Exploring Community Building with an Awareness Display

In this paper, we present a field trial of a pervasive system called Panorama that is aimed at supporting social awareness in work environments. Panorama is an intelligent situated display in the staff room of an academic department. It artistically represents non-critical user generated content such as images from holidays, conferences and other social gatherings, as well as textual messages on its display. It also captures images and videos from different public spaces of the department and streams them onto the Panorama screen, using appropriate abstraction techniques. We studied the use of Panorama for two weeks and observed how Panorama affected staff members’ social awareness and community building. We report that Panorama simulated curiosity and learning, initiated new interactions and provided a mechanism for cherishing old memories

HUMAN AWARENESS TRAINING FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WORKERS

Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Vaccine implementation: Alaska 2017

Bacterial meningitis is a serious disease that causes permanent dysfunction or death; adolescents and young adults carry the greatest risk. The national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has released vaccine recommendations that include incorporation of meningitis vaccine in to the mandatory school vaccine schedule. Throughout the nation, much of legislative policy has made meningitis vaccination a requirement for public school attendance. Alaska does not have such policy; the purpose of the project was to address this policy need. A secondary project goal was to increase community awareness of bacterial meningitis. Project actions were divided into policy advocacy and community awareness. Policy advocacy included the development of a Policy Brief to Persuade designed for the Alaska legislative health care committee members. A legislative survey to assess willingness to incorporate a required meningitis vaccine schedule into existing Alaska vaccine policy was sent electronically with the policy brief. Community awareness interventions included the development of a Meningitis Education Bundle for healthcare professionals and a Protect Alaska’s Future campaign. The education bundle was distributed to local health establishments on Prince of Wales Island and the campaign information was distributed at the 2017 Prince of Wales Community Health Fair. Project outcomes demonstrated a lack of response to the policy survey. Efforts must continue over time with a deliberate plan to gain legislative support for the incorporation of a meningitis vaccination schedule into existing Alaska vaccine policy, as recommended by the ACIP. Community awareness activities at the health fair were successful and should continue

Knowledge about AIDS among medical students in Iran

Young people are among the high risk group who are susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases. Several educational programs are scheduled to raise awareness about risky behaviours and to decrease the rate of the HIV pandemic. This cross sectional study showed that in young medical students, the level of awareness about HIV/AIDS increased during the years of academic education (not significant) and that males have a higher level of awareness than females. Higher awareness is desirable in this group due to their key role in the community

e-Government awareness among the techno-disadvantaged in the United States

This exploratory research focuses on awareness among techno-disadvantaged citizens in the United States. Specifically, we address whether awareness is associated with visitation and whether there are differences between those who are aware and those who are not aware. Following up on on a theory-based community initiative designed to improve computer literacy and access to information and communication technologies (ICT) for members of an underserved public housing community, a survey was undertaken. The results indicate that awareness is associated with visitation. Differences in demographic characterisitics, perceived ease of use (PEOU), and perceived access barriers between those who are aware of e-government websites, and those who are not, were found. While nearly half of the respondents are neither aware of nor have visited e-government websites, a slight majority is partaking of e-government services. We identify directions for future research and conclude by emphasizing the value of a theory-based community initiative to improve computer literacy, provide access to ICT, and advance e-government inclusion

Fearless: Yaou Liu

Humbly and passionately serving the campus community as a true “servant leader” for the past three-and-a-half years, actively engaging in dialogues and initiatives to promote awareness about social injustices, and constantly striving to learn more, act more, and teach more, Yaou Liu ’14, is a fearless role model for the campus community, showing in everything she does a restless passion to see the injustices in the world righted, awareness increased, and the future changed for the better. She is an inspiring, courageous student who has enriched the lives of many both on campus and in the greater Gettysburg community, using her leadership skills to express what she believes, and lead others to understanding. Her time here at Gettysburg has changed her, but she, too, has changed Gettysburg. [excerpt

Sources of Cardiovascular Health Information and Channels of Health Communication Among Urban Population in Nigeria

This study employed mixed methods to investigate the preferred sources of health information and later explored the views of community healthcare workers on the enablers, barriers and ways of overcoming barriers to health communication. The study found that majority of the participants preferred their source of CV (cardiovascular) health information from the healthcare workers including the medical doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. On the other hand, the least preferred source of health information was from friends, family members, and community leaders. Some of the identified enablers to community health communication include awareness programme via Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations such as faith-based organisations and healthcare facilities. Others are traditional media and social media. The identified barriers to community-based health communication include lack of knowledge and poverty, language barriers, and other miscellaneous issues including misuse of internet, lack of basic amenities and religious beliefs. The community-based healthcare providers articulated ways to overcome the identified barriers, including enlightenment programmes, using the language of the target audience, funding health awareness programmes, and monitoring of health education interventions. This study concludes that dissemination of health information using numerous channels is essential in ensuring population-wide primary prevention of diseases

Awareness regarding eye donation among stakeholders in Srikakulam district in South India

Background There is a huge need for the availability of transplantable donor corneas worldwide to reduce the burden of corneal blindness due to corneal opacity. Voluntary eye donation depends on the awareness levels of various stakeholders in the community. This study aimed to assess the awareness level regarding eye donation among various stakeholders in Srikakulam district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Methods 355 subjects were selected from the district using multi stage random sampling. A pre tested semi structured questionnaire was used to collect information regarding each individual’s awareness, knowledge, and perception regarding eye donation. Each response was scored individually and a total score was calculated. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with willingness towards eye donation and increased awareness levels. Results Of the 355 subjects interviewed, 192 (54%) were male and 163 (46%) were female. The mean age of the stakeholders was 35.9 years (SD ±16.1) and all the study subjects were literate. Ninety-three percent of subjects were aware of the concept of eye donation. Knowledge levels were similar among the teaching community and persons engaged in social service, but lower among students (p < 0.05). Among the stakeholders, there was considerable ambiguity regarding whether persons currently wearing spectacles or suffering from a chronic illnesses could donate their eyes. Older age group (p < 0.001), female gender (p < 0.001) and education (p < 0.001) were associated with increased knowledge levels. 82% of the subjects were willing to donate their eyes and this was unaffected by gender or geographical location (rural vs urban). Conclusions Awareness levels and willingness to donate eyes are high among the stakeholders in Srikakulam district in India. The services of stakeholders could be utilized, in conjunction with other community based eye donation counselors, to promote awareness regarding eye donation among the general population

Civic Engagement and Service Learning Partnerships

Service learning is designed to promote volunteerism and civic awareness. Community engagement in higher education specifically involves university members partnering with local community organizations to address a need. Students engage with community partners through service learning and other activities (Moore & Mendez, 2014). Service learning is a practice that connects new knowledge and social responsibility through active learning (Benson & Younkin, 1996).https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/1083/thumbnail.jp