REDEFINING HAPPINESS THROUGH THE PRISM OF LIFE Essay

REDEFINING HAPPINESS THROUGH THE PRISM OF LIFE - Essay Example Does only living on and on means happiness untouched by what goes around us or even a brief stint of life, if its filled with satisfaction can be termed as a good life. Similarly, humans must also act in someway to fulfill their desires or needs as long as he or she may be alive. For years psychologists have tried to decipher the most generic code of conduct to guide humans through good and torrid times which means studying data on scale that even the most super of computer cannot negotiate with. Humans vary in nature and therefore there cannot exist a generic code of conduct however, if every one makes an effort to work out a way for himself and understand what s the best option while making any decision life could make some sense. When we know that this journey of life has to end someday then why almost all humans live life entirely differently from one another .The fact that ever since the evolution of man and despite its conquest of knowledge and power and freedom on his will, he has not been able to understand what really makes him happy after all this conquest has been made in search of satisfaction and happiness. Therefore if ever we wonder why in most humans life religion means a great deal lot. Religion although has no physical reality as such but for so long been able to provide answer to evading questions pertaining to our happiness. Thats why even after achieving so much materialistically humans turn to religion for soul searching to achieve satisfaction. Death: Unwanted Necessity We in our search for satisfaction since the beginning of time been able to change the world to our liking when those of who did that eventually had to leave this world one day. Still we are unable to comprehend that there are certain rules of thumb in place ever since man learned to sense things around him regarding what to prefer and what not to prefer in good and bad times. For instance we are likely to prefer pains that are short term rather than pains that are relatively long term. Fear and the Hope Factor: The truth of fact is that we are not sometimes intelligent enough for our own sake. We can be very chameleon like in different states of mind. At a given point in time we might commit our self to act differently where as we might do something different in reality. 1Psychologists call it the 'Hot' and 'Cold' states of mind and the difference in thinking and doing the 'empathy gap'. We treat life through the prism of happiness and satisfaction living always with a fear of death. This makes us sometimes to lean towards decision which could be far from making us happy and contented. A person due to lack of money might not be able to afford 500,000 $ sedan which would leave him feeling worthless for some time but after sometime he will be able to get back to his routine and live life normally. What we do not realize that we have defined happiness in our own way. Now, this short sightedness of scope lead the people to belief that inability to achieve something in the short run will make the discomfort to persist for longer period of time then would really happen. In between all this decision making the death factor holds an important place in peoples

Methodologies For Ecommerce And Web Systems Information Technology Essay

Methodologies For Ecommerce And Web Systems Information Technology Essay This paper introduces software development methodologies (SDM) and compares three approaches that are suitable for an e-commerce system. The three approaches of SDM selected in this paper were based on the proliferation of web based information system or e-commerce. Since the popularity and commercialisation of the Internet in the 1990s, software development has been evolving and brought new ways of doing and building software using the web technology environment and tools available. Software development methodology was popularised by the software development life cycle (SDLC) for building information systems in the late 60s. Currently, modern and advanced software tools are being used to exploit the rich resources of the Internet in building systems. The web now offers more complex, distributed, concurrent and connected applications (Surcel, 2009). Web information systems exploit web applications and other non-web components to deliver information and services to other systems and users via the Internet. Traditional SDLC methodologies can still be used in building e-commerce and web applications for the Internet. However, the traditional SDLC approach may not work for different object oriented design methodology for the web,like web site design methododlogy (WSDM), relatioshipship navigational analysis, MacWeb approach, hypermedia flexible modelling, and other object oriented and software engineering pattern approach (Masrek,et.al, 2008). As the web intially sta rted from static pages and eventually to a more dynamic and complex rich information and transaction based application, the software development processes and methodolgies present greater challenges and opportunities to software developers. 2. Software Development Methodologies There have been a lot of software development methodologies investigated by researchers of software systems in the past four decades. Elliott (2004) considered the SDLC as the oldest formalised model for building information systems. According to Silberberg (2006) these prescriptive process models bring useful structure to software development work and provide a roadmap for software teams. The prescriptive models include the waterfall model, incremental process models, rapid application design (RAD), spiral model, and concurrent development models. Agile processes for software development are focused more on the early delivery of software and customer satisfaction. Most of the web-based applications like e-commerce have characteristics that are network intensive, and have a high level of concurrency that is right for agile process models. Agile process models inlcude extreme programming, adaptive software development (ASD), dynamic systems development method (DSDM), scrum, crystal, a nd agile modelling (Silberberg, 2006). 2.1 The Software Development Methodologies in E-commerce Surcel (2009) suggests that IT professionals, web designers, IT managers and executives and all involved in the e-commerce software development must understand how to apply software engineering concepts for e-commerce systems, for better integrate their software with the needs of their business. IT professionals need to establish a methodology that resolves all the problems of e-business applications. Software developers, who understand the concepts of analysis, architecture and design, will have the success in developing the e-commerce systems. The traditional SDLC is not enough to get the job done in e-commerce systems. Building information system is far more different with e-commerce systems because there are distinctive characteristic of the web application like creative design, advertising, marketing concepts and software engineering (Surcel, 2009). According to Coda et.al (1998) The web infrastructure is going beyond the mere distribution of information and services towards the development of platform for generic distributed applications in the world-wide setting. This promising scenario is endangered by the weakness of the current methodologies that support the development of web-based applications. In terms of user participation towards the development of e-commerce applications Fraternali (1999) suggested that applications for the Internet is such domains as e-commerce ..[à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦].. are characterized by an unprecedented mix of features that makes them radically different from previous applications. Terry and Standing (2004) added to this challenge that e-commerce development faces the same demands and risks as any other application development projects. However, the intimate connection of users, customers, vendors and suppliers in the development process makes it more difficult and distinguishing the identity of the users who will the system is larger in scale since it considers the world at large. With the advent of Web 2.0, social networking and media, innovative approach of doing software development methodologies are needed in order to sustain the needs of the growing interests of users on the Internet that is not just doing online transactions but consuming most of the applications and services beyond what is being offered by e-commerce. 2.2 Agile Methodologies Agile methodologies are the best candidates for e-commerce systems that incorporate the innovative and dynamic nature of the web. Agile web development is a development model for web applications that follow the same concept as the agile methodologies. This approach is more efficient and powerful to ensure every piece of functionality is delivered early in the development stage and improves throughout the life of the web application. Agile web development has the following characteristics according to Clark (2008): Iterative and incremental development methods that is aimed to deliver the application at shorter period of time; The production progress is measured based on the complete and tested features during the schedule release of the application; Tasks are broken down into smaller increments that make it more adaptable to some changes; A working application is the principal measure of the development progress. This methodology follows planning, requirements analysis, designing, coding, testing and documentation in parallel during the stage of production process. Customer involvement during the development process by getting their feedback improves the confidence of making changes, error free, and customer-oriented approach. Agile web methodologies also cover the following approaches that are presented in this paper: feature driven development (FDD), adaptive software development (ASD), and dynamic systems development method (DSDM). 2.3 Feature Driven Development (FDD) FDD is a model-driven short-iteration process that consists of five activities was described by Luca (no date) as patterns of play that brings success. The five basic activities of FDD are: Develop an overall model described as the high-level walkthrough of the scope of the system. These are composed of meta-models that are pieces of the model in the domain and combined to form an overall model based on the consensus of the peer review and discussion of the development team. Build a feature list are the ideas generated from the overall model and decomposing the domain into subject areas. Plan by feature is using the list from the second activity to produce the development plan. Design by feature is a design package made from the third activity. Build by feature is the task that generated the completed client-valued function state. According to (Martin, 2003), FDD can be used in web development. However, web development covers a lot of project types and it is dependent to the nature of the project where FDD can be applied. The effective way to get the development process done right is to start it with the FDD approach. FDD understands, embraces, and accepts software construction as a human activity. Process is needed, as is technology, but it is knowing of where to specify what should be done and where what to do. That is the essense of a well-bounded process in recognition of people and thier role in software construction projects, and knowing what needs to be written down (as a process) versus what ius simply delegated to the right role. The patterns of play that brings success (Luca, no date). Almost all projects can use FDD regardless of the size and technology. Defining and mapping the features in a web development project can be described into requirements and specifications. The requirement should establ ish the concise project objective that put everything in place. Then document the specifications that defines the project itslef like, interaction design (frontend and backend), page flow and logic, page wireframes, database schema, class diagrams, and feature list. Features can be described as the the view/add/edit/delete functionality relevant to the users/customer needs. The features are mapped according to the interactions of the screen design. Technical implementation where a specific technology is used to describe business logic of model-view-controller (MVC) to separate data and layers of the interface (Martin, 2003). 2.4 Adaptive Software Development (ASD) ASD software development approach use the continuous adaptation and learning that described the dynamic speculate-collaborate-learn life cycle (Highsmith, 2000a). ASD approach is dedicated to constant change, re-evaluation, and collaboration among all members of the development team and clients. The conceptual notion of ASD was based of complex adaptive systems (CAS) that is designed for complex, high-speed, high-change, and uncertain projects. The change-oriented life cycle has a direct relation to speculate-collaborate-learn concept. Speculate is to have a clear realization of understanding the plan. Speculation is recognizing the uncertainty of the problem that needs to be explored. Collaboration is the giving importance to teamwork that encompasses the development team, customers, suppliers, vendors, and others that is directly and indirectly involved in the process. Learning is the product of acknowledging the course and the result of the development process. The learning proces s is test of knowledge and can be derived from the organizational practices, being committed and adaptive to retrospective and focus group discussions. According to (Arthur, 1996) ASD addresses the economy of increasing returns. The Internet and the dot com markets are characterized by the high-speed, high-change economy(Arthur, 1996). This approach makes the market unpredictable and unplanned developmental process in the normal or traditional way of controlling the project (Riehle, 2001). CAS model as described by (Highsmith,2000a) in software development that explain the world of agents, environment, and emergence is translated to the development organization as the environment; members as agents; and the product as the emergent result of competition and cooperation within the uncertain and unpredictable world of software development (Riehle, 2001). ASD lifecycle has six characteristics: mission focused, component based, iterative, timeboxed, risk driven, and change tolerant (Highsmith, 2000b). In e-commerce projects mission focused projects are guided by the boundaries of the mission statements. Application components are the result that defines the group features. During the iteration cycle the components are developed and the documentation are deliverables which are secondary to the software feature that is needed by the client. Timeboxing are deadlines or fixed delivery times for the iterative processes and project itself. Then this is analysed according to the risks associate during the adaptive cycles. Change tolerance is the ability to view and incorporate change in the process that take advantage of the make it more error-free and compliant with the set requirements (Highsmith, 2000b). 2.5 Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) DSDM is a model that has the resemblance of project management. This model is the convergence of software development and process engineering that makes DSDM a good tool for complex problem solving (Voigt, 2004). DSDM is the best approach for projects that are charcterised by tight schedules and budgets. It is composed of three phases: pre-project, project life-cycle, and post-project phase. The project life cycle has five stages that includes: feasiblity study, business study, functional model iteration,design and build iteration, and implementation. Other software methodologies can be used and allowed to mix with the DSDM practices. The DSDM nine principles are essential in any type of software project and departure from any of the nine principles will have a significant risk of failure. The nine principles are: [1] active user involvement is imperative; [2] teams must be empowered to make decisions; [3] focus on frequent delivery; [4] fitness for business is criterion for accepted deliverables; [5] iterative an dincremnetal development is mandatory; [6] all changes during the development must be reversible; [7] requirements are baselined at higher-level; [8] testing is integrated throughout the lifecycle; [9] collaborative and co-operative approach (Voigt, 2004). To make DSDM successful the nine principles should be followed and the interactivity with the project team, end user as well as the higher management should be realised. Finally, DSDM projects should be decomposed into smaller parts to use iterative approach. Recommended core techniques for DSDM are timeboxing, MoSCoW (Must have, Should have, Could hav e, Want to have), prototyping, workshop, modelling, and configuration management (Voigt, 2004). Key success factors based on the DSDM experinces of its members from the DSDM consortium are compiled and was published. Most of the key success factors are pointing to leadership and executive responsibilities, that reflects the advance corporate culture that should be practiced. More importantly, acceptance of the DSDM nine principles, commitment of senior management, incremental delivery, esy access by developers and end-users,stability of the team,size and development team skills, development of technology, and lastly supportive commercial relationship (DSDM consortium, 2010). 3. Methodology This study adopted an exploratory approach and search of available published articles and journals on the Internet on the theme of agile software methodologies in e-commerce and web systems. Literature review, survey methods and case studies were selected from the pool of articles and journals. An exemplar of the agile software methodology and its application to e-commerce and web systems was also presented to define the advantages and disadvantages of the selected methodology. 3.1 Literature Review Agile software development returned 1.8 million searched items in Google and 57,200 in Google scholar. The rich resources of agile methodology have been exploited in the 90s and until the present saturation of Internet, e-commerce and web systems. According to Meso and Jain (2006) agile software development methodologies allow organisations to rapidly evolve systems, primarily the Internet and web software development. ASD must be considered in heavy weight methodologies rather than integrating and hacking approaches. Successful web development methodologies (Bauer 2005) are going agile and are best suited to FDD. Bauer was able to get FDD working in his several web development projects and refine the process to come up with successful approach that worked effectively from his experience. His high-level overview of FDD was described in his article that successfully launched completed web projects ranging in size from 2 weeks to 6 months (Bauer 2005). For DSDM (Voigt, 2004) concluded that the model is straight forward based on the best practices, strength in simplicity, extendibility, and has proven successful work in the past and albeit not a solution for all projects. The disadvantages, like other structured methodology has a high barrier to entry, significant cultural paradigm shift is not as fast and cheap. 3.2 Surveys The investigation survey that was conducted by Silberberg (2006) suggests that some applications of agile methodologies were used as a tool to speed up the development process that was being developed under prescriptive approach for organisations that developed their own software. The organisation groups surveyed was in financial services, mining, healthcare, communications, transport and construction that have heavy weight use of software development and the build versus buy approach. DSDM was identified in use in the construction sector, where cost effective and rapid relevant results were needed by most of its users. Another survey made by Lim and Venable (2001) is the web information system survey usage by the Australian Web Site consultants reported that low methodology usage when it comes to applying any web information system methodology. This survey failed to present the value of formal development methodologies. Information systems development in Australia as reported in a survey (Dawson and Gibson, 2007) concluded that there is an increasing research activity and the growing interest in the area of software development methodologies primarily in web-based development, including portal and intranet development. Shine Technologies (2003) conducted an online global survey about agile methodologies to measure the interest of several organisations using the said approach. The survey consisted of 10 questions using closed-ended questions. The survey was available from the Shine Technologies website from November 2002 to January 2003. The survey results highlighted the following: lower costs; better productivity; better quality; and better business satisfaction. Most of the respondents, 95% of them are in favour of the agile methodologies. The most used agile methodologies are the Extreme Programming (XP) with 59%, followed by FDD, scrum and others. 3.3 Case Study DSDM Case study (DSDM consortium, 2010) presents several case studies that were used by organisations dealing with software development activities. A sample case from the DSDM case study The National Packaging Waste Database (NPWD) is an online system that tracks how much packaging has been put into the UK market and much packaging waste has been recovered and recycled (DSDM consortium, 2010). This project was able to utilise DSDM and implemented the electronic evidence of reprocessing and doing away with the paper-based process bringing online or web-based approach. The DSDM consortium (2010) has published a method suitability filter covering three areas such as business, systems and technical aspect. Adoption consideration of DSDM can be found in the DSDM manual. The e-DSDM version that is customised for e-commerce and e-business projects are available from the consortium for the public review and reference. 4. Comparison From the gathered literature, articles, case studies and surveys the comparison of the three agile methods (FDD, ASD and DSDM) is based on the following components: general features, adoption of the methodology, and successful implementation to e-commerce and web-based systems. FDD and ASD are the most recognised software development methodologies in software development market while DSDM is recognised for being well documented since the DSDM consortium is in collaboration with the PRINCE2 which is adopted in UK. According to Abrahamsson, et al., (2002) the agile software development method status can be nascent, building-up, and active. The method can be nascent if it has been available less than a year and the no research and experience were identified and reported. Building up phase is a method that is recognised by many of its community of users and publication of the report and research were identified. The active method has been identified in several places, and there is a wide community base of research and reports that publish their experiences and interest on agile methods. DSDM is categorised as active, FDD and ASD belongs to building up status (Abrahamsson, et al., 2002). The general features of FDDs main selling points are the five activities and the short iteration of features. However it falls out of support for visual design, testing and deployment, which does not provide the all-in-one solution for software development. However, it was successful in e-commerce implementations as reported by Bauer (2005) and the FDD community group. ASDs main key points are: adaptive approach, collaboration, and mission-based iterative development labelled as speculate-collaborate-learn cycle. The special features seen in adaptive systems are the emergent creation of order from the interconnected individuals. This methodology covered more discussions about principles rather than software practice. In DSDM main approach is more on the extensive application of rapid application development (RAD). There is an active consortium of experts who stands for the steering of the methodology development. Main features of DSDM is being a true agile method and the nine practices that are innate with the activities that strongly followed by its members. The shortcoming for DSDM is the availability of the resources which is exclusive only to members of the consortium, that makes the use of the model only restricts to its members. 5. Recommendation The strongest candidate for the agile methodology is FDD. According to Bauer (2005) the strongest selling point of FDD is that it really worked on his projects that were refined according to the approach of core FDD methods. However the trade off of not having the complete answer to requirement gathering, visual design, testing and deployment that are significantly needed in the project can be amenable to some by tweaking some of the processes. It is important to acknowledge that doing the way software developers do their job in the software development process without any formal methodologies can be described as shooting the bird in target without the pellet. Software development working teams usually had a history of adopting and adapting from an existing methodology or inventing their own informal methodology. Bauers experience showed FDD had a positive effect since getting everybody on board made their team more responsive to the project that was put in place using FDD. FDD was a ble to provide solutions for their software development issues, constant over-time, over-budget and underestimation of the work required to complete the project that makes worse scope creep, low staff morale, and unrealistic deadlines. With FDD, the solutions are clear from the plan. The reports were excellent, clear and disciplined customer-focused approach. The reduction risk was measured based on the iteration of design and build approach; clarity of requirements, better understanding of building the system; and no wiggle room for decisions. 5. Conclusion The agile methodologies presented in this paper provides a better deal of understanding what approach should be used depending on the type of software development project at hand. For web development or e-commerce system, the traditional software methodologies are not enough to describe the dynamic and complex nature of web systems and its relative activity on the Internet. The nature of software applications running on the web space is simple to develop yet too complex that different technologies are competing with one another. However, the technology is only a tool that has been exploited by the developers themselves. The agile methodologies put more importance on the role of people, its interaction, collaboration, change and adaptive approaches. ASD is primarily much more focused on principles, while FDD is more on simplicity of its five step process and DSDM is excellent in the strong support of its consortium. The agile methodologies are effective in utilizing iterative developm ent and every phase of the development processes has its own unique application that fits the needed development strategy. In summary, the agile methods are more inclined to the people who are working behind the software itself. The person building the software is the main point of how the methodology becomes successful. Human capital and strategic skills that complements the software development process leads the best production of software and ways to improve how to solve the problem in this information age.

Comparing Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone :: comparison compare contrast essays

Oedipus:   Guilt, Fate and Punishment  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sophocles' trilogy of Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone is a powerful, tragic tale that examines the nature of human guilt, fate and punishment. Creon, Oedipus' uncle and brother-in-law, is the story's most dynamic character. His character experiences a drastic metamorphosis through the span of the three dramas. Creon's vision of a monarch's proper role, his concept of and respect for justice, as well as his respect for the design evolve considerably by the trilogy's tragic conclusion. In Oedipus the King (OK) , the audience is introduced to a Creon who seems to put loyalty to the king above all. He sympathizes with the tragic plight of King Oedipus and asserts no apparent ambition himself. His attitude toward the king is one of yielding and fulfilling reverence. Creon's notion of justice in OK stems directly from the divine. That which the gods have decreed must become law. It pains Creon to have Oedipus exiled, but he must do so as the gods have willed it. Creon's respect for divinity and prophecy seems to be his defining trait in OK. His attitude is one of unquestioning reverence. In Oedipus at Colonus (OC), one sees the beginning of Creon's decline. Creon has now come to occupy the throne that once belonged to Oedipus. It soon becomes apparent that his vision of the proper role of a king has changed to accommodate his new-found position. The emphasis shifts from that of a king who must rule wisely to one who must rule unyieldingly. The kingship becomes a selfserving instrument for Creon in his attempt to secure the return of Oedipus and the good fortune prophesied to accompany him. Creon's notion of justice is severely distorted in OC. He becomes monomaniacal - conducting his affairs with tyranny and belligerence. For example, he threatens to harm Oedipus' daughters if the blind beggar does not return to Thebes. His view of rightness and fairness is no longer in line with that of his subjects. In OC, Creon still retains some respect for divine prophecies. These have after all motivated his desire to return Oedipus to Thebes. Antigone reveals the ultimate extent to which Creon's character deteriorates. His transformation completes itself; he has become an unreasonable tyrant. Creon can no longer be called a king. He has become a despot.

Animal Cruelty and Puppy Mills

Ashley Buenaflor Informative Speech Outline Puppy Mills I. What are puppy mills? A. aka â€Å"puppy farm† B. breeding factory for dogs C. moms breed until they are too weak or until they die D. Conditions 1. Overcrowded in old farms, shed, or chicken coop 2. wired, unsanitary cages to minimize waste cleaning (in winter and summer) 3. food infested with maggots and water is green with algae 4. underfed malnourished – leads to puppies eating one another 5. never let out to play, develop leg problems . video – end at :55 E. Sold to pet stores 1. â€Å"lucky puppies† loaded into a truck, many don’t make it 2. develop diseases – epilepsy, heart disease, kidney disease, blood disorders, eye problems, musculoskeletal disease 3. sometimes develop socialization problems due to lack of affection and being taken away from their mothers II. Toby A. story B. sick when we got him C. leg problems/present day leg problems D. could have saved a lot of money I II. Why aren’t they outlawed? A. animal cruelty is illegal, puppy mills are not B. any puppy mills are licensed by the USDA C. the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) – defines minimum requirement standard care for dogs D. standard is far from what people consider humane E. many puppy mills are on illegal and on private property F. there are many puppy mill rescues that go to shelters (Chrystal & Anti-Cruelty Society) IV. How to stop puppy mills A. don’t buy puppies or products from pet stores B. don’t buy online C. buy from breeders 1. look for reputable breeders 2. can show you legitimate background information on the puppiesWorks Cited â€Å"Puppy Mill Awareness Day. †Ã‚  Puppy Mill Awareness Day. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. . â€Å"Puppy Mills : The Humane Society of the United States. †Ã‚  Puppy Mills : The Humane Society of the United States. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. . â€Å"Puppy Mills Are Cruel. †Ã‚  Nopetstorepuppies. com . N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. . â€Å"Puppy Mills. †Ã‚  ASPCA. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, n. d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. . â€Å"Shocking Conditions In Puppy Mills. †Ã‚  Shocking Conditions In Puppy Mills. N. p. , n. d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. .

Brechtian Performance- Second Reflection Essay

1. What Brechtian techniques did you use in your group? Myself and my fellow group members used many different Brechtian techniques in our peace of Epic Theatre. Firstly, we decided on a social issue to base our peice of theatre on, our final being the issue of gay marriage. We then set this issue based on the story of The Three Muskateers, and changed the name to Three Muskaqueers.This word play and the theme of gay marraige continued on throughout our peice of theatre. Also, to continue the theme of homosexuality, we used Brechts idea of introducing Gods who pass jugdment on the play and the characters, Hamzah was our God of Gays. We also used a popular song the YMCA and changed the words according to our social issue and story. Other Brechtian techniques we used were scene cross cutting, gestus and greeze frames and we also had a narrator who introduced our play. 2. How well did you think you used them (Popular audince reaction/engagement/understanding. Critical; opinions of other practitioners & Self; personal targets you may have set yourself) I think that our group used most of the techniques very well. We were able to explicitly use the Brechtian techniques we chose, such as using a God to pass judgement and using a narrator, however i feel we could have improved on other aspects of Brechtian theatre; such as including the characters saying stage directions. If we had added more of these techniques our peice would have become more Brechtian and would have been more obvious to the audience that our performance was a peice of theatre. I think we used our social issue and story well as we cleverly created a play on words from the original story of the Three Muskateers to the Three Muskaqueers. I feel that overall, from the reaction that we got from the audience and how i feel about our peice of theatre from the targets i first set myself that we used the techniques very well. 3. How well did you ‘synthesis’ your content (what you were saying) with the form (how you were saying it) What did you think was effective and why? I think that we had quite a fair amount of synthesis in our production as we kept the theme of â€Å"homosexuality† and â€Å"gay marraige† running throughout the peice. We incorporated this theme into our chosen theme song, and into puns and jokes we made throughout the peice of theatre. I feel that we could have, towards the end of the peice kept the theme running more as we changed the story by making one of the main characters turn straight, and our teacher and fellow students did not fully understand this choice, so i feel that we could have made this mroe obvious or changed this. 4. If you were not happy with aspects of your work then what alternative approaches might you have pursued? Mention at least 2 aspects of your peers work that you thought was effective and why, as you consider alternatives. 1) I feel that we could have used the use of stage directions more because we did not include this as much as we could have, and this part of Epic Theatre is a very important part of Brechts work as he uses it to break the â€Å"fourth wall† between the actors, the play and the audience. 2) I feel that we also could have used either mime or mask in our theatre. Although none of the other groups did this, it is a very well known Brechtian technique, and would have made our peice of theatre stand out much more through the use of nboth Mime and masks.