Universal Communicator
Date: December, 2008 - ?
Client: Knowledge Media Design Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
Project Type: Interaction Design, Information Architecture
How can technology help combat social and intellectual isolation?
A large number of older adults live in relative degrees of social and intellectual isolation. They may live alone, or with a single partner; they may have limited social ties; they may be reclusive and lonely; they may be temporarily hospitalized or housed in rehabilitation facilities for weeks or months at a time; and their primary source of information may be broadcast television. They may also have physical or cognitive challenges to mobility or communication. We have begun to develop, in partnership with Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, a unified tool to support communications and community. Design goals are minimal apparent functionality and maximal ease of learning. It should ultimately support synchronous and asynchronous text and voice communications from a TV and a
simple handset, multimodal communication with caregivers and clinical staff (for use in hospital or long-term care settings), and access to information and gaming.
OFID was contracted by the University of Toronto's Knowledge Media Design Institute to design this system and user experience. While this project is still in its earliest stages, it has already gone in unexpected, novel directions. KMDI hopes that the project may be commercializable.
