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I have a brand new blog so follow this link to read all about me and my adventures in the kitchen.

Hope you enjoy!

New blog link

Assistive Technology

This post explains the meaning of assistive technology and I discuss my favorite type of assistive technology the smart board. 

Assistive technology is technology provided to help with a general or specific task (Dolson, n.d.). This definition appealed to because of the reference to performing a task, which is the reason that occupational therapist distribute assistive equipment. The equipment can be used in general everyday activity like communication devices, specifically for one task like play with a Wii. It is hard to determine what technology is considered as assistive technology however as almost all technology is made to assists us.  

In one of our lessons we were introduced to a range of assistive technologies. The one that I found most exciting is the smart boards, this is an interactive touch whiteboard used for education presentations and games. Most boards are approximately 80” and cost anywhere between $10000 and $1999 (Touchboards, n.d.). The smart board involves a computer a projector and a touch sensitive board. All together they make a whiteboard that promotes interactive learning and participation in education. Learning is fun through playing games and doing activities through hitting, dragging and writing on this amazing whiteboard.

It increases occupational abilities through the enlarging images making things easier to see also by writing things on the smart board fine motor skills are not as necessary. The smart board is more specifically aimed at educational interventions or used for play through online or downloaded games and programmes.

Check out this clip to see what is so exciting about them:

 Thanks again for reading!

References

Dolson, J. (n.d.) Glossary of Web Accessibility and Development Terms. Retrieved from (http://www.joedolson.com/glossary.php#assistive_technology)
  

Touch boards, (n.d.) Smart board. Retrieved from(http://www.touchboards.com/smartboards/pricelist.asp)

Other OT Blogs

This post is exploring other OT blogs.

This OT blogs stories about clients...beware some can make you teary eyed! Click here to read.  

Here is an OT perspective from the UK...

http://www.frederickroad.blogspot.com/

This lady started blogging as a student, just like me!

http://otstudents.blogspot.com/

Blog for pediatric occupational and physical therapists 

http://www.yourtherapysource.blogspot.com/

This a fellow students blog to go and explore! 

http://leighmillward.blogspot.com/

To see my comments made on  a blog click here

The internet and Online Communities

The community that I drew on is from my fieldwork 1 experience in first year, which was in a community mental health setting. I am concentrating on specific online communities for people with depression. 

The down low is a New Zealand online community that concentrates on support for young people with depression or that know of people with depression. The intent of this site is to provide education to youth about depression and provide support in an age appropriate delivery through text lines, emails and specifically message boards. The down low uses national celebrities and average New Zealanders who share their experiences and knowledge on the site.

The down low is very interactive, as it would have to be to pull in the youth group are aimed at. The users can listen to music by home-grown artists while writing on the message board. People can contribute through going into the “chat” page, registration is then needed but once registered you can share your questions and problems on the message board to be answered. The replies may come from other users or from the down low team themselves.Topics discussed are : Anxiety, Loneliness, is there a cure?, I feel like I don't have a personality. To make comments on these topics go to the blog by clicking here.

About.com> This forum is a public place where discussion surrounding all aspects of depression can occur. Even though anyone can read the post you must register before you are able to add comments to topics. About.com strive for a safe online community for the users through the constant moderation of posts. This forum wants to reach a wide base of users to facilitate the sharing of information in turn benefiting more people.

About.com is the same as the down low, registration is needed and then the guide of the forum or one of her colleagues will answer the question, as well as anyone else who is interested in the topic that has been raised. After a topic has been posted replying is as easy as pushing the “reply” button and you post will also be joint into the conversation. This site has interesting emoticons and cartoon characters that users can use to give their post a bit of individuality.

Topics discussed on about.com are for an older age group so topics include:

Family relationships, self injury/cutting,suicide and abuse. There is also a general discussion area where sleep and other daily activities are posted about. To make comments go to the forum. 

Depression understood forum> This forum is constructed and run by volunteers who pull from their own experiences to help others dealing with depression. This forum also is centred around depression however strives to encompass anxiety and other health issues relating to them. This like about.com is public to view but you have to be registered to have you input in the forum.      

  Depression understood also needs registration to post discussions. This web site also so has interactive chat rooms and blogs to read and comment on. People can be involved in this online community through joining in on discussions and commenting on posts. Also with personal communication through the chat stronger support can be gained.  

The types of topics on this forum included, family & friend, phobias, arts , music crafts and hobbies, comforts thoughts and feelings. To read post and to add to duscussions go to the website depression understood. 

 The reasoning behind people wanting to be part of this online community is the attraction of being able to ask questions while staying anonymous, they also look for advice from either professionals or peers whom may be going through similar experiences with depression as they are. People may choose between the different communities depending on their life stage. As the younger population will gravitate towards the down low because that is for whom it is aimed at. The type of information they want to gather would also make a difference to the type of forum they post on. If they want more professional perspectives they will look at using about.com and for personal experiences the depression understood would be more appropriate. Information is shared reciprocally, questions posted are not particularly single answered questions and so the post turns into a discussion which many people can feel passionate to write about if it applies to them. It is this sharing of information that makes online communities such an important support network which is specifically valuable to people with depression. 

These communities are dangerous as anyone can read and once register have their input. Trust is gained in these supportive communities and so is very venerable. The positive is that the people posting are also staying confidential and so not putting their personal details on their profiles. The information and advice cannot be guaranteed to be true which if people are trying new things that people suggest on posts could be another ethical issue.  

The things that online communities miss out on is that common place which they can all meet, this is because the users can be from different towns, islands or even countries. While they may get a good perspective from all views of life, cultural differences would arrise. By having a common place to visit they can have face to contact with trust worthy people even get into ocupations that they have not been yet introfuced to. By having a traditional community the members can feel they are part of group and will give them a chance to get out of the house or away from the computer to talk and actually do things with others in their situatuion.      

To visit any of these forums click on the hyperlinks below:


The down low 
About.com
Depression understood 

References

Depression understood, (n.d.). Depression forums. Retrieved from (http://depression-understood.org/forum/)

Schimelpfening, N. (1998) About.com: Forums. Retrieved from (http://depression.about.com/gi/boards/proxicom/welcome.htm)

The lowdown. (n.d.). Helping youth with depression. Retrieved from (http://www.thelowdown.co.nz/message-board/?start=0)

Tutoral five - YouTube

You tube has created the opportunity to upload and view videos that can be up to 15 minutes long. Once uploaded to YouTube people from all around the world can view them and leave their comments and rate the video. Each time a video is viewed it is counted therefore showing the most popular videos to watch.

Being a very public website means that anyone can upload videos this has contributed to the huge numbers of videos you can watch. These videos on anything and everything are now becoming useful on a daily basis. YouTube is increasingly being used in education, with people uploading lectures or teaching sessions for others to learn from.

The most prominent area that YouTube appeals to is the entertainment industry. Songs and their video clips, TV shows, movies and their trailers are all entertaining clips to watch on YouTube. Often this entertain may not be on purpose and individuals are entertained by others misfortunes. The prime example of this is “Charlie bit my finger” which is the most watched video clip on YouTube.

YouTube Clips of the latest news are also often uploaded this enables us to see  the most up-to-date stories on politics, sport, and events. These can sometimes even be raw footage filmed at events.

A major topic of interest for me both in my personal life and in the area of OT is music.

YouTube offers many opportunities around music and is the area that I use the service for the most.

The first of these uses for YouTube is for learning to play music. Playing an instrument is a valued and engaging occupation which can be both a leisure activity and vocational work. There are many clips for instrument players of all abilities they can range from just learning to count the beat in beginner lessons to leaning advanced beats that challenging the player.

Another occupation that is involved with music is simply the listening to it. YouTube enables anyone with internet connection to listen to music and view music videos. What I find to be the real positive of listening to music on YouTube is that once you listen to a song it recommends other songs by the same artist or genre that you may like, and it isn’t limited to new and popular music, you can search music in different countries.

This is one of my favourite music video clips and the song is pretty good too!

YouTube is used by many to try and start a career for themselves in music. Going from a spare time activity to making a living off music is harder said than done, some pull it off others don’t.

For my placement last year I was lucky enough to go to the Blind foundation. In my group sessions music was hugely valued so running a music quiz was a successful way of getting everyone involved and having fun. The idea was taken from quizzes I had seen on YouTube.       

Now that you know more about YouTube create an account and have a go uploading movies yourself. Happy YouTubing!

References

Karch, M. (n.d). YouTube Explained - Overview of the Google Video Sharing Tool. About.com Guide. Retrieved from (http://google.about.com/od/moreaboutgoogleaps/p/youtubeprofile.htm)

YouTube. (n.d.). Broadcast yourself. Retrieved form (http://www.youtube.com/)

Video Production

After looking at digital imaging we have moved on to video production, this involved us working in groups to dream up and produce a short film based upon the theme of “over coming diversity.” We concentrated on a poor student overcoming the problem of having no money for coffee by busking to make money. When making our film we planned through a visual storyboard with written description, this enabled us to organise what we had envisaged into a more concise plan. Now that you have heard about our production process,  take a look for yourselves!    

 

Digital imaging

Today we will explore digital imaging; this will include examples used daily and some in occupational therapy. The ethics in the sharing of digital images will also be discussed.

Some of the hardware that I know and use often is digital cameras, camera on a cell phone and video camera; once images are taken they are generally uploaded onto a computer or saved to hard drive/USB stick. Once these photos are stored software comes into play. Software can be used to manipulate images; this could be by removing redeye, cropping pictures (cutting out bits), zooming and rotating images. The software that can be used is photo shop for Mac’s and usually windows media player /live photo gallery for PC’s, however there is also free software downloads or products to be bought.

“A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature”

This statement in relation to digital camera’s isn’t necessarily true, the evolution from old film camera’s to digital has changed photography. Now camera’s can take 60 still images per second and having much higher megapixels improves the quality and zoom of pictures taken. A photo that would have previously taken 5 minutes just to put in to focus can now be taken by an automatic function on a digital camera. Cameras have not only changed simplicity but in price and size too. The price range for digital camera pricing could be anywhere between $95 to $3000 depending on the specialties it will be used for.

Cameras becoming more compact has enabled us to both carry around easily and also put them into other devices like cell phones, iPods and of course computers in the form of web cams.

How far we have come:

From this

 To this

 

Now this

It goes without saying that with the development of digital cameras there have to be some negatives. Firstly with the introduction of the digital images we lose the old fashion occupation of film photography, which took more skill and knowledge than point and shoot. Other issues that rise with digital images is the ease for others to retrieve them, what was once pictures for only close family to see can then be viewed by the world, on the world wide web. This new technology brings with it dangers and touchy ethical issues.

Ethics

The digital camera age, enables people to take photos in subtle or even unnoticeable ways, meaning larger amounts of photos are being taken and spread over the internet without those in the pictures even knowing about it let alone giving consent. Once these pictures are uploaded on to the web anyone in the world can see them,  the people who took the pictures are no longer in control over who can see the images and those in them never had a chance or choice to be in control over the  images.

The invention and updating of software to facilitate the manipulating of images also arises more ethical issues. This new development means that others can change delete or add to images creating fake photographs this is referred to by most as photo-shopping and it  is becoming  increasingly hard to detect. This tactic is used often to change skin tone, fill in blemishes on celebrity’s skin but it is not always used in a positive way. The media is frequently caught out with their manipulating of images. Following is a hyperlink to an interesting website showing some of the most evident changes some media corporations have made to digital images of celebrities. But we must remember that this could easily be happening to “normal or average” individuals as well.

http://www.yourcover.com/Articles/Most-Blatant-Uses-of-Photoshop-in-Magazines-Ads/

Digital images are a useful tool used in occupational therapy, a very effective way in which they are used is with non-verbal communicators, digital images can become a communication device where the client can  just point or look to images of what they want / need.

Also clients with deteriorating verbal communication skills can make talking photo albums where they insert photos and record their voice telling stories about each photo. These could be recorded by others as well if completely non-verbal.    

The use of photography could be an interesting  occupation to run groups around, leaving art and craft groups behind and moving forward to the technological art.

Photo diaries or blogs can be a tool to communicate with the client’s support systems at home e.g. parents. Digital images can show what a client is doing and their progress during sessions with the occupational therapist.   

References

Your cover. (n.d.). Most blatant uses of photoshop in magazines and Ads. Retrieved 3/04/11 at (http://www.yourcover.com/Articles/Most-Blatant-Uses-of-Photoshop-in-Magazines-Ads/)

 

First Ever Blog Post

My first post is to show my knowledge of IT, its definition, and my own thoughts on the meaning and its influence in society.  I’ll describe the IT that I am familiar with and the sorts of IT that are used in practice as an occupational therapist.  The ethical problems that arouse with the posting and transferring of information over technological devices will also be explored in this post. I will describe both published definitions of important terms and also my own personal thoughts on these expressions often surrounding technology and its ethical issues.

Let’s start off with what information technology (IT) really is. According to oxford’s online dictionary it is the use of systems for storing, retrieving and sending information (2011). This is a very generic definition which in turn covers the main reasons we use IT. The storing or saving of information, retrieving information through the use of the internet and sending information through email or social networks to keep in touch. The common system used for all of these things is the computer, however we can now use cell phones, Ipods and save things to pen drives and hard drives in this day and age.

Information technology is now occurring daily within a variety of cultures by differing age groups and in many different areas of life. The three that I feel are the most common place in our New Zealand society are education, communication and activities of leisure. 

Students of all ages are using IT as an aid to education through online learning or making our lives easier through our quick electronic library, the internet. In many schools throughout New Zealand owning a laptop is compulsory, schools without this rule generally have many computers owned by the school that are open for anyone to use. We as students at Otago polytechnic are being educated first hand through technology with the technique of “blended delivery.” This involves having online learning packages and lectures. Online learning has become a common thing recently in Christchurch after the earthquake with many courses being entirely taught online, until buildings and rooms are safe and available. With this type of learning on the rise the need for devices to store and save information has also risen. Hard drives and USB sticks are a common device to back up save and store necessary word documents or work for vocation as well as music and movies for someone’s leisure time.  

 IT has both enabled and become a barrier to communication through the sending and retrieving of information. With the touch of a few buttons we can now send and receive information to communicate with friends and family all over the world either by texting, emailing or social networking sites on the internet. This ease of communication within New Zealand and with the rest of the world has for the most part had a positive effect on our isolated country. However is it becoming too common in society? With the lack of face to face communication dangers arise and basic people skills may be lost.

Leisure activities are being transferred to the technological world. Instead of children playing sport outside they can now play on consol devices in front of the television. Shopaholics like me don’t even need to leave the house to spend our money, in reality who would when buying and selling over the internet is easier and often cheaper. Perhaps the most horrendous example of online leisure activities are the games that allow individuals to have a virtual life online. This in particular is worrying because their virtual life is taking over or replacing their current life in the real world.   

   

Now you are familiar with how the definition of IT is seen in the common activities and task we do, i ask you to watch the following YouTube clip that reinforces how universal IT really is. 

I feel comfortable enough working on a range of different technical devices. Some that I usedaily are my computer and of course cell phone both of which are a necessity in my life rather than for personal entertainment purposes. Personally I use these for learning, researching, shopping and the most commonly for communication whether through texting calling, Skype or social networks like facebook. My camera and iPod are the technical devices that a wanted but didn’t really need, I rarely remember to take my camera to capture moments, however my iPod has been more useful for listening to music and surfing the internet.

The reasons I feel confident with this technology is because of the ease of its use. With the use of touch screens on cameras cell phones and iPods navigating around the devices is now much simpler.

 The need to use such technology daily helps motivate us to actually learn how to use it through practice and doing. Having this pressure on us making us either turn to technology or else get left behind. This pressure to embrace IT is often through the media, peers or schools and tertiary institutes. Even though I say I am competent with IT, with the pressures and stress it causes it also makes me a tad uncomfortable.

IT is not only useful in everyday life but in the practice of occupational therapy, I’m sure as I get more experience in the field I will get to know more about the ways in which it is used, but for now I can share what I have learnt.

A way in which OT’s use technology is for assistance with clients, a very common client group they are used with are with are non verbal communicators. This is when technology plays a part through communication devices that clients just need to touch that say what they want or need. Switches are also used, these can be used for yes/no or to enable clients without the fine motor skills to still perform tasks. Computer games and software all come in handy when educating clients. Teaching through playing   online games is often an entertaining technique used in intervention. Websites like http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/ mean that clients can be educated in a fun way that makes then think they are not even learning.

 On my own fieldwork experience I saw technology used to take and keep clients medical notes on computers. Computers were also used for research when something came up that I or even the members in the team didn’t understand or have knowledge on. The most exciting use of technology that I got to play with was the computer and software used for a practice driving test. This enabled the OT to assess a driver to make sure they were safe to drive before taking them out onto the road. Needless to say I spent some time playing on this technology and found it to be a lot harder than driving a real car – (just to point out my results were within the normal population!) The assessment tested the clients concentration and coordination which are both vitally important when driving.        

                              

Some issues that may arise with the adopting of IT are the prices of many products and also the rapid changing of them. These could be costing the workplace, the OT or even the client themselves hundreds if not thousands of dollars for useful equipment. With the quick pace that IT is evolving the technology soon gets old and items superior to them are released.

New Zealanders are at the awkward stage where some have taken the step into IT land and others haven’t. This means sharing of notes can be difficult some may be hand written others all digital. Differences in OT practice may change also with some using IT equipment and when referred on to others in the profession they may not be familiar with it. This can be the same issue with the older population,  it will be more difficult for them to come to terms with technology that wasn’t even being imagined during their time. And not to mention the ethical issues that surround the use of IT which will be addressed soon.

I can envisage IT playing a large part in the future of occupational therapy in assessment, intervention and keeping notes. It will be useful for clients at all life stages with any disability. I can see IT being used in practice by educating clients, providing more advanced and useful adaptive equipment and assessments through computer questionnaires and assessments.

I believe that it is very important for us to have a general knowledge of IT and the skills to use it in our daily life and in practice. Right now it is critical for us to use IT to gain our qualification, but in the long term it is essential for us to keep up with technology and not get left in the wake. 

IT has made life quicker and easier but with it IT has brought a whole new range of ethical dilemmas.

At the early age people are starting to use IT, the dangers are more frightening than ever. Face to face contact over the internet is very limited and security devices for computers are expensive this means that through our computers we are wide open to computer crime like virus’s hacking, sexual predation and of course fraud. This is what makes safety the most prominent ethical issue shadowing IT.

IT devices and software, the internet in particular is a useful tool of stealing. Whether it be stealing music movies or other people’s ideas for essays it is still stealing under the names of plagiarism and piracy. The individuals that are stealing this way are not dressed in black sneaking around at night they are common people. New software and websites have enabled anyone with a computer and internet to download programmes, software, music and movies. These can then be shared with the ease of plugging in a hard drive to a friend’s computer and copy the files. If you watched the above presentation on you tube then you would have seen that in the 5 minutes that it was running for it said that 694, 000 songs are downloaded illegally.       

Privacy is not a word that one would use when thinking about IT devices. Being captured through images, videos even recordings can be shared around the internet or sent via text, this can mean private moments can be shared between millions within a matter of minutes. Social networking sites like Facebook or Bebo enable anyone to look at private pictures videos or comments that are meant to be seen by close friends and family. It is this ease of uploading and sending information through IT devices which we love but it is also what makes it dangerous and unethical.

Need to know definitions when discussing IT and ethics: 

Intellectual property is said to be the property that results from original creative thought, as patents, copyright material, and trademarks by online dictionary.com (2011) These original thoughts can range from a personal inventions, pieces of writing or songs to large corporate logos or names(intellectual property office 2011) .

Everyone knows the golden arches of the Mcdonalds Logo, this is the intellectual property of the Mcdonalds restaurant  

 chain and so belongs to them. In our studies we acknowledge someone else’s intellectual property through referencing which you will see at the bottom of my post.   

Social justice is a difficult term to define, Wikipedia refers to social justice as being based on the principals of equality and solidarity to create a society that recognises human rights and the dignity of all humans (Wikipedia 2011). This is about everyone in the world no matter your, ethnicity, age, gender or disability being treated the in the same dignifying way and each and every individual has the exact same rights.  

When considering social justice by looking at IT in OT practice, the main point that comes to mind is equal access to IT devices, software and equipment. In practice this may not be the case with all clients. The barriers to IT could be financial, lack of knowledge or even the clients disability enabling them to participate in using IT.     

Informed consent is a legal condition where an individual gives consent after understanding all of the facts and implications of any actions. It is often between client/patient and is needed before treatment.

In OT practice this can be a problem if the therapist would like to upload photos of treatment or a blog to record progress in treatment and hasn’t got informed consent to do so. Also a client’s impairment in judgment due to mental illness, intellectual disability etc may mean that the therapist cannot be sure if consent is given or not.

You have now reached the end of my first ever post, thank you for reading and stay tuned for more posts very soon!  

References

Intellectual property office. (n.d). What is intellectual property. Retrieved 20/03/11 at (http://www.iponz.govt.nz)

Learning games for kids. (n.d). Retrieved on 23/03/11 at (http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/)

Oxford dictionaries online. (n.d.). Definition of information technology. Retrieved on 20/03/11 at (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com). 

Rikowski, R. (2006), Teaching ethical issues in information technology: how and when. London: Southbank University.

 

Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia (2011), (n.d)Social Justice. Retrieved 20/03/11 at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice)

Word iQ. (n.d). Informed consent: definition. Retrieved 20/03/11 at (http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Informed_consent)