Twitter Twaddle? Claire Hayward, Joaquim Faias and Heather Millar

Who we are Joaquim Faias (Educator, Portugal) Heather Millar (Clinician and inventor, USA) Claire Hayward (Clinician and student, UK)

What the heck is Twitter? An example of a social network A noisy conversation in a huge room…. ….but you get to have selective hearing!

Ask not what you can do for social networking, but what social networking can do for you! Lets think about this as occupational therapists……. Doing, being, becoming, belonging (Wilcox 2006) Why should you be interested?

Being Developing (online) professional identity Responding to the activities of the culture/day Promoting a profession you value Being true to ourselves, our nature or essence (Wilcock 2002):

A newly qualified OT

Students anxieties:

Doing Searching out new information Asking questions Sharing information Following conferences Find a job (or getting a job to find you) Improving practice standards

Up to date knowledge

Conference updates

Sharing of information will improve practice standards. For example, since I am certified in lymphedema treatments another therapist found me and I was able to offer advice to assist a client in Australia. Heather

Belonging Part of OT community: local, national and international To a community: geographical, skills related (Bodell et al. 2008)

Global OT community You can have info about how OT is being done in other countries and cultures coming from practitioners sharing their experience in real time. At some point, we may have OT practice being discussed by people from continents of the planet, sharing perspectives, cultural influences, links, approaches, methodologies, outcomes,... This idea is amazing. Joaquim

What OTs say

Becoming Professional development (Erradi & Hartmann 2008) Service user engagement Developing links to local community Advancing knowledge of technology Vision of the profession of the future Engaging with new groups Mainstreaming of the profession

What consumers say

friend's son was diagnosed with sensory integration disorder. Good news is occupational therapy did amazing things for him.kerrijack

What OTs say

nabling: virtual participation Social networking in the wider context of online tools What opportunities for those we currently, or have potential to work with? (Verdonck & Ryan 2008) Digital Divide and Occupational Justice (Goldfarb & Prince, 2008; Smedema & McKenzie, 2010)

Risky business? Public nature of online media Blurring the boundaries IP and identity theft Best practice and support options Risk as a part of life!

Moving forwards A “doing, being, belonging and becoming” challenge! Support is out @heatherot Professional organisations (BAOTCOT)

OT 4 OT: online support network

References Bodell, S., Penman, M., Hook, A., Wade, W., & Berry, N. (2008). Is social networking/websites bringing occupational therapists together? College of Occupational Therapists National Conference. Erardi, L. K. & Hartmann, K. (2008). Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts: Broadening our Connections for Communication, Collaboration and Continuing Education. OT Practice, 13(9), 1-7. Goldfarb, A. & Prince, J. (2008) Internet adoption and usage patterns are different: Implications for the digital divide. Information Economics and Policy. 20 (1) 2-15 Smedema, S. & McKenzie, A.(2010) The relationship among frequency and type of internet use, perceived social support, and sense of well-being in individuals with visual impairments. Disability and rehabilitation. 32 (4) Verdonck, M. & Ryan, S (2008) Mainstream Technology as an Occupational Therapy Tool: Technophobe or Technogeek? British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 71 (6) Wilcock, A. (2002) Reflections on doing, being and becoming. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. 46 (1) 1-11 Wilcock, A. (2006) Occupation: being through Doing in An Occupational Perspective of Health. 2nd Ed. United States: Slack