As people get older, there is the risk that elderly gradually dissociate themselves from society. Communication can become an obstacle in maintaining and controlling social relationships. Relationships with other people give happiness and support, but also a sense of belonging and that elderly have a role to play in society, where exclusion and loneliness have a strong negative impact. This project explores positive solutions for this problem by introducing an interactive system: the KeyPing.
The imaginative power of the KeyPing board in combination with a personal configuration of the ThinKeys enables elderly to social interact with their beloved ones beyond their immediate physical surroundings. Through explicit actions of the user and perceptible activity of the contacts, the KeyPing system facilitates a feeling of social connectedness: a momentary affective experience of belonging and relatedness – integral to wellbeing. You can find a broad explanation of the system and the features in the final design section
This blog gives insight in the process of the KeyPing system that is developed by Robert Leufkens,Ā Mariska Rooth and Tristan Weevers; three masterstudents of the University of Technology Delft, the Netherlands. Check the starting point page for more information about the history of the project. The KeyPing system will be presented at the Intel Developers Forum (IDF) in San Francisco in September 20
09. Please feel free to comment on any post and to contact us through idf2009nl@gmail.com š