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Essay Instructions: Refer to the Benjamin reading and one other academic source to answer the following question in no more than +-900 words (3 pages)

What is the "aura" of uniqueness that Benjamin discusses? Provide an image to explain the concept. Relate this discussion to the notion of distance, and how Benjamin explains this in the context of mass perception through reproductive media.

Discuss the decay of the "aura" of uniqueness in relation to photography and film as camera media that "brings things closer".

Remember to effectively quote all your sources, including the page number where you got your information. Include the image used that is correctly referenced. Failure to correctly reference will result in plagiarism.

Example In-text reference : (Walters 1999: 24)

Essay Instructions: Topic: the internet, virtual reality, and simulation.

Sources: Cynthia Freeland, But Is It Art? Chapter 7,
“Digitizing and Disseminating” and your own research on the web or in a library

Walter Benjamin, in a famous essay from the 1930s on “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” predicted that the time was coming, or had already arrived, when the idea of a work of art as a unique object, as something endowed with an “aura,’ would give way to the idea of the work of art as something mechanically reproducible, as in the medium of photography or film. Benjamin thought this new kind of art would produce a new kind of audience with different organs of reception. If the new audience had a shorter attention span, it would also be receptive to different kinds of stimuli and to a different organization of those stimuli. In other words, new mediums would make not only make for new art but also for new kinds of experience of art.

After WWII Marshall McLuhan picked up on this idea with his suggestion that mass media would encourage “mosaic,” as opposed to linear, thinking. Television and the computer would break open the rule of textual logic by encouraging constellative thought: not one thing after another but rather several things at once, as when we watch a film or sit before a computer screen.

Finally, Jean Baudrillard comes in with the idea of the “hyperreal.” The hyperreal is an artificial, or simulated, appearance that comes to define reality. Not only is the medium the message, as McLuhan said, but the medium defines what the message is about. Freeland speaks of high fashion coming to define, not just illustrate, beauty. Other examples of this are the ways in which television, advertising, and popular music come to define “sex” and how reporting on a political campaign becomes a political event in its own right. Think of the practice of political “spinning,” or how managing the media’s reporting on elected officials, candidates, and issues has become an independent activity.

Essay. Describe in your own words Benjamin’s, McLuhan’s, and Baudrillard’s leading concepts, then ask yourself the following questions: to what extent has Benjamin’s and McLuhan’s dream been realized? To what extent was their dream a false promise? Put in another way, to what extent is Baudrillard’s concept of the hyperreal a critique of modern media? To what extent is it a celebration of the creative power of modern media? You should illustrate your analysis with examples or illustrations. These may take the form of an internet website, a film, a television program, or an entertainment site, e.g., DisneyWorld, Las Vegas.

Essay Instructions: TUTOR?S Exercise Week 3 Lecture 5.
Exercise 1: Analysis/Reflective based exerciseGraduate Capabilities: This exercise encapsulates the following graduate capabilities: ?Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking? (capability no. 2), ?Problem Solving and Research Capability? (capability no. 3), and ?Creative and Innovative? (capability no. 4). Students integrate these capabilities as they contribute to debates on visual art.
Step 1:
In approximately 2 page answer the following question:
So far in this lecture Joseph has discussed Walter Benjamin?s idea that the aura of an original work of art diminishes in an age of mechanical reproduction, and this is because the work of art is ?decontextualised? from its original context, thus use and value, through its mass reproducibility on tea-towels, ash-trays, etc. Do you agree with this idea or theory?
To help you answer this question, ask yourselves (and include in your answer) the following minor questions:
? Do you think the ?original? work of art, such as the Mona Lisa, is worth travelling to an art gallery to see and/or experience? Why?
? What differences do you think you might experience between the original and the reproduced image (for example, techniques of the medium, experience or affects of these different mediums, etc.)?
? What is the value(s) you place on, or attach to, your experience? That is, do you, for example, value one experience over another: do you value your experience of either the original or the copy over another? Why?
Step 2:
Copy and paste your thoughts into the ?Notes? facility so that you can compile them for your assessment. Alternatively, you can copy your exercise into a Word document (if you do this, make a folder and label it and place your word document in it, so that it is easy to find when it comes to emailing your exercises for assessment.)
TUTOR's Feedback.
The first aim of this exercise was to help you critically reflect on the meanings and values you attach to the notion of ?original? and ?copy?. Through this, the second aim was to help you reflect on how the values you place on your experiences are also culturally constructed. The third aim was to make you think about Benjamin?s claims in relation to your experiences. Now read the rest of the lecture for Joseph?s challenge or complication of Benjamin?s thesis.

Essay Instructions: Ray Kroc (McDonalds) is topic

Research Paper. You are going to research a famous leader/entrepreneur's leadership style and strategies in a Machiavellian context. You can find a short list of individuals who I think are suitable for this research paper on my web page under biographees. You can write about individuals who are not on the list but who have had important, documented (published biographies and autobiographies) careers. (No political figures!!) You must clear your selection with me in advance. I will not accept a paper about a person I did not approve.

Analyze your biographee's career in context of the questions in the Questions to guide your biographical analysis (below). These questions are taken directly from The Prince. I compiled them to help you organize your research effort. You do not have to answer a specific number of questions. (You can use tactics from The Prince that I did not include in the handout. The handout is not all encompassing.) Select those you think are most germane to your subject.
Focus on the Machiavellian strategies and tactics. I do not want a general biographical or historical sketch of the individual. I am only interested in leadership and strategic techniques.
Use a subject heading to introduce each concept that you discuss. The subject headings must be directly from Machiavelli. Was he/she a fox or a lion, did he/she launch great campaigns, etc? For example:
Alliances
Carnegie was assisted in his early rise to power by several strategic alliances. The first was with Scott, the district superintendent?c

Your best sources of information are biographies, autobiographies, magazine articles, published interviews, and books about your chosen industry.

I consider the extent of your research as part of the grade. The length should be about 20 pages of text. The manuscript should be typed, double spaced, left justified. Pages must be numbered. Do not pad with big margins, big fonts, or 3 spaces between lines. I recognize padding when I see it. You can use either footnotes or endnotes. All references must have page numbers. You must have a bibliography. Consult Turabian, Strunk & White, the Modern Language Assn., or any other style manual for appropriate form for footnotes or endnotes. You must use one or the other and they must be in proper form. I reduce the grade for improper referencing. The paper must be written in good, grammatically correct English. If necessary, get an editor to help you with your grammar. Your grade will reflect these factors as well as the quality of research and presentation.

example
The following is the appropriate format for the outline:
I. Alliances
A. Carnegie became Scott's personal telegrapher.
B. Formed a partnership with Pullman.
II. Loved or Feared
A. Etc.
B. Etc.





Questions to Guide Your Biographical Analysis


If acquisitions added to existing kingdom:
Similar or differing cultures or customs?
a) Extinguished blood of old rulers?
b) Planted colonies?
c) Allowed to govern selves and pay tribute?
Once secure in acquisition:
Establish self as head and defender of the less powerful, weaken potential competitors?
Foresight-anticipate and deal with problems before they grow to crisis proportions?
Effectively limit power of those who assisted in rise to power?

Rose to power on the basis of own outstanding abilities:
founded own organization, executive of major corporation.
a) Own capabilities
b) Fortune
(1) Laid foundations and succeeded
(2) Failed in difficult times owing to lack of foundations.
c) Elevated by power of others--succeeded or failed on basis of ability to lay foundations after rise to power.
d) Cruelties well committed
In circumstance of acquisition, was he/she able to distinguish between which managers to retain and which to eliminate?
Read and/or understood history? Used history to his/her advantage?
How important was change to this person's career, and how did he/she deal with it? Was ability to foresee and cope with change critical to success?
Did the division or firm start out as a market nicher? If so, how did manager/entrepreneur handle its growth without bringing down wrath of large firms?
Were mercenaries or auxiliaries used? Successfully?
How did he/she maintain the aura and impression of a strong, effective leader? (How a prince should organize his militia)
Was he/she generous or parsimonious, liberal with expenditures and ruin the organization?
Was he/she loved or feared, or both?
Was this person a fox or a lion? Did he/she change positions when necessary regardless of his/her word given previously?
Did he/she always practice seeming to be all mercy, faith, humanity, integrity, religion?
Did he/she avoid contempt by not being considered changeable, light, timid, irresolute?
How did he/she control conspiracies? Was it necessary?
Was he/she forced to ally him/herself with a group whose ideas and/or principles he/she disagreed with? How did he/she build sufficient power to overcome this group?
Did this person rise to power by promoting crises and then enhance his/her reputation by solving them?
How did this person go about gaining a reputation by undertaking great campaigns and initiatives?
Did this person make alliances? With whom? How did he/she use alliances to his/her advantage?
Did he/she reward subordinates for excellent performance? How?
What kind of staff did this person have? How did he/she select them? How did he/she reward them?
How did this individual take counsel? Was he/she willing to abide contention among his/her advisors in order to get the best possible advice?
Was this person lucky, or was his/her great attribute an ability to deal with change?