Saturday, July 22, 2006

Performing

I'm looking at how communication and computer technologies are being integrated within the health sector.
Seems that there is a lot being done, but its not adding very much and may even be distracting or detracting or even degenerative.
Is this as 'good as it gets”?
1. There is a lot that disseminates, info, its novel, and or available as and when wanted so it’s an improvement on pamphlets. It’s also pulled down rather than pushed at, so there might be an assumption of it being more effective as it gets to its target group.
2. There is a lot that seems to replace people with machinery, go to a clinic and instead of being interviewed we can have you directly input data.
3. There is connection: live chats, online forums, support groups. More info available and accessible, wider and more accessible Q&As, support of a different shape is possible.
But in our shaping of CCT use in the health sector just to do the same old in new ways, and if so, is it destructive, distracting or detracting from services that would be better provided? The number of self help initiatives, any self-help book could have provided. The support groups have always occurred, maybe the medium allows some different people to be involved - and maybe it’s excluding others. Are there real gains or is it a novelty factor that’s distracting funds and energies away ...
In these examples we appear to repackage. Is the new just better used to perform the historical ( Milio, 2001). ?

2 comments:

  1. Healy (1998) and Armstrong and Casement (2000) make various critiques about the advent of using technologies because we 'should'. They don't draw on ANT tho, and they mostly refer to CCT's in ed. May be worth a look? I could send you some texts on their writings that I put into my Masters thesis if you wish.

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  2. Hi nicola, my profuse apologies for taking so long to respond, the hidden magic of my own blogsite had denied me the pleasures of comments (or my own ineptitude not noting that i had moderation on comments. I would be interested in the references you mention, feel free to email me: ailsa dot haxell at aut dot ac dot nz
    (the spammers make me write it in longhand, I am shaped by the machinery...)

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