Gifts in Psychotherapy: Practice Review and Recommendations

The presentation of gifts in psychotherapy, whether to or from the therapist, does not happen frequently, but its occurrence may nevertheless be quite provocative. This practice review summarizes theoretical and clinical perspectives regarding gifts in therapy, reviews the minimal extant literature on this topic, and offers recommendations for practice and research

Active Algorithms: Sociomaterial Spaces in the E-learning and Digital Cultures MOOC

This paper will explore two examples from the design, structure and implementation of the ‘E-learning and Digital Cultures’ Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Coursera. This five week long course (known as the EDCMOOC) was delivered twice in 2013, and is considered an atypical MOOC in its utilisation of both the Coursera platform and a range of social media and open access materials. The combination of distributed and aggregated structure will be highlighted, examining the arrangement of course material on the Coursera platform and student responses in social media. This paper will suggest that a dominant instrumentalist view of technology limits considerations of these systems to merely enabling or inhibiting educational aims. The subsequent discussion will suggest that sociomaterial theory offers a valuable framework for considering how educational spaces are produced through relational practices between humans and non-humans. An analysis of You Tube and a bespoke blog aggregator will show how the algorithmic properties of these systems perform functions that cannot be reduced to the intentionality of either the teachers using these systems, or the authors who create the software, thus constituting a complex sociomaterial educational enactment

The various and conflicting notions of information

There are identified within the discourse a number of notions regarding the term information. This paper sets out to explore these sometimes-conflicting notions of information. The reason why conflicting notions occur is the result of different perspectives and understanding of the term information. Within the discourse two camps are identified, firstly, those who identify information as a resource and those who identify information as a processual approach enacted by individuals. The former is not uncommon within the business environment given the relationship seen between information and technology; this view simplifies information as merely structured data. The latter approach requires the involvement of individuals or more succinctly human understanding and interpretation. By viewing information as a processual process enacted by humans one is identifying an alternative view of how information is created, managed, used and developed. The aim is to discuss both views to gain clarity and understanding in terms of why the various and conflicting notions of information impact on its use within organisations. What is highlighted within this paper is that information is a complex and ambiguous term. There is no easy ‘off-the shelf’ solution to managing information. One potentially successful approach is to view information from an epistemological perspective. This requires those having to deal with this complex and ambiguous term a starting point from which to build and gain both an individual and an organisational understanding in terms of the use of information. This allows individuals to set direction, decide where to focus their effort and ultimately how to gain some control over this vital and important issue of ‘information’