Humanity in the Information Age

Finishing my degree with independent studies, satisfying remaining electives, was a great opportunity to apply and synthesize my learning throughout the Masters of Social Work (MSW) program. My proposed studies were both focused on the intersection of social work and new technology. In light of choosing the concentration in Policy/Planning, Administration, and Community (PAC) and my interests in new technologies and social media, I wanted to consider macro implications and innovations. Below are some excerpts from the cumulative paper I wrote for my independent studies. Introduction New technologies actively change the face of social work research, education, and practice. In fact, in the United States, there are few societal domains untouched by the information age and digital revolution, which is regularly redefined by emergent technologies. Social media and apps (which intertwine with the devices that animate them) are particularly disruptive innovations that both advance the fi...

Image found on  E-nvironmentalist Attention Economy ? I did "Google'd" it and found this thorough GitBook: Decentralised Attention Economies for Web 3.0 by Maciejolpinski  (updated two years ago) Tristan Harris has this to say: E-nvironmentalist  has two domains (natural & digital) and two authors (Alex Beattie & John Lang); it is definitely worth a look if you ask me. If only for the impressive user interface and well done integration of topics and gaphics. Check out these posts: HOW TO DISCONNECT IN THE ATTENTION ECONOMY: PART I & HOW TO DISCONNECT IN THE ATTENTION ECONOMY: PART II I believe it was Alex Beattie who created this useful google document with tools to assist marshalling one's attention  ...? I found the link via a FB group called "Friends of Time Well Spent"

The  Social Work Podcast  is a wealth of information. In particular, I'd like to draw attention to their February podcast on Death and Grief in the Digital Age: Interview with Carla Sofka, Ph.D. There are a number of points I'd like to spend time with and highlight in this post, as per usual this post is initially in a "notes to self" kind of form... To be updated in hopes it proves useful to others. Consider: Technological advanced directives and digital dust Just as there is sex education in schools, consider death education (see: Tu Nudito ) Dr. Sofka "also recommends including technology assessment in the standard biopsychosocialspiritual assessment" Ding, ding, ding, all these comments excited me as they rang so true... I've been thinking along the same lines for some time now and it's awesome to hear others feel the same. Below is a rough sketch of just such an assessment, I had the idea several months ago and just began actually wri...

Reaching out to two social work groups for which I am a member on Facebook turned out to be very worthwhile. Even though it has only been 16 hours since posting, there has only been one comment made and not expecting to get much more! That's ok. Just the one person made a short comment that opened up a treasure trove of findings. For one, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in collaboration with other leading organizations in the field released an update to the  Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice on June 21, 2017 . It has been 12 years since the last edition was released, see  the 2005 version here  if you're interested in comparing. In between this time, the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) did have an international task force that released  Model Regulatory Standards for Technology and Social Work Practice in 2015 , I found this through  Social Work Today: Eye on Ethics . Second, the commenter made me aware of this^ and ...

This past weekend I had a fortuitous interaction with Limell Lawson outside of a grocery store.  I met Limell in 2007 when working at the University of Arizona’s Office of Student Computing Resources (OSCR) as a Multimedia Consultant; she was the Senior Director for University Information Technologies Services (OSCR’s parent department). After I mentioned that my current research focus is on social implications of new technology and namely social media, Limell offered some timely considerations for me. She remarked on the positive opportunities that Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) provide individuals with disabilities and refugees/immigrants. Also, because of ICTs like Facebook, she has been able to enjoy some participation in important family events that she could not attend due to serious injuries incurred from a car accident. Upon further communications (via Facebook Messenger), Limell pointed out that in addition to social networks such as Facebook, gaming pla...

In the context of social work or related fields, apps can really fill some gaps.  Yes, there are other icons on a user's screen vying for attention, using all kinds of persuasive hooks to distract a user from staying on task. Still, as the Time Well Spent movement (mentioned in a  previous post ) suggests, there are ways to Take Back Control . And, it seems that apps created for purposes of supporting social workers perform their jobs with greater ease and success would not need to compete for attention in the same way apps designed for entertainment would. When the goals of an app are well aligned with the goals of users such that value is added and regret is minimized, it could produce a good score on a Time Well Spent metric. For example, the Community Information and Referral Services 2-1-1 tools per state (e.g. 2-1-1 Arizona App  and 211arizona.org ) produced by Bowman Systems, Mediware Software for Healthcare and Human Services . These tools can help workers ...

The last post  concluded with the topic of   Big Data, New Data in reference to Seth Stephens-Davidowitz book "Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are" (featured in a NPR episode of Hidden Brain). In digesting the assertions made with his book, I have been questioning the methods he used; it is important to question the validity and reliability of any findings after all. Especially insofar as confirmation bias is a feature of perception to contend with! I just got the book in the mail and look forward to reading it. Stephen-Davidowitz offers much of his research on his website , he and Hal Varian even have a piece available there discussing ways for social scientists to make use of Google data called "Google Trends: A Primer for Social Scientists" Another note: Facebook has a whole segment of their site dedicated to Privacy Settings  including information about their Data Policy .

This post reflects on my findings today on the subject of humanity in the information age... Mostly written as notes to self for later reference. "There's Not an App for That" The book "There's Not an App for That" (Robinson et al., 2015) offers a conversational review of the state of technology today as it relates to humanity and delineates the problems and opportunities being presented. From my cursory look at the content, I decided to order the book. I followed a lead from the introduction to Bret Victor's brief rant, which took me down one of the many rabbit holes of the day. I did not spend too long with Bret's rant or website ( www.worrydream.com ) but long enough to see his genius and make a note of his impressive leadership in programming and innovation in design. Citation: Robinson, S., Marsden, G., Jones, M., & Safari Books Online (Firm). (2015;2014;). There's not an app for that: Mobile user experience design for life. Walth...

How would you finish this stem, "how the internet is..." ? In The Atlantic's  You Are Here (a series about the science behind everyday life) authors Alice Roth, Nicolas Pollock, Jackie Lay, Jeremy Raff, and Julie Beck provide some thoughts on "How the Internet is Changing Friendship" Major Points Made: Dunbar's Theory: Highest amount of people one can maintain meaningful relationships with is 100-200 depending on how social one is (many have lots more social media connections than that) William Rawlings, a friendship researchers, divides friendships into 3 categories Active - in contact and basically know what is going on in each other's lives Dormant - shared history, and while not in contact could pick up where left off Commemorative - a part of your history but not likely to be rekindled The authors suggest commemorative friendships may enter a different zone due to social media, extending the lifespan of a friendship but perhaps it...

Though published June 5, some content (in purple text) has been added to this post as of June 25 according to evolutions in thought and understanding. " Dear iPhone: I Love You. I Hate You. " Apparently, I am far from alone in these feelings (which applies to new tech including social media): Social media has produced a love/hate relationship in my life. "Hate" because of the addictive qualities and the comparing mind it promotes, I certainly have gotten off my phone wondering how did that happen? Regretting two hours of browsing the endless feed of information with no particular prize to behold and a sore body to console. Yet, "love" because it does connect me to so many fascinating experiences, individuals, causes, and groups I may never have known of and it helps me maintain relationships with those I would seldom be in touch with otherwise. The app Marco Polo, for example, has been so wonderful in catalyzing facetime interactions with my best fri...

Desmond Patton, PhD, MSW is a forerunner for social workers in the digital age. He is spearheading critical investigations into the social media realm and connecting existing bodies of research and knowledge to emerging phenomena. These investigations are making use of the avalanche of new media opportunities and data to inform future research and practice. His work is particularly concerned with violent communities and internet- or c yberbanging, a phenomenon where gang involved youth have used social media platforms to instigate, document, or otherwise connect their street life to the online world. Some of his publications are available through the SAFElab Social Work Hub via Columbia.edu . The actual S.A.F.E. Lab site is available at this link , dedicated to Supporting Aggression Free Environments (S.A.F.E.) for Urban Youth. Linking Real World & Online Behaviors The purpose of the article by Patton, Eschmann, and Butler (2013) was to define and discuss internet bangin...

One of the unique features of the information age, which is continually revolutionized by emerging digital media, is the ability to cross reference and coordinate data points and observations, i.e. information. This helps to reduce duplication of efforts and synthesize bodies of work to offer much more comprehensive views on a subject and ultimately the world. 2017 Internet Trends Presentation by Meeker Internet Trends 2017 Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers ...I discovered this information when looking for the source of the soundbite: "People check their phones more than 150 times per day." I followed ABC News  (Joanna Stern, Good Morning America) to the source. Stern (2013) reported that "analyst Mary Meeker... found people check their phones an average of 23 times a day for messaging, 22 times for a voice call and 18 times to get the time." And, "More than 500 million photos are shared every day, the report said. Meeker expected ...