https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9418-3052
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ABSTRACT
In just a very short period of time, the digital revolution and new information and communication technologies have changed the media of learning, inter-professional relationships, and interactions between social work professionals and users. This study, pioneered in Europe, examines one of the least researched dimensions of e-social work: social work blogs in four countries of Southern Europe with long-standing socio-cultural ties (France, Italy, Portugal and Spain). This exploratory study seeks two aims. The first is to identify the scope of social work blogs, in the overall context of the Internet, using the Alexa and Majestic global analytical tools. The second is to determine through an online survey of social work bloggers (in these four countries) if there is a thematic virtual community in social work, what its characteristics are, and if the blogs are, or can become, new tools for professional socialisation. The results reveal some differences by countries and that although virtual networks are not yet widespread, an increasing number of social work practitioners have begun to collaborate in creating a shared professional culture.
RESUMEN
La revolución digital y las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación han modificado en muy poco tiempo los medios de aprendizaje, las relaciones interprofesionales y las interacciones profesional-usuario en el ámbito del trabajo social. Se presenta un estudio pionero en Europa, centrado en una de las dimensiones menos investigadas hasta ahora del E-Social Work: los blogs especializados en trabajo social, en cuatro países del sur de Europa con nexos socio-culturales de largo recorrido (España, Francia, Portugal e Italia). Se trata de un estudio exploratorio que pretende identificar el alcance de los blogs de trabajo social en el contexto global de Internet mediante la utilización de las herramientas analíticas globales Alexa y Majestic, y explorar con una encuesta online a bloggers de trabajo social en estos países, si existe una comunidad virtual temática en trabajo social, cuáles son sus características, y si los blogs son, o pueden llegar a ser, nuevas herramientas de socialización profesional. Los resultados muestran algunas diferencias por países y evidencian el hecho de que las redes virtuales de trabajo social son limitadas entre profesionales, aunque empiezan a colaborar en la creación de una cultura profesional compartida.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
María José Aguilar-Idañez, Full professor of Social Work and Social Services at the Department of Labour Law and Social Work, in Spain's Castilla-La Mancha University. PhD in Sociology and Political Sciences. Her many publications include several dozens of journal articles and book chapters in addition to twenty books and three documentary films. Her research interests include: methods of social intervention, intercultural and antiracist social work, gender and intersections of new technologies and social work. Director of GIEMIC Research Group and Director of Immigration and Interculturality Master.
Neus Caparrós-Civera, Professor and researcher in the Department of Social Work of the La Rioja University (Spain). PhD In Education. Degree in Sociology and Political Sciences and Degree in Social Work. Researcher at the UNESCO Chair, Democratic Citizenship and Cultural Freedom. She had participated in projects with HRBA and with socially disadvantaged groups. Also, her research includes methods of social intervention and new strategy of teaching-learning process. She has been working in multidisciplinary and inter-institutional teams. She has published in national and international peer review journals and books.
Sagrario Anaut-Bravo, Professor and researcher in the Department of Social Work of the Public University of Navarre (Spain). Vice director of the Department of Social Work, member of the Workforce Committee, member of the ALTER research group and director of the Master ‘Social Intervention with individuals, families and groups’. She has publications about social intervention and social services, disability, social gerontology, migration and history of social assistance.
Notes
1 According to the author, e-social work is practised in a techno-habitat where ICT skills predominate; it is rationalised and, therefore, highly proceduralised, predictable and quantifiable; it is mediated, directed and controlled by ICT; it is amenable and subject to surveillance and virtual control; transactions previously seen as the sole preserve of qualified social workers are now replicated, reproduced or replaced by ICT; the use of ICT facilitates e-social work practice by workers without conventional social work training; and the relationship with service users is exclusively mediated by electronic means (Coleman, Citation2011, pp. 230–231).
5 Site links refer to the number of links the blog site receives.
6 Less than 100,000 is the best result, less than 500,000 is a very good result and less than 1,000,000 is not a bad result.
7 The most frequent categories/menus of blog search engines are: technology, hobbies, shows, health, science, education, NGOs, government, marketing, software, human resources, business, motor, etc. As social work blogs can be included in several of the categories, it is very difficult to find social work themed blogs with any of these tools.
8 When comparing Reputation and Global Rank, the lists of best ranked blogs are not identical.