References

Here is a list in full of references used throughout this blog.
References are also posted individually under the appropriate posting in which they are used.

About.com (2011). Ergonomics. Retrieved September 13, 2011, fromhttp://www.about.com/ergonomics

Ephron, N. (2009). Julie and Julia. USA: Columbia Pictures.
Harris, D. (2009). Engineering psychology and cognitive ergonomics. New York: Springer.
Pearsall, J. (1999). Concise oxford dictionary. Tenth edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

Visser M. (1986). Much depends on dinner. New York: Grove Press.

Just an added thought....

So throughout these postings I have been having a good think about what cooking / baking really means to me. The most obvious reason I cook is to eat, which is rather essential for life. However, I do not just cook for myself. When I cook I am also providing my family with food, so I am also looking after them. This feels rewarding for me as it means I am able to contribute to the household, and provide for those who have had a busy day. It is especially helpful for Mum, as she finishes work a little later and when she gets home she is completely exhausted, so its a comfort for her knowing she doesn't need to get food on the table when she eventually gets home.
I also find being in the kitchen rather relaxing. If I am feeling stressed or have had a bad day, I find it comforting to bake something yummy - my specialty is a lemon syrup loaf which all the family love. It fills the house with the delicious smell of home-baking which immediately puts me in a better mood. I love this quote from the movie Julie and Julia, as I feel I can relate to what she is saying about how being in the kitchen makes her feel. "Chocolate cream pie! You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. You can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That's such a comfort." (Julie Powell, 2009).
If I am feeling particularly creative, baking or cooking gives me an opportunity to play around a little. Decorating cookies or cupcakes is always fun. I love making different coloured sugar to top belgium biscuits with, a bit of a change from the original pink colour. Chopping and changing recipes is a habit of mine, if I don't like something that is included in the recipe, I will try to substitute it with something I would prefer, or if we don't have the required ingredients, I'll hunt down something to fill it's place. Sometimes these changed recipes work out a treat, other times, not so much.
So besides cooking to eat and therefore survive, I enjoy being in the kitchen to provide for others, to de-stress, to feel a sense of belonging and achievement, and to release my creativity. Wow, who would have thought I would get this much out of cooking a simple meal!

Ephron, N. (2009). Julie and Julia. USA: Columbia Pictures.

Practical Considerations

In order to be able to cook for at least two hours each week there are some obvious practical considerations that needed to be taken into account: money and resources.
I am rather lucky because as a condition of living at home rent-free, my sister and I help out with the cooking and housework, therefore I have everything I need at home, so these considerations were not such a big deal for me. However, last year, I was living in a flat with an awful kitchen so these considerations were constantly at the back of my mind, therefore I will use my experience from the flat last year as my focus for this post.
Like most student flats in Dunedin, our kitchen was tiny, our cupboards didn't close properly and there wasn't adequate storage space, not that we really needed though, as we had very few utensils to store. This lack of equipment was a huge hassle for me. Everytime I felt like doing a spot of cooking or baking I would have to compensate for lack of basic utensils (eg, a decent wooden spoon for mixing). This was a bit strange for me, as we have always had whatever I've needed at home. I suppose I could have gone out and bought these basic utensils for the flat, but lets face it, they would have ended up lost or broken so I didn't feel the need to waste my money. I was always stuck when looking for decent dishes or trays to cook things in/or, and if i did eventually find one, I would then have to spend the next 5 minutes cleaning the damn thing.
My other issue in the flat was my lack of funds to buy ingredients. As a flat, we all put in money and bought the basics together each week (bread, milk, chocolate - the necessities), however, anything we wanted other than this we bought ourselves. After a few weeks of the same bland noodles and pasta, I really felt like making something a bit more exciting. However, whenever I bought extra food with my own money, it would mysteriously disappear before I even got the chance to use it. As my frustration grew with others using food I had paid for on my own, I eventually gave up and went back to the boring old pasta and noodles I had been eating previously.
Throughout the course of that year, I grew to hate cooking meals. I avoided it as much as possible, opting for cheap fast dishes, or sneaking up to mum and dads for a roast. The thought of using that kitchen, and the resources inside it, always managed to get me mad or frustrated.
Moving home again, to a clean and tidy, well stocked kitchen was such a treat for me! I had thought that I wouldn't want to get back into being in the kitchen again, after such an awful year of food, yet once home, I found myself rearing to go. It made me realise how important the environment is when doing tasks, as it was the environment that had changed my love of being in the kitchen to dread of having to step foot in there.

Food for Survival

Food is ‘everyday’‐it has to be, or we would not survive for long.  But food is never just something to eat. It is something to find or hunt or cultivate first of all; for most of human history we have spent a much longer portion of our lives worrying about food, and plotting, working, and fighting to obtain it, than we have in any other pursuit (Visser, 1986, p.12).
Obviously we have to eat daily to live. However, as said in the above quote, this is not the only reason we eat.
My Grandparents have a huge, beautiful, garden. And a large part of this garden is a vegie garden. They have a huge variety of vegies, silverbeet, carrots, potatoes, peas, brocolli, the list goes on, and this has always been a delight for my older sister and myself growing up. Grandie would always let us help him in the garden (although our idea of helping probably wasn't necessarily that helpful), and we would have great fun watering the gardens and digging up the vegetables. We would then take the vegies into the kitchen to Grandma, and continue to help her to prepare and cook them. Although these were simple tasks we were doing, they provided my sister and I with a great opportunity to learn some basic life skills. We were able to name a numerous amount of vegetables that some classmates had probably never heard of, and whats more, we new how to cook them! Helping get dinner on the table was always a great feeling, it was good to be given a sense of responsibility and we always felt proud that we were able to help. Looking back on our adventures in the garden, I believe it really did shape the way I feel about cooking now, trying to use fresh ingredients where possible, and enjoying the feeling of using things from your own garden.

I find that now, in tertiary education, I never have as much time to see friends as much as I would have done when we were all at school. Therefore, the time we all have to meet up is greatly reduced. As a way of staying in touch, me and a few of my closest friends make a point of catching up for a night during the first week of each month. During these monthly meetings, whenever we meet there is food involved. Either we all meet at a cafe, for coffee and cake, or we go to one another's houses, where they have usually gone to the effort of putting out a spread of fresh baking or cheese and crackers. The food brings us all together, and allows us to connect with one another.

Although food is essential for survival, I have identified two large aspects of my life that revolve around food being used for purposes other than survival. These have both shaped how I feel about cooking at present.


Visser M. (1986). Much depends on dinner. New York: Grove Press.

Ambience

Ambience is defined by the Oxford Dictionary (1999) as being the character and atmosphere of a place.

In any home, the kitchen is often the place where friends and family congregate. Sure, it’s where the food and
the drink are, but kitchens are seldom just refuelling stations. Conversations, gossip humour and ideas flow
freely in the relaxed atmosphere of the kitchen. (de Lore, 2000)
This quote reminds me of christmas day in my household. Every year on christmas day, our grandparents, cousins, aunties and uncles come to our home to enjoy a traditional christmas dinner. Turkey and veges for lunch, pavlova and trifle for desert, then ham and leftovers for dinner (although at this point in the day, after grazing all day on nuts, pretzels & chocolates, nobody really feels like eating). This is usually the one day out of the year that the whole family sits to eat a meal together, so it is a rather special occasion. On this day, you will find the females of the house in the kitchen, sipping on wine, tending to pots and ovens, and having a good ol' gossip. The males can usually be found in the lounge watching tele, or out in the sun, slurping beer and talking man talk. When everyone comes together at the table to eat, there is a feel of excitement in the air. Everyone cracks christmas crackers with the person sitting next to them, puts on their hat and reads out their joke that they found in their cracker (lame laughs all round). Glasses are topped up, someone says Grace, and then the feast begins. After everyone has eaten far too much, and pants are feeling too tight, we all move into the lounge to chat over coffee. It is then a relaxing afternoon until dinner rolls around, however with the amount everyone has already eaten, dinner is usually over pretty quickly.
There is always a certain feel to our house on this day. It probably feels different for everyone. But it is without doubt a feeling I look forward to each year. Having all of the family together, enjoying great food, and  giving gifts to those closest to me, never fails to make for a great day, year after year.


Pearsall, J. (1999). Concise oxford dictionary. Tenth edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

Affordances

The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill (Harris, 2009). In other words, affordances can be considered to be what you get out of doing a certain activity. Aesthetics plays a large part when discussing cooking. Aesthetics is defined by the Oxford Dictionary (1999) to be artistically beautiful, or of pleasing appearance. Cooking can be pleasing for all of five senses, some more than others, obviously.
Lets begin with smell. Smell can be a huge factor when eating, especially if you are trying something new. If the food presented to you doesn't smell good, then you will probably be a bit apprehensive about eating it. On the other hand, if you smell good food, you can be immediately excited about what you are about to eat. Some foods have very comforting smells, such as freshly baked bread or fresh cakes or cookies. If I walk into my house and smell home-made bread being made before I even see it, I instantly feel happy and excited to eat it. Same goes with baking, I love walking into a home which has just taken some cookies out of the oven, the sweet scent can fill an entire room, making it feel cosy and comfortable.
Moving on to sight. Similarly to smell, sight can have a big impact on how you feel about what you are eating. Some foods just look absolutely delicious, just a wee glimpse can make the mouth water and the stomach grumble. However, some foods don't rank quite as highly in appearance. Foods we may not be used to, such as foreign food, may look a little daunting to us. I remember being in an Asian restaurant with some friends, the majority of whom were Chinese, with a large variety of traditional Chinese foods placed in front of me. They found it rather entertaining watching me try to figure out what these foods were, and could tell I was a little (if not, alot) wary of trying the different sorts of foods. After trying a few dishes, I discovered they actually were delicious and tried to look past the strange appearance of them.
Feel, or texture in the context of cooking, may not be a big thing for some people, but it is huge for me. There are some things that I just cannot, and will not, eat due to the texture. It is mainly meat that I am fussy about here. I don't like meat that is too chewy, therefore I need to chop any scrap of fat, or rind, off my meat before I eat it (which then occasionally gets passed down to my food-loving dog, who is always grateful for a wee feast). I remember eating jellyfish when I was visiting Japan which I had  not previously tried before. I remember it tasting quite nice, but the unusual texture, which was slightly crunchy as well as slimy, meant that I could not bring myself to eat more, despite it having a pleasant taste.
Hearing is not such a huge aspect when it comes to cooking, however it still has it's place. Hearing food sizzling in a pan, or boiling in a pot can make you start thinking about the final product that you will have when the food is cooked. Hearing does however, seem to be a huge aspect of food when I think of my animals. They can be sound asleep in the next room, not a care in the world, but as soon as they hear someone rustling wrappers, or opening the fridge / pantry in the kitchen, they are immediately at your feet, hoping to get just the smallest crumb or treat they can find.
The final sense, and the one I consider most important with food, is taste. If the food doesn't taste good, then no matter how good it smells or looks, you are probably not going to eat it. It amazes me how much taste differs from person to person. I may eat something that I find absolutely amazing but then my friend sitting next to me feels nauseous just looking at it. In the movie Julie and Julia (2009), Julie Powell feels very strongly about the taste of butter. "Is there anything better than butter? Think it over, any time you taste something that's delicious beyond imagining and you say 'what's in this?' the answer is always going to be butter. The day there is a meteorite rushing toward Earth and we have thirty days to live, I am going to spend it eating butter. Here is my final word on the subject, you can never have too much butter."

Ephron, N. (2009). Julie and Julia. USA: Columbia Pictures.
Harris, D. (2009). Engineering psychology and cognitive ergonomics. New York: Springer.
Pearsall, J. (1999). Concise oxford dictionary. Tenth edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

Links to other Blogs:

As a note to the lecturer, you will find links to all blogs I post on here :)

http://participationcharlotte.blogspot.com/2011/09/affordances.html?showComment=1318804100829#c2197979233433888826

http://shilmonipo1.blogspot.com/2011/10/affordances-spiritualiity-aesthetics.html?showComment=1318803918092#c5648227269680200070

http://mattgeeetar.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-four-another-jam-session.html?showComment=1318804298951#c4904910003192436993

http://janinesparticipationinoccupationblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/comments-on-other-blogs.html?showComment=1318803777544#c5280992329699579628

Ergonomics

Ergonomics is defined as "the science of work and a persons relationship to that work" (About.com, 2011). Today in class we looked at activities in relation to how they fit into a Person, Activity, and Environment grid. We had a class discussion and came up with the following ideas.
Person
-Age -> life timeline, temporal perspective
-Energy required to participate in the activity
-Aptitude, skills, sense of competence
-Sense of responsibility -> perception
-Preferences
-Time available to participate
-Deficits
-Financial capacities

Activity
-Adaptations of the activity that may need to be made
-Pacing / Rhythm
-Temporal / Time of day
-Robustness of materials
-Other kinds of equipment that may be required
-Costs invovled

Environment
-Equipment available
-Spatial organisation
-Cultural aspects -> how we do things
-How rich our environment is
-Seasons

With these ideas in mind, I then focussed in on my own activity of cooking. This helped me to analyse more deeply what cooking means to me as an activity, and all of the elements that go into it.
Person
-I have been helping Mum in the kitchen for as long as I can remember. We used to have 'Wednesday baking days' when we were younger which was always a treat (being allowed to lick the cream beaters was always a highlight). Christmas day was always fun as my sister and I would be helping Mum and Grandma prepare the desserts and vegetables for the big feast. I think I would have started cooking family dinners around the age of about 10 or 11, with assistance from either Mum and Dad or my older sister. Although I was probably shocking at this age, helping out always made me feel like a grown up, and it felt good to be able to help my family after a busy day.
-I do feel I have limited time for cooking / baking in the mean time with study and work keeping me busy, however I do enjoy taking some time out of study to whip up a treat when I have the energy and motivation.
-There is not much of a cost involved for me personally associated with cooking as I still live at home so groceries are provided from Mum and Dad. However, when I was flatting last year, I found cost a big issue as I could only afford the basics which resulted in boring, repetitive meals.

Activity
-I feel I require a base recipe when I'm cooking as I'm not quite creative enough to start from scratch. However, I do really enjoy taking a recipe and swapping up the ingredients to see how it changes the taste.
-Some meals require expensive or odd ingredients that I wouldn't find use for otherwise so I tend to steer clear of those. Although I may make some exeptions if the item looks particularly great.
-There is alot of equipment involved in cooking/baking and it can be rather frustrating when you don't have adequate dishes/pans/utensils etc. I found this very difficult when I was in the flat last year as we had a very limited kitchen which was very impractical. The equipment was also not very good quality which made things difficult as well. At home, things are much easier. We have a well set up kitchen so I am generally able to find everything I may need.

Environment
-As stated above, our kitchen is well set up so it is a nice tidy environment to be in when cooking, compared to the flat which was unorganized and messy.
-There is a large varitey in fruits and vegetables from season to season which can make cooking interesting. This can be really great if the ingredients you are wanting to use are in season, however rather frustrating if they are not. There are generally tinned varieties of things you can use as a replacement, however I feel that fresh is best.
-There is a cultural aspect with cooking in my family when it comes to special occasions, be it birthdays, anniversarys or any other special dates. We tend to have the good old family recipes that pop up at all of these times, that are garaunteed to be a hit and noone will ever get sick of. I believe these will be the types of things I am still making for my family years down the track.

This activity has had me think about differents aspects of cooking and has made me realise how important food can be other than just for survival. It has brought back great memories from my childhood and made me think about how the past has shaped how I cook, and why i love cooking now.

References:
About.com (2011). Ergonomics. Retrieved September 13, 2011, from http://www.about.com/ergonomics

Semester Two, Tutorial One

Today in class we were asked to think of an activity we do for at least two hours a week and and reflect on what it means to us. I decided to choose cooking as my activity as I really enjoy being in the kitchen. I cook dinner 3-4 nights per week for my family. I enjoy trying something new each time I cook, and using a variety of different recipes. I also really enjoy baking. I bake for my family (grandparents especially love this), and also for friends or for special occasions. As with cooking meals, I enjoy trying new recipes for baking aswell. I like to be creative when baking with decorating, presentation etc.
So what does cooking / baking mean to me?
I enjoy being in the kitchen as it gives me some downtime after a busy day. I can unwind and experiment with lots of different recipes etc. It gives me a sense of achievment whenever I create something that everyone enjoys, and this encourages me to continue to try new things. It is also a form of income for me, as I work 4-5 nights per week, working in a fast paced food environment.

Tutorial 8: Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is an umbrella term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitve devices for people with disabilities. Assistive technology promotes greater independence by enabling people to perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish, or had great difficulty accomplishing, by providing enhancements to or changed methods of interacting with the technology needed to accomplish such tasks (Wikipedia, 2010). This means that assistive technology is all the technology that people use to adapt or change tasks to make them easier for the individual.

In this tutorial we were lucky enough to have a guest speaker to come and talk to us about his area of work. He is an Occupational Therapist working in a school with children who have very high needs disabilites and he uses alot of assitive technology in his everyday work. His talk was awesome, and he showed us alot of photos and videos of his students using the equipment. It was so cool to see his students using the equipment and figuring out for themselves how it all worked. He even bought along some of his equipment and let us have a wee play. One of the items he bought along was an iPad. The iPad offers a huge range of applications which are very interactive and fun! It is about the size of a regular novel, however alot thinner and very light. It has a touch screen which is great for all of the interactive applications. It retails for around $799 in New Zealand and applications range from free up to around $10, however the majority are around the $1-3 mark.
The reason this is so great for children with disabilities is the level of interactivity and the range of applications available. They can help with reading, writing, maths, and even just be fun little games. The iPad is so much fun to use, I got to have a little play with it in the tutorial and we played clapping games with a Giraffe, which was simple, great fun and very cute!
Below I have included a video clip I found from http://www.youtube.com/ which shows an autistic boy using the iPad to do his homework. It is great to see how much he enjoys using the iPad and how enthused he is about getting his work done.



References:
Wikipedia, (2010). Assistive Technology. Retrieved, April 20, 2011, from http://www.wikipedia.com/

Tutorial Seven: Linking blogs of interest and exchanging comments.

In this tutorial we were expected to link with other blogs including other student's blogs or different blogs related to OT. This involved me searching for blogs that I found interesting and were relevant to Occupational Therapy. I found some which included information on various topics such as Wii-hab and speech therapy in children. I also linked to classmates blogs by looking through their work and commenting on what I liked and what I thought they could do to improve their work. The picture below shows evidence of comments exchanged over a post between Charlotte and myself about a video from youtube which we both enjoyed. 



Tutorial 6: The Internet and Online Communities

An online community is a virtual community that exists online whose members enable it's existence through taking part in membership ritual (Wikipedia, 2011). In this tutorial I have explored three different online communities - their purpose and the services they provide. These include:
http://www.neopets.com/
http://www.pokerstars.net/
http://www.kongregate.com/

These are all gaming sites promoting play which is a very important aspect for Occupational Therapists. Play is used in therapy with young children as a means to learn and in adults as a leisure activity / hobby.

Neopets is an online gaming site for children. It allows children to chose a pet, name it and take care of it. It needs to be fed, played with and groomed. There is a large variety of games in the games room which earns points that can later be spent to buy things for their pet. It provides children with a fun way of learning to take care of something, and includes some basic math, and word games.
Pokerstars.net gives poker lovers a place to go to play poker against others all around the world. It provides training and is a great place to get in a bit of practice to suprise your mates next time you are all playing. The best part? It's free to join!!
Kongregate is an online gaming community which allows the user to play and rate online games, post in forums, and gain achievements through play. The user is able to create an avatar and make friends through playing games, which is a great way for the users to find people who have similar interests to them.

All sites that I have chosen to look at are highly interactive as they all encourage active game play. Pokerstars.net and Kongregate also allow players to interact with other players which boosts the level of interactivity. Neopets however does not allow interaction between other players - quite possibly due to safety reasons. However, it does allow the user to interact with their chosen pet through game play. All of these sites are free to use, however there is an opportunity to use real money in both pokerstars.net and Neopets. Pokerstars.net allows users to place real bets on the games being played which will make the game more exciting for alot of users. Neopets allows the user to load real money onto their accounts which is called Neocash, rather than the Neopoints which can be earned through games. Having Neocash allows the user to buy special items for their pet which Neopoints are unable to buy. Such lucky little pets!!
People chose to contribute to all of these sites for entertainment reasons. They are able to post on forums about games in Kongregate which allows game creators to see what people really think about their games, how to improve them and see what the player really wants. Pokerstars is a great place for people to practice their game and also earn a little money if they were wanting to place real bets. Neopets is just a fun site for children to use, however a large range of educational games, and the need of having to take care of your own pet makes it a great site for parents to show their children.

None of these websites require the user to submit any personal details, so therefore they are all doing a good job at trying to maintain security for the user. A big issue for theses sites though is the potential for addiction, or spending too much time on them than need be. Pokerstars.net could be a big concern for someone who has a gambling addiction as I am not aware of any precautions they have in place to do with limits of bets or frequency of bets. It would be very easy to create a fake account to play under, whereas if they were using traditional gambling areas such as a casino, they may not be allowed in if they are attending too regularly. There is also the option to play for free on Pokerstarts.net, which is the same for the other too sites, however some people may not be able to limit the amount of time they spend using these sites. This could eventually effect their work / school performance and/or relationships if they are constantly using these gaming sites.
With the sites directed at younger audiences (Kongregate and Neopets), there is a real concern of potential isolation. They may enjoy these gaming sites so much that they turn down time to spend with real friends. It also means that children will not be outdoors playing the way I or my parents and grandparents would have played and entertained ourselves when we were younger. This could potentially lead to health problems such as obesity, which is obviously a big concern in the world right now.
However, even though there are alot of negative points to consider when thinking of these online gaming communities, when used appropriately, they can be a great tool for people to use for enjoyment and leisure. They provide entertainment for those involved, and may even develop some areas of skill and knowledge.


References:
Wikipedia, 2011. Online Community. Retreived April 2, 2011 from http://www.wikipedia.com/

Occupational Therapists: Making A Difference

Toddler Sofia Ali~ Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy for Kids

Occupational Therapy Practice: Pediatrics (Sensory Integration)

This guy is awesome! I chose this clip because this is a field I really want to explore. It looks like so much fun and also rewarding! :)

OT Rap

Tutorial 5: Video Production Sessions

Youtube is a website that allows users to post videos that anybody can watch. It is a great site to watch comedy clips, education clips, music, sports, news events etc.

For tutorial 5, we were required to find videos related to a topic of interest in OT. When people ask me what I study, it can sometimes be difficult to define exactly what OT is, and what we do, so I have included the OT rap as a fun way to explain what we do as OT's. I am very interested in working with children when I graduate therefore my remaining 4 clips are associated with how OT's working in Paediatrics fill in their days.

Tutorial 4: Video Production Sessions

At this tutorial we were required to create a short film (30 secs - 1 minute long) which adressed the topic 'overcoming adversity'. After a short deliberation, we decided to express how we felt about the fabulous Polytechnic internet. The star of our film, Tim, shows how we have all felt at one time or another when technology does not quite work as it is intended to. Enjoy.

Tutorial Two: Digital Imaging

Digital images can be stored transferred and manipulated in many different ways using technology. Photoshop is a very popular tool used by people to manipulate their photos, and to create special effects which make their photos stand out from others. Photos can be stored in multiple different places including USB sticks, external hard-drives, back up disks or on the computer in different documents. USB sticks are ever so popular as they provide a portable device to carry information on and they are small too, so no lugging around heavy albums! That's always good! Images can also be posted onto sites such as Flikr or Facebook where others can gain access to them, which is perfect for those living away from friends and family, to share what they have been doing / seeing.

"A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature."
There are many benefits to the new digital camera's that we use so commonly now. However, are we losing anything through getting rid of good old fashioned film cameras? Digital cameras have multiple benefits including:
-the ability to look at photos as you take them
-the ability to delete as you go
-much smaller, compact devices
-alot cheaper to print off to hard copy
-easily changeable XD cards which can hold hundreds of photos at one time
-the ability to automatically upload photos to a computer / view on a tv screen
and many many more! However, it is quite possible that with this easy view and delete feature on digital cameras, we are losing the art of true photography. It is too easy to just take multiple pictures and flick through and delete until you find one that is a good image of what you were trying to capture. Whereas with the more traditional film cameras, you are unable to check the images as you go and have limited film, therefore you need to take time and care to get the right image.

Confidentiality is a huge ethical issue when thinking of how often images are taken and how publicly they can be distributed. People may be unaware that they are being captured in an image and then later find themselves in an image publicly posted on a website. When taking photos in a public place people need to be careful that they are not capturing any members of the public unwillingly, and that the people in their images need to know what is going to happen with the photos and who might have access to them.

In a placement I attended, a day centre which worked with intellectually disabled adults, images were used to show which tasks were going to be done that day. They had a large photo library which included images such as crafts, baking, puzzles or music, and photos of places to go out to such as the library, swimming pool, or a cafe. The guys loved seeing the photos up on the whiteboard as it meant they could see what they were going to be doing that day. It was also great for helping those who had difficulty communicating, to pick a photo to show what they wanted to do.

Nicolej280's photostream

Nicolej280's photostream on Flickr.

My Wee Holiday

Tutorial One: Information Technology and Ethical Issues

In this blog I will be looking at what information technology is and potential ethical issues that may arise from Information Technology (IT).
IT is defined by TechTerms (2011) as anything related to computing technology, such as networking, hardware, software, the Internet, or the people that work with these technologies. Many companies now have IT departments for managing the computers, networks, and other technical areas of their businesses. IT jobs include computer programming, network administration, computer engineering, Web development, technical support, and many other related occupations. Since we live in the "information age," information technology has become a part of our everyday lives. That means the term "IT," already highly overused, is here to stay.
My understanding of this definition, is that IT relates to all computer/technology gadgets that we use (for example cellphones, computers, games such as Wii etc) and also relates to those people that work within the field with these gadgets.

Technology is everywhere. It would be very rare to find a workplace these days which doesn't have a basic computer, and most people have cellphones. This type of technology is designed to make our lives easier. Cell phones are a very convienient way of keeping in contact with others, as are social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Flickr etc. These social networking sites are very popular with people all over the world as they are a great way to keep in touch with others in different countries and allow people to see each others photos, videos, and posts of what they have been doing.

I, like most people around my age, have a wide range of technology that I use on a regular basis. This includes two cellphones (one telecom and one vodafone), a couple of different Ipods, television, home computer and personal laptop to name a few. I was given my first cellphone at the age of 13 from my parents who wanted to be able to contact me if I was out with friends or away on school trips etc. Even now, whenever I go out, I keep my cellphone close by so that I am always able to be contacted. This is for both safety and social reasons. I use my laptop to do the majority of my scool work and I believe it has made doing assignments alot easier for us young folk. Using a computer makes it so much easier to change word documents around, add bits in, take bits out and tweek pieces of work until they are of a good standard. This is not possible when doing work with pen and paper as you can not tidily change much once it's written down. However, as fabulous as computers are, I have also had many stressful nights when they decide not to turn on, or crash in the middle of an important essay, leaving my hoping that I hit save semi-recently. Another point of frustration is in the middle of an important phonecall my cellphone cuts out of reception, or my Ipod battery dies when in the middle of my favourite song. It is times like these where I curse technology and swear I will never use a technology again. Ever. But in reality, the benefits of using technology greatly outweighs the option of not using it, therefore I always go running back to technology.

There are various ways in which IT is being used in Occupational  Therapy Practice. The internet is a popular tool which is being used for things described by Verdonck, M & Ryan, S (2008), such as self cares (online shopping, banking etc), leisure and occupational past-times (movies, music, etc), and productivity (buying and selling, travel bookings etc). This use of the internet gives clients much more freedom in a way which allows them to do regular household tasks without the stress of having to go to a supermarket or bank etc. Another great IT tool is the Wii hab - a relatively new and evolving field of medicine that incorporates interactive video game systems to treat or research neurological or orthopedic ailments (Wii-Hab, 2009). And it's fun! It provides young and old alike with a fun, interactive game which can focus on things as fitness or muscle endurance. I belive that IT is a great tool for OT's and we should definately make the most of it in practice. It can provide fun activities for rehab and can also make some activities alot easier for people.

There are a number of ethical implications that may arise when sharing information via IT devices. The biggest would have to be confidentiality. With the new trend of social networking sites, there are constantly photos/videos/information being shared with others that an individual might not want to be shared. On social networking sites there are options that you can choose to make sure your profile is private, which makes you feel more relaxed about knowing who is looking at your photos etc. However, if a friends profile is not set to private, and they have photos on their page of you, there's no telling who can access these. It is rather scary to think that a stranger may be able to recognize you on the street purely from photos they may have seen on a friends account.
Intellectual Property is defined as a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law. (Wikipedia, 2011). This basically means that if somebody was to create something, for example, a piece of art, the creator owns exclusive rights to that art. Think copyright, or trademarks.

Social Justice is concerened with equal justice, not just in the courts, but in all aspects of society. (Wisegeek, 2010). It promotes equal rights for all which is very important for OT's who are especially interested in getting equal rights for disabled people. Social Justice brings about a fairness and equality to society, which may be helped by IT when it comes to IT making people's lives easier. IT can provide different ways of people to do everyday things which means they are not missing out on important things in society.

Informed Consent is defined as consent given with full knowledge of the risks involved, probable consequences, and the alternatives. (BusinessDictionary, 2011). Informed Consent is a major issue in the technological world due to numerous issues with privacy & confidentiality. Things are posted online that individuals may not want made public. If using IT in Occupational Therapy Practice, the therapist needs to make sure that the client knows exactly what the activity involves, how the information will be used, and who will be able to access the information. The client will need to agree to any of this before information is made public.

References:
BusinessDictionary, (2011). What is Informed Consent? Retrieved March 30, 2011, from
          http://www.businessdictionary.com/
TechTerms, (2011). Information Technology. Retrieved March 25th, 2011, from
          http://www.techterms.com/
Verdonck, M. & Ryan, S. (2008). Mainstream Technology as an Occupational Therapy Tool
          Technophobe or Technogeek? British Journal of OT. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check reference sheet
Wikipedia, (2011). Intellectual Property. Retrieved March 30, 2011, from
          http://www.en.wikipedia.org/
Wii-Hab (2009). What is Wii-hab? Retrieved March 24, 2011, from http://www.wii-hab.com/
Wisegeek (2010). Social Justice. Retreived March 30, 2010, from http://www.wisegeek.com/