


Stretching Stretch's brain


First of all a few bits that I've explained lots of times, if you want to read the full version talk me into typing it all again (beer will work).

Access Space Projects?

Music /Info Display

A machine / screensaver that displays what going on at the access space what is playing on the soundbox (to cover us on the Creative Commons licence (it comes with obligations too you know)). This can be achieved by finishing off a half written webpage that grabs info from various places or a set of scripts that run and generate images that a standard slideshow program can show (the slide show could also be run from the screen savers on some machines?) I'd be happier with the slideshow because it would be easier to get going and add features too over time and be less demanding whilst running on more screens increasing the chances of people seeing it. Scripts could be written in many languages and manual content could be added too. I'd love to work with others on how to build php scripts that draw images from captured data.

Showing funders what access space does

Taking pictures once a day to show what happens around the place (Hanna). using old web cams to do the same job.

using a combo of artists and coders to turn that into something that represents access-space (think time lapse pictures of the days activity rammed through random (or genetically modified) filters and the best looking days kept).

using coders and artists to create something out of the network activity that comes out of the space.

Advertising Spacers wiki

Jake asked me for some ideas.

we build (or pick up already built) something that sits either in the current website or in a dokuwiki rebuild of the main site widgets that could.

  1. Have a section of the front page that was a window (iframe) to a random (or preselected) spacers wiki page.
  2. have a section of the front page that used the first 100 words of a spacers page as a story. with a 'read more…' link.
  3. Have a section of the page which presents a random selection (or selection based on most actively edited or anything else we can get stats for) of spacers pages in a list.
  4. A ticker featuring the spacers wiki pages like LATEST: ticker

Knowledge sharing for life changes

Data protection act and the trend of the councils pushing social services out to charities with out enabling sharing of information between those groups. With no central worker or central control by the users of services it is not currently likely that a holistic view of say a street drinkers needs and interventions is taken by anyone, unless a worker at one of the charities goes outside of their remit and pushes things. I want to help build DPA compliant structures that let individuals and people working with them maximise the amount of time, spent dealing with issues not fighting to be the central point of contact for someone's case.

I think there is potential for a shareable data source that allow (or restrict depending on the clients wishes) a holistic view of everything that is being done to help by everybody including the client.

Eureka? (Latest thoughts 27/09/2008)

I was originally thinking that this would be some sort of federated database where a referral was sending a copy of a person and their case history data to someone else version of the same software and using clever use of SOAP or something to keep everything updated. (This is basically the version that uses salesforce which has other advantages as well but is closed code).

Then I thought about moving the database to the cloud so everyone one worked on the same data.

Now I'm wondering if at least at the moment I'm being too complex.

The need is for shared information that gives a holistic view of as much as possible of everything that is happening to a person that effects their life condition.

I'm thinking this is basically a 'web based log' (I use the full term cos that what I mean rather than the current use of the word blog) (not primarily written by the client themselves) of everything that is going on written by the people who are involved.

And this should be accessible and addable to by the user, any worker or service, or family or friends invited (probably giving access on an topic by topic basis if someone is dealing with issues to say with 'Coming Out' and issues to do with access to children at the same time the advisers they need would be different and the client may not want all of them to know all of it.

This came to me cos I woke up realising that is the not only the aggregation of needs that I've seen in my voluntary and advising jobs and conversations with people that work with street drinkers etc. but its also connected to needs I've had whilst try to work through my wife's illness and it's consequences.

  1. I got feed up of telling people the same story over and over again and thought I should blog it just to stop repeating myself (and I did blog about it sometimes) but long term I didn't feel comfortable blogging it cos your friendship group on LiveJournal etc. gets bigger than you'd like for this kind of thing.
  2. the professionals that I told it all too would never create an account on LJ just to look at your musings so they knew where you were at. (but I really thought about asking them).
  3. Social services often tell you to log any incident that occurs with them or the police so there is a record of the whole emerging picture available for professionals to see. However when you try to do this your either using up police time or if you try social services at midnight (because its fresh in your mind) unless someone is at immediate risk of harm they aren't interested, (at this point I'm thinking that this could do with a phone interface, call enter your number and a pin and leave a message that is added to the blog).
  4. Also writing recording and generally telling somebody/thing about what's happening is in its self calming and therapeutic ( and

I reckon that it you would need to be able to tag things as not generally visible to the client but they would have to agree to that as you start as it would effect the kinds of thing people would put on the entries. Obviously here their is some interaction with DPA and best practise and I don't know what you would have to do but allowing for the possibility of obscuring some entries (possibly making it so that a worker had to be informed when someone looked at their restricted comment) but that's my gut thought.

need to be able to have fields for NI etc. to ease referrals etc. and allow the saving of output formats for that data to fit with other peoples systems.

need rss feeds or emails alerts for individual workers so that if the address of a client is changed everyone is told but if there is an urgent crisis happening the system can be set to alert worker to every post.

Would have to be hosted by a trusted name with cast iron security (dreaming of Google or the Rowntree Foundation, that kind of thing but it most likely you would start small with a local or need specific trusted organisation to start).

Would have to have an api for other software to post things (specifically I'm thinking more general blogging software for less private but still relevant posts from Facebook and twitter, but also from organisations internal software to reduce duplication).

Document storage and possibly templates for paper referral forms could be good.

A knowledge base of processes, sources of help and best practise that could share the same topic tags. or just links to off site resources.

Thinking about this I see use in loads of areas.

  1. Substance dependence
  2. Social work type things like mine
  3. possibly of some use to therapists
  4. Employment Advise and Guidance (there are now schemes around Sheffield where at least 3 different groups deal with a client in there job search and progress towards work (and that's not including training organisations or the jobcentre) and that's just one scheme) linking out to cv-lifeline?
  5. Homelessness issues.

Anything where agencies and people work together to improve someone life situation could benefit from somewhere secure to log where they are at, where they are going and the stuff being done in between. The whole point is to represent a holistic approach and be viral once one branch of professionals started guiding people towards it others areas would follow.

What does anyone think to the name ?

Older Solution ideas

The DPA stuff could be done the SalesForce's platform but its propriety although free to use for charities. I'm beinging to think something more organic might do the job.

Also I think that something that can tap into twittering etc. as a form of self expression and mood / progress monitoring may be very good for some people.

Other Ideas / Problems wanted

Enabling technologies

Want to work on some related stuff to do with education and my sons cerebral palsy. have to admit I'm not sure what yet but I think it has to be communication / writing based.

stretch/start.txt · Last modified: 2008/09/27 07:37 by stretch
[unknown button type]