Introduction Lecture PO1

Participation in Occupation 1 Technology BT230001 Lecture One: An Introduction

Course Assessment
Terms
Blog creation
Blog profile
Posting of tutorial Tasks
Technology Application Report
Report/letter for funding of a specific technology.

Retrieved 1 February 2007 from: http://scripturist.org/don't%20panic.jpg

Some Introductory Thoughts About Technology
Technology definitions
Humans use of technology
Technology and its role in history
‘ The problem with technology is…’
‘ Technology is great because…’
Technology and occupational therapy

How do we define technology?

Technology:
… The total knowledge and skills available to any given society.
(Collins Concise Dictionary, 1989)

“ To me, it is important to understand that technology is practice, it is the way we do things around here. This definition takes machines and devices into account, as well as social structures, command, control, and infrastructures. It is helpful for me to remember that technology is practice. Technology, as a practice, means not only that new tools change, but also that we can change the practice. If we have the political will to do so, we can set certain tools aside, just as the world has set slavery and other tools aside. It is also the nature of modern technology that it is a system. One cannot change one thing without changing or affecting many others.”
Ursula Franklin, The Real World of Technology. 1989 Massey Lectures

Technological change and human history

Technology made large populations possible; large populations now make technology indispensable Joseph Wood Krutch

Our first use of technology. The evolution of tools. Man as tool maker
Focus on survival and subsistence
Evolution and specialisation
The Industrial Revolution
Arts and Craft movement

Technology….the knack of so arranging the world that we don’t have to experience it. Mark Frisher, writer (1957)

Technology Today
Is our technology change greater, or more affective, than that of the past?
What have computers done for us?
Future Shock v Future Hype?

We live in a society exquisitely dependant on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology Carl Sagan

‘ The problem with technology is….’

Dislocation from role, routine and common place
Creation of more work, are things being made simpler?
The stress of keeping up, learning and coping with change and systems
Ethical issues
Inequality of access
Technology Myths and threats (the paperless offices and atomic power)
Dependence, power failures, storage issues?
Something new is always better?

When you get the urge to predict the future, better lie down until the feeling goes away Forbes Magazine (July 10, 1978)

Technology Hype?

The chief cause of problems is solutions Eric Sevareid

Attitudes towards technology
Technicism
Optimism
Pessimism
Avoidance
The difference in a persons attitude towards technology is dependent on that persons exposure to it rather than the notion that it is age that determines positivity/negativity.

Retrieved February 1, 2007. from http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/img/techno/comprage070206.jpg

Buying the right computer and getting it to work properly is no more complicated than building a nuclear reactor from wristwatch parts in a darkened room using only your teeth Dave Barry, humorist

When is Technology widely adopted?
Useable design (fits with current systems)
An element of cool
Benefits must outweigh losses from previous technologies being replaced
Cost (affordability)
Marketing and financial clout (Microsoft)
Form follows failure

‘ Technology is great because…’

What it has allowed us to do
Contact with the wider world
Exposure to cultures and people
Spread of information
Easy of function
More comfortable and longer lives
Increased ability

I have a microwave fireplace. You can lay down in front of the fire all night in eight minutes Steven Wright, humorist

Technology and Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy Texts
From Willard and Spackman’s Occupational Therapy
It has been said that activity is the bridge between one’s inner reality and the external world. It is through our activities that we are connected with life and with other human beings. Through the activities in which we engage, we learn about the world, test our knowledge, practice skills, express our feelings, experience pleasure, take care of our needs for survival, develop competence, and achieve mastery over our destinies. (p.296)

From Health through Occupation, by Gary Kielhofner
THE CORE BUSINESS OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Is to enable healthy daily work/labour for those for whom assistance is needed - either temporarily or permanently. Occupational therapists manipulate contexts, not people. They are the only health professional whose core business this is.
Life takes on meaning in the minute-by-minute reality in which we experience ourselves achieving the ordinary things that sustain a sense of the commonplace, a security in the very ordinary nature of most of our experiences. We are anchored in the familiar reality of our daily lives. Mundane though it maybe, it is the stuff of our sanity. Beyond this unreflective involvement in moment-by-moment life, we are attached to a larger world – one bound by an extension of time to past and future, of self to relationships with others, and of personal purpose to the grander scheme about us.

… the generation, alteration, manipulation and maintenance of contexts constitute what may properly be called the art of occupational therapy. Further, by virtue of its ability to create, modify and maintain meaning this art constitutes a fundamental aspect of the healing process in occupational therapy.
The situations we create, and the tasks, opportunities, challenges, and celebrations we provide are the dimensions of our art. (pp.308/9)

from : At Our Wit’s Beginning by Peter Wilson Conceived by and within nature the human species is a part of nature: conceiving of nature sets the species apart from nature. To verify our conceptions we set about exploring nature, making use of it to shore up our independence. Our ideas, explorations and use of nature connects us to the world, which also means with each other. As individuals we enjoy a measure of independence and individuality, but to prevent our being cast off we must rely on our connections, our relationships, to sustain us. Having good connections, making connections, finding the right connections, are the ways in which human beings get on in the world. Being connected to the world, conceiving of a world that is not apparent to our senses means that we join our ideas to the materials of the world and put a construction upon them and thereby build our own environments. In these we live within the environment of the world at large. (p.3-4)

Journal Articles
Breines, E.B. (2002). Technology and occupation: contemporary viewpoints. Occupational therapy education in a technological world. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56(4), 467-9.
Hammel, J.M. & Smith, R.O. (1993). The development of technology competencies and training guidelines for occupational therapists. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 47(11), 970-997.

Conclusions
As humans we possess the ability to manipulate and test the environments we live in. Over many ages this testing has gleaned much information. We have developed a cunning and guile in the way we look at our surroundings and adapt them to our needs and wants. We as human beings can see the possibilities in situations and devise alternate strategies. Problem solving has become our forte. We have knowledge and process which can be directed to the achievement of desired end results.
Assistive tech is the obvious link between OT and technology. We should also be considering the common place. How are technologies used? What do new technologies offer our clients? How are human occupied in technologies. After all this is the domain we work in
Technologies as tools. Right tools for the right jobs cause and effect. We can make effective use of modern day technologies or be damaging in their use if we don’t know how, when or why we should use them

Asking the right questions is superior to finding elaborate answers to the wrong questions Steven Schnaars, Megamistakes (1989)

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Introduction Lecture PO1

by JamesSunderland on Feb 11, 2008

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