Technology Supported Practice
Session 3: Current uses of technology
Dr. Dick Schoech
UTA SSW
Suggest print Handouts, 3 per slide with grayscale setting
Copyright 2011. No Part of This Presentation May Be Used or Reproduced Without the Written Permission of Dr. Schoech
Overview of Class
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Current State of Management & Practice
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Generic applications
Examples of Applications
Policy
 Community
 Management
 Worker Support (direct practice)
 Client self-help
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Conclusion §
Generic Applications
From ppt 2 last week
 Work horse Robots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww
 Eldercare Robots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=697FJZnFvJs
 Elbot http://www.elbot.com/
 Eliza Rogerian therapist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA and
implementation in program called Virtual Woman http://virtualwoman.net/
 NASA humanoid http://www.smartplanet.com/business/blog/smarttakes/meet-r2-your-robotic-coworker-courtesy-of-nasa-gm/3890/
 Robots kiss? http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-103187051.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody
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Robot girlfriend http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/10/roxxxy-sexrobot-photo-wo_n_417976.html
 Google earth and GIS (location based services – more precise than caller
ID because it can give location, horizontal and vertical position of phone)
Quick Review of Current
Situation of IT use in the
Human Services
Current State: Management
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Management in most agencies have networked PC on every
desk
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Beginning to web-enable and connect agency applications
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Agencies have little understanding of connectivity of service
delivery system and its implications (O’Looney article)
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Agencies struggling to keep IT current, e.g, smartphone
interface, social networking, etc.
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Agencies struggling to keep IT safe (security, viruses, etc.) §
Current State: Practice
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Clients, practitioners, agencies going online
Self-help/moderated support groups=more common
Client convenience and preferences dragging
professionals online
Online counseling called coaching, mentoring, etc.
Practice constrained by training, liability, antiquated
professional rules & ethics (UTA experience)
What little research is promising (Barak et. al.)
US is learning from online practice in other
countries with fewer restrictions—iActor JTHS Vol 26 2/4 §
Applications
Including the millions of
smart phone
applicatons
Policy Level Applications
Educating the Public
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Voices of Civil Rights http://www.voicesofcivilrights.org/index.html
Educating youth, World Game Institute http://www.worldgame.org/workshops/
Research and Developing standards
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NASW ASWB Tech & SW standards
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http://www.socialworkers.org/practice/standards/NASWTechnologyStandards.pdf
www.Grants.gov and NIH Reporter Database
Narrowing the Digital Divide and promoting universal access
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Learning & Information Network for communities via Technology http://www.linct.org/
Communities of Practice
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Digital Access Index http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/dai/
Comm Org http://comm-org.wisc.edu/
Alliance for Nonprofit Management http://www.allianceonline.org/
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Child Welfare Gateway http://www.childwelfare.gov/
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Community Level
Virtual communities to solve problems (See Table 1 of Chapter sent out)
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To address substance abuse http://www3.uta.edu/sswtech/sapvc/information/teens13_15/
Educating communities to solve problems
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Smart Communities Network http://www.smartcommunities.ncat.org/
DHHS, SAMHSA, Model Programs http://www.nrepp.samhsa.gov/
USGS monitoring water http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/
Empowering residents to act to solve problems
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NetSquared enabling community to use web tools
http://www.netsquared.org/
Narrowing the Digital Divide
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Learning & Information Network for communities via Technology http://www.linct.org/
Linking People together/social networking (secondlife, facebook, myspace)
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Meetup http://www.meetup.com/
TimeDollar Institute http://www.timedollar.org/
Social Networking for professionals http://www.linkedin.com/
Charitable giving http://www.justgive.org/
Advocacy moveon.org
Virtual Dinner http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2006-12-25-virtual-dinner_x.htm
Management Level
Managing Client information
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Basic management information systems http://www.ntst.com/
Multi-agency information system: Tarrant County Access http://www.tcaccess.org/
Graphic/geographic based information
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Hull House maps
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DFW maps
http://www2.uta.edu/cussn/courses/6355/hull_house.jpg
http://zipskinny.com/
Power of information in digital format
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image retrieval
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Tech soup support site http://www.techsoup.org/
Wikis = wikihow, wikipedia, etc.
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http://ece.www.ecn.purdue.edu/ECE/Research/ARS/ARS2000/PART_I/Section4/4_02
Worker Support Level
Supporting Workers helping those in need
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mHealth in developing countries (apps on pg. 39-40)
http://www.mhealthalliance.org/sites/default/files/OurWork.ThoughtLeadership.Reports.mHealthforDevelopment_0.pdf
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Telehealth services
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Internet Counseling (used to be a therapist mall) http://www.live-counselor.com/
Virtual Reality Therapy http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4806921
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http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/comments?type=story&id=3819621
http://www.egetgoing.com/lowB/index.asp
Quickly finding resources
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Youth for Tomorrow
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Helping educate those in need to better understand their problems
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http://www.yft.org/
http://www.genopro.com/
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Monitoring vital information
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Smart facilities for people in need http://marc.med.virginia.edu/projects_smarthomemonitor.html
Games and rehab with monitoring (video) http://news.cnet.com/1606-2_3-50002916.html
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Client Self-Help Level
Increased service quality, availability, access
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Help for people with disabilities http://www.assistivetech.net/index.cfm
Learn to overcome fears: FearFighter http://www.fearfighter.com/
Discover if you are depressed http://depression-screening.org/
Get help with depression http://www.ultrasis.com/products/product.jsp?product_id=1
Trauma-focused therapy http://tfcbt.musc.edu/
Missing children database http://www.missingkids.com/
Locate loved ones in an emergency http://nokr.org/nok/restricted/home.htm
Non Marriage Counseling http://advice.eharmony.com/
Lessons
Issues
Challenges
We’re at beginning of IT use in Human
Services
Change in human service
system of today and
tomorrow will be as
different as change in cars
Policy & Community
Issues/Challenges
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Linking agencies via IT
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4 Steps that government can do:
Closing the digital divide
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Narrowing the Digital Divide
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http://www.ombwatch.org/node/492
Learning and Information Network for Communities via
Technology http://www.linct.org/
Protecting diversity and cultures from extinction
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The Minature Earth http://www.miniature-earth.com/
Management Issues/Challenges
Avoiding costly failures
 TechAtlas http://techatlas.org/tools/Default.asp
Address web site accessibility
 Webxact http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/Overview.html
Including service quality and client
options as IT success criteria
Worker Issues/Challenges
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Understand service delivery well enough to apply IT
Establishing a global social service knowledge
infrastructure
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Advice customized to the current situation: Worker Safety
Advisor http://www2.uta.edu/cussn/wsa/default.htm
Specialty centers for research and
expertise: http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/ and
http://www.nida.nih.gov/PODAT/PODATindex.html
Adapting IT from other cultures
Client Self-Help Issues/Challenges
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Insuring quality services
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Evaluating the quality of those saying they
can help
Insuring privacy/protection from
offensive/unwanted interactions
Anonymizer http://www.anonymizer.com/
 Protecting Kids online bullying.org
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Conclusion
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At beginning stages of human services IT revolution, i.e., the MIS stage
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Consumer choice will speed up and drive change
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Trend=Local agencies interconnected with electronic data interchange
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Blurring agency boundaries, flattening of levels (policy, mana, workers,
client)
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Change as different as “horseless carriage” to modern car;
effect as profound as printing press
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Need research even small $s to build global repository of prototypes &
best practices, taxonomies and standards
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international (people’s problems are very similar, country responses are not)
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cooperative (government, businesses, professional associations, e.g., NASW, CSWE)
Global organizations like HUSITA.org are needed to help guide the
development of the infrastructure
Questions
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