Digital tools in my working field

I am working in Environmental Health field as an environmental health inspector. I am using the national information system (VATI), developed only for the environmental health field by Ruokavirasto and Valvira. That is used daily, but we also use sometimes the older tool (Tervekuu) for the same purpose, because all old data did not convert to the new system – but nowadays its mostly for checking some simple thing. Microsoft Teams is used also daily, to discuss with the colleagues and other work related people, group chats and sometimes for online meetings. Of course email and Whatsapp are used daily too. Microsoft Word and Excel are used for spesific report things every now and then.  Then there are some other services like Lupapiste which is used for giving a statements for the building control authority when they ask for it. In addition there is Tweb, which is used occasionally, it is for specific documents and archiving – things that go to the environment committee who deal with those things and make the decision about on the matter in question. Then there are some device specific digital tools/programs, like for the carbon dioxide meter, multifunctional meter and noise meter. Also different online services, like Valvira’s and Ruokavirasto’s extranets, tobacco register, service for water test results and feedback service of different cities, since we are workinging in multiple areas, are used every now and then.

New possible tools

I found a multiple interesting digital tools that could be used in our work. Here are five of them:

I chose Blogger for one tool to be used. I think most of the people does not know much about a work field of the Environmental Health. So i thought that a blog, would give more a down-to-earth approach to the job. That way people or at least our customers would get an interesting insight to the other side of the work. I have noticed that some people have a bias – mostly negative –  towards us and some are even afraid of us, so casual approach might help them get used to us; that we are not a distant authority – as some people think.

Second i chose Facebook. Some Environmental Health centres have their own Facebook-sites, we don’t. A lot of people are on Facebook and through that, certain announcements and news would reach people faster that way. Facebook page would be ”a more official” than a blog and would give people the information that is really needed and some kind of useful information strikes and newsflashes. I think Instagram would be a decent option for this purpose too, but i think the age demography would be a little different in Instagram.

Sometimes there are customers who don’t speak finnish or even english, just chinese for example, so DeepL translator would be useful. I think Google translator is useful too for the same job, and i have used it couple times. But with DeeplL, if necessary, it would be a possible to translate a longer articles and specific file types which would be quite helpful in some cases. For now, language selection for all different features is a bit limited in DeepL though.

Youtube would be perfect for some video instructions, like for how to take water samples and how inspections are done, so that situation would’t be that foreign for customers, when they see some overall examples of the inspection beforehand. Video tutorials on how to fill in certain forms and reports, would also be helpful for some people.

Every now and then we have projects. For project use, i would pick Trello. The projects are not that complex, so i think Trello would be a good option for our use. It is based on the Kanban method. Our team size, especially for projects, is small, so Trello would be handy tool. And if necessary, there are customizing possibilities available too, which makes it flexible enough.

In overall, the elements of of successful use of digital application demands that everyone in the team and working field is determined and willing to use the new application. There also must be enough education for the new application, so it is used as it is meant to; to be as effective as possible. From user point of view, the application must be an easy to use and its privacy settings must be appropriate – and every user must follow the security guidelines of the application.

Social media – The good and the bad

In my own working life i do not use the social media. But i have heard many times from my colleagues about it, considering our working field. The biggest problem is false information. There have been cases, when some customer have said wrong information, intentionally or not, in the Facebook and that started kinda snowball effect and most of the people there thought it was true. Also, in social media it is very easy to speak ill of people who are more or less in a public occupation or in customer service. Then, some people who do not even know what is going on, can hear only one side of the story – usually with limited facts. In my civilian life i do not use social media much either. For me, there are too much ”noise”, and just pointless things. But i have noticed that it is very addicting if you start to browse it; in the end it doesn’t make me feel good because i don’t see much value in it.

But there are definitely good things in social media too. In workwise people could find useful information and support. For example, there are some closed groups for professionals in their specific sectors, where they can share their thoughts and ask for help. Also, customers can get support from professionals but also help from other customers and get peer support and they can share their experiences. In civilian life, people can connect with people with same interests, find old classmates for example or get information of different events.

In general, social media in my opinion really is the double edged sword. It can bring so much joy but also bad feelings. Negatively social media can effect example to kids who might get bullied even home because of it, and to people who do not have a good media literacy, so they can be a victims of false news, misinformation and even scams. So, security and privacy must also be taken seriously in social media and not to trust people you don’t know.

Self evaluation

I have thought social media, private life and work life. For certain work fields social media is definitively important and useful. Especially for entrepreneurs and self-employed people, it is way to market their business, stay connected to the customers and to get visibility. In nowadays it is also good that different public services are there where the people is. But i think that especially for public services, there should always be the person of charge or social media ”corresponder”. Time management is important, it does not serve anybody if everyone is somewhat responsible for it.

Personally, i am quite unfamiliar with the new social media platforms. In personal life i am not really interested in the new social media apps; that of course have pros and cons, like mentioned earlier. Workwise i think Microsoft Teams is quite useful because it offers multiple important features and it has made communication to colleagues and online meetings easy for everyone, at least in our field. It was interesting to think some new tools for my job. I think all of those five which i mentioned, would give benefits to us and also our customers. But when it comes to the public sector, everything is often slow and you have to think about all the costs, which makes it really difficult – or impossible – to drive reforms, especially on your own. But i will keep those applications in my mind for the future use. One, which i have to mention, was Pi AI. I wasn’t heard of that one before, and even i didn’t find it really useful for my job, its voice generator really surprised me positively and it feels more creative and personal, compared to the ChatGPT for example.