tutorial one~ INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ETHICAL ISSUES

Information technology(IT) is any technology involved in acquiring, storing, processing and/ or distributing information via electronic means.
Collin, S. (2003). Dictionary of science and technology.London:Bloomsbury

IT is comming more and more common in society. During my own lifetime i have seen many advances in this area. For example 10 years ago i knew no one with a cell phone,laptop or digital camera in fact i probably didnt even know what they were yet now they are so common it is strange when someone doesnt have one.

I feel comfortable to use laptops, televisions, email, ipod, digital camera, telephones (landlines and cell phones), social netwroking sites such as facebook, search engines, photo copiers and pen drives.

My last occupational therapy placement was in a pediatric setting. In this placement we used the following forms of IT .

• Email used to contact fellow team members, and other people involved with the child to make arrangements and keep people up to date with how the therapy is progressing.
• Digital cameras used to take pictures of children or the tasks they'd accomplished and were sent home to the parents to show progress.
• Digital cameras were used when creating activity programmes for parents and displayed images of what we would like the child to continue working on.
• Cell phones were used when team members went into the community so they always had a communicaiton device in case of emergency.
• Telephones were used to ring clients and arrange appoinment times.
• The internet was used for searching activity ideas and sourcing pictures eg. spongebob to be used for colouring in activities.

Computer Ethics deal with how professionals in the computer industry should make decisions concerning professional and societal conduct.Retreived on 24 May 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_ethics

Intellectual property (IP) are legal property rights protecting property from original thought. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks and patents. Retrieved on 24 May 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property

Social justice, also referred to as civil justice, is the concept of a society in which fairness is achieved in all aspects, rather than simply in the administration of law. It is commonly thought of as a society which gives all individuals and groups equal treatment and fair treatment. Retrieved on 23 May 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice

Informed consent is a legal condition where a person must first be clearly informed of the fatcs and risks of an action before their consent is given. Retreived 23 May 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informed_consent