Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The scope of AAL Joint Program is defined as “cultivating the development of
innovative ICT-based products, services and systems for the process of ageing well at
home, in the community and at work, therefore improving the quality of life,
autonomy, the participation in social life, skills and the employability of elder people
and reducing the costs of health and social care”. This may be based e.g. on innovative
applications of ICT, new methods of customer interaction or new types of value chains
for independent living services. The resulting technologies could also be used by other
groups of people, e.g. people with disabilities.
From our view of AAL, we wish to present a more detailed and holistic view,
which is inspired by the NeAT project in the UK (especially by the presentation on
NeAT by Charles Lowe) (Lowe, 2008). The essence of this holistic approach is
presented in Table 1, which describes the top-level needs, the electronic support that
can accommodate these needs and the challenges that need to be tackled:
To allow for this possibility the following issues should be taken into account:
always-on broadband communication facilities;
•
unobtrusive easy recording, with access to the relevant data by all key
agencies involved (electronic records; problems: deficient standards, no single
integral approach);
•
•
supportive inter-disciplinary care teams (problems: technical interoperability,
organizational incompatibility, spread of responsibilities, accountability for
actions);
case-management software (problem: cross-organisational approach);
•
stable knowledge base and clear decision support for all caregivers
(professional and informal) as well as the client (reliable information,
algorithms and rules);
•
•
functions (e.g. coping with cognitive limitations, safety, disease management
or medication management), implemented by intelligent applications and
services that rely on specific types of sensors and actuators (in a generic view
interaction devices can be considered as sensors and actuators);
important issues such as configuration (static or dynamic), installation and
management;
•
decisions on issues such as level of control by users, security and privacy
management;
•
AAL should concentrate on applications and services and their integration in
order to present them in a user-centred way (to all users), using enabling
technologies that will be delivered by other programs.
•
T
able 1.
AAL Needs - Support - Challenges (Lowe 2008)
Electronic support can help a lot
in the form of:
To live independently I need:
But there are challenges:
a secure environment, peace of
mind
proactive environmental sensors
and assistive technology
currently too expensive,
reimbursement issues
monitoring of meals, dietary help,
Internet shopping
need for standards for smart
labelling and packaging
food and drink I like
