Tutorial 6

www.bebo.com
bebo is a social networking site that is used by people of the age of 13 years plus. People use to to keep in contact with there friends and family or it is even used to meet knew people. It has been around since 2005 and can be used in many countries.
To be a member on bebo you have to create your own profile. This can include things about yourself and photos. People leave comments on people pages to communicate with them. Comments can also be sent privately so this is not visible to everyone.
bebo can be a safe site if you keep control of your profile and who you are adding as a friend. Your file can be restricted to your friends only so random people can to view your page. You have to expcet people before they they will be added as a friend. If this is not monitored correctly by the person they may end up with unwanted comments.
All kinds of things are talked about on bebo and is used for advertising a lot these days. For example NZ Army has a profile to gain recruits.
As this community is not monitored people can receive very unappropriated messages. If this was monintored it would be more appropiate for younger people. This website would be a lot safer for people to use if it was monitored.
bebo compliments real life communities.
Can provide information about people
Can provide connections over great distances instantly
Ability to connect with people of similar interests/needs/ concerns

Check it out
www.bebo.com

Tutorial 8

Watch this to see how to embed a You Tube video to your blog


Watch this to see how to embed a Flickr badge to your You Tube

Tutorial 7

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is any item, piece of equipment, or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized that is used to increase or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities (Cook & Hussey 2000).

A Buddy Button is a piece of equipment that can assist clients to achieve a number of different tasks. It is a single switch that is activated by pressing anywhere on the top surface.

Diameter 63mm
Height 18mm
Weight 60g
Activating force: outside edges 100g
Activating force: centre 200g
Travel before activation 1.2mm
Distance between threaded inserts on underside 32mm
Current 30VDC max 1A

Check out this site to see other great assistive technology devices: http://www.star-educational.co.nz/view_details.php?detail=true&cat=26&subcat=&id=57

The Buddy Button can provide independence for the client and increase the activities they can take part in. For example a young boy has an electric wheelchair but he cannot turn the power on or change speeds as he does not have the motor control to push the small buttons. In order to give him independence two buddy buttons were used. They were placed on his tray so he could turn the power on and off and could also change speeds.

Reference:

Cook, A.M., & Hussey, S.M. (2000). Assistive technologies: principles and practice. St Louis: Mosby

Tutorial 4 and 5

Video Production Sessions

In these sessions we learnt filming techniques, how to use a video camera, how to film and edit a film. We also used a story board to create a short 30 second film.

We created a short film called “Parking on campus” where we made a storyboard, filmed the footage then edited it. We then uploaded it to YouTube. YouTube is a website which you can share videos with the world by uploading them onto YouTube. YouTube is an online community which people get involved in. YouTube is mostly viewed for personal reasons but is being used for educational purposes more and more these days. You do not have to sign up to YouTube to view videos but to add a video or leave comments you need to sign up.

Using the storyboard really helped with the time it took us to achieve the final product as the planning was all done prior to going out and filming. The story board involves drawing up what you are going to film before going out and doing it which saves times as you have already planned what you are going to be filming.

To make storyboard, you draw a picture of each shot you are going to take and write notes next to it which makes up your story. Using a storyboard makes filming a lot easier as you have already prepared what you are going to film. It also helps with editing as most of your footage you took you will be used and you will know what you need to cut out.

The video can be viewed can be viewed by clicking this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8_ve-NI5BE

Tutorial 3

Blog creation Tasks

Blogger was started by a tiny company in San Francisco called Pyra Labs in August of 1999. Blogger was created to give people an easy way to share their thoughts and what they are doing in their lives.

Check out this website to see what Blogger offers http://www.blogger.com/features.

Tutorial 2

Digital Camera use and applications

“A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature”. Briefly discuss this statement in relation to digital camera technology. What would you consider to be some of the pluses and minuses digital camera technology holds in relation to more traditional film based cameras? ********

Digital images can be transferred and stored in a number of ways such as emails can be sent through the internet, cell phones, and if scanning this can be done through some photocopiers. Images taken on cell phones can be sent to other cell phones. Scanners, photocopies, cameras, webcams are all ways of storing or sending information.

When taking pictures ethical considerations must be taken into account. If the pictures are going to be used for things like advertising where the public will have access to them, consent must be gained from the people in the photo.

Digital imaging is being used all the time by occupational therapist to record client progress and clients using equipment. They can be used as evidence to show what the OT has done.

Flickr.com is a photo management tool and is a way to get your photos and videos to the people you want to share them with. Basic accounts are also free so there is no reason not to join.

Other sites where you can share photos are social networking sites like bebo.com and facebook.com that are very commonly used.

The difference between digital and optical zoom: Digital zoom simply crops the image to a smaller size then enlarges the cropped version to fit the frame. Digital zoom results in significant loss of quality where as optical zoom stays high throughout the zoom range.

Digital cameras capture images as pixel elements, known as pixels and a megapixel is equal to one million pixels. Digital images are made up of thousands of these tiny, tile-like picture elements. The more pixels, the higher the image resolution. From:

Pigicamhelp (2009). What is megapixel? Retrivied February 26, 2009, from http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-features/camera-parts/megapixels/

Tutorial 1

Ethics and information technology

Information technology is management of computer based programs information systems. IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information. From:

Wikipedia (2009). Information technology. Retrieved February 10, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Technology.

Technology is very much common place these days and forms a large part in society. Everyone has some sort of technology in their lives weather it’s a cell phone or computer. Nearly everyone uses computers and/or cell phones as a form of communication nowadays. A lot of things can be done on line such as shopping and internet banking which saves a lot of time.

I feel very confident using a cell phone as this is very much part of my everyday technology devices I use. I am confident using a computer but wouldn’t say I knew my way around the social network sites such as Facebook as I do not use these. I am slowly working my way around Blogger.

In my experience IT devices such as cell phones, cameras, and laptops are a big part in occupational therapy practice. Cell phones are important as they need to be taken with the occupational therapist when out on home visits for safety reasons. Cameras are used to take pictures of clients and equipment. Computers are used to write up notes, reports, email and research information. Photocopies are also used.

Privacy can become an issue with internet sites such as bebo, as if not stated, anyone can view someone’s page and get information about the person. Privacy isn’t exactly the easiest thing to cover on internet sites like this.

“Computer ethics is a branch of practical philosophy which deals with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct”. From:

Wikipedia (2009). Computer ethics. Retrieved February 14, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_ethics

In law, intellectual property (IP) is an umbrella term for various legal entitlements which attach to certain types of information, ideas, or other intangibles in their expressed form. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. From:

Wikipedia (2009). Intellectual property. Retrieved February 10, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property

Social justice doesn’t just cover ‘law’. It is a concept in society which insures individual’s receive fair treatment. It can also refer to the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society. From:

Wikipedia (2009). Social justice. Retrieved February 10, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice

“Informed consent is a legal condition whereby a person can be said to have given consent based upon a clear appreciation and understanding of the facts, implications and future consequences of an action”. From:

Wikipedia (2009). Informed consent. Retrieved February 14, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informed_consent

It is important to have an understanding of ICT and ethical issues because as an OT you will be expected to use equipment such as computers, cell phones and cameras you will also need to be aware of ethical considerations that come with these.