Two workshops on Infrastructures in Health Care

'Infrastructure' is a word of our time with both reductionist and wholist connotations. The 4P's of PROCESS, POLICY, PURPOSE and PRACTICE can be found here together with at least several C's: COMMUNICATION, CO-ORDINATION, COLLABORATION and COMPLEXITY. So, here for 2009 is an infusion of the socio-technical at two health infrastructure events:

Call for Papers: 2nd International Workshop

Infrastructures for Health Care: Connecting practices across institutional and professional boundaries

June 18-19, 2009, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Scope
The 1st international workshop: Infrastructures for Health Care was held at the Technical University of Denmark in June 2006. It attracted researchers, health care professionals, IT professionals, administrators, and others engaged in the development of infrastructures and new, integrated applications and services for improving the quality of health care services. The purpose of this 2nd international workshop is to continue this forum for discussing current issues and trends related to the integration and coordination of health care practices across institutional, organizational, and professional boundaries.

The health care sector is characterized by a worsening shortage of personnel and endlessly growing costs caused by the development of new treatments in combination with rising demands for treatment, which are associated with an aging population and an increase in chronic diseases. Against this backdrop, policy makers, health care professionals and researchers show an increased interest in innovative systems of care, which improve communication, coordination and collaboration among patients/citizens, care providers in primary care and specialty services (clinics, hospitals, emergency departments, old people's homes etc.). Concepts like shared care, integrated care and continuity of care are indicative of ambitions of creating coherent and effective health care services for patients that require complex - and often long-term - care. Although these concepts are often used in relation to projects that seek to enhance communication, coordination, and collaboration around particular patient groups, they also have bearing on more general visions of reorganizing health care.

Infrastructural arrangements - such as electronic patient records, classification schemes, accounting systems, communication standards, and quality systems - play a crucial role in these new models of care, and it is increasingly hard to imagine integrative initiatives that do not have a strong IT component. This raises a multitude of questions about the - actual and imagined - role and impact of IT and other infrastructure components in the development of patient-oriented, integrated healthcare services.

We wish to highlight how new infrastructures - socio-technical assemblages - simultaneously connect existing practices, influence and change these practices, and create entirely new practices in health care work (e.g. related to the maintenance of the infrastructure itself). What characterizes infrastructures in health care? What role do they play in transforming and reorganizing health care and in creating new actors in health care? How are infrastructures established and maintained? What is the impact on work practices, organizational structures, cost effectiveness, quality of care, etc.?

Topics of Interest
Our aim is to bring together researchers, health care professionals, IT professionals, administrators and others involved in establishing infrastructures and/or developing new, integrated models of healthcare. We seek practical case studies as well as empirical and theoretical research contributions. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to the following:

* Infrastructures as socio-technical achievement in health care
* Health care organizations and infrastructures
* Infrastructures and new patient practices
* Designing infrastructures for health care
* Economic aspects of infrastructures for health care
* Myths of infrastructures
* Infrastructures and politics
* Managing infrastructures

We encourage potential participants to submit an abstract (3-500 words) describing the contribution before March 1, 2009. Abstracts must be submitted by email to infrastructures2009 @ sundhedsITnet.dk After the conference, a selection of the contributors will be invited to submit a full paper to an edited - and fully reviewed - book or special issue (to be decided).

List of important date
Submission of abstracts 2nd of March 2009
Notification of acceptance 1st of April 2009
Deadline for registration 15th of May 2009
Conference 18th - 19th of June 2009

Workshop Co-Chairs
Finn Kensing, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Jørgen P. Bansler, Technical University of Denmark

For abstract submission and further information, contact
infrastructures2009 @ sundhedsITnet.dk

We are looking forward to an exciting workshop!
==================================

The other event is in April (and has already closed in terms of submissions):

Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre

HaCIRIC International Conference 2009 -
Improving healthcare infrastructures through innovation

2-3 April 2009, Hilton Metropole, Brighton

The conference will bring together researchers and practitioners from across disciplines and countries with different healthcare systems to focus on how to use innovation to improve the delivery and operation of healthcare infrastructure. Areas of particular interest include:

Integrating infrastructure and service planning
Can we translate service planning into infrastructure asset planning more effectively? Are moves towards greater contestability and a local devolution of responsibilities making this harder? What lessons are there from different national health systems? What tools, models and performance metrics are appropriate?

Stimulating innovation in infrastructure provision
How can procurement and incentivisation models be designed to deliver innovation? Can policy targets be used more effectively? How do we ensure that innovation is embedded on a sustainable basis? How can the design process be more effectively used to generate innovation? How do we capture and diffuse knowledge of innovative solutions?

Examples of infrastructure innovation targeted at key problems
Healthcare acquired infection is an example of an area where a multi-disciplinary approach embracing service delivery, behavioural and infrastructure change is needed. We are interested in case studies and research reporting on how this has been tackled, as well as the methodological challenges in conducting such research.

Drupal, Hodges model, content types and metadata

I'd like to think I am rather more than a cell, which has me wondering why I seem to be relying on osmosis as a way to learn how to put a new site together. In searching for the starting line - never mind starting - regulars here know it appears I'm waiting expectantly for a micro-macro biological miracle to happen.

Halfway through Hall's Digitize This Book! I came across another quote and ah! ah! moment...

For in even requesting contributors to identify themselves and their research by title, author, publication, date, subject area, abstract, keywords, and so forth we are not being open to the other but asking them, demanding of them, that they conform to certain preestablished rules, laws, and criteria. p. 101.

The data Hall refers to is of course bread and butter to papercentric publishing. Essential to finding information on paper and in electronic databases. The significance of the quote above? Well Hall goes on to highlight the stated items as (common) metadata (data about data) that his own e-archive CSeARCH demands of its users.

So what should I provide and ask of users on the next website?

There are some default content types in Drupal that could quickly be implemented in a new site. There are modules that allow you to create new content types and there's the rub.... Ideally it would be great to have at least one dedicated content type structured according to Hodges model. Think of it as a h2cm case study on wheels - ready to roll. The problem is having a stab at this. I don't want to constrain users and yet order and structure are essential.

So, in the same way that any site would be in 'beta', that is the way with the content types. Quite straightforward really! Then the users and possibly a community of users (should that come about) will be able to use the first content type and the metadata and data will emerge and evolve from the initial effort - whatever form that takes... .

Weber: Universities, disciplinarity - academic publishing

As I read through the latest book I have received for review, I came across this interesting quote from Samuel Weber:

The university, itself divided into more or less isolated, self-contained departments, was that embodiment of that kind of limited universality that characterised the cognitive model of professionalism. It instituted areas of training and research which, once established, could increasingly ignore the founding limits and limitations of individual disciplines. Indeed, the very notion of academic "seriousness" came increasingly to exclude reflection upon the relation of one "field" to another, and concomitantly, reflection upon the historical process by which individual disciplines established their boundaries. Or the historical dimension was regarded as extrinsic to the actual practice of research and scholarship: history itself became one discipline among others. (1987, 32)

Weber, Samuel. 1987. Institution and Interpretation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Revised and reprinted as Samuel Weber, 2001. Institution and Interpretation (Expanded Edition). Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Cited in Hall, Gary 2008. Digitize This Book!: The Politics of New Media, or Why We Need Open Access Now. University of Minnesota Press. Chapter 2, Judgement and Responsibility in the Wikipedia Era, p. 74.
(My review of Hall's book to follow).

New journal: GLIMPSE | the art + science of seeing

GLIMPSE | the art + science of seeing

GLIMPSE volume 1.1, "Is the visual political?"
is now available for download.

Glimpse is an interdisciplinary, quarterly, electronic and print-on-demand journal that examines the functions, processes, and effects of vision and its implications for being, knowing, and constructing our world(s). Each theme-focused issue features articles, visual spreads, interviews, and reviews spanning the physical sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. Contribute your work to upcoming issues:

• China Vision (due 01.05.09)
• Color (due 03.01.09)
• Visions (due 05.01.09)
• Cosmos (due 06.13.09)

Subscribe by December 25 to receive a complimentary 4x4" animated flip book from OpticalToys.com

Advertise http://www.glimpsejournal.com/advertise.html

Tell your colleagues
Please forward this message to those who might be interested in "the art + science of seeing"

Tell us what you think. We welcome your feedback, critiques, and ideas editor@glimpsejournal.com

Book Review: Ric Shreves's "Drupal 6 Themes"

Review of Shreves's Drupal 6 Themes

If you are familiar with Packt titles then the layout, style and presentation of this one will come as no surprise. The book begins with an outline of what is to follow, the conventions used to print code, what is needed to follow the book (Drupal 6!), an invite to provide feedback, errata reports, download code examples piracy concerns and questions.

I am reviewing this as a slow learning learner of Drupal. Still a 'Drupal site virgin' (let's be clear about that) I attend the NW England Drupal group in Manchester and greatly enjoyed Drupalcon 2008 in Szeged, Hungary. Like my previous review of Mercer's Drupal 6 book in April this is a (laborious) chapter by chapter review, but hopefully helpful for all that (maybe I can get a job as a proof reader?).

So my upfront conclusion is that this is a good buy. It's not a very technical book, but it is definitely heading in that direction with the content of one or two chapters reminding me of the Pro Drupal volume. This no doubt reflects Shreves’ title with the book being well focused as you would expect.

Chapter 1 introduces the elements of a Drupal theme, with much needed instant foot and hand-holds by listing three key concepts (ways to theme) employed through the book:

1. Theming in whole or part
2. Building with blocks
3. Intercept and overrides

These are covered in turn additionally pointing out aspects of Drupal that can confuse beginners, the admin theme and this being the same as the default theme. There's help with explanations of blocks, regions and how these relate to modules.

There's some text on page 11: it does hit the mark, but I think it might be improved with some illustration. That said, buyers of this book are likely to make ready sense of - "The recognized best practice approach to customising themes emphasizes making changes at higher levels, primarily to the theme files themselves." I raise this point as Ric draws attention to (what I understand is) a critical development approach within Drupal that something here deserves promotion as one of book’s 'important notes'. A figure of what constitutes Drupal's highest processes and what needs to be left in its original state might make the text clearer. This is difficult for authors, because if readers don't know this then perhaps they need to grasp some fundamentals first? As to which Ric Shreves explains what a theme is; a theme engine; and how all this makes Drupal flexible - with regions being placeholders.

Contrary to the point above overall the book is well illustrated. The way Drupal displays a page is illustrated in five steps. The default themes are listed and shown as screen dumps as with the themes config pages. This for me is not a waste of page real estate. With intercept and overrides briefly mentioned chapter 1 closes by introducing the main theme file types, the notion of sub-themes, PHPTemplate Themes and Pure PHP Themes are also differentiated.

Chapter 2 furthers the push up the learning curve, by reviewing 1.) how to install and configure pre-existing themes; 2.) convert designs and 3.) build a theme from scratch. All are discussed by Ric in this book. Beginning with a default theme, this is customized as far as the basic configuration allows. As a longer-term Drupal learner the pace of change in Drupal means that some themes and modules have to catch up with the latest releases (my student career started with version 4.7). Shreves highlights this point, before seeking other compatible themes he runs through status reports and backup should a theme cause problems. Some of the mundane, but essential considerations of themes are discussed here 'terms of use', plus headache saving tips on the use of folders. Theme specific configuration options are differentiated from global configuration settings that primarily involve modules, blocks and visibility. This helped further my understanding, and reveals Drupal's flexibility applying to users, roles, page specific settings and the use of PHP applied to blocks p.54 with four code examples. The Drupal community - a great resource - is also raised. Chapter 2 closes by dressing up a default theme (Garland) to meet a client's requirements. Before and after screen images and instruction on how to uninstall a theme leads to chapter 3.

The main theme engines are covered in chapter 3. If you are going to roll your own it is essential you understand the main files, the code and format and how they interact - that is - how they relate to the administration functions. This is detailed, but very accessible contrasting a simple (basic) PHPTemplate theme with a more complex example. A crucial kernel of knowledge for the Drupal themer is the naming conventions used in Drupal. That is, how files names affect the precedence as Drupal searches for the elements that make up a page - the content and styling. Other theme engines are also discussed with links - as per other Packt titles - to additional resources.

Chapter 4 brings us to templates, stylesheets and themable functions and shows how they interoperate. Discussion of the default templates, variables and stylesheets includes advice on disabling CSS compression. There then follows a meaty treatment – a guide no less – of theming elements, such as, theme_box and theme_breadcrumbs p.90. I wish I had come across “Theming the Book Functionality” pp. 95-97 a while back, better late then never. Part of my problem is settling on the content I need for my site. The default book content type is useful. The guide here is very comprehensive running over pp. 90-126.

Chapter 5 tackles intercepts and overrides and begins with overriding the default CSS in the Garland theme, moving swiftly to overriding templates and the themeable functions covered previously. Page 132 has an important note on theme registry and the difference between substituting template and overriding templates p.133. One aspects of many Drupal books is that they can appear repetitious, but for me this actually helps as in Drupal it seems there is frequently more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. An illustration of file naming conventions and precedence helps reinforce previous chapters and the reader’s grasp of Drupal. Chapter 5 ends with more on placing function overrides in the template.php file, the use of dedicated template files (with a step by step example); where to place themable functions overrides; how to name them and Overrides in Action. The code examples reveal the difference between default template-block.tpl.php and Garlands equivalent p.140.

Chapter 6 sets out to create a theme by modifying an existing one. As I've been finding, this isn't just a case of your knowledge of Drupal but also having a work environment that suits you. I've an old copy of Dreamweaver (from Studio MX days) and have been looking at Eclipse, PSPad, NetBeans, TextMate, Komodo Edit and other editors and tools. Ric describes Dreamweaver here, so that it can handle theme files, using a server and the use of the popular (Drupal) Devel module. (In true newbie Drupaller style I've tended to install and enable quite a few modules, which can create complexities of their own. Enable them when you need them.)

The Zen theme is then used to create a new sub-theme. The non-trivial matter of planning is stressed. Theme creation by modification is then considered step-by-step: from copying the necessary folder, renaming files, configuring the new theme, to enabling default modules that may be needed to meet a client's brief. Menus leads to links and paths a great source of confusion to new Drupal initiates. Menus need a home so blocks are further discussed with reference to CSS. A very informative twelve pages. A themeable function is overridden, a technical sounding task, but easy to follow in the form of a breadcrumb trail. The final pages of chapter 6 address formatting the blog node. A list of variables is provided comprising 18 items from $context - $zebra and de-mystifies a great deal. Another before and after screen shot completes a really useful chapter.

Chapter 7 explains building a new theme. This is an equally systematic account with illustrations, code and treatment of the essential .info, tpl.php files. There is a top-down perspective too, with page structure explained through page divisions, the placement of links, and key page elements. A final three page code listing and a eight page CSS listing is a pause for breathe. Thischapter ends with a brief review of creating a pure php theme.

I've started to create a couple of themes in Drupal, but chapter 8 is rather advanced for me - I can't (yet) claim to be a Dynamic Themer. If you are intent on fully leveraging the power of Drupal this chapter is essential reading for you. Here Ric shows how to create a unique homepage template, a different template for a group of pages, assign a specific template to a specific page, and designate a specific template for a specific user (power indeed). It's clear how the earlier chapters come in here when dynamically styling blocks. Ric highlights the utility of the Theme Developer feature of the Devel module. I've used this feature, but have yet to question the provenance of a block or other page element. I can see how helpful it will be. Other site components are dynamically styled - comment module, forum, poll and nodes. Throughout the book Shreves acknowledges the '6' in the title: dynamic styling is covered with two pages on $body_classes and a two page listing of the conditions that can be applied, for example; no sidebars. This neatly introduces collapsible sidebars (columns). Template variables crop up again, which may be a bit technical for some beginners but then beginners have to learn...

On page 225 there's another mention of the (theme) registry. There's a crucial tip on clearing the registry. p.234. I'm surprised ‘registry’ and the modules mentioned in the book don't deserve an entry in the index. Unless I missed it Jquery also is not listed, which I suppose is excusable. In theming I would have thought that awareness of the potential of Javascript and javascript libraries in particular would be useful knowledge up front. Especially so with jQuery being a part of Drupal.

I have experimented with forms and CCK in Drupal and this is fun because very quickly you appear 'productive'. Chapter 9 explains forms, how they work and the existence of the form API and reference sources. Forms are a more accessible aspect of Drupal to appreciate as you can 'see' the form in the PHP code. As there’s no such thing as a free lunch, Ric then reveals five ways to modify Drupal forms. This is done by breaking down the complexity and explaining the dependencies.

Appendix A (described at one point as a chapter) is an informative guide to Drupal stylesheets, in addition to listing the css files, the stylesheets for the default themes are also provided.

Appendix B runs through the desirable contents of a themers’ toolkit.

CONCLUSION

Shreves is aiming for a specific audience with this book - a great help for any publisher. The book may not have much to offer the Pro Drupal expert, but for beginners in theming and intermediate Druapallers there is loads of goodness here. There's also an indication of what's to follow as readers ascend the stairway to Drupal heaven, which is a tantalizing prospect.

My thanks to the team at Packt Publishing for the review copy.

I'll be reviewing Bill Fitzgerald's "Drupal for Education and E-Learning"
in due course (once the review of Hall's "Digitize this Book" is complete)
so please stay tuned!

If the NW of England is within your reach and you are in the market for
Drupal 6 training in 2009 try menu&blocks.

Book chapter in Nursing and Clinical Informatics: Socio-Technical Approaches

Nursing and Clinical Informatics:
Socio-Technical Approaches

Edited By:
Bettina Staudinger, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Austria;
Victoria Höß, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Austria;
Herwig Ostermann, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Austria

Chapter XI: Socio-Technical Structures, 4Ps and Hodges' model

Description:
The field of nursing informatics is one of the fastest growing areas of medical informatics. As the industry grows, so does the need for obtaining the most recent, up-to-date research in this significant field of study.

Nursing and Clinical Informatics: Socio-Technical Approaches gives a general overview of the current state of nursing informatics paying particular attention to its social, socio-technical, and political aspects to further research and development projects. A unique international comparative work, this book covers the core areas of nursing informatics with a technical and functional respect and portrays them in their proper context.

Healing and cleansing with barley

High in fibre, barley is also a kidney cleanser. Better yet, regular intake of it helps prevent heart disease.

BARLEY water was always a regular drink when we were still living at home. Whenever we had to go for a medical exam that included a urine test, my mum would make us drink barley water a day before it to make sure we got a positive result! My mother was a wise woman. I later found out from an Australiannaturopath that barley is known to be a kidney cleanser, and he happily downed glasses of it at a meal we had in a coffee-shop here. Barley is good for your intestinal health too.

Try to eat the barley grains you find in your drink or sweet broth with fu chook (beancurd skin) and ginkgo nuts. It's high in fibre which feeds the friendly bacteria in the colon andhelps speed up the transit of fecal matter in it. In this way it helps prevent haemorrhoids and colon cancer. The propionic acid and beta glucan from barley's insoluble fibre also help lower cholesterol and prevent the formation of gallstones.

Eating barley regularly is a preventive step against heart disease as, besides the fibre content, it is also high in niacin, a B vitamin good for lowering cholesterol. Diabetics should eat more barley as the fibre will prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. It also provides relief from constipation or diarrhoea for those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Barley is rich in selenium which prevents cancer and relieves symptoms of asthma and arthritis. It is a good source of manganese, copper and phosphorous. Malt sugar comes from sprouted barley which, when fermented, is an ingredient in beer and other alcoholic beverages.Barley, whose Latin name is hordeum vulgare, has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years.

Since ancient times, barley has been used for healing purposes and has been known to the Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Athletes in Greece and Rome in those days were known to eat barley bread to give them strength. Besides the usual things we do with barley, I enjoy having it in a western soup. The larger pearl barley is used and I love the sticky bite of it.

The Times: Virus clue to cause of Alzheimer’s

From The Times
December 6, 2008

Virus clue to cause of Alzheimer’s

Cheap cold sore drugs could offer best treatment yet


Mark Henderson, Science Editor

The virus that causes cold sores may be one of the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease, according to research that suggests that existing drugs could be used to treat the most common form of dementia.

Compelling new evidence found by British scientists has implicated the cold sore virus, known as herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1), in up to 60 per cent of Alzheimer’s cases.

Though the findings from the University of Manchester remain preliminary, they could transform scientific understanding of a brain disorder that affects more than 400,000 people in Britain, and open an entirely new approach to treating it.

...

Full article

Holistic Skills Assessment and Assurance

Just lately - by virtue of mailing list subscriptions - I've received several calls for research proposals and notice of workshops providing advice on how to proceed. In response let me just say this is 'frustrating' - as I'm not in a position to:

• (OK, on your marks! Get set! GO!) - formulate the real question;
• seek partners;
• put in a bid;
• and put conceptual frameworks for (global) health and social care on the map.

They deserve to be there. For me the really interesting note to take home here is that these potential research projects could be grounded in several disciplines:

• nursing;
• health economics;
• informatics;
• public health;
• public and civic engagement. ...

While universal in scope they (e.g. Hodges' model) are not the universal solution.

They can and must complement other tools and resources as the care agenda shifts to quality and the measure of quality.

More than ever the holistic reach of not only 1st-line but 2nd-line ... staff is going to be crucial to how well policy-bearing organisations carry their load.

As the (quickly formulated, rapidly fixed) physical and emotional bandages are renewed and re-assurances given, we realise that (ill-) health is not just a condition specific conundrum. Health is a melange of choices, multiple diagnoses, beliefs, attitudes, educational opportunities, concentrated resources and much more that are difficult to focus. Strange thing this notion of inclusion. At the end of the day it comes down to:

The art of focusing without focusing ... ?

Holistic bandwidth means that that the holistic skills demonstrated at any time will be dynamic and vary according to the viewer, the context (and there will be several), the care domain and of course the measure(s). ...

Additional links:
Measuring of health and health-related quality of life with the EuroQol-5D

Image c/o - Wordle - and based on this blog.

BarCamp Sheffield and Digitize This Book!

I'm in Sheffield for BarCamp, a 1st for me. Looking forward to various sessions including using a web browser to run a business, usability, 3rd sector, open source, sustainability and creating communities. ...



Yesterday - and interesting company on the train today - another book arrived for review:

Digitize This Book!: The Politics of New Media, or Why We Need Open Access Now (Electronic Mediations) (Paperback) by Gary Hall.

I'm also editing Shreves Drupal 6 Themes book review and will post it here (and on Amazon) soon.

The Gretta Foundation - Increasing the Global Nurseforce

I was asked recently if I could assist a nurse in Tanzania regards training in the UK. As ever things are not straight forward in terms of funding and opportunities for overseas students. Several UK university schools did kindly respond with information about the current situation. Not unrelated then, I noticed this announcement on the GANM (Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery) list:

I wanted to distribute the link to the Gretta Foundation to the GANM membership.

As you all know, one of the biggest requests that we get in the GANM are those that involve education. This includes not only requests for online continuing education, but also opportunities for nurses to obtain advanced nursing degrees without leaving their countries, their families and their communities.

I came across this today on the web and I forward on to all of you. The Gretta Foundation (named after Gretta Styles) has - as its mission -

"Our mission is to increase the global “Nurseforce” by providing full nursing scholarships to impoverished persons living in disease-burdened nations.

Nursing scholarship recipients, or Gretta Scholars, attend in-country nursing programs. In repayment for the scholarship assistance, graduating scholars serve for a predetermined period of time in their country’s clinics and hospitals."

For more information, visit: http://grettafoundation.org/index.html

Visit the web site

The email is intended only for the recipients. The owners of the Knowledge Gateway cannot be held responsible for the contents of the email message.

My source: GANM - Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery list; images from Gretta Foundation.

Blackmarket for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge No.11

Pick Your Brains and Expand Your Non-Knowledge here!

Hi, we hope you can make it down to the Bluecoat on Saturday 29 November for this final Liverpool Live 08 event, on the last weekend of the Liverpool Biennial...

Blackmarket for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge No.11 is a lively installation full of hustle, bustle and brains which will have 50 experts sitting at numerous individual tables, sharing their knowledge with members of the audience over thirty minute one-to-one sessions. The Blackmarket event is free, and members of the public can listen in to any of the conversations, or for £1 (or even €1), you can book an expert for your own private half hour dialogue. Get to the check-in early though, or you may find yourself having to do some serious bribing and bartering to get near your expert of choice!

This unique art installation takes traditional methods of knowledge transfer out of the stuffy archives and hushed library reading rooms, and throws them into an arena of discussion and banter, taking on the buzz of market stalls and stock exchanges. Blackmarkets have so far taken place in Berlin, Vienna, Istanbul, Warsaw, Hamburg and Graz.

The topic for the Liverpool edition is: ‘ON WASTE. The Disappearance and Comeback of Things and Values.’ Experts have been invited from the diverse fields of garbology, ecology, philosophy, economy, pathology, entomology and alchemy (those who know how to make gold from dirt).

More information about the event is available on our website and you can also download the full list of experts who will be present on the night:

http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/component/option,com_events/task,view_detail/agid,256/year,2008/month,11/day,29/Itemid,14/

Please feel free to forward this e-flyer to anyone you think might be interested in coming along.

Kind regards,

Phil

Phil Olsen

Marketing Officer

School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BX

Direct line 0151 702 7770

Tickets and Information 0151 702 5324

Fax 0151 707 0048

www.thebluecoat.org.uk

Mobile Academy is a project by Hannah Hurtzig with changing partners, based at HAU, Berlin. Presented in association

with the Live Art Development Agency. Supported by Arts Council England, Liverpool Culture Company and the Goethe

Institute Manchester. www.mobileacademy-berlin.com

=======================================

Wish I could make this, great idea and No. 11 already. ....!

My source: Philosophy In Pubs list

"The Art & Science of CSS" 11 days and counting ... you can download the ENTIRE PDF - FREE

I have received my copy - this may be of interest to you (11 days left...)....?

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You downloaded a sample of The Art & Science of CSS from us, so I thought you'd be interested to hear that for 14 days you can download the ENTIRE PDF (valued at $29.95) absolutely FREE.

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sitepoint.com

Qualcomm offers PC alternative for developing nations

Article in English
Article en Français plus bas.

http://www.rethink-wireless.com/?article_id=733

The battle lines are well and truly drawn between Qualcomm and Intel, as the smartphone and PC architectures converge to form the mobile internet device (MID), a category that companies from both heritages are chasing.

And Qualcomm, with customary agility, has pulled one rug from under its rival’s feet, by releasing a platform for low cost, low power MIDs, geared to developing economies, and designed to be an alternative, not a complement, to Windows PCs.

The PC industry has come up with various low cost, web-optimized designs for developing economies, from initiatives like One Laptop Per Child, but actual products have been slow to emerge at suitable price points. Qualcomm is taking up the challenge with Kayak, which it says will fit between a phone and a PC in capabilities, and will use the cellular link instead of a wired broadband connection. This shows Qualcomm making the reasonable assumption that data-capable wireless networks such as EDGE, and in many cases 3G, will spread more rapidly in many economies than wires.

Kayak is a reference platform based on Qualcomm's dual-core MSM7 Series chipsets, with a reduced component set, and applications accessed via the Opera browser. As multimedia and other capabilities come into demand even in low cost markets, future versions may also run the Snapdragon chipset, which is geared to MIDS and to consumer electronics and is a direct competitor to Intel’s Atom.

Kayak devices will be able to plug into a TV, computer monitor or have a built-in display. They support a keyboard and mouse and can play music files and 3D games. The first OEM to promise trial designs is Taiwan’s Inventec, indicating a cost base that is appealing to these price sensitive manufacturers.

Qualcomm believes Kayak devices will sell for $400 or less when bundled with service deals from carriers, and here lies the advantage that it holds over Intel and Atom – its close ties with cellcos, especially in the CDMA world, which will enable it to present Kayak-based devices as a means for those carriers to penetrate new, high growth markets without the burden of heavy subsidies.

"The Kayak PC alternative is a great example of how Qualcomm is leveraging cloud computing over wireless broadband networks to help bring new areas of the world into the global online community for the first time," said Luis Pineda, senior VP of marketing and product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, in a statement.

Published : 13/11/2008

------------------------------------------------------

Qualcomm va lancer un PC dédié aux pays émergents

13-11-2008: Par Thomas Pagbe

Le ‘Kayac PC’ se connecte à Internet via une connexion 3G

Après le projet OLPC, celui d'Intel, et de NComputing, Qualcomm, le leader mondial des puces pour téléphones pour mobiles se lance également dans la course aux PC low cost, destinées aux pays émergents.

Sa solution, baptisée ‘Kayak PC’ est un dispositif de connexion qui permettra de se connecter à l’internet mobile via deux technologies 3G, CDMA et WCDMA, sans passer par une connexion filaire, ou par un ordinateur, tout en fournissant aux utilisateurs les capacités d’un PC de bureau. Il s'agit en fait d'un boîtier à mi-chemin entre le téléphone mobile et l'ordinateur (voir photo).

"La large empreinte du réseau 3G signifie que le sans fil est la réponse pour fournir au monde entier un accès à Internet, et spécialement aux marchés émergents", assure Luis Pineda, vp marketing et produits chez Qualcomm. "Le Kayak PC est un grand exemple de la manière dont Qualcomm tire profit du cloud computing à travers le réseau internet sans fil".

En plus du processeur dual-core Mobile Station Modem, la version d’origine du dispositif devrait embarquer la version complète du navigateur Opera, un accès vers des applications de productivité Web 2.0, des services notamment hébergés par les promoteurs du cloud computing (Google, IBM, Amazon, entre autres).

Le dispositif pourra être branché aussi bien sur un moniteur que sur un écran de télévision. Qualcomm a également décidé "d’ouvrir" son modèle. Le ‘Kayak PC’ pourrait servir de plate-forme de base pour des fabricants qui pourront lui ajouter les solutions logicielles ou matérielles.

Fabriqué par la société taïwanaise Iventec Corporation, la machine devrait être testée en Asie du sud-est tout au long du premier trimestre 2009.

-----------------------
Francis F. MUGUET  Ph.D
World Tour of the Information Society (WTIS)
muguet@wtis.org   http://wtis.org http://wtis.tv
REUSSI : http://reussi.org

KNIS/ENSTA    http://knis.org
32 Blvd Victor 75739 PARIS cedex FRANCE
Phone: (33)1 45 52 60 19  Fax: (33)1 45 52 52 82
muguet@ensta.fr   http://www.ensta.fr/~muguet

PC4D : http://www.pc4d.org

MDPI Foundation Open Access Journals
http://www.mdpi.org   http://www.mdpi.net
muguet@mdpi.org       muguet@mdpi.net

World Summit On the Information Society (WSIS)
Civil Society Working Groups
Scientific Information :  http://www.wsis-si.org  chair
Patents & Copyrights   :  http://www.wsis-pct.org co-chair
Financing Mechanismns  :  http://www.wsis-finance.org web
Info. Net. Govermance  :  http://www.wsis-gov.org  web

NET4D : http://www.net4D.org
UNMSP : http://www.unmsp.org
----------------------------

Legal notice:
Except stated explicitely, this message shall not be construed as the official position of above mentionned entities.

Notice légale:
A moins que cela ne soit explicitement indiqué, ce message ne constitue la position officielle des entités mentionnées ci-dessos
---------------

My source: Community Informatics Listservs

Major research opportunity: Life Long Health and Wellbeing 2 (MRC)

From: "Peter Lansley"
Date: 12 November 2008 21:09:31 GMT
Subject: [Sparc-network] Major research opportunity announced -

Life Long Health and Wellbeing 2 MRC has just released a call for proposals to the second round of this cross-research council programme. It has a very different specification to the first round and many more organisations are involved. See the SPARC website for links to the call.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Professor Peter Lansley BSc MSc PhD MCIOB FCOT
Director, SPARC
School of Construction Management and Engineering
Urban and Regional Studies Building, The University of Reading
Whiteknights, PO Box 219, Reading, RG6 6AW, UK
T: +44 116 378 8202 E: p.r.lansley @ reading.ac.uk W: www.sparc.ac.uk
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sparc-network mailing list
http://www.lists.rdg.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/sparc-network

Additional links:

SPARC: Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity

MRC: Medical Research Council

HC2009 April 2009, W-Tech 2009, IHE-Europe Vienna Workshop 2009

The following items may be of interest to Health Informatics Professionals. Please contact the organisers direct for more information or to book. Feel free to pass on to colleagues.


HC2009 - Shaping the Future 28-30 April 2009

Closing date for submissions is 1^st December. Don’t miss your opportunity…. submit now and see the HC:Showcase.



W-Tech: Co-hosted and organised by BCS Women’s Forum.

A FREE motivational showcase supporting women interested in IT – Tues 3rd Feb, London.

Meet with some of the smartest IT professionals, the biggest recruiters in IT, attend career development workshops, revamp and submit your CV, prepare yourself for that next interview or promotion.




IHE-Europe Vienna Workshop
22-23 April 2009

Sharing clinical documents and integrating workflow

The event will provide an in depth review and discussion of IHE solutions in parallel sessions for users and suppliers. Also an opportunity to visit the 2009 Connectathon.

The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise organisation (IHE) in Europe has asked IHE-Austria to organise this two day workshop. It will provide an in depth review and discussion of IHE solutions in parallel sessions for users and suppliers. The main focus will be on the nature and means of applying the IHE document and image sharing facilities to improve the real world of clinical practice.

There will also be the opportunity to visit the IHE-Europe connectathon, which will be held in Vienna at the same time. During the week around 80 different suppliers will show that their software can interoperate with that of three other suppliers to perform clinical tasks correctly as described in the relevant IHE specifications. Connectathon visitors gain a real understanding of the way IHE enables suppliers to work together to obtain interoperability of systems in a very enjoyable atmosphere. Experts from all healthcare specialties will be present including medical imaging.

For detailed information and registration visit the IHE-Austria homepage.

My source: BCS

Health, Social Care Legislation & Hodges model

The table below indicates some of the key legislation in HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE presented using the four care domains of Hodges' model:

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

Mental Health Acts 1959, 1983, 2007 Mental Capacity Act 2005 Data Protection Act 1998	Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill Health Act 2006 (pharmacies) Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 Human Tissue Act 2004
Health Act 2006 (smoking indoors) Carers Act 2004 Care Standards Act 2000Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (section 21) Children Act 1989	Health and Social Care Act 2001, 2008 Section 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001. MHA 2007 (advocacy) NHS Redress Act 2006 (clinical negligence claims) NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 Human Rights Act 1998

The focus above is UK, but can be readily revised to reflect other countries.

Rationale for assignment to specific care (knowledge) domains:

This is were much of what is placed above is subjective and Hodges' model can show its situated, person-centred, multi-contextual potential. For example, public and patient involvement in the NHS needs to be driven and sanctioned politically, which is what Section 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 sets out to achieve. In operation and procedure the mental health act is very much concerned with individuals, who are accorded specific roles and definitions. The data protection act is primarily concerned with personal data.

Scientifically, or more specifically - biologically and morphologically speaking - human fertilisation and conception is a physical event, initiating a (profound) developmental process. The profundity is expressed elsewhere: what it means for individuals, couples and their families, cultures. The individual (intrapersonal domain) comes to the fore when politicians are given a free vote on such emotive and ethically sensitive issues. The sciences domain is not a complete emotional void, science provides images and vistas of wonder.

This blog post is not comprehensive. There is of course much more legislation to be taken into account; discrimination, equality and diversity, health and safety...

Additional links:

NHS 60 - Health protection timeline
Mental Health History Timeline
Public Health Timeline 1832-1866
The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007
Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services.

The SOCIOLOGICAL links page includes 'Seven Ages', 'Public, Patients, & Carers'...
The INTRAPERSONAL links page includes 'Mental Health', 'Psychology', 'Therapies'...
The POLITICAL links page includes 'Policy', 'Citizenry'...

New Drupal based Social Media Classroom

I learned of this new initiative on the Drupal for Libraries list in a post by Ari Davidow.

Using Drupal with the help of a MacArthur grant, author and educator Howard Rheingold has set up:

Social Media Classroom and Collaboratory

Welcome to the Social Media Classroom and Collaboratory. It’s all free, as in both “freedom of speech” and “almost totally free beer.” We invite you to build on what we’ve started to create more free value. The Social Media Classroom (we’ll call it SMC) includes a free and open-source (Drupal-based) web service that provides teachers and learners with an integrated set of social media that each course can use for its own purposes—integrated forum, blog, comment, wiki, chat, social bookmarking, RSS, microblogging, widgets , and video commenting are the first set of tools. The Classroom also includes curricular material: syllabi, lesson plans, resource repositories, screencasts and videos. The Collaboratory (or Colab), is what we call just the web service part of it. Educators are encouraged to use the Colab and SMC materials freely, and we host your Colab communities if you don’t want to install your own. (See this for an explanation of who “we” are).

This provides an interesting perspective on the use of open source tools with value-added service provision.

Here is a brief video (also available on the SMC site):

Shreves Drupal 6 Themes book (review to follow)

I am currently reading through Shreves' Drupal 6 Themes book (up to chapter 6) and will post the final review here and on Amazon.

A review like this must not just be a case of front-to-back reading, so I am starting work (yet again) on a theme at the same time employing tips from the book (and other sources).

3 - Day Fruit Fast

It is a very simple and effective way to cleanse and de-toxify your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days.

You will be suprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look.

During the "fruit fast", you can eat different fruits at different times, although occasionaly mixed fruit with salad would also be permissible and more interesting.

Research Capability Programme NHS UK - consultation

From: The NHS-HE CONNECTIVITY PROJECT Forum - Malcolm Teague
Sent: Thursday, 30 October, 2008 16:42:25
Subject: Research Capability Programme - consultation

Consultation on the wider use of patient information

I attended a briefing event on the Research Capability Programme yesterday in Birmingham which was very informative and excellent progress is being made. It was mentioned that the researchers view was under-represented at the moment in the consultation on the wider use of NHS data eg for clinical research. Researchers currently represent only 2% of the responses. But I have just completed it as an NHS user which was the category that best fitted, so everyone can take part. It also takes you through the scenarios gently step by step. Anyway it would be great if you could encourage as many colleagues to take part as possible at:

http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/research/consultation

There were a series of RCP briefing events so some of you may already have attended elsewhere. The presentations are going to be made available so I will endeavour to pass those on in some way later. The NHS-HE Forum got a positive mention from Sir Alex Markham!

Many thanks,

Malcolm

Ye Olde paper: 1996 "Humans, information and science"

I learned this past week that the abstract of an old paper is available online. Being 1996 this was pre-website days and information in a nursing context is a subject I've often thought of returning to. ...

Journal of Advanced Nursing

Volume 24 Issue 3
1996: Pages 591 - 598.

Published Online: 28 Jun 2008
Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Humans, information and science

ABSTRACT

The use of information forms the basis of nursing policies, standards and professional codes of conduct. Although used intuitively, nurses must now also grapple empirically with information needs often defined by others, and with the technology used to capture and process it. Even the briefest contemplation of 'information' reveals a truly pervasive concept. Information is ubiquitous. In order to care effectively in the so-called 'information age' health care professionals need to understand information.

This paper is a small contribution to that effort, attempting to conjoin the disparate fields of health and the information sciences, and the basic sciences upon which they are based. This paper explores how definitions of information formulated in computing and communication theory relate to health and other aspects of human experience. The strategy adopted to achieve this is threefold. First, there is the vexed question of defining data, information and knowledge. Second, I consider how communication — that essential nursing activity — relates to information, meaning and the messages people seek to convey to each other. Thirdly, clinical situations are described in an information-oriented manner, using the concepts of 'redundancy' and 'entropy'. The conclusion provides an historical perspective.

Accepted for publication 5 October 1995.

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI) About DIO
10.1111/j.1365-2648.1996.tb00174.x

Help for NHS.jobs and job hunters with standard file names

NHS.jobs is a marvellous web resource. Once you have entered your personal and career details you can save time and focus on what matters....

One thing I've noticed is that should you download assorted 'job descriptions', 'person specifications' and other essential guidance the files become meaningless when listed.

Browsers and operating systems do behave differently, but on my PC extra characters are appended to differentiate one 'jobdescription.doc (or pdf)' file from another.

There must be a way to define a standard across the NHS (and dare we suggest the social care sector)? Then prospective job-hunters can see from the file name the organisation, the job title, closing date or other combination of details? Given the redundancy in our language(s), the need for equality (in access) it would not take much to achieve this?

There are some points of note: what's the shelf (directory!) life of these files? "If you have not heard from us within four weeks of the closing date then please assume your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion."... Plus, the semantic web and an intelligent file system may overtake this problem and perceived requirement, but until then...?

Even if only gifted a recommended convention, then perhaps this could quickly emerge as a standard, because it makes a difference, affords an early advantage in the 'market place' and assists everyone.


As the demographic squeeze tightens its grip this might even help HR departments, students, returnees, and the middle-aged-mid-career-crises-smitten.

Until then NHS.jobs and job hunters can only handle the files they 'receive'.

NHS.jobs does very well in helping to open doors... in the meantime I'll keep knocking ... and anyway what date did I save that person spec?

Image source: http://www.ectomo.com/index.php/2007/08/24/hand-door-handles-by-naomi-thellier/

Transcultural health & Hodges model

Text by Larson et al. (2001) is presented below with a suggested placement of
Bradshaw's (1972) typology of social need on to the four care domains of Hodges' model:

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

Felt need: The needs as perceived by members of the group.	Normative need: The group fails to meet an objective, universalistic standard. Technical definitions of need such as the Australian National Mental Health Standards are examples of normative need.
Expressed need: Through their behaviour, group members have demonstrated a need, often by lengthy queues for services or failure to attend a service.	Comparative need: The group is demonstratively worse off than another group. Comparative need is usually demonstrated through routinely collected statistics, which is problematic for small ethnic groups whose identities are rarely recorded (p.336).

Bradshaw’s framework is still widely used. The important distinction is one between the ‘top-down’, professional-derived definitions of normative and comparative needs, on the one hand, and the felt and expressed needs, interpreted as the ‘bottom-up’ expression of experiences and attitudes, on the other (p.336).

See also Larson et al. discussion of 'thin' and 'thick' needs.

(The fact that this typology can be described in terms of 'top-down' - 'bottom-up' also highlights the socio-technical potential of Hodges' model.)

References:
Bradshaw, J. (1972). The concept of social need. New Society, 19(496), 640–643.
Larson, A., Frkovic, I., van Kooten-Prasad, M., Manderson, L. (2001). Mental Health Needs Assessment in Australia’s Culturally Diverse Society, Transcultural Psychiatry, 33(3), 333-347. Abstract.

The INTRAPERSONAL links page includes Psychology I & II, Mental health, Therapies...

The SOCIOLOGICAL links page includes Patients, Carers, Sociology I & II...

Cognitive tools and fashion: no accounting for taste!

As a child of the rose tinted 60s and 70s I've seen all sorts of fashions come and go. Likewise with the tools used in nurse education. At least with cognitive tools, such as Hodges' model we don't have to wear them on our sleeve. ...

Thank goodness for that!

Image source with many thanks: John Eric Hughes

Free e-copy 1st issue - Journal of Wound Technology

This new journal (not for the squeamish) may be of interest to nurses and related physical care disciplines. There is quite a bit of advertising, but the articles are referenced and this is a very dynamic field (which the advertising probably reflects). If you register you can obtain the first three paper issues for free and there are details of a conference in January - Paris:

contact:
Les Editions MF
Phone: +33 (0)1 40 07 11 21
Fax: +33 (0)1 40 07 10 94

To subscribe or change your subscription options, please contact:
newslettercmf@fr.oleane.com

Working with the mind in dementia, not against it

The following (edited) item was posted to the NURSE PHILOSOPHY list by Phil Benjamin;
plus Sandwell Third Age Art's DVD: ‘Fountain's Jolly Inn’:

You may be interested in a novel and sophisticated model for aged care in Tasmania. This model is based on a sophisticated psychological interventions based on an understanding of the intact affective life and needs of patients, even with the most severe cognitive disabilities - useful links below:

Dementia can produce challenging and erratic behaviours. The disease itself is one cause, but so is the world outside. Which psychosocial interventions really make a difference? And, a tour through an orthodox nursing home for the most extreme cases -- there's a bus stop with no bus, a car that won't go -- and it really works.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2008/2390391.htm

http://www.adardsnursinghome.com.au/

http://www.adardsnursinghome.com.au/arnason.htm

Sandwell Third Age Arts DVD: ‘Fountain's Jolly Inn’

This film is about the making of a pub themed area inside a residential home for older people with mental health needs.

It was made by Paul Nocher.

The DVD shows how a little imagination can go a long way in creating an interesting and stimulating environment in a residential home and how the transformation of a space can enrich the lives of the people who live in it.