Issue 2 / 2012

Positive Technology Improves Health and Well-Beingandmuchmore...

T h e O f f i c i a l V o i c e o f i A C T o R

ISSN 2031 - 278

FEATURES:Manipulative Augmented Virtuality�for Modulating Human Perception and Action

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Positive Technology is Arrivingp 18

ASK THE EXPERT:Congresswoman Grace Napolitano

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COUNTRY FOCUS:New Zealand

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COVER STORY:

In his remarkablebook, A History ofKnowledge, CharlesVan Doren used adew drop on a leafto explain the dis-covery of the tele-scope and the mi-croscope. Since adew drop magni-

fies the leaf’s surface, this simple discov-ery is reflected in the invention of the mag-nifying glass. When similar convex lensesare placed on each end of a tube, distantobjects appear nearer and larger—the tel-escope is born. When a telescope is turnedaround to observe a microbe, the organ-ism appears far larger—microscope is in-vented. These two instruments made itpossible to observe what unaided eyes nev-er could before. The enhanced capacity tounderstand the world and oneself sparkedthe scientific revolution. At that time, onewould have assumed that modern medi-cine and the discovery of space would de-velop in tandem. Yet, we reached the moonmuch earlier than discovering our ownDNA and microbes.

The idea of positive technology impliesthat innovations can bear negative conse-quences. Nikola Tesla, inventor of radio andelectricity transmission and generation,stated that, “science is but a perversion ofitself unless it has as its ultimate goal thebetterment of humanity.” Any innovationcan be used for purposes other than whatthe inventor envisioned. A latest imagingtechnology that detects cancer in an un-born could also monitor our every movelike a Big Brother in a world that we gin-gerly cohabit with 19,000 nuclear war-heads.

Although technology alone may not guar-antee a brighter future, it can still helpequip the next generation to build a bet-ter world. Consider the example of a small

school in Wichita, Kansas, which was found-ed in 1912 for about 300 mostly African-American pupils and named after the fa-mous French Negro General of Haiti,Roussaint L'Ouverture. Following desegre-gation in the early 1970s, the school grewin size and diversity. In 1992, it becameL'Ouverture Computer Technology Mag-net Elementary School, with a computernetwork television station and telecom-munication connections. Technology wasupgraded in 2007 to provide a 2:1 student-to-computer ratio, a laptop for everyteacher and a projector and SMARTboardfor every classroom as well as digital andvideo cameras. Students began participat-ing in global collaboration projects throughthe use of a video conferencing PolycomUnit. Third-graders began designing andpublishing their own websites. They alsobegan teaching web skills to about sixtyadults and seniors every year.

Digital technologies can indeed provideopportunities that foster children’s creativ-ity and broaden young people’s horizons.Therapeutic innovations become neces-

sary when students suffer from maladiessuch as cyberbullying, which arises frominterconnectedness. Cybertherapy can bea student-friendly intervention that liftspsychological burdens by making restruc-turing possible. This positive innovation iseffective because virtual reality enchantsthe mind. Neuroscientists Leo Chalupa and

John Werner have found that eighteen dif-ferent areas of human brain process vision,far more than what is devoted to language.Screens and vivid optics now continuous-ly remake young people’s landscapes, ex-posing them to panoramas unseen before.Images, 3D and virtual reality have becomea part of their visual vocabulary. The fu-ture of positive technologies like cyberther-apy has never been brighter or more col-orful.

VCP for Children

The Internet, the Web, and the related com-puter and communication systems haveindeed profoundly changed the way wenow live and work. Meanwhile, our under-standing of discovery and innovation hasbeen deepened by research on creativity—a quintessential human attribute, whichalong with our ability to grow and applyaccumulated knowledge makes us thehighest-order species. These two tsunamisof change engulf the young, resulting in areinvention of childhood at the hands ofpositive technology and recognition of

childhood creativity as prevenient to in-vention, innovation, and discovery.

Consequently, the International Child ArtFoundation is developing a Virtual Creativ-ity Platform (VCP) to leverage the Internetto foster children’s creative development.Because the full promise of the digital rev-

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ACROSS THE POND: Benefits of Positive Technology

By Ashfaq M. Ishaq

“The International Child Art Foundation is devel-oping a Virtual Creativity Platform (VCP) to lever-age the Internet to foster children’s creative devel-opment. Because the full promise of the digitalrevolution lies in a worldwide creativity revolution,the VCP can become a good example of positivetechnology.”

exchange is great: it opens totally newscenarios in which technological de-velopment is directly linked to the ex-pression of the human potential. Inthis view technologies may becomenot only useful tools but also tools thatare able to activate and sustain the per-sonal change and improvement.

2) A general understanding of how in-teractive technology can be used totransform our personal experience ina tool for building new and enduringpersonal resources. In particular, a crit-ical goal will be to identify a series ofguidelines - describing how it is pos-sible to use technologies to influencethree specific features of our experi-ence - affective quality, actualization,and connectedness - that serve to pro-mote adaptive behaviors and positive

functioning (Technology Engagement).

3) Improved links and interaction be-tween patients and doctors facilitatingmore active participation of patientsin care processes. The project realizesa “continuum of care” where the inter-action between the patient and hisdoctor is not limited to the short am-bulatory visits or to the therapeuticsessions periodically done in a clinicalsetting. Moreover, Positive Technologywill motivate the patient to adapt hishabits, how to manage daily situationsat home, at work, interrelations withthe other people; above all, the sys-tem will empower the patient to man-age his own health..

4) Better quality of life. Positive Tech-nologies may improve the quality of

life of millions of people through:- The improvement of their treatmentand the prevention through accurateand engaging real time activities andfeedbacks;

- The increase of their reassurance andmotivation to a more active participa-tion in illness prevention and careprocesses.

[ ]Giuseppe Riva, Ph.D.Istituto Auxlogico ItalianoItaly

giuseppe.riva@unicatt.itauxo.psylab@auxologico.it

olution lies in a worldwide creativity rev-olution, the VCP can become a good ex-ample of positive technology. While themeasurement of creativity has its owncomplexities, what’s crystal clear is thatcreativity is not a zero-sum game, wherethe winner takes all; instead any spark ofcreativity can produce a virtuous cycle ofideation, invention, and collaborative in-novation. Enhancing creative capacities isthe defining challenge of the 21st centu-ry for individuals, organizations, commu-nities, and governments. A creative clus-ter can grow into a creative community,even a creative state or nation, and per-haps a creative global community. Joy PaulGuilford (1897-1987), a pioneer in creativ-

ity research, was among the first to envi-sion a worldwide creativity revolution andthe global community it would create. “Aworld population of creative solvers shouldbe more productive and happy as well asmore self-confident and more tolerantand, therefore, more peaceful,” he argued.Fostering a global creative community iswhat the VCP aims towards.

World Children’s Festival

Positive technologies like the Internet andthe Web offset the constraints imposedby time and space. Any festival takes placein a bounded physical location, like theWorld Children’s Festival (WCF) on the

National Mall in Washington, DC. Throughthe VCP this festival could become virtu-al as well, spawning co-creation activitiesbetween festival participants and VCPusers. Held every four years as theOlympics of children’s imagination andco-creation, the festival honors the win-ners of the Arts Olympiad—the world’slargest and most prestigious art and sportprogram for 8- to 12-year-olds. While theArts Olympiad introduces children to theArtist-Athlete Ideal℠ of the creative mindand healthy body—mens sana in corporesano, the World Children’s Festival hasbecome a global showcase for STEAMSEducation℠ which integrates the Arts(and culture) and Sport (and play) withSTEM disciplines for children’s holisticdevelopment. Promotion of STEAMS Ed-ucation℠ through the VCP could becomeanother good example of positive tech-nology.

[ ]Ashfaq M. Ishaq, Ph.D.Executive Chairman, InternationalChild Art FoundationWashington, DC

ishaq@icaf.org

35“Digital technologies can indeed provide oppor-tunities that foster children’s creativity and broad-en young people’s horizons. Therapeutic innova-tions become necessary when students suffer frommaladies such as cyberbullying, which arises frominterconnectedness. Cybertherapy can be a stu-dent-friendly intervention that lifts psychologicalburdens by making restructuring possible.”