Was that last post 'really' sponsored?*

It occurred to me that the last post would be ideal as a 'sponsored' effort. Many posts are incidentally, or voluntarily 'sponsored'. I wish a few were in fact. This commercial thought was prompted by an email three weeks ago that referred to mention of 'due diligence' in a post from 2009. The suggestion was that if I could add a link to an article by this real estate company, and let them know, then they could 'syndicate' this W2tQ. Reply sent, but nothing heard as yet.

In that last post I was careful to avoid referring to 'c*sme*ic', lest the floodgates open ;-) and this blog's potential 'long tail' be revealed.

In between the 'Barber's model' post: another email.

This, points to a post in March 2016 and (again) the possibility of collaboration. Their focus is Python and data libraries. Well this is really encouraging! I've replied, but I'm not sure if there will be a sponsored post, or something in the side bar. I've no time to fully understand 'SEO' and advertising. That is not the blog's objective. I am aware though that this blog is ancient and Google's algorithms have and continue to change.

Some income would help with conference registrations, accommodation and travel; and to revisit hosting which I cancelled recently (as unused). My main laptop (2017) is poorly too. They do get hammered a bit. Being conscious of 'false economy' in the politics of health, social care and the environment, perhaps I should return to the MacBook fold?

*It wasn't.

Heroes wanted to slay monster (or just thinking aloud?)

The four links pages devoted to the knowledge domains of Hodges model are I am told quite a remarkable collection for all that to me they are a bit of a monster. Apparently the links demonstrate that there may still be a role for human web-hunter-gatherers. Wikis and social media rely on provision of tools for links. The Twitter community is built primarily on links. H2cm's links are checked regularly, tools make the task much lighter, but ...

Most urls have long lives - a slight tweak and all is well. Some are clearly '404', while a few get taken over and become a cul-de-sac for questionable advertising. I even found one or two being used for promoting candidates in the US election. It would be great to have someone else involved a caretaker just for a category in order to:

• identify broken links
• sites no longer maintained or representative of the category
• any key resources missing (this might include a site you are involved with)

[I do mean 'key' resources]

You do not need to be a subject matter expert or a student, but it would help especially for the following domains and categories:

SCIENCES: anatomy & phys, nursing theory, research, astronomy, health informatics...
INTRA-INTERPERSONAL: psychology, mental health, therapies, philosophy...
SOCIOLOGY: sociology, arts and culture, patients and carers, collaborative computing...
POLITICAL: health policy, standards, democracy, activism, community informatics, citizenry, development ...

To repay your time there are a couple of options:

• You effectively adopt a listing and I can feature a link with a small graphic to your site at the top of the listing category.
• At least once a year I would post on the blog an acknowledgment of partners - be they companies or individuals.

OK the above is not hyperbole, but with the current website and hosting arrangements I would have to rely on e-mail to do this with me having to maintain the links.

Enter Drupal....

Considering the future site for Hodges' model I could readily drop the links, but I do feel there is potential here on several levels:

• educational
• community building
• commercial

- and I need to consider the options.

The links would be one way to involve and grow a community. Using Drupal to leverage this there is also the possibility of:

• voting on the existing categories
• suggestions for new categories
• use of mega-menus
• monitor link usage and reduce the listings
• use some of Drupal's link modules (or create a new one?)
• introduce the site and links to the semantic web - RDF
• start the collection from scratch and have the community submit them
• - emphasizing basic nursing and social care

The existing pages would also be re-written to utilise CSS and jQuery (as already mentioned on w2tq) it would make a world of difference to have the categories being collapsed upon the page opening. We'll see...

Hosting sponsor offer for Hodges' model site

I've had some great news (really welcome as I try to sort my pay and future career prospects)! The offer of sponsorship with hosting - 5GB space and bandwidth to boot - c/o and thanks to Chris Ward at Human Ecology Forum and Greenhosting.

Chris and I have exchanged e-mails and blog posts already through the Northern England Human Ecology - CHE - group, which should next meet in March - details tbc.

This is a great incentive for me to push on with Drupal and content revision. It will take some time, but knowing there's a home for h2cm is a flag to aim for. Apart from the part-time flavour of this enterprise another reason not to hold your breathe is that I plan to include learning objectives with all relevant content. So with Drupal I need to check the potential of CONTENT TYPES and MODULES and forms .... without re-inventing any wheels. Exciting, but heady times...

Ruby, Eclipse AND Rails

Last February I mentioned here that I was going to try to learn Ruby. Regardless of the name, it really seems to be a gem of a programming language. Finding Eclipse -

Eclipse is an open source community whose projects are focused on building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle. A large and vibrant ecosystem of major technology vendors, innovative start-ups, universities, research institutions and individuals extend, complement and support the Eclipse platform.

- also made me hungry again (after some 12-15 years) to tinker with code. After installing and trying Eclipse and Ruby in the spring - time got the better of me.

Then last week I read an item from October's PC PRO - 'A total Eclipse'.

I removed Ruby, who am I trying to kid!

It was time to check out Ruby AND Rails -

Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern. From the Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails gives you a pure-Ruby development environment. To go live, all you need to add is a database and a web server.

I installed INSTANT RAILS and it's awe inspiring; so much to learn, but it really feels like the motor's running. I've had the Rails book since the spring with one reading and now the mini library (Ajax, PHP, Drupal, DOM Scripting) I managed to put together is paying dividends (I think!).

So now Aptana is plugged into Eclipse and I'm up to Part II - Building an Application (just to put things into perspective that's p. 51/719 actually!).
If you follow this blog, you may be thinking he has dropped Drupal! Far from it. I can't wait for this Wednesday night and the meeting at Manchester Digital Development Agency. Books aren't the whole story: I have to add that installing Drupal, screwing up, deleting, installing again and finding some stability at last... such that I can check out the innards of Drupal (play!) has helped me enormously in starting with Ruby, Rails and Eclipse. Hope I can maintain this momentum.

I've also noticed the ads for Ruby and Rails hosting too - wish I could find a sponsor or two...

Spreading the cognitive and temporal jam yet further - I've downloaded Inkscape's Vector Graphics editor. Still need a decent banner (and finish the socio-tech paper - must contact the editors!).

Thanks BGS & CPNA-T: NCRS* Project secondment ends; back to clinical practice

I would like to publicly thank the British Geriatrics Society# and CPNA Trustees who have covered my travel costs to the SPT conference 2007. I could not have attended otherwise.

You may notice a lack of advertising on the website and blog. I've tried to focus on the message - but funds do matter. If an 'appropriate' organisation(s) would like to fill the vacant space here that could feature advertising to help sponsor future conference attendances please get in touch!

Come August 1st - I'm back in clinical harness (Community Mental Health Nurse Older Adults) after an almost three year secondment, which has been a great experience. The highlights? Well, that would include...

• Working with new colleagues - Barbara, Jeremy, Tracey and Heather - good luck all! - and change consultants, learning the ropes and being let loose on the service.
• Working on data quality, comms materials...
• Explaining to clinicians what's coming down their way (locally and nationally), why it's needed and the challenges we still face.
• Being able to comment on proposals for future system content, including aspects of the interface(s) which are often taken for granted, but are of course critical in so many ways: safety, usability...
• Meeting other clinicians from other areas and organisations, notably Social Services and debating what's happening in their locality (have any dots been joined for you?).
• Going on a 2nd secondment and gaining insight into information standards development and management - a real challenge and well worth the effort - I'm still tingly from that.
• Acting as mentor for Chris our (former!) Trainee Public Health Analyst. All the best for September and Med. school Chris! Thrilled to pieces when I heard !
• Although not directly related to my secondment the week long Ideas Factory in Bath last October definitely still has me tingling from the new Roman baths complex and at 0230 on the Friday trying to finish a research proposal. This was quite scary in some ways, I had nothing to lose, but for the academics you could see the stakes were very high. Another set of processes revealed, an opportunity to use and share Hodges' model.
• One of the biggest things was being part of a National programme and seeing the amazing work that is going on amid enormous challenges and hurdles. The future of health and social care really is going to be different, it has to be: we have to make sure it is also better. Clinicians on the ground must never be an after thought. And there's the question of public engagement too.

As to my future - in-between the home visits, allocation meetings and case reviews each month I'll definitely be keeping in touch with things informational. I'm really grateful to my clinical and ICT managers for being able to pursue all the above and ongoing informatics threads...

Back in Nov 2004 I really needed a change and I felt the team needed a change too. I grabbed the opportunity, in denial about the piece of elastic that would eventually haul me back. Well it has and it isn't the prospect of the clinical work that brasses me off, it's walking into a building I first entered in 1989. Its days are numbered as a base and it's true I have been 'leaving' for at least a decade, but in that time I've been drafted onto other projects, constantly learning and I hope helping others to learn too.

Clinical work: no problem! You can't beat the buzz of knocking on a person's door in order to check what's happening and help them to help themselves whenever that's a goer. When you can't do that there's still a vital role to play. It's a sobering responsibility and when you see how and what people are struggling/coping with - well....

So, if you are reading this AND a student - undecided regards a career - do check out nursing (and other career pathways) and social care: you really can make a difference.

After all the above for me it's time for a proper change. I've started another book chapter on socio-technical structures and Hodges' model - now with a philosophy of technology bias. I'd really like to focus on learning and teaching with space reserved for clinical practice - cognitive/humanistic therapy.

I've mentioned Drupal, Ruby on W2tQ; but I've have no time to pursue and test ideas. I'm sure I could use these tools, if time, time...

Better still exercise the need to pass on this keystone, this baton to students - it is their race, their care that counts now.

I'm sure h2cm isn't just an over-valued idea.

There are vast and rich seams to mine here (without damaging the environment) and they run under ALL the subject disciplines.

Before that - IF it happens at all ;-) let's see what's happening for clinicians, as I pick up the phone and knock on doors once again.

Having knocked on two already, I have a feeling I'm going to need my infra-red glasses - more to follow....

Whatever you are about - keep smiling as you join your own dots...

*NCRS: NHS Care Record Service
# Conference brief on its way...