The Machine is using us, is it?

While we're on the subject of technology in general, here is a really good video encapsulating certain positive concepts to look forward to. I find this rather encouraging and hopeful, and I wonder if the hope I feel is slightly different from the usual "hope" (though not the usual word perhaps) associated with more speed, more convenience and more... technology.

Enjoy!

Tutorial 3: Blog Creation Tasks

Today is tutorial 3 and we were required to add some elements to our blogs. I added a Hangman game (at the side) and also, here is a bit about Blogger, the site hosting all our student blogs.

Blogger is a blog hosting service that is free for anyone to sign up and create a blog, in a simple straightforward process. Once the blog is created, the user can customise the look of the blog in terms of layout, colours, elements and so on. There can be multiple authors with permission to add posts, while readers may be the general public (anyone with access to the WWW) or specified people invited by the authors. Posts may include text, pictures, videos and links to other websites.

Another blog host that is rather popular is Livejournal.

And that's the end of this post for today!

Tutorial 2: Digital Camera Use & Applications

I didn't attend this tutorial because I was sick but I would have enjoyed it. Digital cameras are a big part of my own life and that of my friends. Having a number of close friends who are professional photographers or serious hobbyists, I have been part of quite a number of discussion around the demise of the 'art', now that photography is more of less "de-mystified" and everyone from little Johnny next door to Grandma has their own little point-and-shoot, the old art and craft of photography seems to stalwarts, to be sadly disappearing.

"A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature." In comparing digital and traditional film cameras, here's what I came up with about digital cameras...

Plusses:

- Less marginal cost of film

- Images can be viewed rightaway, or even before taking

- Images can be edited and post-processed in infinite ways

- More photos can be taken and stored without "supplies", ie great storage capacity than the old 36 exposures and endless canisters of film

- More accessible to a wider market, perhaps because of the "point-and-shoot" types

- Photos can be theoretically stored indefinitely with little deterioration

Minuses:

- Sense of artistry or craftsmanship is lost because of easy access for all and sundry

- Irresponsible/indiscriminate use of digital images

- Reliant on user having computer/viewer and any number of accessories and associated costs increase

- Necessary skill is diminished, photo quality is also diminished

- Post processing undermines photography as old art form because errors can be "corrected"

Digital images can be stored using storage devices which include hard drives, floppy disks, thumb drives, memory cards eg Memory Stick, Compact Flash, SD, mini/micro SD, CD-ROMs, DVD-RW, transferred and manipulated using other communications technology. They can be transferred via networking (ie LAN, intranet, WAN), physically copying on and off a computer, via the internet (email, upload/download). They can be processed using a huge range of software.

Because this is so prevalent, it is important to consider the ethical issues. For example, consent of the human subject for the photo to be used in commercial purposes is legally obligated, but morally and ethically there are considerations around disseminating for any purpose, and especially in the event of uncontrolled distribution, eg once it's on the WWW it's out of your control. Issues also arise around copyright if the subject is an object with copyright "remediating". Regulation is difficult to implement and enforce especially if it no longer has to do with traditional "suppliers" controlling distribution but is now up to "consumers" to exercise personal integrity when acquiring images from the "public sphere". There is no one to implement any other person's right for compensation in exchange for use anymore, unlike in a shop. How can we regulate what every person does at home on their personal computers?

In occupational therapy practice digital images may be used on websites, for education and training of staff and clients, such as to illustrate techniques or equipment, for online catalogues of suppliers and on blogs of practitioners.

Flickr is a service that allows users to store pictures and videos, edit them online using editing tools, share content with others, place tags on images, form groups with other users, create albums and slideshows. Other than Flickr, there is also Picasa, which I like for how easily I can post pictures onto blogs.

Optical zoom works like a zoom lens on a film camera whereby the focal length is changed and the subject appears larger in the viewfinder. On the other hand, digital zoom is applied after the photograph is taken by magnifying a selected area of the original photograph. This results in a loss of picture quality and the more the picture is digitally magnified, the greater the loss of quality shows.

A pixel is a contraction of "picture element" and is the smallest unit a digital picture is made up of, or a dot on the computer screen. This is a unit used for measuring picture quality or resolution. The greater the resolution, or the greater the number of dots, the better the picture quality (and to link to above, the more you can digitally zoom before you perceive the grainy-ness of the image). A megapixel is a million pixels.

Tutorial 1: Ethics & Information Technology

For the first tutorial of this course, we discussed information technology and its merits and disadvantages. Being a class of young Gen Y people (ahem) this was of course a subject that was close to our hearts and certainly a big part of our lives. I thought the issues raised around ethics were very interesting, as being cynical me, or maybe having gone through the phase of embracing any technology just because it's technology and later thought about it over the years, I have somewhat more concerns and reservations about technology being the be-all and end-all of modern life as we know it. But anyway, here are some concepts and ideas we discussed...

Information Technology (IT) is defined as:

The study or use of systems such as computers and telecommunications for storing, retrieving and sending information.

Compact Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.askoxford.com:80/concise_oed/informationtechnology?view=uk

IT is very prevalent in our society and getting increasingly so. It is the basis for much of our "modern tools" in the realms of business, education, entertainment, infrastructure, defence, transport, healthcare and so on. It's everywhere!

Personally, I feel comfortable and competent using devices such as telephones, Mobile telephones, MP3 players, Computers (including emailing, search engines, blogs, downloading, social networking), Televisions, Pagers, Faxes though pagers and faxes may soon become obsolete.

In Occupational Therapy practice, IT is common enough too. Organisations have corporate websites, informational websites, use email and some have integrated patient management systems across the organisation encompassing more than one physical site/building. Evidence for practice is retrieved via online article databases. Time use is also managed using a central system to collect and store information regarding how staff are using their time at work.

Of course, there are ethical implications which arise from the capturing, sharing and transferring of information via IT devices (e.g. mobile phones) or systems (e.g. internet). Other than the obvious issues of privacy, child pornography or online stalkers, there is a broader issue of the increasing inequality of the power balance between the "haves" and "have nots". As with any other tool, those who wield the tool benefit, often to the exclusion, if not outright exploitation, of others. In this era information IS power.

The old structures of terrestrial laws, regulations and boundaries are now obsolete, with the virtual global village. Geographical lines are irrelevant. This creates problems of monitoring or regulation. Who will make the rules? Who will benefit from these rules? Who will enforce the rules?

Here are some other concepts we discussed...

Computer Ethics is defined as:

A set of moral principles that regulate the use of computers.

Retrieved from http://www.techterms.com/definition/computerethics

Intellectual Property is defined as:

Intangible property that is the result of creativity (e.g. patents or copyrights)

Compact Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.askoxford.com:80/concise_oed/intellectual property?view=uk

Social Justice is defined as:

The virtue which guides us in creating those organised human interactions we call institutions.

Center for Economic and Social Justice. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cesj.org/thirdway/economicjustice_defined.htm

Informed Consent is defined as:

Consent by a patient to undergo a medical or surgical treatment or to participate in an experiment after the patient understands the risks involved.

Retrieved from http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=informed%20consent

Since it is so rampant and contains great potential for good as well as harm, understanding the issues and implications of ways of using IT will form the basis for sound, safe and ethical practice in our practice and daily lives.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to using any tool or technology, and considerations must be made on all levels from the individual to the organisation or society, as well as factors from the economic, social, political, cultural and moral aspects.

A blog is born

Hello, world. :)

Stay tuned...