Sustainability is a difficult term to define. Wikipedia states sustainability should be viewed as humanity’s target goal of human-ecosystem equilibrium (homeostasis), that is, satisfying present needs does not threaten meeting future needs. Today, most organizations claim the popular goal of sustainability. For example, Starbucks is eliminating an estimated 1 billion plastic straws per year worldwide. The only problem is that…
husITa18 in Dublin: An event to remember.
For the last decade husITa has organised a human service technology track within the international Social Work, Education and Social Development Conference. This conference within a conference format has worked incredibly well allowing delegates at the larger conference to drop in and out of the technology track. This year the event was held at the Royal Dublin Society in Ireland…
Winners of the Best Human Services App Idea Award 2018
husITa is delighted to announce the winners of the Best Human Services App Idea Award 2018. The award is designed to support an individual, group, or organization in the idea stage of developing an app that supports the mission of husITa, which is to promote the ethical and effective use of information technology to better serve humanity. Submissions were judged by…
The Golden Age of the Internet and social media is over
A little over three years ago I authored a blog post for husITa that detailed a study I conducted on New Media Literacies and Participatory Culture. In that post, and the study it was based on, I talked about the need for new media literacies, social and cultural competencies, and how increasing digital competence relies in part on developing these…
Call for papers from the upcoming husITa18 conference
Special Issue of the Journal of Technology in Human Services: Call for papers from the husITa18 conference Special Issue Editors Ann Lavan (University College Dublin) & Gloria Kirwan (Trinity College Dublin) The editors of this special edition of the Journal of Technology in Human Services, a Routledge/Taylor Francis publication, are seeking submissions from colleagues who presented papers at husITa18 held…
Social welfare benefits and technology
By Gareth Morgan, Vice-Chair of husITa. Almost exactly 30 years ago, the means tested benefit system in the UK underwent a massive change. In April 1988 the previous Supplementary Benefit and associated schemes changed overnight to one called Income Support with, again, other linked ‘income -related‘ schemes. I said overnight, and it was overnight, and it all went very…
Best Human Services App Idea 2018
husITa is proud to announce our 2018 competition for the award of Best Human Services App Idea. This award is designed to encourage and support the development of innovative ideas for effective human service applications. Our Best App Award is an annual event: in one year the award will be for the best human services app; the next for the…
Risk prediction tools in child welfare contexts: the devil in the detail
This is a guest blog post by Emily Keddell, Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Emily has published and blogged about the New Zealand government’s attempts to pilot predictive risk modelling in child protection services. She is a member of the Reimagining Social Work collective. Emily is happy to respond to any questions or comments on…
Announcing the husITa track at SWSD 2018 in Dublin
We are delighted to announce the husITa human service technology track at the Social Work, Education and Social Development 2018 Conference to be held in Dublin from the 4th to the 7th of July 2018. This important international conference is being organised on behalf of the International Federation of Social Workers, the International Association of Schools of Social Work and the…
Results of 2017 elections to husITa board
The husITa board approved the results of the 2017 husITa ballot, many thanks to the members of our mailing list who selected seven from a slate of ten excellent nominees.