems with judging distances when driving, especially when performing manoeuvres such as reverse parking into a garage.(references) Why is it useful for optometrists to be able to diagnose and treat the Pulfrich phenomenon? Due to troublesome visual symptoms experienced by patients known to have the phenomenon, it is in the interest of both the patient and Optometrist that the Pulfrich effect is diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. Various studies have shown that unilateral mydriasis was found to always produce the phenomenon on subjects.(reference) Because of this, it would be important for the Optometrist to warn the patient in advance of dilation, the visual symptoms and difficulty judging distance that can be expected, and also to warn, if possible, the patient should not drive home. It has also been suggested that, because patients with conditions such as cataract and optic neuropathy often demonstrate the Pulfrich phenomenon, an effective test for the Pulfrich phenomenon might be a useful addition to the tests available to Optometrists in primary care practice. The detection of this phenomenon may aid prompt diagnosis of any underlying pathology therefore the correct management and treatment could be initiated without delay. Recognition of this phenomenon could be particularly helpful in the early diagnosis of Retrobulbar neuritis, the most common form of optic neuritis in adults and frequently associated with multiple sclerosis (Jack J Kanski). In retrobulbar neuritis, the optic disc appearance is normal, at least initially, because the optic nerve head is not involved and so early detection is difficult using direct or indirect Ophthalmoscopy. Testing for the Pulfrich phenomenon is the only way to clinically determine if motion stereopsis is normal or not. Visual Evoked Potentials are not useful in analysing how motion stereopsis is affected, as their signals are travel via different visual pathways. VEPs are also not available to primary care optometrists. Standard stereo-tests such as the Frisby stereotest commonly used in Optometric Practice also fail to detect any abnormalities in motion stereopsis. (1) Knowledge and understanding of the Pulfrich would help the O ptometrist appreciate many of the strange symptoms experienced by an individual with the Pulfrich phenomenon and the many kinds of problems faced in daily life by i.e. sports games and traffic situations. The symptoms experienced by a patient with the phenomenon can be quite easily ignored or dismissed if the clinician is unaware of the phenomenon. If optometrists had the appropriate equipment and knowledge to diagnose the Pulfrich phenomenon in everyday practice, they would also be able to treat the phenomenon and its sometimes-disabling effects using simple filtered lenses. This would help reduce or eliminate any of the problems experienced as a result. Patients, that find even the simplest of tasks such as pouring a drink or navigating through doorways, may be enabled to carry out these tasks with ease after treatment. Management and treatment of the phenomenon may also allow patients who retired from driving a vehicle due to the visual difficulties faced with the Pulfrich effect to feel confident in driving again. The unusual symptoms experienced when driving due to the Pulfrich phenomenon, especially the location of moving objects encountered in traffic, could be eliminated with the simple treatment available. How is the Pulfrich phenomenon treated? The symptoms experienced by patients with a spontaneous Pulfrich phenomenon can be reduced or eliminated by placing an appropriate neutral density filter or optic tint in front of the unaffected eye. (3) The lens has the effect of reducing retinal illumination of the unaffected eye and therefore creates a delay in signal transmission to the visual cortex, which equals the delay in the affected eye. To choosing a correct filter, the patient is shown a range of filters of varying densities and asked to decide which lens alleviates their symptoms and removes phenomenon. Once the suitable lens filter has been chosen, it may then be worn as spectacles or as a contact lens. Optic tints are preferred to neutral density filters as they are more readily available and cost effective for the patient.(3)The filters used to treat the phenomenon should remain the same without needing to be updated, so long as the underlying pathology remains stationary.() Other Diagnostic methods Doctors and other Healthcare professionals have found many different ways of testing for the phenomenon. The most often suggested method is to swing a pendulum in 5 different pathways in front of a patient. A pendulum is swung in each of the pathways, from A-E. If the right eye is affected, the pathways C and B produce the most marked effect for the patient. The pendulum appears to veer towards the patient as it gets closer on these pathways. Picture from Charles J. M Diaper, 1997 Surv Ophthalmol Another technique used by some medical professionals in detecting the Pulfrich Phenomenon is when the examiner instructs the patient to quickly walk past the examiner whilst trying to brush his/her shoulder on either side. If the effect is present the patients left eye for example as shown in the diagram below, usually the affected eyes side will result in a large gap between the patient and the examiner. Errors in spatial localization result in the misjudgement of the distance between the patient and examiner. The patient can be seen to make a course correction, which can be seen as a rapid lurch away from the examiner. (6) The incorrect distance judgement by the patient is a result of an illusion caused by the Pulfrich phenomenon leading the patient to believe the examiner is closer than what he/she actually is.(3) Note that this gap would only occur on the same side of the affected eye. For example if the patients right eye were affected on the picture left, a large gap would not be observed. What my project is about? In this project we are interested in investigating which tests prove most effective to an Optometrist in detecting the Pulfrich Phenomenon and also what the optimal parameters are for eliciting the Pulfrich effect in visually normal observers. With the ready availability of computerised stimuli for eliciting the Pulfrich effect, this may now be possible in practice. We would like to investigate which of the currently available online versions of the Pulfrich phenomenon stimuli are most successful and sensitive at eliciting the Pulfrich effect. I will also test a range of neutral density filters of varying depths to see which induces the phenomenon best in a group of visually normal adults aged 18-30. I will also be recording the distances at which the subjects were placed in relation to the screen throughout the test to see what effect this may have on detecting the phenomenon on how sensitive the different stimuli were at detecting the Pulfrich phenomenon in the subjects.

An Experiment with an Air Pump :: Shelagh Stephenson Science Technology Essays

An Experiment with an Air Pump Is it ethical or even helpful to try to impose order on a haphazard existence? Is it right to play God, to steal the limelight from the cosmos? Man used to ponder existence, but with the increasing possibilities of science, we now ponder our power over existence. In â€Å"An Experiment with an Air Pump,† Shelagh Stephenson uses symbolism associated with Isobel as a voice of foreboding in a society â€Å"enraptured by the possibilities of science† (3). Stephenson associates Isobel with a bird, a pile of bones, and a sheep to reveal the dark side of the â€Å"light,† the scientific revolution. The play commences in 1799 when Fenwick risks the life of Harriet’s bird in order to conduct an experiment with an air pump. Later in the play, Armstrong puts a different life on the line for the â€Å"intoxication of discovery† (3). This time the life is human. From the moment Armstrong sees Isobel he wants to â€Å"examine her beautiful back in all its delicious, twisted glory† (85). His infatuation with Isobel has nothing to do with matters of the heart, but he proceeds to woo her because of his sheer lust for science. Upon learning of Armstrong’s motive, Isobel attempts to hang herself. As Isobel lies helpless on the floor, fighting for one last breath, Stephenson illustrates that Isobel’s â€Å"heels flutter almost imperceptibly† (92). Later, everyone gathers around Isobel’s dead body much like they did around the fluttering bird in the first experiment. â€Å"But this time Isobel, in her coffin, has taken the place of the bird in the air pump†(96). The fact that now a dead Isobel symbolizes the bird implies that this time the experiment has gone dreadfully wrong. The fact that the second experiment fails harbors a much more solemn consequence than if the first had failed. If the bird in the first experiment had died, tears would have been shed only until the purchase of a new bird. Not only does Armstrong sacrifice a human life in the name of science, but he symbolically diminishes all that the bird and Isobel represent. Isobel’s death implies the demise of freedom, will, and humanity. Stephenson also associates Isobel with a sheep, to represent what can be lost in a future of â€Å"industry, science, wealth, and reason† (15). Harriet writes her own play within this play in which the future is exalted as â€Å"a new Jerusalem† (15).

Life in the Community Essay -- Gender Roles, Racism

Life in the Community Aren’t you supposed to be smart because you’re Asian? Aren’t you supposed to be a trouble maker because you’re African American? We are discriminated against because of our multicultural society. In our multicultural society we experience these terrible racist comments due to the diversity we have. Our society is one of the worst because of the diversity of people and religions. We have different languages, foods, religions, movies, music, and games making life confusing for the average person. We have trained our minds to think of everyone as different; judging them without even knowing them. We live with all these freedoms and choices that can led to bad reasoning. Lois Lowry explores the concept of Sameness in The Giver and shows that while there are problems with Sameness ultimately it is a positive way to run a society. Living in a society that employs Sameness corrects the problem of racism and sexism. Lily had exclaimed, â€Å"One of them—a male; I don’t know his name – kept going right to the front of the line† (Lowry 5). Lily only describes the child as a male not introducing the thought of a race. She does not describe him as anything else than a male, meaning she doesn’t know the concept of racism. It is shown that racism can also lead to there being sexism in a society. Jonas shows this by saying, â€Å"Mother, who held a prominent position at the Department of Justice, talked about her feelings† (Lowry 8). Jonas shows the reader that in his Community the idea of anyone becoming anything is true. It does not matter if they are male or female; it only matters if they are capable, making... ... violence. When violence is present in a community it normally leads to crime, and in The Giver crime is not one of the major problems. Sameness also helps the citizens of the community to make good choices. No one in Jonas’s society has the wrong job, spouse, or children. All this is due to the idea of Sameness. Would you trust someone to bath you? Sameness is the reason Elders in Jonas’s Community are not scared of being bathed by a random stranger. Sameness also gets rid of all the hardships of the climate, and environment. Sameness makes the climate and environment constant meaning no random changes will occur in it. Would you like to live in a world on no crime, violence, entrust, hardships, racism, and sexism? Lois Lowry reveals to use that a community with Sameness is more productive and reasonable that one without.

Language Acquisition and Corrective Feedback :: Education, foreign languages

Corrective feedback has been in the focus of research in SLA during the last years and has become an important part in learners’ language acquisition. Ellis (1994) referred to feedback as â€Å"the information given to learners which they can use to revise their interlanguage.† He also distinguishes two different kinds of feedback, positive and negative feedback; positive feedback has to do with the information that indicates that a hypothesis is incorrect. Ellis also mentioned some other forms of feedback such as direct or correction, indirect or the request for conformation, on-record which supplies ‘direct negative evidence’, and off-record which supplies ‘indirect negative feedback’; the negative evidence or feedback has to do with information about ungrammaticality. If corrective feedback is sufficiently salient to enable learners to notice the gap between their interlanguage forms and target language forms, the resulting cognitive comparison may trigger a destabilization and restructuring of the target language grammar (Ellis, 1994). Chaudron (1988) has pointed out that corrective feedback incorporates different layers of meaning. Chaudron consider the treatment of error is simply â€Å"any teacher behavior following an error that minimally attempts to inform the learner the fact of error† and finally â€Å"there is â€Å"the true† correction which succeeds in modifying the learner’s interlanguage so that the error is eliminated from further production†. In the view of Chaudroncited in El Tatawy (2002) the information learners get from corrective feedback allows them to â€Å"confirm, disconfirm, and possibly modify the hypothetical, transitional rules of their developing grammars.† Lightbown and Spada (1999) cited in El Tatawy (2002) define corrective feedback as: â€Å"Any indication to the learners that their use of the target language is incorrect.† Schachter (1991) cited in El Tatawy (2001) stated that the feedback can be explicit, that is grammatical explanation or overt error correction, or implicit. Implicit correction can be done using the following techniques â€Å"confirmation checks, repetitions, recasts, clarification requests, silence, and even facial expressions that express confusion.† (Schachter (1991) cited in El Tatawy (2001)) Tedick and Gortari (1998) summarize different types of corrective feedback: 1. Explicit correction. When the teacher provides direct corrective feedback to the learner after s/he has made any mistake S: [...] the coyote, the bison and the gr...grane. (phonological error) T: And the crane. We say crane. 2. Recast. The teacher indirectly provides corrective feedback to the learners, but tries to reformulate the utterance. S: You is a very good teacher. (grammatical error) T: You are a good teacher. Good. 3. Clarification request. The teacher uses some phrases such as "Excuse me?

What Was the Best Gift That You Have Given or Received?

Heather Nguyen Writing V Date: Sep- 19-12 Topic: What was the best gift that you have given or received? What make this gift special? â€Å"The only way that you can ever know if something is of value to you is by the way it feels as you are receiving it†. We all would like to have a gift, even if the gift is invaluable or inexpensive; it also brings for all of us happiness and respectability. To me, the day I gave birth to my son is the gift I have received which changed my life forever.No word can describe how special my gift means to me. As someone quotes: â€Å"Somebody said that a child is carried in its mother’s womb for 9 months. Somebody does not know that a child is carried in its mother’s heart forever†. When he entered this world with the first sound of his crying, I knew that we blended for life. God brought my son to me as a non material gift. It was amazing while I was pregnant, the movement inside the womb, the kicks when he heard a noiseâ⠂¬ ¦My pregnancy was difficulty but I really enjoyed it.This gift made me stop and realize how precious and special life truly is. My house is filled full with his smiles, kisses, hugs, laughs, and love†¦I cannot imagine what my life would be like without him. He is truly a gift. He means the world to me. I am very proud to have him in my life. Sometimes I get too much depression because of real life; I look at him, and forget what I have been though. He makes me laugh and reminds me to slow down and enjoy life. He is a miracle that makes my life happier.On the other hand, I do not have time for myself; I work harder to raise him. For example; I always wake up in the middle of the night because he is crying. Over all, even if I knew how difficult it was being, I will do anything I can do for him to become a good person. Gifts are something that are unforgettable and love the person who gives it to you. Gifts can bring people closer together. I thank God everyday for giving me t his wonderful gift. No gift that I ever received in my life can compare to this . My son is truly a special gift to me.

Adoption Of ICT In The Tourism And Hospitality Industry Essay

Abstract Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have revolutionised the travel industry in the last decade. eTourism reflects the digitalisation of all processes and value chains in the tourism, travel, hospitality and catering industries. It emerges as a term describing the entire range of applications of ICTs on tourism and the implications for the tourism value chain. Major opportunities and challenges have emerged and need to be addressed by all industry players. However, the level of eTourism developments varies between regions, countries and continents. The tourism sector is experiencing an acceptance of ecommerce to the extend that the whole industry structure is changing .The web is used not only for information gathering but also for ordering services .A new type of user is emerging one who acts as his or her own travel agent and build a personalised travel package .This research focuses on evaluating the current status of Meikles Hotel Zimbabwe in order to study the adoption of ecommerce applications on the hospitality sector. 1. Introduction Mathieson and Wall (1982) created a good working definition of tourism as â€Å"the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs.† The tourism industry requires a diverse range of information and lends itself well to the support offered by developing multimedia, communication technologies and information systems .The internet provides an extra ordinary connectivity and the ability to communicate efficiently and effectively directly with customers at a reasonable cost .Its potential to generate more revenue is not questionable but is acknowledged as something the tourism industry in developing countries needs. According to the World Tourism Organization 2002, Tourism in many developing and least developed countries is the most viable and sustainable economic development option, and in some countries, the main so urce of foreign exchange earnings. Implications of the Internet and other growing interactive multimedia platforms for tourism promotion are far reaching and alter the structure of the industry. This research aimed to explore the impact of ICTs and the  Internet in particular for the future competitiveness of the tourism and hospitality industry. This paper explores the current state of eTourism development and examines the use of the Internet in the sector. The rapid development and commercialization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the travel and tourism industry has prompted hotels and other enterprises in this sector to increasingly adopt these technologies. This is based on the expectation that the new ICT based technologies and processes would lead to an improvement in their operating efficiencies and customer service levels. Buhalis, D. (2003: 77). The ICT based products and processes help the hotels to enhance the operating efficiency, improve the service experience as well as provide a means to access markets on a global basis. Brussels, 2005. Says ‘The use of ICTs is a relevant opportunity for growing and strengthening a local tourism industry, and for the development of destinations economies overall. Specifically ICTs have the potential to increase destination incomes for financing economic and social development’. While ICTs were used in the hotel industry from the late seventies in the f orm of Computerized Reservation systems and Global distribution systems, it was only in the 90s that the ICTs began to make a difference in the hospitality sector. Nowadays the internet has turned into an informative channel providing both individuals and organisations with different types of information making them aware of new tourism and old travel opportunities and offers enabling them to compare the offers, have online purchases and provide feedback. It has also turned into a source for travel agencies and organisations to promote their services and products to their potential customers. As the internet is being used worldwide it was important for Meikles hotel to implement hence the creation of its web site www.meikles.com Meikles Hotel Meikles Hotel is situated in the heart of Harare and overlooks the historic landmark and colourful flower gardens of Africa Unity Square. According to Experience Zimbabwe, Meikles is consistently voted as one of the best hotels in Zimbabwe, Meikles Hotel is a proud member of The Leading Hotels of the World, a prestigious hospitality organisation which represents some of the world’s most acclaimed hotels, spas and resorts. Established in 1928, the organisation exists to meet the needs of discerning travellers and for a  hotel to be recognised by this body, it needs to exceed every expectation and achieve exacting standards of excellence. Executive chairman Mr Onias Makamba says ‘Meikles Hotel has won the prestigious Association of Zimbabwean Travel Agents (AZTA) award for Best City Hotel in Zimbabwe for an astonishing 15 consecutive years’. This award is voted on by AZTA members and is based on feedback given to travel agents by their many clients across the worl d. Problem Definition There have been a lot of changes in the rapid growing world of technology. Changes in the technological world have made organizations to change the way they conduct their day to day business in order to provide satisfactory services delivery. Effective delivery of service is defined by Martin (2004) as providing products and services that bring utility to users and customers. E-tourism is offering significant benefits for organizations that integrate the technology into their organizational information systems. This versatile technology improves information quality and accessibility, increases operational efficiency (service delivery) and enhances effective management (Maamar, 2006). Despite these highly perceived benefits of e-tourism its adoption has been relatively slow in Zimbabwe. Currently, there are no studies which have been carried out in Zimbabwe to identify the benefits and challenges of adopting ICT in the tourism and hospitality industry. Hence it is the ideal time to ca rry out an investigation on the adoption of ICT in the tourism and hospitality industry. Objectives The key objective of this research has been to examine the Adoption of ICT in the tourism industry mainly looking at Meikles Hotel in Zimbabwe .In particular the research examines the level of ICT diffusion in tourism enterprises. Another objective is to Identify the factors affecting E-tourism in Zimbabwe The paper also assesses how eTourism concepts and techniques can contribute towards the improvement of the Zimbabwe tourism competitiveness. RESEARCH QUESTIONS I. At what rate is ICT being adopted in the tourism and hospitality industry in Zimbabwe? II. What factors are encouraging or discouraging the adoption of ICT in the tourism and hospitality industry of Zimbabwe. 2. Literature  review Literature review is a â€Å"systematic, explicit and reproducible method for identifying, evaluating and interpreting the existing body of recorded work produced by other scholars† (Khan, 2008, p.41). The literature review focuses on the impacts of ICTs on tourism and the eCommerce developments in Zimbabwe. It also includes a brief section on Tourism in Zimbabwe which provides the contextual environment that determines the requirements for eTourism in the country. 2.1 ICT Developments and eCommerce in Zimbabwe There are various factors that have affected the adoption of ecommerce in Zimbabwe, these include : Software development tools are still evolving .It is difficult to integrate Internet and e-commerce software with some existing (especially legacy) applications and databases .Special web servers are needed in addition to the network servers, which add to the cost of ecommerce. The Standard June 5, 2011 says the adoption of the multiple currency system in 2009 presented a strong opportunity for the growth of e-commerce in Zimbabwe. It said Zimbabwe now had a chance to catch up with the rest of the world if the financial and retail sectors took the lead. Internet accessibility is still expensive and or inconvenient .Powertel Communications, a government owned internet provider, is one of the 12 POTRAZ licensed Internet Access Providers in Zimbabwe. In June 2014 Powertel mobile broadband price were $50/month .The price of the modem $45.Every Zimbabwean cannot afford these prices. The Fin ancial Gazette 3 Oct 2013 states Despite the growth of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector in the country, which has seen internet penetration rising from five to 47 percent in the past five years, the cost of accessing the internet still remains high. The improved internet penetration is largely credited to the ICT Strategic Plan crafted by the then ministry of ICT under Nelson Chamisa. Customers’ attitudes towards online shopping remain skeptical, mainly because of worries about product quality, product delivery, and security and privacy issues (Ghazali et al., 2006; Scott & Scott, 2008). People do not yet  sufficiently trust paperless, faceless transactions .Payment security and privacy concerns are one of the major non technological barriers that prevent consumers from completing transactions online Lack of trust in e-commerce and in unknown sellers hinders buying. Online fraud is also increasing. Some customers like to feel and touch products. They are afraid that if they purchase without actually touching the products they might not get exactly what they ordered. Also, customers are resistant to the change from shopping at a brick-and-mortar store to a virtual store. The lack of stand ­ards in technology and its applications eventually increases the cost of system integration for effective and efficient management in distribution, operation and communication worldwide. Large hospitality corporations have invested to transform their systems into a total netware system; however, small and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMEs) struggle to integrate the systems due to a shortage of financial sources Factors Determining the Adoption of ICTs In Zimbabwean Hotels There are a number of factors that affect the adoption of ICT in hotels these will be discussed below. In the hotel industry, the geographic location of a hotel has a major impact on its operations and profitability. The geographical location of a hotel would greatly determine the profile of its visitors, the size of its market and the level of competition that it has to face. A hotel will therefore be more inclined to adopt ICTs if it expects the ICT based facilities to either provide greater competitive advantage or to blunt the advantage enjoyed by its competitors considering the characteristics of its customer profile, its market size and the intensity of competition that it has to face. Thus based on the profile of a hotel’s visitors, the size of the market, or the intensity of competition, hotels may differ in their levels of ICT adoption propensity. The market size, in terms of the number of tourists who visit the location, will also be a significant factor that affects ICT adoption , since hotels  in smaller underdeveloped destinations may need to use the internet and other ICT based technologies to a greater degree to reach out to the global population than hotels located in developed destinations. According to Bajaj and Nag (2005) a range of advanced ICT systems such as Decision Support System (DSS) can be applied to gain substantial benefits on practical levels not only by large organisations, but also by small and medium-sized business organisations as well. Bajaj and Nag (2005) argue that DSS integration by small and medium-sized organisations can assist management by generating a set of alternative solution options to management problems of various levels complexities The competition level among the hotels in a location, can also influence the adoption of ICTs. The general occupancy rate in the location is an indicator of the competitive intensity among the hotels in a location. High levels of occupancy rate at a location imply that the competition is low, and the hotels can expect to get their rooms filled with relative ease while low levels of occupancy point towards higher levels of competition to attract customers between the hotels in the location. High levels of competition may prompt the hotels to aggressively use ICT based technologies both for attracting customers as well as to increase the efficiency of its operations. The size of the hotel has an important effect on ICT adoption. Effective adoption of several ICT technologies requires a substantial investment of resources. Lack of resources may affect the inclination of small hotels to adopt costly ICTs and therefore large hotels can be expected to be more inclined to ICTs. Further the risky nature of investing in new technologies may prompt small hotels to wait till the technology has stabilized before investing in it. Another aspect of the hotel size that can influence adoption of ICTs is the inclination to change within the organization. Large hotels have been found to be more resistant to change than small firms. This fact tends to suggest that large hotels are less inclined to adopt ICTs than small hotels as long as the investment required is not a consideration. The scope of activities that the hotel is engaged in can also influence adoption of ICTs. Since ICTs enable an effective integration of activities of an organization, hotels with varied lines of activities would find more use in the adoption of ICTs than hotels with a relatively lesser span of activities. 2.2 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the Tourism sector The internet has become a key application in the tourism industry. Tourism providers have been using the internet to communicate, distribute and market their products to potential customers worldwide in a cost- and time-efficient way. In fact, the individual company website had become the most important platform for e-commerce, followed by electronic markets. The main focus of e-business processes in the tourism industry has been on customer facing activities and services, i.e. primarily e-marketing and e-sales. Online booking and reservation services were widely accepted among consumers and business travell ers already in 2005. Similarly, online purchasing had become a relatively well-used application in the tourism sector. Parsons and Oja (2013) mention online reservations systems as one of the greatest impacts of ICT on tourism and hospitality sector. Tourism has closely been connected to progress of ICTs for over 30 years. The establishments of the Computer Reservation Systems (CRSs) in the 1970s, Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) in the late 1980s and the Internet in the late 1990s have transformed operational and strate ­gic practices dramatically in tourism .The tourism indus ­try at first focused on utilizing computerized systems (e.g., CRS, GDS) to increase efficiency in processing of internal information and managing distribution. Nowadays, the Internet and ICTs are relevant on all operative, structural, strategic and marketing levels to facilitate global interaction among suppliers, intermediaries and consumers around the world. In this section, we will provide the concepts and definitions of the key terms related to the Internet and ICTs. 2.2.1 Electronic tourism (e-tourism) It is the application of ICTs on the tourism industry (Buhalis, 2003). Buhalis (2003) suggests that e-tourism reflects the digitisation of all processes and value chains in the tourism, travel, hospitality and catering industries. At the tactical level, it includes e-com ­merce and applies ICTs for maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of the tourism  organi ­sation. At the strategic level, e-tourism revolutionises all business processes, the entire value chain as well as the strategic relationships of tourism organisations with all their stakeholders. E-tourism determines the competitiveness of the organisation by taking advantage of intranets for reorganising internal processes, extranets for developing transactions with trusted partners and the Internet for interacting with all its stakeholders and customers. The e-tourism concept includes all business functions (i.e., e-commerce, e-marketing, e-finance and e-accounting, eHRM, e-procurement, e-production) as well as e-strategy, e-planning and e-management for all sectors of the tourism industry, including tourism, travel, transport, leisure, hospitality, principals, intermediaries and public sector organisations. Hence, e-tourism bundles together three distinctive disciplines: business management, information systems and management, and tourism. II.2.2 Computer reservation system (CRS) The 1989 CRS Regulation51 defined a ‘computerized reservation system’ as a system for reserving and booking seats on commercial flights electronically, as well as storage and retrieval of itineraries. Several airlines own and market such systems, which are used by travel agents. A few include: Sabre (produced by American Airlines), Amadeus, and Worldspan. It is a database which enables a tourism organisation to manage its inventory and make it accessible to its partners. Principals utilise CRSs to manage their inventory and distribute their capacity as well as to manage the drastic expansion of global tourism. CRSs often charge competitive commission rates while enabling flexible pricing and capacity alterations, to adjust supply to demand fluctuations. Airlines pioneered this technology, although hotel chains and tour operators followed by developing centralised reservation systems. CRSs can be characterised as the â€Å"circulation system† of the tourism product . II.2.3 Global distribution systems (GDSs) The business dictionary defines a global distribution system as a worldwide computerized reservation network used as a single point of access for reserving airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other travel related  items by travel agents, online reservation sites, and large corporations. The premier global distribution systems are Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and Worldspan. They are owned and operated as joint ventures by major airlines, car rental companies, and hotel groups. Also called automated reservation system (ARS) or computerized reservation system (CRS).Since the mid 1980s, airline CRSs developed into GDSs by gradually expanding their geographical coverage as well as by integrating both horizontally, with other airline systems, and vertically by incorporating the entire range of principals, such as accommodation, car rentals, train and ferry ticketing, entertainment and other provisions. In the early 1990s, GDSs emerged as the major driver of ICTs, as well as the back bone of the tourism industry and the single most important facilitator of ICTs globalisation (Sheldon, 1993). In essence, GDSs matured from their original development as airline CRSs to travel supermar ­kets. Since the late 1990s GDSs have emerged as business in their own right, specialising in travel distribution. 2.2.4 Intermediaries Intermediaries (brokers) play an important role in commerce by providing value-added activities and services to buyers and sellers. The most well-known intermediaries in the physical world are wholesalers and retailers. Traditionally, intermediaries of the travel industry have been outbound and inbound travel agencies and tour operators. However, the Internet restructured the entire touristic value chain, forcing the existing intermediaries to take up the new medium and to develop corresponding business models. 2.2.5 e-Travel agencies ICTs are irreplaceable tools for travel agencies as they provide information and reservation facilities and support the intermediation between consumers and principals. Andreas Papatheodorou – (2006) Travel agencies operate various reservation systems, which mainly enable them to check availability and make reservations for tourism products. Until recently GDSs have been critical for business travel agencies to access information and make reservations on scheduled airlines, hotel chains, car rentals and a variety of ancillary services. GDSs help construct complicated itineraries, while  they provide up-to-date schedules, prices and availability information, as well as an effective reservation method. In addition, they offered internal management modules integrating the â€Å"back office† (accounting, commission monitor, personnel) and â€Å"front office† (customers’ history, itinerary construction, ticketing and communication with suppliers). Multiple tr avel agencies in particular experience more benefits by achieving better coordination and control between their remote branches and headquarters. Transactions can provide invaluable data for financial and operational control as well as for marketing research, which can analyze the market fluc ­tuations and improve tactical decisions Hotels use ICTs in order to improve their operations, manage their inventory and maximise their profitability. Their systems facilitate both in-house management and distribution through electronic media. ‘Property management systems (PMSs)’ coordinate front office, sales, planning and operational functions by administrating reservations and managing the hotel inventory. Moreover, PMSs integrate the â€Å"back† and â€Å"front† of the house management and improve general administration functions such as accounting and finance; marketing research and planning; forecasting and yield management; payroll and personnel; and purchasing. Understandably, hotel chains gain more benefits from PMSs, as they can introduce a unified system for planning, budgeting and controlling and coordinating their properties centrally. Hotels also utilise ICTs and the Internet extensively for their distribution and marketing func ­tions. Global presence is essential in order to enable both individual customers and the travel trade to access accurate information on availability and to provide easy, efficient, inexpensive and reliable ways of making and confirming reservations. Although Central Reservation Offices (CROs) introduced central reservations in the 1970s, it was not until the expansion of airline CRSs and the recent ICT developments that forced hotels to develop hotel CRSs in order to expand their distribution, improve efficiency, facilitate control, empower yield management, reduce labour costs and enable rapid response time to both customers and management re ­quests. Following the development of hotel CRSs by most chains, the issue of interconnectivity with other CRSs and the Internet emerged.This reduces both set-up and reservation costs, whilst facilitates res ­ervations through several distribution channels 2.3 Tourism in Zimbabwe In the past, tourism contributed significantly to the GDP of Zimbabwe, and created many employment and business opportunities for locals in the 1990s. But it has faced a great decline since 2000. A number of Zimbabwean tourist attractions are marketed online by South African companies and they have created an impression to some international tourists that they are located in South Africa. E-tourism has always seemed like a no-brainer for Zimbabwe, as money can be paid direct to hotels and suppliers. But obstacles like the lack of access to communication in remote areas, uncertain electricity availability, high cost of bandwidth, the lack of integrated, real-time reservation systems and local online payment gateways have thus far stymied progress. However, with the arrival of voice and data-oriented telecommunications in some remote tourist areas, there is more access to information via websites by foreign tourists looking for a good holiday resort. In other parts of Africa, arrival o f cheaper bandwidth has lessened the barriers to communication and the world’s Online Travel Agencies like Expedia are showing a real interest in the continent. Ten years ago no-one was talking about online tourism. The tourism trade tended to focus on going to big trade events like World Tourism Markets, with brochures and doing support advertising in key markets. The travel agents tended to suggest where people went and to some extent picked the destinations. As a result, a great deal of the revenues went to large, international hotel chains and not much of the money was retained locally. According to The Zimbabwean (22 June 2011) 56% of travel globally is booked online and the rise of the Online Travel Agents has been unstoppable. These OTAs, as they are known in the trade, include Expedia, Travelocity, Lastminute.com and Bookings.com – who have significant market share in Africa. Expedia has actually opened an office to focus on Africa. It goes on to say In 2005, less than 2% of tourism revenues in Africa came from online booking. In 2010, buoyed by the World Cup, that percentage rose to 5% and looks set to go to somewhere between 15-20% by 2016. The World Cup may have been a one-off boost but it accelerated the growth of online tourism in South Africa. 50% of Americans read an online review before booking internationally and that’s usually  either Trip Advisor or Facebook. (Trip Advisor is now owned by Expedia). Most in ternational travellers have credit cards and increasingly expect to be able to book online for anything from the smallest travel lodge to the largest hotel chain. So what are the barriers? The missing piece was e-commerce. There used to be no route for doing online transactions in other countries in Africa including Zimbabwe. Online distribution by the OTAs requires a reservation system that offers real-time availability. OTAs won’t do business with you unless you have that. In Zimbabwe there are few tourist resorts offering e-commerce reservation and booking services. Shearwater Adventures in Victoria Falls offer online booking and payment services, which have attracted a large number of tourists over the years. The second missing piece was the ability and tools to do online marketing. The companies needed marketing skills, especially with social media. Today’s tourist wants to hear from other travellers (through Facebook and Trip Advisor) and are not that interested in what the hotel has to say. For example, hotel chains Africa Sun and Cresta Hotels have invested in websites and Facebook groups where reviews are easily accessible to prospective tourists. Now that the data oriented communication and cheaper bandwidth is slowly becoming available throughout the country, telcos and ISPs need to focus specifically on those industry sectors that are most likely to make the online transition fastest. It must be possible in the near future for a herita ge site in Binga to be marketed online to the world and attract visitors. 3. Research Methodology To fulfil the objectives of this research a number of methods were used. Both primary and secondary data were therefore essential. Given the dynamic nature of the subject area, multiple primary research approaches were adopted, including both qualitative and quantitative methods (Phillip, 1998). Bryman (1998) explains that the two methods are complementary rather than competing, especially for exploratory research. The researcher made use of the internet and some library books to carry out the research and establish the solutions to the research objectives .First a qualitative approach was adopted in order to enable the appreciation of all aspects of the subject and to develop a set of the most critical variables  to be included afterwards into a questionnaire. The main objective was to objectively establish the level of eCommerce and the on-line representation of Zimbabwean tourism. The second stage involved semi-structured interviews aimed to elicit critical issues and to explore the key factors that determine the development of eTourism in Zimbabwe. In-depth interviews are considered as the most appropriate method to obtain information about perceptions, attitudes and beliefs. Judgmental sampling was employed and interviewees were selected as pioneers in eTourism in Zimbabwe, as determined by their online presence assessed in the previous phase of the research. Owners and marketing managers of organisations that run innovative web sites, as demonstrated by the methods used to interact with their clientele, were targeted and an interview was requested. The sample was chosen to include interviewees who would be informed, reflecting their particular experience and outlook on the research area. Twenty five telephone contacts were made and 28 interviews were finally conducted, which resulted in a 51% response rate .The reasearcher also made use of the questionnaires. The questionnaires designed by the researcher had both open ended questions thus allowing a respondent to fully express the answer and closed questions which only provided simple choice of answer such as yes or no. Questionnaires were used by the researcher because they saved time and they were an inexpensive way of surveying a cross section of people. Questionnaires allowed the researcher to guide the respondent along the lines regarding the topic under study and responses obtained from closed ended questions are easy to analyze. Questionnaires allowed the respondents to give freely the confidential information since the respondents were not required to disclose their identity. The researcher favoured the use of questionnaires because the analysis of data from close-ended question was easy. However data collection through the use of questionnaires required a significant commitment, expertise, time and material resources. The researcher also noted that questionnaires were highly inflexible as they gave no room to rephrase questions, furthermore, some questions remained unanswered and it affected the research findings. The researcher used simple wording in the questionnaires so that the respondents would not fail to understand the questions, that is, the researcher used simple wording to elaborate the meanings of what was being asked and required. The researcher also used face to face interviews. The researcher employed structured interviews to obtain detailed and specific information from the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Mr Mzembi. The questions presented to the Minister sought to determine the factors affecting adoption of ICTs in Zimbabwean hotel and also how far Zimbabwean hotels are in terms of adoption of ICTs. The interview also sought to discover challenges to implementing ICTs and compliance at different hotels. The interview process proved time consuming and required persistence since the honourable Minister was a busy person and he was not easily available. The actual interview session had a length of 15 minutes due to the Minister’s busy schedule. To avoid inconveniences, an appointment via e-mail and telephone call prior to interviewing visit was made. Goodman (2003) states that certain biases exist due to the tendency by the interviewer to ask wrong questions and be supplied with answers he expects to get. The researcher eliminated such errors by avoiding leading questions and taking a listener approach instead of providing suggestions. Probing was only applied as a means of seeking clarifications. This technique was used because interviews are highly flexible and the researcher was able to rephrase the questions to make the respondent understand better. Dennis (2003), states that an interview is whereby the researcher and the respondents discuss verbally with each other either face to face, over the phone or over the internet. Interviews allow probing on open ended questions, clarifications on ambiguous questions and sequencing of questions is easily changed. However, the researcher noted that interviews were costly to run in terms of money and they are time consuming because the interviewee was a busy person hence the need of an appointment and the need of a telephone call reminding the interviewee about the appointment before the  time. The researcher also noted that the interview failed to give anonymity to the respondent, hence, there was a greater chance of being given biased information. RESULTS Eight hotels participated in the survey Meikles hotel, Holiday inn (Bulawayo), Victoria falls, Regency Fairmile, Kadoma hotel, Midlands hotel. At the outset the author quotes from a number of previous reports, which indicate that ICT has not been implemented effectively in the hospitality industry Evidence from the literature review has shown that there are a number of factors, which affect technology adoption. These factors include organisational readiness, external pressure, internal expertise, support of owner or manager, user participation, efficient and effective use of any external expertise. The barriers which were uncovered by the research: IT management training, dependency on outside experts and size and scale of enterprise are all directly related to the ‘other’ factors which influence ICT adoption. The level of significance of these barriers varies between the tourism sub-sectors surveyed. This study has added new knowledge in terms of the significance of a n umber of further barriers to ICT adoption. They include peripheral or rural location, security concerns, cost issues, lack of capital, and personal background of the owner manager. A closer analysis of findings has revealed that although technology is available, some of it is obsolete or not necessarily functional. Hotels possessed various outdated versions of software packages which did not seem to serve them well. . The mode of Internet bookings is an important determinant of their success. A lot of Internet booking systems generates a booking in email format rather than integrating into the hotel’s reservation system online. This obviously limits the usefulness of these systems. DISCUSSION The adoption of ICTs at Meikles Hotel is proving to be growing fast; this was noted by the stakeholder preparedness to harness it. Meikles hotel being a  five star hotel recognised internationally, this pushes them to move along with technological changes. Meikles hotel is interested in improving in their service provision through the use of e-commerce, and the results of this study show that this is being done at a fast pace. The top management at Meikles hotel are quite literate hence the adoption of ICT is faster compared to other hotels .The C.E.O is a holder of an honours degree in Computer science .Although the use of ICTs has not yet revolutionalised Meikles Hotel’s service delivery; it has changed how some services such as bookings are being done. Meikles hotel has a website developed and maintained by an inhouse programmer .Their website is user friendly and they have all the information that one needs about the hotel. Meikles hotel started offering wireless network services to guest in 2006.They use Fidelio management system which integrates all the information from the reservations, banqueting, finance departments and the restaurants. They use point of sale systems. CONCLUSION It can be noted that the adoption of ICTs at Meikles Hotel is proving to be growing fast and it has been done to a very large extent. 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