Working with the Excellence Model - Critical Analysis Essay

Working with the Excellence Model - Critical Analysis - Essay Example Business excellence model was devised by the European Foundation for Quality Management in 1991; originally it is based on the Total Quality Management that is needed for the holistic development and the growth of the organization. This model is divided into two aspects – results which are sign of business success and enablers, which are indicators of practices inside the organization that can ultimately lead to business success. Business excellence is the meticulous tool to treat with quality management and business management. The objective of this business management is to improve performance that built on the rectitude of customer‘s focus, stakeholders value and process management. This paper is attempted to critically analyze the Business Excellence Model in relation with Cornwell Headland Hotel organization. The European Foundation of Quality Management (EFOM) described Business Excellence as formidable practices in governing the organization and attaining results, all these practices merely depend on a set of eight rudimentary concepts (Juran, 1972). These notions are: orientation of results; customer’s focus; leadership; management; people involvement and their development; constant learning; innovation and improvement; partnership development and public responsibility. This model requires excellence framework to redesign business plans and process control in organization (porter, 2012). From last few years, organization went through a great competition with other organizations on international level, which ultimately increases the demand of customer’s in market (Taguchi, 1986). On the repercussion of customer’s demand, most of the organizations acquired Excellence model. These model mainly consist of total Quality Management (TQM), Business Process Engineering (BPE), Business Excellence (BE), Performance Excellence (PE), lean thinking (Porter and Turner 2012). Headland hotel start their improvement journey for getting the benefits by using Excellence Model and modify their management according to this model by using its different approaches. Headland hotel organization gets a clear idea about their flaws in management and they seem to be very interesting or satisfied when they called for the Tourism Skills Network six month program. According to the Glimour (1995) the excellence framework is the actual plan of the organization that marks the organization towards the success. Self-assessment is the key practice of the excellence framework. Self-assessment allows the headland hotel to check their position in the market in excellence. Ishikawak (1990) also explain this way of organization to judge their capabilities and their outcomes with the present strategy and can make new ones for improvement to increase their profit. According to Porter and Turner (2012) the self-assessment can be done by using different approaches. They can start their assessment by choosing the framework that is according to the business plans but before this they should form assessment team that consists of all hard working employees. The next step is to collect the information from the external partners, assess the facts and do scoring of all collected data in database. According to Hoyle (2009) the clarification and verification of data should be done by organization collected from external partners. Then through questionnaire get the feedback of customers and plans the action according to their feedback. Self –assessment not only give headland hotel a continuous improvement by forgetting everything other than business but it also gives a base-line measure of the organization for their utilization and encouraged senior management involve in business excellence (Kadolf, 2007). It also gives motivation too. Self-assessment

Ralph Waldo Emerson Essay Example for Free

Ralph Waldo Emerson Essay Learning is a natural ability that is wired into many animals DNA; the way that humans should learn has been debated by the various educators because of the endless ways to teach. Teachers and parents take this matter seriously like Ralph Waldo Emerson in â€Å"From Education† and Todd Gitlin in â€Å"The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut† who created essays on education; and Billy Collins in â€Å"The History Teacher† entail for then and who wrote a poem concerned with the status of education. These people show what the importance of education is entailing what learning should and should not involve; a teacher should respect and have patience for children; a teacher should also let a child have creativity and lessons of the past. Many teens do not respect their teacher which might be because the teacher does not respect them; as the golden rule goes, â€Å"treat others the way you would treat yourself†; Ralph Waldo Emerson in â€Å"From Education† would probably agree with this quote because he strongly believes that, â€Å"the secret of [e]ducation lies in respecting the pupil,† (page 102). Shows that Emerson understood what children are thinking then did something to help them by simply respecting them. Another big issue with education is patience; some people do not have enough patience to guide children to what they are supposed to learn. Emerson also believes that patience is an important part in education, â€Å"to regard the young [children, they require] no doubt, rare patience: a patience that nothing but faith in medial forces of the soul can give,† Emerson was trying to say that someone has to really care in order to teach information to children (page 105). Some people do not see the point in having art classes or history classes; the reason why is because art assists students to express themselves in a way that words cannot along with helping them find out what kind of person they truly are; and history is needed to teach children where they originated from; and to show them mistakes that other people in the past made so they will not make them again. Todd Gitlin in â€Å"The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut† agrees with this â€Å"[students] need some orientation to philosophy, history, language, literature, music, and arts that have lasted more than 15 minutes,† (page 156) because students need the outlet to express themselves; or if they do not they would not learn morals then they would become exactly what people were trying to stop; as shown in â€Å"The History Teacher† by Billy Collins who stated, â€Å"the children would leave his classroom for the playground to torment the weak and the smart,† all because â€Å"[the teacher tries] to protect his students’ innocence he told them the Ice Age was really just the Chilly Age, a period of a million years when everyone had to wear sweaters. And the Stone Age became the Gravel Age, named after the long driveways of time,† this demonstrates how not teaching children lessons of the past which are the brood violence’ that others committed in history; by not teaching this history it affects children’s behavior in real life (page 143). Morals are right and wrong many people’s morals will differ; this is why teaching them is tricky because the teacher’s morals might not be the same as the parent’s morals. This is why some of the history in textbooks is sometimes just the summary of what really happened but not enough for the main point to be set across unlike in â€Å"The History Teacher† where, â€Å"the Spanish Inquisition [is] nothing more than an outbreak of questions such as â€Å"How far is it from here to Madrid? †,† and â€Å"the War of the Roses took place in a garden, and the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom on Japan,† explains when a teacher goes too far in trying to protect student’s mind from bad; when only good is taught and everything else is censored then the students become the opposite; because they do not know the consequences of doing bad, which is why history is taught. As teachers and parents they have to let their students make their own choices as shown in â€Å"From Education† Emerson says, â€Å"it is not for you to choose what he shall know, [or] what he shall do,† shows that sometimes a student needs to find out the consequences the hard way, and let them choose what they want to learn (page 143). Education is needed in modern day society to help students and children grow and help the nation; by giving students proper education the teacher are not really helping the students but they are helping themselves. Teaching creativity helps a student express themselves; respect should be given so the student can give it back; patience is needed to help them understand; morals need to be taught through history so the student will make fewer mistakes; these are essential to a good education and an even better future: as shown by the writings of Billy Collins, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Todd Gitlin.

British Colonialism In Daniel Defoes Roxanna English Literature Essay

British Colonialism In Daniel Defoes Roxanna English Literature Essay Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism claims that Capitalism educates and selects the economic subjects it needs through a process of survival of the fittest (Weber 154). Weber believes that there is a direct link between institutions and individual characters. In other words, one can say that Capitalism would not survive without economic men and also economic men could not maintain their social place without Capitalism. In the following the researcher tries to show that at least certain men and women, were swayed by the logic of Capitalisms productive possibilities. Defoe was intensely interested in capitalist modes of production, efficiency and improvements and in the exploitation and expansion of new markets along imperialist lines that would favor English trading interests. Defoe was also interested in the politics of his time and in the social issues. Defoe was a mature product of the cultural process initiated by Capitalism. In other words he is a master over circumstances, over nature. He has the confidence, despite his mediocre birth, to comment on the social, political, and economic affairs of his day. In turn, Roxana was a woman, who, despite her reverses and her own mediocre birth, could entertain princes and kings. In the beginning of this emerging capitalist interest, and with the thirst of reform, Defoe was able to synchronize in his own life Capitalisms vision of a new social order, of commerces role and change. All his novels are rich in content and context. Roxana has been called by modern critics Defoes darkest novel. Many critics have claimed that the greatest difference between Defoe last novel and his earlier works is Roxanas greater gravity. Many critics described it as a novel whose primary concern is with the psychological nature of Roxana and Amys sin. Roxana has most often been appraised as a story of moral decay, in which the heroine progresses from virtuous poverty to corrupt wealth. Roxana has also been criticized as a woman with a cynical attachment toward those who love her and whose rational self-interest places her as the embodiment of Defoes vision of a corrupt society. Roxana is a heroine who rushes toward material comfort and self transformation at the price of her soul. Roxanas internal world of memory and guilt concerning her various sexual partners, the death of her daughter Susan at the hands of Amy, and the like, becomes the price Roxana pays for the control she assumes in external world of financial and sexual interests. In this aspect, two factors about Roxana should be emphasized: the nature of Roxana as a new economic woman caught between profit and spirituality and the issues of empire and slavery which were not only important in the fictional life of Roxana, but also in Defoes life. Considering the above mentioned remarks, some examples are traceable in the novel. For instance, when Roxana discusses the dangers of marrying a foolish husband her remarks repeat one of Defoes favorite maxims about the nature of commerce, while also underlining the context of commerces international nature: I was a Warning for all the Ladies of Europe, against marrying of Fools; a Man of Sence falls in the world, and gets-up again, and a Woman has some Chance for herself; but with a FOOL! Once fall, and ever undone; once in a Ditch, and die in the Ditch; once poor, and sure to starve (ibid 96). Roxana addresses her comments to the Ladies of Europe, and Roxana like so many of Defoes novels is at the center of attention internationally and all these shows that Roxanas warning have larger international designs. Another example of this imperialist economic instruction can be found in Sir Robert Claytons disquisition on prudent money management. As he instructed Roxana, he talks about industry as such: If the Gentlemen of England would but act, every family of them would increase their Fortunes to a great degree (ibid 167). That international commerce and empire are part of the overall fabric of Roxana is also evident in the rituals of adornment which Roxana undergoes with each of her lovers. Because the English female body and female dressing were powerful motives of 18th centurys imperialist ideology. Roxanas Turkish dress is an example of this motif. This dress comes to the hands of Roxana from a Malthese Man of War, which had captured as spoils a Turkish ship and enslaved its passengers, one of which Roxana bought during her tour of Italy (ibid 173-174).This dress enables Roxana to market herself to English court culture. Roxana explains: that Notion of the King being the Person that dancd with me, puffd me upto that Degree that I à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ was very far knowing myself (ibid 177). Further, this dress is also, as Roxana emphasizes, a counterpart to the slave she purchases. She says: I bought the rich clothes tooà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦as a Curiosity, having never seen the like (174). Here Roxana confront s the other in the form of a person, and the material culture of that other. The dress is explained as extraordinary fine indeedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the Robe was a fine Persian, or India Damask à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ embroidered with Gold, and set with Pearl in the Work, and some Turquoise stones(ibid 174). Both the slave and the dress are also delivered to Roxana through the agency of imperialist aggression- by the acts of a Malthese Man of War (ibid174). Significantly, Roxana who is without Amy on her travels throughout Italy uses her slave as a means to put the dress, with its various decorations, on her body. In other words, she learned how to cover herself in the dress of the other with the aid of an other. Literally, Roxana is using the local knowledge of the Turkish womans material culture in order to use that knowledge to her advantage and this is a good example of the methodology of imperialist expansion. On the other hand, Roxanas dress is an important metaphor for imperial expansion; another important metaphor is her purchase of a slave. Defoe, like many of his contemporaries during the early eighteenth century, was ambivalent about the issue of slavery; in other words, Defoe was no abolitionist. Defoe demonstrated his ambivalence toward the slave trade by generally giving it strong support to increase his nations share of the market in human chattel, and in the African trade in general. Like Defoe, Roxana was also interested in what profits she could reap from the slave trade. She versed herself in the culture of the Turkish woman she bought from the Malthese, so one can assumes that Roxana did not find her slave, or her slaves manners, repugnant or distasteful. In dressing for her second husband, Roxana even set her picture in diamonds above her heart, which was a compliment among the Eastern peoples (ibid 247). In fact, in learning the language of the Turkish woman, Roxana sought to know this Turkish slave and her culture in a way that was far more intimate than most Westerners at this time could have claimed or even imagined. The knowledge Roxana acquired of her Turkish slave is used to advance her socially and for a time, in London court society. Therefore, for Defoe and Roxana alike, prosperity could be found in the slave trade, and in the monies and knowledge of the world found in that trade. Like Defoe, Roxana claims that I could give up my virtue, but not gi ve up my money (ibid147). In conclusion, while Roxana is a novel with an emphasis on the psychology of sin, that psychology is informed by more than just her own guilt, and her quest for individuality. It is informed by issues that concerned her creator: trade, imperialism, and slavery. Each was used to create networks of knowledge and power over the world within sight of both Defoe and Roxana. Like any other good capitalist, they both used knowledge to further their own ends. The acquisition of this knowledge was, in turn, directed toward populations of others- Africans, Arabs, Native Americans, etc. who could most readily serve their interests. For Defoe it was in form of improving Britains economy and social structure and for Roxana in the form of improving ones social status. Therefore, Roxana, as a creation of Defoe, mirrored Defoes life as a capitalist. Yet she mirrored it as a seeker of personal aggrandizement than as a person committed to seeing Britain flourish. In conclusion, this may ultimately ex plain Roxanas fall.

Jim Crow Laws in the United States Essay -- essays research papers

Imagine living in a world where you are harassed because of your skin color. Imagine knowing that is all you can look forward to. That is all your children and grandchildren can look forward to. Discrimination has been around for a long time, even before prehistory. Someone always thinks that they are better than others because of their skin color, sex, race, etc. Social classes and slavery are just two examples of discrimination. Even though our Constitution is based on freedom, our own Constitution allowed for discrimination of African Americans for around 100 years. It allowed White people to harass Black people. If we base our country on giving freedom to everybody, shouldn?t it include everyone? Discrimination against Blacks was called Jim Crow laws. The laws made sure Blacks and Whites had limited contact, and different lifestyles. They made sure Blacks stayed in different section of trains, restrooms, restaurants, buses, and much more. Jim Crow laws said that everything had t o be ?Separate but equal?. However, most places weren?t equal for blacks. Take a look into the past, and learn when the Jim Crow laws started, its life, and how it was challenged by courageous people. Jim Crow Laws started in the South after the civil war. The laws started around 1865. The term Jim Crow came to be because of a famous minstrel show in 1828 written by Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice about a Black farmer named Jim Crow, ?Klarman 5?. Jim Crow Laws are often confused with Black Codes. Jim Crow laws are different from Black Codes because the Black Codes started before Jim Crow Laws, and ended during the civil war. The Jim Crow Laws became extremely popular in the South and in the West, however, the North wasn?t that big into the Jim Crow Laws... ...y, this law only affected schools ?Brown versus Board of Education 1&2?. Jim Crows laws had a major impact on United States history. The Jim Crow Laws were preceded by the Black Codes. Because of the Jim Crow laws, Blacks were taught that they were inferior to Whites, and it was accepted fact that they were inferior. There were many cases to trying to stop the Jim Crow laws, and some of them were successful. Sadly, there were many cases in which the right thing weren?t done. However, during the 1960?s the Civil Rights movement came around, and a new wave of change was in the air. With John F. Kennedy as president, Martin Luther King Jr. as a prominent Civil Right Leader, a new chapter began in American history. The segregation was over, at least in the eyes of the law. Sadly, it took some more time for segregation to be really over in the heart and mind of people.

M&S Case Study

BRUNEL UNIVERSITY? SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND DESIGN LOGISTICS AND GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT M&S Case study Assignment Mark&Spencer As it is well known, the retailer M&S had been a giant in the UK market, offering several products and services that have had a big participation in the daily life of the population that in some way had been influenced by any branch of this company in any place where they stay selling its goods, whether in the UK or on overseas places.Marks & Spencer owns no factories and does not make the goods, which are sold in its stores, which represent a different approach to the retailer business and gives some advantages that M&S enjoy. The key element in furthering its competitive advantage has been the development of strong supplier relationships which although have had suffer several changes in the past few years because of strategies in the market and distinct factors, they maintain as an essential part of the business. Marks and Spencer’s mission statement is broken into 3 parts which include:Vision – To be the standard against which others are measured Mission – To make aspirational quality accessible to all and Values – Quality value, service, innovation and trust. Representation on M&S general operations * Given that M&S had an image problem in the past, what change did it make and is making to its clothing business to enhance its competitiveness? The serious problems of image that M&S had in the pass were consequence of several decisions and assessments made by its board and especially very often by the chairman and the chief executive.There is one factor that shaped for long time all the decisions made in the company; â€Å"the culture of Marks&Spencer†, this way of thinking was the method to use for manage the firm for many years from its beginning until the changes in the market and in the customers did not fit with that culture anymore. In lights of these events and in the increasing probl ems, severe changes has to be made, changes that were enough to return the plot to the company in their market that was falling as consequence of this.The quality of the clothes was not the same and the customers get realised of that as they begun to claim about it. Moreover, the bad winter season in 1999 coinciding with the retail sales downturn put a starting point in the definitive necessity of changes in M&S. 1999 was a year to forget in the UK clothing sector. Can be said that the beginning of the first change made was the incorporation as chief executive of Peter Salsbury to succeed eventually to Sir Richard Greenbury.The first approach to changes was a series of radical culling in the board of the company, which meant a change from the top-down in the structure of the organization and the incorporation of the technology in the communicational way among the board members which it have to be stress, they were not familiarised with new technologies, these initial changes made by Salsbury were aimed to vanish the old fashion way of manage the company and dismantling symbols of the old regime; many people were removed from the administration work to go to dealing with costumers’ needs.A general reorganization that split the company into UK retail, overseas and financial services was made as well. As another remarkable change, was the approach to the renewed focus on the client itself and the fulfilment of its necessities, part of the image problems was because of the treatment to the customer from the staff of M&S, as part of the change process, a new department of marketing was created in order to enhance the advertisement and to gain customers over from the dynamical market they deal with, new thinking and new minds were ired, and the marketing department would take over many decisions of the buying departments to support in the decision of what the customers wanted. Within this period the board of the firm had realised that some of the overseas bus iness and UK suppliers had become a millstone for M&S rather than a support, and were put up for sale and dismissed respectively.The period of changes that M&S was going trough with the severe culling and reorganization processes, brought a new image problems to the company, as consequence the entire personnel was demoralized and downright, the spirit of the company to its staff and the trust of its suppliers was totally destroyed. Being clear that these methods and managing was not working anymore as a part of a past of revolution in the company, new changes have to come. Although, Peter Salsbury had accomplished the evolution and change of the culture of M&S.After this Luc Vandevelde as a chairman contributed with several changes in the clothes line of M&S, as was the entry of George Davis to the firm to develop and deliver to the public a new brand called â€Å"Per Una†, in aims to revitalize the women’s clothing sales as a strategy from the board. New changes are b eing made in order to enhance the competitiveness in the clothing business, changing the look to the stores with lighter colours, new tills, better lighting.M&S has turn itself in a company that owns a staff full of youth and freshness, consequently, the company has give back the quality to its goods, quality that was a flag in the â€Å"golden years of M&S†, with several new clothing brands fitted to both gender and to every stage in the life of people, this wide range of goods cleverly design on age and occasions are the product of selected designers and their teems pushing to deliver nothing but the very best to all the M&S’s customers, this fact is a sample of a great change that the company has made managing to recover the trust of the customers and the treatment of excellence to the clients that the current business and the market require.As part of the new times and challenges, the board of the company nowadays effectively had set clear points in the taking-deci sion process as is to debate and agree the best strategy for the Company and hold the executive team accountable for its execution, this permit a very dynamic way to involve anyone to the final decision in order to guarantee a wise decision that push to the continue enhancement and development of the current business plan and finally, to set the tone of ‘doing the right thing', supported by the right governance structures and their effective implementation. * Specifically and in detail, what changes were made to the M&S supply chain strategy in the light of these changes?Evidently as the culture of M&S was created and leaded by several men with the same way of thinking, the most remarkable characteristics of this culture was the relationship with the suppliers of M&S, that was based on an close and unique relationship that have been prevailed by several decades in some cases. This supply chain based on trust from the firm to its suppliers gave shape to the UK retail market for many years. The board planned the new strategy implemented to the supply chain by the end of the year 2000; this strategy consisted on the change of suppliers from the UK to other overseas instead. Amid the changes on reorganization of M&S in general, the board had realised that the hearty link with the traditional suppliers in the UK was no longer affordable enough and represent a millstone for the company.The first place to be pointed as an overseas supply branch was in Portugal owing to the mix positive factors of cheaper manufacturing costs and the short distance to the UK that would not affect the supplement of goods in the stores for time reasons as start happening with others overseas supplier that because they were so far from UK the time of delivery influenced in the schedules and logistics of M&S. Nevertheless, some UK suppliers that closed their factories repositioned themselves in North Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and China; Looking for cheap workhand and opening in thi s way an overseas market of suppliers for the company and at the same time a beneficial reduction of cost for M&S despite the exportation activities involve in this operations, demonstrating this way that the strategy implemented in lights of the changes has just paid off.Another important change was specially related to the clothing range â€Å"Per Una† leaded by the designer George Davis which consist in the direct delivery of the clothe and accessories from nothing more but his organisation to M&S, as part of a agreement maid at the beginning of his business relationship whit the company, this represent a self-sufficient branch in the supply chain of the firm. Some other changes were made on M&S regarding to its branches in Europe, specifically to the supply chain that maintain the European branch of the company in countries as Spain, Holland, France and Germany. They have to concentrate the efforts in the UK market so they decided to finish the overseas branches, represen ting a culling on the supply chain to those countries and leaving the supply chain operations directly to UK. * What are the different supply chain performance objectives for the different product groups? Classic| Autograph| Per Una| Indigo| Blue Harbour| Product Range| Short – Mature Customers| Long – Wide Range Customers| Short – Fashion Woman 25-35 years old| Short – women with busy lives| Long – Men’s casual clothes for weekends| Design Changes| No frequent| Trend| Frequent| Seasonal| Seasonal| Price| Expensive – ‘value-for-money' prices| Competitive ‘High Street Pricing'| Good Value| Average | Expensive – ‘value-for-money' prices| Quality| High| Aspirational Quality| High| Aspirational Quality| High| Sales Volume| High| Low – Limited| Low – Limited| High – seasonal| High – seasonal| Order Winners| Smart, Elegant & quality clothes| Fashion ability| Exclusivity| Fashionable for e veryday use| Casually smart clothes| Order Qualifiers| Quality and value on the clothes| Clothing wide range and high street prices| Affordable price| Everyday-workday casualwear| Smart casual menswear for weekends occasion| Operation Priorities| Reliability – aimed to mature costumers | Cost – Sharpen pricing – great value| Flexibility – Very fast response| Speed – high fluency on the selling of this clothes| Quality – unique menswear brand| References â€Å"The rise & fall of Marks & Spencer †¦ And how it rose again† by Judi Bevan, edition revised and updated in 2007. Bookmarque, Croydon, Surrey. ISBN-10: 1 86197 898 7. * â€Å"Logistics and supply chain management† by Martin Christopher, Fourth Edition, FT Prentice Hall – Financial times. * â€Å"Operation Management† by Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers and Robert Johnston, Sixth Edition, FT Prentice Hall – Financial times. * Marks & Spencer Annual Repo rt and Financial Statements 2000 * Marks & Spencer Annual Report and Financial Statements 2006 * â€Å"Issues of Marks & Spencer† by OxbridgeWriters. com * â€Å"Marks & Spencer† by Nardine Collier and Gerry Johnson, Case Teaching Notes, Pearson Education Limited 2005.

The eNotes Blog The Enchantress ofNumbers

The Enchantress ofNumbers The curious tale of the worlds first computer programmer. Today I stray a little from the ordinary literary and educational news updates, after coming across a nod to an exceptional woman I couldnt pass the day without commemorating, not only for her role in mathematics, but also for her role as a woman in mathematics, far ahead of her time. I hope that her story inspires women in the sciences, or indeed anyone who perseveres to think beyond the capabilities of modern technology. Sadly Im usually behind the times on Googles artistic and quirky depictions of special days via their homepage. But today, gmail just happened to crash, sending me to the Google homepage where I saw the below image: I was curious. Who was this woman in 19th century garb, scribbling mathematical functions with quill and ink? And so, by way of technological error, I learned of Ada Lovelace, the worlds first computer programmer. Ada Lovelace was born on December 10th, 1815, to the poet Lord Byron and his wife Anna Isabella Byron. She had a miserable childhood, considered a disappointment from birth for not having been born a boy. Ada was abandoned by her father before she was a month old and  resultantly  never knew him, as he died abroad when she was eight. Meanwhile her mother chose to keep little connection with her, possibly because young Ada reminded her of her devious husband, with whom the Baroness had an acrimonious divorce. So Ada was raised by elderly relatives and relegated to a life of suspicious observation via her mothers friends, dubbed the Furies. Fortunately for us, though, she was also subject to a life of educationintended to squash any deviation she might have inherited from her fatherand took a keen interest in mathematics from a young age. Around the age of seventeen, Adas special abilities became clear to her tutors, all famed in mathematics in their own right. The noted mathematician Augustus de Morgan even reported of Ada to her mother that she seemed destined to become, an original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence. Meanwhile another one of Adas instructors and friends, Mary Somerville, introduced her to Charles Babbage, future inventor of the worlds first computer. Ada was not yet eighteen at the time. Babbage and Ada thus began a friendship that produced their academic collaboration on the formers Analytical Engine. In 1843, Ada translated Italian mathematician Luigi Meanabreas explanation of the machine, complete with her own set of notes and conclusions (which were actually longer than Menabreas). In her depiction of the Analytical Engine, Ada imagined its potential as being greater than simple number crunching, something not even Babbage indulged in. She wrote: [The Analytical Engine] might act upon other things besides number, were objects found whose mutual fundamental relations could be expressed by those of the abstract science of operations, and which should be also susceptible of adaptations to the action of the operating notation and mechanism of the engine Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and of musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent. Along with these forward-thinking notes, Ada wrote a computation of Bernoulli numbers for the Analytical Engine (below). It is this part of her thesis, Note G, that is universally considered to be the worlds first computer program, making Ada correspondingly its first programmer. Image via Wikimedia Commons So there you have it: the worlds first techie was a noble lady, The Right Honourable Countess of Lovelace. That means that on this day, as you browse the Internet in search of Google poetry, GIFs, or the Ikea Monkey, you have Miss Ada Lovelace to thank for her place in imagining the capability of computers to change our lives in the myriad of ways they have today. Ada was such an interesting woman, there is only so much of her life I could include in this post. I highly recommend her Wikipedia entry as an overview of her amazing achievements and somewhat scandalous personal affairs. In her mere thirty-six years, Ada gave us much to appreciate and stands as a prime example of the role women have played in science and technology, though they are often overlooked. She truly lived up to Charles Babbages nickname for her, The Enchantress of Numbers: Forget this world and all its troubles and if possible its multitudinous Charlatans  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ every thing in short but the Enchantress of Numbers. Related: Teachers, instruct your students on the history of The Enchantress of Numbers with document on Ada Lovelace, found here. It comes with an activity to help students write their very own programs and is recommended for Grades 4-8.