Selecting a Computer-Based System to Assist Fund-Raising and Development Operations

Abstract

Increasingly, non-profit organizations and agencies must turn to the private sector to raise money to finance their work, and to increase the scope of their services. Computer software is available to assist and enhance organizational development efforts involving direct mail, “events,” and broadcast appeals. Social Work professionals may be responsible for selecting software systems for their agencies. What functions should such software perform? What criteria should it meet? The software should contain features that support each stage of a development cycle, manage mailing lists, provide financial and fund-accounting functions, produce letters and other communications, and generate statistics and reports for management control. Each of these functions is examined in some detail, as considerations to bear in mind when evaluating systems are discussed.     

Strategies for Creating MIS Technology to Improve Social Work Practice and Research

SUMMARY

This paper illustrates the potential for Management Information System (MIS) technology to integrate information collection, management and reporting within a single program or network of organizations. Properly devised and created, MIS applications can improve administration, service delivery and practice evaluation. Three strategies are offered to guide the design and development of MIS software. This paper is based on lessons from the production and implementation of MIS software that serves as a management and evaluation tool for a nationwide policy demonstration. Data from the MIS have helped to shape state and federal policy.     

Clients as Co-Developers of Multimedia Software: Two HIV/AIDS Training Programs for Kids

SUMMARY

Most educators using multimedia have difficulty determining how best to structure and present curriculum material to difficult audiences, such as at-risk youth. This article describes a process whereby kids played significant roles as co-developers and subject matter experts in the development of two multimedia training modules on HIV/AIDS for kids ages 6–9 and 9–12. It presents the development process, the resulting software, the results of the formal evaluation, issues, problems, and lessons learned. It concludes that client involvement in software is effective as well as therapeutic and empowering. However, developing software in controversial areas, such as HIV and AIDS, results in problematic distribution and continued enhancement.     

Computer software and qualitative analysis: Trends,issues and resources

Developments during the 1990s in the use of computer software for qualitative data analysis are surveyed. Salient trends are identified as are wider issues associated with software use. Also listed are some of the resources now available to potential and actual users of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).     

Improving Tobacco-Free Advocacy on College Campuses: A Novel Strategy to Aid in the Understanding of Student Perceptions About Policy Proposals

Abstract

Objective: Tobacco-control policy proposals are usually met with opposition on college campuses. Research to understand students’ viewpoints about health-related policy proposals and messaging strategies, however, does not exist. This study investigated students’ perceptions about a smoke-free policy proposal to help understand their positions of support and opposition and to inform the development of effective messaging strategies. Participants: In January 2012, 1,266 undergraduate students from a midwestern university completed an online questionnaire about smoke-free campus policies. Methods: Responses were coded and analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software and chi-square, independent-samples t tests, and binary logistic models. Results: Most students who supported a smoke-free policy considered environmental or aesthetic conditions, whereas most opponents used personal freedom frames of thought. Supporters viewed smoking policies in personal terms, and opponents suggested means-ends policy reasoning. Conclusions: Taken together, points of reference and emotions about proposed policies provided insight about participants’ perspectives to help inform effective policy advocacy efforts.     

An Evaluation of Simulations in Developmental Disabilities (SIDD): Instructional Software that Provides Practice in Behavioral Assessment and Treatment Decisions

ABSTRACT

Simulations in Developmental Disabilities (SIDD) is a multimedia computer program designed to provide undergraduate psychology students with practice in making assessment and treatment decisions. Eighteen undergraduate psychology students participated in an experiment to test the instructional effectiveness of SIDD. Post-test scores were significantly higher in the experimental group who received training with SIDD than in a control group who did not receive training. The students also rated the software positively. Future strategies to further evaluate the software are discussed.     

Breaking from Big Brother

Summary

Small non-profit organizations have difficulty computerizing their operations. This article describes such a process of computerization and software development carried out over the past several years to computerize the community-based organizations which receive funds from the New York State Weatherization Assistance Program. The process was based in and run by the local agencies and was attuned to the needs of these local organizations. Guidelines arc suggested for keeping such a process decentralized, democratic and interactive.     

Human Services and the Information Economy

SUMMARY

This article discusses the impact of the information economy on human services. The major topics discussed include: the changing nature of work, the impact of the cost of adoption of technology by the human services, the changing expectations the public has for agency use of technology, the move to electronic record keeping and data management, the need for developing a data integrity management process, and the impact of the Internet and intranets on software development.     

LIFE CHOICES—The Program and Its Users

Summary

LIFE CHOICES Is a pioneering sociological software program which realistically simulates the life cycle in contemporary America. The player goes through life, making choices about school, work, family, finance, health and daily living. The result is a life scenario, consisting of a sequence of choices, realistic outcomes, choices, etc. LIFE CHOICES provides a realistic context for thinking through decisions which occur at every stage of life. This article describes LIFE CHOICES, its application within school, home and counseling settings, and the issues which were involved in its development and marketing.     

Playing with materiality: an agential-realist reading of SethBling's Super Mario World code-injection

ABSTRACT

This article takes inspiration from Youtuber and software developer ‘SethBling’ and his 2016 ‘code-injection’ (Bling, 2016), in which, using only a standard Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller and in-depth knowledge of the console, he ‘injected’ and executed the code of popular mobile game Flappy Bird (Nguyen, 2013) into a running instance of Super Mario World (Miyamoto, 1990), effectively transforming one game into another through play. Drawing from this I propose a performative understanding of videogames (and software in general) to reinvigorate discussions of software's materiality. Though it is possible to contrast Wendy Chun's (2008a) suggestion that one can view software as ‘vaporous’ against Friedrich Kittler's (1995) assertion that ‘there is no software’, I propose a more holistic approach. Academics and users alike should attempt to see software as living a double-life: as simultaneously solid as it is (metaphorically) gaseous. It then becomes possible to embrace software(s) as performative examples of the entangled ‘phenomena’, suggested by Barad (2007), that produce everyday reality through quantum activity. I explore SethBling's code-injection suggesting that actions clearly reveal software's double existence as both tangible ‘thing’, locatable on magnetic memory, and as a vaporous non-entity. Accepting these propositions together, software can be understood as continuously re-emerging through shared activities. Following Barad, I conclude that this quality is not unique to software, but software – and videogames above all – are a useful tool for understanding a vision of reality that favours activity over materiality as the basis of our existence.     

Scrutinizing an algorithmic technique: the Bayes classifier as interested reading of reality

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines the notion of ‘algorithmic technique’ as a middle ground between concrete, implemented algorithms and the broader study and theorization of software. Algorithmic techniques specify principles and methods for doing things in the medium of software and they thus constitute units of knowledge and expertise in the domain of software making. I suggest that algorithmic techniques are a suitable object of study for the humanities and social science since they capture the central technical principles behind actual software, but can generally be described in accessible language. To make my case, I focus on the field of information ordering and, first, discuss the wider historical trajectory of formal or ‘mechanical’ reasoning applied to matters of commerce and government before, second, moving to the investigation of a particular algorithmic technique, the Bayes classifier. This technique is explicated through a reading of the original work of M. E. Maron in the early 1960 and presented as a means to subject empirical, ‘datafied’ reality to an interested reading that confers meaning to each variable in relation to an operational goal. After a discussion of the Bayes classifier in relation to the question of power, the paper concludes by coming back to its initial motive and argues for increased attention to algorithmic techniques in the study of software.     

Online readiness assessment for Smoke- and Tobacco-free campus policies

ABSTRACT

Objective: Develop and test an online survey to assess campus readiness to adopt smoke- and tobacco-free (SF/TF) policies. Participants: Key informants (N = 18) at four campuses in Kentucky without a SF/TF policy recruited April 2015. Methods: Cross-sectional design. The survey assessed six dimensions: knowledge about SF/TF policies; leadership for campus policy; resources for policy development; campus climate surrounding tobacco issues; existing tobacco policies; and political climate for campus policy development. Dimension raw scores were rescaled to range from 0–1 and summed to determine overall stage of readiness (0–6). Results: Political climate was highest dimension across all campuses (0.83–1.0). Knowledge dimension ranked lowest (0.0–0.50). Overall readiness scores ranged from 2.53–3.94; two campuses in preplanning and two in preparation. Conclusions: Development of the online measure is timely considering the impetus to implement SF/TF policies. Findings reinforce that campuses are at varying stages of implementing these policies, and stage-based interventions are necessary.     

The relationship between financial strain,perceived stress,psychological symptoms,and academic and social integration in undergraduate students

ABSTRACT

Objective: Financial strain may directly or indirectly (i.e., through perceived stress) impact students’ psychological symptoms and academic and social integration, yet few studies have tested these relationships. The authors explored the mediating effect of perceived stress on the relationship between financial strain and 2 important outcomes: psychological symptomology and academic and social integration. Participants: Participants were 157 undergraduate students. Data were collected from December 2013 to March 2014. Methods: Cross-sectional data collection conducted using online survey software. Results: It was found that perceived stress mediated the relationship between financial strain and (a) psychological symptomology and (b) academic and social integration. Both models included first-generation status as a covariate. Conclusions: Results suggest that perceived stress is an important intervention target for reducing psychological symptoms and improving academic and social integration for undergraduate students. Implications for university health centers and mental health professionals include incorporating a public health model to minimize stress risk.     

AEDs at Your Fingertips: Automated External Defibrillators on College Campuses and a Novel Approach for Increasing Accessibility

Abstract. The use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) increases survival in cardiac arrest events. Due to the success of previous efforts and free, readily available mobile mapping software, the discussion is to emphasize the importance of the use of AEDs to prevent sudden cardiac arrest–related deaths on college campuses and abroad, while suggesting a novel approach to aiding in access and awareness issues. A user-friendly mobile application (a low-cost iOS map) was developed at Florida State University to decrease AED retrieval distance and time. The development of mobile AED maps is feasible for a variety of universities and other entities, with the potential to save lives. Just having AEDs installed is not enough—they need to be easily locatable. Society increasingly relies on phones to provide information, and there are opportunities to use mobile technology to locate and share information about relevant emergency devices; these should be incorporated into the chain of survival.     

The Adult Life Cycle of Poor African American Fathers

Abstract

This article is based on the qualitative findings of a 4-year study of 150 adult African American men who are non-custodial fathers. Using social constructionist and ecological frameworks, issues of individual, personality and family development are explored and implications for micro and macro social work practice are discussed.     

Interdisciplinary Practice in Developmental Disabilities

ABSTRACT

This article explores the development of interdisciplinary team practice within the field of development disabilities. Various interdisciplinary models are described, and the role of the social worker is specifically reviewed. As social workers practice as members of teams in a variety of contexts, a greater understanding of an interdisciplinary approach is warranted.     

Social Work Education and Direct Practice in the Computer Age

Abstract

This paper assesses the mission of social work education in the electronic information age. Educators must prepare students to use computers in practice, develop practice-relevant software, and protect and empower those who might be victimized by information technology. Issues and tasks associated with each of these areas are discussed in detail.     

Less Pain,More Gain

SUMMARY

Applied social statistics is typically one of the most dreaded courses in a social work program. Technological advances in computer applications offer tools to lessen the pain and increase the gains associated with teaching and learning statistics. This paper reports on a modest research project resulting in a computer-based approach to teaching Applied Social Statistics. This approach makes full use of MicroCase, a statistical software package. Results of evaluative efforts which appraised the computer technology-enhanced statistics course are presented. Course format, classroom procedures, workbook and homework assignments, evaluation tools, and teaching strategies are also suggested.     

The Personal Computer and the Small Social Agency

Abstract

Use of computers in everyday professional tasks by caseworkers is described. Eighteen front line workers, after two or three hours of training, created and manipulated data bases of client, service, and outcome data tailored to their own caseloads. The authors believe that adoption of computers for everyday tasks by front line workers depends on three elements: Specially designed software which is very user-friendly; conceptual framework as bridge between agency task and computer system; and agency look and feel to all screen displays, forms, and reporting formats. Workers did overcome fear of computers and did see how computers could be professionally useful. This approach seems worthy of examination and further development.