Book review: Handbook on the Ethics of AI #2

Well, I am sold. So, encouraging again to read 'reflect -ion' on the first page and throughout chapter 1:

'... why the very idea of AI gives rise to (or should give rise to) ethical reflection.' (p.21), and I'm sure the book as a whole.

Most readers may pass this by, but to me this matters. Ethics scholars however will see how important and conjoint reflection is to deliberation and argumentation of ethics. Especially, as noted in post #1 the five part division of the text Foundations and Context; Responsibilities; Rights; Politics and Power; and Thinking Otherwise. 

Tables break up and inform the text. I like the way for many tables the source is: Author's own elaboration.

Given the subject matter, yes, the authors have the literature but they are also formulating their chosen theme against the present, near future, socio-political scenarios and much more. So, reflection - this should be expected. With Hodges' model I'm often asked why are those concepts placed in that particular domain? Perhaps that is a question for general artificial intelligence? Subjectivity is a key challenge, and its effective communication.

If I say, chapter 1 is a great primer on What Is This Thing Called the Ethics of AI and What Calls for It? I'd sell the book short, the whole text fulfills this purpose. The definitions and responses to What is A.I. are very helpful, taking into account ancient to more recent history. I've a book in a box by David Chalmers (sorry Prof.) - one day - which helps here discussing intelligence and consciousness.

I'm primed to pick up on 'gaps' (Theory-Practice) and in human experience they are inevitably legion. The responsibility gap (and meaningfulness!) c/o Sven Nyholm is a place to return to, to debate why A.I. raises such a broad range of ethical issues. Patiency is never far away. Here, the patient is stark: in  moral agents and moral patients (p.20 and 89). This blog is littered with posts on Drupal, which to date I have never mastered. I remember sitting in DrupalCon presentations, in the midst very skilled professional coders. A member of the community stood at the podium recounting their lived experience of impostor syndrome. In November with a presentation of my own, I had my own encounter. Well into reading this book, it really did help. The conclusion of chapter 1 contrasts the frequent need for a big-picture overview and reflection on more specific issues. That's quite fitting for me.

I am biased in the encouraging kernels I find: as seek them I do. Yes, as chapter 2 AI Ethics before Frankenstein begins: 'there remains work to be done in charting the long-range conceptual development of  AI in the history of political thought.' (p.27, my emphasis). And much more I hope. Chapter 2 combines literature, myth and I enjoyed the discussion on techne, Prometheus, Hobbes, the interdisciplinary bridge of techno-politics and articulating the mechanistic in our lives. Focussed recently on thresholds and threshold concepts in revising two papers: Hunt writes, 'Frankenstein is a "threshold" text for "modern political science fiction" (p.31). 

This  resonated - especially 'for its prediction that the nascent Enlightenment-era sciences of chemistry, anatomy, and electricity could be used to artificially make a human being' (p.31). The exploration of bad education and bad governance through Shelley and social history is other-worldly in itself. Hunt's conclusion which includes 'Wollstonecraft was the pivotal figure in the process of refracting ideas of AI from Hobbes to Shelley, ...' left me wondering about the refactoring of code. 

Chapter 3, Smith's Faith, Tech, and Ethics of AI brings more reflect -ion with the bonus for me of Descartes. On faith, the human situation is also repeatedly stressed. Delving into creation too, this is detailed on forms of theology - Augustine, Bede, for example, and philosophy Bacon, Hume, Kant and their role in diminishing the influence of religious thought and epistemology (p.39). How long a push was that? Surely it is ongoing - in some quarters? Medieval thought is discussed, and I recall this broad period also being regarded as misunderstood [Medieval Philosophy - Bryan Magee & Anthony Kenny (1987)] . 

On a personal level, I've always placed belief in the intra- interpersonal domain of Hodges' model. In psychosis, depression, anxiety, phobias in short mental health, beliefs can be disrupted, and influenced of course when all is well. Religion I have framed at the individual and socio-political level. Clinically, it is the individual patient's beliefs, if they follow a particular religion that we also need to be cognizant of as health personnel. Machine, or human; object or being as Smith asks:

SELF / INDIVIDUAL  -  OBJECT / THING

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

the human - the machine -	- can become machine - can become human
socio-	-political

There is depth of discussion too: in AI and Power; a Christian response to AI ethics. This handbook is not just for quick reference. There is indeed redemption (p.43) to be found:

'It is easier to cover a blemish than examine why it resulted in the first place: genetics, diet, stress, or lack of self-care.'

I argue for Hodges' model as a tool to identify, (re)present, and relate the determinants of health: all of them. The points and paragraphs on theology, mind, body and self are well worth revisiting.

Johnson's chapter 4, What are Responsible AI researchers really arguing about? provides support for my ongoing belief in the value of sociotechnical theories and approaches, and another book on enactivism. Given the ethics of the global south (and technological/electronic colonialism) more could perhaps be made of LMIC, but the point is made in Table 4.1 (Examples of functionalist evaluations of AI models, p.52). Constructivism 2.2 is a rich seam for me. Table 4.2 touches on medical diagnosis and socio-technical. Johnson notes that in seeking answers to AI ethics problems, scientists see constructivist approaches and '.. constructivism as a metaethic, holding a rich space for more research into pluralistic AI-Alignment', (p.53). And, the potential for much more. This is suggested (for me) in reference to the need for a holistic view of AI model's genesis, and 'two sides of one coin' - dichotomy, polarity, oppositions, binary reductions ... ? 

Johnson's conclusion is an indirect thumbs up (cue Arnie style - of course) to Hodges' model as a project. Conceptual frameworks can indeed:

'... offer unique perspectives on the methods commonly employed and to understand and mitigate the risks and dangers of AI.' (p.62).

If ethics gets 'technical' then the book's full title is well-earned. Two case studies demonstrate functionalist and constructivist debates in responsible AI. I don't remember Capt. Kirk et al. stating to a malign alien 'intelligence' "The trophy doesn't fit in the suitcase because it's too large (small)," (p.58). The writer's put other solutions to the characters lips. Spock, however, would find the discussion here on 'Artificial General Intelligence, 4E Cognition and Enactivism' - "Fascinating!"

Much more to follow ...

Handbook on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. David J. Gunkel (ed.). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978 1 80392 671 1245
https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-on-the-ethics-of-artificial-intelligence-9781803926711.html

Book review: Handbook on the Ethics of AI #1

Related previous posts: 'general + AI'

Dramatherapy 2 - Personal identity

'Dramatherapy helps make sense of the world. Just as Goffman (1971) regards society as dramaturgically constructed, for the social presentation of selves, so Kelly (1955) describes a process in which individuals 'try on for size' various views of themselves as perceived by other people, in order to select the ones which allow them to carry on social relationships with one-another. Understanding of the other person is achieved by the process of construing his or her world, or 'construct system'. Kelly uses the notion of constructs and construct systems to describe cognitive structures. A construct is basically way of registering the degree to which an idea is present in relation to other ideas:

A construct is like a reference axis, a basic dimension of appraisal, often unverbalised, frequently unsymbolised, and occasionally unsignified in any manner except by the elemental processes it governs. Behaviourally it can be regarded as an open channel of movement, and a system of constructs provides each man with his own personal network of action pathways, serving both to limit his movements and to open up to him passages of freedom which otherwise would be psychologically non-existent.
(Kelly, 1955:199)' p.164.

'The multifarious ingredients of dramatherapy, like those of a theatrical event, are not haphazard. They are closely related, either by similarity or difference, to one another. Where there is confusion, this too is distinguished: it is confusion as opposed to order. Structure is employed in a conscious or intentional way, in order to reveal its true identity as the means by which we perform the fundamental action of relating things, in order to plot our movements in the world we live in. By allowing us to distinguish from, structure permits us to relate to. Certainly, the mechanism of perception performs this action without any conscious intention on our part; drama, and dramatherapy, is consciously contrived to assist it in its critical function, helping it to achieve a particular kind of clarity, by providing it with the raw material for involvement with the objects of perception.'
p.167-168.

EVALUATING THE EFFECT OF DRAMATHERAPY ON THOUGHT-DISORDER

Construct Theory rests upon the proposition that ideas hang together in a trustworthy way because people's behaviour is basically consistent. If people behave inconsistently, the thinking which they induce will lose its articulation, because the sense we make of life demands continual validation from the people and events we base it on. Thus, confused experience of relationship is, at its most fundamental level, the same thing as confused thinking; when our ideas begin to lose their coherence this is because, for us, other people have begun to come apart'. When they no longer fit the model we have of reality, the model itself loses its precise definition. At this point, Kelly suggests, we make our model more vague in order to preserve its identity as a model of reality: reality is blurred, so our model is imprecise. Unfortunately, it may become too inexact to function as a means of communication with the world of people and events it is intended to represent. The task of therapy is to provide evidence of the world's conformity to the individual's model, thus validating that individual's constructs. Because a person's disordered thinking is primarily concerned with the way they construe people, it must be done personally; because it is the result of experience over a considerable time, it must be done systematically, or 'serially`.
pp.171- 172.

Note to self: 'It is' :: 'It is - as if ?'. p.166.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

I	I
Greek theatre masks	Institutional masking

Grainger, R. Dramatherapy and thought-disorder. Chapter 11. In Jennings, S. (Ed.), (1992) Dramatherapy. Theory and Practice 2. London: Routledge.

(Apologies, punctuation in the above may not be accurate, and I no longer have the text.)

Constructivism in Hodges' model: Situated, cognitive, pragmatic

INDIVIDUAL
|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

"From the constructivist perspective, every field has its unique ways of knowing and the overarching goal is to move the learner into thinking within the knowledge domain as an expert of that domain might think. In geography, for example, the goal would not be to teach geography facts or principles but to teach learners to use the domain of geographic information as a cartographer, geographer or navigator might do. Just as the cartographer or geographer must bring new perspectives to bear and construct a particular understanding or interpretation of a situation, so too must the learner. And just as different geographers identify different relevant information and come to different conclusions, we must also leave identification of relevant information and 'correct' solutions open in the teaching situation. The process of constructing a perspective or understanding and developing reflexive awareness of that process are essential to the constructive view of learning." pp.96-97.

Zwozdiak-Myers, Paula. (2012). The Teacher's Reflective Practice Handbook: Becoming an Extended Professional through Capturing Evidence-Informed Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 

https://www.routledge.com/The-Teachers-Reflective-Practice-Handbook-Becoming-an-Extended/Zwozdiak-Myers/p/book/9780415597586

See also: 


Cognitive apprenticeship . . .

Hodges model: What is it? [4] A Periplus for Lifelong Learning

Cognitive apprenticeship . . .

INDIVIDUAL
|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

"The learner builds an internal representation of knowledge or personal interpretation of experience. This representation is open to change as its structure and interconnections form the foundation upon which other knowledge structures can be scaffolded. Successive modes of representation are developed as a person's expertise increases, and the building block for this development is the accumulation of individual cases (Boshuizen, 2013).  . . . The constructivist theory of learning does not accept the premise that different types of learning can be identified independent of the context and content of learning. . . . Cognitive apprenticeship, which reflects the collaboration between real-world problem solving and using appropriate strategies in problem-solving situations, is the key to construvist learn (Brown, Collins and Duguid, 1989; Resnick, 1987)." p.96.

'Cumulative experience' TI:ME

"Conceptual growth comes from sharing multiple perspectives and simultaneously changing our internal representations in response to those perspectives as well as through cumulative experience." p.96.

Practice hours requirement

Zwozdiak-Myers, Paula. (2012). The Teacher's Reflective Practice Handbook: Becoming an Extended Professional through Capturing Evidence-Informed Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 

https://www.routledge.com/The-Teachers-Reflective-Practice-Handbook-Becoming-an-Extended-Professional/Zwozdiak-Myers/p/book/9780415597586

Review: v Kinchin's Visualising Powerful Knowledge to Develop the Expert Student

Still just in chapter 4 'Presenting the Curriculum'...

Threshold concepts are mentioned on page 57 but not explained (as yet).

There is interesting discussion of students being able to navigate their subjects. On levels of discourse and the role of textbooks. What do textbooks do? What do they not do?

I know this 'review' is a selective reading with my eye on Hodges' model, but the 'evidence' to support #h2cm really stands out. For example, on page 60, the curriculum as a political currency. So informative that I am looking forward to teaching opportunities in the Spring and the possibility of delivering a workshop in the autumn. Tufte is referenced in discussion on Powerpoint, bullet points and the form of notes. Powerpoint is also contrasted with concept mapping, as an affordance for learning.

At the heart of the book Chapter 5 'The Expert Student' is subtitled 'The Need to Manipulate Knowledge'. This gets to nub of the 'traditional' approach to much teaching, the regurgitation of facts. Figure 28, a concept map (of course), suggests and illustrates the dichotomy between competence (chains) and understanding (nets) but these together can make both learning and teaching a fluid, dynamic and rewarding experience (p.74). This is effectively what follows in models of expertise that also addresses the theory practice gap (p.76).

Kinchin's main point for me and what I've been aware of for too many years on W2tQ is that it is the knowledge connections between concepts that are more important than the concepts themselves (p.77). C/o Elvira et al. (2016), ten interrelated instructional principle for expertise development are listed (pp.76-79) and bear specific analysis here (including the content of Hodges' model within a new web environment - how I wish...!).

There's mention of a 'conceptual spine' which is great to read (p.83) but I think the challenge of education and the 21st Century calls for at least two [ Why settle for one! ;-) ]. The concept of 'resilience' is over-used of late (especially in mental health) and is diminished as a consequence. Perhaps, however a call for conceptual resilience AND assurance is very appropriate (testing this resilience is learning)?

'Moving between knowledge structures', that is, theory and practice should be an inevitable experience for students in their learning. Kinchin writes specifically on this with figures to match. On twitter of late (yes, my @h2cm 'bubble') there have been many tweets expressing concern about not just nurse recruitment and retention but student's too. Kinchin notes: "When students are interested or excited with the curriculum they are more likely to develop other positive emotions." (p.83). As I write this a New Year refresh is upon us. I have a template for Hodges' model pre-populated with content that doubtless needs updating. But with every new situation and patient encounter, there is a refresh, new learning to be sought with the patient/carer.

To be completed (but don't wait for me get your own copy!) ;-)

Roland Tormey (2014) The centre cannot hold: untangling two different trajectories of the ‘approaches to learning’ framework, Teaching in Higher Education, 19:1, 1-12.
DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2013.827648

Novak, J.D. and Symington, D.J. (1982) Concept mapping for curriculum development. Victoria Institute for Educational Research Bulletin, 48: 3–11.

Kinchin, I., (2016) Visualising powerful knowledge to develop the expert student. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

See also:

Intro post

Review One

Two

Three

Four

Six

Thanks to Brill for my review copy.

Review: iv Kinchin's Visualising Powerful Knowledge to Develop the Expert Student

It seems there is no escape from 'learning styles'. Just when you thought they are dated and defunct like a Whac-A-Mole up they pop.

Here on serialists and holist - 'big picture' learners (p.37). Kinchin writes:

"Like the deep-surface binary, the holist-serialist dichotomy covers a diversity of perspectives, details of which can be analysed using concept mapping. Concept maps provide an indicator of a student's learning approach for a given context. Raynor and Riding (1997:21) have speculated that:

"The idea that 'style awareness' may help reach reach the 'hard to reach', and perhaps contribute to reducing failure generally by enhancing the learning process, is an elusive but tantalising prospect which clearly merits further attention.' (p.37)

Kinchin cites research on the influence of existing knowledge on learning. How students may simultaneously hold misconceptions and more acceptable (professional) conceptions. Perhaps a way to resolve the learning styles 'debate' is to have tools that can potentially cater for all learning styles? The chapter heading 'Patterns of Learning' points to other requirements, especially in respect of personal learning journeys. As Kinchin discusses conceptual ecologies. This is a very appropriate description for what Hodges' model provides (p.38); and a gestalt (p.43). The domains encourage 'travel' and exploration, as the student formulates a "cycle of concepts" (within one, or around several domains) a means to help integrate a context or situation. The domains of Hodges' model act as placeholders for several concepts simultaneously, whether contentious or not (p.38) or as a source of  'troublesome knowledge'." (p.37).

I've been drawn to Dewey and pragmatism in educational thought, given the accent on a natural and active approach to learning. Chapter 4 moves to Presenting the Curriculum (subtitle: hiding the discipline from view). This surely speaks to the interdisciplinary, interprofessional nature of education in the 21st Century and even the increasing instances(?) when transdisciplinary approaches are needed? Hodges' model predates Project 2000 and the shift of UK nurse education to degree pathways. Mid 1980s the model was created to facilitate curriculum design and Kinchin sees concept maps as evidencing curriculum design and a means to communicate design, communication and implementation.

Four reasons for use of concept maps in relation to curriculum design - summarised here:

1. Concepts maps support 'big picture thinking'. ...
2. Concept maps are embedded in contructivist learning theory ...
3. Concept maps support collaborative planning ...
4. Concept maps reduce the 'cognitive load' placed on teachers* ... (p.54).

I like to the emphasis in this book on structure. The concept maps - learning patterns and curricula, knowledge and very well referenced. 'Cumulative learning' could refer to cramming, committing facts to memory for regurgitation, but it doesn't. It is about student's "understandings integrate and subsume with previous knowledge, or 'segmented learning' where new ideas or skills are accumulated alongside rather than build on past knowledge." (p.55).

Not quite the center of the book, but page 56 introduces a key concept (in Chapter 7) in semantic gravity.

*This came up a lot generally - students too - within educational technology in MRES studies at University of Lancaster.

to be continued...

Roland Tormey (2014) The centre cannot hold: untangling two different trajectories of the ‘approaches to learning’ framework, Teaching in Higher Education, 19:1, 1-12.
DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2013.827648

Novak, J.D. and Symington, D.J. (1982) Concept mapping for curriculum development. Victoria Institute for Educational Research Bulletin, 48: 3–11.

Kinchin, I., (2016) Visualising powerful knowledge to develop the expert student. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

See also:

Intro post

Review One

Two

Three

Five

Six

Thanks to Brill for my review copy.

Review: iii Kinchin's Visualising Powerful Knowledge to Develop the Expert Student

Also aimed at general as well as readers in education, this is an accessible read. The book's compact size, eight chapters across 134 pages invites completion even though I took quite a few weeks.

Book reviews here are a bit 'unconventional' with the two axes I have to grind [ ;-) ]. Returning to chapter 2 momentarily and map topography. Kinchin explains how concept maps of various types can be better understood and evaluated - a process of 'topological normalisation' (p.27). On W2tQ I may sound like 'I have it in' for process and processes. I do, in the importance they seem to assume within project management. I do 'get this'. A focus on processes is inevitable and readily appreciated in Hodges' model.

No process then ... no time, sequences, events, change, movement, spatial references and so on ... Kinchin's inclusion of  'topological normalisation' is very constructive (imho) as it indicates a method (as with measuring concept maps) and suggests something beyond an algorithmic approach.

The phrase (inevitably?) reminded me of database normalization:

".. the process of structuring a relational database."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_normalization

So, topological normalisation and associated structures provides the icing.

Little wonder then that next up in chapter Kinchin's Table 1 lists the characteristics of

'Deep Learning' and 'Shallow Learning'

So cake and icing clearly.

On deep learning the first item is ''Linking new information with prior knowledge'. This is central in Hodges' model and the reflection (individual or group) and critical thinking that the model can help generate. With all the claims for VR AR, this (reflection / reflective practice facilitated by Hodges' model) is conceptually immersive (and a definition of learning?).

From this, another item is realised. As learners engage with content; find, 'own' and sustain their enthusiasm for their learning, understanding and the subjects and parts of the curriculum they find themselves learning within. The sum total is: structured networks of knowledge (p.36).

This gets even better with the subheading: 'Oppositional Binaries'.

Hodges' model provides two binaries - but (apologies - another time!) let's get back to the book.

While 'Deep learning' has its advocates, Kinchin quotes Tormey (2014:4) who warns:

'a framework that is simple enough to be a powerful metaphor may be too simple to adequately account for learning in different contexts' and that its blind acceptance by new entrants to the profession has 'imposed blinkers that make alternative conceptualisations invisible'.

Finding further evidence to support Hodges' model within this debate is invaluable.

to be continued...

Roland Tormey (2014) The centre cannot hold: untangling two different trajectories of the ‘approaches to learning’ framework, Teaching in Higher Education, 19:1, 1-12.
DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2013.827648

Novak, J.D. and Symington, D.J. (1982) Concept mapping for curriculum development. Victoria Institute for Educational Research Bulletin, 48: 3–11.

Kinchin, I., (2016) Visualising powerful knowledge to develop the expert student. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

See also:

Intro post

Review One

... Two

... Four

... Five

... Six

Many thanks to Brill for my review copy.

Health & Social Care - Shoeing the Horse*

Anvil

*humanistically ...

Anvil image:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blacksmith_anvil_ganson.svg

Original horseshoe image:
http://www.ranchomilagrokansas.com

Conceptual heavy lifting ...

Whether you are teacher, lecturer or a student we are all lifelong learners.

As the new academic year starts in the Northern hemisphere, students will have new concepts to learn. They must also integrate these concepts with previous learning and experiences. Remember that while concepts are:

floaty, airy, light, abstract

collect enough of them and they become weighty and a confused delight of several degrees of significance.

Then health and safety dictates three things:

1. No heavy lifting
2. Do not omit vital concepts
3. Those concepts you do have - weigh them - carefully.

So, how do you manage your conceptual loads?


Original image source:
Scrap grab http://www.lifting-world.co.uk/equipment.htm

Hodges' model: Background - Foreground and the Space Between

If there is one thing that h2cm exemplifies it is distance.
It is after all a four-way signpost.
Seven-way (and more) if we include past, now and future
and wrap these in a spiritual domain.

The novice coming to study and explore the periplus (Cunliffe, 2001) that is health and social care (plus informatics), is presented with a daunting and yet exciting coastline.

The curriculum the new learner must navigate ('negotiate' literally via learning contracts) lies before them the challenge heightened by several vanishing points on several horizons.

Our senses are designed to quantify and our intellect to qualify this thing we call distance. Distance within conceptual spaces and the semantic web is all about semantics: the meaning of the terms we use in everyday and specialised languages.

If it is not a case of begging the question, consider the key concepts that comprise an explanation of h2cm.

Declare one concept, for example, ‘individual’ and we create a semantic singularity (in the sense of conceptual plurality not noun?). As soon as we add another concept, such as 'group' a conceptual space (the h2cm grid or matrix) is created.

The axes of h2cm are not passive.
They provide a spatial and cognitive scaffold.
Like gravity each concept is related to others by an all pervasive force.

The force here while not physical, it is universal in the sense that every concept is associated with the others by virtue of their similarity. Even if not physical in that arc of the diver sense, this similarity can be calculated and can be represented computationally within a computer program or virtual reality environment – the force potentially represented as feedback.

Gardenfors, P. (2000). Conceptual Spaces, MIT Press, London.
Cunliffe, B. (2001). The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek, Penguin.
semantic singularity? I thought of singularity in the astronomical sense at first, but found ...
Levy, P. (2008). Beyond Semantic Web SEMANTIC SPACE
http://www.ieml.org/IMG/pdf/Balisage2008-pierre-levy.pdf
http://www.springer.com/linguistics/semantics/book/978-0-7923-6569-3
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0749596X05000720

New book - Conceptual Structures: Knowledge Visualization and Reasoning

Conceptual Structures: Knowledge Visualization and Reasoning
16th International Conference on Conceptual Structures
ICCS 2008 Toulouse, France, July 7-11, 2008 Proceedings

Eklund, Peter; Haemmerlé, Ollivier (Eds.)

2008, X, 311 p. With online files/update., Softcover

ISBN: 978-3-540-70595-6

48,00 €

About this book

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Conceptual Structures, ICCS 2008, held in Toulouse, France, in July 2008.
The 19 revised full papers presented together with 2 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from over 70 submissions. The scope of the contributions ranges from theoretical and methodological topics to implementation issues and applications. The papers present a family of Conceptual Structure approaches that build on techniques derived from artificial intelligence, knowledge representation, applied mathematics and lattice theory, computational linguistics, conceptual modeling, intelligent systems and knowledge management.

Nursing theory - conceptual spaces: Where's my T-shirt?

Tripp-Reimer's 1996 paper The Dimensional Structure of Nursing Interventions has been sitting in my dsw - 'do something with' - pile for ages. Now reading Gardenfors I came across multidimensional scaling and realised that Tripp-Reimer et al. have also been there done that. They have been wearing the T-shirt for well over a decade.

Their paper begins with the evolution of nursing’s substantive structures and the emergence through the late 1960s to the early 1980s of a plethora of conceptual models (including - but not mentioned Hodges’ model). According to Tripp-Reimer these models while clearly possessed of nursing credentials, they were not always produced as combined research and practice tools. They argue that this failure may have contributed to the rise of the metaparadigm of nursing, with the effect that:

‘At best, the metaparadigm myth provided a rationale and mechanism for the discipline to displace (transcend) the conceptual models.’ p.11.

Ah! So that would account for why Hodges' model (and other global conceptual frameworks) have languished in the lay-bye!

‘Currently, nursing conceptual models have limited utility beyond their historical importance. That utility is derived from the structures they can provide for nursing education programs. Analogously, they also provide a framework that is useful for beginning nurses, assisting them in cognitively framing a clinical situation. These models provide a map, stimulating the new nurse in a clinically familiar space.’ p.15.

The paper goes on to contrast the way these models are used a-consciously by experts. I would suggest that there is a problem in nursing theory; or if not so severe as to be deemed a 'problem' then a tension at least. Educationalists (theorists) will rightly justify the case for nursing to be defined and boundaries set; otherwise, curricula will not support delivery of the desired learning experience, would lack focus and integrity in terms of evaluation of content and professional credibility. Socio-politically professional groups need a sense of (group) identity. The intention to develop models – theories in order to delineate nursing and establish professional identity is, however, at odds with the practice objectives of holistic and (interdisciplinary) integrated health and social care. Nurses need conceptual models and spaces that extend - from the outset - beyond the clinical situation.

It is the unfamiliar spaces (patient, carer, community... occupied) that we must seek or at least be able to account for in assessment, planning, interventions, evaluation (research) and information governance. Clinical situations should certainly be familiar within the bounds (latitude) of the curricula and including the match between what is taught and practical experience (practicum).

Health and social care, education and policy are constantly changing. Amid the rapid pace of T-shirt slogan turnover tools such as Hodges’ model retain their relevance for experts and beginners alike.

Tripp-Reimer, T., Woodworth, G., McCloskey, J.C., Bulechek, G. (1996). The dimensional structure of nursing interventions. Nursing Research; 45(1):pp.10-17.

T-shirt image source Copyright © 2001 - 2008 The CELDirect Group

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.