This blog has been created for the purpose of the 2nd year Occupational Therapy paper Participation in Occupation one. The topics covered in this will be Information Technology and Ethical Issues, Digital Imaging, Blog Creation Tasks, Video Production Sessions, The internet and online communities, Linking to blogs of interest and exchanging comments along with Assistive technology. I will be adding technical descriptions of each of these topics.
YouTube can offer many services to us whether this is for work or play. For example YouTube has a huge amount of educational videos and explanations of many different topics. It can be a great place to learn a new skill for example, dances moves, photography tricks and almost anything you could think of. From YouTube we are able to gain video resources which we can then use to help further explain examples like I have been doing within this blog. YouTube can provide people with music and videos which can be very meaningful to individuals as well as giving them a chance to express their own opinions.
I was asked to introduce a topic of interest which I have drawn on from fieldwork placements so I decide to do relaxation. Relaxation is a broad topic to explain but in general it is a release of tension. On my fieldwork placement we had night sessions once a week where the occupational therapist took a relaxation class with the clients on the ward. People who attended expressed how much they enjoyed these classes and I must admit they worked very well. At the end of my placement I was lucky enough to be allowed to give it a go and found it a very cool exercise to run. So with this topic I have been asked to find five different sources of online video content that help explain or demonstrate this topic so sit back and enjoy.
Firstly I have an example of guided relaxation.
This video focuses mostly on relaxing your muscles and has a really helpful explanation at the beginning.
This explains some techniques to help relaxing and also mentions alternatives you could do if this kind of relaxation is not for you.
This movie I found really good as the instructor talks you through how to get relaxed when experiencing a phobia. I found it very helpful as she uses herself to demonstrate.
There are many relaxation tracks on YouTube that are all kinds of noises that individuals may find relaxing such as waves crashing and birds singing. Here I found a video which is the sound of rain.
There are many different ways people store share and manipulate digital images by using a range of hardware and software. Some examples of hardware used to store digital images can be devices such as USB’s and external hard drives. People can use devices like these as a back up to keep their photos safe as well as using them to share digital images by transferring from computer to computer, here is a link to a website which describes this http://www.ehow.com/facts_4969259_what-external-hard-drive-used.html (Demand Media, 1999-2011). There are many examples of software used for digital imaging such as websites like Facebook and flickr.com where people can put photos online to share with people all over the world. There are many Photoshop programs which people can use on computers now which allow the users to enhance and manipulate here is a link to a site which explains photoshop in more detail http://www.washington.edu/lst/help/graphics/photoshop/what-is-photoshop (Technology, 1998-2011). Digital imaging is used in many ways to provide information and keep records for example news papers and magazines use digital imaging every day, they use them to further explain stories or sometimes set the scene. By using images the media is able to draw in the reader and hopefully encourage them to read articles. The media uses digital images on the news to in a similar and to further describe a situation for example the Christchurch earthquake, here is a link to this example http://www.3news.co.nz/Christchurch-earthquake---PHOTOS/tabid/1125/articleID/199311/Default.aspx
“A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature” In relation to digital cameras we can see how this statement is very relevant. We can see how many advantages digital cameras have such as your able to copy images onto computers and other storage devices as well as share them online. Digital cameras also allow us to edit and manipulate images so we can create different effects which we would not be able to do on an old style film cameras. In this video a man explains in detail a more advance list of advantages.
Although there are many obvious advantages with digital cameras there are also some disadvantages. One huge disadvantage i think there is with digital cameras are they are less social. This may sound like a strange statement but by having all of our photos stored on computers we are now less likely to sit around with family and friends looking through hard copies. I think these hard copies were more special to us as it was something that you had and appreciated as you could not just go online and print more off.
Many ethical issues can arise when capturing and distributing photos when using IT. The first example of this is privacy, the problem with photos that are captured and shared today are that they are accessible by many others when put on such websites such as Facebook and Flickr.com. When photos are taken of people and put on these websites without consent it can breached people’s privacy as many often many others see the photo’s before they have a chance to themselves. This can be a similar problem when taking photographs in public places such as shops and libraries as they may not appreciate photos been taking and shared where they have no control of how they are portrayed and shared.
Digital imaging is and could be used in many different ways within occupational therapy practise. One example of this could be record keeping with clients and could be used to show progress and how someone has advanced. They could also been used as before and afters to show clients how they have healed for example in burns units with clients who have had treatment or to show people results with things like scar management her is a link to a site which further explains what OT’s do on these wards http://www.rch.org.au/burns/staff/index.cfm?doc_id=2014.
With this technical description we were asked to open Flickr accounts and to share these photos on our blog my photos are of a few towns I like to consider home so enjoy.
Technology, U. I. (1998-2011). What is Photoshop? Retrieved May 3rd, 2011, from Learning & Scholary Technologies, University of Washington: http://www.washington.edu/lst/help/graphics/photoshop/what-is-photoshop
This is my first technical description for participation in occupation one, in this post I will be looking at information technology and ethical issues. When looking at Information technology, it refers to both hardware and software which are used to gain, manipulate or store information (Alexandrou, 2011). When talking about hardware we are referring to devices such as hard drives, USB’s, Xbox’s, Play station’s as well as many others when looking at software it is focusing on things such as Microsoft word, Facebook, YouTube and Hotmail.To me Information technology means a way to simplify everyday tasks such as paying bills and learning all online although it has many other benefits such as being used as a way of leisure for example playing games as well as communication with friends and family all over the world.
Information technology has become very common place within our society as we can see it everywhere and used for so many different reasons some examples are laptops, cell phones and social networks. I found a clip on YouTube that shows how technology has changed over the years and how common place it all has become.
When we look at the video we can see how much we rely on technology and how it is expected to change and grow in the future. Information technology is very necessary for many businesses as well as educational purposes as this website explains in further detail http://www.buzzle.com/articles/importance-of-information-technology.html
I am currently quite comfortable using common technology such as computers and laptops as my course requires us to do so daily, although I do often find them confusing and sometimes frustrating. When using more advance technologies such as electric wheelchairs and Ipads I have a lot more difficulty as I found out in one of our recent tutorials, I think that this is because of the amount of time I have spent with these items, which before that class was none. As a lot of my course material is online it expands my use of IT such as this blog for example before beginning my participation in occupation class I had no idea on how to post information, videos and links onto a blog.
Information technology can be used for so many reasons in the field of occupational therapy whether this is for educational, research or note keeping purposes. A great example of the use of technology is using an IPod or other music storing devices for relaxation sessions with the occupational therapist, feedback from the clients was always good for this activity and it was a great way to use technology on the ward. Technology can be a great tool when working as an OT although it can also have its downfalls. An example of this is when using technology therapists must make sure they do not give out any personal information of clients. Therapists who store client’s information electronically would need to ensure that they are stored safely with no chance of others being able to read these personal details, as this would be a huge invasion of client’s privacy. Ways that I envision technology being used in occupational therapy is using it as a form of contact between clients going through similar situations. This could be a good way for people to meet people as well as share their experiences although it would have to be monitored to ensure it was being used for the correct purposes. This YouTube clip shows how Occupational therapists have used technology in practise in many different ways.
There can be many problems with the capturing, sharing and transferring of information such as cell phones and emails as you don’t always know who is receiving what you are sending as someone else may have got hold of someone’s phone for example. Internet can frequently give out false information and it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between something that is real and something that isn’t. Many ethical issues can arise when using technology for example people’s privacy can be breached. An example of this could be taking photos without peoples or places consent.
Intellectual property:
I was next asked to provide a definition of intellectual property as I had no idea what this meant I went to the trusty Google to find my answer. It took me a while before I came across this explanation “Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce”. IP is divided into two categories industrial property and copy right. When looking at industrial in refers to grants given for things like inventions and trademarks (WIPO, 2010) here is a link to the websitehttp://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/. When we are looking at copyright it is referring to works people have done such as books and art.To me this means something that some has thought up or made in their head, it can be a huge range of things for example photos sculptures and designs and allows the owner to gain from their own works.
Social justice:
Social justice can the defined as “Fair and proper administration of lawsconforming to the natural law that all persons, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, possessions, race, religion, etc., are to be treated equally and without prejudice.”(WebFinance, 2011) To me this means treating everyone with respect and equally no matter of what race gender or religion etc. This is very relevant to practising OT’s as they will be dealing people that come from all different backgrounds and is it important that they respects every clients beliefs and do not discriminate because of these.
Informed Consent:
“Informed consent can be defined as a legal procedure to ensure that a patient or client knows all of the risks and costs involved in a treatment. The elements of informed consents include informing the client of the nature of the treatment, possible alternative treatments, and the potential risks and benefits of the treatment. In order for informed consent to be considered valid, the client must be competent and the consent should be given voluntarily.” (About.com, 2011) To me this means that it is important to make sure that people have a full understanding of what it going to happen and agree to this. We can see how this is very relevant to occupational therapy as when doing treatment with clients it is important that they have a full understanding of what is happening and agree to participate.
References:
About.com. (2011). What Is Informed Consent? Retrieved May 1st, 2011, from About.com psychology: http://psychology.about.com/od/iindex/g/def_informedcon.htm
WebFinance. (2011). social justice. Retrieved May 1st, 2011, from BusinessDictionary.com: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/social-justice.html
WIPO. (2010). What is Intellectual Property? Retrieved May 2nd, 2011, from World intellectual property organization: http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/
