The Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development

Dear all,

The Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development 
http://www.lyondeclaration.org/ was successfully launched at the World Library and Information Congress 2014 in Lyon. Since then, over 280 organisations from across the library and development community have signed the document and called upon United Nations Member States to incorporate access to information in the new post-2015 development framework. The Declaration has now been translated into 13 languages.

Following the release of the Open Working Group Outcome Document in July, IFLA is now waiting to see what UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will present to the UN General Assembly later this year in New York. The Secretary General is currently overseeing preparation of a ‘synthesis report’ that will bring together the outputs of various processes on the post-2015 development agenda and help UN Member States find a way forward in negotiations over the next twelve months. The synthesis report is expected to be released at the end of October/early November.

What are the next steps?

Once the synthesis report is issued it is crucial that policymakers in the capitals of UN Member States get to hear what libraries want to see in the new framework. As outlined in the Lyon Declaration, IFLA wants the United Nations to acknowledge that access to information, and the skills to use it effectively, are required for sustainable development, and to make sure that the framework’s goals, targets and means of implementation reflects this.

Your voice will be needed for us to achieve this goal.

IFLA is currently preparing an advocacy toolkit which will help library representatives to approach decision-makers in order to talk to them about the importance of access to information in development. IFLA wants to help its members and partners to take the opportunity to position themselves inside development debates in their home countries, so that their governments recognise the value libraries bring to development. Ultimately, libraries can benefit from being included in the national plans that will implement the new development agenda from January 1st, 2016.

The advocacy toolkit will be available in early October 2014.

What can you do to help?

• You can sign the Lyon Declaration and add your voice to the call at the United Nations.
• You can translate the Lyon Declaration into your language and share it with colleagues in your own country.
• You can encourage others in the library and development sectors to sign the Lyon Declaration.
• You can organise meetings with policy makers in your country and use the toolkit provided by IFLA in order to make the library voice heard on a national level.
• You can promote the principles of the Lyon Declaration throughout your network and ensure that the message gets spread as widely as possible.

The Lyon Declaration is available here.

Contact Julia.brungs AT ifla.org for more information on IFLA’s post-2015 activities.

Background

The Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development calls upon United Nations Member States to make an international commitment through the post-2015 development agenda to ensure that everyone has access to, and is able to understand, use and share the information that is necessary to promote sustainable development and democratic societies. It was prepared by IFLA and a number of strategic partners in the library and development communities.

Please also see the webversion.

Julia Brungs
Policy and Projects Officer
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
P.O. Box 95312
2509 CH The Hague
Netherlands
Email: Julia.brungs AT ifla.org

My source: HIFA2015

ERCIM News No. 98 Special theme: "Smart Cities"

ERCIM NEWS #98

Dear ERCIM News Reader,

ERCIM News No. 98 has just been published at:
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en98

Special Theme: "Smart Cities"
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en98/special/

featuring a keynote by Eberhard van der Laan, Mayor of Amsterdam
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en98/keynote-smart-cities

Guest editors:
- Ioannis Askoxylakis, ICS-FORTH, Greece
- Theo Tryfonas, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol, UK

This issue is also available for download as:
pdf:  http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/images/stories/EN98/EN98-web.pdf
epub: http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/images/stories/EN98/EN98.epub

Next issue: No. 99, October 2014 - Special Theme: "Quality Software"
(see Call at http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/call)

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News.
Feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.

Best regards,
Peter Kunz
ERCIM News central editor

Includes:
Urban Civics - Democratizing Urban Data for Healthy Smart Cities
CityLab@Inria - A Lab on Smart Cities fostering Environmental and Social Sustainability
‘U-Sense’, A Cooperative Sensing System for Monitoring Air Quality in Urban Areas 
---------------------------------
ERCIM News
is published quarterly by ERCIM, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics.
The printed edition will reach about 6000 readers.
This email alert reaches over 7500 subscribers.
-------------------------------------------------------
About ERCIM
ERCIM - the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics - aims to foster collaborative work within the European research community and to increase co-operation with European industry. Leading European research institutes are members of ERCIM. ERCIM is the European host of W3C.
http://www.ercim.eu/

Follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/ercim_news
and join the open ERCIM LinkedIn Group
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/ERCIM-81390

This May Hurt A Bit ...

individual
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

group

Here -	Here -
- Here (especially)	and Here...

and here - all around these care domains in the Spiritual domain.

New: Journal of Critical Anti-Oppressive Social Inquiry (CAOS)

CAOS 

is an interdisciplinary peer reviewed journal that publishes original articles/art work/poetry that foreground critical forms of social inquiry, research and practice.  

More...

Don't RAID on my Care Domains

individual

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

group

Assessment Person-centred, Holistic, Equality of Esteem in Care, Self-care, Literacies	Rapid Co-ordination, Speed, Synchronization, Length of Stay, Physical access, Systems
Discharge Communities of practice, Resources, After-care, Communications, Education	Interface Policy, Infrastructure, Integration, Choices, Liaison, E-records, Information Sharing

Additional links:

RAPID ASSESSMENT INTERFACE DISCHARGE (RAID) Prof George Tadros

With money in mind: The benefits of liaison psychiatry, MHN

Informatics in Primary Care - journal

Informatics in Primary Care Journal

On Wednesday I visited HC2014. Having the week off and with the event literally on the doorstep (London in 2015) it was very convenient.

I'd received an email the evening before on the new informatics federation and heard the official announcement in the opening session. My last HC event was 2005, my first 1986 also in Manchester if I remember correctly.

I posted the federation news this morning. On the BCS stand I picked up a copy of the INFORMATICS IN PRIMARY CARE.

This journal is open access. Despite the title and perhaps illustrative of the dependencies within and need to integrate health (and social care) the journal's coverage is broad and inclusive:

We are interested in how computerised medical records can better record the clinical status of patients and can be used to measure the quality, safety and efficiency of health care professionals and organisations – including primary care, hospital, mental health, and social and community care.  The scope of the journal also includes integrated care and how genetic data might be used to enhance health care.

I will reflect a little more on HC2014 soon.

Living with Practical Realities, 1978: Courtesy the Artist © Stephen Willats

Within Intermediate Support, Older Adults we are short-staffed at present. I was asked to work this Saturday - tomorrow - but was able to take Wednesday off. This helpfully coincided with a half-day event in Liverpool - Developing (research) proposals for Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB).

In the afternoon I took two hours (with reading to do also) at the Tate, this included:

Keywords: Art, Culture and Society in 1980s Britain

The exhibition included the three photographs displayed below by Stephen Willats. They are usually presented side-by-side. Since the 1970s and 80s the photographs made me wonder about social policy, social care, change and progress.

I was also prompted to recall a visit to a pensioner's club with my nan (maternal grandmother as we called her) in Liverpool in 1969-70.
[Clicking on the photos provides a more legible copy, or see collection link below ].

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

individual

	?

group - population

Image source:
Stephen Willats
Living with Practical Realities, 1978
Photographs
Letraset, gouache and ink on card
3 panels, each 109 x 76 cm

Collection: Tate London

Courtesy the Artist

© Stephen Willats

Book: The Last Asylum

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

individual

The Last Asylum	-sociology -medicine
medical- social-

group - population

Winwick Hospital remembered

Image source: Metro

Social Science Research Questions & Methodological Challenges in the 21st Century

ICOSS, University of Sheffield
219 Portobello, Sheffield, S1 4DP

www.shef.ac.uk/icoss

This seminar series will explore some of the key methodological challenges that the social sciences face in addressing research priorities in the 21st Century. Some of these areas involve continuity in topic and approach, whereas others involve new characteristics and aspects of social life.

The seminars will involve researchers discussing the kinds of research questions they are beginning to ask and looking at the methodological approaches and challenges that these questions pose. We will explore this in four seminars that relate to contemporary social issues, covering:

• Wellbeing and disadvantage
• Diversity and community
• Vulnerabilities and risks
• The relationship between social and digital worlds.

Following these four seminars, there will be a roundtable event, where there will be broad discussion about the methodological challenges and how the research community might address these.


Read more about the seminars.

Seminar dates:
• Tuesday 20 May 2014
• Monday 30 June 2014
• Wednesday 16 July 2014
• Wednesday 15 October 2014

Final roundtable event:
• Wednesday 26 November 2014

How to participate:
There are a number of ways in which you can participate in the series and join the conversation:
* All submissions will be subject to peer review.

1. Submit an abstract to present a 20-minute paper at one of the four seminars
We welcome abstracts for papers related to one of the 4 seminar themes. Based on ESRC priority areas, these themes are purposefully broad and papers may be based on work in progress, methodological or empirical issues you are currently grappling with as well as thoughts on future research potential and papers relating to completed projects. We welcome paper presentations from researchers of all career stages.

If you would like to present a paper please submit a title and abstract of no more than 250 words by completing the online abstract submission form(link)/by emailing your abstract to http://methodologicalchallenges.group.shef.ac.uk/ (please indicate which seminar you would like to present at and state whether you will be presenting in person or via weblink) three abstracts will be selected for each seminar.
The deadline for abstracts is 14^th April 2014.

2. Submit a written ‘think piece’ for dissemination on the seminar series’ website
We invite 400 word peer reviewed ‘think pieces’ for dissemination on the website. These could include (but are not limited to): reflections upon a particular research issue, experience or dilemma; thoughts or opinions on a particular issue affecting today’s research community; an annotated extract from your data or field diary. Think pieces may or may not relate to the themes of the seminars. Think pieces can be emailed to http://methodologicalchallenges.group.shef.ac.uk/ for peer review from 14^th April. Think pieces will be accepted throughout the duration of the series.

3. Submit a poster to be displayed on the accompanying website
We invite posters for dissemination on the website. Posters should be in PDF format… and could be based on a particular project, method, idea or experience. Posters may or may not relate to the themes of the 4 seminars. If you would like to submit a poster please submit an expression of interest using the abstract submission form http://methodologicalchallenges.group.shef.ac.uk/. Posters will be accepted throughout the duration of the series.

4. Attend a seminar and/or the roundtable event either in person or virtually
You are very welcome to attend the seminars and round table event and join in the discussion. You can do this in person by coming along to an event here in Sheffield or by joining us via web link. However you wish to attend, please register first by contacting Jayne Parkin, j.e.parkin AT sheffield.ac.uk.

If you wish to attend the seminar series in person, you can find directions to ICOSS here. If you would prefer to participate virtually, join us here at http://methodologicalchallenges.group.shef.ac.uk/ and submit your questions via Twitter, using the hashtag: #socmethods. You can also follow us at: @SocMethods

* This seminar series is funded by The Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield, with additional support and guidance from NatCen Learning.
* Seminar series organiser: Dr Bridgette Wessels.

Best wishes,

Jenny Smith
Marketing Officer
Department of Politics / Department of Sociological Studies
The University of Sheffield
Elmfield, Northumberland Road
Sheffield, S10 2TU.

ESRC PhD North West Doctoral Training Centre (NWDTC) CASE Studentships 2014: The spatial and social dynamics of public inclusion for people with dementia & Masters HI Sweden

The Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University offers an exciting opportunity for an ESRC funded +3 collaborative studentship for PhD research: The spatial and social dynamics of public inclusion for people with dementia

Suitably qualified candidates are invited to apply for this fully-funded three-year PhD CASE studentship which is a collaboration between the Centre for Ageing Research, at Lancaster University, and AgeUK Lancashire. The studentship covers full fees plus a Basic Maintenance Grant (£14,421 p.a.). The student will receive a small contribution for research costs.

The CASE studentship will draw on innovative participatory mixed methods to assess the impact of a range of dementia friendly community initiatives to explore how people with dementia experience social and spatial inclusion, across personal and public spaces. The research offers an opportunity to engage with important policy initiatives and how they impact upon people’s lives. The successful applicant will also benefit from the work placement opportunity within AgeUK Lancashire.

The studentship will be supervised by a team lead by Dr Katherine Froggatt and Professor Christine Milligan at Lancaster University and Mrs Diane Armstrong, Dementia Support Coordinator at AgeUK Lancashire.

Eligible candidates will be UK/EU honours graduate students with a good 2.1 from a recognised University, who show evidence of exceptional ability; they must have completed research methods training as part of an ESRC recognised Masters (or demonstrate research training to an equivalent standard) in a relevant health and social sciences discipline. Students who are currently undertaking a Masters degree (or equivalent) and are expecting to graduate during the 2013-14 academic session are also eligible to apply. Candidates should demonstrate a committed interest and experience in the field of dementia ageing research, preferably in community contexts.

Candidates must satisfy the ESRC's academic and residential eligibility requirements and be UK or EU citizens who have been resident in the UK for three years. Further information on eligibility can be downloaded from the ESRC web site:
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/esrccontent/postgradfunding/foindex.asp

For further information contact Dr Katherine Froggatt: k.froggatt AT lancaster.ac.uk

To apply please submit the following documents electronically, by 5.00pm Thursday February 13th 2014, to Dr Katherine Froggatt: k.froggatt AT lancaster.ac.uk with ‘ESRC CASE studentship’ in the subject line:

• An up-to-date CV: including two named referees (one of whom should be your most recent academic tutor/supervisor); the applicant will be expected to have approached their referees to arrange for references (including anticipated grade if Masters is ongoing) in advance of shortlisting.
• A letter of application (not exceeding 2 pages) outlining your suitability for the CASE studentship and how you would anticipate approaching the research.
• A copy of your first degree and Master’s degree transcripts.

Shortlisted candidates should be available for interview on February 21^st 2014

PLUS from LinkedIn

On 01/06/14 1:53 PM, Sabine Koch wrote:
--------------------
In case you know somebody interested in advanced studies in HI please forward this message.
Thanks,
Sabine
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interested in a two year Master Programme in health informatics at Karolinska Institutet/Stockholm University in Sweden?

Apply online latest January 15th at universityadmissions.se

https://www.universityadmissions.se/intl/search?period=HT_2014&publishers=ki&freeText=Joint+Master%27s+Programme+in+Health+Informatics&courseProgram=programs&level=advanced 

Recent Advances in Research on Housing Transitions and the Life Course - a one-day symposium

Meeting of the Royal Statistical Society Social Statistics section.
DATE: Tuesday 10 December 2013
TIME: 10am-5pm (followed by a drinks reception)
LOCATION: Royal Statistical Society, 12 Errol Street, London EC1Y 8LX

We are pleased to announce a one-day symposium on recent developments in research on housing transitions through the life course.  The event will feature presentations from leading international demographers, geographers and economists on different aspects of housing careers. Topics include:

• the interrelationship between housing and fertility: childbearing patterns by housing conditions and housing changes after the birth of a child
• wage, employment and house-price effects on migration
• intergenerational transmission of home ownership and neighbourhood poverty
• residential mobility, neighbourhood poverty dynamics and neighbourhood choice among families

The symposium is sponsored by the ESRC-funded project “Interrelationships between housing transitions and fertility” (see http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/research/housing for further details). 

SPEAKERS:
William A.V. Clark (University of California, Los Angeles) Clara Mulder (University of Groningen), Heather Joshi (Institute of Education) Hill Kulu (University of Liverpool) David Manley (University of Bristol) Birgitta Rabe (University of Essex) Elizabeth Washbrook (University of Bristol)

A programme and abstracts are at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/research/housing/symposium/index.html

REGISTRATION AND QUERIES: All are welcome and attendance is free.  Refreshments will be provided, including lunch and a drinks reception.  However, advance registration is essential.  Please complete the online registration form at http://www.cmm.bris.ac.uk/clients/booking/91/ to reserve your place.

[ I mentioned to the organisers about the ongoing transitions I have posted about before; that of older adults moving house (home) often in response to a bereavement to be nearer other family members. This is not the symposium's focus, but remains a question in terms of the potential impact on the individuals concerned and health and social services. pj ]

Infostandards.org: HSCIC supports the information standards community

Dear Peter,

You may have seen the publicity this week regarding the launch of a new website, www.infostandards.org, developed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, working with the Department of Health, NHS England and other commissioning partners.

Infostandsards.org has been developed to support information standards professionals across health and social care. The site provides a single place where all information standards can be located, along with valuable supporting material, such as e-learning, implementation guidance and case studies. It also enables users of the site to become active participants in the development and appraisal of standards, by providing the means to share material, draw on each others’ experiences and engage in discussions about existing and potential future standards.

TRUD is pleased to support this new venture and recognises the importance of engaging with information standards professionals across health and social care. The site provides a single place where all information standards can be accessed, along with valuable supporting materials, such as e-learning, implementation guidance and case studies. It also enables users of the site to share material, draw on each other’s experiences and engage in discussions about existing and potential future standards, collections and extractions.

The site’s scope and design will evolve continually to meet the needs and preferences of the community, so we encourage you to become active users and help shape its future development. It is the intention that the site will be an integral part of the assurance process for information standards and collections, details of which will be made available on the site in due course.

Dr Ken Lunn, Director of Information Standards Delivery, said:

"We have supported the creation of the infostandards.org website because openness and increased engagement with end users can only improve the development, delivery and adoption of effective information standards. Standards are essential to the delivery of improved, digitally enabled health and care services and by collaborating with the wider community we can tackle together the challenges we all face. I look forward to seeing how the site will be used by the community."

In support of implementation of the NHS dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) the Pharmacy Terminology team are currently updating some of the dm+d implementation guidance. Following feedback from the community a starter guide to dm+d providing an overview of dm+d, an explanation of the Standard, how it relates to the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension and some fundamentals on content, structure and the release itself has been drafted and is available for comment on infostandards.org.

http://www.infostandards.org/topic/prescribing/dmd-draft-user-guide-available-for-review

The guidance is not currently ready for formal consultation but we would value your input at this juncture to see if the contents are useful and useable.

Questions about www.infostandards.org can be sent to info.standards AT hscic.gov.uk and via twitter where you can follow us @infostandards

Regards

The TRUD support team
Health and Social Care Information Centre

Drupalcon Prague: sessions, missed ops, leaflets and old contacts - renewed

The structure of Drupalcons provide a range of sources for learning, networking and information. The main sessions are the most obvious source, plus there are many vendors providing and marketing various services from development, hosting to specialist services. Less formal there are the Birds of a Feather BoFs, core conversations. I did not get to any BoFs, it is always difficult when these things run concurrently.

I'll list here some things that stood out from leaflets left on the coffee tables to BoFs that clashed (I've revisited the program). First up is a BoF that points to a useful bundled project:

Creating Graphs and Maps with SearchAPI

BoFs, being informal are quite dynamic so the lesson for me is to check the program for additions and things you may have missed. I missed a BoF on e-learning in Drupal, the Quiz and related modules - H5P that I posted about last May. Gutted for sure, as I can envisage how I could use these tools beyond the old HTML multiple choice form.

The above BoF included a demo of Opigno an LMS - learning management system.

As to companies, the Semantic Web Company offers Drupal services. This lead was a flyer I picked up on the last day and another prompt to revisit Neologism a Drupal project I came across in Drupalcon Szeged, Hungary in 2008 and posted about. The introductory text from the DERI Neologism website reads:

Neologism is a vocabulary publishing platform for the Web of Data, with a focus on ease of use and compatibility with Linked Data principles. Neologism is free and Open Source.
With Neologism, you can create RDF classes and properties, which are needed to publish on the Web of Data. Neologism makes creating and publishing vocabularies easy and fast. It supports the RDFS standard, and a part of OWL.

Among a great many people, I met Alan Burke in Szeged back in '08 and he re-introduced himself this week in Prague. He is now full-time dedicated to Drupal and was pleased to learn that as an 'enthusiast' I am still engaged. I qualified this - with a website still to do; but yes, I'm very much still on-board. I really appreciate Alan's coming over during the break and hearing of his progress and that of his colleagues.

Scalability is a common discussion in software. Scale is an issue for new businesses also. One of the sessions in Prague (several probably) drew attention to the complexity of the 'Drupal stack'. Is it possible for an end-user to fully master it? In our quick chat it became apparent that this was partly why Alan was pleased to learn that I am still climbing the curve. Scalability can be a problem for individuals too, as in making sense of the commercial offerings, whether semantic services or hosting.

There was a BoF on data visualization too - but again I was elsewhere. Dataseed sounds an interesting fusion. I also followed sessions on creating multilingual sites, Drupal 8, Symfony, plus Twig the new templating system for Drupal 8. All in all it was a great event with some sight seeing last Monday. The greatest source though is the community!

50 years "I have a dream..."

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

individual

"I have a dream!"	Do things and science and technology have to dictate humanity's dreams?
We have a dream...	A man had a dream...

group - population

Living in the Memory Room: BBC Radio 4

Some people have no choice - they must become time travellers ....

There are 800,000 dementia sufferers in the UK. Kim Normanton presents a personal programme about memory and dementia, inspired by her mother's illness. She explores a new approach to treatment - recreating the past.

As her mother's memory of recent events was destroyed ... more

Individual - Group: Axes & Histories

What are the dimensions of the axes that make up the structure of Hodges' model?

Can the individual see the group - the global population - beyond the fresh air in their pocket?

In not seeing the individual, as the global corpus shouts about: "choice", "economic growth", "freedom", "human rights", "democracy", "justice" ... do they see the big picture amid the political smog, the corporate dust storm?

One form human society has so far not generally taken is global. There is still virtually no shared consciousness globally of common struggles or common achievements. Enormous groups - the poor in the Global South for instance - have no sense of forming a single community; in an earlier age, the experience of being subjected to European colonial force failed to create a common anti-colonial front. Even today's most urgent global issues tend to be tackled regionally or nationally: the history of global warming or organised crime is a history of multiple actors, as often as not talking at cross-purposes. p.8.

Prof. Mark Mazower, All together now, FT Weekend, March 9 - 10, 2013, p. 8. Reviewing The Undivided Past: History Beyond Our Differences, by David Cannadine, Allen Lane. 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/edb5b2ea-84d3-11e2-891d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2OXNCQ1xD
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1793262-8d6f-11e2-82d2-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2OXNCQ1xD

Inaugural issue open-access journal: Global Health - Science and Practice

Dear HIFA members,

The inaugural issue of the open-access journal Global Health: Science and Practice, is now available here:
http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/current

Below are extracts from the editorials:

'USAID and the Schools of Public Health at JHU and GWU welcome you to the inaugural issue of GHSP­an open-access, peer-reviewed journal for the global health community, particularly program implementers, to contribute to and benefit from a dialogue based on science and practical programmatic experience...'
'We foresee that public health practitioners, university colleagues, donors, and other development partners will be able to contribute to and benefit from a dialogue based on science and experience of what works for field programs.... GHSP will take a multidisciplinary approach to the science and practice of global health... We look forward to your engagement and feedback.'

Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Michael Klag, Lynn Goldman
Glob Health Sci Pract 2013;1(1):1-2
http://dx.doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-13-00012

'Formal research definitely helps. But it is not enough. We also need programmatic know-how, including experience-based knowledge and 'lessons learned.'.

James D Shelton, Ronald J Waldman
Glob Health Sci Pract 2013;1(1):3-4
http://dx.doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-13-00001

Best wishes,
Neil

My source: HIFA2015

Manet & the art of nursing - never unresolved: (and The Francis report)

Yesterday I travelled to London for a nurse related meeting and used the opportunity from 8pm - 11pm to take in the Manet exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. Brilliant! It is a great event. There really is no comparison apart from the very high resolution close examination that our technology makes possible; but then that is a difference experience, a different purpose.

Manet's work at the RA includes paintings that do appear unfinished. Areas of the canvas being unresolved brings home the relationship and dependency of the artist with the subject, and the artist's approach to portraiture. Manet was quite demanding on his subjects apparently and while not completely averse, he did not routinely rely on the new opportunities that photography afforded. Here are some thoughts from the Art Fund website:

'Summer' or 'The Amazon', by Edouard Manet

Manet was a great risk-taker and critics of day rallied against his inconsistent approach, as you will see many of the works seem 'unresolved' or 'unfinished' but one of Manet's great skills was this ability to stop painting at the right moment, and it is this technique which gives the works a sense of movement and life.

Manet once said to his friend Antonin Proust, 'I must be seen whole. Don't let me go piecemeal into the public collections; I would not be fairly judged.' This exhibition, which brings together the largest selection of works by the artist to be exhibited together in a UK museum, is a great opportunity to judge Manet's extraordinary talent as a 'whole'.

In nursing we are accustomed to impatient patients. Many though have no choice but to 'sit' and 'lie'. They are static, not able to walk or run away.

Unconscious patients - we speak to them: redrawing the outlines. Searching verbally where we cannot go, reaching for the centers of personhood. We sculpt them back to their optimal health. Sometimes the brush strokes are urgent, sometimes we improvise with touch.

All the time an ideal: a portrait of care. No matter how busy we are basic nursing care should never remain unresolved.

That part of the canvas is always completed. The outline is integrated. The horizon, foreground, middle and background may be sketchy in the extreme cases, but the real mission critical bases are covered.

What we should never countenance, collude, or indirectly sanction are the cutting of those bases.

If we do the work of art is not just unfinished: it is corrupt.

The Francis Report

Anagram graphic c/o Wordsmith

Manet's 'The Amazon' from: Reproarte.com

My coat, Your coat, the Community cloakroom

'Untitled' 2012 (coats, wire, screws), by Jannis Kounellis

"Such wall-mounted three-dimensional pieces seem to me to talk the language of painting rather than sculpture. So does a massive, poignantly flopping black cross created from several navy coats tied together with wire and screws, hung against a wall. Each coat is a human measure, a stand-in for a human presence." p.20.

Wullschlager, J. (2012) Arts: Beauty in a burlap sack, Financial Times, 8-9 December. p. 20.




Bunzl, J. (2001) writes:

"Expressed in terms of a community-building process, we could thus identify the entity of the nation state as representing the equivalent of the individual person: the prime agent through which community or chaos in the world will ultimately be determined." p.20.

Additional link:
Parasol unit (Jannis Kounellis exhibition)

Bunzl, J. (2001) The Simultaneous Policy – An Insider’s Guide to Saving Humanity and the Planet. New European Publications.
Image source:
Wullschlager, J. (2012) Arts: Beauty in a burlap sack, Financial Times, 8-9 December. p. 20.

Self-care: The Long Answer (Ack. HSJ)

Here is another item from the HSJ:

"There is often a Berlin Wall between formal and informal caring environments both in the NHS and in social care," he says [Alex Fox, Shared Lives Plus]. He argues that patient care needs to be de-institutionalised.
"If we are going to get anything from all the effort and heartache that has gone in to the NHS reforms, CCGs need to take a holistic view of a person, like good GPs do, and understand that a range of factors go in to someone's health and wellbeing and it is finding models that fit personalised and self-care."

Helen Mooney, (2012). The Long Answer, Health Service Journal supplement (Long term conditions). 28 June. p.1.

Staying with the vertical axis of Hodges' model there is something beyond the delineation of INDIVIDUAL and GROUP (POPULATION) that this axis performs. It bisects the horizon of external reality that is frequently differentiated into what is HUMANISTIC and what is often described as MECHANISTIC. If not these terms then the humanities and the sciences.

From a mental health perspective and taking the above reference to 'institution' literally we can reflect upon how the Victorians sought to standardise provision of care for the mentally ill with the asylums. This was a scientific and political solution to an interpersonal and social problem. Institutions continue to be disempowering, in physical and psychological care. In a way this Victorian solution is still ongoing. On the journey from institution, to community, to home, to self... there is still a long way to go.

The system created to the mechanistic right within the model was custodial. As far as society was concerned the people there were forgotten. A community within a community was re-created. The person, the individual was lost and we are still trying to find them. Progress has been made and can be mapped across Hodges' model. As one example how has the student nurse's learning experience changed over the decades?

That INDIVIDUAL-GROUP axis, the red line in the figure is the Berlin Wall that we are still trying to tear down.

There is another view on this which I'll save for the future.