ORIGINS

1. ORIGINS • ERC funded research on consequences of social networking sites and social media in seven countries. • Danny qualified by reason of crass insensitivity. • Kimberley experienced in systemic therapy and counselling brings the sensitivity. • 3 years fieldwork, only 50 interviews so far. Will research the whole age range, only quarter will be patients, also talk to staff.

2. ALL SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS • 3 aims, hospice to patient, between palliative care workers, and patient to patient’s social universe. • Tony Walters Sociology Bath. Bring in the community behind the patient. • BUT is there a community, or just politics? Should we privilege family? Let’s just see the entirety of social communication from visits to emails. • Some only know two in village, some want to downsized their connections.

3. ALL CHANGE • Technophobes to Skype. Why Facebook is devised for the elderly not the young. See D. Miller Tales from Facebook based in Trinidad • 90 year old with cookery stand. • Theory of Polymedia, see entire ecology of communications as package of possibilities. • Huge diversity of responses, many detest changes, but note utter ubiquity of phone. Too early to generalise. • But story of FB as `the good death’

4. THE FALSE PROBLEM OF LITIGATION • Many changes are blindingly obvious e.g. • Abolish the fax and letters, replace with emails. • Huge potential for webcam, texting etc • Better recording and sharing of info. • Wifi provision in institutions • Male volunteers help assist with IT • Problem of resistance from projected fear of litigation but no real change from phonecalls.

5. FROM TOP DOWN TO BOTTOM UP • Traditional research by experts creating videophone sold by Microsoft. • Anthropology traditionally anti-policy, just learning from informants. • All future research will immediately be out of date. • Instead envisage interested nursing staff reporting patient best practice directly to other nursing staff through websites.