Keeping the elderly connected via VideoEmail
The elderly are often times disconnect from today's rapidly changing digital society. Therefore, as one of its main objectives, SAID (Social Aid Interactive Developments) was to develop an innovative Social Assistance infrastructure for this age group. What this amounts to is more efficient social aid for the elderly, better services and the opportunity to access information technologies. Through Autonomous Agents technology, a multifaceted network of agents was carried out. The result was the implementation of a group of particular tasks that can operate in an autonomous/distributed fashion. In this way, they are capable of providing personalised services to the users. Several means were examined, including adaptation to specific needs, learning, efficient information exchange, cooperation between agents and automatic information retrieval. A major deficiency in the TV environment is the challenge in using text-based tools. The ability to send short video messages via TV to other SAID users as well as outside users is an encouraging replacement for current communications methods such as email. This is not only because VideoEmail can be used for personal communications with other users, friends and relatives but also because it's so simple to use. In addition to being equipped with the functions of sending and receiving emails, it employs the same address book as the Videoconferencing application. The tool can be used simply with a TV remote control. With all of these benefits, the elderly will have the luxury of staying connected in the comfort of their own home.
