Sharon Shoesmith wins appeal.

I'm going to need your help with this one.

I heard the news announced earlier that Sharon Shoesmith had won her appeal against her sacking by Haringey council. Many of you will have discussed the ramifications of the baby Peter case in class and no doubt in private too. I'm sure that you'll know more of the details surrounding this terribly sad series of events than I do.

I'd like to know what this means? For those of you wanting careers in those areas where the fallout from this case is still being felt, what are the possible outcomes?

The BBC currently have videos online with both Sharon Shoesmith and Ed Balls, who originally made the ruling against Mrs Shoesmith, along with a detailed report of today's outcome.

No doubt the newspapers will have in depth features on this story tomorrow too. If you need me to show you how to view them online then just contact me.

I would very much appreciate your opinions on this story so either leave a comment or email me a response if you feel the need.

NSPCC reports new child sexual abuse statistics.

After being granted a freedom of information act request, the NSPCC has today released detailed figures showing the number of reported sex crimes against children in the UK.

The figures are revealing as it reports the ages of those abused and the abusers.

You can find the main details of the report, alongside an interview with Jon Brown of the NSPCC on the BBC website.

Do you think the NHS tried turning it off and on again?

I've been listening to the coverage recently concerning the NHS and their integrated computer system which isn't exactly integrated. It was a detail I heard this morning that amazed me. Namely, that many NHS hospitals already regularly contain 4 or 5 different on-line systems that can't 'talk' to each other.
It'd be like trying to put a multi-disciplinary team together who speak Latin, Chinese, Finnish and Hungarian and expecting them to work seamlessly together.

I thought it worth mentioning in the context of different governmental departments talking (or more specifically- not talking) to each other and how this has been seen as a factor in child protection issues.

There was a debate about it a few days ago on the Today programme. It's quite revealing.

Have you experienced that moment where you realise...

...that the person who's presenting a talk to you has written a Powerpoint that contains 235 slides and you wonder if faking your own death is an option?

Death by Powerpoint is probably recognised by coroners in certain US states. Okay, I jest but Powerpoint can certainly send students into a coma from which they may not recover in a hurry.

This message is just to point out that there are alternatives to Powerpoint which can present materials in a more visually interesting way. If you're prepared to try something new.

I've written a number of presentations using a web-based tool called Prezi. You may even have sat in on one.

To see what it can do, the introductory presentation on Prezi's own website is below.



It looks like it's going to be complicated to use but it really isn't. Promise.

Click here to sign up for a free Prezi account and feel free to show me any presentations you make.

The sound of silence?

Last week I attended two course committees. At both those committees the number one student complaint was that the silent study areas were seriously lacking the central feature which is supposed to characterise them - silence.

Every committee meeting I've ever attended has at some point included a student rep passing on concerns about the library being too noisy. We know. This is why we have silent areas. If you ask 10 different people how they define 'quiet' you'll get 10 different answers. But silence means silence. An absence of noise. Simple.

And if we (by we I mean the librarians) hear you talking in the silent study areas we'll address it. Politely. If you're a repeat offender then you may notice a rapid drop-off on the whole politeness thing.

But we need your help too. If you're being disturbed by students who are talking in the silent study area and the hard stare you're throwing them isn't working, then you're well within your rights to get assistance. You can ask a security guard to pay your area a visit or tell a reader services person and they will pass on your concern to the right person.
And if you can think of another way to deal with it (which doesn't involve a croquet mallet and a good long run up) then leave a comment here or email me directly.

It's a serious issue and I know how important study time is, especially to those of you who live in houses full of noise and joyful chaos. If you have any ideas on this issue do let us know and I'll pass them on.

And if you're an ASS student sitting in the silent study area and you see me, feel free to smile and wave-but don't say hello or I'll be forced to shush you and believe me when I say that's an experience you don't want!!!!

Proposed changes to the social care system.

It's been a busy week for new reports after the release yesterday of the Munro review.

Today the Law Commission has proposed wide ranging changes to how Social Care is organised in the UK.

This is obviously a very important document for any of you dealing with Social Care on your course.

Clicking here will take you to a debate on the changes aired this morning (May, 11th) on Radio 4. The link will be live until May 18th.

The 'Adult Social Care Report' is available in full from here.

Munro review of child protection.

Today, May 10th 2011, sees the release of the Munro report investigating child protection issues in relation to practice and frontline services.

Click here to see the BBC coverage this morning including an interview with Eileen Munro.

In addition, go straight here to view the report.

"It's political correctness gone mad"

One of my favourite philosophers is Michel Foucault. Some of you may already have come across him on your academic travels. Interesting man, although I appreciate he isn't everyone's idea of a good time.

Anyhoo. Foucault often wrote about the way discourse is used to support a particular scientific approach or political system. I mention this because every now and then we hear about a new kerfuffle which usually begins with the Daily Mail reporting on some specious piece of inconsequential fluff like this. Personally, I'm with Foucault on this one, but the day I start seeing eye to eye with The Daily Mail will be the day I pack it in.

I mention all this because when conducting searches to find journal articles you really need to think about the changing nature of language. I believe the words do shape the reality around a topic and those words can change fast. For example, when researching in the areas of ethnicity or mental health be aware that if you wish to be comprehensive (even if it only means going back 5 years or so) then you may need to choose terminology that would be deemed problematic in 2011.

And if you'd like a great introductory book which delves into language, reality and meaning then try the Vivien Burr book. You can link from here straight to the e-book.

My month of blogging dangerously.

Yesterday marked the end of my one month of blogging at a fairly intensive rate in support of my action research. To all of you who volunteered for the project I say thank you. Your final act of support is to fill in the questionnaires I sent out yesterday. I know some of you have already filled them in so a further thank you to those individuals.

Some of you have asked me via email if the end of the project will make any difference to your Feedburner subscriptions. The answer is no. You'll still get updates to your email.

Just don't expect things to arrive which such regularity. My aim is to post twice a week. If I don't keep up that schedule then you have my permission to hassle me.

Now stop reading this and fill those questionnaires in!

How to view sections of new books free online.

This takes a bit of work on your part but let me explain;

Some publishers now put previews or 'tasters' of academic books on their websites.

One publisher who does this regularly is Learning Matters who publish plenty of material on social work practice, youth studies, counselling and social policy. If you visit their website there are many books where you can view a 'sample chapter'. Quite often this is chapter one; a general introduction to a topic so may prove useful.

















Click here to begin and choose a subject area that you're interested in.

Then, when you've chosen a specific title you'll notice a link that says 'sample chapter'. Follow the link and hopefully the sample chapter will be relevant.

Other publishers you could visit online are Russell House and Ashgate who both offer similar previews. As more publishers follow suit I'll let you know about it.

One more thing-because in many cases the sample chapters put online are uncorrected proofs (ie early drafts)  you should use what you find as background reading only. You shouldn't reference this material directly as the final published versions may alter from what you've used. However, it is still useful as a source and at the very least will give you ideas or keywords which you can use elsewhere.

If you get a bit lost and need some help just let me know.

A message from Thomas, my 9 year-old son.

Because I've talked to some of you before about the way young people view technology, the generational divide this can create and how some of you have been helped by your own children to find material for your assignments, I've asked my eldest son, who's 9, to describe his relationship with technology.
I promise the next post (which will be the last in the month-long trial) will be resource related.
His post below is all his own words which is why some of it is somewhat random! 

I don't think I would be able to live without the wonders of technology floating right under my nose. Every day I use up valuable electricity that powers our light bulbs, our game consoles (thank God for that), even the computer I am writing on right now! What we should be thinking about really when we use all this technical gear is where it came from  (O.K, I admit it, I am not really concerned about that. Really, I am being honest). It all probably started with a ape that got struck by lightning, which helped primates create a wheel, because the thunder strike created more brain cells. It does seem quite probable, to be honest.

Now I am going to stop all this and tell you what I actually think about all this techy stuff. I do love my technology as you will find in the first line in this blog post. But I also like the fact that it all joins together, E.G, the world wide web. I also like the fact you can take messages miles and miles away from where you are sitting/standing.What I mean is I like the very idea of the phone. The glorious,wonderful, remarkable phone. I really like my dads' android phone because it can do loads of stuff. Texting, game-playing (I  like alchemy the best) and lots, lots more. And that is the sort of stuff I like about technology.

By Thomas   

           

The pros and cons of Groupwork.

I recently took part in a group project for a qualification I'm studying.

The lecturers who compiled the groups deliberately put them together to make it as tricky as possible for us to meet. They admitted this after we'd handed in our reports, of course. I have done group projects before. During the second year of my undergraduate degree I was part of a group who decided to dress the same way during a group presentation we made. One lecturer commented that we looked like the gang in reservoir dogs!

There are a number of important books we have in the library for anyone studying the pros and cons of Group work. Some of these are electronic (such as 'Groupwork practice in social work' by Lindsay) and others are paper only. You can also find a lot of articles on the databases about what makes successful groupwork so you shouldn't be struggling for materials.


That said, if you do need some guidance on how to find resources then let me know.

Sage Premier: the unloved database.

A lot of you use the ebsco databases. I know this because I get sent statistics every month as to how many searches have been done. It's also the main database I demo to you in training sessions so it gets plenty of publicity.

We do have other databases though that are also well worth exploring.

One such database is called Sage Premier and is just as important as the Ebsco options.
Sage offers access to nearly 500 e-journals across a range of subjects including criminology and sociology.
Also, there's quite a lot of journal articles on there that are full-text. Full-text is the magic phrase, I know!

Click here to go straight to the Sage log-in page. The screen looks a bit different but the principles of using it effectively are the same as ever;

• be smart with your keywords
• make a record of what you find
• don't turn into a zombie by searching for 3 hours without a break

I tend to need more search boxes than the one it initially offers so I change it to 'advanced search by discipline' which you'll find at the side of the main search box.

If you'd like some guidance on how to navigate around Sage you've only to ask, but if you find it useful leave a comment/reaction at the bottom of this post.

Now go and share your love with Sage as the Ebsco databases have been saying nasty things about it behind its back!

Online videos from authors.

A few weeks ago I was helping a student who was having difficulties finding resources for an assignment related to gang culture in the US.

Partly out of desperation I suggested we look on the website of the publisher which was the University of Minnesota Press and what we found there was a revelation. The author, John Hagedorn, had recorded a whole series of videos where he described what his book contained, the theory behind his approach and supplemental lectures on hip hop and violence. And you can reference all this stuff!

To look at the videos follow the link here.

I'm trying to find other authors of interest who are doing similar online presentations but there's nothing to stop you doing my job for me! Just remember that you'll need some books and journals too - I don't think your lecturers will be happy if you construct an assignment purely from video presentations.

If any of you have referenced videos before let me know if you received any comments from lecturers. I'd like to know.

And for no other reason than the fact that John Hagedorn writes about hip hop, below is one of my favourite rap videos by the ever wonderful Public Enemy.