Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
and costs. People who stay at home can look up meals in the database and can
order the food they want. The restaurants receive the requests in real time and
deliver the dishes direct to the users' home as soon as possible. Moreover, the
information related to the foods supplied can be consulted by the families of
the subjects and their doctors: in this way, the diet of each person is constantly
monitored and modified as necessary.
Cooking service: before cooking a person needs the ingredients, ideally only
ones that fit within the diet of the patient. This means checking ingredients,
their amount allowed for the meal in relation to the food consumed during the
day. This could also be linked to a shopping service to order ingredients. The
use of technologies and sensors can support the cooking. Smart cookers, lids
and pots and pans, with sensors, can control the cooking and baking parts of
meals and, when necessary, alert the user to potentially dangerous conditions
(e.g. foods burning, the flames on cookers needing to be extinguished, the
cooker being switched on but with no pan on it, an inadequate quantity of
water).
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2.6.3.
Social interaction and communication
Social interaction and communication are two elements that strongly influence the
quality of life perceived by subjects. Everyone is entitled to enjoy interacting with
other people and in taking part in the social activities of a community. Technological
applications can help people with physical and/or cognitive problems to communicate
and to socialize with others. Advanced vision, haptic feedbacks and virtual reality are
valid starting points in developing new technological solutions that aim at facilitating
and increasing the quality of social tasks for people who are not self-sufficient.
Services to help communication and social interaction.
Technological applications
can be used to provide services that support users in communicating with members of
their family, friends and clinicians. Socio-medical staff should monitor constantly the
physiological parameters of patients and so should have the possibility of contacting
and interacting with them remotely staying in a health centre. Through 3D special calls
(telephone calls with 3D interface, e.g. a hologram, for communication), they can
communicate with subjects and can verify their physical and psychical health state.
These calls, in addition to periodic physical inspections at patients' home, can
guarantee continual monitoring and timely and appropriate interventions where
necessary. 3D calls can also be used to help people to cultivate relationships with
friends and members of their own families. Thanks to this kind of calls, subjects can
perceive more closely the important people in their life and this can have a positive
effect on their quality of life and health.
Organising help.
Part of the social interaction might be organising help from informal
care givers either at in a regular situation or in ad hoc cases. This could be relevant to
organise a trip, a visit to family or doctor's office. A service like this can be provided
developing a list of informal care givers which fit specific needs (e.g. a car) and of
information about their availability and other useful data and a reminder service for
both parties involved.
