Tuesday 22 March 2011

Tutorial Weeks 4/5- All we ever wanted Movie

Tutorial 4/5: Video Production Sessions

Week ten already. WOOOO!
This week we got into small groups to make a video. We had to choose a specific letter of the alphabet and go out and explore all things that started with this letter. We were yet to present it. My group (Claire, Anna, Cara, Godhelp and I) decided to do the letter L. L for love, laughter, lunges, leaving, lavender, lonely ETC. If you didnt click already, that is what our video consisted of.
We then came back into class and uploaded our new pretty sweeet videos onto windows live movie maker, where we edited and put our videos into sequence. I must admit ours turned out pretty cool!
What good actors and actresses we are! We used the song 'all i ever wanted' from basshunter. It fitted in well with some of the slides we were showing.
Seen as there were only two cameras available, two groups went out to film, while the other two groups stayed and watched a clip on youtube from the Canadian OT students. It really did describe what we as OT's do!

I'm now going to upload our video to this blog.
Have a squiz at it if you'd like :)

See you
Gemma

Sunday 20 March 2011

Tutorial Three: Blog Creation Tasks

WEEK 9
The week i created this awesome blog :)
I must admit that it took me a bit to make a flikr account. They would accept me and kept stating that "access denied." Not going to lie, it got me a little frustrated. So i spent half of this tutorial attempting to make the account, and the second half was full of writing my first blog entry. I've never "blogged" before so i find this quite interesting. So i set up everything, and followed the tasks we were allocated on the technical description sheet. Hopefully it all worked.

On our presentation for this weeks lecture I came across a statement which really interested me.
James Sunderland (2007) (I'm guessing) stated that "we are in the business of manipulating contexts, not people." I don't fully understand the message, but it sounds pretty good to me.

This week we learnt all about communication and the potential advantages and disadvantages around IT. Also we looked at "what is a blog?"
It stated that a blog is like a personal diary. It is where you can express and share your personal opinions and concerns. A blog, in the simplest form, is a website that you regularly add "stuff."
Blogs enable you to connect with your friends and share ideas, photos, links and many other wonderful things.
Even though I have only just been introduced to blogging.. I'm quite enjoying it.


'Til next time
Gemma :)

Thursday 17 March 2011

Tutorial Two: Digital Imaging

So here's me trying to find out a cool way to start my blog. Bit of a fail, so I'm just gonna start from the start of the sheet.
Hardware and Software that I'm familiar with? The main ones would have to be digital cameras, video recorders and photoshop. An example of this is from today. St. Patricks Day. We (as a class) decided to go for a casual drink after tech to celebrate, and whats brought out other than the handy ol' camera to document our mean green time. For one of my courses I also had to do a big study on photoshop and how to use it. I found this quite fun transforming an ugly boring photo..to awesome funny photo. Manipulation and making the photo look different is what photoshop is all about.
Facebook is a good place to upload your newly created photos. There are digital albums where you store all photos you wish. You can make a setting so that only your friends can view them (such an good idea). The ability to do this allows others that would not normally (but would like to) view photos of events that you attend. For example, my school ball. My aunties and other relatives who live overseas were able to view them, with out cost, and comment.
Last week (or week before) we all made accounts on Youtube. Youtube is pretty much a video site where you upload any home videos for everyone else to see. Here is a link to a video on youtube which explains in more depth about what youtube is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2PbdIzAVKs
A final example of digital imaging to provide information would have to be nothing more than our own ONE NEWS. ONE news provides us with all of our day to day updates about what is happening in our country, and all around the world. It uses video recorders to capture important / exciting moments in time, and then replays it back to us between 6pm and 7pm. A good use of digital technology I think.

"A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature"

I think I agree with this comment to a certain degree. Back in the day everything was so much more valued. Taking photos was a big deal. Taking videos was even BIGGER. It wasn't just like these days where we take thousands of photos in one night, and then choose only the fair few which we like. You were able to get around 30 good photos (because you didn't want to waste your film and take silly ones) and then you would go get your film developed.
However, there is a huge plus side to the new technologies. The advance in technology has enabled us to take millions of photos, which would not necessarily be a bad thing. Not everyone likes the same photo so having the option is definately a PLUS. The video quality is also much higher, with no crackles and shifting shots. Not to mention colour TV. The ability to manipulate photos (like on photoshop) is also a cool idea. It allows you to change colour, sizing, scale, put other images in and take some parts out etc etc. It also provides some people with a different occupation (which is what us OT's are all about).

HOW CAN/IS DIGITAL IMAGING BEING USED IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY?
I think digital imaging could be used in many ways within Occupational Therapy. Its a good tool to use to show clients the correct technique, e.g. for lifting. They could be provided with a DVD of the correct technique, which they can review at any time if they forget. It could also be used to record sleeping patterns, so we can find out what it is thats troubling them whilst they sleep. Using it to show clients their progress is another way it could be used. Videoing them at the start of their therapy, and then at the end will give them a great sense of achievement. It would also be useful for the therapist to this also.

ETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO DIGITAL IMAGING:
You must always have permission to take a photo of someone, and to also put this photo into use e.g. in the newspaper.
Privacy Issues around taking photos is also very important. Paparazzi's are big benders of this rule, as they film celebrities, even when they don't know it. You should always be careful about who you take photos of, and also where.

That comes to the end of my blog addition.
Catch you next time :)

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Tutorial One: Information Technology and Ethical Issues

My first (proper) posting for this blog is going to be about Information Technology (IT) and Ethical Issues around this.
IT is the area of managing technology. It spans to a wide variety of areas that include things such as processes,  computer software, information systems, computer hardware, programming languages, and data constructs (Salaam, L. 2011).
I find this as a good definition, and can not put it into any clearer words.
IT is used in everyday life. I'm using it right now. Its a wonder how they used to do things in the "olden days" without technology. It is used for social reasons, gaming, storing data, collating data. In fact the list goes on too long that I'm not going to write it all down. For me personally, my phone is glued to my hand, facebook is only a click away as my laptop is hanging off my shoulder and I'm not exactly camera shy.
I find all these things as a NECESSITY! But then i think about it, they did survive back in the "olden days" without this stuff. We have become reliant on technology in our everyday life. Another example is assignments. These days our assignments like our humanities essay, or concepts in health HAD to be written on a computer and handed in online. What would we do without it ay?!?! I find using majority of the technology today pretty easy. I also find the new stuff that I'm introduced to e.g. the iPad rather easy to pick up on after a few hours of "playing." Limits.. They would have to be access to power sources to charge/ plug in my piece of IT. Also the lack of access to certain technologies, for example money, and lack of it. Some come at a high price, which limits my use.

Here is a link to how information technology has progressed over the years. It's quite amazing : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY

So.. Linking it back to OT and how it fits in there I can think of a few ways it does after being on fieldwork. First thing that I saw when I arrived on placement was my supervisor sitting on her computer writing up notes. To order equipment for our clients we would have to use the computer to access enableNZ's order forms. My supervisor would use the phone to call the clients to organise meeting times. She would also use her cellphone to ring clients when we were out in the community. It was also a safety requirement. All our clients past medical notes were held on the computer and were just a click away.
Next, when you think about clients actual occupations IT comes into it alot. After reading the article Computer Games and Karate: the Arts and Crafts of Today written by Chard, G (2007) I have realised how much IT can play a part in our therapy. The new technology such as computers, ipods and email are the new arts, and computer games, using Xboxes and the internet are the new crafts (Chard, G. 2007). Therefore us OT's will be incorporating these into treatment plans as they may be meaningful occupations to some.

The issues around using IT in OT will be things such as some peoples capabilities (and lack of) when it comes to using these. Also I find that if a computer crashes, and thats the only place with stored information on a client, then there may be a bit of a problem. Things around ethics will also become an issue.

Thinking about how IT will become in good use for OT's, I wondered that maybe if in future OT's will be videoing their sessions teaching clients how to do certain exercises, or to use equipment which they can take home with them and look through at any time.
I then found this link on youtube which is sort of illustrating my thoughts : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJjIzEaUILo&feature=related

Why do I think that the use of IT will help us in our practice and daily life? Well, the world is forever developing, so therefore technology will too develop. Watching my parents try and cope with the new technologies is a little bit of a joke, and I think if they had kept on top of technology, there wouldn't be such a barrier. In our practice we will forever be using it, whether it be to access someone's records, or incorporating it into therapy sessions.

Obviously when working with IT, there are always ethical considerations that come within it. An example we used in class was taking photos of children at school. Teachers need specific permission to take photos of kids, and post them on a newsletter/ website. Another example is when using information off a website, you must be referenced correctly, and not violate any plagiarism.

Thats all for this blog
Til next time..
Gemma

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Me

Hi, my names Gemma Campbell and I'm currently studying Occupational Therapy at the infamous WINTEC in Hamilton. I'm in my second year and for one of my courses I am required to write a blog. So here it is.. Starting this blog was a mission and a half for me, so lets see how the rest of my postings go. Time to start doing the work that actually counts..
:)