Blog

Extract from our Modern Marketing ebook

Blogs, eZines (electronic magazines) and eBooks (electronic books) are other ways to market to potential customers. 

A blog is really just an online forum for people to write anything they want and brand it as they wish, either using their own name, or their business’s.   Blogs are generally online stories about a person or business – they tend to be a bit like diaries.  Blogs can appear on specialist blog websites or on a business’s own website. 

It’s important to remember that blogs are not at all private and the whole world may see them, so be careful what you write. 

A blog can be used to draw attention to a business. For example, a veterinary surgery may write a blog about animal health care, with articles on how to groom dogs, cutting guinea pigs’ nail’s, brushing dogs’ teeth etc.  This is not only useful information for their target market (pet owners) but also draws attention to the vets. If a person goes online to find out how to cut their guinea pig’s nails, they may come across the blog and then follow the links back to the vet’s website. Then that vet may come to mind so when they next need a vet and they become a potential client. 

Some people may write blogs about themselves for marketing purposes. For example, a travelling salesman may write about the places he visits and who he sees (maintaining confidentiality of course) as a way to draw attention to what he does. 

EZines are similar. An eZine is an electronic magazine. A business may produce a magazine online every week/month/year to inform new customers and potential customers about what they are doing, new products and so on.  An eZine can be simple and easily whipped up or a highly produced marketing tool.

eBooks move beyond eZines. A person or people in a business who may be specialists in their field may produce eBooks as a way to advertise their business. For example, the veterinary surgery may write an eBook about caring for hamsters. The eBook would also contain information on the veterinary surgery and the vets who wrote the book. The eBook can also be sold to potential customers as an additional product.

An extract from a book to be published soon, by our Psychology faculty

WHEN AND WHY DO WE CARRY OUT PROFILING?

Assessments of various types may be conducted throughout a person’s life, but an individual profile is usually carried out when there is a specific need. For example, intelligence tests may be given to children at certain stages in their school career. An aptitude test may be given to someone when they are applying for a new job. A forensic profile analysis may be carried out when a person is charged with certain crimes, and so on.

Why do we carry out profiles? We have already discussed a range of reasons why we create profiles. Basically, they provide a ready source of information to help us understand and predict behaviour. There are many different tests which are used to assess many different dimensions. But why test at all?

If a person demonstrates a certain personality trait then it is possible to help them.  For example, research has found that people with Type A behaviour are at more risk of heart disease. So if a person is recognised as having Type A behaviour, they can possibly be helped to change some areas of their behaviour to reduce their risk of heart disease. 

People will often say they are depressed, when they mean really that they are just a bit “fed up” or disgruntled. It is therefore important to be able to recognise when a person is suffering from a mental health condition that requires treatment. There is a world of difference between being fed up and being clinically depressed. In conjunction with other data, psychological tests can be used to help determine if a person is clinically depressed, and possibly the form of depression they are suffering from. This information may subsequently be used to provide an indication of how they can best be helped.

Also, the more we learn from individuals, the more we know about certain groups overall.  If we study one person who we think has depression, this would be a guess. But if we study 1000 people who show similar characteristics, then we are safer to assume people with depression will show some of the same characteristics. Therefore, the information from many individual case studies may be extrapolated to a wider population.   

Psychological test results provide information about an individual's score in relation to normative groups.  A normative group is a reference group against which a psychologist may compare a person’s test results and scores.  For example, people may experience debilitating phobias, such as agoraphobia. This is a fear of new situations being unpleasant or embarrassing and being unable to get away from them easily, which can lead to extremes, such as the person being unable to leave their homes.  So, if a person goes to see a psychologist, the psychologist may carry out a psychologist test or series of test to help determine their level of agoraphobia. An extreme score might be 100 and a low score below 20, for example. If the psychologist finds that the person has a score of 91, they will realise that they will probably need psychological help and treatment to overcome their condition. Therefore, it helps to determine the severity of the disorder and the treatment required.  The person can then be measured again following a period of treatment to determine if their agoraphobia has lessened.

Everyone is obviously different, but classifications of this kind can be helpful.  If we know that people with depression have similar symptoms, then we can devise better psychological and pharmaceutical treatments to help them.  If we learn that people with Type A behaviour demonstrate certain behaviours, we can help them with ways to change their behaviour to reduce their risk of heart disease. If we see that children display certain gaps in their knowledge in their intelligence tests, it may make the educators realise that there is a gap in the curriculum leading to a gap in children’s knowledge of a topic.  So, carrying psychological profiles can not only be useful for the person, but also to determine how we should respond to specific conditions.

HOW PROFILING IS DONE

We shall look at how to profile someone in detail in the next chapter but basically profiling involves gathering information from various sources and then trying to make sense of it.

Information about a particular individual may be collected from a range of sources, such as:

Interviews – there may be one or more interview. It will depend on what the interview is about, how severe the condition is, how hard it is to diagnose, and so on.  For example, an intelligence test on an eight year old would probably be carried out in one session, but interviews to determine if a person has a potential antisocial personality disorder may take place over a number of sessions.

Observations – the psychologists would scrutinise a person’s body language, their affect (this is the psychological term for emotionality or feeling) which may be appropriate or inappropriate, tone of voice, loudness of voice, use of expletives, facial expressions, eye contact, personal hygiene, dress, etc. This is an ongoing process throughout the assessment.

Personal history – this includes asking questions about things such as; medical records,
mental health records, education, employment etc.

Psychological testing – this would include administration of psychological tests. It can also include a comparison of tests. For example, if a person has been tested in the past, the psychologist may compare their previous and most recent test results to determine if there are any significant changes. For example, a person may move from showing a slight depression to clinical depression. A memory test might reveal that their short-term memory had declined significantly since they were first tested.

Behavioural assessments - these include techniques to see how a person behaves in particular situations. For instance, in structured observations a child may be prompted to make certain things out of blocks or other pieces of equipment and they might be asked specific questions. The test findings may then be used to assess the child's level of development for certain parameters like cognition, motor skills, hand-eye co-ordination, and so on. Other forms of behavioural assessment might be less specific, for example naturalistic observations of how a mother interacts with her child from behind a two-way mirror or at a kindergarten.

Other sources of information that may be used include:

• Demographic data, such as census material.
• Information from previous research.
• Relevant information obtained using internet searches.
• Social networking sites, forums, chat rooms – this may sound odd, but recent  research into paedophilia has looked at the characteristics of people who are  contacting victims via online computer games. There is obviously a lot of concern  about children being contacted by adults, and potentially coming to harm through  making contact with them, on the internet. Research into the characteristics  demonstrated by people who commit crimes in this way can be very useful in  determining how to target them, warn potential victims, and ensure safeguards  are in place to prevent this happening. For example, in UK schools, most children  receive education on how to stay safe whilst using the internet.
• Interviewing friends and family - these may provide additional information which  the respondent was unable or unwilling to recall. They may also provide  information from a different perspective. 
• Interviewing others - sometimes other people may be able to provide useful  information e.g. a child's teacher or former teacher, an employer.

All of these may be carried out to ensure accuracy.  This is because respondents may not be entirely honest. Within interviews and questionnaires, individuals may demonstrate social desirability. This is when they give answers to questions that they think are socially desirable, that will make them look “better” in the eyes of the psychologist. For example, if a person is asked how much they drink alcohol, they may say "hardly ever", when in fact they drink heavily every day.  They may say they don’t smoke when in fact they do.  They may say they can see a puppy in a Rorschach ink blot, when in fact they see someone being stabbed. So we cannot always rely fully on what respondents tell us. Therefore, through observations, interviewing friends and family, and so on, we can gain a clearer picture of what is actually going on with the person. 

Extract from a New Book  by Staff of ACS Distance Education

The decisions you make today will affect the opportunities you create for yourself tomorrow. 
There are an infinite number of choices which a person can make about their career path; and an infinite number of paths you can set yourself on.

• Some paths may take you to a desirable place; while others might not.
• Some paths are easier to get onto than others.
• The thing that many people do not appreciate is that most paths have many different entry points. It is often easier to jump from an undesirable path to a more desirable path than to get onto a desirable path when you are on no pathway at all.

The first and most important step in finding a satisfying career path is to get started in the workplace. Get a job, any job, as soon as you can. It doesn’t matter too much what your first job is. It might be delivering pizzas or newspapers, mowing lawns, washing cars or working in a fast food restaurant. It doesn’t even need to be paid. It can be a volunteer job.

If you are studying at secondary school or university, still try to do some part time work at the same time. An education is always important, but the majority of people who study something will end up working in something different to what they studied. Even doing volunteer work or starting a small business while you are a student can have a major effect upon your prospects after you complete your studies.

Experience and learning acquired through part time employment are often just as impressive to a future employer as the qualification you are studying. Either one without the other may put you in a less advantageous position in the future.

Once you have a job keep looking for opportunities to improve your situation, whether in the existing job, or by moving on to something different. You will learn skills in every job you do, even if they are not skills you recognise at the time. As you progress through your career you will build on your skillset and develop new skills. Even if you change career you will often still be able to draw on skills you have developed in a different career, just in a different context. For example, if you start working in hospitality you will develop skills in customer service which can be applied to a job as a medical receptionist; if you start working as a journalist you may develop critical thinking skills that can be applied to a career in nursing; if you work as a teacher you may develop an understanding of children that can be applied to work as an occupational therapist.

THE BIG QUESTIONS

Do you know yourself? 
Consider your personality, persistence, changeability, skills and talents, passion, susceptibility to stress; take stock and assess your own potential, realistically.

Do you know the industry? 
Get to know what it takes to work in the sort of industry you are targeting. Make sure you understand the down side of that industry, and whether you are realistically suited to dealing with the down side. Do not fool yourself into thinking there is no down side. No job is perfect; and every industry has a down side.

Are your expectations and goals realistic?
Goals are things we set so that we attain a certain outcome – it is a checking system; we set a goal and when the time frame for that goal has elapsed, we check back to see what we have actually achieved - compared to what we wanted to achieve. Setting goals too high can result in disappointment for some – on the other hand some people thrive on achieving what may appear to be unrealistic goals.

A simple goal may be to ‘get a certain job’ – realistically you would need to ask yourself:

• Am I suited to this job i.e. do my skills suit the position and will I fit into the company culture?
• Am I suitably motivated to get and keep this job?
• Am I open minded and keen to learning new skills?
• Am I dependable?

It's not difficult to get work; it's just sometimes difficult to get the type of work you want.
Some people have very set ideas about the job they want, others are really undecided. The first step in getting a job is the same for both types. In fact anyone of any age, sex or level of skill needs to take the same first step:

The first step in getting a job is to develop a REALISTIC ATTITUDE! Realistic goals are based on a sound understanding of what constitutes a successful career for that individual, of one’s strengths and weakness and current marketplace trends, and of likely changes to which one must adapt. Because very few people begin in the same job they want to finish in, a career must be realistically seen as something that evolves or develops. You will probably not begin in an ideal position, but with careful planning, you can probably improve your position in your career as time goes by.

To develop REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS:

• Don't expect to start at the top.
• Don't expect to like everything about your job at first.
• Be prepared to make the best of your situation and maintain a positive attitude.
• Be prepared to accept any job in your field at first if you cannot get your ideal job or any job at all if you cannot get a job in your chosen field. If you are in employment, even though not in your chosen field, you are developing your career further than you would be if unemployed (or not studying).

Are you physically and mentally capable?
Not everyone is suited to being a rocket scientist or an Olympic athlete!

Physical Suitability
Some jobs will require the candidate to have certain physical attributes to be suitable for the job - for example a fire fighter, builder, paramedic, pilot, nurse, miner, warehouse staff and so on. Where appropriate, before appointment to a position, a medical doctor should examine the applicant and inform the personnel officer/department of any conditions which might affect the performance of the job (examples follow).
 
Physical activities and characteristics to be considered in determining a person’s suitability for a job include:

• Muscular strain
• Constant walking
• Constant standing
• Constant sitting
• Constant stooping
• Right handedness
• Left handedness
• Hot working conditions
• Cold working conditions
• Damp working conditions
• Exposed working conditions
• Acute hearing
• Acute vision
• Discrimination between colours
• Dry (non-sweaty) hands
• Food handling safety (sinus, sniffles, coughing)
• Dusty work conditions
• Indoor work
• Nervous strain
• Climbing
• Risk of falling

Mental suitability
Some jobs will require specific mental capabilities to be able to complete the required tasks. For example an engineer will need to have a sound understanding of physics, mathematics, spatial awareness, and so on, that some people just might not be capable of. Other jobs will require someone who has attention to fine details, such as an accountant; or the capacity to be patient, such as a nurse or teacher. Other jobs require particular personal attributes, such as leadership skills, good decision maker, problem solving abilities, an ability to think logically, negotiating and mediation skills, etc.

Money, Security or Passion?
Few people find it all. The reality is that almost everyone has to make compromises in their careers.
Consider your values and what is important to you in a job.
Why do you work? Is it primarily to earn money so you can survive? Perhaps work gives you a sense of purpose? Maybe you have altruistic reasons such as helping others and making a contribution. Some people look for other things from a job; perhaps social reasons (interacting with other people), maybe they are pursuing a passion, or something else. For some, job security or flexibility of hours may be more important than anything else.

Thinking short, medium and long term
Always think ahead. Industries do not tend to disappear, but jobs within an industry do disappear, and new jobs emerge. You need to stay in tune with your industry, alert to changes, and plan how you can adapt to changes as they come along. Keep your options open, and prospects broad.

Self employed or working for someone else?
Certain industries are dominated by self-employed people, while others are dominated by large enterprises.
If you are attracted to an industry where most successful professionals are self- employed you may have difficulty advancing your prospects unless you are inclined to operate your own business. Similarly, if you want to work in an industry where very few people are the owners, and almost everyone is an employee, you will need to be comfortable working within a large organisation; and perhaps dealing with politics and bureaucratic processes that may not be so prevalent in self-employment.

WHAT IS A WELL TRAINED HORTICULTURAL EMPLOYEE?

Some employers want all their staff to hold qualifications, and others tell me “qualified” employees are incompetent and lack the willingness to learn. Horticultural education in Australia has become a mess over recent decades; politicised, and driven by enterprises (public and private) who are more preoccupied with passing audits and making money than with providing effective learning. People who know little about the psychology of learning now make decisions, while teachers who have studied education for years are no longer given the power to practice what they studied.
The industry today is overrun by myths and misunderstandings about horticultural education, and employers, students and parents have developed skewed ideas about what education is, or should be.
How things have changed

When I started my horticultural career, I had only two options for becoming qualified:

1. A Diploma in Horticultural Science at Burnley Horticultural College: 4000+ hours of study, 7 days a fortnight in the classroom, 3 days hands on work rotating through gardens, nursery, mechanics and carpentry workshops, orchard and vegetable plots. We studied sciences as well as horticulture, and were expected to be able to identify over 2,000 plant species.
Or,

2. A Gardening Apprenticeship which involved close to 1000 hrs in a classroom plus 4 years of on the job work under direct supervision of someone who had completed a similar apprenticeship, or something better.
When I graduated with a Burnley Diploma, we were told we could be a “gardening assistant”, and if we worked hard, maybe a “horticulturist” a few years later. Today graduates emerge from very short courses, with little knowledge and much higher expectations of what they can do than anyone had in the 70’s.

I have seen people with certificates and diplomas only 6 to 12 months after leaving high school. This would not have happened in the 1960’s and 70’s.
The knowledge and skills of today’s graduates are not predictable as they once were. Informed employers will quiz job applicants on what they know, rather than just employing them on the basis of them having a qualification.
Don’t Expect Everything
Good education should only ever be seen as a foundation. If you have properly learnt the fundamentals of horticulture, you will have the ability to adapt those fundamentals when you encounter a new plant, product or process. The plants we grow and the way we grow and market them is changing faster than ever. It is impossible to predict what cultivars or products will be most popular in 5 years time; but a person who has ALL the fundamentals will encounter new things, understand them and remember them faster than someone who has not acquired the same foundation. Staff who have a broader based and more in depth foundation will see the possibilities and be more likely to perform every time something changes in the workplace. Good education makes the employee more productive and adaptable; while qualifications may be little more than something to put in a frame on the wall.

SOME THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT EDUCATION
• Good Education is stored in a person’s long term memory. The Australian Training System tests short term memory.
You cannot fast track learning. Most people only retain and properly understand things by encountering them repeatedly, and in different ways, over a period of time.
You can show someone something, test them and declare them competent all on the same day, in a short space of time; and that may be all that is required to award someone an accredited training package qualification.
• The traditional way of planning for and providing education is fundamentally flawed
Traditional education (e.g. TAFE’s, RTO’s and Universities) commonly take many years from identifying a need for training, to when they commence delivering on that need. The world is moving  faster than ever though.  Commonly, after determining the need, committees are set up, research is conducted, funding is sough, curriculum is written, tenders are called, course notes are written; and finally funding is arranged to deliver a course and students are recruited. Often the course being delivered is based upon a need that was seen many years earlier. Does this make any sense in today’s rapidly changing world?
• Diversity is really important
I discovered early in my working life that if I had a team of 5 staff from 5 very different courses, I would get lots of different ideas about how to do a job; but when I had 5 who all did the same course, the range of ideas was far less. It may be attractive to politicians and bureaucrats to create “standardized” “national” training; but it is diversity that drives the world today. We need a lot of different courses teaching different things and producing graduates who approach problems different ways.
• Distance Education is more Cost Effective and Flexible than Classroom Based education
This wasn’t always the case.  Compare:
A classroom based course requires physical infrastructure (e.g. buildings, equipment), a dedicated teacher etc and must be timetabled to happen at a particular time. Students have travel costs.
A distance ed. course doesn’t need the above; and with modern technology, it can connect students and teachers over the internet. Students can watch videos, take virtual tours of nurseries and farms all over the world, conduct research using the internet, submit assignments in a flash, and receive marked work back as soon as it is marked; and study at any time of day or night that suits.  Each student is treated as an individual.  Distance education used to be chosen because it was more convenient; but today people are choosing it because it is better and provides more one on one interaction with their tutors.
• Traditional Horticultural Education is in Crisis, but Other Alternatives are Growing.
Horticulture courses have been shrinking at TAFE's and Universities over recent times. Funding has come under pressure. Colleges are expected to produce more graduates with no extra funding.
The bright side of horticultural education though is that new learning options have been developing eg.  Social Networking –Gardeners around the world are connecting and sharing over facebook & other social media
RHS Courses are now  being offered by Distance Ed world Wide
Alternative Education is booming –The ACS network, Permaculture Network
Garden Shows on TV are more prevalent and popular than ever. Shows like Gardening Australia, Better Homes & Gardens and Garden Gurus have been educating the broader Australian public.  Home gardeners, as well as new people entering the industry, are developing a broader & deeper understanding of horticulture than ever before.

Education driven by politicians & bureaucrats  more than teachers …We now talk about outcomes, licenses and lifelong learning where we used to talk about learning and having a foundation to start learning on the job.

People expect courses to give everything that is needed to walk in & start doing the job…but that shows a fundamental misunderstanding….What should employers expect….The value of an educated staff member is not that they know it all, but that they will learn it faster.

Where are the Business and Career Opportunities?

Perhaps people are looking in the wrong place for work. I hear about plenty of successful individuals and businesses, but increasingly, most have one thing in common: They are not following traditional employment pathways.

The keys are "Be different", "Be relevant to today and tomorrow",  "Do things at the right time -being too early is just as bad as being too late"

Most people still have their mind set in the past when it comes to work.

The old idea of getting a university degree or apprenticeship, and having a guaranteed job simply does not work any more. If you can manage to push such prejudices aside and look at work in the context of a rapidly changing world, career opportunities can take on a whole new appearance.

I sawtwo interesting things in the media recently:

1. Quotes from "Whakademia" -a new book out of NSW University Press http://newsouthpublishing.com/articles/wrong-sort-knowledge/

"Academic experience: general disillusionment, over-regulation, stress, casualisation and a drift away from the profession."

"Worrying is the demise of non-compliant academic eccentrics who have been largely displaced by acquiescent operatives."

"Despite all the talk about excellence, innovation, choice, opportunity and flexibility, it seems that many students graduating in business, journalism and other courses are less than job-ready."

This is worth a read!

2. There was also an interesting article in the Australian Magazine (in the Australian Newspaper on Saturday). Loretta Napoleoni - Economist answered 10 questions, and these were some of her comments:

- On the Chinese being better Capitalists than westerners: "They can get things done much quicker than us"

- On western politicians having lost control of their economies: "Politics in the west has turned into a form of show business"

- On the Australian workforce: "More jobs will go offshore to Asia, real wages in the west will decline, the middle classes will contract, trade unions will die, but there will be a growing class of super rich."

- On the future of debt laden economies: "Stimulis packages can work if focused on lifting the productive sector. Encouraging consumers to spend more and rack up debt is a terrible waste of money."

- On whether the Euro will survive: "No -Within the next three to four years there will be a severe contraction across the world economy."

I see these as further indicators of a massive restructuring of global society that is underway - perhaps on the scale of the industrial revolution - and the fact that most people are simply not recognising and adapting.

I think this situation presents us with fabulous opportunity; but also a challenge to create all new ways of doing things. Tweaking the existing political, economic and education systems will probably be insufficient.

Now is not a time to be working "within the system"; Now is the time to be creating new systems!

by John Mason

Principal and Publisher at ACS Distance Education www.acs.edu.au 

Can you see the fantastic opportunities for business and employment?

Most people can't, because their perception of tomorrows world is rooted in the past. I hear people talk about depressed retail and tourism industries; businesses going into receivership (or worse), mass redundancies in construction and manufacturing; and instability in the European currency. I've heared people say the can't wait for the world to return to "normal". Comments like this are enough to make anyone give up; that is until you look closer and start to discover some unbelievable success stories.

What is going on then?

As I see it, the world is restructuring; organically. A whole lot of factors are kicking in and having an impact upon the global economy, causing it to change in a way that is beyond the control of politicians, economists, or the systems that we had set up to manage and control what was a different world.
These factors are by no means all negative; in fact most of them are arguably very positive developments that have the potential to lead us to a better world.
Consider technological advancement; globalisation, social media, robotics, mapping of the human genome, etc.

Todays world is not just different; but it is changing constantly, rapidly and dramatically; but most people have not yet come to grips with that fact. Those who are grappling with change, and striving to find opportunities in these changes are the ones who are being most successful

In the past you could conceive a career or business idea, which you wanted to persue, then investigate, plan and move toward your goal over a period of years. In todays world, the premis upon which you made the decision to do something may have completely changed by the time you reach what you had aimed for. This old way of thinking is redundant. We need new systems for planning and managing our careers and employment, and every other aspect of our life. We need to be constantly revising and adapting to change; and taking action at a speed which is more appropriate to today's world.
Five and ten year plans might not work the same way as they did in the past.

We've created a simpler web site that is easier to view on a smaller, mobile device; such as an i-phone, blackberry, galaxy or other mobile phone.

Often web sites are difficult to view on such devices because they have too much information, and the viwer needs to be continually scrolling left to right in order to make any sense of what they see.

This web site presents the essential information about ACS Distance Education, in a way that does not require this constant left-right scrolling.

You can simply scroll down the page viewing a list of over 500 different courses; all arranged in their disciplines. You can also see lists of work possibilities to help you understand the scope of careers in each discipline.

See  www.studyacs.com 

Blast From the Past:

I saw this in one of our old newsletters, and thought it was an interesting read:

From 2005....

In a recent speech at a high school, Bill Gates, one of world’s wealthiest men, listed 11 rules that students won’t learn in school:

Rule 1: Life is not fair …get used to it.
Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will not make $60,000 a year straight out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity.  Your grandparents …called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They became that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were.
Rule 8: In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

      (Source: Gold Coast Bulletin, 1-2 January 04, pg.20)

Here's an extract from a new book we are currently developing on How Children Think. The book will be available in a few months from now, if all goes well.


Understanding an Infant (0-18months)

Physical and Motor Development
Many changes occur in the first 18months of a baby’s life. When babies are first born they have very basic motor abilities. They have a range of inborn reflex responses that occur involuntarily in response to specific stimuli. These reflexes are primarily to ensure the baby’s adaptation and survival in their new world. Basic reflexes include breathing, sucking, blinking and swallowing. These reflexes will stay with the child for life, but become partly, or entirely voluntary responses. Babies are also born with a range of other reflexes that weaken and disappear over a few months. for example the rooting reflex, where the baby turns their head in the direction of touch to the cheek (in order to find breast or bottle to feed), and the grasping reflex, where the child will curl their fingers around objects placed in their palms.

Along with these reflexes, infants start developing motor skills (voluntary movements). Development usually occurs from top down – motor skills develop first in the head, then the torso and arms, then the legs – and from proximal to distal – motor skills in body parts closer to the centre (such as entire arm and leg) develop before motor skills in body parts further from the centre (such as wrists and fingers).
All babies are different in the exact age that they reach specific milestones, but the order of developmental progression is generally the same. Once the infant has mastered one skill, they will build on it and progress to the next skill, and so on. Below shows the general timeline for infants motor development.
 
 Age   Skill mastered
• 4 weeks – 2months  Lift the head when lying on the stomach  
• 2 – 6months   Roll over      
• 3 - 6 months   Reaching and grabbing    
• 4 – 6 months  Supported sitting
• 6 – 8 months  Sitting up without support
• 6 – 9 months  Pulling up to stand with support
• 6 – 10 months  Crawling
• 7 – 10 months  Walking with assistance
• 10 – 13 months Standing alone
• 11 – 16 months Walking alone

Cognitive Development
During infancy, the brain is developing at a rapid rate. Within the brain there are millions of neurons, connected to each other by synapses. All the neurons are created prior to birth, but the synapses, or pathways between the neurons are being constantly created and re-created. The pathways create structure within the brain, so when the baby has an experience, when the same experience appears again, their cognition of the experience occurs faster because the pathway is already in place. These pathways get strengthened, or weakened, depending on how often the event is experienced, and begin to form patterns of thinking that can continue into adulthood. At this stage in development, an infant’s primary caregiver has a vital effect on healthy development. Up until about age three, these synapses continue to form until the brain is dense with connections. This continues until around age eleven, when the brain eliminates pathways that are no longer used, making the remaining pathways more powerful - allowing for more effective and efficient mental processing.

Primary caregivers can have a profound effect on an infant’s cognitive development at this stage. Providing the infant with stimulating experiences (for example colourful toys, frequently being spoken to, interactive toys, interesting sounds and smells, novel environments and stimulus) increases the number of synapses that are formed, which can facilitate learning at a later stage. Infant’s that are not spoken to often, and have had limited experiences exploring their environment can end up with a permanent intellectual disadvantage, despite having a normal genetic make-up.

From a very young age infants begin to develop recognition and memory abilities. Although they can not report their memories, in studies, psychologists measure infant’s heart rates to gauge their response to specific stimuli. Novel stimuli will cause curiosity and a decreased heart rate, whereas familiar stimuli will either cause no change, or an increased heart rate. Studies have shown infants will display recognition for an object, even after a period of time, suggesting a display of memory function.

Extract from a new book we are currently developing for Professional Writers:

MANAGING CHANGE AS A WRITER

The biggest problem for professional writers in today’s world is often “change.” The world is changing fast….places that you can sell or use writing skills are changing fast too.

The type and style of writing required can differ from one situation to another. A writer who can change and adapt their style according to demand is more capable of getting work in the short term and sustaining a career in the long term.

Market Change
The one thing that does not change is that people will always communicate through writing; but the way in which they communicate and the way writers are reimbursed for their work is something that has changed a lot in recent decades; and is likely to continue changing.

In the mid 20th century, the writing market was more straightforward than it has now become. Many professional writers in the past would be employed and paid by publishers of printed books, magazines or newspapers; who generated an income from both selling publications, and from selling advertising. Broadcast media also paid writers (largely with revenue generated from advertising revenue). Public organisations would provide financial support to writers, funding coming from the public purse. Commercial businesses would provide other opportunities, such as writing marketing materials, product manuals etc.

Today’s world is a different world for the media industries, as well as politically and commercially. Government finances are under more pressure than in the past; traditional media is unable to generate income through advertising at the same levels, or in the same way as in the past. The print media has seen reductions in their revenue from advertising and so on.  This revenue funded writers and other aspects of the running print media.  With the advent of the internet, more and more newspapers offer online forums, where people can subscribe to their paper or actually receive it for free. There will also be adverts on their websites as well.

There is also online news from other organisations, such as the BBC, Sky News and so on, they also offer written word online newspapers. This has reduced the need for people to buy a printed newspaper.  This is not to say that people don’t buy newspapers or magazines, but at a lower rate than in the past. Consider before the internet or television, newspapers were the only way really to get the news. Apart from being told by someone else verbally.  So at that time, the print media had a pretty much exclusive opportunity for advertising.

Many other things have changed.

Writers need to recognise not only that changes have occurred in the “writing market”, but that they will continue to occur.

The opportunity for work in newspapers or magazines diminished from 2000 to 2012; but opportunities to sell writing for electronic publishing on the internet increased. Writers who were “in the know” have found opportunities in emerging media, and been able to find new places to sell their skills.  

The world continues to change though; and the rate of change that has occurred over the past decade is only likely to accelerate over the next. Professional writers should be asking themselves how the writers’ marketplace might change over the coming years; and be adapting to changes as they occur.

Deadlines
In the past, publications were often planned well in advance; and writers may have been given greater flexibility in meeting deadlines. Example: If a book manuscript was a month or two late, it might not have mattered so much in the past as it did today.  This has changed as well with the advent of new technology. Look at a news website now and the news is updated virtually as it happens. We also see this on TV with 24 hour TV stations, the news is also updated as it happens. Writers are there writing the news for the newsreaders to read. This has put a more intense pressure on writers, particular in the arena of news and current affairs to be writing NOW.  Even writing novels and fiction deadlines have changed. The market is so fickle and you see writers bringing out one novel after another in quick succession, particularly when they are popular. Look at the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, The True Blood books by Charlaine Harris, The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling and so on.  They are popular and the publishers use that popularity to increase their sales.  This puts more demand on writers to get books written and published quickly. Obviously popular and bestselling authors, such as Harris, Meyer and Rowling can work as full time writers, spending their time doing their writing. But this still can affect their creativity and can cause a struggle to find new ideas.

Technological Change
As we have already said, the advent of the internet and television, has changed writing. It has reduced the need for some types of writing and increased the need for other forms of writing.  The internet has changed the way writers get published; but perhaps there will be changes in the future that could impact upon writing opportunities in the future.

EBooks is an area that is increasing rapidly.  EBooks are electronic books. Books can still be bought as hard back and paperback. But many are now also available as a downloadable eBook. But some book sellers and publishers are now only selling via eBook.

Technology changes rapidly. New things become available all the time and we don’t know how this will impact upon writers and how people write. 

Digital writing is the term used to describe those who write online, for any reason.

Writing sound bites for an online magazine requires a different form of writing skill to a writer who is writing romantic fiction.

Look at social media, such as twitter and facebook. With twitter, only 147 characters are allowed in a “tweet”. This has lead to a new “language” almost developing, a short hand for those using twitter. But many people using twitter still write in “proper” words, so this requires a writer to be able to write in a sharp, punchy way. A different style to writing a long description of something, perhaps in a travel article or wildlife article. 

A writer on twitter is often writing to encourage the reader to look elsewhere – at their blog, their adverts, their book, their website, their newsletter, their products and so on. 

Many writers will also write blogs. As we said earlier, this can be for personal use or to encourage a reader to visit their website, buy their novel and so on.  Again, blog writing requires a different skill to novel writing.

Legal Changes
Many of the media laws of the past (in developed countries) were designed for a media industry that was primarily broadcast and print media; operating within state or national borders.

With a rapid growth in electronic media and shifts in the nature and scope of other media; law makers have struggled to keep up to date. Governments are really not equipped to react quickly to change; but with a world that is changing faster than ever; difficulties keep emerging for professional writers.

More in the book -It should be published march/april 2012