Hi folks,

I am a student doing a Masters in Information Technology, and I'm looking to develop a website to allow older people and social and healthcare professionals to access infomation on assistive technology. Do you think that this sort of website would be useful? What kind of information would you like it to provide? What kind of interactive features should it include?

Any advice you can give me would be very welcome! 

David 

David, I think this is a great idea. You already get information from the internet but it is mostly historical and comercial. What is needed is user friendly information explaining assistive technology, it's benefits and how to go about accessing it. Information about assesments would also be usefull.

Brian

I think this is a good idea and would indeed be useful.  I would like to see a free text type of search engine where a person can give a brief synopsis of the difficulties being experienced, which would then provide suggestions as to what might assist or (perhaps more importantly for the layman) who might be the best professional to contact.  A few scenarios as examples, again with the possible outcomes and who might help would also be useful I think.  Good luck!

 That does sound an interesting idea - perhaps one of the technology manufacturers could sponsor it?

Thanks Brian, 

I am planning to focus on Telecare / assistive technolgy that uses information and communication technology, since there is already a far bit of information on more conventional forms of assistive technology on other sites. Regarding assessments, do you mean the assessments themselves, as in what factors are taken into account, or how they are arranged etc...?

 David

 Thanks for your suggestions escargot,

The type of search engine you suggest might be technically very difficult, but one with key words or phrase, perhaps chosen from a list of some sort might well be possible. I am thinking of focusing on telecare as there is quite a bit of information on more conventional forms of assistive technology already.

 David

 Thanks simeon,

I'll be able to get some images from one of the manufacturers to work with at the start. Ideally I would be able to get lots of information from all the major manufacturers. However, I don't want the site to be an advert for any company, I would like it to be somewhere that people can criticise products where justified.

David