Abstract
In our increasingly dislocated and mobile society, online social network sites are proving valuable in bridging distances and facilitating interaction and communication. People are spending a significant amount of time at the top social networking websites in order to manage existing relationships with friends, reconnect with old friends, share media and find new contacts that have similar interests. Fulfilling these needs are just as important for elderly people as it is for everyone else, but can become more difficult. In spite of the need for social contact, elderly people, even those who use the internet, tend to miss out on the benefits of online social networking platforms. Many are no longer at work so they do not have a daily set of activities with the same group of people. This, combined with increasing frailty, can lead to a habit of staying at home, which adds to the feeling of loneliness and isolation. In the same time, elderly people are keen to maintain contact with the different generations of their family and many of them have already invested significant time in building contact lists and relationships within the major social networks. The challenge, therefore, is not setting up a new social network dedicated to older people but rather a platform from where they can post messages, receive updates and take part in discussions across a variety of platforms, thus bringing existing communities together. In this Chapter, the authors present such a context-aware social networking platform, the “Going online: my social life” platform, which is adapted to the needs of elderly users.
Statement of Contribution
This work provides the experience gained by the implementation of the Go-myLife platform in the framework of the AAL-2009-2 funded project entitled: Going on line: My social life (Go-myLife).
Go-myLife is an open standard based social platform. It is not a standalone social network (SN), but it integrates with the most successful social networks and allows the possibility to third parties to plug into the platform.
This integration with third parties enriches Go-myLife services and allows the possibility of extending their functionality. In the same way, the external services can also be enriched by the content provided by Go-MyLife.
The geo-location information is a key aspect of Go-myLife, on which the various services are based and which offers a new channel for commercial opportunities.
For the specific target group, i.e. older people, Go-myLife aimed to bolster social support by facilitating access to online SN. Online SN is increasingly being felt in every aspect of our life from e-governance to interactions with organisations. Older people find Go-myLife as a stepping stone to create their presence in the online world.
Go-myLife also aimed to reinforce policies related to the social inclusion of older people and to promote equality. In this sense, it could become a tool to promote the agenda of lobbies and organisations such as the European Federation of Retired and Older Persons.
The main message to be conveyed to the general thinking is that, with the right technologies provided, older people are capable of taking an active part in society and should not be excluded from the political, economic, cultural or social aspects of society. This message is the justification for promoting the acceptance and uptake of online social networks for older people.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
AAL-2009-2: Going on line: My social life (Go-myLife). http://gomylife-project.eu
Eisma R, Dickinson A et al (2004) Early user involvement in the development of information technology-related products for older people. Univers Access Inf Soc 3(2):131–140
Pohlmeyer A, Blessing L (2009) Technology adoption by older adults: usability plus X. AAL Forum 09, Vienna, OCG Report. In: Attias-Donfut C, Ogg J, et al (s.a.). Evolution of social support. A. a. R. i. E. S. Survey of Health
Beck ET, Christiansen MK, et al (2003) Experimental evaluation of techniques for usability testing of mobile systems in a laboratory setting. OzCHI 2003, Brisbane
Böhm K, Tesch-Römer C, et al (2009) Gesundheit und Krankheit im Alter. D. Z. f. A. Statistisches Bundesamt, Robert Koch-Institut, Berlin
Davis FDB, Richard P, Warshaw PR (1989) User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models. Manage Sci 35(8):892, 22p
Hoff A (2007) Patterns of intergenerational support in grandparent-grandchild and parent-child relationships in Germany. Ageing Soc 27:643–665
Hampton KN, Sessions LF, et al (2009) Social isolation and new technology: how the internet and mobile phones impact Americans’ social networks. P. I. A. L. Project
Giannakouris K (2008) Ageing characterises the demographic perspectives of the European societies. Population and social conditions. In: Eurostat statistics in focus. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg
Berg R, Göllner S, et al (2008) Öffentliche (Un-) Ordnung 2.0: Die Beispiele Unortkataster und Fixmystreet. Web 2.0 für Kommunen und Kommunalpolitik. F.-R. H. u. A. Huber. Innovators Club—Deutschlandforum Verwaltungsmodernisierung, Boizenburg
Colbert M (2001) A diary study of rendezvousing: implications for position-aware computing and communications for the general public. In: Proceedings of ACM GROUP’01, Boulder
Czerwinski M, Horvitz E, et al (2004) A diary study of task switching and interruptions. In: Proceedings of CHI’2004, Vienna, Austria
Danesh A, Inkpen K, et al (2001) Geney: designing a collaborative activity for the palm handheld computer. In: Proceedings of CHI’2001, ACM, New York
Dickinson A, Arnott J et al (2007) Methods for human-computer interaction research with older people. Behav Inf Technol 26(4):343–352
Franke K, Wald A (2006) Möglichkeiten der Triangulation quantitativer und qualitativer Methoden in der Netzwerkanalyse. Qualitative Netzwerkanalyse: Konzepte, Methoden, Anwendungen. B. H. a. F. Straus. VS Verlag, Wiesbaden
Williams A, Garrett P (2002) Communication evaluations across the life span: from adolescent storm and stress to elder aches and pains. J Lang Soc Psychol 21(2):101–126
Acknowledgments
The presented work was carried out in the framework of the AAL-2009-2 project “Going on line: My social life (Go-myLife)” funded by the AAL joint Programme with the participation of the Hellenic General Secretariat for Research and Technology. The project partners were: ATOS Origin (ES), 451 Group (UK), ICCS (GR), ZSI (AT), IS Comm (UK), Andago (ES), SSW (PL).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Haritou, M. et al. (2016). A Context-Aware Social Networking Platform Built Around the Needs of Elderly Users: The Go-myLife Experience. In: Lazakidou, A., Zimeras, S., Iliopoulou, D., Koutsouris, DD. (eds) mHealth Ecosystems and Social Networks in Healthcare. Annals of Information Systems, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23341-3_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23341-3_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23340-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23341-3
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)