Abstract: Submission #67

Abstract For social workers, the acceptance of a technological "mindset" is more than a simple conversion. It is arguably a tension between humanitarian, practice and technical points of view. Social work is a profession clearly focused on human well-being, with a knowledge base that has been rationalised in technical terms. Countries such as Canada saw a strong rise in the relationship between social work practice and technology, as far back as the 1920s. Such countries have had time to consider and understand the epistemological and ethical implications of the technological perspective for the field of social work practice. The development of the modern social work profession was influenced by technological thought, where the nature of social work is influenced by its social context. The introduction of new technologies has changed the face of social work practice and education around the world. Social work interviews are known to be conducted either in person at the office, in the community or during home visits, and everything was documented in large, bulky files. It was unheard of to think of conducting an interview over the telephone. Professions focused upon human well-being are best defined by the term holistic technology. When the social work profession is organized as a holistic technology, the process is controlled by the social worker, who is involved with the process from beginning to end. Social work practice worldwide is integrated into welfare and government agencies, hospitals, correctional services, justice and education. This paper will cover human interaction in social work, Social work methods use human intervention, dynamic tensions of thought in using technology intervention and conclude with ethical dilemmas and considerations.