Webwatch
IRISS's monthly column as published in Care Appointments magazine.
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) is developing a website that will help people to make choices about care. It will cover all types of care and support for adults including regulated and unregulated services in England, and will provide links to specialist websites, including local services, specialist and independent financial advisers.
Reshaping Care and Support Planning is a nationally approved, awareness raising resource for outcome-focused care and support planning within adult registered services in Scotland. It was devised, developed and published in a partnership between the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS), Care Inspectorate, Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability (SCLD), Joint Improvement Team (JIT) and Scottish Care.
DirectScot is an experimental prototype of a public service website for Scotland. Developed by the Scottish Government, it is a response to the ongoing debate on how government services can be delivered more efficiently in the digital age.
In order to effectively implement the Self-Directed Support Strategy for Scotland, it is imperative that information on services and supports is readily available to those that need it. What the strategy envisages is individuals and families having “informed choice about the way support is provided to them” (Scottish Government, 2010) – being able to take more control over their lives and to have choices over the type of care and support they receive.
Community Catalysts is a Community Interest Company established in January 2010 by and working in close partnership with the charity Shared Lives Plus, an organisation that promotes the effective provision of accommodation, care and support for vulnerable adults within very small-scale family and community settings. Community Catalysts works to harness the talents of people and communities to provide imaginative solutions to social issues and care needs, giving them greater choice in the way they live their lives.
There are now various and easy ways to publish material on the web. Blogs and communities of practice are examples of the ways people are using the web to publish their own views and opinions and receive comments from others. Using the web is now more about active participation rather than passive viewing – it can empower and engage individuals and kick-start interesting discussions and conversations.
bespoken is a social media website dedicated to building a community that aims to include disabled people in the design of everyday household products from their own homes, and where they can share ideas and tips on how to overcome everyday challenges that are faced with appliances and technology.
SWAPBox is a digital repository that brings together open educational resources – social work and social policy learning and teaching materials – that can be freely used and repurposed for use with students in the classroom or in working practice. Examples of some of these materials includes handouts, exercises, podcasts and videos.
Glasgow is one of the cities hosting Social Media Week (#socialmediaweek), which will take place from 19-23 September 2011. The week will focus on exploring how local and regional societies, cultures and economies are becoming more integrated and empowered through a global network of communication.
Most of us create documents (usually in Word) and circulate them by email to colleagues for comment. This generates many versions of the document on various computers along with a chaotic trail of email correspondence. Someone then has the cumbersome and time-consuming job of coordinating and synthesising all the comments.