Ultimately, the new and increasingly wonderful TiddlySpace version of TiddlyWiki, that builds on TiddlyWeb (described below), will be the place that hosts the treatment manual, and we hope to move the manuals there fairly soon.
Tiddlyspace is very exciting (no, really...!) Think of a group (us at the Anna Freud Centre) who offer up our core template of the AMBIT treatment manual. Our TiddlySpace will consist of Private space (where we, as a closed group, argue about the precise content and layout of the manual as it continues to mature) and Public space - all the bits of the manual that we have agreed we are happy to 'stand by' and to release as our best current effort.
Now, imagine another team - from, say, Tiddletown.
They train up in AMBIT, and start up their own TiddletownSpace . Because they are basically into AMBIT, or at least adapting it to their local needs, they opt to "include" the core AMBIT Space within their own Tiddletown Space - which means that all the public content within our original AMBIT Space is automatically included within their own space. They can then add any local implementation details, or indeed specific protocols that they believe better suit their population, but they interweave this material into the existing matrix of theory and practice that the original AMBIT core consists of, via links, tags, etc.
Of course the "inclusion" method that TiddlySpace adopts to help different groups/teams/"Spaces" to interact means that the AMBIT manual itself could conceivably be subdivided into more manageable chunks, that could separately be included within (or left out of) a local Space.
The most obvious example of this would be the part of the manual that, in a sense, is the most exciting, but which is also the hardest to implement, and that is the use of downloaded versions of the manual as integrated recording systems for separate young people. It is exciting because in our experience no complex treatment manual to date (except small ones that can be presented as physical "workbooks") has managed to get the worker to refer to it, or at least "be exposed to it" on a daily basis. If we are honest, most treatment manuals are tedious beyond belief, and are rarely read, and their capacity to truly influence practice is limited. If you are integrating your daily working notes within the manual, then (we argue) there is a much higher chance that you will "brush up" alongside manualized material and that your practice will be influenced by this contact. Especially if the material is not only dense text, but also comes in the form of quick film clip vignettes and role plays, demonstrating how to use specific techniques, etc.
To date none of the AMBIT teams around the UK (see TiddlyManuals) have yet really begun to use this in earnest, partly (I hope mainly) because of the continuing 'clunkiness' of the software, but partly because the concept is very alien. Anyway, to get back to TiddlySpace, all of these more explicitly 'interactive' aspects of the AMBIT manual could be in a separate "Space" that local teams could take, or leave, as they wish...
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Grants and goals
We are delighted that the AMBIT project (which heavily overlaps with the TiddlyManuals project described here) based at the Anna Freud Centre have just been awarded a generous grant from Comic Relief and from another private donor, which will allow us to place a considerable focus on development of the current AMBIT Manual so as to improve it - we hope very substantially.
The focus of the project for Comic Relief is to improve the access and reduce costs of quality training for workers on the front-line with "hard-to-reach" and complex youth (that's young people who have combinations of mental health problems, offending, substance use, and major vulnerabilities like family breakdown, abuse, etc - the most vulnerable youth one can imagine, really). One of the key vehicles for delivering this training and then supporting these workers to stay on track, is the online TiddlyManual. Increasingly we will be adding streaming video inserts - to model best practice - alongside the text entries that explain the theoretical underpinnings ("why we suggest doing it like that"), as well as didactic material, that might suit those who learn better by watching and listening rather than reading.
There will also be a big push to improve the user interface, which is still ropey, reflecting my beginner status as a web designer. Any practitioners using existing local versions of the manual (see TiddlyManuals) are reminded that it is their feedback that helps me see it afresh; only beginners retain that ability to see the "Emperor's new clothes" - when you spend too much time writing a wiki you start to rely on your memory rather than the signposting that most users rely upon.
Alongside this we will be working towards establishing a collaborative forum at the Anna Freud Centre, with some of the many non-statutory agencies working in this field. The purpose of this is really twofold: to share experiences and pool thoughts about the basic "skill set" that these workers need, and to share our experience of developing and delivering AMBIT in the field and our enthusiasm for the tiddlywiki approach to the manualization of treatment. At its core, what we like about the Tiddlymanual approach to treatment manualization it is the capacity to balance:
(a) the 'centralisation' and 'top-down' nature of sharing the most evidence-based aspects of practice with
(b) the radical devolution of manualizing to the level of the local team, so that a local version of the manual shares "our specific implementation of this way of working" alongside well-conducted measures of the outcomes for young people through working in this way, with these kids, and in this setting.
The focus of the project for Comic Relief is to improve the access and reduce costs of quality training for workers on the front-line with "hard-to-reach" and complex youth (that's young people who have combinations of mental health problems, offending, substance use, and major vulnerabilities like family breakdown, abuse, etc - the most vulnerable youth one can imagine, really). One of the key vehicles for delivering this training and then supporting these workers to stay on track, is the online TiddlyManual. Increasingly we will be adding streaming video inserts - to model best practice - alongside the text entries that explain the theoretical underpinnings ("why we suggest doing it like that"), as well as didactic material, that might suit those who learn better by watching and listening rather than reading.
There will also be a big push to improve the user interface, which is still ropey, reflecting my beginner status as a web designer. Any practitioners using existing local versions of the manual (see TiddlyManuals) are reminded that it is their feedback that helps me see it afresh; only beginners retain that ability to see the "Emperor's new clothes" - when you spend too much time writing a wiki you start to rely on your memory rather than the signposting that most users rely upon.
Alongside this we will be working towards establishing a collaborative forum at the Anna Freud Centre, with some of the many non-statutory agencies working in this field. The purpose of this is really twofold: to share experiences and pool thoughts about the basic "skill set" that these workers need, and to share our experience of developing and delivering AMBIT in the field and our enthusiasm for the tiddlywiki approach to the manualization of treatment. At its core, what we like about the Tiddlymanual approach to treatment manualization it is the capacity to balance:
(a) the 'centralisation' and 'top-down' nature of sharing the most evidence-based aspects of practice with
(b) the radical devolution of manualizing to the level of the local team, so that a local version of the manual shares "our specific implementation of this way of working" alongside well-conducted measures of the outcomes for young people through working in this way, with these kids, and in this setting.
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