By its original and broadest definition, art (from the Latin ars, meaning "skill" or "craft") is the product or process of the effective application of a body of knowledge, most often using a set of skills; this meaning is preserved in such phrases as "liberal arts" and "martial arts". However, in the modern use of the word, which rose to prominence after 1750, “art” is commonly understood to be skill used to produce an aesthetic result (Hatcher, 1999). Britannica Online defines it as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others"Britannica Online. By any of these definitions of the word, artistic works have existed for almost as long as humankind, from early pre-historic art to contemporary art.

Defining art

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How best to define the term “art” is a subject of much contention; many books and journal articles have been published arguing over even the basics of what we mean by the term “art” (Davies, 1991 and Carroll, 2000). Theodor Adorno claimed in 1969 “It is self-evident that nothing concerning art is self-evident any more.” (Danto, 2003). Indeed, it is not even clear anymore who has the right to define art. Artists, philosophers, anthropologists, and psychologists all use the notion of art in their respective fields, and give it operational definitions that are not very similar to each others.

Nonetheless we can make some progress towards defining art in its most everyday senses. The first broadest sense of “art” is the one that has stayed closest to the older Latin meaning, which roughly translates to "skill" or "craft", and also from an Indo-European root meaning "arrangement" or "to arrange". In this sense, art is whatever is described as having undergone a deliberate process of arrangement by an agent. A few examples where this meaning proves very broad include artifact, artificial, artifice, artillery, medical arts, and military arts. However, there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its etymology.

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Should Apple Even Care About the Enterprise?
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:02:10 -0400
Apple might be targeting the enterprise, but the real question now is whether or not it should. Is Apple a hardware company or a software company? This question is coming to the fore again because with the advent of Windows 7, enterprises will deciding whether the time has come to finally upgrade the hardware to the new version. But given Apple's long-established market strategy, it just might not be important for Apple to win new enterprise converts to its operating system platform. - The debate over whether or not the business world should deploy Windows 7 rages on. Some say it's an iterative update over Windows Vista and thus, not worth deploying. Others believe it's the operating system that Microsoft should have created in the first place. They believe it's perfect for ...
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Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:58:07 -0400
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Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:24:04 -0400
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Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:36:49 -0400
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Spate of iPhone Overheating Reports Roast Apple
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:17:21 -0400
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The Seattle Times: Business & Technology

Downturn dating: Hearts flutter as markets stutter
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:26:07 -0700
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Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:58:06 -0700
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Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:21:06 -0700
California voters gave Arnold Schwarzenegger a single, blockbuster-sized mission when they sent him to Sacramento six years ago in an unprecedented election: Fix California's chaotic budget system, once and for all.

NYT > Technology

Spinning the Web: P.R. in Silicon Valley
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CNN.com - Technology

10 humor sites sure to make you LOL
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NPR Topics: Technology

Europe Solves Cell Phone Charger Problem
Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:21:00 -0400
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The Extraordinaries: Will Microvolunteering Work?
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BBC News | Technology | UK Edition

Mixed results for green IT goals
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Reuters Video: Technology

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Jul 01 - After years of talking up the potential of TV on the very small screen with disappointing results, there is a movement within the mobile industry to take video in new directions.

AP Top Technology News At 11 a.m. EDT

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CNET News.com

Photos: How the Army tests biological, chemical weapons
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