Participation in Occupation - Assignment

As part two of our assignment for Participation in Occupation, (creating this blog is part one) we had to choose a setting and write a report requesting funding for a piece of assistive technology to be used within the setting.

I have chosen to purchase three digital cameras for a setting that was similar to my last placement which was in an "in-patient mental health unit". The aim for the Occupational Therapist is to encourage participation in activities and occupations of daily living in the hope that they will develop the knowledge, confidence and understanding to enable them to move on to live in supported accommodation within the community. I chose to purchase the digital cameras as an activity to engage the clients in.

The good thing about this technology in this setting is that I can actually see them using and benefiting from doing this activity. There were some creative and artistic people on the placement and because of the ease of using the technology I could see a number of the clients being drawn to this participate, especially after they see their results printed out on paper and start to put together their photos in a scrap book (scrapbooking) or poster for themselves.

Another benefit of this activity was the possibility of the clients getting some exercise as very few go outside just for a walk, for the sake of it being a walk. We could incorporate walking to places or parks within the community into the activity and discover all the good things in the neighbourhood.

Keep your passwords safe - article from stuff website

Have a read of this article to know what to do to keep your online sites and passwords safe. Some good reading here so click on the link http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/2442598/Keep-your-online-passwords-safe

The Internet in 1969?

This wonderful video from 1969 predicts what the Internet will be like 'in the future'. It's surprisingly accurate on many accounts, though the hardware is certainly different today.

Cat solves printer problems

Click on this link to see a wonderful cat story trying to kill a printer. Very cute.

Cats that look like hittler

http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigany.pl?faq.html

Not sure what to make of this website, but thought the cats looked funny. NO offense intended, so please do not comment, and just enjoy the photos.

Tutorial eight - Posting Youtube Videos and Flickr Badges to Blogs

This is a link that tells you how to embed a youtube video onto your own blog. This is only two minutes long and is easy to follow.





This is a link that tells you the process required to embed a Flickr Badge onto your own blog. Described as a simple means to post your own Flickr Badge to your blog or site.

Tutorial Seven - Using Assistive Technology.

Assistive Technology is defined by Wikipedia as a generic term that is used to describe the selection, location and using devices that assist, adapt and provide rehabilitation for people with a disability. Assistive Technology creates or enhances products that are then used by people promoting greater independence by enabling them to do tasks that previously they may not have been able to do.

Today I will write about the “Go Talk” assistive device. “Go Talks” are a battery powered communication device used by people who can not communicate well by speaking. Another person records message that the user is likely to use.

An overlay of pictures (or words or symbols) is created and slid into the “GoTalks” cells then the user can “talk” simply by pressing on a picture to play a message. Each cell has five levels which mean that a 9 cell “GoTalks” actually can have 45 messages on it.

This product can be used by anyone who has cognitive ability but lacks speaking ability. Conditions such as Autism, Down Syndrome, severe Cerebral Palsy or any condition which limits speech.

Functional capacity for the user increases allowing increased independence using this device. They may be able to go into town on the bus now where as before they could not communicate where they wished to go to. This device allows the user to communicate with others in simple, mostly repetitive tasks for them. This may include going swimming or doing their own banking with a teller. The whole family may now be able to listen and communicate with their loved one where as before they may have been unable to, especially if the person was also unable to write.

Sizes of these devices vary from about A5 to A4, so are easy transportable.

GoTalks with 9 cells retails for $390.00, while you can also purchase a 4 cell ($355.00) or a 24 cell ($495.00) from https://www.star-educational.co.nz/view_products.php?cat=56.

Tutorial Six - The Internet and Online Communities

Online Community website: www.petstar.co.nz

This website is about people connecting around the needs of their pets (cats and dogs). This site is for those people that really really really dote on their furr-kids. Even though I am an animal lover and have posted my pets photos, this site is possibly abit much though.

On the site there are ways in which you can add photos and stories about your pets, can locate other pets by taking a stroll through the list. Can communicate via email to other pet lovers. There is also a FAQ site.

I am unsure what people really get out of this site. It is lovely to look at the other animals and post your own photos, but I am unsure of the real purpose behind it. I am sure there will be people out there who love the site and enjoy the connections they have with other animal lovers.
Some examples of the type of topics being discussed are http://www.petstar.co.nz/news/show/44 which is asking for people in Christchurch to foster a Foundation for the Blind guide dog puppy or http://www.petstar.co.nz/search/all which shows a log of photos of peoples animals that one can then click on a photo and find out about that particular animal. There is also discussion around animals health and what is good for them.

Tutorial Four and Five Video Production Sesions

Task 4 - YouTube offers many services for those out in the world wide web. It allows individuals to upload their own videos as we already have and you can view on this blog. This allows others to view what we have done. Someone in America can view what we have been up to at Otago Polytechnic. Certainly brings the world to your door.

It is also a great place to hear new music and watch new music videos. Many well know singers and groups utilise YouTube to promote and publish their own songs.

The way YouTube is set up it allows others to copy links and forward via emails or embed in blogs to show others. YouTube has become a world wide phenomena.

Task 5 - Storyboarding, we used this process in our video creation. Wikipedia writes that storyboards are graphic organisers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualising a motion picutre, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. They also say that this process was originaly developed at the Walt Disney Studios during the 1930's.

For our video, we sketched each act of our story describing the actions and emotions. This process allowed all in our group to see the expected process to follow and for all involved to know what was happening next.

The Great Getaway

This movie was created by genius' from Otago Polytechnic for our Participation in Occupation class. My car is famous and Tania is a thief!!!

Tutorial Three What is a blog?

A blog is a personal diary with links to site appropriate to me, my interests and my friends. I can include my personal thoughts and photos of things or activities happening in my life. Really it is what ever I want it to be. No two will be the same as the things I chose to upload and have links to will be different from anyone else's.

I can go into my blog at any time and write my diary where my invited friends can then go and have a look and read and even add their own comments. I can add anything that I feel I would like to share with others. It is also a forum to keep in touch with friends and family while away from home. You can post photos of your time away that they can view and keep up to date with.
The blog allow me to access who can read or view my site. But people can write to me asking to be a "friend" and I can decided if I will allow them to become a "friend".

Officially blogging started in 1999, and have reshaped the web, impacted politics, and journalism and enabled millions of people to have a voice and be connected with others.

Tutorial Two Technical Description Digital Cameras

Describe the difference between new and old technology re digital cameras.
A few pluses for todays digital cameras are the ease of their use, they allow fro easy printing which is able to be done on a home computer or visit a shop like Harvey Norman and get them to print them out. You are also able to delete any photos you do not like, which allows you to retake a shot at the time rather than being disappointed when you finally manage to get them printed in the old days. Digital photos can also easily be saved to your computer or discs and can also be easily added to reports or emailed to friends.

Some disadvantages are that you may need a lot of equipment to download and print from home e.g. computer, printer, discs, camera itself. Storage onto the computer may result in a loss of all photos if your computer crashes. Unless you have physical copies of photos that are nice to have and show around you have to open up your computer or show what you have still on your phone. Having a digital camera can get people used to having their photo taken as they are so common today that you can loose the surprise element and people say they were not ready so ask you to take another.

Some of the ways a digital image can be stored, transfered or manipulated using other communications are using a photoshop programme, store to a disc, put on line e.g. a blog site, sent and received in emails, on video and dvds.

Ethical Issues that may arise from photos taken may be gaining informed consent from those in the photos, letting them know who will see them, how they will be stored. In practice it may need to be asked who has access, are they safe and not just available to anyone who may think this is a nice photo, I will use it and put it in my report or on-line. It is also very easy for people to take photos now and the subjects may not even know they have been taken. There have been instances of people going up before the courts as they have used cameras to take photos of people in bathrooms etc. It is also very easy for photos to be manipulated and edited with technology available. As OT's we would have a responsibility to the clients and also to the practice setting where we are working.

Some ways that technology is being used in OT practices today are report writing, company reports and policies, staff photos, home modifications and visits.

The site "flickr" is a way of sharing and storing your photos with others. It is an on-line photo management and sharing application.

Other photo storage websites which also offer a similar service to "flickr" are photo bucket, you tube, and snap fish.

The difference between a digital and optical zoom is a digital zoom crops the image to a smaller size and then enlarges the cropped portion to fill the frame again. Optical zoom works like a zoom lens on a film camera with the lens changing the vocal length and magnification as it is zoomed. Optical zoom has better clarity and quality.

Wikipedia says that the term "megapixel" stands for one million pixels and is a term used for the number of pixels in an image.

Tutorial One Information Technology and Ethical Issues

Information Technology (or IT) is described as “the technology involved in acquiring, storing, processing distributing information by electronic means.” Collin, S. (2003). Dictionary of science and technology. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Information technology encompasses many common items in todays environment. Many of these services were not available 10-15 years ago. Some common areas include books, electronic books, power point presentations, mobile phones and telephones, satellites, hard drives, old friends, GPS systems, blackberry, IPods, MP3 players, DVD, gaming consoles and email.

Myself, I am comfortable using a number of the ones listed above, although I am still getting used to and a little reluctant to have too much information on personal bog sites. I do enjoy texting and receiving them back, and use this as a form of mini communication and to touch base with others. I have recently purchased a new DVD player with a hard drive which I just love, the ease of use in recording is great. Although I am still getting used to all the features it has and probably will not utilise them all.

In my latest placement in Nelson, Information Technology was utilised fairly routinely with cameras, desk top computers that were shared by a few users as were the printers, although there were no laptops insight. Access of information is via a large hospital IT department where they have access to an Intranet in-house service and on line data. Mobile phones were taken by the OT's and Nurses if they were to leave the inpatient setting with clients just in case communication was required. there were many times when someone out in the car was phoned and called on to do an extra task or pick up an extra client.

There are some ethical considerations to be considered when using systems that many people can access, thinking about those who need to access the information and whether others do not need the same access. In this particular setting they were fairly relaxed about letting a student access the Hospital Intranet and their own log ins as we did not have one of our own. It is possible this could be abused, although ti seems fairly unlikely as the students are there to learn. We also had access to client information and files on line which is very confidential.

Computer Ethics is defined as "a set of moral principles that regulate the use of computers. Some common issues of computer ethics include intellectual property rights (such as copyrighted electronic content), privacy concerns, and how computers affect society." Retrieved from http://www.techterms.com/definition/computerethics.

Intellectual Property is defined as “an idea, a design, that some body has created and that the law prevents other people from copying.” Hornby, A. S. (2005). Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary of current English. Oxford: University Press.

Social Justice is defined as "Fair and proper administration of laws conforming to the natural law that all persons, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, possessions, race, religion, etc, are to be treated equally and without prejudice." Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/social-justice.html

Informed Consent was described as an “agreement to a procedure, typically a surgical one, in the full knowledge of the risks.” The Penguin Dictionary. (2003). Allen R (ed). England: Penguin Group

By keeping in mind the aspects of ethics, property, justice and consent within our practice, we are protecting both ourselves and the client and keeping us all safe. We do need to be aware of any online information and who has access to it and possibly take steps to keep some information blocked to everyone.

It is possible that once photos or information has gone on line to lose control of that information. Another reason why Information Technology understanding is to keep up to date with the technology as it progresses, this allows us to be better informed which may then benefit our clients.

Some aspects that are not so good about technology is the ability to hide behind what is put on line as in dating sites or blogs. It has been know for reporters to search these sites when a person of interest is in the news. this is not necessarily a true reflection of a person and they have not necessarily condoned this information about themselves. This may take away some of the accountability for the user and it can also interfere with family time if too much home time is spent on computers instead of spending time playing with the children or spending quality time with partners or friends.