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议论文

Digital Publication: a Smart Move or Not?

刘志宇

         With the staggering advancement of the information technology, there is an increasing number of people converting their preference to the digital publication instead of subscribing to the printed one to acquire information or knowledge. To reverse the economic downturn, multitudes of news outlets commence to bring out the digital edition publication and smother the printed publication. Although digital publication is very prevalent nowadays, the news outlets can’t only pursue economic interests and ignore the irreplaceable role of the printed publication. For my perspective, I harbor the view that the printed publication is supposed to be regained.

         On the one hand, it merits our attention that recovering the printed publication, serving as an indispensable complement for the digital publication, enables more people to obtain information. Firstly, it is more convenient for people dwelling in remote areas. As is known to us, the public publication needs to satisfy the demands of the whole readers instead of only those who live in metropolises, who are well-educated and very familiar with digital gadgets. In fact, there are plentiful people living in the mountainous or impoverished areas where the Internet is not available. If all the publications are converted into the digital editions, they will have no access to gain the information and finally will be isolated by the information-based society. What’s more, the printed publication is more beneficial to children and senior people. It is universally acknowledged that the quantity of senior people and children account for a significant percent all over the world. Without printed publications, they will lose an available and accessible channel to obtain the information, since the digital gadget is just like a closed book to them. Therefore, the printed publication plays a pivotal role in their daily life. Only by this can the information resources be shared around the world. Without it, a multitude of people would have been alienated by society of information explosion. From this perspective, the printed publication still has a substantial market share and the news outlets can earn an absolute fortune.

         On the other hand, There is no denying fact that the printed publication is more suitable for readers to have a good comprehension of information, resonate with the writer and preserve some valuable and precious passages. Initially, some people are accustomed to underlining key words or pivotal sentences and making marks or comments in the margin, which is paramount to their mastery of information. Also, some people have a passion for printed publication, since they harbor a sort of attachment to it; they enjoy the delighted sense of fingers dancing over the pages. Only when they read the printed edition, can they easily have an empathy with the authors and the marks of that era. Notably, these benefits are what the digital publication definitely can’t provide. Furthermore, Not like digital publication, printed publication can supply readers with the permanent information that is convenient to be preserved. By contrast, the content of the digital publication updates every day. Once the passage is read, it will be deleted immediately. Thus, if someday you need the information that have been removed to conduct researches, you will have no access to trace it.

         Admittedly, the digital publication actually has its inherent merit of convenience. More importantly, it can bring the news outlets more economic profits, thereby, turning the stranded situation confronted by the press circle. Nevertheless, the printed publication still can bring considerable profits, if the content and layout are created more attractive, if the delivery service is enforced, if the productivity is raised to abate the price of the printed publication. Moreover, the press circle should consider spreading information as its fundamental duty and shouldn’t just fix eyes on economic benefits as its only purpose. The press outlets is committed to bear the social responsibility to illustrate their conscience.

         Taking what has been analyzed into the consideration, we can naturally and reasonably reach the conclusion that allowing for the printed publication’s universality and the suitability, the printed publication should be recovered. It’s not an advisable move to shut it down. To meet the demands of all people and have a distinctly competitive advantage, the news outlets should bring out both printed publication and digital edition, hence, profiting a lot from it , and more importantly, manifesting the conscience.

宋超  

With the advent of digital products, mobile phone in particular, in the nearly three decades, they have brought enormous changes to ordinary people’s access to information, knowledge and matters. Decades have witnessed radical transition of print business towards a digital future. Newsweek, one of the most remarkable weekly publications in the United States, for instance, has adopted a new digital tablet edition for its long-term development in years to come. A number of critics, however, regard this behavior as a damage to traditional print business, while a majority of readers and publishers show affection for this digital transition. In my perspective, the merits of this tablet edition outweigh its demerits considering the rapid social development.

         For the sake of business model, on the one hand, it is desirable for publishers to instantly adjust their present print edition in a digital way. Due to the fact that mobile phones and other digital products have being exerting a significant influence on people’s life, publishers should be aware of the tendency from the print edition towards the tablet one. On the other hand, this traditional print edition has not actually kept up pace with the rapid development of technology. As we know, the original print editions, such as Newsweek, regularly come out once a week, resulting in merely outdated information accessible to the public. With the help of various digital products, however, people can easily get access to meaning information as pleased. And thus consumers may not be obliged to purchase these printed magazines or journals. Consequently, there is an increasing fall on the circulation of publications, triggering fierce challenges in finance to the survival of most presses. In order to adapt themselves well to changeable consuming market, presses have to exploit creative methods to appeal to readers’ appetite.

         Then, whether this tablet edition is accepted in the end largely depends on its consumers, namely these readers. They play a decisive part in the extent to which the print edition is replaced by the tablet one. According to a recent survey conducted by the United States, the proportion of the people who own a smart phone has reached 83.4 percent. In an information exploration era, people, whether you are educated or not, are exposed to various news from various ways. It is unnecessary to say that readers, particularly younger ones, tend to be obsessed with the latest digital products and keen to obtain information in a sophisticated context. Thus, apparently, an overwhelming number of readers are for this digital transition and tend to engage themselves into this tablet edition owing to its great convenience and timeliness. Readers in contemporary society are committed to instant information attractive to them. Despite the fact that the old may have been used to the print edition, this seems to be a minor proportion. Most people will not bother to collect outdated news by means of purchasing weekly journals, which they think is a waste to money. Meanwhile, readers nowadays pursue an enjoyable experience while reading materials, which requires presses to design their publications in a compulsive way rather than passages one by one with several irrelevant pictures. Nevertheless, there are times when people prefer skimming to scanning. Exactly, this tablet edition can effectively transform these dull ways of reading with movable pictures and outlines and thus satisfy people’s needs to read in a creative way. As a result, a growing number of readers show little interest in reading publications in the form of the print edition, which to some extent encourages the digital transition in publishing field.

         In sum, with the imminent death of pint, it is obvious that this tablet edition is a manifestation to the long-term development of publications. Newsweek’s innovative move can both rejuvenate itself from financial challenges and bring benefits, convenience as well as inspiration to readers. In a rapidly developing society with digital progress, the tendency from the print edition towards the tablet one will truly turn out to a wise and rewarding choice. Only by targeting their consumers’ interests can an industry go a long way.

Post Online or Perish

黄琼

         Newspapers, originally derived from literature handouts focusing on ironical and sarcastic criticism of the society, have been through ups and downs in the past two hundred years. It has enjoyed great popularity especially in times of social revolution or radical political disputes. Social media expend their tentacles to get the imminent and instant news, supplying the consumers with timely and informative events going around the world. Modern technology prompts the coming of newspaper publications, and at the same time, also throws it into a crucial existential deadlock in the era of digital devices. This is a time that calls for change. And the Newsweek is the one which dares to change its business models when its cheese is moved away. Needless to say, it has set a positive and encouraging example to other outlets.

         There are several reasons underlying Newsweek’s revolutionary measure of breaking its publication deadlock and resorting to posting its publications online.

         First and foremost, digital format is economical. For the last two decades, Newsweek has been losing its money since the number of subscribers slashes year after year. It is trapped in financial crisis. While digital format consumes no paper or ink, nor does it involve enormous publication work or human resources.

        Next, it is convenient. Where mobile phone and internet service are accessible, there will always be news readily available even. You can read the news when you are bored, idle or basically have nothing else to do. For example, while waiting for the bus, queuing in the line, taking the subway and so on, you will be engulfed by news of digital formats as long as you get into the digital world by simply pushing or clicking the button of your smart phone.

         Last but not least, it is highly timely. Generally speaking, normal printed newspapers appear mainly weekly or daily, while digital format is able to update 24 hours a day. The minute an event or an accident occurs, the next minute a piece of news comes into being. Then people get to learn about the news and they will be kept well-informed with following series of detailed reports.

         As we can see, the advantages of digital format are self-evident, since the editors make their life-changing decision to put their publications online, gambling the fortune over potential risks. In a world infused with environmental problems, digitalized products are undoubtedly energy-saving and environmental-friendly. Mores trees will be preserved because of the fall of paper need in the publication industry. Less waste paper would pollute the natural surroundings since people no longer consume printed papers. Digital format also compiles with the growing number of net citizens. It will satisfy the educated citizens as well as intellectuals and social elites who may be interested in global events or even correlate their work with world news.

         Digitalization is characteristic of currency society. Anything that fails to conform to the trend or flow of society is doomed to be discarded. Newspapers will not be an exception. Traditional printed papers ought to find a new position and a redefined appearance for themselves in the changing wind and shift sand of modern society. As Darwin once wrote in his masterpiece The Origin of Species, advocating “survival of the fittest”, printed outlets should also strengthen themselves and transform their dwindling and weakening situation so as to meet the need of the time.

         This is no longer a time of “publish or perish”, but a time of “post online or perish”.

说明文

Factors Affecting Work Performance

耿丹阳

         In a society of ever-quickening pace, it has arisen as a top priority for every company to ensure the highest efficiency possible; equally important for them is the work performance of every individual employee. This phenomenon can find the perfect expression in that basically many leaders nowadays are racking their brains in quest of a strategy that would substantially boost their faculty’s productivity. In light of this, it’s of indisputable necessity for them to pinpoint the underlying factors that can determine the quality of work performance.

         The chart above illustrates how the ten major factors can affect the work performance of a young adult aged 18-30 and a 45-60-year-old elderly respectively. Overall, the youth can be seen to have stronger susceptibility to external influence whereas the influence of these factors on work performance to the middle-aged group is comparatively small. This phenomenon can be ascribed to the fact that the relatively young population is generally more vibrant yet capricious workers thus their behaviors are more responsive to the good or bad change in the working climate whereas the middle-aged are mostly marked by their relative stability partially because they need a stable source of income to support their family.

         As is demonstrated, among the ten factors, Chance for personal development has the most profound implications for a young adult’s work performance.  Secondary to it are two factors: a relaxed working environment and promotion prospects. This is especially true for today’s youth who indefatigably engage themselves in pursuit of superiority and for whom the importance of personal development can never be overstated. Nevertheless, what to the youngsters are the three most predominant factors to the middle-aged group the impact is far less significant. Instead, money and team spirit constitute the two major factors that can influence work performance for the middle-aged. Taking on the role as the breadwinner of the family, the middle-aged’s motivation to work unquestionably lies in the amount of money they earn.

         A still closer examination reveals an intriguing fact that the extent to which the work environment can influence the work performance of youth and the middle-aged coincides and that for job satisfaction and competent boss the difference between the two age groups is almost minimal. From this we can therefore conclude that the impact of competent boss, work environment, job satisfaction and money on one’s performance remains almost consistent throughout one’s working career.

         A deep probe into the fundamental cause behind employees’ work performance helps every boss to set a specified and realistic administrative goal and finally to effectively build a staff of high productivity. To illustrate this, consider the knowledge that young employees are highly motivated by promotion opportunities is necessary for managers to accordingly use such incentive to achieve their ends. Similarly, if you want to bolster morale among the middle-aged staff, a pay raise may well be your first consideration. In conclusion, the utilization of a managing plan tailoring to different age group should be laid considerable emphasis on by every administrative department.

张小平

The bar chart below mainly illustrates the different factors that affecting work performance chosen by the age group of 18 to 30 and the age group of 45 to 60. 

         To begin with, for the age group of 18 to 30, their work performance were mostly influenced by the chance for personal development. Relaxed working environment and promotion prospects at work force equally affected greatly that whether they would performed good or not.  A certain amount of attention were given to team spirit and job satisfaction by the youngsters. When it comes to the job security and respect from colleagues, however, the younger adults seemed attach less attention to them while working in their related positions. Their work environment seemed to affect least in their work performance, according to the chart.

        Additionally, when it comes to the people who were 45 to 60 years old, money, among all the factors, ranked on top of their lists. Middle-aged group's work performance could be influenced dramatically by the fact that whether they were surrounded by good team spirit or not. Competent boss could also help contributing to their excellent work performance. Yet the factors such as job security and work environment seemed barely influence their work efficiency and effectiveness.

         As is shown on the chart, we can get the information easily that younger age group prefer to focus on the potential chance for individual development rather than to own a good work environment , for they were young, energetic and ambitious.  Apparently the age group of 45 to 60 attached greatest significance on money. Who does not want a pleasant salary?  

         By comparing those two age groups, we can notice the striking differences. We can understand that the younger ones’ work performance were greatly affected by chances for personal development, whereas the middle aged group paid more attention to money. Standing at the earlier stage of their lives, the youngsters were vastly stimulated by the possible chances for their own progress. They expected relaxed working environment and were eager to get promotion in their future career paths. Youngsters were famous for their daring, adventurous characteristics so that they concentrated least on work environment. Nevertheless, for those who were 45 to 60 years old, as they getting older, they started to plan for their future retirement. Saving money seemed to be the most reassuring way to stabilize their plans. Moreover, people who are in this age group normally have families. Consequently, the need for money stirred them to work even harder to support their families.

         Besides, the demand of atmosphere at workforce differed in those two age groups. While the younger group was inclined to be wrapped in a relaxed working environment, the middle aged group behaved more tolerant towards intense pressure. As the older group worked for many years, they would have gained abundant work experience in their professional fields. So middle aged group were capable enough to handle high pressure and stress emerged at work. Thus their work performance were least influenced by the relaxed working environment and job security. However, for the youngsters who just stepped into a new territory of profession, they could panick easily under fierce competition.

         In spite of the huge age gap, there are some similarities in the two groups. Undoubtedly a good team spirit was helpful in gaining satisfied work performance in both groups. Regardless of age, cooperative spirit exerted great influence on employees’ daily performance.

         In conclusion, young adults prioritized personal development chances in their work force, whereas the older ones were mostly satisfied by financial awards. Therefore, companies and corporations should spare no effort to cater to employees’ demands based on different age group so that work efficiency would be improved significantly.

尹雪菲

In a recent survey about factors affecting work performance, two age groups, people aged between 18 and 30 and people aging from 45 to 60 have taken part in. Among the ten factors listed on the questionnaire, only two of them are totally at the same rate in the two groups. The others are different to various extents.

         As for team spirit and work environment, the two factors seem to have the same influence on the two age groups. Both of them place so much emphasis on team spirit. As for work environment, they think that it is of little importance, for they all have strong ability to adapt themselves to different situations, even tough ones. The younger group choose the chance for personal development as the most important one. No doubt that this group prefer this one, because they have a long way to go in the job career and hey need jobs in which they can promote themselves and realize the value of themselves. That may be the main point when a person is trying to find a new job. Just imagine, if a man continues to do the same job every day, then he would end up with a boring and hopeless man, like Charles Chaplin in the film Modern Times. That is the reason why so many young men are job-hopping all the time. However, the elder group prefer to stay where they are. And the biggest reason is the attitude, for most of them do not want to struggle any longer and they want to lead a stable life. This also shows in the promotion prospects. The rate of the younger is much higher than the elder.

         The most important pull factor for the elder people is money. Maybe at this time of their life, they want to store as much money as they can to sustain their twilight years and their descendants. Besides, the younger group also place high emphasis, even higher than the elder group, on this factor. As we all know, the prices of commodities nowadays are increasingly high, especially the house prices. The young people have to work for even their whole life to buy a house of their own, not to mention everyday expenditures, such as the transportation fees and the food expenses. Thus high salary is really an attractive factor.

         Although the two groups make the same remark on work environment, the younger one still prefer relaxed working environment. That is really reasonable. They are young and energetic. They do not like to be restrained or depressed. That maybe the feature of the youth. Creative minds are born in free relaxed environment. On the contrary, the elder do not care that too much.

         There is slight difference both in competent boss and job satisfactory. For the young , as mentioned above, they want to promote themselves, so they need competent bosses to lead them. However, if the boss is not competent enough, then they could replace the boss. While for the elder , it is difficult for them to  promote, so they need a capable leader. For job satisfactory, young people are easier to adapt to any condition.  On the one hand, it is very difficult to find a suitable and satisfactory job. On the other hand, they may develop such interest for something easily. While for the elder, they are more likely to do things they like, for they do not have enough passion for accepting novel things.

         As for job security, the young care more about it. Once they lose a job, it might take fairly long time to search for another one, because they are green hands. For the elder, they can find other jobs easier as they have much work experience. At the very least, they could retire and just enjoy life. What the elder cares a litter more than the younger is the respect from colleagues. Although they are elder, they want to be accepted and encouraged to show that they are not too old to do the job.

         In summary, when we seek for jobs, we should get familiar with ourselves by reference to the ten factors in order to perform better in our job careers. For the employers, it is better to improve their companies in the ten aspects to attract more and more job hunters."

新闻来源：http://www.ewriting.org.cn/2013/news/392688.shtml