Veracity Problem: A Review of Various PageRanking Algorithms

Veracity Problem: A Review of Various PageRanking Algorithms Abstract Enormous availability of web pages containing information leaves user in confusion of which webpage to trust and which link provides the right information. This paper provides a survey of the most relevant studies carried out in regard of ranking web pages. First, it introduces the problem of â€Å"Veracity† , conformity to truth. It then goes on to list the most common algorithms that have been used to resolve the problem of conformity to truth. Finally, this analysis provides a way to guide future research in this field. Keywords: Trustworthiness, ranking Introduction The world wide web has become the most important information source. Everyone uses WWW for searching any information about any particular thing or keyword. It is very common that the results we obtain provide a lot of useless pages. Different websites generally provide conflicting information about same object. It becomes quite difficult to decide about the correctness of information we get from search engines. In most cases, users believe that the topmost links provided by any search engine provide trustworthy results without regard to exceptions. But there is no surity for the accuracy of information present on the internet. Moreover, various websites generally provide inconsistent and conflicting information for same object, like different specifications for same product. For instance a user is interested in knowing the height of Mount Everest and queries the search engine with â€Å"The height of Mount Everest is?† Among the top results, user will find the following facts: some websites say 29,055 feet, other websites say 29,028 feet, another one says 29,002 feet, and rest say 29,027 feet. It becomes difficult to decide which answer is correct and which fact should user trust?[1] . The question is how to decide the right information and how to decide the trustworthiness of any website. The problem is known as ‘Veracity’. It becomes quite difficult for the user to decide which website to trust for the correctness of information. The resultant pages of any search engine must be ranked according to decreasing level of trustworthiness. To resolve this problem, different algorithms have been developed. The existing algorithm Page Rank which is used by Google, uses link structure of the web page[2]. Another algorithm exists known as Weighted PageRank(WPR) Algorithm. It assigns larger rank values to more popular webpages rather than dividing the rank value of a webpage evenly among its outlink pages[3]. Each outlink page gets a value corresponding to its popularity (count of inlinks and outlinks). Voting is another approach to rank web pages which uses the count of votes from one webpage to another and ranks webpages with respect to the count results. Authority-Hub analysis is also used for ranking webpages. It works on the idea of high authorities and popularity of websites. These approaches identify important web pages as per user’s interest but popularity of webpages does not guarantee accuracy of information. A less popular website may provide more useful and accurate information as compared to more popular websites. All of them use iterative approaches, in which same trustworthiness value is given to all data sources, and iteratively evaluate the confidence of every fact and then propagate back to the data sources. Tagrank, Distancerank, Timerank, Relation based algorithm, Weighted link rank. This paper surveys the most relevant algorithms proposed in this field as solution to the problem of ranking the web pages. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 1 discusses different techniques for ranking web pages. Section 2 presents the analysis and section 3 contains a brief conclusion. Techniques for Ranking Web Pages: 2.1 PageRank: PageRank is a method of measuring a pages â€Å"significance†[2]. PageRank is based on the idea that good pages always reference good pages. PageRank’s theory says that if Page A links to Page B, then that link is counted as one vote for page B. If any link pointing to a page is important then it is counted as a strong vote. If links pointing to a page are important then the outlinks of that page also become important. Fig1 : A and B are backlinks of C In this figure, A and B are backlinks of C and C is the backlink of D and E. Assume A, B, C and D are four webpages. Self links or multiple links from one page to another page, are ignored. Initially same PageRank value is assigned to all pages. Originally in PageRank, the total number of webpages was the sum of PageRank over all pages. However, advanced versions of PageRank use a  probability distribution between 0 and 1. Hence the initial value for each page mentioned above is 0.25. In the next iteration the PageRank is transferred from a given page to its outbound links is equally divided among them. If in the system links were from pagesB,C, andDtoA then each link would transfer probability distribution of 0.25 PageRank toAon next iteration, for a total of 0.75. PR(A) = PR(B)+PR(C)+PR(D) = + + In general case, for any page u the PageRank value can be stated as: L(v) number of outlinks of pagev. Bu set containing all pages that links to pageu. The PageRank value for a pageuis dependent on the PageRank values for each pagevcontained in the setBu, divided by the numberL(v) of outlinks of pagev. 2.2 Weighted Pagerank: WPR algorithm is an extension to the ordinary PageRank algorithm. Limitation of existing algorithms HITS and PageRank is that both algorithms deal all links uniformly when distributing rank scores[3]. WPR considers the significance of both inlinks and outlinks of the webpages and on the basis of popularity of pages, the rank scores are distributed. PageRank algorithm divides the rank values of any page evenly amongst its outlink pages, while WPR assigns higher rank values to more popular webpages. Considering the significance of webpages, the original PageRank equation is modified as [3]: [4] 2.3 Distancerank: Distancerank is an intelligent ranking algorithm proposed by Ali Mohammad Zareh Bidoki and Nasser Yazdani[11]. This algorithm is based on reinforcement learning such that the distance between pages is considered as a punishment factor. The distance is defined as the number of ‘‘average clicks’’ between two pages. The distance dj of page j is computed as : +ÃŽ ±*mini(log(O(i))+di)[11] where i is a member of pages that point to j and O(i) shows out degree of i and a is the learning rate of the user[1]. 2.4 Hyperlink Induced Topic Search (HITS): The HITS algorithm is also known as â€Å"hubs and authorities† is a link analysis algorithm. HITS divides the sites of a query between â€Å"hubs† and â€Å"authorities† for ranking webpages. Links to authorities are contained in hubs, while hubs point to authorities [6]. Hubs Authorities HITS assigns two values to a webpage: a hub weight and an authority weight. These weights are defined recursively. A high authority weight occurs if webpages with high hub weights are pointing it. Similarly, a higher hub weight occurs if the webpage points to large webpages with high authority weights. Thus, itidentifies good authorities and hubs for any query. HITS works on the concept that if the creator of webpage p has a link to webpage q then p has some authority on q[6]. 2.5 TimeRank: Time Rank algorithm proposed by H Jiang et al improves the rank score of web pages by using the visit time of web pages. This algorithm is supposed to be a combination of link structure and content[9]. Pr (T(i)|q) = Pr (T(i)) + Pr (q|T(i)) Ti à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ® means topic i of each page. Pr (T (i)) means the section of pages belonging to topic i in the whole page set. Pr (Ti | q) means the probability of query q related to topic i. 2.6 Web Page Ranking using link attributes: Weighted Links Rank (WLRank) assigns the value R(i), known as Ranking value, to page i with the following equations[12]: Where, given a link from page j to page i we have: L(j; i) 1 if the link exists, 0 otherwise, c a constant that gives a base weight to every link, T(j; i) a value which depends on the tag where the link is put in, AL(j; i) the anchor text length of the link divided by a constant d, and RP(j; i) the relative position of the link in the page weighted by a constant b. Analysis: Different algorithms for ranking webpages have been studied and the analysis is presented in the following table: References: [1] X. Yin, J. Han, and P. S. Yu, â€Å"Truth Discovery with Multiple Conflicting Information Providers on the Web†, IEEE Transactions On Knowledge And Data Engineering, Vol. 20, No. 6, June 2008. [2] C. Ridings and M. Shishigin, â€Å"Pagerank Uncovered†, Technical Report, 2002. [3]Wenpu Xing and Ali Ghorbani, â€Å"Weighted PageRank Algorithm†, In proceedings of the 2rd Annual Conference on Communication Networks Services Research, PP. 305-314, 2004. [4]Wenpu Xing and Ali Ghorbani, â€Å"Weighted PageRank Algorithm†, In proceedings of the 2rd Annual Conference on Communication Networks Services Research, PP. 305-314, 2004. [5] Geeta R. Bharamagoudar , Shashikumar G.Totad and Prasad Reddy PVGD, â€Å" Literature Survey on Web Mining† IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering ,Issue 4 (Sep-Oct. 2012). [6] Jon Kleinberg, â€Å"Authoritative Sources in a Hyperlinked Environment†, In proceedings of the ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, 1998. [7] Lin-Tao Lv, Li-Ping Chen, Hong-Fang Zhou, An improved topic relevance algorithm for vertical search engines, ICWAPR 08, Hong Kong, pp. 753-757, Aug 2008. [8] H Jiang et al., TIMERANK: A Method of Improving Ranking Scores by Visited Time, In proceedings of the Seventh International  Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Kunming, 12-15 July 2008. [9] S. Chakrabarti, B. Dom, D. Gibson, J. Kleinberg, R. Kumar, P.Raghavan, S. Rajagopalan, A. Tomkins, â€Å"Mining the Link Structure of the World Wide Web†, IEEE Computer Society Press, Vol 32, Issue 8 pp. 60 – 67, 1999. [10] Fabrizio Lamberti, Andrea Sanna and Claudio Demartini , â€Å"A Relation-Based Page Rank Algorithm for. Semantic Web Search Engines†, In IEEE Transaction of KDE, Vol. 21, No. 1, Jan 2009. [11] Ali Mohammad Zareh Bidoki and Nasser Yazdani, â€Å"DistanceRank: An Iintelligent Ranking Algorithm for Web Pages†, Information Processing and Management, 2007. [12] Ricardo Baeza-Yates and Emilio Davis ,Web page ranking using link attributes , In proceedings of the 13th international World Wide Web conference on Alternate track papers posters, PP.328-329, 2004. [13] Milan Vojnovic et al., â€Å"Ranking and Suggesting Popular Items†, In IEEE Transaction of KDE, Vol. 21, No. 8, Aug 2009. [14] Fang Liu, Clement Yu, Weiyi Meng, â€Å"Personalized Web Search for Improving Retrieval Effectiveness†, IEEE transactions on knowledge and data engineering, 16 (1) January 2004. [15] Gr ´egoire Burel, Amparo E. Cano, Matthew Rowe, and Alfonso Sosa â€Å"Representing, Proving and Sharing Trustworthiness of Web Resources Using Veracity† Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.

Wal-Mart - Great for Shoppers, Bad for Competitors Essay -- GCSE Busin

Wal-Mart - Great for Shoppers, Bad for Competitors Wal-Mart can be a virus and a cure, since it has its pros and cons depending on the critiques perspective. From my point of view, Wal-Mart is an extremely efficient superstore, with amazing marketing skills, and coordination. However, Wal-Mart is also a bully and price decider, therefore, Wal-Mart is great for shoppers and bad for competitors. As a student; Wal-Mart is my primary resort for supplies and foodstuff, due to their matchless prices and wide variety of products which gives me the luxury of a ‘one stop shop’. Moreover, the transportation to and from Wal-Mart is unproblematic. On my first visit to Wal-Mart I was impressed by the way everything has been set and placed to attract customers, the shelves looked full and tidy, the product clean and attractive, and the prices ‘unbeatable’. In addition, with every visit I seem to enjoy the experience even more, conversely it had been rare that I faced an awful experience, due to my high satisfaction with the service, products and store wholly. In The past couple of weeks of ESL 015 we have been assigned to analyze anti-Wal-Mart articles, where all the writers were bias and had fixed opinions of hatred towards Wal-Mart. This influenced my opinion significantly and gradually I am realizing what a major issue it is, and how it has affected the American economy as a whole. On a smaller scale, small town America is being affected by the ‘money exporting’ from smalle...

Postmodernism in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran

Where does truth lie? Postmodernism is a literary movement of the twentieth century that attempts to show that the answer to this question cannot be completely determined. Characteristics of postmodern works include a mixing of different genres, random time changes, and the use of technology that all aid in presenting a common postmodern theme that truth doesn’t lie in one story, place or person. The novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer encompasses these postmodern characteristics combining together show how the truth cannot always be attained. Intertwined within the novel is the presence of many different genres including letters, articles and magazine clippings, and pictures. At first sight there is the whole book, a novel written in Oskar’s point of view, which tells of his trials and tribulations growing up in a post-September eleventh world. After closer examination, numerous letters from different characters are found placed within the story to provide an insight into the feelings of other characters. There is a letter from Oskar’s grandmother, letters from prisoners and other people for handwriting samples, and letters from Stephen Hawking among many. Also within the book are magazine and newspaper articles that relate to the story in different ways. For example the article about Chandra Levy parallels Oskar’s story of loss and continuous search. The other articles are apart of the game Oskar played with his dad. Oskar’s dad circled newspaper articles in red as clues to the answer to a se arch for item. Finally tactically Foer placed pictures relating to the novel throughout the book. The picture of the â€Å"Sixth Borough† (or lack of it) complements the story of the sixth borough and the picture ... ...of others. In today's society, the Internet is the primary means by which people search for "truth†. Foer tries to point out that in the society based on the truth still cannot always be found. Through the use of many postmodern characteristics Foer has created a book that concerns with the questions, where does the truth lie? And how does someone obtain the truth? At the end of the novel Oskar never really finds what he was looking for, His questions are all left unanswered. By ending in this manor Foer suggests that the truth can’t be found not every question has a yes or no answer. People can choose to go through life constantly attempting to achieve the answers to life or they can choose to accept things for what they are. Truth can be defined as the body of real things, events, and facts. But knowing the definition still leaves the question does truth exist?

The Vanity Of An Ape In A Thin Slice Of Cosmic Time

By Chris Burrows Born in the hot summer of 87 to an accountant and nurse with an absurd pretence to create a pleasant and respectable appearance, I lived, as would be expected, a traditional middle-class, white childhood. By the age of sixteen, more formally known as the age of reason, I had established an anti-religious, political and cultural identity incompatible with that of my parents, thus consequentially aborted from the home unit and forced upon the streets.In and out of punk rock bands, failing relationships, etty crime and substance addiction, early adulthood founded for what was to become a blind yet fruitful Journey of promiscuity, artistic proficiency and self development. This continues to be, for the most part, a euphoric experience. Soon enough, an informal, yet nevertheless rigorous study of physics, astronomy and cognitive science lead to the inevitable realisation that this universe, however beautiful and complex, exists without purpose and our lives within it, as important and eventful as they may seem, are ultimately meaningless.Particularly, that skyscrapers, governments and police forces are merely the result of thirteen billion ears of sequential chemical reactions externally determined by their surroundings, and any purpose or meaning a human may experience within their life is purely a product of their own mind.Torn between suicidal tendencies to the left, and the vacant monotony of modern life to the right, I kept driving straight ahead, crashing full speed into the destined and only middle ground, escapism. Finally, distraction and relief from all the unpleasant realities of life had been found, secluded in a timber cabin deep within the woods, and it is there too, where you may find this lonely boy, and his dog.

Shackleton Moral Challenge

Earnest Shackleton: Moral Challenge Earnest Shackleton, leader of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition showed great moral leadership in the choosing, leading and ultimate saving of his crew of 27 men. Shackleton led his men with strength and respect. He had a great ability to showcase the strength of individual men, while leading them as a team. In choosing his crew, he not only looked at the work that they would do, but also how they would interact with the rest of the men. In the most trying of circumstances. Once it became apparent that the original goal of the mission was lost, Shackleton kept his crew working together towards the common goal of survival. Shackleton shows great leadership using six fundamental leadership traits: â€Å"Planning, Team Building, Flexibility, Communication, Conflict Resolution, and Lead by Example. † (Harris 21) Even as a child, Shackleton was seen as both a strong leader and an empathetic friend. A classmate recalled that Shackleton had â€Å"beaten up a schoolyard bully who had been picking on a smaller boy. From an early age, Shackleton gravitated to the role of protector, stepping up to the front to insist on fair play. † (Morrell and Capparell, 17) Shackleton has a history of putting his men above the goal. In 1907, he was 97 miles from the South Pole when he turned back in order to return his party safely back to the ship. This ability to both lead and protect would prove to be invaluable in the Trans-Antarctic expedition. Shackleton plans his expedition carefully. He is aware of the environment and conditions, having been on expeditions in the Antarctic and to the South Pole in the past. He overstocks on provisions to keep his men fed and stimulated. There was food, books, music and the best equipment available at the time, including rations to prevent scurvy and specially designed tents. Shackleton only takes risks when necessary and when lives were at stake. â€Å"He often referred to himself as â€Å"Old Cautious† and took pleasure when his men called him the same. † (Morrell and Capparell, 34) â€Å"Shackleton built the crew list around a nucleus of tested veterans. † (Lansing, 16) These included men who had been with him in expeditions to the Antarctic with Scott (1901, 1910-1911) or the race to the pole (1908-1909). Other crew members were chosen with their personalities and ability to work together in mind. Shackleton hired a meteorologist with practically no qualifications for the position, simply because he thought that he â€Å"looked funny† and had recently returned from an expedition to the Sudan. One surgeon was hired in part because he joked about wearing glasses. Another was asked if he was good natured and if he could sing. â€Å"Despite the instantaneous nature of these decisions, Shackleton’s intuition of selecting compatible men rarely failed. (Lansing, 17) Shackleton shows an ability to change his tactics and goals during the course of the expedition. At the start, he is focused on the goal of a trans-Antarctic crossing. When it becomes apparent that the Endurance is locked in ice and the crossing will not happen, he focuses on the immediate need to survive the upcoming Antarctic winter. â€Å"He was careful, however, not to betray his disappointment to the men, and he cheerfully supervised the routine of readying the ship for the long winter’s night ahead. (Lansing, 34) Once it is determined that the ship is being crushed, the focus lies on moving to, and surviving on, the ice floe. As the ice is breaking up, Shackleton sets his sights on land. The unpredictable winds and currents are what finally determine the choice of Elephant Island. This is a rocky, uninhabited island, but it was land, and a place where the men could stay while he led a small crew of six in a single boat to South Georgia Island. Communication is an important facet of Shackleton’s leadership. He is available to his men, but still keeps enough of a distance to maintain authority and order. His men call him â€Å"boss†. This shows a sense of familiarity – they don’t feel that they need to call him Captain Shackleton, but also respect for his position and that they look to him as their leader. Shackleton shows a great skill in talking to his crew so that they work well together. When Vincent, a member of the crew tries to gain advancement through the use of tyranny, Shackleton listens to the complaints of the other crewmembers, speaks to Vincent privately and the behavior is corrected. It is not known what was said, but the attitude was improved. This shows an ability to both manage a potential bad situation, but also to do it privately so that Vincent is not reprimanded in front of his co-workers. Shackleton seeks the advice and opinions of the crew when determining a course of action, allowing them to have a say in the decision. However, when it comes time to make the decision, Shackleton takes full ownership and sees it through. Conflicts were bound to arise during the course of the expedition and Shackleton used a variety of means to avoid or end the conflicts in a timely manner. Knowing the personalities of his crew was an asset. Shackleton knew that Hurley had an ego that needed to be stroked and included him in many of the high level meetings to prove that he was important to the expedition. Certain crew members were more negative and prone to cause problems. â€Å"In their tents on the ice, Shackleton ensured that the ability of such â€Å"bad actors† to erode morale was checked by having them reside in Shackleton’s own tent or Wild’s tent. † (Chappell, 2) Shackleton leads by example. He does not take special privileges for himself and often works harder than his men. He is the first one up and the last one to sleep – often staying up to watch the ice and the currents so that his men can rest. Shackleton also leads the final crew in the more than 700 mile trip from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island. He shows a positive attitude at all times, which keeps his crew optimistic as they work together to survive. This is no small feat as he is responsible for 27 lives and has to give up the main goal of the expedition, which was to cross the Antarctic. Shackleton never gives up. Even after he reaches the whaling station on South Georgia Island, he does not wait for a ship to be delivered to rescue his men. As he has done the entire journey, he uses the resources available until he is able to meet his goal of bringing his entire crew back to safety and civilization. I believe that Shackleton shows moral leadership in that he is more concerned for his crew than he is for himself and his reputation as an explorer. Instead of following Scott’s example of meeting the original goal, he considers the consequences of losing his crew and chooses life over glory. Scott ruled by brute force an intimidation. He refused to look beyond his goals and while he did reach the South Pole, he also lost his life and the lives of his crew in the process. Shackleton showed a respect for others his entire life and this did not change when he became a leader of expeditions. He turned back from the South Pole in 1909 because he felt that reaching his goal would sacrifice his crew. During the Endurance expedition he sets the goal for survival and rescue and sees it through to the end. No lives were lost and his crew shows respect and obedience to â€Å"the boss† throughout. Endurance scholar Caroline Alexander says that the crew had a saying about Sir Earnest: â€Å"For scientific discovery give me Scott. For speed and efficiency give me Amundsen. But when you're in a hopeless case and disaster strikes, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton. † Works Cited Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. New York: Carroll and Graf, 1959. Harris, Michael. â€Å"Leadership in a Time of Crisis: The Shackleton Way. † E Academic Affairs, 2003: 14-28. Jan 15, 2012. http://www. iuk. edu/chancellor/assets/pdf/leadership-in-a-time-of-crisis. pdf Morrell, Margo and Capparell, Stephanie. Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer. New York: Viking Penguin, 2001. Chappell, Charles. â€Å"Shackleton’s Leadership of the Endurance Expedition. † Wharton Executive MBA Program, Class of 2001. Pages 1-5

Sun Chips Case

0817 General Assessment of Sunchips’ test market results. Pros A pro would be that Frito-Lay knows where the majority of their sales are happening. Due to about 90 percent of them being in supermarkets and convenience stores. It is also a pro that they have determined what percentage of each size package and flavor they are selling. In addition they have also determined the percentage of cannibalization that will happen. Another pro is that the cumulative repeat percentage steadily rose every week. Cons A con to these test market results would be that they have only been run for ten months.The results could be ballooned considering that they are introducing a new product. Another con would be that only about 1 in 5 households (less than 20%) have tried the product. And out of that 20 percent only 41. 8 percent had repeat purchases. Continue test market for another six months Pros A pro for continuing test marketing for six additional months would be that they would get even mo re accurate test market results. In addition, they will have the advantage of seeing how much word of mouth can raise their cumulative trial and repeat percentages. ConsThe con to continuing test marketing for six more months would be that if they don’t go ahead and launch nationally a competitor might launch a similar product nationally and upstage Frito-Lay. Therefore, the opportunity to be first-to-market would be lost. Another con could be that if their data is accurate they are losing significant profit for the next six months. Introduce Sunchips nationally with the same introductory strategy. Pros A con to this strategy would be that if the test market results are accurate, then Frito-Lay would profit from their new product and know all the necessary details of cannibalization.Yet, if the test market results are accurate then Frito-Lay should definitely introduce Sunchips nationally. Frito-Lay’s revenue goal for Sunchips 100 million if introduced nationally. Reve nue in the M-St. Paul Minneapolis from triers and repeaters was about 512,000 and 620,000 respectively. The M-St. Paul Minneapolis area accounts for 2. 2 percent of the 90 million snack ship user households in the U. S. By extrapolating the results from M-St. Paul Minneapolis to the U. S. , Frito-Lay can expect revenue to exceed 110 million. ConsA con would be the possibility of the ten month test market results to be inaccurate. In this case Frito-Lay would have launched nationally too soon. In addition, Frito-Lay will be giving up the opportunity to test out different strategies. Introduce Sunchips with some strategy modification (more advertising, larger package sizes, another flavor) Pros More advertising would lead to more brand awareness and possibly more sales. Larger package sizes would be good if sold at the same price per ounce. They would give customers another option.Adding another flavor would increase sales and possibly gain new customers. Cons The con to more advertis ing would be more spending, which takes away from profits. The problem with larger package sizes is that they would have to produce and distribute a whole new package. The con to adding another flavor is that it would increase cannibalization from 30 to 35 percent. There is also a con to the combination of adding a larger package and a new flavor. By adding these two, stock-keeping units would double from six to twelve, therefore going from two flavors and three sizes (6) to three flavors and four sizes (12).

Consider the contribution creative development Essay

Consider the contribution creative development may make to the education of young children, illustrating your discussion with explicit examples of an activity/activities you planned in nursery and making clear reference to the Early Learning Goals.  Critically analyse at least one activity giving attention to content, organisation, your role, the appropriateness of the activity and the quality of children’s experience in relation to your planned intentions. You should make clear and explicit reference to the response of at least one child if possible, identifying targets for their future needs. Contents  Essay p 2-6  According to HMI (DES 1985:17, cited in Rodger 1999, p. 128) creative development is concerned with,  Ã¢â‚¬  the capacity to respond emotionally and intellectually to sensory experience: the awareness of degrees of quality; and the appreciation of beauty and fitness for purpose.†Ã‚  Creativity allows children and adults to express ideas and feelings in a personal and unique way. Although being creative can be seen as a uniquely human characteristic, if children are to develop their abilities in this area they must be provided with the opportunities that allow them to explore and experiment helping them to gain confidence to express their ideas in a way which is uniquely their own. This is facilitated in the nursery classroom where a rich and stimulating environment is provided helping children to generate and develop their creative ideas supported by sensitive and responsive adults. The Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (2000) states how creative development contributes to the education of young children.  Ã¢â‚¬  Creativity is fundamental to successful learning. Being creative enables children to make connections between one area of learning and another and so extend their understanding.† (p. 116)  Creative development covers variety of different subjects, including art, music, dance, role-play and imaginative play. For the purpose of this essay I will be looking at the subject of art, and two art (creative) activities planned and taught whilst on placement in a nursery setting. Peter (1996) stated that in order for teachers to plan appropriate art experiences, contributing to the education of young children, they need to be able to identify the general stage of development in art, that their pupils are at. Peter suggested that there are four stages of development in art, the Scribbling Stage that occurs between the ages of six months and four, the Pre-Schematic/ Symbolic Stage between the ages of four and seven, the Schematic/ Emerging Analytic Stage that occurs between the ages of seven an nine and the Stage of Visual Realism/ Analytic Stage that occurs between the ages of nine and twelve. As we are focussing on art in the early years the stage of most relevance is the Scribbling Stage from six months to four years. The Scribbling Stage is the earliest form of artistic expression and is usually characterised by mark making which becomes more controlled as the child develops. At the beginning of this stage scribbling is random and is done with either hand and their concentration span is short. The value to the child is having the tactile experience and practicing the physical action from the shoulder. As the child develops the scribbling becomes more controlled and a ‘grasp and push’ action is used, rather than a whole arm movement. As children use smaller actions they begin to use a variety of marks, such as straight lines and curves when drawing and painting. When printmaking children will manipulate materials that will make impressions, make marks with body parts and print with objects and found sources. When making collages children will often observe and spread glue on to a surface and place prepared items in an irregular arrangement. Children in this stage are also developing sculpture and 3D skills, manipulating rigid and malleable materials, moulding simple shapes and sticking found objects together. As children’s learning and skills develop they move through the stages, but to ensure children are motivated a balance is needed between familiar activities in which they express themselves confidently and new activities to present them with fresh challenges.