Head-Smashed-In ... Maths

In 1979, with a friend and still one of four (yes - I know!) we went to Calgary, Alberta for three weeks.

This was a key holiday, one to remember. I was able to return in 1989, with my then wife, eldest son and the (very) youngest - at the time - as we learned. With a new edition of the same tourist map, it was amazing to see the change in the cities footprint across a decade.

Our travels supported by the love and hospitality of two Brits who emigrated to Canada, sadly no longer with us. We talked of migrating for a time: Canada, or New Zealand.

In Alberta, one trip took us past:

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (and photo source)

Ever since school, it is maths that has head-smashed-in mine. The (personal) history here revolves around the Eleven-plus exam [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleven-plus ] which I failed.

Yes, that's -'11+' - I'm sure you can see the irony?

Perhaps, in the near future the future will resolve around the diagrammatic form of Hodges' model and the model's acting as a baton to pass to others with the knowledge and skills to apply mathematics and logic to Hodges' model.

Here is some of the history of this geophysical feature:

https://www.audleytravel.com/canada/places-to-go/alberta/head-smashed-in-buffalo-jump

"The buffalo jump was used for 5,500 years by the indigenous peoples of the plains to kill bison by driving them off the 11 metre (36 foot) high cliff. Before the late introduction of horses, the Blackfoot drove the bison from a grazing area in the Porcupine Hills about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west of the site to the "drive lanes", lined by hundreds of cairns, by dressing up as coyotes and wolves. These specialized "buffalo runners" were young men trained in animal behavior to guide the bison into the drive lanes. Then, at full gallop, the bison would fall from the weight of the herd pressing behind them, breaking their legs and rendering them immobile. The cliff itself is about 300 metres (1000 feet) long, and at its highest point drops 10 metres (33 ft) into the valley below. The site was in use at least 6,000 years ago, and the bone deposits are 12 metres (39 feet) deep. ... The importance of the site goes beyond just providing food and supplies. After a successful hunt, the wealth of food allowed the people to enjoy leisure time and pursue artistic and spiritual interests. This increased the cultural complexity of the society.

In Blackfoot, the name for the site is Estipah-skikikini-kots. According to legend, a young Blackfoot wanted to watch the bison plunge off the cliff from below, but was buried underneath the falling animals. He was later found dead under the pile of carcasses, where he had his head smashed in.^{"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-Smashed-In_Buffalo_Jump}

With COP27 on-going we are all participants in a 'drive' ...

Book review iv "Human Landscapes: Contributions to a pragmatist anthropology"

Human landscapes

I am rueing the day (whichever it was) I lost my hard copy. Despite best intentions, I'm taking it slowly with the pdf, also much appreciated c/o the author Prof. Roberta Dreon.

The cover resonates at present as it was my mother's funeral on Wednesday. This provoked memories of my father too - happy times. Whatever emotional intelligence I can lay claim to I realise it is a gift from mum: a pragmatist anthropology indeed, as grief flies around.

 I can't help 'read' this as I apply a pragmatic tool:

"By following or even radicalizing Mead, it could be argued that it is at least partly through the use of verbal communication that the sense of one’s own self has been made possible—where self-reflection is considered to be a primarily affectively based form of awareness. While avoiding any hypostatization of interiority as a primary condition—which would give rise to the well known philosophical problems of the internal/external, private/public dichotomies—we should consider why humans are often capable of having a rich interior experience." p.68.

Dreon's (necessary) focus upon sensibility, habits and the insights obtained are rewarding:

In Chapter 3 Pragmatist Contributions to a Theory of Emotions -

"In spite of the abundance of theories, I think that developing a pragmatist approach can still be fruitful, because it helps to get rid of many of the noxious dichotomies that have shaped the philosophical as well as psychological conception of emotions—mind-body dualisms, nature-culture gaps, and private-public oppositions.." p.71.

The book isn't dizzying but the traversals from the sciences to the affective sciences, as an understanding of the emotions is sought highlights the elephant that follows us on the journey across Cartesian and other divides. Salience is here - in qualitative form, epigenetic threads are highlighted (p.73). As noted key to the project is dealing with a pragmatist theory of emotion. The legacy of issue in health and other disciplines is evident here, even if not explicitly stated. Conjoining experience, the environment and emotion is to grapple with parity of esteem - even if apolitically.

Clearly not a nursing or psychotherapy text - there are many connections: emotional intelligence, introspection (and its limits?).

"Emotions often arise out of a break in habitual behavior and provide the organism with a kind of affective proto-evaluation of environmental conditions that can later become an object of reflection and judgment." p.74.

I've reading to follow on enactivism, embodiment ever since at least: 

Paley J. Clinical cognition and embodiment. Int J Nurs Stud. 2004 Jan;41(1):1-13. doi: 10.1016/s0020-7489(03)00081-6. PMID: 14670389.

Plus some books (yes two in :: two out mum...).

When aged 16-17 I read and wrote about Wundt's recognition of the limits of introspection:

".. from the perspective of the methodological hypothesis that introspective analysis should be avoided because it is scientifically unreliable." p.76.

(If I find that notebook I'll do another post. Reading about the history of psychology, I was drawn to mental health/illness.)

Anyone familiar with h2cm and posts here will appreciate the trigger of association produced by:

"... 'interactive' is different from 'intentional'..." AND ".. a mechanical process; on the contrary, by emphasizing its plasticity." p.76.

We can even link book reviews!

"... recent ideas that the brain is at least partially configured after birth ..." p.77
(Brainscapes)

Clearly in the slow lane with this - but enjoying the learning and a further post - when I'll point to the review as a series.

Dreon R. (2022) Human landscapes. Contributions to a pragmatist anthropology. Suny Press, Albany.

New York – Livable Cities: A Conference on Issues Affecting Life in Cities

NEW YORK Conference: Abstract Deadline

New York / Virtual

14-16, June 2023

Abstracts: Nov 20th, 2022 (Round One)

https://amps-research.com/conference/livable-cities-new-york/

A cross-departmental conference held at City Tech (CUNY) with the Departments of Architectural Technology, Construction Management, Civil Engineering and Environmental Technology

LIVABLE CITIES - NEW YORK is a conference covering architecture, design, planning, health, technology, urban economics and social policy. It is calling for contributions to specific strands of sustainability, resilience, design, planning and construction.

These strands seek to explore issues related to net-zero energy buildings, sea defenses and strategic retreat, life cycle analysis in the construction industry, Building Environmental Assessment methods, EcoHomes, BREEAM, alternative energy generation in cities, material science and much more. 

The conference is organized across departments at City Tech (City University of New York) with Amps and publication support from Routledge and UCL Press.

CALL SUMMARY

What makes a city livable? Transport, housing, health and environment. Matters of culture, entrepreneurship, crime and safety. Affordability and education. Depending on whose ‘livability index’ you look at, it may include design quality, sustainability and the digital infrastructures of the smart city. Other criteria applied may encompass food access, job opportunities or walkability. Inclusivity and the politics of participation also come into play.

The past two decades have seen an exponential rise of livability measures. Reflecting increased urbanity globally, they risk making the notion of the city ever more contested. The two cities that host this event are cases in point. The Mercer Livability Ranking takes New York as the datum by which all other cities globally are graded – as better or worse. London, by contrast, measures itself: the London Assembly scoring everything from air quality to indices of deprivation. When we consider the livability of cities then, it is clear we are dealing with a plethora of issues – both isolated and, inevitably, interconnected.

Within this broad livability framework, we seek to develop strands and publications around themes of the design and construction sectors – particularly as they relate to sustainability and resilience.

https://amps-research.com/conference/livable-cities-new-york/

My source: http://www.cosmobilities.net/ list

n.b. A suggestion: consider the conference themes and the structure and domains of Hodges' model; what relationships, dichotomies, synergies, and opportunities can you glean?

Books: Psychiatry and Technology - Phillips, ed. (2008)

Despite the necessity of new (inc. secondhand when possible) titles, the overall push is to reduce the shelf and box count. This means that:

Phillips, James (ed.) (2008). Philosophical Perspectives on Technology and Psychiatry. Oxford University Press.

- will soon have a new home. Before that another look to support the effort here:

"It hardly needs stating that treatment algorithms, the evidence-based approach, and treatment manuals are useful tools in psychiatric practice. What issue is then being addressed in referring to them as examples of technical reason? The issue is that they, and other examples of the technical approach, can at their worst turn psychiatric treatment (or medical treatment for that matter) into a mechanical procedure. The patient becomes an instance of a diagnostic category, and the treater becomes a generic treater. Follow the technicized approach too literally, and one schizophrenic becomes interchangeable with the next, and one psychiatrist with another. In this situation of the fungible patient and the fungible treater, the individuality of both is lost, and the need for individual judgement on the part of the psychiatrist is rendered obsolete." p.9. Introduction.

Hodges' Health Career - Care Domains - Model
Axes and Care (knowledge) Domains

"Qualified users [of technology] have a professional responsibility to be reflective users. They should be 'thinkers'. Reflective use means being able to step back and become more conscious of one's professional activity." p.46. Chapter 2 Examples from Psychiatry.

"A concern for objective truth is at the heart of the scientific enterprise. An unfortunate consequence of the rigid dichotomies associated with a scientistic epistemology is that objective truth is defined in opposition to subjective values. The result is the 'Either/Or' thinking characteristic of the 'science wars' where science is either reduced to a relativistic exercise of political power or characterized as a value-neutral exercise progressing in an inevitable fashion determined solely by the facts." p.120. Chapter 6 Rational Argumentation.

Designing for Changing Values (Event & Journal CfP)

I learned of the following research project via

Philos-L "The Liverpool List" Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool
[ https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy/philos-l/ @PhilosL ]

- with news of a call for papers:

CFP: Corpus Analysis, Conceptual Change, and Socially Disruptive Technologies

Hodges' model is ideally to suited to critique of systems and socio-technical dimensions as previously described:

Jones, P. (2009) Socio-Technical Structures, the Scope of Informatics and Hodges’ model, IN, Staudinger, R., Ostermann, H., Bettina Staudinger, B. (Eds.), Handbook of Research in Nursing Informatics and Socio-Technical Structures, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 11, pp. 160-174.

Plus, there are many posts tagged 'socio-technical' - hyphenated to emphasize the inter- multi- trans-disciplinary bridges that the model provides (some posts are also tagged 'sociotechnical').

The research project Designing for Changing Values provides encouragement here for the increasing relevance of Hodges' model:

How to Deal with Value Change in Sociotechnical System Design

"Not value neutral

A key insight from philosophy of technology is that technological artifacts and sociotechnical systems are not value neutral, but support or inhibit certain values. Several philosophical accounts for understanding the embedding of values in technological artifacts have been proposed and approaches like Value Sensitive Design, Design for Values and Responsible Innovation have been established for integrating values into technical design.

A theoretical blind spot

A blind spot is, however, the possibility of value change after a sociotechnical system has been designed. For example, when many of our current energy and transportation systems were designed sustainability was not yet a central value, and we are now struggling to incorporate this value into these systems. Progress in the field is currently inhibited by the lack of a philosophical theory of value change in sociotechnical systems.

Better design strategies

This project fills the gap by developing such a theory. It moves beyond the state of the art by proposing a dynamic rather than a static account of values, by developing insights in the dynamics of value change, by extending analysis about the embedding of values in technical artefacts to sociotechnical systems and by developing design strategies that aim at designing sociotechnical systems that can better deal with value change."

https://www.valuechange.eu/

I do wonder about the subjective-objective and qualitative-quantitative 'metrics' of value and values (and other metrics - change, complexity, emergence). In human and mechanistic terms there are marked differences too between value and values. Values are, should, must be, embedded in individual nurses and hence the domains of Hodges' model. This is how (in part) the model supports reflection, and critical thinking.

No surprise then being created for practice, Hodges' model is dynamic. The model can help capture and present an ongoing sequence of frames. Where were we? Where are we going? How have things changed? (This is

Hodges' model prompted the thought of 'holistic bandwidth', the call for papers on corpus analysis seeks examples of formal work. The model, initially blank provides a conceptual framework upon which to capture a conceptually situated corpus. The structure of Hodges' model is a foundation for a relational ontology that draws upon semantic distance between the model's two axes (as per the table below):

INDIVIDUAL <-> GROUP 

HUMANISTIC <-> MECHANISTIC

Not just that but the synonyms that may apply. So for 'individual': person, patient, client, self, client, 'I', 'me', Peter, Chi, student, teacher and whatever role is applicable. This point is vital as there is a potential and workflow that runs from:

1. Neutral, blank, non-judgemental (the model as a template): the content - empty, null state.

2. The model's essential structure.

With a potential for conceptual explosion - from a basic (very simplistic) inherent corpus, to one that is explicit:

3. A response to a situation, a context.

4. That then changes according to events, aims, objectives, strategies, philosophical perspective (recovery, strengths, self-care), policy emphasis ...

In health and social care as suggested above we would hope that the model is employed to shift from the general to the specific - person-centred approach.

 INDIVIDUAL
|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

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

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

value(S)	VALUE(S)
value(s)	VALUE(S)

This conceptual framework is not limited to strategy either, but can also encompass deliberation on operational and tactical concerns.


See also:

Soc. Philosophy & Technology Conf: Charleston, S.C. 8-11 July 2007

20/20 vision minus 1, 2, or 4 blind spots....

'corpus'

Jones, P. (2012). Exploring several dimensions of local, global and glocal using the generic conceptual framework Hodges's model. The Journal Of Community Informatics. 8(3). Retrieved from https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/view/3034

Jones P. Exploring the relationship of threshold concepts and Hodges’ model of care from the individual to populations and global health. Rev Cuid. 2017; 8(3): 1697-720. http://dx.doi.org/10.15649/cuidarte.v8i3.464

Design4Health 2023

Design4Health is the collection of events, publications and networks established by Lab4Living.

Design4Health includes an international peer reviewed journal and a series of international conferences, first convened in 2011, that bring together designers and creative practitioners with researchers, clinicians, policy makers and users to discuss and disseminate their research.

Our publications and events provide an opportunity to reflect on how the disciplines of design and health might continue to develop new ways of thinking and working, and how we might impact positively and sustainably on the social, economic and cultural factors within our communities and beyond.

 

Design4Health conferences

Established in 2011, there have been five international conferences held so far, including one in Melbourne, Australia. The next full conference will take place in Sheffield in Spring / Summer 2023.

Watch this space! Design4Health 2023

The next conference will take place in Sheffield in Spring / Summer 2023. We will announce the date, themes, and formats of the next conference here and via www.design4health.org.uk and @design4health. We invite you to join the D4H mailing list for updates and announcements about Design4Health.

Join the conversation: @design4health #D4H2023.

(I will look to update this post, or re-post as details follow. PJ)

Lab rats ... Experiment ongoing ... c/o BBC Radio 4

Fallout: Living in the Shadow of the Bomb

 INDIVIDUAL

|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

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

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

define: pacific psychological resource (fight)	lab rats, guinea pigs 'piece of kit', equipment "out of sight (a hemisphere away!)"
welfare & wellbeing Armed Forces Covenant Group - who is left?	informed consent the State: Test veterans What did you say 'pacific' means?

British Nuclear Test Veterans Association BNTVA

Editorial: "COP27 climate change conference: urgent action needed for Africa and the world" c/o HIFA

Dear HIFA colleagues,

Chris Zielinski and colleagues achieved a remarkable feat by publishing a climate emergency editorial simultaneously in more than 250 journals. What does this tell us about communicating health research to policymakers?

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2022/10/18/bjsports-2022-106442

The point was 'to demonstrate the united will of the medical profession, including all areas (nursing, mental health, veterinary medicine, etc.), to combat the health effects of climate change'.

The key message of the authors is to urge 'wealthy nations to finally step up', particularly to realise 'the promised target of providing US$100 billion of climate finance a year... ensuring these resources focus on increasing resilience to the existing and inevitable future impacts of the climate crisis, as well as on supporting vulnerable nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions'.

The message is supported by a well-worded case, and by a string of references to published research.

The piece is jointly authored by the editors of medical journals, which was presumably a deliberate decision to emphasise solidarity rather than including climate scientists and others.

In relation to 'communicating health research to policymakers' the exercise suggests more can be achieved when scientists work in solidarity and cooperatively than individually and in competition.

It will be interesting to see what happens at COP27. Will there be major steps forward along the lines that this editorial calls for? If so, what were the key contributing factors to the decisions made? One suspects the shared voices of 250-plus journals will play an important role. Moreover, their solidarity and cooperation is in place and ready to take on the next major advocacy challenge.

Best wishes, Neil

Joint Coordinator, HIFA Communicating health research https://www.hifa.org/projects/new-effective-communication-health-research-policymakers

Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Global Coordinator HIFA, www.hifa.org neil AT hifa.org Global Healthcare Information Network: Working in official relations with WHO

Award: h2cm #1 Framework ... #2 and #3?

"Elden and Levin (1991) suggest distinguishing between insider and outsider frameworks. A framework is described as a way of understanding. Insiders are the project workers or programme staff who have first-hand experience of the situation. They have their views about programme goals and problem solutions. The outsiders are the external researchers, the social scientists, who bring a battery of research skills and a wealth of theoretical ideas: 'The richness and quality of the research depends on the ability of the insiders to play their different frameworks and expertise against each other to create a new, third explanatory framework." (1991: 132). p.28.

 INDIVIDUAL

|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

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

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

outsider new insider	outsider new insider
insider new outsider	insider new outsider

Nurses, and nursing encompass all three, but (should - must) realise they are also part of the 'system', together with their colleagues in the multidisciplinary team. 

In grounded theory, participatory - ethnological and other qualitative approaches, we need to ensure the 'ground' to inhabit is sufficiently accessible. Hodges' model can assist in scoping a project; what is the perspective, standpoint, or positioning? While the health, or social care staff are the insider's and conceptually at the center of the model, the aim is to place the patient, carer at the center, with the situation we collectively encounter. The model's subjective - objective duality can also act as a regulator to assure overall balance.

Elden, M., & Levin, M. (1991). Cogenerative Learning. Bringing Participation Interaction Research. In W. F. Whyte (Ed.), Participatory Action Research (pp. 127-142). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Clarke, A. (1999). Evaluation research. SAGE Publications Ltd,
https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781849209113 

[Clarke, again: p.174]

"Carol Weiss (1988a), one of the foremost writers on the impact research findings on policy, describes four ways in which evaluation information is used in the decision-making process. First, the information provided by evaluators can serve as a warning that that something is going wrong. For example, if early research findings suggest that some groups are not receiving the designated services, or intermediate outcome measures are not being achieved, then corrective action can be taken before the situation worsens. Second, evaluation findings can provide guidance for improving a programme. ... A third contribution evaluation can make is by way of offering a new way of looking at a familiar problem; Weiss refers to this as 'reconceptualization'. Finally, evaluation can be used to mobilize support for a project or programme." p.174.

Weiss, C.H. (1988a) 'Evaluation for decisions: Is anybody there? Does anybody care?', Evaluation Practice, 9 (1):5-19.

n.b. When on the PhD programme [MRes], I looked at evaluation and design-based research as potential research methods.

Three Norths <----> Souths too...?

Map norths converge on Dorset village in historic first (BBC News)

Ordnance Survey said the historic triple alignment made landfall in Langton Matravers near Swanage on Wednesday

"A small village has made map reading history and become the first place where true, magnetic and grid north have met at a single point.

According to the Ordnance Survey (OS) the historic triple alignment made landfall in Langton Matravers, near Swanage in Dorset, on Wednesday.

It will stay converged for three and a half years as it travels through the UK.

OS spokesman Mark Greaves said it was not related to climate change.

Records held by the OS, Britain's national mapping service, date back to the 1930s but Mr Greaves said this was the 'first time ever in British mapping history' the three norths had aligned.

'Magnetic north has a habit of wandering around, but this is unusual, it's not been in this orientation for hundreds of years,' he added" 

Continued...

Map image: http://www.itraveluk.co.uk/maps/england/4876/dorset/langton-matravers.html 

Previously: 'compass' & 'SOUTH'