When you create a website, you think your hosting service will always be there. But Prodigy is very, very, old and so is going to disappear in a month or two. So I am busy moving the Social Work World website to a new hosting service... Yahoo! I think they will be around awhile.
Friday 25 February 2011
Thursday 17 February 2011
Social Work Articles - Jobs, Interviewing, Social Work Month and more
The Social Work World website has a host of topics for Social Workers, social work students and those interested in social issues. Find jobs, CEU information, resources for practice and much more!
Are you ready for Social Work Month?
Social Work World has always been the "go-to" place for Social Work Gifts and fun merchandise. We have designed Social Work themed art which can go on shirts, mugs, tiles, water bottles and so much more.
Also, visit our Social Work World site for a great article on how to Celebrate Social Work Month.
Also, visit our Social Work World site for a great article on how to Celebrate Social Work Month.
Friday 11 February 2011
The Internet is the Freelancer's Best Friend
Guest Post JC Ryan
Freelancing has always had its joys and its despairs. Writing articles that may not be accepted by newspapers and magazines or trying to capture that one photograph that will launch a career had often led to choosing between gas money and the next meal. With the advent of the Internet, however, freelancers have danced to a different, happier tune.
Not Just Local Anymore
Anyone with a modicum of computer skills, ability to compose and send a legible email, and to post a few ads online can find freelance work. Those with minimal skills can still earn pocket money, and those with superior skills, with diligence and diversity, can enjoy a reasonable income and still be their own bosses—definitely a perk to the independent-minded.
A freelancer can solicit work from not only local clients but from around the world. If foreign language fluency is required, there are freelancers who can complete that project or pass for another opportunity. Writers, photographers, web designers, and advertising specialists all find expanded opportunities that didn't exist just a few years ago. The nickname, the World-Wide Web, is a fitting one for dedicated freelancers.
Basic Business Concepts Still Apply
Because freelancers are running their own businesses, they must know at least basic business skills regardless of the creative or operational skills applied.
1. Advertising: The freelancer must know or learn quickly how, where, and how often to place effective sales copy—ads, white papers, or contract bids, for example—to introduce, reintroduce, and reinforce a public profile that can garner new business. A freelancer, just as a brick-and-mortar business owner, cannot rely on simple word of mouth. If the freelancer does not effectively advertise on more than one site, the business will never succeed. However, because the Internet offers easy solutions with a wider audience, even small advertisements can reap greater rewards than they had in the past.
2. Customer Service: Always paired with service, the freelancer must cultivate relationships with his or her customers—the clients. A one-off job today may lead to long-term work a month later, so long as the freelancer maintains professional and courteous relationships. Remembering the phrase, "the customer is always right" is a freelancing paradigm.
3. Portfolios: A freelancer without a portfolio is like a mechanic without tools. He can say he's fixed cars, but unless he can show a history of proficiency at it, the clients will be few and far between. However, freelance writers, for example, have dozens of freelance writing sites through which a portfolio might be built. Independent contractor status enables branching out to other venues while lending a platform of reliability and a foundation on which the freelancer can build a reputation. Document or photo storage sites pepper the Internet. Using one to store favored works enables a prospective client to view prior work, assess talent, and make a more informed contracting decision.
4. Resource Boxes: A free advertising tool for website owners, a freelancer with a website outlining services can find a resource box more effective than handing out business cards, because it contains a direct link back to the services website. Resource boxes allow free advertising in article submissions, blog posts, and even emails. Not using a resource box when one available is like walking uphill—it just gets harder and harder to reach the top as time goes on.
5. Social Networking: Businesses of all sizes are coming to realize the potential importance of social networking sites. The freelancer can also take full advantage of them to promote his or her business and gain greater public attention, just like the "big guys." If a freelancer already has a personal page on various networks, he or she should create a professional page as well. The personal page can link to the professional page as a friend or via tweet or by some other method—preferably all—and gain higher search engine attention than it would if starting with no back-links.
6. Terrestrial Promotions: Because the Internet is merely a mode of advertising, communication, and service performance, local advertising is still viable, and it can all revolve around the service website.
Summary
The dedicated freelancer easily finds the Internet a "best friend forever," and when maintaining proper attention and dedication, business is booming!
About the Author:
JC Ryan is a freelance writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers helps
people determine if an online education is right for them and helps them understand which online colleges and online courses they can choose from to reach their goals.
Freelancing has always had its joys and its despairs. Writing articles that may not be accepted by newspapers and magazines or trying to capture that one photograph that will launch a career had often led to choosing between gas money and the next meal. With the advent of the Internet, however, freelancers have danced to a different, happier tune.
Not Just Local Anymore
Anyone with a modicum of computer skills, ability to compose and send a legible email, and to post a few ads online can find freelance work. Those with minimal skills can still earn pocket money, and those with superior skills, with diligence and diversity, can enjoy a reasonable income and still be their own bosses—definitely a perk to the independent-minded.
A freelancer can solicit work from not only local clients but from around the world. If foreign language fluency is required, there are freelancers who can complete that project or pass for another opportunity. Writers, photographers, web designers, and advertising specialists all find expanded opportunities that didn't exist just a few years ago. The nickname, the World-Wide Web, is a fitting one for dedicated freelancers.
Basic Business Concepts Still Apply
Because freelancers are running their own businesses, they must know at least basic business skills regardless of the creative or operational skills applied.
1. Advertising: The freelancer must know or learn quickly how, where, and how often to place effective sales copy—ads, white papers, or contract bids, for example—to introduce, reintroduce, and reinforce a public profile that can garner new business. A freelancer, just as a brick-and-mortar business owner, cannot rely on simple word of mouth. If the freelancer does not effectively advertise on more than one site, the business will never succeed. However, because the Internet offers easy solutions with a wider audience, even small advertisements can reap greater rewards than they had in the past.
2. Customer Service: Always paired with service, the freelancer must cultivate relationships with his or her customers—the clients. A one-off job today may lead to long-term work a month later, so long as the freelancer maintains professional and courteous relationships. Remembering the phrase, "the customer is always right" is a freelancing paradigm.
3. Portfolios: A freelancer without a portfolio is like a mechanic without tools. He can say he's fixed cars, but unless he can show a history of proficiency at it, the clients will be few and far between. However, freelance writers, for example, have dozens of freelance writing sites through which a portfolio might be built. Independent contractor status enables branching out to other venues while lending a platform of reliability and a foundation on which the freelancer can build a reputation. Document or photo storage sites pepper the Internet. Using one to store favored works enables a prospective client to view prior work, assess talent, and make a more informed contracting decision.
4. Resource Boxes: A free advertising tool for website owners, a freelancer with a website outlining services can find a resource box more effective than handing out business cards, because it contains a direct link back to the services website. Resource boxes allow free advertising in article submissions, blog posts, and even emails. Not using a resource box when one available is like walking uphill—it just gets harder and harder to reach the top as time goes on.
5. Social Networking: Businesses of all sizes are coming to realize the potential importance of social networking sites. The freelancer can also take full advantage of them to promote his or her business and gain greater public attention, just like the "big guys." If a freelancer already has a personal page on various networks, he or she should create a professional page as well. The personal page can link to the professional page as a friend or via tweet or by some other method—preferably all—and gain higher search engine attention than it would if starting with no back-links.
6. Terrestrial Promotions: Because the Internet is merely a mode of advertising, communication, and service performance, local advertising is still viable, and it can all revolve around the service website.
Summary
The dedicated freelancer easily finds the Internet a "best friend forever," and when maintaining proper attention and dedication, business is booming!
About the Author:
JC Ryan is a freelance writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers helps
people determine if an online education is right for them and helps them understand which online colleges and online courses they can choose from to reach their goals.
Thursday 10 February 2011
They ask.... What is Social Work?
From time to time, I get e-mail asking me, "What is social work?" Of course it would be easy for anyone to Google the question or look it up on Wikipedia, but they ask me. Here is a great definition and resources from Social Work World's "Social Work Basics" page.
But, of course, I have my own take on the question. Social Work, for me, was a way to combine my interests in understanding people
But, of course, I have my own take on the question. Social Work, for me, was a way to combine my interests in understanding people
Sunday 6 February 2011
Social Science History Association call for papers
SSHA CALL FOR PAPERS
Macrohistorical Dynamics Network
36th Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association
Boston, Massachusetts 17-20 November 2011
Submission Deadline: 15 February 2011
"Generation to Generation"
We invite you to take part in Macrohistorical Dynamics (MHD) panels of the 36th annual meeting of the Social Science History Association, November 17-20, 2011 in Boston. For more information on the meeting as well as the call for proposals, please refer to the SSHA website:
The deadline for paper and/or panel submissions is February 15, 2011.
The members of the Social Science History Association share a common interest in interdisciplinary and systematic approaches to historical research.
The thematic topic of the 2011 annual meeting is “Generation to Generation” – a theme that works very well with the research interests of many of the scholars involved in the Macrohistorical Dynamics network.
Macrohistorical Dynamics (MHD) is an interdisciplinary social science research field that focuses on problems of large-scale, comparative historical inquiry. Contributors to the field have brought perspective on a wide variety of problem areas, including Eurasian comparisons; macro- and historical sociology; comparative histories; world history; world-system analysis; comparative study of civilizations; philosophy of history; and studies of long-term socio-ecological, technological, demographic, cultural, and political trends and transformations. The Macrohistorical Dynamics network brings a rigorous perspective to bear on questions having to do with “large” history.
Possible topics that illustrate some of the general themes of Macrohistorical Dynamics include …
- Comparative Methods in Macrohistory
- Eurasian comparisons
- Large-scale historical causes: climate, population, geography
- Cultural and National Identities in Large-scale Historical Change
- Theory in Macro-history: Are There Successful Macrosociological Theories?
- Macro-, Meso-, Micro- in Historical Explanations
- Empires and Peoples
- Globalization and World Cities
- Social Evolution and Systemic Transformations in World History
The list of MHD panel themes for 2011 is open, and we encourage you to submit proposals for paper topics or panel themes.
SSHA requests that submissions be made by means of its web conference management system. Paper title, brief abstract, and contact information should be submitted on the site www.ssha.org, where the general SSHA 2011 call for papers is also available. (If you haven’t used the system previously you will need to create an account, which is a very simple process.) Here is the direct link for submissions:
The online system is now accepting submissions. If you have any questions, please contact either of the MHD co-chairs (Peter Perdue, James Lee, Dan Little).
NOTE: There is an SSHA rule concerning book sessions. For a book session to proceed, the author (or at least one of multiple authors) MUST be present. Proposals for book sessions should only be submitted if there is high confidence that the author will be able to travel to Boston November 17-20, 2011.
Visit the SSHA Facebook site at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Science-History-Association/146259262094506?ref=ts&v=wall.
Feel free to contact the MHD network organizers for further information.
Prof. Peter Perdue
Department of History, Yale University
Prof. James Lee
School of Humanities and Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
jqljzl@gmail.com
Tuesday 1 February 2011
Jamie Greene Counselor for The Bachelor Show - Ethical or Not?
I've been watching The Bachelor and the role of the counselor/therapist/life coach, Jamie Greene intrigues me. With a MA in Marriage & Family Therapy, Jamie has gone through some of the coursework that social workers have been through but where do we learn about the ethics of promoting our business and the ethics of focusing on ourselves vs. on vulnerable populations?
As social workers we have
As social workers we have
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