"MiSt" book cover

Just published: A New Approach to Mindfulness: Mindful Stories – MiSt

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Professor Simon Bell with his new publication. Mindful Stories: A Parable

This book provides a new and innovative approach to mindfulness using short stories. Written for individuals and for groups, the book encourages readers to examine their lives, past, present and future. The 100 stories, written in 25 quartets, ascend from the ‘Base Camp’ of self-awareness, through the various levels of the ‘Slope’, and the ‘Crest’, to the ‘Summit’ of a new personal and collective understandings.

Simon Bell. A New Approach to Mindfulness: Mindful Stories – MiSt. Cambridge Scholars, 2020. 

Mindfulness Through Fiction: A Parable is something of an introduction to MiSt. It is available to download as an e-book on Amazon. It contains 20 of the 100 stories in one single story. If you want to explore Mindful Stories, it might be a good idea to take a look at Parable first. 

‘Mindfulness through Fiction’ stories are now available as an e-book

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Mindfulness through Fiction: A Parable – e-book now Available on Amazon

Featuring the stories used in our Mindfulness Zoom classes.

Using fiction to explore mindful reflection. A best friend never met, a mysterious journey half begun, a solution unseen in the brightest light, a shadowy creation creating itself, these are some of the fictions used in Parable.
This novella is about the braiding of reality and fiction. It makes use of short stories containing subliminal prompts, arranged in quartets.
‘Mindfulness through Fiction: A Parable’ takes the reader on a journey of five contexts: Me, my world, my shared world, my group and finally; beyond me.
The prompts contained in the fictions are intended to act as means to nudge individuals and groups, lay readers and practitioners to consider their role, experience and ideas in the contexts of the five quartets.
The book helps us to find reflective space in our lives by means of fictions.

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Fake News, Paradigm of Fear & Sustainability

Fake News, Paradigm of Fear & Sustainability: Research Report on Climate Fear(s)

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Abstract:

News manipulation is now a much-discussed reality of 21st century media ethics. Daniel Khaneman has identified that people have a tendency to respond to complex issues in a problematic manner – often making use of instincts (System 1 or S1) in knee jerk responses when a more rational (Systems 2 or S2) approach might be more appropriate. Simply put, human beings have a flawed process for problem structuring. In research carried out between 2015-16 with people engaged in and concerned with climate change, a series of interviews were undertaken concerning public attitudes to fear as a major force in the climate change debate.The results have paved the way to describing a process – the “paradigm of fear,” whereby fear can be weaponised in order to promote knee jerk responses to complex issues. The results of the research were published in a book (Formations of Terror) and a comic (Project Fear)* but lasting questions remain to be addressed: Is fear weaponised by lobbyists in order to promote public response? If fear is weaponised to prompt populations to change, is such action ethical and responsible? Do climate change activists have a responsibility to orientate arguments to the rational and reflective rather than the instinctive and automatic? Describing the formations of terror as a device for fear management, this paper explores the ways in which fear can and is used by all sides in the climate change debate and raises questions about the ethics of social manipulation for even the best of causes.

Simon Bell, United Kingdom

Download the full report here

[Sen. Ed. Note: Bell prefers the title: “Fake News, Fear, Sustainability and the Paradigm of Fear: The Weaponization of Fear as a Lever for the Good?” ]

Much of this paper is drawn from and builds upon an earlier book. The fuller version of this paper is to be found in Bell, S. 2017. Formations of Terror. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars

*For more info: https://fearlessnessmovement.ning.com/blog/operation-project-fear-the-open-university-uk pp. 91-107

Routledge Handbook of Sustainability Indicators

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Description:

Routledge Handbook of Sustainability Indicators

Routledge Handbook of Sustainability Indicators

This handbook provides researchers and students with an overview of the field of sustainability indicators (SIs) as applied in the interdisciplinary field of sustainable development. The editors have sought to include views from the center ground of SI development but also divergent ideas which represent some of the diverse, challenging and even edgy observations which are prominent in the wider field of SI thinking.

Edited by: Simon Bell, Stephen Morse
© 2018 – Routledge

Available from: https://www.routledge.com

Health care for all: effective, community supported, healthcare with innovative use of telemedicine technology

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Abstract:

Almost half of the world’s total population reside in rural and remote areas and a large number of these people remain deprived of most basic facilities like healthcare and education. It is deemed impossible for government with scarce resources in developing countries to open and run a health facility in every remote community using conventional means. One increasingly popular unconventional mean is the use of existing technology to improve exchange of medical information for the purpose of improving health of underprivileged communities. Telemedicine implies the use of information and communication technology to provide health care remotely from a distance. With the induction of telemedicine, patients who live in rural and remote areas can have increased access to medical services. In many developing countries, use of telemedicine however has been limited mainly to teleconferencing between primary and secondary/tertiary care facilities for diagnosis and management of patients. This system still requires patients from remote communities to travel, often long and arduous journeys to the centre where telecom and medical facilities are available. Health Care 4 All International, a not for profit registered charity is providing primary care to patients by taking telemedicine into their homes in remote communities, thus obviating the need and hardships of travel for patient.

Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice Link

Tariq Kazim ShahEmail author, Tasneem Tariq, Roger Phillips, Steve Davison, Adam Hoare, Syed Shahzad Hasan and Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar, Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice201811:3

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40545-018-0130-5

Putting Social Science to Work

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Social Science Theory and Use Case Studies Organisations Britain Germany

Book: Putting Social Science to Work

The Ground between Theory and Use Explored through Case Studies in Organisations

In this book, Lisl Klein and Ken Eason look at the various issues involved when attempts are made to make use of the theories, methods and findings of the social sciences in practical affairs. They consider how human and social considerations may be successfully integrated with technical and economic ones in the design and development of organisations at work.

Their study is both empirical and theoretical. Its core is the examination of fourteen case studies from manufacturing and service organisations in Britain and Germany. The various projects were carried out by units within the organisations themselves, by university departments, commercial consultants and an independent research institute. Outside the field of organisations the the authors consider the background and strategies of a number of individual practitioners, and also an attempt at national level (in Germany) to make systematic use of research. Their study is informed by their own extensive experience as researchers and practitioners of social science.

The book concludes with a discussion of what contributes to successful practice. Its findings will be invaluable to all social scientists interested in the application of their disciplines as well as to potential clients in the world of business and industry.

Published in 1991 the book remains relevant to contemporary issues of social science utilisation in organisations. It recognises the challenges of the social science practitioner in engaging with varied and complex dynamics within organisations. Further, that the goal of behaviour change is not well served by “packaged” approaches but must begin with the current situation in action. The case studies resonate with current attempts to introduce technology into the workplace and the recognition that the social context of behaviour change plays a key role.

KLEIN, L. & EASON, K.D. (1991) Putting Social Science to Work. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Representing Socio-Technical Systems Options in the Development of New Forms of Work Organization

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Abstract:

It is widely accepted that effective implementation of new technology into work organizations needs an integrative approach in which developments in both technical and social systems are considered. Furthermore, success depends upon the effective participation of significant stakeholders in this process. This article reviews the methods available for this purpose and concludes that a particular weakness is the methods that can be used to generate and review socio-technical system opportunities early in the development process. Whilst methods exist to support stakeholder participation at this stage, they need to represent future socio-technical opportunities if they are to make an effective contribution. This article presents the ORDIT (Organizational Requirements Definition for Information Technology Systems) methodology, which uses responsibility modelling as a basis for constructing socio-technical systems opportunities. The application of telemedicine in health care is presented as a case study to demonstrate how this method can be used to construct and evaluate socio-technical scenarios.

Socio-technical Systems Work Organisational Development Information Technology

Publication at Taylor and Francis Online

Eason K.D. Harker S.D.P. and Olphert C.W. (1996) Representing Socio-Technical Systems Options in the Development of New Forms of Work Organization. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 5(3) 399-420

DOI Link

Before the Internet: The Relevance of Socio-technical Systems Theory to Emerging Forms of Virtual Organisation

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Abstract:

Virtual organisations, in which the technology mediates the interactions in the social system, are an emergent form of socio-technical system. This chapter reviews the concepts and techniques of the 50 years of socio-technical systems theory development that preceded the internet to examine their relevance for the study of the virtual organisation. It first examines the socio-technical system concept of work organisation in relation to the quality of working life and relates these issues to contemporary forms of virtual organisation. It then examines work organisations as open systems and explores the implications of task interdependencies for the delivery of operational work. It questions whether socio-technical concepts are appropriate for emergent forms of virtual social community and concludes that many socio-technical characteristics are also likely to be found in these forms of organisation. The chapter then examines the implications of a technology that mediates communications between people in the social system. It concludes with a plea that we go beyond the design of technical systems to support virtual organisations and, in the tradition of socio-technical systems research, concern ourselves with the joint design of the social and technical components of virtual organisations.

The Emergence Of Virtual Organisations

We may define virtual organisations as enterprises in which people engage in a collective mission remotely from one another through the medium of information and communication technologies. Some enterprises started as virtual organisations in order to exploit the capabilities offered by the internet, i.e. they have never existed as ‘bricks and mortar’ organisations where staff worked and customers visited. In the commercial world, Amazon and eBay are examples of such organisations and in the social networking world, FaceBook and Twitter have developed in a similar way. The majority of organisations, however, originally operated and offered their services from physical premises and may be on a journey to becoming progressively more virtual. Several authors have used maturity models to define the stages through which organisations tend to pass as they become more virtual.

 

Knowledge Development and Social Change through Technology

IGI Global Publication Link

EASON K.D. Before the Internet: The Relevance of Socio-technical Systems Theory to Emerging Forms of Virtual Organisation, International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development, April-June 1, 2 23-32

 

The National Health Service National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT): A Socio-technical Systems Perspective

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From the book ‘Integrating Healthcare with Information and Communication Technology’ addressing the National Programme for Information Technology in the NHS

The book ‘Integrating healthcare with information and communication technology’ presents a collection of essays that discusses a set of challenges that arise when attempts are made to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into health care services. By exploring the outcomes of the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) in the NHS in England the book attempts to learn from experience. It recognises that interoperable information systems are paramount for efficient integrated care, and contributions to explore ICT in the ongoing transformation processes towards seamless care should be of importance for the integrated care community.

The book consists of eleven chapters and the book is organised into three parts: Transforming Health Care Services using ICT, Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Global ICT Adoption and Implementation in Health Care. This national programme offered a wealth of learning about user-centred design, action research, understanding the intent of technology development and the impact of technology interoperability. The value of such learning is that by understanding where the approach was successful and not so successful future programmes could be better designed.

Information and Communications Technology National Programme for Information Technology NPfIT

Review in the International Journal of Integrated Care

Link to Amazon Listing

EASON K.D. The National Health Service National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT): A Socio-technical Systems Perspective. In Currie W. and Finnegan D. (eds) ‘Integrating healthcare with information and communications technology’ Radcliffe, Oxford 183-204

Socio-Technical Theory and Work Systems in the Information Age

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Book chapter entitled ‘Socio-technical theory and work systems in the information age’

This chapter of the book set the traditional focus of socio-technical systems theory on primary work systems in modern context where information and communication technology (ICT) has a major influence in the way work is undertaken. The chapter begins with a summary of the original work of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and critically reviews the major concepts to emerge from these studies. This is followed by a review of recent studies of the impact of ICT on work systems and how socio-technical systems are used to interpret these findings. Finally, concepts and methods of designing and implementing customisable and generic ICT systems in organisations. The authors call for a recognition and evaluation of socio-techcial systems as never completed but evolving over time; placing an emphasis on the emergent behaviour resulting from the use of new technical systems.

“Technology presumes there’s just one right way to do things and there never is.”

– Robert M. Pirsig

Socio-technical theory design networking systems

Google Books Link

EASON K. AND ABDELNOUR-NOCERA J. Socio-technical theory and work systems in the information age. In Whitworth B. and de Moor A. (eds) ‘Handbook of research on socio-technical design and social networking systems’ Information Science Reference, Hershey New York 65-77