Tutorial 7: Assistive Technology

For this tutorial we looked at a range of assistive technology devices.
Assistive technology can be defined as "Any item, piece of equipment or product system that is used to increase or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities (Cook & Hussey, 1995).
One of the pieces of the equipment that we looked at was a mounted wobble switch. This is a large switch that that is connected to a flexible goose neck on a clasp. This means that it can be connected to a table or wheelchair easily. A switch is connected to devices to activate them without using the normal switch. They allow people with varies impairments to use devices that they may not be able to normally use. It gives more flexibility and range of motion to the user. Devices could be activating electrical appliances, battery operated toys and games, or a PC with a switch interface. This type of switch is good for people with poor motor control and only able to use gross movements. All they need to do is roughly move their arm past the switch hitting it to activate their chosen device. The cost of this device is $330 and be bought through Star Education. Their sight is http://www.star-educational.co.nz
The down side of this type of switch is that it can easily be banged out of place and out of the range of movement of the person trying to use.

Reference:
Cook. A., & Hussey, S. (1995). Assitive Technology: Principles & Practice. Missouri: Mosby-Year Book Inc.

Embedding a Flickr badge onto your Blog

Embedding a YouTube video onto your Blog

tutorial six: online communities

For this tutorial we looked at online communities that interest us and why people participate in them. I have chosen to have a closer look a Facebook and outline what it's all about.
Facebook is an online community that enables people to connect and share with others in their life. The web address is www.facebook.com. There are a very broad range of services that facebook provides. These include emailing, showing movies, inviting people to events, joining clubs, having access to friends facebook sights and adding photos. People can contribute to friends Facebook pages through writing posts on their wall or tagging them in photos.
People choose to contribute to Facebook so they can keep in touch with friends and family easily. It gives them a sense of community and are continually motivated to contribute because they expect to get something back in return e.g. a wall posting to someone generally results in one back to you. Here is an example of a wall posting:
"Hey Zo, how is NZ. Whats been going on? How is your course? How's Petey? Seeing lots of one another? Have you been surfing? Yes i do ask too many questions, sorry - I'll hear from you soon xx"
People join facebook to stay in touch with friends. It allows for easy communication for people that may not be able to speak often, for example if they life in a different country.
There are however some ethical issues that can arise from using Facebook. If you are not select with who you pick as your friends then this could lead to online bullying. People can put up whatever photos they wish on their Facebook and will stay up there unless someone reports them. this mean that someone could put up a photo of you with out your consent.
Facebook holds some benefits over traditional communities such as not having a geographical barrier stopping communication between people, however unlike traditional communities it doesn't allow face to face interaction with friends and family that are an essential role in relationships.
Overall I recommend Facebook as a safe and highly useful online community that allows easy contact with friends and family wherever you may be.

Tutorial four and five: video production

In these tutorials we learnt how to use a video camera to develop a 30 second short film and then uploaded this onto YouTube.
YouTube is a website that allows videos to be displayed on just about anything for examples stunts, expressing knowledge, sports footage or films.
The processes involved in producing the short film included planning, scripting and storyboarding. Scripting allows the thoughts and ideas of the author to be transmitted to the audience. The author must include much more than just dialogue in the script as it needs to be the basis for what is heard and seen on the screen. This includes moods and expressions, movement, interaction with other characters, special effects, lighting, camera angles, and background sound and setting. When writing the script the author needs to think of the major aim of the film, if it meets the target audience, and map out the beginning, middle and end of the plot.
Storyboards are a sequence of illustrations that are used to visualize actions in the film. It helps the directors and cinematographers find potential problems before they occur. They ensure that the film is well constructed.

Tutorial three: Blog creations

In this tutorial we created our Blogs and learnt about the services that Blogger offer, which I will outline for you in this posting.
Blogger is a website where you can contribute to information on an ongoing basis. Things that you can do on a Blog include writing your thoughts, contacting friends and posting photos. People can read your Blog, make comments on it or link to it or email you. You can add almost anything you want to you Bloge from games to you tube clips.
You can design your Blog to suit you. There are a range of templates to pick from, custom colours and fonts, and drag and drop page elements allowing you individually shape your Blog.
You can keep our Blog safe from prying eyes by you deciding who can read and write on your Blog. You can also find people and Blogs that share your interests.
All of these services available allow you to turn your Blog into anything you want it to be.

Tutorial two: Digital camera use and application

In this tutorial we looked at how to use a digital camera, the reasons for use in the occupational therapy setting, and the ethical issues that could arise from their use. We also looked at flick.com and upload the shots we took to this. These can be seen on the Blog.
When comparing digital camera to the older versions of cameras there are some upside and downsides to the change. On the up side they allow many photos to be taken and previewed before developing them. On the down side they rely heavily on technology and need many other gadgets, such as memory sticks and batteries, in order of them to work. Some terminology of a digital camera that you may not be familiar with include digital and optical zoom, and megapixel. Digital zoom expands the photo from the middle, which results reduced quality of the photo. Optical zoom changes focal length and magnification as it is zoomed so the quality of the photo remains high. To define megapixel you must think of the image of many tiny square that are each filled with a primary colour. All these coloured squared are filled in to form an image. A pixel is one of these tiny squares and a megapixel is one million of these.
In occupational therapy images can be used for a variety of reasons. A major use is taking images during an assessment and then working of the image when writing up the report. This allows the therapist to get more accurate information and pick up on things they may have missed otherwise. Because of this their may be ethical issues that arise. This could be the privacy of the client, so to avoid this happening the therapist must have informed consent. There are also large amounts of information stored on them which means that others may get access to them.
The tutorial showed that digital cameras are a good way to capture images however there are down sides in comparison to older cameras there and the potential for ethical issues to arise from the use of them in an occupational therapy setting.