Study Of Blue Eye Technology

Study Of Blue Eye Technology Blue eye is the technology to make computers sense and understand human behavior and feelings and react in the proper ways. The blue eye technology aims at creating computational machines that have perceptual and sensory ability like those of human beings. It uses non-obtrusive sensing method, employing the most modern video cameras and microphones to identify the users actions through the use of imparted sensory abilities. The machine can understand what a user wants, where he is looking at, and even realize his physical or emotional states. This paper outlines the system over view, design features besides hardware part. The concept of the technology is the system recognizes through its various modules the basic emotions and feelings evinced by the user. This paper brings out the features of this technology, the various methods of giving the inputs to the system, design challenges and the emerging trends. Application of this technology in areas like automobile, surveillance system etc. is also dealt with. THE TERM BLUE EYE: BLUE in the term stands for Bluetooth, which enables reliable wireless communication. EYE, because the eye movement enables us to obtain a lot of interesting and important information. BASIC IDEA: In general, the blue eye technology aims at : creating interactive computer. computer acts as partner (and friend) to the user. realizes his physical or emotional states. gives computer human power. provide technical means for monitoring and recording operator physiological conditions Design smarter devices . Create devices with emotional intelligence . Create computational devices with perceptual abilities. BLUE EYE TECHNOLOGY: The complex solution for human-operator monitoring: Visual attention monitoring Physiological condition Operators position detection Wireless data acquisition using Bluetooth Real time user defined alarm triggering Recorded data playback Gesture recognition, Facial recognition, Eye tracking, Speech recognition, Doesnt predict nor interfere with operators thoughts Cannot force directly the operator to work SYSTEM OVERVIEW: Blue eye system provides technical means for monitoring and recording the operators basic physiological parameters. The most important parameter is saccadic activity ( Saccade is a rapid eye jump to a new location assigned by the conscious attention process), which enables the system to monitor the status of the operators visual attention along with head acceleration, which accompanies large displacement of the visual axis (saccades larger than 15 degrees). Complex industrial environment can create a danger of exposing the operator to toxic substances, which can affect his cardiac, circulatory and pulmonary systems. Thus, on the grounds of lethysmographic signal taken from the forehead skin surface, the system computes heart beat rate and blood oxygenation. The blue eye system checks above parameters against abnormal (e.g. a low level of blood oxygenation or a high pulse rate) or undesirable (e.g. a longer period of lowered visual attention) values and triggers user-defined alarms wh en necessary. Quite often in an emergency situation operators speak to themselves expressing their surprise or stating verbally the problem. Therefore, the operators voice, physiological parameters and an overall view of the operating room are recorded. This helps to reconstruct the course of operators work and provides data for long-term analysis. This system consists of a mobile measuring device and a central analytical system. The mobile device is integrated with Bluetooth module providing wireless interface between sensors worn by the operator and the central unit. ID cards assigned to each of the operators and adequate user profiles on the central unit side provide necessary data personalization so different people can use a single mobile device. DESIGN FEATURES: It has a personal area network for linking all the operators and the supervising system. It has two major units DAU (data acquisition unit ) CSU (central system unit ) The basic block diagram is shown below: DATA ACQUISITION UNIT: The DAU consists of the following components ATMEL 8952 microcontroller BLUE TOOTH MODULE supports synchronous voice data transmission PCM CODEC -used to transmit operators voice and central system sound feedback UART -communication between bluetooth module and microcontroller (115200 bps) MAX232 -level shifter ALPHAUNUMERIC LCD display LED indicators ID CARD interface In creating the hardware part of the DAU a development board is built, which enables the operator to mount, connect and test various peripheral devices cooperating with the microcontroller. During the implementation of the DAU a piece of software is needed to establish and test Bluetooth connections. Therefore a tool called BlueDentist is created. The tool provides support for controlling the currently connected Bluetooth device. Its functions are: local device management (resetting, reading local BD_ADDR, putting in Inquiry/Page and Inquiry/Page scan modes, reading the list of locally supported features and setting UART speed) connection management (receiving and displaying Inquiry scan results, establishing ACL links, adding SCO connections, performing link authorization procedure, sending test data packets and disconnecting). To test the possibilities and performance of the remaining parts such as computer, camera and database software, BlueCapture is created. The tool supports capturing video data from various sources (USB web-cam, industrial camera) and storing the data in the MS SQL Server database. Additionally, the application performs sound recording. After filtering and removing insignificant fragments (i.e. silence) the audio data is stored in the database. Finally, the program plays the recorded audiovisual stream. The software is used to measure database system performance and to optimize some of the SQL queries (e.g. replacing of correlated SQL queries with cursor operations). Also a simple tool for recording Jazz Multisensor measurements is created. The program reads the data using a parallel port and writes it to a file. To program the operators personal ID card we use a standard parallel port, as the EPROMs and the port are both TTL-compliant. A simple dialog-based application helps to accomplish the task. DAU FEATURES: The data acquisition unit has the following features. Lightweight Runs on batteries low power consumption Easy to use does not disturb the operator working ID cards for operator authorization Voice transmission using hardware PCM codec CENTRAL SYSTEM UNIT: The CSU consists of the following components. CONNECTION MODULE main task to perform low-level blue tooth communication DATA ANALYSIS MODULE performs the analysis of the raw sensor data in order to obtain information about operators physiological condition DATA LOGGER MODULE provides support for storing the monitored data. VISULAIZATION MODULE provides user interface for the supervisors CSU FEATURES: The central system unit has the following features. Accessverification System maintenance Connection management Data processing Visualization Data recording AFFECTIVE COMPUTING The process of making emotional computers with sensing abilities is known as affective computing. Steps include:- Giving sensing abilities Detecting human emotions Respond properly ASPECTS OF AFFECTIVE COMPUTING There are two aspects of affective computing: giving the computer the ability to detect emotions and giving the computer the ability to express emotions. Not only are emotions crucial for rational decision making, but emotion detection is an important step to an adaptive computer system. An adaptive, smart computer system has been driving efforts to detect a persons emotional state. An important element of incorporating emotion into computing is for productivity for a computer user. By matching a persons emotional state and the context of the expressed emotion, over a period of time the persons personality is being exhibited. Therefore, by giving the computer a longitudinal understanding of the emotional state of its user, the computer could adapt a working style which fits with its users personality. The result of this collaboration could increase productivity for the user. INPUTS CONSIDERED Heart pulse rate Facial expressions Eye-brows and mouth lines primarily Eye movements As a pointing device Also to determine the emotion Voice METHODS: 1. AFFECT DETECTION: One way of gaining information from a user non-intrusively is by video. Cameras have been used to detect a persons emotional state. The basic block diagram of the facial expression detection is shown below. THEORY ON FACIAL EXPRESSION Based on a facial expression work, there is a correlation between a persons emotional state and a persons physiological measurements. Paul Ekman, a scientist performed an experiment which involved participants attached to devices to record certain measurements including pulse, galvanic skin response (GSR), temperature, somatic movement and blood pressure. He then recorded the measurements as the participants were instructed to mimic facial expressions which corresponded to the six basic emotions. He defined the six basic emotions as anger, fear, sadness, disgust, joy and surprise. Thus from this experiment it was determined how physiological measures could be used to distinguish various emotional states. The measures taken were GSR, heart rate, skin temperature and general somatic activity (GSA). These data were then subject to two analyses. For the first analysis,a multidimensional scaling(MDS) procedure was used to determine the dimensionality of the data. Thus it can be concluded that most of the information is extracted from the position of the eye-brows. Detection Geometric facial data extraction Basic emotion-specified facial expression 1 2 3 4 5 6 disgust fear joy surprise Sadness anger 2. MAGIC POINTING: Magic Pointing stands for MANUAL AND GAZE INPUT CASCADED (MAGIC) POINTING. This work explores a new direction in utilizing eye gaze for computer input. Gaze tracking has long been considered as an alternative or potentially superior pointing method for computer input. It is believed that many fundamental limitations exist with traditional gaze pointing. In particular, it is unnatural to overload a perceptual channel such as vision with a motor control task. Therefore an alternative approach of dubbed MAGIC (Manual And Gaze Input Cascaded) pointing is proposed. With such an approach, pointing appears to the user to be a manual task, used for fine manipulation and selection. However, a large portion of the cursor movement is eliminated by warping the cursor to the eye gaze area, which encompasses the target. Two specific MAGIC pointing techniques are Conservative magic pointing and Liberal magic pointing. The pros and cons of the two techniques are discussed in light of both performance data and subjective reports. IMPLEMENTATION The MAGIC pointing program takes data from both the manual input device (of any type, such as a mouse) and the eye tracking system running either on the same machine or on another machine connected via serial port. Raw data from an eye tracker can not be directly used for gaze-based interaction, due to noise from image processing, eye movement jitters, and samples taken during saccade (ballistic eye movement) periods. Therefore filters are used. The goal of filter design in general is to make the best compromise between preserving signal bandwidth and eliminating unwanted noise. In the case of eye tracking, eye information relevant to interaction lies in the fixations. The key is to select fixation points with minimal delay. Samples collected during a saccade are unwanted and should be avoided. In designing the algorithm for picking points of fixation, the tracking system speed (30 Hz) is considered, and that the MAGIC pointing techniques utilize gaze information only once for each new target, probably immediately after a saccade. The filtering algorithm was designed to pick a fixation with minimum delay by means of selecting two adjacent points over two samples. Advantages of magic pointing: The both the liberal and the conservative MAGIC pointing techniques offer the following potential advantages: Reduction of manual stress and fatigue, since the cross screen long-distance cursor movement is eliminated from manual control. Practical accuracy level. In comparison to traditional pure gaze pointing whose accuracy is pointing fundamentally limited by the nature of eye movement, the MAGIC pointing techniques let the hand complete the task, so they can be as accurate as any other manual input techniques. . A more natural mental model for the user. The user does not have to be aware of the role of the eye gaze. To the user, pointing continues to be a manual task, with a cursor conveniently appearing where it needs to be. Speed. Since the need for large magnitude pointing operations is less than with pure manual cursor control, it is possible that MAGIC pointing will be faster than pure manual pointing. Improved subjective speed and ease-of-use. Since the manual pointing amplitude is smaller, the user may perceive the MAGIC pointing system to operate faster and more pleasantly than pure manual control, even if it operates at the same speed or more slowly. Problems related to magic pointing: In addition to problems with todays eye tracking systems, such as delay, error, and inconvenience, there may also be many potential human factor disadvantages to the MAGIC pointing techniques we have proposed, including the following: 1. With the more liberal MAGIC pointing technique, the cursor warping can be overactive at times, since the cursor moves to the new gaze location whenever the eye gaze moves more than a set distance (e.g., 120 pixels) away from the cursor. This could be particularly distracting when the user is trying to read. It is possible to introduce additional constraint according to the context. For example, when the users eye appears to follow a text reading pattern, MAGIC pointing can be automatically suppressed. 2. With the more conservative MAGIC pointing technique, the uncertainty of the exact location at which the cursor might appear may force the user, especially a novice, to adopt a cumbersome strategy: take a touch (use the manual input device to activate the cursor), wait (for the cursor to appear), and move (the cursor to the target manually). Such a strategy may prolong the target acquisition time. The user may have to learn a novel hand-eye coordination pattern to be efficient with this technique. Gaze position reported by eye tracker Eye tracking boundary with 95% confidence True target will be within the circle with 95% probability The cursor is warped to the boundary of the gaze area, along the initial actuation vector Previous cursor position, far from target Initial manual actuation vector 3. With pure manual pointing techniques, the user, knowing the current cursor location, could conceivably perform his motor acts in parallel to visual search. Motor action may start as soon as the users gaze settles on a target. With MAGIC pointing techniques, the motor action computation (decision) cannot start until the cursor appears. This may negate the time saving gained from the MAGIC pointing techniques reduction of movement amplitude. Clearly, experimental (implementation and empirical) work is needed to validate, refine, or invent alternative MAGIC pointing techniques. SUITOR SUITOR stands for Simple User Interface Tracker. Computers would have been much more powerful, had they gained perceptual and sensory abilities of the living beings on the earth. What needs to be developed is an intimate relationship between the computer and the humans. And the Simple User Interest Tracker (SUITOR) is a revolutionary approach in this direction. By observing the Webpage a netizen is browsing, the SUITOR can help by fetching more information at his to desktop. By simply noticing where the users eyes focus on the computer screen, the SUITOR can be more precise in determining his topic of interest. It can even deliver relevant information to a handheld device. The success lies in how much the suitor can be intimate the user. A cue to exploit nonverbal cues to create more effective user interfaces c is gaze-the direction in which a person is looking. A new technique for tracking a persons eyes has been created and this gaze-tracking technology has been incorporated into two prototypes. One, called SUITOR (Simple User Interest Tracker), fills a scrolling ticker on a computer screen with information related to the users current task. SUITOR knows where the user is looking, what applications he/she is running, and what Web pages the user may be browsing. For example, If a Web page about IBM, is being read for instance and the system presents the latest stock price or business news stories that could affect IBM. If the headline off the ticker is read, it pops up the story in a browser window. If the story is also read then , it adds related stories to the ticker. Thats the whole idea of an attentive system-one that attends to what you are doing, typing, reading, so that it can attend to your information needs. EMOTION MOUSE: One goal of human computer interaction (HCI) is to make an adaptive, smart computer system. A non-invasive way to obtain information about a person is through touch. People use their computers to obtain, store and manipulate data using their computer. In order to start creating smart computers, the computer must start gaining information about the user. The proposed method for gaining user information through touch is via a computer input device, the mouse. From the physiological data obtained from the user, an emotional state may be determined which would then be related to the task the user is currently doing on the computer. Over a period of time, a user model will be built in order to gain a sense of the users personality. The scope of the project is to have the computer adapt to the user in order to create a better working environment where the user is more productive. . One obvious place to put sensors is on the mouse. Through observing normal computer usage (creating and editing documents and surfing the web),people spend approximately 1/3 of their total computer time touching their input device. Because of the incredible amount of time spent touching an input device, the possibility of detecting emotion through touch can be explored. Mouse is embedded with sensors that can sense the physiological attributes like Temperature Body pressure Pulse rate Touching style etc. The computer determines the users emotional states from these inputs. BLUE EYE EMOTIONAL MOUSE sensors in the mouse ,sense the physiological attributes which are correlated to emotions using correlation model -by simply touching the mouse ,the computer will be able to determine a persons emotional state. BLUE EYE enabled TELEVISION could become active when the user makes an eye contact incorporated. 5. SPEECH RECOGNITION: It is important to consider the environment in which the speech recognition system has to work. The grammar used by the speaker, noise level, noise type, position of the microphone, and speed and manner of the users speech are some factors that may affect the quality of speech recognition . Artificial intelligence comes into place where an automatic call-handling system is used without employing any telephone operator. THE TECHNOLOGY: Artificial intelligence (AI) involves two basic ideas. First, it involves studying the thought processes of human beings. Second, it deals with representing those processes via machines (like computers, robots, etc). AI is behavior of a machine, which, if performed by a human being, would be called intelligent. It makes machines smarter and more useful, and is less Expensive than natural intelligence. Natural language processing (NLP) refers to artificial intelligence methods of communicating with a computer in a natural language like English. The main objective of a NLP program is to understand input and initiate action. The input words are scanned and matched against internally stored known words. Identification of a key word causes some action to be taken. In this way, one can communicate with the computer in ones language. No special commands or computer language are required. There is no need to enter programs in a special language for creating software. The user speaks to the computer through a microphone, which, in used; a simple system may contain a minimum of three filters. The more the number of filters used, the higher the probability of accurate recognition. Presently, switched capacitor digital filters are used because these can be custom-built in integrated circuit form. These are smaller and cheaper than active filters using operational amplifiers. The filter output is then fed to the ADC to translate the analogue signal into digital word. The ADC samples the filter outputs many times a second. Each sample represents different amplitudes of the signal .Evenly spaced vertical lines represent the amplitude of the audio filter output at the instant of sampling. Each value is then converted to a binary number proportional to the amplitude of the sample. A central processor unit (CPU) controls the input circuits that are fed by the ADCS. A large RAM (random access memory) stores all the digital values in a buffer area. The pictures represent the basic schemes of the speech recognition process. This digital information, representing the spoken word, is now accessed by the CPU to process it further. The normal speech has a frequency range of 200 Hz to 7 kHz. Recognizing a telephone call is more difficult as it has bandwidth limitation of 300 Hz to3.3 kHz. As explained earlier, the spoken words are processed by the filters and ADCs. The binary representation of each of these words becomes a template or standard, against which the future words are compared. These templates are stored in the memory. Once the storing process is completed, the system can go into its active mode and is capable of identifying spoken words. As each word is spoken, it is converted into binary equivalent and stored in RAM. The computer then starts searching and compares the binary input pattern with the templates. t is to be noted that even if the same speaker talks the same text, there are always slight variations in amplitude or loudness of the signal, pitch, frequency difference, time gap, etc. Due to this reason, there is never a perfect match between the template and binary input word. The pattern matching process therefore uses statistical techniques and is designed to look for the best fit. The values of binary input words are subtracted from the corresponding values in the templates. If both the values are same, the difference is zero and there is perfect match. If not, the subtraction produces some difference or error. The smaller the error, the better is the match. When the best match occurs, the word is identified and displayed on the screen or used in some other manner. The search process takes a considerable amount of time, as the CPU has to make many comparisons before recognition occurs. This necessitates use of very high-speed processors. A large RAM is also required as even though a spoken word may last only a few hundred milliseconds, but the same is translated into many thousands of digital words. It is important to note that alignment of words and templates are to be matched correctly in time, before computing the similarity score. This process, termed as dynamic time warping, recognizes that different speakers pronounce the same words at different speeds as well as elongate different parts of the same word. This is important for the Speaker-independent recognizers. APPLICATIONS OF SPEECH RECOGNITION One of the main benefits of speech recognition system is that it lets user do other works simultaneously. The user can concentrate on observation and manual operations, and still control the machinery by voice input commands. Another major application of speech processing is in military operations. Voice control of weapons is an example. With reliable speech recognition equipment, pilots can give commands and information to the computers by simply speaking into their microphones-they dont have to use their hands for this purpose. Another good example is a radiologist scanning hundreds of X-rays, ultrasonograms, CT scans and simultaneously dictating conclusions to a speech recognition system connected to word processors. The radiologist can focus his attention on the images rather than writing the text. Voice recognition could also be used on computers for making airline and hotel reservations. A user requires simply to state his needs, to make reservation, cancel a reservation, or ma ke enquiries about schedule. 6. EYE TRACKER: Eye tracker is a device which tracks the movement of eye. This system is much more compact and reliable. Available commercial systems, rely on a single light source that is positioned either off the camera axis, or on-axis. Illumination from an off-axis source (or ambient illumination) generates a dark pupil image. When the light source is placed on-axis with the camera optical axis, the camera is able to detect the light reflected from the interior of the eye, and the image of the pupil appears bright. This effect is often seen as the red-eye in flash photographs when the flash is close to the camera lens. The Almaden system of eye tracking uses two near infrared (IR) time multiplexed light sources, composed of two sets of IR LEDs, which were synchronized with the camera frame rate. One light source is placed very close to the cameras optical axis and is synchronized with the even frames. Odd frames are synchronized with the second light source, positioned off axis. The two light sources are calibrated to provide approximately equivalent whole-scene illumination. Pupil detection is realized by means of subtracting the dark pupil image from the bright pupil image. After thresholding the difference, the largest connected component is identified as the pupil. This technique significantly increases the robustness and reliability of the eye tracking system. The Almaden eye tracker is shown in the figure. The above picture an ON AXIS infrared illumination The figure explains the OFF AXIS infrared illumination. APPLICATIONS 1. Surveillance systems: A large retailers have implemented surveillance systems that record and interpret customer movements, using BlueEye software. BlueEye software makes sense of what the cameras see to answer key questions for retailers, including, How many shoppers ignored a promotion? How many stopped? How long did they stay? Did their faces register boredom or delight? How many reached for the item and put it in their shopping carts? Blue Eye works by tracking pupil, eyebrow and mouth movement. When monitoring pupils, the system uses a camera and two infrared light sources placed inside the product display. One light source is aligned with the cameras focus; the other is slightly off axis. When the eye looks into the camera-aligned light, the pupil appears bright to the sensor, and the software registers the customers attention. This is way it captures the persons income and buying preferences. BlueEye is actively been incorporated in some of the leading retail outlets. 2. Automobile industry Blue Eye can be applied in the automobile industry. By simply touching a computer input device such as a mouse, the computer system is designed to be able to determine a persons emotional state. For cars, it could be useful to help with critical decisions like: I know you want to get into the fast lane, but Im afraid I cant do that. You too upset right now and therefore assist in driving safely. 3. Video games We could see its use in video games where, it could give individual challenges to customers playing video games. Typically targeting commercial business. The integration of Childrens toys, technologies and computers is enabling new play experiences that were not commercially feasible until recently. The Intel Play QX3 Computer Microscope, the Me2Cam with Fun Fair, and the Computer Sound Morpher are commercially available smart toy products developed by the Intel Smart Toy Lab in. One theme that is common across these PC-connected toys is that users interact with them using a combination of visual, audible and tactile input output modalities. The presentation will provide an overview of the interaction design of these products and pose some unique challenges faced by designers and engineers of such experiences targeted at novice computer users, namely young children. 4. An alternate to keyboard The familiar and useful come from things we recognize. Many of our favorite things appearance communicate their use; they show the change in their value though patina. As technologists we are now poised to imagine a world where computing objects communicate with us in-situ; where we are. We use our looks, feelings, and actions to give the computer the experience it needs to work with us. Keyboards and mice will not continue to dominate computer user interfaces. Keyboard input will be replaced in large measure by systems that know what we want and require less explicit communication. Sensors are gaining fidelity and ubiquity to record presence and actions; sensors will notice when we enter a space, sit down, lie down, Pump iron, etc. Pervasive infrastructure is recording it. 5. A better future scenario Current interfaces between computers and humans can present information vividly, but have no sense of whether that information is ever Viewed or understood. In contrast, new real-time computer vision techniques for perceiving people allows us to create Face-responsive Displays and Perceptive Environments, which ca

Historical Research Essay

Historical research has been defined as the systematic and objective location, evaluation and synthesis of evidence in order to establish facts and draw conclusions about past events. It is an act of reconstruction undertaken in a spirit of critical inquiry designed to achieve a faithful representation of a previous age. In seeking data from the personal experiences and observations of others, from documents and records, researchers often have to contend with inadequate information so that their reconstructions tend to be sketches rather than portraits. Indeed, the difficulty of obtaining adequate data makes historical research one of the most taxing kinds of inquiry to conduct satisfactorily (William 1949). Reconstruction implies a holistic perspective in that the method of inquiry characterizing historical research attempts to ‘encompass and then explain the whole realm of man’s past in a perspective that greatly accents his social, cultural, economic, and intellectual development’ (Billington 1995). Ultimately, historical research is concerned with a broad view of the conditions and not necessarily the specifics which bring them about, although such a synthesis is rarely achieved without intense debate or controversy, especially on matters of detail. The act of historical research involves the identification and limitation of a problem or an area of study; sometimes the formulation of a hypothesis (or set of questions); the collection, organization, verification, validation, analysis and selection of data; testing the hypothesis (or answering the questions) where appropriate; and writing a research report. This sequence leads to a new understanding of the past and its relevance to the present and future. Historical research in education can also show how and why educational theories and practices developed. It enables educationalists to use former practices to evaluate newer, emerging ones. Recurrent trends can be more easily identified and assessed from a historical standpoint—witness, for example, the various guises in which progressivism in education have appeared. And it can contribute to a fuller understanding of the relationship between politics and education, between school and society, between local and central government, and between teacher and pupil. Historical research may be structured by a flexible sequence of stages, beginning with the selection and evaluation of a problem or area of study. Then follows the definition of the problem in more precise terms, the selection of suitable sources of data, collection, classification and processing of the data, and finally, the evaluation and synthesis of the data into a balanced and objective account of the subject under investigation. In historical research, it is especially important that the student carefully defines his problem and appraises its appropriateness before committing himself too fully. Many problems are not adaptable to historical research methods and cannot be adequately treated using this approach. Other problems have little or no chance of producing significant results either because of the lack of pertinent data or because the problem is a trivial one. Research, if it is to be fresh and thereby justify itself, ought to start, at least in a general way, where previous research left off. Thus, it is necessary to find out the present status of scholarly investigation on the subject in hand. This can be ascertained from reliable, up-to-date bibliographical surveys, such as are sometimes found in the more scholarly type of history books now appearing, and from standard bibliographies, general or special, supplemented by notices of new publications in the current historical reviews. The hypothesis provides a framework for stating the conclusions of the study in a meaningful manner. It enables the historian to determine what is relevant to a study and to screen out irrelevant materials. Within the framework of the hypothesis, of course, the historian will pattern his material in some systematic order, such as chronological, geographical, topical, or a combination of these. He will also make judgments concerning the amount of emphasis or space to give to various evidence. Considerable information may be collected on relatively minor points in a study and little evidence on more significant events. Obviously, reporting everything would produce a distorted picture of the past. Determining which data are packed with the greatest significance and how many of them to include requires a continuous reevaluation of the hypothesis and the study as a whole. Weaving raw data into a cohesive, well-proportioned, colorful exposition requires painstaking labor. To achieve the twin objectives of maintaining accuracy and interest, a historian refrains from embellishing narratives with dramatic flourishes that distort the truth, but strives for literary excellence. Stretching or supplementing the existing evidence to create a more spirited narrative is not permissible. Artfully fitting the pieces of established evidence into a simple, vivid mosaic that dramatically delineates past events is the difficult but desired ideal to attain. History is life – and it deserves better than a drab description. The historian cannot sacrifice accuracy for eloquence; but by developing his creative and critical skills he can learn to write lucid, lively, logical accounts without violating the rigorous rules of historical scholarship. Since historians cannot personally view the educational practices of hundreds of years ago, they must rely on observations made by others in bygone days and on the examination of relics. If investigators are fully aware of the fallibility of human observation, they can check the authenticity and credibility of testimony by subjecting it to intensive external and internal criticism. Ascertaining whether every fact is absolutely true is not possible, for the most reliable witness to an event may have erred in perception or memory. But a research worker can determine the credibility of testimony in degrees of confidence – from confidence that is approximately certain at one end of the scale to confidence that is mingled with considerable doubt on the other end. Historians can ascertain with a high degree of probability that some data are true facts. But, because the reliability of data is dependent on the character, circumstances, and competence of the creators and interpreters, they are extremely cautious about accepting any historical artifact or report. The reliability of a historical research report is determined not only by how critically the investigator examined witnesses’ observations of past events, but also by the depth and breath of his knowledge about the past and present. Historical research involves the researcher both in selecting an appropriate problem and devising relevant research techniques. Questions to be asked at this stage are first, ‘Who is to be the object of the study? ’—the great person, the common person, the volunteer, the selected, the coerced? Second, ‘What makes a good informant? ’ Plummer draws attention to key factors such as accessibility of place and availability of time, and the awareness of the potential informant of his/her particular cultural milieu. Third, ‘What needs clarifying in the early stages of the research? The motivations of the researcher need to be made explicit to the intended subject. Sources of data in historical research may be classified into two main groups: primary sources, which are the life blood of historical research; and secondary sources, which may be used in the absence of, or to supplement, primary data. Primary sources of data have been described as those items that are original to the problem under study. Secondary sources are those that do not bear a direct physical relationship to the event being studied. They are made up of data that cannot be described as original. A secondary source would thus be one in which the person describing the event was not actually present but who obtained descriptions from another person or source (Atkinson 1998). Various commentators stress the importance of using primary sources of data where possible. The value, too, of secondary sources should not be minimized. There are numerous occasions where a secondary source can contribute significantly to more valid and reliable historical research than would otherwise be the case. In his preliminary search for historical data, a researcher will find that the card catalog, periodical indexes, bibliographies, historical reviews, dissertations, and research journals provide helpful leads. Although he may locate useful materials in his local library, his search probably will extend to other institutions and to specialized depositories that have business, government, legal, or private papers relating to his problem. Some individuals and agencies have exerted considerable effort to collect educational records and remains and have established a number of historical depositories to preserve them. The types of resources and completeness of the accumulations in the various depositories vary greatly: some contain extensive collections of a particular kind of materials and others have fragmentary collections of items from different fields. Owing to the wide expanse of time and the broad scope of educational endeavors, no one depository, however excellent, can possibly house all the available materials. One further point: the review of the literature is regarded as a preparatory stage to gathering data and serves to acquaint researchers with previous research on the topics they are studying (Marwick 1989). It thus enables them to continue in a tradition, to place their work in context, and to learn from earlier endeavors. The function of the review of the literature in historical research, however, is different in that it provides the data for research; the researchers’ acceptance or otherwise of their hypotheses will depend on their selection of information from the review and the interpretation they put on it. Further, documents required in historical research often date back much further than those in empirical research. And one final point: documents in education often consist of unpublished material and are therefore less accessible than reports of empirical studies in professional journals. Because workers in the field of historical research gather much of their data and information from records and documents, these must be carefully evaluated so as to attest their worth for the purposes of the particular study. Evaluation of historical data and information is often referred to as historical criticism and the reliable data yielded by the process are known as historical evidence. Historical criticism is usually undertaken in two stages: first, the authenticity of the source is appraised; and second, the accuracy or worth of the data is evaluated. External criticism is concerned with establishing the authenticity or genuineness of data. It is therefore aimed at the document (or other source) itself rather than the statements it contains; with analytic forms of the data rather than the interpretation or meaning of them in relation to the study. It therefore sets out to uncover frauds, forgeries, hoaxes, inventions or distortions. To this end, the tasks of establishing the age or authorship of a document may involve tests of factors such as signatures, handwriting, script, type, style, spelling and place-names. Further, was the knowledge it purports to transmit available at the time and is it consistent with what is known about the author or period from another source? Increasingly sophisticated analyses of physical factors can also yield clues establishing authenticity or otherwise: physical and chemical tests of ink, paper, parchment, cloth and other materials, for example. Investigations in the field of educational history are less likely to encounter deliberate forgeries than in, say, political or social history, though it is possible to find that official documents, correspondence and autobiographies have been ‘ghosted’, that is, prepared by a person other than the alleged author or signer. Having established the authenticity of the document, the researcher’s next task is to evaluate the accuracy and worth of the data contained therein. While they may be genuine, they may not necessarily disclose the most faithful picture. In their concern to establish the meaning and reliability of data, investigators are confronted with a more difficult problem than external criticism because they have to establish the credibility of the author of the documents. Many documents in the history of education tend to be neutral in character, though it is possible that some may be in error because of these kinds of observer characteristics. Once the data have been gathered and subjected to external criticism for authenticity and to internal criticism for accuracy, the researcher is next confronted with the task of piecing together an account of the events embraced by the research problem. This stage is known as the process of synthesis. It is probably the most difficult phase in the project and calls for considerable imagination and resourcefulness. The resulting pattern is then applied to the testing of the hypothesis. The writing of the final report is equally demanding and calls for creativity and high standards of objective and systematic analysis. By far the greater part of research in historical studies is qualitative in nature. This is so because the proper subject-matter of historical research consists to a great extent of verbal and other symbolic material emanating from a society’s or a culture’s past. The basic skills required of the researcher to analyze this kind of qualitative or symbolic material involve collecting, classifying, ordering, synthesizing, evaluating and interpreting. At the basis of all these acts lies sound personal judgement. In the comparatively recent past, however, attempts have been made to apply the quantitative methods of the scientist to the solution of historical problems (Boyd-Barrett & Scanlon 1991). Of these methods, the one having greatest relevance to historical research is that of content analysis, the basic goal of which is to take a verbal, non-quantitative document and transform it into quantitative data (Allen 2001). Content analysis itself has been defined as ‘a multipurpose research method developed specifically for investigating a broad spectrum of problems in which the content of communication serves as a basis of inference’, from word counts (Allen 2001) to categorization. Approaches to content analysis are careful to identify appropriate categories and units of analysis, both of which will reflect the nature of the document being analyzed and the purpose of the research. Categories are normally determined after initial inspection of the document and will cover the main areas of content.

The Upside to Research Essay Rough Draft Samples

The Upside to Research Essay Rough Draft Samples Research Essay Rough Draft Samples - Is it a Scam? Some people have a tendency to not use a rough outline because they may be overwhelmed with the process which they need to undergo. Becoming mindful of these details will help you to have an easier and faster time when creating a rough outline for a certain writing activity that you're currently immersed in. When you've checked the language of your paper, it's time to look closely at its technical facets. Revise the entire bit of writing once more. Essays are like stories, only they are a little bit formal. English topics aren't simple to produce. English is 1 language that you are unable to exhaust. Moreover, your writing ought to be clear and uncomplicated. To be a specialist at it, you should learn through tutors or through samples. There are certain sorts of essays we've given as samples to help students acquaint themselves and learn to compose various samples. Even after reading the post, essay writing still looks like an intimidating task for you. The paper will appear at if home life influences engagement in the job setting or if it's affected by the deficiency of job resources, greater job demands. It's going to provide you with a notion of what it is that you're communicating. Because your rough draft will be the foundation for your final draft, you wish to make certain you've gotten the heavy lifting from the manner so as to have the opportunity to concentrate on making all the pieces fit together in the home stretch. Read the passage from a web site. The New Angle On Research Essay Rough Draft Samples Just Released Rough outlines may be easy, but there isn't any denying that it's effective. You've got to spell out why you picked those details and the way in which they prove your point. Don't be worried about the fine details just yet. New Questions About Research Essay Rough Draft Samples A well-made outline is critical in locating considerable info and keeping track of large quantities of information from a research paper. Then you should supply some background information regarding the topic of your paper. One of the absolute most important sections of any research paper is really doing research. Take note that doing research is the important portion of any research paper and you cannot avoid it, however much you may dislike the approach. The great things about samples is they are available online and you need to cover them. It is crucial that you don't overlap ideas. So it's always pleasant to find that feedback. The Pain of Research Essay Rough Draft Samples It's important to not forget your rough draft is a ways from your final draft, and you'll participate in revision and editing before you've got a draft that's prepared to submit. The rough draft is only that, the very first version of an essay. Lesson Summary it is the first version of the essay. The finished rough draft ought to be pretty near their finished essay. If you would like to gain from the use of a rough outline but is unaware on how best to create one, we've prepared lots of suggestions and guidelines together with a step-by-step standard guide to assist you develop your very own rough outline. You might also see resume outline. You can also see chapter outline. Besides a report outline and a presentation outline, a research paper outline is among the most usual types of outlines you're most likely to encounter in any particular field. More so, it may give you a good idea on how you're able to create the entirety of the document so that you can give highlight on specific and important details. The most essential part of the introduction is the thesis statement. If you presently have a rough outline, it is going to be simpler that you present your topic in the easiest way possible. Grow a plot you may follow when developing the authentic rough outline which you will utilize. Be certain you will produce a discussion flow that's commonly concentrated on the introduction, body and conclusion of the write-up. Cause and effect essays are a breeze to write, just stay focused and attempt to make impact through your words and through the usage of evidence. For example, you surely have bits of research which are more essential to contain in your body paragraphs than others. Because you planned out your topics in advance, now you may write the body paragraphs.

7 Famous Authors Who Weren’t Writers by Profession

If you have ever thought about a writer’s career, you might have wondered about the ways you would pay your bills. If you are a famous writer, then writing already pays off. However, before you become one, you need to have a source of income. Ideally, to become an author, one should either have a lot of free time or a job that doesn’t take much of it and gives inspiration for writing. Haruki Murakami The author of numerous books studied drama in Tokyo and then was a business owner. Together with his wife, he managed a coffeehouse and a jazz bar. This experience was later shared through the protagonist of his South of the Border, West of the Sun. Joseph Conrad The author of the famous The Heart of Darkness has worked as a merchant seaman. This occupation of his and the work-related trips to Congo let him create the novel. The book made him famous once and for all. It also served as base for the iconic film Apocalypse Now. Conrad explained his work-life relations in his book, â€Å"I dont like work — no man does — but I like what is in work — the chance to find yourself. Your own reality — for yourself, not for others — what no other man can ever know.† Bram Stoker He managed the Lyceum Theatre in London between 1878 and 1898. In 1897, the novel Dracula came out, very much inspired by the actor Henry Irving. Stoker hoped that one day, Irving would play Count Dracula himself, but that never happened. Still, the first theatrical adaptation of the novel was staged at the Lyceum. Franz Kafka The world-famous Prague-based writer worked as an insurance officer. This job of his was probably the place where he got the ideas about the insane bureaucracy which surrounded people and made them feel alienated and depressed. Working for an insurance firm inspired Kafka to create The Trial. Antoine de Saint-Exupà ©ry A French writer was an airmail pilot prior to the World War II. He flew as a commercial pilot between Europe, the Americas, and Africa. When the war started, he joined the Air Force. The Little Prince, one of the best-selling books of all times, was inspired by his plane crash in the Sahara desert in 1935 when, deprived of water and food, he experienced hallucinations. He wrote the book while he was in exile in New York trying to convince the US government to enter the war against the Nazis. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The author of the immortal Sherlock Holmes book series was a medical practitioner. He started writing short stories while studying, then while waiting for the patients. After some time, Conan Doyle opened an ophthalmology practice in London. His medical career helped him create a number of stories and characters, especially Dr. John Watson. Harper Lee A Pulitzer Prize laureate was one an airline ticket agent. She was writing fiction while working and even found an agent in New York. Her friends backed her up a lot when they gave her a year’s salary worth of money for Christmas. This helped her write the book of her life, To Kill a Mockingbird. If you ever think that, in order to write a masterpiece, it is necessary to have a degree in Literature, you should remember these 7 authors above. They all succeeded at literature, but had different jobs. Their occupations not only helped them pay the bills, but also provided the source of inspiration. If Joseph Conrad or Saint-Exupà ©ry were Literature students, they would have never had their life experiences which allowed them to create their books.