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Physician Payment Sunshine Act Proposed Regulations Out
By Kathleen M. Boozang
CMS has published proposed rules for its implementation of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act (SUNSHINE ACT or Act), which was enacted by Congress as part of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In short, the SUNSHINE ACT requires life science companies to report annually to CMS their conferral of anything of value, whether it be payment for services or a dinner, in connection with a particular product of the paying company. By requiring CMS to post the information on its website, the Act seeks to ensure that interested patients become aware of physicians' conflicts of interest that could affect their prescription of a branded drug or choice of a specific medical device.
The SUNSHINE ACT represents another example of the transparency movement, which has had varying degrees of success in either changing the behavior of the parties subject to disclosure, and/or enabling consumers to make better decisions based upon their access to the disclosed information. It is likely that the SUNSHINE ACT will impact physicians and manufacturers' behavior more than it will enlighten consumers about conflicts of interest. Some physicians will simply conclude that accepting certain gifts or benefits from pharmaceutical or medical device companies isn't worth having their names on the CMS website. Some companies have already discovered that they haven't necessarily reaped the value of the costs of gifting many physicians, or that the cost of recording certain activities simply isn't worth the return on investment. Unquestionably, certain transactions will continue to be valuable to both physician and company, and will continue.
It is unlikely that most patients will access the information either before or after a physician visit, or know what to do with the information even if they discover that their physician has an equity interest in the knee she plans to use in next week's surgery – does such a close relationship with the knee manufacturer signal that the physician is great, or that something nefarious is going on? The information is likely to be used by consumer watchdog groups, as well as hospital formulary committees and medical school deans interested in knowing the sources and amounts of outside income being earned by faculty. Divorce attorneys are likely to find the information useful if their client's soon-to-be ex-spouse hasn't reported significant pharma consulting fees as income.
CMS rulemaking is behind schedule, thereby delaying the SUNSHINE ACT's implementation. It is likely, however, that the ultimate rules will still require that 2012 data be submitted, even if not by the deadline originally contemplated by Congress.
The statute requires manufacturers of drugs, devices, biological or medical supplies covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ("applicable manufacturers") to report annually to HHS payments or transfers of value to physicians and teaching hospitals ("covered recipients"). Failure to comply will result in Civil Monetary Penalties. HHS, in turn, must publish this information on a public web site which is searchable, downloadable and able to be aggregated. Compliance with the SUNSHINE ACT's reporting requirements does not exempt applicable manufacturers from application of fraud, waste and abuse laws.
Applicable Manufacturer
The proposed rule merges the SUNSHINE ACT definition of "manufacturer of a covered drug, device, biological, or medical supply"[1] with the statutory section clarifying that the entity covered by the SUNSHINE ACT must be "operating in the United States, or in a territory, possession, or commonwealth of the United States"[2] to define applicable manufacturer as one
(1) Engaged in the production, preparation, propagation, compounding, or conversion of a covered drug, device, biological, or medical supply for sale or distribution in the United States, or in a territory, possession, or commonwealth of the United States; or
(2) Under common ownership with an entity in paragraph (1) of this definition, which provides assistance or support to such entity with respect to the production, preparation, propagation, compounding, conversion, marketing, promotion, sale, or distribution of a covered drug, device, biological, or medical supply for the sale or distribution in the United States, or in a territory, possession, or commonwealth of the United States.
The operative activity that invokes statutory coverage, then, is sale of a product in the United States, as opposed to where the product is produced, or where the entity is located or incorporated. Pursuant to the rationale that risks inhere in conflicts of interest irrespective of where the manufacturer is located if the product is sold in the United States, any entity under common ownership with the manufacturer that is involved in the production, distribution or sale of at least one covered product in the United States must report all payments and conferral of value upon covered recipients. Further, as proposed, the product sponsor (i.e., the entity that obtained FDA approval) is subject to the reporting requirement, even if the sponsor is not involved in the manufacture of the covered product. CMS is considering alternative interpretations of the common ownership concept.
Covered Drug, Device, Biological, or Medical Supply ("covered product")
The SUNSHINE ACT focuses upon those products for which Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP pay. This is relatively straightforward in many contexts, but CMS seeks to ensure that it captures situations where such products are part of a composite rate payment, such as the inpatient or outpatient hospital reimbursement, or the end-stage renal disease prospective payment system. As such, CMS proposes to define "covered drug, device, biological, or medical supply" as:
Any drug, device, biological, or medical supply for which payment is available under Title XVIII of the Act or under a State plan under title XIX or XXI (or a waiver of such plan), either separately, as part of a fee schedule payment, or as part of a composite payment rate (for example, the hospital inpatient prospective payment system or the hospital outpatient prospective payment system). With respect to a drug or biological, this definition is limited to those drug and biological products that, by law, require a prescription to be dispensed. With respect to a device or medical supply, this definition is limited to those devices (including medical supplies) that, by law, require premarket approval by or premarket notification to the Food and Drug Administration.
CMS seeks comments on its plan to exclude from the scope of regulation those manufacturers who produce and sell only over the counter (OTC) products. More specifically, this exemption would not extend to a manufacturer who sells even one prescription product who is otherwise subject to the reporting requirements of the SUNSHINE ACT. Similarly, CMS seeks to interpret the SUNSHINE ACT to cover only those medical devices that require premarket approval, on the theory that this is the segment of the market most likely to have extensive provider relationships. If a device manufacturer produces a single product that requires pre-market approval, it would have to report all payments and conferrals of value to covered recipients.
Covered Recipients
The SUNSHINE ACT defines "covered recipients" as (1) a physician, other than a physician who is an employee of an applicable manufacturer; or (2) a teaching hospital. The term physician includes both doctors of medicine and osteopathy as well as podiatrists, optometrists and licensed chiropractors. CMS interprets the statute to include within its scope those who act on behalf of covered recipients. Teaching hospital is not defined by the statute; CMS seeks comments on its proposal to identify such entities by virtue of their receipt of Medicare graduate medical education funds. CMS will publish this list annually on its website for manufacturers' reference.
CMS plans to utilize the National Plan & Provider Enumeration System, which it maintains on its website, to collect the data regarding covered recipients required by the SUNSHINE ACT: covered recipient's name and business address, and, for physicians, the National Provider Identifier and specialty.
Payments or Other Transfers of Value
The report must also include the date, form (i.e., cash, stock, ownership interest), nature (i.e., education, research, consulting fees, food) and amount of payment, and the market name of the product associated with the payment. CMS continues to consider how to handle payments made to a single covered recipient related to multiple products. CMS seeks to generate data in a form most easily understood by consumers.
The statutory definition requires such conferrals to be reported irrespective of whether they were requested by the physician or hospital and includes those made by third parties as long as the applicable manufacturer knows the identity of the covered recipient. CMS proposes that payments made through a group practice be reported under the specific recipient physician's name. If a physician requests the conferral to be directed to another physician or entity, the manufacturer should report the conferral under the requesting physician's name as well as the name of the actual recipient.
Charitable contributions by an applicable manufacturer to, at the request of, or on behalf of a covered recipient are reportable.
The SUNSHINE ACT excludes from its reporting requirement the following payments:
Transfers of value less than $10, unless the aggregated amount exceeds $100 in a calendar year
Product samples not intended to be sold that are intended for patient use
Educational materials that directly benefit patients or are intended for patient use
The loan of a covered device for a period not to exceed 90 days, to permit evaluation
Items or services provided under a contractual warranty
A transfer of value or payment to a covered recipient when that person is receiving the conferral in his/her capacity as a patient
Discounts, including rebates
In-kind items used for the provision of charity care
A dividend or profit distribution from ownership or investment interest in a publicly traded security or mutual fund
Self-insurance payments to covered employees by an applicable manufacturer
Non-medical services
Transfers of value made by third parties where the applicable manufacturer is unaware of the identity of the covered individual
CMS will be moving rapidly to respond to comments and finalize these rules, which will likely involve changes from the discussion here. State laws that pre-date the Act are pre-empted to the extent that they require reporting of the same information, which leaves them the discretion to retain those reporting requirements that are not redundant. States seeking to impose as much of a burden on manufacturers as possible are likely to retain their individualized reporting requirements, others may find the costs not worth the benefits now that the feds have finally stepped in.
[1] Section 1128G(e)(9).
[2] Subsection (e)(2) further clarifies that the entity covered by the SUNSHINE ACT must be "operating in the United States, or in a territory, possession, or commonwealth of the United States."
This post originally appeared at Health Reform Watch.
Tagged as: CMS, conflicts of interest, consumer watchdogs, Physician Payment Sunshine Act
No Savings from Raising Medicare Age
Food Safety: It's Déjà Vu All Over Again


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Brits in a hurry
Benn Barham and Marc Warren played their final round at the BMW Italian Open in a mere 2 hours and 21 minutes today.
England's Benn Barham and Scot Marc Warren played their final round at the BMW Italian Open in Turin in a mere 141 minutes.
The pair, first off at 8.20am, decided over breakfast to get a move on in order to catch a lunchtime flight home – Barham so he could then watch Chelsea's game at Arsenal on television.
They would have been round even quicker but for ball searches in the rough at both the seventh and ninth holes.
The pace did not appear to affect them adversely, Barham's 69 was a nine-stroke improvement on his third round and Warren shaved four shots off his Saturday effort with a level-par 71. They both finished on three over par.
"It was good," said Barham.
"And what was best was that there was no long debate about club selection with our caddies. It just goes to show."
Two hours and 21 minutes broke no speed records for a round of golf, however. They were not even close, in fact.
John Daly and Mark Calcavecchia played the last round of the 1992 Players Championship in 123 minutes – and were fined because Daly took 80 and Calcavecchia 81.
The quickest round by anyone was in 1981 by Steve Scott, America's mile and 1500 metres record-holder at the time. He completed 18 holes in under 30 minutes, but did run up a 92.
And last July – also in the States – 40 golfers combined to play a round in under eight minutes.
That was a relay with one player down the fairway ready to hit somebody's else drive as soon as it stopped, another up by the green and another on the next tee who drove off with another ball the moment the previous one went in the hole.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Phil Hill Sketchbook
Photography portfolio of editorial photographer Phil Hill
Sketchbook: MA Blog
Representation experimenting
March 5, 2020 April 12, 2020 | Phil Hill
Figure 1. Phil Hill (March, 2020) Mark from Elim Foodbank
I have made a recent connection to the food bank over the road from my house. In order to create some images, I have also been volunteering to build relationships with some of the people that attend. I have also handed out some compact point and shoot cameras for some of them to photograph and collaborate with, in a similar way to Anthony Luvera's approach with his assisted self-portrait series and something that I have mentioned in my post on Martin Parr (Fig. 2). Once I have collected in and processed these images, I will create a full reflection.
Martin Parr & Patrick Waterhouse
Figure 2. Phil Hill (February, 2020) Reflection on Martin Parr and Patrick Waterhouse
I created a number of portraits of Mark (Fig. 1), who is a food bank volunteer for nineteen years and also uses the service for himself. Primarily, I wanted to add some portraiture as part of my work I progress portfolio looking at my own community. My technical approach to shooting portraits, has always been to have the camera set to the continuous mode in order to shoot a few frames side-by-side, which was to ensure that I gain a focussed image of my subject. This is a hangover from my freelance practice, where it was crucial that the shot is in focus. This approach creates a number of 'similars' that have little variation shot to shot, from which I select the most focussed image (Fig. 3).
Figure 3. Phil Hill (March, 2020) Unused Portrait of Mark from Elim foodbank.
I am interested in exploring the nature of representation and gaze within a single frame and how this cannot be a full and truthful representation of the subject. This is a further look into the idea as I did when looking at the retouching layer from my evidence shoot film scan (Fig. 4 & 5).
PHO702: 'Evidence' Experiment
Figure 4. Phil Hill (February, 2020)Evidence experiment shoot
Figure 5. Phil Hill (February, 2020) Retouching layer from 'Moth Trap'
To further explore that here, I have decided to overlay the series of images that I shot of Mark, to consider the idea that in some ways could be more representative of him than a single frame ever could (Fig. 6). That said, the result creates an image where much is lost in the actuality of the subject, even though it is still an indexical trace of Mark, the subject, being present for the photograph. The subtle variants, as exampled in Figure 2, show that Mark was not completely stationary between the shots and there is movement and slight shifts in facial expression. This nuanced series of images shows more of the subjects individual trait and allows them to be more represented in the image. However, it could also be argued that Mark movements are as a result of my direction and not a naturalistic expression of him as a person either.
Figure 6. Phil Hill (March, 2020) Overlaid images of Mark.
Figure 7. Phil Hill (March, 2020) De-saturated overlaid images of Mark.
I was interested in Uta Barth's challenge to the reader in the way that she is asking us to consider looking, and the way that we can derive meaning from the image, Barth states "One goes out into the world and points it [the camera] something of beauty, something of importance, a spectacle of some sort" (Barth, 2012) and goes on to note that the subject and meaning can be interpreted as being the same (2012). Barth's response to this is to remove the reader's attention on the subject and create an all-encompassing experiential sense of 'looking.' John Berger asserted much the same in his use of the term, 'sight:' "The explanation, never quite fits the sight" (Berger, 2008, p. 7) where the image of the actual is perhaps too much of an explanation, or a kind of overarching exposition; we are confronted by the assumed meaning of the image because it is presented in its naturalistic format, depicted by the lens.
Figure 8. Uta Barth (1994) Ground #42
Through Barth's work, emphasis is placed on readers, and reading, Barth actively encourages those to become aware of their reading (Barth, 2012). Barth's work is about perception, but still indexical. When I photograph a portrait, I almost always set of to photograph with a shallow depth of field to throw the background out of focus, which creates a separation of the subject and the environment. It is this reason that I shoot my images with the continuous mode set. When I look at Barth's work (Fig. 8), it is almost as if the image was composed to have a person present but has left the scene, leaving the camera to capture the remains. Where I feel this applies to my own work is how Barth's approach is her visual perception that seems to segue with the concept of social abstraction, or how we disregard the unnecessary details from our lives. For example, the food that we eat is presented packaged and ready – we do not need to understand to process of how this packed item came to be.
At this stage, I want this to be purely an experimentation where I can explore ideas, potentially one that I might come back to at a later date. Currently, this is not something that fits my intent photographing my local community. I have created a naturalistic approach to the shoot so far, the overlaid image, feel out of place and potentially an obvious interpretation of the ideas that I am discussing. It has been useful to explore it however, and I will aim to subtly introduce elements of this into my narrative.
The portrait of Mark (Fig. 1) fits really well into how this is starting to develop from my other shoots and portraits that I have been creating (See Posts), although I am still keen to allow this to continue developing in the same way Todd Hido approaches his 'Paper Movies' (Hido, 2014, p. 114) and discusses the need for ambiguity for the reader's own narrative (p. 28). As I have written previously, I am also interested in the way Snyder and Allen discuss the index (Snyder & Allen, 1975, p. 159) and how I am interpreting this as representation being a consensus of opinion as opposed to a whole truth encompassing the many nuances of individual personality. In essence, for my current work in progress at least, I want my images to be based in the actual as John Berger terms (Berger, 2013, p. 8), and all of my work created so far has been looking at these actualities and the dominant reading of this work should also follow this.
Additional Posts on Representation:
Todd Hido on Landscapes, Interiors, and the Nude
Index and the Icon
Questions of Authenticity
Considering the Construction
Reflecting on Gaze
Further Questions of Representation
Barth, U., 1994. Ground #42. [Photo].
Barth, U., 2012. Light, Looking: Uta Barth [Interview] (22 March 2012).
Berger, J., 2008. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin.
Berger, J., 2013. Understanding a Photograph. London: Penguin Classics.
Hido, T., 2014. Todd Hido on Landscapes, Interiors, and the Nude. New York: Aperture.
Hill, P., 2020. Mark from Elim foodbank. [Photo].
Hill, P., 2020. Overlaid Portraits of Mark. [Photo].
Hill, P., 2020. Retouching Layer from 'Moth Trap'. [Photo].
Snyder, J. & Allen, N. W., 1975. Photography, Vision, and Representation. Critical Enquiry, 2(1), pp. 143-169.
National Geographic and Me
We did not have subscriptions to National Geographic in my house growing up, however I vividly remember going to the dentist who had piles of the magazine and I would be in awe of how cinematic the world looked. It was these pages that inspired me to want to travel the world and photograph.
Figure 1. Phil Hill & Helen Warrick (March, 2013) National Geographic Traveller.
This week's task is an interesting one for me as I have shot for the spin-off publication, National Geographic Traveller Magazine (Fig. 1). I have also reflected on this, when we looked at Gaze.
It is worth noting that National Geographic Traveller is primarily about showing beautiful destinations that you might go on holiday as opposed to what its parent publication supposedly stands for. National Geographic Traveller operates and runs features in a similar way to how Conde Nast, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, and Lonely Planet also publish travel features. One of the key differences is that it comes with the branding associated with National Geographic, including its distinctive yellow border.
As Grundberg Stated "the photographs found in the National Geographic represent the apotheosis of the picturesque" (Grundberg, 1988), and it is through Traveller magazine that it takes this to the most extreme. National Geographic have recently acknowledged a past built on exploitation (Goldberg, 2018) yet still create an aesthetic that undermines the moral high ground that they seek to occupy. For Traveller magazine, they completely ignore this moral standing and only print images of exotic locations to sell holidays. If National Geographic is aesthetics for supposed cultural importance (Lutz & Collins, 1991, p. 134); National Geographic Traveller is purely aesthetics for the sake of exoticism. My assignment for example, was to illustrate an article on Bali, Indonesia that was created off the back of a press junket paid for by the Indonesian tourist board, a common practice in travel editorial but not what you would expect in its parent. When picking up Traveller magazine, the reader looks at that yellow border and distinctive brand logo and would naturally associate this spin-off with all of the mythology that National Geographic is synonymous for. In many ways, franchises and spin-off publications that utilise the coded branding of National Geographic are everything that is wrong with National Geographic.
I am completely complicit in this. I shot the assignment and took the money. Reflecting on this for my oral presentation in Positions and Practice, I questioned my moral and ethical position and how I would photograph the most aesthetically pleasing image whilst also witnessing all of the challenges and the poverty that happened around me. Since then I was listening to Hannah Starkey discuss the challenges of gaze (Starkey, 2019), who equated a rise in male gaze was in part to do with the last recession, creating a culture of lazy advertising. Starkey was talking about the commodification of women, however where this relates to National Geographic and Traveller magazine is how we also commodified the land; sex and exoticism sells. As a freelancer in my twenties around the same time, it was exciting to be paid to travel and photograph as ignorant as I was to the impact that my images have.
Now that this position has been challenged, I hope to move forward in a more engaging way and not occupy the view of the photographer as Ariella Azoulay described as "a male figure roaming around the world and pointing his camera at objects, places, people, and events, as if the world was made for him. He can vanish from people's worlds in the same way that he appeared in them" (Azoulay, 2016, p. 2).
To test that here, I have selected a recent portrait that I created at the food bank over the road from my home. It might be worth noting that I also spent the afternoon helping out with the aim of gaining the trust of the people that I wanted to photograph (Fig. 2)
Figure 2. Phil Hill (March, 2020) Mark at Elim Foodbank
Azoulay, A., 2016. Photography Consists of Collaboration: Susan Meiselas, Wendy Ewald, and Ariella Azoulay. Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, 01 01, 31(1 91), p. 2.
Goldberg, S., 2018. For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It. [Online] Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/04/from-the-editor-race-racism-history/ [Accessed 21 10 2019].
Grundberg, A., 1988. PHOTOGRAPHY VIEW; A Quintessentially American View of the World. [Online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/18/arts/photography-view-a-quintessentially-american-view-of-the-world.html [Accessed 4 March 2020].
Lutz, C. & Collins, J., 1991. The Photograp as an Intersection of Gazes: The Example of National Geographic. Visual Anthropology Review, 7(1), pp. 134 -148.
Starkey, H., 2019. A Small Voice: Conversations with Photographers. Episode 102 – Hannah Starkey [Interview] (3 April 2019).
Warwick, H. & Hill, P., 2013. Free Spirit. National Geographic Traveller (UK), 01 03, pp. 92 – 101.
On Diane Arbus
February 28, 2020 April 24, 2020 | Phil Hill
Figure 1. Diane Arbus (1961) Jack Dracula at a bar, New London, Connecticut
I have been considering the work of Diane Arbus in relation to my own. Comparisons could be made on the surface level to some of my portraits that I have created up to this point. Am I perusing and creating an 'otherness' in the work that I am producing? This is an important question that I should continually ask myself, even after this post is complete.*
Figure 2. Diane Arbus (1970 – 71) 'Untitled (22) 1970-71'
Figure 3. Bruce Gilden (2015) Betty, from FACE
There is not a lot of detail in what Arbus's intentions truly were, she was famously aloof in the discussion of her work, and her estate is quite guarded on releasing much of the material she left behind. Arbus's later images seem to clearly show otherness (Fig. 2) and there is a separation that exists in the language and even the lack of language used to describe them as 'untitled' and 'Freaks.' Arbus's own language in relation to her images exacerbates the problematic gaze that we assume she views them: "Most People go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience, Freaks were born with their trauma, they've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats" (2005, p. 38). However, in that statement there seems to be a kind of nobility in which she views the subjects. It is the use if the word 'freak' however that creates an uncomfortable tension, if this work was created and described as such now, it would clearly incite a justifiable outrage against the artist, and has been, in the critique of Bruce Gilden's approach (Fig. 3), who could be considered equivalent of Arbus in the fall out from recent work, as his critics posit similar views of them "so unforgiving and intrusive they dehumanise the subjects" (O'Hagan, 2015). Even when we take into account the context in which these images were taken, which might be viewed as an Ignorant infancy in the evolution on thinking about gaze and its impact, Arbus's contemporary, Susan Sontag, was particularly critical of Arbus's approach: "For it is based on distance, privilege, on a feeling that what the viewer is asked to look at is really other" (Sontag, 1979, p. 34). A damning indictment of Arbus, which suggests that even during the period, there was a clear awareness of how problematic her gaze was. Discussions were taking place, albeit considered in other terms, critics such as John Berger discussed aspects of looking and seeing, which is highly relevant to the ways that we view the topic today (Ways of Seeing, 1972).
Sontag's view and basis for her critic was that this was based on a kind of punching-down of those deemed other and Arbus's own affluent background & privilege was front and centre to this view. Arbus sort to destroy her personal history in order to enter the world of her subjects. She deconstructed her life in order to change the detachment that she felt growing up (Goldberg, 2005, p. 42), perhaps creating the conditions for further detachment. Arbus photographed the 'outsiders' and was an outsider herself.
Arbus's gaze was a troubled one, and she was a troubled herself; Her images could be a reflection of this. It is worth considering perhaps whose Gaze is the most enlightened, when context, as Sontag herself suggests, drains away (Sontag, 1979, p. 106). The language and the execution of Arbus's images were problematic, however, the way that Diane Arbus photographed, what were considered fringe cultures at the time, created a dialogue of what we are allowed to gaze at, taking it to the most extreme. Her images show is that, indeed, these people existed and should be accepted (Goldberg, 2005, p. 37), and although not the answer to the challenge, but the road map to how we view them now. Arbus herself had lifelong relationships with many of the people that she photographed, and would suggest that this meant her intentions were good. We may never know as Diane Arbus is not here to reflect on this work.
Figure 4. Phil Hill (February, 2020) Contact sheet created for Week 5 Webinar [Click to enlarge]
Arbus's work is at one of a spectrum that I don't feel my images compare (Fig. 4). Arbus talks about her lack of experience with the world, writing that she had never had felt adversity and learning about it was purely an academic exercise (Goldberg, 2005, p. 42). Whereas for me and my practice, my intention was to look at my formative community, one that was deeply working class as was I, and reflected in the culture of the carnivals of the region; are they the kind of carnivals that Arbus photographed? Of course not. My own comparison, and perhaps of my peers, might be that I have been subtler than Arbus as I am now the outsider, having worked to change my demographic, so going back to photograph my old community could be considered a look at the other. However, it is from personal experience, which Arbus did not have, and where I also maintain lifelong friendships with some of the people involved, and who helped me connect with the carnival in the first place.
And moving forward onto my current look at where live now, I can see great poverty, and what might be termed 'other.' For example, I aim to connect with a foodbank to explore the idea of how we ostracise some in order to build a community for the majority; pain as Dexter Dias discusses, is a form of social control (Dias, 2017, p. 124). You can cross the street from the house that I live and you will have reached this foodbank; it is part of where I live and a shared experience of the community. Perhaps the bigger question that I should be asking myself is that of my lack of engagement with this place up until now, and why has it taken a photography project to engage with them. And this creates parallels to the critique of Arbus, but also differentiates our approaches – My camera is my passport, yes, but it is not my license to do whatever I want and do whatever I want as Arbus wrote (Sontag, 1979, p. 4), it is my means of meaningful engagement. I see my project now as an autobiographical look of people and place, I must collaborate with those that should self-represent, in a similar way to Anthony Luvera's Assisted Self-Portraits (Fig. 5), though not without my own imagery; I live here too.
Figure 5. Anthony Luvera (2019) Assisted Self-Portrait of Joe Murray from Residency
*
I will aim to return to this post in the coming weeks and reflect on the work as it evolves.
Arbus, D., 1961. Jack Dracula at a bar, New London, Connecticut, 1961. [Photo] (Estate of Diane Arbus).
Arbus, D., 1970-1971. 'Untitled (22) 1970-71'. [Photo] (Estate of Diane Arbus).
Dias, D., 2017. The Ten Types of Human. 1st paperback ed. London: Penguin Random House.
Gilden, B., 2015. Betty, from FACE.. [Art] (Magnum ).
Goldberg, V., 2005. Light Matters. 1st ed. New York: Aperture.
Hill, P., 2020. Week 5 WD24 Shoot. [Photographs].
Luvera, A., 2019. Assisted Self-Portrait of Joe Murray from Residency. [Photo].
O'Hagan, S., 2015. A latter-day freak show? Bruce Gilden's extreme portraits are relentlessly cruel. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/aug/19/bruce-gilden-face-street-portraits-photographs-book [Accessed 27 February 2020].
Sontag, S., 1979. On Photography. London: Penguin.
Ways of Seeing. 1972. [Film] Directed by Michael Dibb. UK: BBC.
PHO702: Shoot Three
Figure 1. Phil Hill (February, 2020) Selected Images from shoot [Click to enlarge images]
Figure 2. Phil Hill (February, 2020) Full Contact Sheet From shoot [Click to enlarge images]
Part of my exploration this module has been to look at the environment that would inevitably accompany my portraits. I think that up until now, I have considered these images secondary and transitional in terms of the narrative that takes you from portrait to portrait. As a result, I was unsure of how to begin this process and decided to use a psychogeography approach that we looked at during the previous module, That gave me the route, and for the content, I came across the shooting scripts written for the FSA photographers in Todd Hido's book 'On Landscapes, interiors, and the Nude' (Hido, 2014, p. 123). Additionally, I think there is also a clear influence on the part of the New Topographic style of banal photography, that I have come back to time and time again when shooting this kind of image (Fig. 3).
Figure 3. Phil Hill (2019) Image taken last summer whilst in Canada. 'Peterborough Appliances Truck Load Sale. Ontario, Canada.'
The approach, has been to go out and collect images using the above influences, I have not aimed to focus on anything specific as yet. For this shoot however, I had the benefit of a light that I was happy to shoot with and as I ended up walking past locations from my first shoot 1 (See post). I took the opportunity to re shoot some of my images for comparison (Fig. 4 & 5). Hido discusses his approach to projects where he tends to shoot first and allow the narratives reveal themselves in the editing process (Hido, 2014, p. 114). I have enjoyed following that ethos up to this point, however considering the topics for week 5, I believe there is an opportunity to look at the land in the same way that I have approached finding my portraits and developing my approach to create images to better reflect my intentions. This is an important consideration.
Figure 4. Phil Hill (January, 2020) Palm tree from 1st shoot. 'Palm Tree, Northwestern Avenue' 25/01/2020
Figure 5. Phil Hill (February, 2020) Re-shot image of the palm tree with better light. 'Palm Tree, Northwestern Avenue' 08/02/2020 (Hill, 2020).
Many of the images that I have shot seem to reveal a tendency to focus on the detritus that I come across along my route, for example there were at least 4 fridges* fly-tipped on the streets which although were there and existed I chose to photograph one of them owing to the children's stickers still on the top door (Fig. 6). This for me was indexical of the family that once owned this appliance, who were seemingly able replace it, they were not apparently in the position to properly dispose of it. Having been left on the pavement denotes a potential poverty of the area, or at least a reduction of civic pride that you might not find in a more gentrified area. My intention on this shoot was not necessarily to highlight the poverty and civic pride of the environment, however part of my look at my local community is my connection to it, especially now I am being forced to move home once again (See post) and makes links back to the writing of Robert Putnam, who discusses how "residential stability is strongly associated with civic engagement" (Putnam, 2000, p. 211). The images of detritus are reflective of the people who live there, though only reflective and not necessarily representative of them as people.
Figure 6. Phil Hill (February, 2020) Fridge Freezer left on the pavement. St Albans Road
How can an environment and the land reflect people?
This is the fundamental question that I can ask myself moving forward with the environmental images that I am taking. When considering the gaze in which we all view the world, the reference t the Freudian idea of anthropomorphising the land into something that is feminine, discussed in the body and the land presentation (Alexander, 2020) intrigues me. Where I feel more study is needed for me to recognise the feminine in the landscape, I do see the correlation of how men occupy the world through their rugged pursuits and women are there to be occupied, in the sense of being objectified, which was also a conclusion drawn when John Berger interviewed a group of women in response to an episode of 'Ways of Seeing' (1972). An anthropomorphising of the land can be seen in other ways, as we potentially see those reflections and indexical traces of the people living in them, especially within the urban and built up areas in which I am focussing. What people throw away gives away a fair amount of information about the people who occupy a space. As I have mentioned previously, it can also give us clues to how connected they might be within the community; if you are prepared to throw away and leave the discarded where it falls, how proud are you about the place where you live? If others are not challenging this, how worried are they about the cohesiveness of their community? You can in essence look at a picture of a pile of rubbish within the environment, and create a mental image of the person who contributed to it and the socio-economic space in which they occupy.
I have discussed the neutrality of the image a lot over my last few posts. No image is neutral, no gaze can be neutral, and also images of landscapes also cannot be neutral. After reading the text 'Of Mother Nature and Marlboro Men' by Deborah Bright (Bright, 1985) I can see that the land forms part of the cultural myth. For the US, the Landscape is part of the national narrative of overcoming great odds in order to occupy and control their world, with no mention of how this might have been at the expense of the indigenous population. In the tradition of European oil painting, the landscape image was created to denote the spectator owners vast wealth (Ways of Seeing, 1972).
Figure 7. Roy Stryker (1939) Shooting script for a small town
I started my project for this module with the shooting script on photographing the small town (Stryker, 1939) which I found a useful starting topography in seeking out all of the images that might be considered part of the town vernacular. I previously reflected and discussed the use of language in creating the conditions for gaze (see post), and the same could be said of the FSA shooting script that I started with (Fig. 7). The lists were written in order to focus on specific elements of society in order to present them in a way consistent with the goals of the FSA project, that is to say, to show the value of the poorest in American society, albeit not hiding the fact it was an exercise in propaganda: "A pictorial documentation of our rural areas and rural problems (Stryker's words)" (Sontag, 1979, p. 62). The lists could encourage and exacerbate how we gaze at such problems.
Figure 8. Phil Hill (February, 2020) Dog Bone. 'Near Churchfield Road'
I enjoy many of the images that I took on this shoot, so the question of where they could sit in the narrative is crucial, as it the representation and also the gaze. If I am focussing on the indexical, then there is much potential to include images such as the dog bone (Fig. 8), this trace that someone was here is useful to understand the diversity of the area when I am unable to photograph everyone who lives here. My dominant reading will change depending on the way that I sequence this work, so I should work to clear up any ambiguity in my intention. Something that I don't think will happen until the very end of this project.
I could start a project on fridges with some more material.
Alexander, J., 2020. Week 5: The Body and The Land. Falmouth: Falmouth University.
Bright, D., 1985. Of Mother Nature and Marlborough Men. Exposure, 23(1), p. Online.
Hill, P., 2019. 'Peterborough Appliances Truck Load Sale. Ontario, Canada.'. [Photo].
Hill, P., 2020. Dog bone near Churchfield Road. [Photo].
Hill, P., 2020. Fridge Freezer left out on the pavement. St Albans Road.. [Photo].
Hill, P., 2020. Palm Tree, Northwestern Avenue 08/02. [Photo].
Putnam, R., 2000. Bowling Alone. 1 ed. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Stryker, R., 1939. Shooting script on the Small Town, Washington DC: Library of Congress.
Systemic Structure of Gaze and its Impact on my Practice
Figure 1. Phil Hill & Helen Warrick (March, 2013) opening spread from the March 2013 'National Geographic Traveller' magazine
Many of the texts that we are asked to read have been written pre-Nineties and can be considered in the context of this, however they raise a number of questions of how the dominant male gaze has been established and positioned and should be challenged now. Writers such as Lutz and Collins look at the intersection of gaze (Lutz & Collins, 1991), exampling National Geographic magazine's problematic approach to representation and gazing at other cultures through the lens if the white European, which was not acknowledged by the publication until the issue of a formal apology 27 years later (Goldberg, 2018). Having created work for the travel spin off National Geographic Traveller (Fig. 1), I question whether I am also guilty of perpetuating a type of colonial gaze with a view of the 'other' and the promise of exoticism for a Western audience as the lure of being paid to photograph superseded the awareness for people and culture.
Questions of how we gaze go back even further and overlap questions of representation, with Barthes discussing the view of female novelists in 'Novels and Children' (Barthes, 1993, pp. 50-52), which discusses the case of Elle magazine's introduction of female writes as mothers first and novelists second (1993, p. 50), where their male counterparts are only considered for their literary achievements: "Elle says to women: you are worth just as much as men; and to men: your women will never be anything but women. Man at first seems absent from this double parturition; children and novels alike seem to come by themselves, and to women alone" (1993, p. 51). Barthes wrote this in 1957, which must beg the question of what has realistically changed.
Interestingly for Barthes, there is a predilection to use male pronouns when referring to the photographer, and the person (or for Barthes, the artist, the writer), so even when raising the point of female representation in Elle magazine, Barthes will move on to referring to the next person as he, him. You might be forgiven in thinking that as these are translations from Barthes native French language, which is very gendered by its structure, consisting of masculine and feminine words. However, this in itself could be considered part of a societal construct that puts maleness on a pedestal and everything else aspiring to it, albeit harder to break as a culturally established form of communication.
Barthes is not alone, Walter Benjamin notes: "in principle a work of art has always been reproducible. Man-made artefacts could always be imitated by men" (Benjamin, 1968, p. 218), emphasis on the man-made and men, and although the writing of Benjamin is also a translation from German to English in this instance, this writing will have a fundamental impact of those who read the text. Thankfully, Susan Sontag does not rely on this and primarily refers to 'the photographer' (Sontag, 1977, p. 117) in her text, which although is a useful neutrality, the assumption could still be of the male, especially given the dominance of the white male photographer. For Barthes and Benjamin and the contextual sphere of influence that they occupied together with other white male writers, and indeed photographers; the photographer is male.
This perhaps is not the total causal reason for the dominance of the patriarchal gaze, however the impact is in creating the systemic baseline in which we gaze. Man traditionally refers to 'everything' and can mean both genders: 'man-kind,' 'man-made,' as in humans, and made by humans for humans, whereas women are distinct and clearly defined in referring to the female, but not male. Men can be generic in the default sense, no need to be highlighted, they* exist. Women are specific and can be singled out. If we are reading that maleness is the default position then the gaze in which we view the world should be that everything else is adherent to it, and subservient to its wills, whims and desires.
Continually being told that the default position is man is massively undermining, as Hannah Starkey points out "How can you be what you cannot see" (Starkey, 2019) as it is crucial that you can see yourself in the role that you aspire to, and specifically for Starkey if you cannot see yourself in the world then why would you aspire to, so it crucial women see other women occupying these roles. For me, it is easy to see myself in the role of the photographer as many of the photographers that I have viewed, the writers that I read, all look and sound as I do. I have to recognise that my gaze has been learned from consuming these texts and other cultural signifiers, potentially built on this air of authority granted to me by all of the men that have preceded. Through reading and seeing this vision of the male photographer, I have had no reason to question it. Which was the case when I photographed for travel and lifestyle with little consideration for how the people were being viewed; it was exciting to be paid to photograph such places.
Figure 2. Phil Hill (December, 2019) Portraits from 'Peterborough Curling Club'
Within my current practice I have always felt that the most engaging photographic narratives are most effective when they have people as part of the series (fig. 2). I am intrigued by them, I want to gaze at them, which makes me a voyeur. I photograph the things that I am unable to engage with normally and use my camera as a way of entering into these spaces that I would never usually go, in the same way Sontag writes of the camera being the passport that removes any inhibitions (Sontag, 1977, p. 4), I use it to train my gaze onto what intrigues me. I find that photographing strangers is one of the most difficult things to do, yet I am compelled to do it as I am aware that these almost always are the strength of the narrative (Fig. 3). The reciprocal gaze of the subject is something that I have aimed to control in the creation of my work and is what drives it. Many of the subjects I photograph look away and off camera, which I have discussed previously that it reduces the confrontation between the subject and the reader, allowing a wider interpretation of the image (see post). However, feedback on this approach has been that maybe I do this too often. Perhaps it is not the confrontation between subject and reader that is confrontational, but it is in the tension between me and the subject that truly reflects my gaze in the images that I create. My aim in my current practice has been to reduce the 'otherness' of the subject in the images through a more collaborative approach, in a sense a shared gaze, one of the author and that of the subject.
Figure 3. Phil Hill (February, 2020) Billy Suldisha outside a local barber shop.
Linking back to the example of how male pronouns support the established systems of a learned gaze, I don't feel I view the world in this way, especially now having more of an awareness of the constructed language that may have impacted on this. However, if I am saying that the people in my work are to make sense of the narrative, then I am objectifying them to a certain extent, even if they are complicit in the creating of my portraits, the reader is not and can create their own reading from a respective gaze. As we have discussed before, no image is neutral, so no gaze can be neutral. When I am gazing, I am comparing myself and a kind of measuring myself against the subject in some way. Not to say that I am considering myself better than, I only want to view the differences in order to better understand them, in an empathetical sense. I hope that my gaze is one of empathy, however I am unsure if I am successful in this hope, which where the importance of a proper dialogue and collaboration is vital to remain aware of how learned behaviour might continue to have an impact.
During a draft of this text, I first wrote 'we' instead of 'they.' 'We' referring to men, because I was writing the post as a male, this was my default response to refer in the first person, whether or not this was an error of which person I should have been writing the text in, it is interesting to recognise this learned behaviour. Only after proof reading the text did I realise that I should perhaps use 'they.' It is an ingrained response that continues to shape the discussion. Interestingly, in the introduction presentation to week 5, Jesse notes "Man has always looked" (Alexander, 2020) which perhaps is purposefully done to highlight the perspective of the default male position.
Alexander, J., 2020. Week 5 Introduction: Gazing at Photographs, Falmouth: Falmouth University.
Barthes, R., 1993. Mythologies. 1st Vintage Edition ed. London: Vintage.
Benjamin, W., 1968. Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. Translation ed. New York: Random House.
Goldberg, S., 2018. For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past, We Must Acknowledge It. [Online] Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/04/from-the-editor-race-racism-history/ [Accessed 3 February 2019].
Hill, P., 2019. Peterborough Curling Club. [Photographs] (N/A).
Hill, P., 2020. Billy Suldisha outside a local Barber Shop. [Photo] (N/A).
Hill, P. & Warrick, H., 2013. Free Spirit. National Geographic Traveller, 1 March, pp. 92-93.
Lutz, C. & Collins, J., 1991. The Photograph as an Intersection of Gazes: The Example of National Geographic. Visual Anthropology Review, 7(1), pp. 134-149.
Starkey, H., 2019. A Small Voice: Conversations With Photographers EP102: Hannah Starkey [Interview] (4 April 2019).
Questions of representation, authenticity, constructions and the photographic nature of photography makes me reflect on a freelance job that I did for an episode of BBC' Panorama, titled 'Inside Europe's Terror Attacks (2016). Within the episode, a series of 'most wanted' mugshots are displayed and shown to be developed in a photographic darkroom before being hung up on a clothes line in a row.
Figure 1. Panorama (2016) Still from the darkroom segment of the 'Inside Europe's Terror Attacks' episode
My role in this production was to turn a series of digital images into ones that could be processed in a darkroom and shown to appear inside a darkroom as the journalist narration happened. To do this, I re-photographed each of the images onto film and prepared a series of prints with the latent image ready for processing during the filming. Incidentally, it is also my hand in the film processing these images (Fig. 1).
The segment plays with our very notion of photography as evidence through our collective awareness and an intertextual referencing of primarily via film and TV (Fig. 2), of how a detective might use the darkroom to illuminate and support an investigation, that lightbulb moment that shows that you have found the smoking gun evidence that will close the case.
Figure 2. Funny Face (1957) Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire in the darkroom
This episode of the Investigative documentary series really plays to the theatrics and performative nature of photography in showing the images in this way and the perceived authenticity that photographs have, it was heightened here to purposefully exaggerating the characteristics of the photograph and increase the veracity of the moment. This also plays into the notion of digital images being less authentic than those shot using film. The images that were supplied to me to re-photograph were all digital files that were printed digitally using an inkjet printer and then photograph using a copy stand onto 35mm film. Do the images now become more authentic now that they have become analogue? The supplied digital files were in some cases low resolution screen grabs, some of which were also from social media.
In terms of its construction, it seems to have increased the tension of the situation that a digital graphic may not have. Like a punctuated moment away from the expected news style digital visuals that you would expect to see through news gathering services and have become immune to. This feels somewhat real with a heightened sense of urgency that someone needs to catch the people depicted and that they are working hard to do so. It is a fiction, a construction for the sake of the documentary, especially when we consider that the methods on display are completely obsolete and the images would almost certainly be viewed through a computer screen and potentially never reach the point of a tangible print. There is also the assumption that turning the images into black and white adds an inherent 'truth' to what we are viewing.
Funny Face. 1957. [Film] Directed by Stanley Donen. USA: Paramount Pictures.
Panorama: Inside Europe's Terror Attacks. 2016. [Film] Directed by John O'Kane. UK: BBC Panorama.
Aesthetics agency appropriation audience Awards Black and White collaborative practice community Conceptual Contents Contextual Research Coursework Dissemination Documentary Aesthetic Experimentation Funding Gaze Informing Contexts PHO702 Intent Live Brief Narrative Object Orientated Ontology Oxfam A Peer Feedback PHO702 PHO702 Work in Progress Portfolio PHO702: CRJ PHO703 PHO703 CRJ PHO703 Oral Presentation PHO703 Surfaces and Strategies PHO703 Work in Progress Portfolio PHO704 PHO704 CRJ PHO704 Oral Presentation PHO704 Sustainable Prospects PHO704 Work In Progress Portfolio Portfolio Development practitioners Professional Development Project Development Reflection rephotography Representation Zine
FMP Pecha Kucha January 19, 2021
PHO704 – Oral Presentation December 3, 2020
Key Ideas December 3, 2020
Communities and Communication December 3, 2020
Audiences December 3, 2020
Funding -draft December 2, 2020
WIPP – Towards a Resolution December 1, 2020
WIPP Development – sequence conundrum November 27, 2020
Working Title November 26, 2020
PHO704 WIPP Peer Feedback November 25, 2020
PH0704 – Oral Presentation: Developments November 24, 2020
Reflection – Project development November 20, 2020
Initial Sequence November 19, 2020
Journey Narrative – Project development November 13, 2020
Grants and Funding continued November 12, 2020
Categories Select Category Final Major Project PHO705 Critical Reflective Diary PHO705 Informing Contexts PHO702 Critical Research Journal PHO702 Critical Review of Practice PHO702 Video Presentation and Peer Review PHO702 Work in Progress Portfolio PHO702 Positions and Practice PHO701 Oral Presentation – PHO701 Research Project Proposal – PHO701 Work in Progress Portfolio – PHO701 Surfaces and Strategies PHO703 PHO703 Critical Research Journal PHO703 Oral Presentation PHO703 Work in Progress Portfolio Sustainable Prospects PHO704 Critical Research Journal PHO704 Oral Presentation PHO704 Work in Progress Portfolio PHO704
Sustainable Prospects PHO704
PHO704 Contents
Critical Research Journal PHO704
Oral Presentation PHO704
Work in Progress Portfolio PHO704
Surfaces and Strategies PHO703
Contents PHO703
PHO703 Critical Research Journal
PHO703 Oral Presentation
PHO703 Work in Progress Portfolio
Informing Contexts PHO702
Video Presentation and Peer Review PHO702
Critical Review of Practice PHO702
Positions and Practice PHO701
Oral Presentation – PHO701
Research Project Proposal – PHO701
Work in Progress Portfolio – PHO701
This Blog is being made as part of an accredited education program.
MA Photography, Falmouth University, UK


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When you're as wealthy as Philip Green, it takes a lot to make you envious. But even the High Street tycoon could be forgiven for getting slightly green-eyed when he jets off to Russia this weekend, to attend a sumptuous three-day charity extravaganza.
Green, of course, is no stranger to lavish parties. Only three years ago, dressed as the orgiastic Emperor Nero, he flew 200 chums to Cyprus for his 50th birthday, with Rod Stewart providing the entertainment.
But even that pales in comparison with this weekend's event in St Petersburg, organised by Green's best friend and business associate Richard Caring.
The £2.5 million blow-out, in aid of the NSPCC, includes a ball tomorrow night at the historic Catherine Palace, where Sir Elton John will be paid £1 million to warble his greatest hits to partygoers.
A total of 450 guests, including Royal Mail chief Allan Leighton and entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, have paid £5,000 a ticket for the evening, to rub shoulders with figures such as former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Most are flying from Luton Airport today in three jets chartered by rag-trade baron Caring, 55.
As an appetiser, there is another gargantuan bash tonight at the magnificent Yusupov Palace on the banks of the Moika River, infamous as the site of the murder of Rasputin, the Mad Monk, at the court of the last Russian Tsar. Caring, who once paid £190,000 to have dinner with Elton, flew out to St Petersburg on Tuesday with a team of assistants to make sure everything would be perfect.
Leaving nothing to chance, he arranged for each of his guests to be measured up for appropriate Russian period costumes which will be hanging in their hotel wardrobes when they arrive.
Even the invitation itself was minutely planned, I am told. Each guest was sent a set of Russian dolls, with guests having to open ever smaller dolls within the original until reaching the eventual reward.
"Inside was a bottle of vodka and the party invitation was on the label," says one overawed invitee. "It's very impressive."
So who is Richard Caring and how did he become so successful? The son of a US soldier who came to Britain during World War II and who stayed to make a fortune in knitwear, Caring inherited his father's knack for making money.
He supplies stores such as Marks & Spencer, Next, Bhs, Dorothy Perkins and Top Shop, and it is said that it is Caring rather than Green who is the real king of the High Street. He also owns top London restaurants Le Caprice and The Ivy, and two months ago paid £60 million to buy the 25-strong Strada chain.
He lives with his wife Jacqueline, a Sixties model, in a North London mansion. Unlike his flamboyant close associate, Green, he hates the limelight. That might all change after this weekend.
Ever since he started stepping out publicly with Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles, Christmas has been rather incomplete for the Prince of Wales. Not only did they have to spend it apart, but when it came to choosing a personal Christmas card, he was a man alone with his children.
How different Christmas 2005 is going to be. Camilla will be with him at Sandringham and, I learn, will feature in a picture for the family Christmas card.
I understand that the picture he has chosen includes all four of their children - William and Harry, as well as Tom and Laura Parker Bowles.
The last time Charles was part of a full family picture was in 1991, a year before he and Diana parted, when a stilted domestic photo could not paper over the cracks in their marriage.
This time the photograph is said to be far more relaxed. It was shot by Tatler's social cameraman Hugo Burnand, whose pictures of the royal wedding in April were well received by the Prince and Camilla. "It's a happy picture," I am told.
pressure, with the recent trend for celebrity mothers shedding the post-natal pounds seemingly within hours of the birth.
The Cutting It star, 34, is six months pregnant with her first child by record producer partner Chris Hughes, and says: "I'm just reading all the magazines about skinny mums and hope they will be writing that about me."
One bandwagon Les Dennis' ex-wife won't be jumping on, however, is that of releasing a "yummy mummy" workout video.
"I don't think that you should do an exercise DVD unless you are a fitness trainer," she says, sensibly.
Somewhat undermining her admirable stance, she goes on to confide: "But I will probably buy Jordan's new fitness DVD for Christmas, as she looks great after having her baby."
Llewellyn has fallen in love.
but of a thoroughly suitable age".
sideways over her hair when she was dancing."
a swathe through the ranks of well-born gels.
its hiccups. "Christelle's not much of a drinker," says a friend. "Since walking out with Dai, she's twice had alcohol poisoning - on one occasion ending up in hospital."
PS A nightmare is looming for aristocrats. Should ID cards become law, people will need to place on a government register every name by which they have previously been known. As the Countess of Mar pointed out in the Lords: "I have had five legal names. I was born Margaret Lane. I became Mrs Margaret Artiss, then Lady Margaret Artiss, followed by Lady Margaret of Mar. I am now the Countess of Mar. I was last Lady Margaret Artiss in about 1965. The Department of Work and Pensions still insists on writing to me in that name because it cannot cope with other titles."


Green River Timberlands, LLC has retained LandVest, Inc. as its advisor in the disposition of the Green River Tree Farm. Located in southern King County of Washington State, this 15,288±-acre property is an excellent example of professionally managed west-slope timberland dominated by Douglas-fir with complimentary volumes of hemlock and other whitewood species.
Lying predominantly in broad benches or gentle slopes between 1,500 and 3,000 feet, the timberlands are typical of the foothills of the western Washington Cascades. 81% of the property is classified as available timberland. Total volume on Green River is estimated at 84,400 MBF. Species composition favors Douglas-fir at 55% of total volume and hemlock/whitewood at 40%. Near-term harvest opportunities are available within the 3,484± acres classified as aged 36 years and older. Green River truly excels, however, in the abundance of sub-merchantable timber. A total of 7,147 acres, or 47% of gross acres, fall within the key 20-35-year age-class. The maturity profile of the timberlands, being heavily skewed to the sub-merchantable category, allows for significant value appreciation in the next decade.


text:
package com.amazonaws.services.identitymanagement.model;

import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.annotation.Generated;

import com.amazonaws.AmazonWebServiceRequest;

/**
 *
 * @see AWS API
 *      Documentation
 */
@Generated("com.amazonaws:aws-java-sdk-code-generator")
public class GetInstanceProfileRequest extends com.amazonaws.AmazonWebServiceRequest implements Serializable, Cloneable {

    /**
     *

     * The name of the instance profile to get information about.
     *

     *

     * This parameter allows (per its regex pattern) a string of
     * characters consisting of upper and lowercase alphanumeric characters with no spaces. You can also include any of
     * the following characters: =,.@-
     *

     */
    private String instanceProfileName;

    /**
     *

     * The name of the instance profile to get information about.
     *

     *

     * This parameter allows (per its regex pattern) a string of
     * characters consisting of upper and lowercase alphanumeric characters with no spaces. You can also include any of
     * the following characters: =,.@-
     *

     *
     * @param instanceProfileName
     *        The name of the instance profile to get information about.

     *

     *        This parameter allows (per its regex pattern) a string of
     *        characters consisting of upper and lowercase alphanumeric characters with no spaces. You can also include
     *        any of the following characters: =,.@-
     */

    public void setInstanceProfileName(String instanceProfileName) {
        this.instanceProfileName = instanceProfileName;
    }

    /**
     *

     * The name of the instance profile to get information about.
     *

     *

     * This parameter allows (per its regex pattern) a string of
     * characters consisting of upper and lowercase alphanumeric characters with no spaces. You can also include any of
     * the following characters: =,.@-
     *

     *
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     *

     *         This parameter allows (per its regex pattern) a string of
     *         characters consisting of upper and lowercase alphanumeric characters with no spaces. You can also include
     *         any of the following characters: =,.@-
     */

    public String getInstanceProfileName() {
        return this.instanceProfileName;
    }

    /**
     *

     * The name of the instance profile to get information about.
     *

     *

     * This parameter allows (per its regex pattern) a string of
     * characters consisting of upper and lowercase alphanumeric characters with no spaces. You can also include any of
     * the following characters: =,.@-
     *

     *
     * @param instanceProfileName
     *        The name of the instance profile to get information about.

     *

     *        This parameter allows (per its regex pattern) a string of
     *        characters consisting of upper and lowercase alphanumeric characters with no spaces. You can also include
     *        any of the following characters: =,.@-
     * @return Returns a reference to this object so that method calls can be chained together.
     */

    public GetInstanceProfileRequest withInstanceProfileName(String instanceProfileName) {
        setInstanceProfileName(instanceProfileName);
        return this;
    }

    /**
     * Returns a string representation of this object; useful for testing and debugging.
     *
     * @return A string representation of this object.
     *
     * @see java.lang.Object#toString()
     */
    @Override
    public String toString() {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        sb.append("{");
        if (getInstanceProfileName() != null)
            sb.append("InstanceProfileName: ").append(getInstanceProfileName());
        sb.append("}");
        return sb.toString();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        if (this == obj)
            return true;
        if (obj == null)
            return false;

        if (obj instanceof GetInstanceProfileRequest == false)
            return false;
        GetInstanceProfileRequest other = (GetInstanceProfileRequest) obj;
        if (other.getInstanceProfileName() == null ^ this.getInstanceProfileName() == null)
            return false;
        if (other.getInstanceProfileName() != null && other.getInstanceProfileName().equals(this.getInstanceProfileName()) == false)
            return false;
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        final int prime = 31;
        int hashCode = 1;

        hashCode = prime * hashCode + ((getInstanceProfileName() == null) ? 0 : getInstanceProfileName().hashCode());
        return hashCode;
    }

    @Override
    public GetInstanceProfileRequest clone() {
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}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Conflict in youth sports is inevitable because anywhere there are people, there are differing personalities and clashing opinions–the result? There's always going to be struggles.
But what if you knew a way to cut down on the strife? What if you figured out that you could leave the relational boxing gloves at home in the closet, never to be used again? What if there was a very simple mindshift that would have huge potential to minimize battles and frustrations?
(Here's some) solid relational wisdom to build on when it comes to having good people around you. Be the kind of friend you want to have. Sounds simple, but many people miss it. Rather than focus on what your friends don't do for you, and how much more you wish they would do, it's a fun switch to just try to embody all the values you want reciprocated in this life.
What you will find is that you begin to attract who you are. If you want encouraging friends? Be an encourager. If you want people to stop showing up late to events you plan? Be early to theirs. If you hate it when people only contact you when they want something? Don't be that person.
Relationships are a reflection. If you don't like what you see in people, the best place to start changing things is in your mirror.
I know that parents cannot always choose the coach, or the teacher, or the other parents on the team. But applying this principal to people in your life that you are "stuck" with can result in changes in them as they reflect what they see in you.
When it comes to making new friends or relationships, start by being the person you'd choose to be with. Be the parent that coaches and teachers enjoy having around. Be the coach that parents love to have working with their kids. Don't wait for others to make the first move. YOU step forward.
You may not think you have much influence or power. You are only one parent, amongst many that a coach or teacher has to work with. But if you want to see change happen, it must start somewhere. And the best place for that to happen is with you.


text:
Elisabeth Rowlanda Pym1
F, #179951, b. circa 27 July 1834
Elisabeth Rowlanda Pym was baptised circa 27 July 1834.1 She was the daughter of Reverend William Wollaston Pym and Sophia Rose Gambier.1 She married Herbert Innes Jackson in June 1857.1
From June 1857, her married name became Jackson.1
[S1561] Brian Comley, "re: Elizabeth Pym," e-mail message to Darryl Roger Lundy, 2 January 2006. Hereinafter cited as "re: Elizabeth Pym."
Herbert Innes Jackson1
Herbert Innes Jackson married Elisabeth Rowlanda Pym, daughter of Reverend William Wollaston Pym and Sophia Rose Gambier, in June 1857.1
Frances Hart1
Frances Hart was the daughter of William Hart and Francis Miles.1 She married Sir Francis Milman, 1st Bt., son of Reverend Francis Milman and Sarah Dyer, on 20 July 1779.2 She died in 1836.1
From 20 July 1779, her married name became Milman.1
Children of Frances Hart and Sir Francis Milman, 1st Bt.
Frances Emily Milman3 d. 26 Jul 1835
Sir William George Milman, 2nd Bt.+4 b. 19 Apr 1781, d. 21 Aug 1857
Lt.-Gen. Francis Miles Milman+3 b. 22 Aug 1783, d. 9 Dec 1856
Very Rev. Henry Hart Milman+4 b. 10 Feb 1791, d. 24 Sep 1868
[S15] George Edward Cokayne, editor, The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes (no date (c. 1900); reprint, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume V, page 334. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Baronetage.
[S15] George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Baronetage, volume V, page 335.
William Hart1
William Hart lived at Stapleton, Gloucestershire, EnglandG.1
Child of William Hart and Francis Miles
Frances Hart+1 d. 1836
Francis Miles1
Francis Miles was the daughter of William Miles.1
Child of Francis Miles and William Hart
William Miles1
Last Edited=14 Nov 2014
William Miles lived at The Grove, Pinner, London, EnglandG.1
Children of William Miles
Francis Miles+1
Reverend Francis Milman1
M, #179957, b. circa 1704, d. 1773
Reverend Francis Milman was born circa 1704.1 He was the son of Reverend Francis Milman.2 He married Sarah Dyer, daughter of Ruchard Dyer.3 He died in 1773.1
He graduated from Exeter College, Oxford University, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, in 1722 with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)1 He was the Rector at East Ogwell, EnglandG.1 He was the Vicar at Abbotskerswell, Devon, EnglandG.1
Children of Reverend Francis Milman and Sarah Dyer
Mary Milman3 d. 1799
Anne Milman3
Sarah Milman3
Sir Francis Milman, 1st Bt.+2 b. 31 Aug 1746, d. 24 Jun 1821
Sarah Dyer1
Sarah Dyer is the daughter of Ruchard Dyer.1 She married Reverend Francis Milman, son of Reverend Francis Milman.1
She lived at Levaton, Woodland, Devon, EnglandG.2
Children of Sarah Dyer and Reverend Francis Milman
Sir William George Milman, 2nd Bt.1
M, #179959, b. 19 April 1781, d. 21 August 1857
Sir William George Milman, 2nd Bt. was born on 19 April 1781.1 He was the son of Sir Francis Milman, 1st Bt. and Frances Hart.1 He married Elizabeth Hurry Alderson, daughter of Robert Alderson, on 23 October 1809.2 He died on 21 August 1857 at age 76 at Ramsgate, Kent, EnglandG.1
He succeeded as the 2nd Baronet Milman, of Levaton-in-Woodland, co. Devon [G.B., 1800] on 24 June 1821.1
Children of Sir William George Milman, 2nd Bt. and Elizabeth Hurry Alderson
Emily Matilda Milman3
unknown daughter Milman2
Francis Milman3 b. 21 Jul 1811
Sir William Milman, 3rd Bt.+3 b. 21 Nov 1813, d. 17 Jun 1885
Rt. Rev. Robert Milman3 b. 25 Jan 1816, d. 15 Mar 1876
Edward Augustus Milman3 b. 19 Aug 1817, d. 21 Dec 1850
Colonel George Alderson Milman+3 b. 11 Oct 1830, d. 29 Dec 1898
Very Rev. Henry Hart Milman1
M, #179960, b. 10 February 1791, d. 24 September 1868
Very Rev. Henry Hart Milman was born on 10 February 1791.2 He was the son of Sir Francis Milman, 1st Bt. and Frances Hart.1 He married Mary Anne Cockell, daughter of Lt.-Gen. William Cockell, on 11 March 1824.2 He died on 24 September 1868 at age 77.1
He held the office of Dean of St. Paul's between 1849 and 1868.1 He was a writer.2 He graduated with a Doctor of Divinity (D.D.)2
Children of Very Rev. Henry Hart Milman and Mary Anne Cockell
Reverend William Henry Milman3 b. 25 Apr 1825, d. 9 Jun 1908
Arthur Milman+3 b. 10 Jan 1829, d. 23 Jan 1913
Archibald John Scott Milman+3 b. 2 Feb 1834, d. 14 Feb 1902


We discovered a total of 92 deleted reviews for this product, with an average rating of 4.9. Even though deleted reviews don't affect the average rating, the fact that action was taken to delete reviews raises some red flags about the integrity of the reviews for the product as whole.
9 of the 200 reviewers have reviewed multiple products but half or more of their reviews are for this brand. This is an excessively large percentage of Brand Loyalists which may indicate unnatural reviews.
7 of the 200 reviewers have reviewed multiple products, but only for this brand. This is an excessively large percentage of Brand Monogamists which may indicate unnatural reviews.
43 of the 200 reviewers have only reviewed this product. While this is more One-Hit Wonders than we'd expect to see, the discrepancy in ratings between the One-Hit Wonders and reviewers who have posted more than one review isn't significant enough to rule out the possibility of it being due to random chance.
43 of the 200 reviewers have had at least one of their past reviews for another product deleted. The Take-Back Reviewers have rated this product an average of 4.9 while the reviewers who don't have any deleted reviews in their history have rated this product an average of 4.7. Based on our statistical modeling, the discrepancy in average rating between these two groups is significant enough to believe that the difference is not due to random chance, and may indicate that there are unnatural reviews.
We counted 200 reviews for this product over the span of 1,069 days, an average of 0.2 reviews per day. If these reviews were created randomly, there would be a 99.9% chance that we would see 3 or fewer reviews on any given day.
9 of the 200 total reviews for this product use substantial repetitive phrases between them. This is an excessively large percentage which may indicate unnatural reviews.
In total, we found that 91 reviewers (or 46%) are within an overrepresented participation group. While this is more reviews from overrepresented participation groups than we'd expect to see, these reviews do not appear to have a significant impact on the overall rating.
44 of the 200 total reviews for this product are unverified purchases. This is within an acceptable range and it does not appear to be significantly affecting the overall rating for this product.
17 of the 200 reviewers have substantial overlapping product review history. This is within an acceptable range and it does not appear to be significantly affecting the overall rating for this product.
3 of the 200 total reviews for this product admitted to receiving a free or discounted product in exchange for a review. This is within an acceptable range and it does not appear to be significantly affecting the overall rating for this product.


Then maybe people not familar with bash scripting should get familar to get the most mileage out of bash.
> > which are easy to follow.
> follow. To assume that all will find it easy is a big leap.
>         the next freeway exit.


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text:
@interface DemoHttpService : HHZHttpService
@property (nonatomic, assign) id<HHZHttpServiceDelegate> delegate;

-(HHZHttpResult *)testHttpRequestArg1:(NSString *)arg1 Arg2:(NSUInteger)arg2 Condition:(HHZHttpRequestCondition *)condition;

@end


text:
Talks meaningless: Madhesi Front talks team
Publish date : 19 January, 2016
Kathmandu, Jan 19: A talks team formed by the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), has said that it would not sit for talks with the taskforce formed by the major three parties, saying the talks with the taskforce was meaningless.
The UDMF team said that the next meeting would be held between the top leader of the parties associated with UDMF and top leaders of the three major political parties as the government taskforce did not budge from its stance as was seen in course of promulgating the new constitution.At a press meet organised by the UDMF team at the office of the Tarai-Madhes Loktantrik Party at Bijulibazaar today, the team clarified that the talks, however, with major political parties were significant.
On the occasion, TMLP Vice-Chairman Hridayesh Tripathi said that they, in course of meeting with thetaskforce and UDMF team held at the official residence of the Prime Minister on Monday evening, reached to the conclusion that they could not sit for talks with the government taskforce.
Tripathi said, "The attitude and posturing shown by the taskforce on Monday meeting hurt us. So we decided not to sit for talks with it."
The government task force comprises Nepali Congress leader Mahesh Acharya, CPN (UML) Vice-Chairman Bhim Bahadur Rawal and UCPN (Maoist) General Secretary Krishna Bahadur Mahara while the UDMF talks team comprises TMLP Vice-Chairman Tripathi, Sadbhawana Party Co-Chair Laxmanlal Karna and Rajendra Shrestha of the Federal Socialist Forum Nepal. The teams were formed on how to address the 11-point demand of the agitating UDMF and demands presented in the Legislature-parliament regarding constitution amendment.
Tripathi blamed that they had reached closer to agreement on the different issues raised by the UDMF including state restructuring, delineation of federal states, language, among others, but it vitiated all of a sudden.
He further said that now the talks would be held at the top leadership level and they would not join it.
Similarly, Karna said that although they have wanted resolution of the problems through constitution amendment, the three major political parties did not adopt flexibility in this regard.


Please mention the "Restful Night Accommodation" web site when contacting this bed and breakfast.
We have a warm, welcoming atmosphere here.
All our rooms are en-suite with TV, tea and coffee-making facilities, hair dryer and radio alarm.
We provide a full English, continental or vegetarian breakfast.
We are a perfect base for visiting Warwick Castle, Oxford and the Cotswolds.


text:
'The Ivory Game,' Produced By Leonardo DiCaprio, Is a Shocking Look at an Underground Marketplace — Telluride Review
In the tradition of "The Cove" and "Virguna," Netflix's latest real-life ecological thriller showcases a shocking threat to the future of the African Elephant.
"The Ivory Game"
The numbers don't tell the story, but they're alarming enough to set it in motion: 150,000 elephants have been killed for ivory in five years; today, one elephant is killed every 15 minutes. At this rate, the African Elephant will go extinct in 15 years. These figures provide a statistical foundation to "The Ivory Game," a globe-spanning investigative look at a species under serious duress. However, the movie's real suspense emerges out of the astonishing footage — from the heated battleground of Southern Africa, where elephants face constant threat from poachers, to the black market in China where the goods wind up, "The Ivory Game" reveals the full scope of a human-driven push toward mass extinction. A real-life ecological thriller in the mold of "The Cove" and "Virunga," directors Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani's engaging overview makes up for its occasionally scattershot approach with first-rate suspense.
If James Bond turned his attention to animal rights issues, he might find himself in the middle of this hidden war. (It could also provide good material for Leonard DiCaprio, who executive produced.) The film follows countless activists and officers engaged in a clandestine and often dangerous battle with an underground economy. From the wilds of Kenya, where the filmmakers visit scene after scene of mutilated elephant corpses, the movie tracks the problem to backroom dealings in China, where a single kilogram can sell for $3,000 on the black market.
Using concealed cameras — sometimes, though, not concealed enough — the filmmakers capture numerous shady conversations between traders and undercover agents. These tense scenes are matched by similar showdowns in Africa, where officers routinely find poachers in the immediate aftermath of their malicious hunts. The resulting collage of personalities turns "Ivory"into a global war movie in which the survival of humans and elephants alike hangs in balance.
But the film also provides a keen overview of the geopolitical setbacks that continue to keep the ivory business in flux. "One person has the destiny of an entire species in his hands," says one activist, placing the blame solely in the lap of China's president — and the film's revealing footage makes it easy to see why. Despite official regulations limiting the amount of ivory allowed into the country, many traders gleefully flaunt their illegal wares, with few locals willing to speak up. One exception: the determined Hongxiang Chang, a young man driven to upend assumptions about his country's ambivalence even as he acknowledges the possibility of being deemed a traitor.
Meanwhile, "The Ivory Game" traces the ivory trade back to its grisly source: the gun-wielding poachers roaming through African parks and slaughtering hordes of elephants without any semblance of restraint. While these offenders remain largely off-camera, the film acknowledges some of the broader systematic issues allowing the killing to persevere: In villages where roaming elephants inadvertently destroy farmland, locals welcome hunters the way one might greet an exterminator, prompting activists to intervene with mixed results. Flying high above the African planes, they come across scene after scene of dismembered animals — shriveled under the sun, their corpses become tragic signposts of environmental indifference.
The filmmakers fuse these disparate settings together with sweeping aerial footage, murky nighttime encounters and hidden camera footage alike, providing an immersive collage into every level of interaction that contributes to this international crisis. This approach sometimes leads to an episodic quality that impedes the prospects of getting too invested in any single narrative. However, as an essayistic breakdown of a widely misunderstood threat, it excels at capturing nearly every angle of the equation.
"The Ivory Game" may be a harsh wakeup call to anyone concerned about the future of the largest land mammal, but it's also a keen evaluation of the efforts being made to correct the situation. Even as it captures a dire situation, Davidson and Ladkani single out a series of engaged personalities risking everything to bring illegal traders to justice — and in some cases, making actual progress. By transforming its urgent message into the sensationalistic language of pulse-pounding blockbuster — replete with dramatic music cues and frantic editing sequences — "The Ivory Game" risks overstating its message, but at the same time it makes the underlying didacticism more palatable. The you-are-there approach to tackling this subject means that "The Ivory Game" largely avoids lecturing its viewers; instead, the harrowing experience speaks for itself.
Grade: B+
"The Ivory Game" premiered at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival. Netflix will release it on November 4.
This Article is related to: Film and tagged Leonardo DiCaprio, Netflix, Telluride Film Festival, The Ivory Game


It was not a long way to Croatia, but we set off early because we wanted to stop and visit Mostar and its famous bridge and also because we had not booked anywhere to stay in Croatia, the plan was to get to the coast and then ride north until we found a place we liked and try to find an apartment or a room there, as there is a lot of offer and it should not be difficult to find something.
Riding out of Sarajevo we discovered that it is a much bigger city than we had imagined when we were visiting the center, it extended to the south before turning into suburbs and industrial areas and then the hills closed around us again and we were on twisty roads, enjoying the nice weather. After a while the road wound its way into a canyon following a river that further down flowed under the bridge in Mostar. The scenery was amazing, a winding road along an emerald river with majestic grey-white cliffs on both sides. When the canyon finally opened into a wider valley we found the town, or rather city. It was bigger than I thought, in fact it is the fifht biggest city in the country, and as usual, we rode through some uninteresting suburbs before finding the old town. We rode down a cobbled street following the signs that pointed towards the Stari Most until we came to a point where we could not ride any further. I was turning the bike around to go back up the street and find a place to park when a boy gestured me to ride onto a bar's terrace where there were already four motorbikes parked. It seems the owner of the bar, seeing the country was a popular destination for riders, had smelled business and decided to use the terrace as parking space. We left the bike in the shade and under the eye of the barman for a couple of Euros (that price was for the whole day if we had wanted to stay) and walked a few meters down the street to find the bridge.
The first impression was that it was a very crowded tourist spot, there were a lot of people standing on the bridge, so many in fact that it was difficult to make our way onto it, but then we saw the reason so many people had congregated at the same time on the bridge itself and on both banks – a young man in swimming trunks was getting ready to jump off into the ice cold river below. He dosed himself with cold water from a hose to get ready, stepped over the railings, clapped his hands a few times to get everybody cheering and flexed his legs as silence fell over the crowd watching. Then he jumped up and forward, spreading his arms like wings and arching his back as he stood in the air for a fraction of a second before plunging into the river more than 20 meters below. It seems that it is traditional for young men to dive from the bridge into the river, there are formal competitions organized every summer, a diving club in a house by the bridge, and it dates all the way back to the bridge's construction, in the 16th century.
We visited the rest of the old town, including an exhibition with photographs of the city before, during and after the war, and a video of the destruction of the bridge. During the Bosnian war, the town saw fighting between the army of Bosnia I Herzegovina and the Croatian army on one side, and the Yugoslav's People Army. The Croatian army bombed and destroyed the bridge claiming that it was of strategic importance, although the action is mostly considered to be an act against Bosnian cultural heritage. After the war it was reconstructed and it stands as a symbol of the union between cultures in the country.
We left the town under the intense summer heat and stopped one last time before crossing the border to spend what we had left of Bosnian money on petrol and a bottle of water; we had some lunch sitting in the shade of some trees by the petrol station and then rode to the border. The crossing was the easiest one I had done outside the EU – I handed the guard the passports, and the moment she saw they were EU passports she waved us through. After a short ride we finally saw the sea, and started making our way up the coast. We had decided to skip Dubrovnik, as it meant riding almost 90km south and then back up again, I had already seen the city and it was swarming with tourists this time of the year, as all Mediterranean cruises call on its port. Instead, we decided to try and get as close as possible to Split. By late afternoon we had made it to Omis, a beautiful fishing town a few kilometers from Split and once a pirate haven, where we tried to find accommodation. The idea was to try and rent a room in the center, so we could walk back to bed if we went out for dinner or for a beer, but all the places where we asked were out of our budget. In the end we rode for just a couple of kilometers out of town and found an apartment with a view to the sea, two minutes away from the beach on foot and with internet connection at a very reasonable price, so we took it for four nights.
This entry was posted in Stroming The World 2013, Travel and tagged Croatia, Mostar, Omis, STW 2013 by Kilian. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
EMC Builds a Model for Customer Loyalty
By Larry Dobrow
The public knows
EMC for its products. The tech company blossomed in the 1990s as customers went online and needed information management software and systems. But the company is looking to change its focus to build loyalty, not just products.
"For a long time we were basically a product company," says Frank Hauck, executive vice president of global marketing and customer quality. "For the greater part of the 1990s, there were two pockets of influence: development and sales. It was everybody else's job to make those two functions successful."
But when the tech sector crashed in 2001, some longtime EMC users abandoned the company's premium products for less expensive ones. The company realized it may have misevaluated its customers' needs.
After extensive surveying, EMC learned that while customers were incredibly satisfied with the products, they weren't especially loyal to the company. So in 2002 EMC abandoned customer satisfaction as a metric and commenced a push that would eventually become known as the Total Customer Experience (TCE) program.
The goal was to create a roadmap that would take customers from "satisfied" to "loyal." "What we didn't have enough of were the people who said, 'I'm an EMC customer. I can't wait for that next product to come in the door,'" Hauck says. The model needed to change from product provider to strategic partner.
Everyone plays a part
The shift required substantial in-house philosophical changes at EMC. The engineers had been focused on new features and speed of performance, while the sales staff believed its job was done once it got customers to sign on the dotted line. The service-centric culture Hauck envisioned, however, would require every internal constituency to reorient its way of doing business: "They'd have to be strategic
advisers," he says. "They'd have to be more consultative."
EMC began a companywide training program for its 38,000 employees to change its corporate culture. Now, engineers and others in the technical and development units must make themselves available to the customer-facing sales reps and senior management to offer their expertise about
customer questions and issues.
On the sales side, "it's less about trying to close a transaction at the end of the quarter and more about having knowledge of what's going on with the customer," Hauck says. "We want everybody to be on top of what the customer might need." To this end, EMC has initiated quarterly account reviews, a nonselling event during which EMC reps and their customers evaluate the ongoing status of the relationship.
The company made it clear early on that it is serious about customer centricity. It altered its compensation structure, tying a quarterly bonus to a 10 percent increase in system availability from quarter to quarter. "System availability" is one of the metrics measured in lieu of customer satisfaction. It's the percentage of time that the systems are working properly for customers. EMC judges everyone on this one to spur anyone in the customer-service chain to address problems as soon as they happen. Since almost every employee has a role in keeping systems available, it made sense to measure that metric as part of the TCE program.
The first few quarters, the company met its goals. The fourth saw only a 9.7 percent increase, which EMC didn't round up, meaning that nobody got paid. From that moment onward, the few people who weren't taking TCE seriously started doing so.
Feedback so far has been positive. Some customers now consider EMC a partner, and the company has returned to profitability after a turbulent few years. According to a speech Hauck gave at the Conference Board Customer Loyalty conference in June, EMC is slated to generate
$1.9 billion in profit on revenues of $15 billion in 2008.
"The relationship piece of what we do is a journey, as clich?s that sounds. It's not something we'll ever get 100 percent right," Hauck says. "At the same time, the days where customer service was just 'something breaks, we fix it' are long gone. People may get rid of their vendors for price, but you don't see them getting rid of strategic business partners. We think we're in the right place."
Blog How to Tell If Your B2B Website Is Customer-Centric
Hint: Show, don't tell.
Blog Put the Customer Back in Customer Loyalty
Successful companies such as Warby Parker and Glossier are simplifying the customer experience and deepening customer relationships. Loyalty strategies must do the same.
Blog For Actionable Customer Intelligence, Try Small Data
When it comes to data, more isn't always better.
Feature 8 Trends in Digital Marketing and Social Media to Watch in 2019
What will reshape this year's CX?
By Jeff Marcoux