Reflections & Excerpts

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 field of social work as well as add layers of complexity to social issues the field aims to address. Internet engagement and trends are measured with increased precision and dimensionality day by day, yielding information which proves extremely lucrative to various industries. There are now 3.4 billion internet users globally and in the US adults engage with their web-based devices more than 3 hours a day, compared to less than 1 hour 5 years ago (Meeker, 2017). The majority (92%) of teens (representing various demographics) are online daily, almost a quarter (24%) of which are online “almost constantly” (Lenhart, 2015).  The field of social work can further potentiate its benefit from new data opportunities the internet provides and insights it offers into humanity and social behavior in the information age.
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Moving Social Work Toward Proactivity

A big challenge of being proactive in the information age is the rapid rate of change. Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice were devised by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) in 2005. The 2005 version, while not irrelevant, was becoming inadequate for answering questions or providing guidance to social workers in most recent years. A decade later, the NASW and ASWB in collaboration with the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and Clinical Social Work Association (CSWA) assembled an international task force which spent two years updating these standards (released June 21, 2017). The digital document went from being 28 pages in 2005 to 64 pages in 2017 (including cover, etc.); it went from 16 topics to 54 topics in 4 distinct areas, with its glossary going from 12 to 23 terms. This is evidence of the growing number of topics that cannot be ignored by social workers in this day and age. These updates will provide critical guidance for integrating social work ethics and values in digital domains and for realizing the increased potential for the field in the digital age. Still, there are unacknowledged, albeit ambitious, areas yet to be explored. 
What social workers also need are strategic alliances with people in the business of designing new technologies, or at least heightened awareness of how emerging industries tick. Macro social workers in particular, those in administrative positions or involved with policy/community level change efforts, would benefit from education on the methods of disruptive innovation being engineered by companies like Facebook and Google, for example.

The same could be said for social work academics, researchers, and program evaluators - whose work also affects change on a mezzo-macro level. This would put the field of social work in a more proactive rather than reactive position moving forward. Standards and tips for collaborating with tech-savvy people and businesses could also bolster the possibility of social work ethics and values permeating the designs of future technologies. Prospective benefits for direct practice workers and their clients, and humanity at large, include better alignment of personal and professional goals with the goals of emerging tools.
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New Lexicon, New Culture

New technology jargon is being integrated into social work researchers’ vocabulary out of necessity. Social science researchers are gaining traction in their utilization of new technologies largely because of multi- or interdisciplinary collaborations. These collaborations can offer bi-directional learning while sharing the goal of deeper human and social understandings. This is a theme of the information age which leads to more comprehensive, however complex, research and awareness. Furthermore, as new technologies are invented and adopted, humans have reinvented themselves. Consider social media as both a mirror for and extension of real world behaviors; the enhanced capacity can influence face to face interactions, isolation, and ultimately society. Language is an instrumental feature of culture, what then are the implications of words like “selfies” and acronyms like “lol” or “DM” (i.e. laugh out loud; direct message). The word “glocalization” - a practice of considering both local and global business conduct - is also a product of the information age. The field of social work will be stretched to new dimensions as it adapts to this new era.

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Conclusion

As social work education incorporates more content regarding relevant technological advancements it will inform emerging social workers of that both complicate and open doors in their practice, be it micro or macro. While the breadth of curricula is already wide, there are ways to weave insights related to new technology throughout current subjects. For social workers, the learning of new jargon and technical skills related to computer programming and data science can feel daunting. For coming generations of social workers, perhaps not. Current social work researchers, however encouraged by the emerging opportunities, may still feel out of their depth unless they are supported by multidisciplinary teams and strategic alliances with experts in big, new data. Fortunately, one of features of the information age is the increased ability to collaborate, cross reference, coordinate resources, and reduce duplication of efforts. Conversely, new channels and methods of terrorism and extortion (e.g. ransomware) are also emerging that require heightened security and protections of digital data systems.  

While the ethics and values that guide social workers may prevent them from capitalizing on some of the emerging procedures in data science, those performing such analysis offer useful leads for the field. “What constitutes data has been wildly reimagined in the digital age and a lot of insights have been found in this new information” (Stephens-Davidowitz, 2017, pg. 102). Such insights can legitimize and guide social sciences in unprecedented ways. “The methodologies taught to graduate students in psychology, political science, and sociology have been, for the most part, untouched by the digital revolution” (pg. 274). Education of research methods for direct practice social workers is as much about developing their critical thinking skills as it is about piquing their curiosity and equipping them to pursue studies to answer their questions. Furthermore, becoming more precise and skillful in asking questions that count and ensuring an awareness of the limitations of research is invaluable to social work practice. Apt adaptation in social work education is imperative to adequately respond to new phenomena and help ethically shape the future of humanity.

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