Journeys of work and socio-technical kinds

It has been a very busy and taxing week with preparation for a job interview on Thursday. On this occasion I did very well with the presentation, but I really need to get myself sorted when it comes to anticipating and answering the questions....

Note to self: How many times!!! Read the job & person spec Dopey! You don't have to empathise (even if it helps) you're not@work - you're seeking work - be ready to answer the questions.

Interview panels need more, much more - so next time... As it happens I understand that no appointment was made. Although very disappointed I learned an awful lot*. There may be news of another opportunity this week, which would actually be a preparatory step along where I believe I am heading....? Fingers x'd anyway. I'm really looking forward to next time: with both eyes wide open.

14 May I received feedback on the socio-technical chapter proposal, but until now I've not had time to take a peek (nerves too!). It seems the editors and publishers consider the draft 'definitely publishable' which is another great step forward. One negative comment highlighted the fact that the introduction to Hodges' model has been published previously. This introduction does work - it is history. I will acknowledge this in the text and the references. The need to produce new introductory material is (still) on my to-do-list. If you would like to add this to your td-list please let me know.

After the interview I visited Tate Modern (which closed at 6pm sadly) and the National Portrait Gallery - which reminded me of the draft scripts still awaiting mic's attention (apparently podcast 1 with notes, summary slides and questions has been downloaded 345 times).

I'm making the required changes to the chapter (deadline 6th June), then I can think about the next effort. Already raised on W2tQ case formulation is one possibility with some notes and references gathered. This week's experience made me wonder about the way terms like e-Health, telehealth and telecare are defined and the very fact of their being defined. ...

Just to note also - the BCS magazine 'ITNow' features ethics within ICT and includes a short but interesting item on caring systems.

This weekend I'll also try and post an update on my Drupal efforts.

Best wishes Discovery!

*Aim to prove that one of these days... ;-)

Vis blog - Uswim: You See What I Mean?

"Uswim" that is "You see what I mean ?" [ formerly at http://www.uswim.net/ ] covers the range of resources in visualization and visual language in the knowledge society. I've added Uswim to the blog roll, it's well worth a look.

Elsewhere with the landing due 'tomorrow' - 1 DAY 10 HOURS and counting as I write this, you can follow Phoenix's approach to Mars - "Where is Phoenix?" using the simulator you can request - show me Mars from Phoenix.

The 'whole' Career Model? II

Today I returned to David Bohm's Wholeness and the Implicate Order chapter 1 Fragmentation and Wholeness:

Thus, the Latin 'mederi' meaning 'to cure' (the root of the modern 'medicine') is based on a root meaning 'to measure'. This reflects the view that physical health is to be regarded as the outcome of a state of right inward measure in all parts and processes of the body. Similarly, the word 'moderation' , which describes one of the prime ancient notions of virtue is based on the same root, and this shows that such virtue was regarded as the outcome of a right inner measure underlying man's social actions and behaviour. Again, the word 'meditation', which is based on the same root, implies a kind of weighing, pondering, or measuring of the whole process of thought, which could bring the inner activities of the mind to a state of harmonious measure. So, physically, socially and mentally, awareness of the inner measure of things was seen as the essential key to a healthy, happy, harmonious life. p.26.

Slide presentation P.F. Anderson - 'Online Visualization and Organization Tools'

Through twitter I learned of Patricia F. Anderson's interest and teaching in health informatics which includes dental informatics and visualization with reference to an engaging and informative presentation:

Now see ...

https://etechlib.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/online-visualization-and-organization-tools/

This is a great (e)-reference source. There are many other related slide presentations too. Thanks Patricia, wish I could listen in!

FROM: Personal Forms, Paper Forms and e-Forms TO: Forms of Transparent and Opaque Support

It is hard to outrun paperwork.

Even though the promise of a great E-scape has been around for so long that the original pronouncement has become an eerie technology-enhanced echo.

Even before we arrive at the paper forms that are the bureaucrat's delight, there is in our mind's eye a personal idealised version.

This is in turn a product of the professional training and experience to which we are subjected. The quality of this personal idealised version is also affected by individual traits (aptitude and attitude) that are further shaped by the situation and the unique individual(s) who becomes the focus of our undivided attention.

This personal form, its gestation and sustenance is important because it affects the other forms:

• paper forms - policy, legacy (we've always done it this way);
• theoretical (academic-the idealised standard) form(s);
• electronic forms:
• the computer based record
• scanned - archived forms (electronic document management systems)
• and other variations (e-mails)

- and how they are received, adopted, owned and used. ....

Very frequently we need to listen. No. I mean really listen. Not just to one person, but two and more people verbally (with yet others non-verbally). People like to play tennis and when they start slugging it out they often seek a referee. There you are, having to 'write' things down, but you are still learning the(ir) rules. And anyway, writing things down on paper or e-form is a distraction for all. This IS NOT a problem (the problem's the grunting you can hear in the background). It is just a natural interface. As with any communication hand-over or transition point we need to take care, to be safe, efficient and effective.

Another personal form has of course arrived in the very humanoid (person-centred!) shape of self-assessment and the personal health record. There are new challenges in how these hybrid, composite record forms are defined, interoperate, cooperate, and how they will be governed and are seen to accrue measurable (holistic) benefits.

If these different forms prove seamless in use and achieve transparency, well that is quite a trick. If alternately the forms are opaque then the misfit will quickly become apparent. So, have you got the forms? Or is that just the way you walk?

The 'whole' Career Model? [ I ]

Last weekend I picked up David Bohm's book Wholeness and the Implicate Order - Chapter 1 Fragmentation and wholeness.

The title for this post is it seems valid, and in keeping with Brian's Health Career Model:

It is instructive to consider that the word 'health' in English is based on an Anglo-Saxon word 'hale' meaning 'whole': that is, to be healthy is to be whole, which is, I think, roughly the equivalent of the Hebrew 'shalem'. Likewise, the English 'holy' is based on the same root as 'whole'. p.3

Where the heck am I (and where are you on Hodges' model)?

A combination of nursing experience and informatics knowledge and skills have meant that for a long time I have been able to sit on the fence and listen appreciatively to two sides of an ongoing saga. I am sure the ending will be a happy one, if not for the reason that there is no such thing as a 'finished' (nursing) information system. There is however a need for targets, deadlines, plans for a series of software releases and all the activities that accompany 'IT' projects. In short - project management. There is then a constant need for people to sit on the fence.

While the ability to sit on the fence may be something of an advantageous position, there are times when it becomes a source of anxiety and dissonance. Off the fence as a nurse without an informatics role (without i-portfolio), you feel left out of things. Literally chomping at the bit to contribute to the developments taking place - elsewhere.

Also off the fence, but alternately wearing the informatics shoes you have a sense that those soft, fuzzy caring, psychobabble skills are slowly yet inexorably melting away. How credible can you be if you have not 'nursed', that is - seen a client, managed your case load for 1, 2 or 3 years? Whatever your field, you can lose your touch.

Reading Michel Serres and his use of Harlequin as a trope really caught my imagination and breath (as lots of things do). Here's some background to Harlequin (and Hermes):

Two figures, then, inform Serres's oeuvre: Hermes and the Harlequin. Hermes the traveller and the medium allows for the movement in and between diverse regions of social life. The Harlequin is a multicolored clown standing in the place of the chaos of life. Two regions of particular interest to the voyager in knowledge are those of the natural sciences and the humanities. Should science really be opened up to poetry and art, or is this simply an idiosyncrasy on Serres's part? Is this his gimmick? The answer is that Serres firmly believes that the very viability and vitality of science depends on the degree to which it is open to its poetical other. Science only moves on if it receives an infusion of something out of the blue, something unpredictable and miraculous. The poetic impulse is the life-blood of natural science, not its nemesis. Poetry is the way of the voyager open to the unexpected and always prepared to make unexpected links between places and things. The form that these links take is of course influenced by technological developments; information technology transforms the senses, for example. Source: Dr.Vicente Forés López

This short quote hopefully illustrates the attraction of Serres to me as I study Hodges' model and informatics. Discovering Serres really creased me up. I say creased because that is where I am, trapped between two worlds. Stuck in that line between HUMANISTIC and MECHANISTIC realms. If I run the gauntlet there, the only other avenue open to me is that afforded by the INDIVIDUAL and GROUP axis.

Now I'm clearly not the only one able to sit on the fence and take in the views and perspectives of two frequently disparate worlds. On informatics secondment and at events such as HC2008 (HC2009) as a nurse - informatician (?) you have to see lost opportunities looking at the speaker line-up and number of nurses present and enabled to take the messages home.

As a fact of life change will happen.

How much better though is change borne of
dialogue and engagement?

Like Harlequin those of us with clinical AND informatics insights must mix things up. There is a need to constantly enquire, challenge, influence and direct at times. A need also to pass the baton and let others experience the dual perspectives from the fence (and the splinters too).
Image sources: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene
and http://www.qosmiq.com/cdiadrone/ghis/pfolio/characters/index.htm
 

2007 HASTAC Conference Proceedings Available

An announcement from HASTAC.org ("Haystack")
Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory

Electronic Techtonics: Thinking at the Interface Conference Proceedings Available Now

Available now for download or for purchase from LULU: "Electronic Techtonics: Thinking at the Interface," the Proceedings of the First International HASTAC Conference, edited by the HASTAC Editorial Collective of Erin Ennis, Zoe Marie Jones, Paolo Mangiafico, Mark Olson, Jennifer Rhee, Mitali Routh, Jonathan E. Tarr, and Brett Walters.

The volume is self-published with Creative Commons licensing, 209 pages long, and includes the entire conference program from last year, URLs for all digital recordings of the conference (available at http://www.hastac.org), and many of the papers from the refereed panels that were chaired and selected by members of the Franklin Humanities Institute's Seminar on "Interface," Duke's contribution to the In|Formation Year.

You can obtain your copy of the Electronic Techtonics proceedings from Lulu's website.

You can download a PDF from there, or order a handsomely designed (by Jason Doty) paperback edition for $12.24 for delivery directly to you. You can order one copy or enough for your entire class. It's great documentation of this moment in the theory, history, and practice of digital media culture.

Reading: Social Information Technology - Connecting Society and Cultural Issues

Last Thursday I received a parcel. Thinking it was a duplicate copy of a hardback purchased recently, I was thrilled to find it was a copy of the Social Information Technology title. When I originally enquired about submitting a paper, a complimentary copy of the book was not promised. So this was a real bonus on two counts, having checked chapter 7 and looked through the final product I'm really delighted to be a contributor. Putting my effort to one side - one of several from the UK - there are some really informative papers here. This morning I read through one -
Chapter 19 Technology and Continuing Professional Education: The Reality beyond the Hype
Maggie McPherson, School of Education, University of Leeds, UK
Miguel Baptista Nunes, Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, UK
John Sandars, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, UK
Christine Kell, Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, UK
Section V: Implications of Social Information Technology in Education

Some points of note for me -

Learning consists of a process of construction of knowledge and the development of reflexive awareness, where the individual is an active processor of information. p.302.

There's another paper combining Hodges' model and the concept (and commodity) of information. The individual who is the focus of the model is interchangeable, like the elements within a user interface. This paper is concerned primarily with medical social information technology (SITs). Being person-centred Hodges' model can focus on the patient, carer, student, doctor, nurse, or on-line instructional designer...

The authors describe constructivist learning theory:

• Learning must be situated in the domain of the use and the learning activities must match the complexity of the domain.
• Learning must contain both direct experience of the world and the reflection on that experience that will produce the intended way of representing it.
• Learning must be provided with the opportunity to explore multiple perspectives on an issue, that is, one activity is not enough to acquire a comprehensive view of a particular concept. p.303.

Hodges' model is situated and the model (implicitly - through the user) anticipates the fact there may of course be several ways of representing learning. The third bullet point is a gift as there are indeed multiple perspective with loci that can be found within or run through the knowledge domains of Hodges' model.

Finally, I must check up on two of the author's recommendations: Firstly, that of adopting a developmental approach to design and development using action research and the EMAR model (McPherson and Nunes; 2004). Secondly, a systematic approach to the evaluation of learning phenomenon, with a broader sociopolitical context must be embedded into the design and development process. Although in Hodges' model the individual is the focus - group (sociopolitical) considerations are ever present. The authors suggest as a model activity system analysis proposed by Mwanza (2002) based on activity theory.

There is the inevitable mention of Web 2.0 and its future promise and yet beyond highlighting some Web 2.0 components such as social networking, this is not (understandably) elaborated. I think this situation with its future uncertainty reflects the course of self-study I am currently engaged in - Drupal, jQuery, Ruby and Rails.

I must contact these and other authors and look forward to reading more and following up leads on W2tQ.

JavaScript Information Visualization Toolkit (JIT)

I'm getting to grips with jQuery and determined to master it (somehow!). It's true that efforts in one area pay dividends in another scross Drupal (PHP, mySQL) jQuery, Ruby-Rails (another look soon) and regular expressions (jQuery & Ruby).

I have found another javascript resource (in 2008 c/o the 'Shoes' list) 'JIT - JavaScript Information Visualization Toolkit' created by Nicolas Garcia Belmonte. JIT offers a range of tools very close to my heart:

What’s the JIT?

The JIT is an advanced JavaScript infovis toolkit that was based on 5 papers regarding different information visualization techniques.
The JIT implements advanced features of information visualization like Treemaps (with the slice and dice and squarified methods), an adapted visualization of trees based on the Spacetree, a focus+context technique to lay Hyperbolic Trees, and a radial layout of trees with advanced animations (RGraph).

Starting the website in 1997 using Hot Metal Pro I was impressed they included a hyperbolic link browser. Tucked away I've quite a few papers on visualization with a social science emphasis - quadtrees, lexis pencils. Must do something with this, I can see a hypertree with 'holistic care' ((better) realised in theory) and person (that is, person-centred care in practice) at its center.

See also:
http://philogb.github.io/blog/

IssueLab - where non-profit research is brought into focus

The following resource may be of interest, especially as the rise of the third sector in health and social care plus the drive for social enterprise calls for new approaches to research.

Welcome to IssueLab, where nonprofit research is brought into focus. Each day nonprofits worldwide produce insightful and valuable research on complex social issues. IssueLab makes it easy to locate, access, and engage with this extensive and diverse body of knowledge.

Cheat sheet for jQuery

Here [no longer... sorry] is a cheat sheet for jQuery that I found at edocr. I have just printed this one page overview which should prove very useful over the coming weeks (and months!). There are others to check out, such as a CSS help sheet. I just searched edocr for 'nursing', but there is nothing listed. ...

Hodges' model: a tool for progressive disclosure

[Warning! This post extends (plays havoc with) the meaning of progressive disclosure.]

Trying to get on the surf board of the latest web-programming kind is proving to be very difficult. For many years now and as acknowledged on W2tQ the four links pages - one per care domain - have become a monster in motion. As the user scrolls down the links pages the sense of info overload becomes overwhelming. That is assuming they do scroll. There is no prompt apart from the right-hand scroll bar suggesting 'more'. Even though the links are only sitting in html tables, the experience is not exactly an exemplar of user interface design. It is poor on other counts too:

• The arrangement of the rows and categories are mine.
• Yes, reveal the holistic bandwidth of the care knowledge domains, but whatever happened to Socratic dialogue, discovery and subtlety? The user should be able to have a dialogue with the system - with Hodges' model. The holistic aspects should be revealed gradually, an act of discovery not a slap straight in the face.

Several of the books and magazines I've been reading over the years and more recently speak of the user interface design technique of progressive disclosure. Hodges' model is progressive disclosure incarnate in several respects:

• The model is revealed to the student progressively as the student learns (this means of course that Hodges' model remains forever dynamic).
• A further level of unfolding occurs in curriculum development terms. As the curriculum is revealed and subjected to review and development. In this way the model is constantly pruned, grafting may take place - such is the model's need to be progressive (and academe's need to ensure the model is fit for purpose).
• As the previous post hinted progressive disclosure is a baton. So, who do you want to pass it to? Remember the model is neutral. It does not prescribe. Is the patient free to progressively disclose, or is the process directed by the health or social care agent? Perhaps, things are driven by a bureaucracy, which must in turn provide its own progressive disclosure c/o freedom of information legislation?

There are other priorities, but looking at the links pages I'm wondering if I can finally through jQuery display just the categories and then have the user toggle the actual links display on and off. Having the user reorganise the listing would be cool. Then they would really become a part of the progressive disclosure, but it may be better to just toggle before I drag and drop.

What Hodges' model is not - prescriptive

Even though models of nursing (health and social care?) are not exactly flavour of the month at present, if they were then Hodges' model could avoid getting involved in the interminable debates that often surrounds this or that model. As per a previous post therapies, models and computing languages can have much in common with legions of supporters - champions who may have a great deal invested professionally and personally.

Hodges' model is neutral in this respect: it is not prescriptive. It does not dictate the particular approach (problem-based, solution focused, person-centred, family partnership, psychosocial, developmental, educational, recovery, self-care, citizen-centred...), but obviously wherever Hodges' model is used the values expected of the professional must follow. Hodges' model provides a very high level, generic arena with potential applications across home, all clinical, social care and pastoral settings, other work places, communities, businesses, governments, high schools, colleges, prisons and for the more adventurous the space station and beyond. This may suggest that Hodges' model is in some way 'above' other models, looking down as they fight it out in their disciplinary enclosures below; but this is far from it. All the tools we use must to subjected to debate, research and critique.

So wherever you are physically and wherever the (care) situation leads you cognitively (within and between one or more care domains) Hodges' model can be utilised. This freedom, this diversity of application does not come free. Allied with our values using Hodges' model requires work and effort. We can obtain an appreciation of the task and the work involved when we consider Hodges' model in terms of user interface design and progressive disclosure - to follow.

Original image source: http://www.medicinescomplete.com/mc/bnf/current/images/diamorphine_prescription.gif

Classic text available in pb. - Statistical Theories of Mental Test Scores

 
This item was posted on the Educational Research and Methodology Listserv -

A publisher, Information Age Publishing, has republished -

Lord & Novick (1968) Statistical Theories of Mental Test Scores, IAP.

This book was out of print and almost impossible to find for many years.