Sunday, June 13, 2010

Tutorial Eight: Posting YouTube Videos & Flickr Badges to Blogs

This video shows the step by step process of embedding a YouTube Video



This video also shows the step by step process of embedding a Flickr badge

Tutorial Seven: Assistive Technology

Assistive technology refers to a wide range of devices, services, strategies, and practices that are used to decrease the problems people with a disability have with doing daily tasks and leisure activities" (Cook & Hussey, 2000).

One piece of assistive technology that I am interested in is the Talking Photo Album. It allows the user to record a message of 10 seconds which can be added to each photo. It is priced at about $15+ and holds 24 - 4" x 6" photos. It requires batteries. You are able to re-record as many times as you like.

It is great for people with cognitive and memory impairements and enables people to share memories of experiences they've had.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Tutorial Six: The internet and online communities

Community that I am looking at is Facebook www.facebook.com

Facebook is a social networking site. Users can add people as friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.
Facebook is a free service which offers users the ability to be able to create profiles with photos, list their personal interests, contact information and other personal information. Communicating with other users can be done through public or private messages or through the chat feature which works like msn messenger. It also enables the user to choose their own privacy settings and choose who can see parts of their profile. The website also includes advertising from businesses.
People choose to contribute to facebook as it is a way of keeping in touch with friends and making connections with people that they haven't seen in a long time.

Here is an example of messages on facebook:
Clare O'Brien clares 30th part 2# queenstown 26th june dinner-dance off ..let me know

There are ethical issues around privacy and confidentiality when using Facebook. For example anyone can look at photos that have been added or peoples profile content without the person's permission. You could also be chatting to someone online and they may not be who they are saying they are.

This type of community allows people to connect with anyone in the world though the use of a computer and communicate with them without having to be in close geographical proximity. However, this kind of community doesn't aloow for face to face interaction like traditional communities do. Therefore some social skills won't be as developed.

Tutorial Four & Five: Video Production

I this tutorial we learned how to upload a video clip onto youtube and then post it onto our blog. Youtube provides many services: Allows users to broadcast themselves, watch and share videos, rate videos and leave comments and post videos from Youtube onto other sites.

When my group made our film "Teddies Troubles" we used the technique of storyboarding as a way of planning what our film was going to look like and so we could refer back to it. We also used scripting which included technical information such as camera angles, sound track and movement which enabled us to create the visual and audio picture that we wanted.

Tutorial Three: Blog Creation

A brief summary about the services offered by Blogger:
Blogger offers a free web page to allow anyone to express their views and ideas. Users are able to design their own blog and post videos, they can connect with people from around the world, and their news can be published. Another blog host is www.myspace.com

Tutorial Two: Digital Camera use and applications

"A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature".
Some of the positives of digital cameras is that you can choose to delete pictures before they are printed which is more cost effective you can also copy onto many other technologies such as CD, USB, and your computer. Some of the negatives include; photos are not as good quality as film, and there is also a risk of losing photos or them being deleted.

Some of the ways that digital images can be stored, transferred and manipulated using other communications technology:
Stored on a memory stick
Uploaded onto a computer (PC or laptop)
Can also be uploaded on social networking sites such as facebook and myspace
Can be manipulated using software such as photoshop
Mobile phones and Email

Ethical issues that arise from the use of image capturing devices is confidentiality, Occupational Therapists need to ensure photos are appropriate and people need to give consent.

Some of the ways that digital images are being used in Occupational Therapy practice are:
Showing before and after of housing modifications, as a way of getting funding, sharing knowledge with other OT's around the world, help to explain what OT's do in their practice.
www.nzaot.com

Flickr is a service which allows people to share their photos. It is an image and video hosting website, web services suite and an online community. Another photo storage website similar to Flickr is Snapfish.co.nz

The difference between digital and optical zoom:
Optical zoom works by bringing the subject in the viewfinder closer, using moving parts within the camera. Digital zoom simulates optical zoom by enlarging part of an image electronically, rather than with moving parts.

A megapixel is one million pixels. A pixel is the smallest unit of picture that can be controlled. The more mega pixel the better quality photos.