On an advanced ICT-enabled system for the social inclusion of the elderly

Abstract

Aging people are in risk of social isolation due to direct or indirect effects of ageing. Social isolation decreases the quality of life, affects health and acts against independent living, which is important for both the elderly and the society. Social networking can provide elderly a sense of presence with their "safety-net", that is, relatives, friends and healthcare personnel that counteract the effects ageing causes to their social connections. In this paper, the design of an advanced socially assistive networking system is presented which provides the elderly the opportunity to enforce their connectivity with their safety-net. Specifically, attention is given to the design of a core service platform managing all requests between elderly and their safety-net, and to the design of elderly home terminal as well as to the design of mobile and Web pervasive applications for the members of the safety-net. Moreover, a user-centered approach is presented for the design of the overall system where special emphasis is put on usability and HCI.