ITWire

The team built an iPad application that allows participants to create and share photographs and messages with each other and, the research undertaken by the two organisations found that communications technologies were effective in alleviating social isolation, but could not achieve this alone, with face-to-face engagement an essential part of developing connections.

The findings were published in the Mobile and broadband technologies for ameliorating social isolation in older people  white paper released yesterday, and the Chief Investigator, Associate Professor Frank Vetere from the Department of Computing and Information Systems, said the technology “allowed participants from older age groups who were socially isolated to connect with each other through a specially designed iPad application, Enmesh, facilitated the communication between participants.”

Professor Vetere said the purpose built application was built with older users in mind, allowing them to effectively transmit photos and messages to fellow participants.

The white paper summarises the impact of technology for ameliorating social isolation, and the Australian Research Council is supporting a larger trial of the technology which is due to commence later this year.

Image courtesy of Bigstockphoto