Senior Homo Digitalis
Hubert Österle, Institute of Information Management (IWI), University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Today and Tomorrow - Can ICT Assist Learning and Living?
Margaret Ross, Media Art and technology, Southampton Solent University, United Kingdom
Senior Homo Digitalis
Hubert Österle
Institute of Information Management (IWI), University of St. Gallen
Switzerland
www.alexandria.unisg.ch/Personen/Hubert_Oesterle
Brief Bio
Hubert Österle was a professor for Business Engineering at the Univesity of St. Gallen from 1980 to 2015. He published more than 30 books and almost 400 papers in scientific and industry journals. He served as a member of several scientific and industry boards and founded the Institute of Business Informatics at the University of St. Gallen. His research focused for many years on Business Engineering and moved towards the field of independent living and life engineering. Besides his academic career he was a founder and the chief technology officer of The Information Management Group from 1989 to 2006. In 2004 he founded the Business Engineering Institute St. Gallen and the Amiona AG and is president of their boards of directors.
Abstract
Ageing of the society is a huge challenge for the highly developed countries. Against many political promises they don´t have the resources to maintain the living standard that they are used to. Therefore many countries invest a considerable amount of money in the development of all kinds of ICT applications for independent living, esp. of senior citizens. But AAL (ambient assisted living) has not shown the expected results so far.
On the other hand the ICT industry provides us with more and more digital helpers, from chat-services via service marketplaces to self driving cars. Many of these new possibilities could enhance the life of older people as well as of young people.
ICT enables an unbelievable offering of new services and products. What of all that does really improve the quality of life of elderly? What are the basic desires of older people? What will their technical and most of all their social environment look like?
A discipline of life engineering could be the answer of this sort of new questions. People, esp. older people, have to organize their life in an increasingly technical and complex world.
Today and Tomorrow - Can ICT Assist Learning and Living?
Margaret Ross
Media Art and technology, Southampton Solent University
United Kingdom
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Brief Bio
Margaret Ross is Emeritus Professor of Software Quality at Southampton Solent University. Margaret received an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) at Buckingham Palace in 2009 from Prince Charles for Services to Higher Education. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Staffordshire University in 2004, became a Freeman of the City of London and also Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Engineers in 2001. Already an FBCS, (Fellow of the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT), she was awarded an Honorary FBCS in 2007 and then the BCS John Ivison medal in 2011. Margaret is an active member of the BCS, and is on various Boards and committees, including the BCS Council and on the Trustee Board of the BCS. She is Vice Chair of the BCS Quality Specialist Group and also Vice Chair of the BCS e-Learning Specialist Group, Secretary of the GreenIT SG and Chair of the Hampshire Branch. She is also on the BCS committee of BCSWomen Specialist Group. Margaret's area of interest is Quality and Professional Issues, relating to computing and education. She has also been Conference Director since 1992 of the annual series of Software Quality Management international conferences, aimed at benefits to industry, and since 1995 of the annual series of international educational INSPIRE conferences. She has edited over forty books, has examined over twenty Phds and currently supervises Phd students and lectures part-time.
Margaret’s original degrees were in mathematics. Margaret had been an Independent Member of PITCOM (Parliamentary IT Committee) and had been elected onto its Council. She is particularly active in encouraging students to consider technology. In 2001, she won the UK National PAWS Special Award for a TV soap idea that, if televised, could raise the profile of engineering and attract youngsters to computing and technology.
Margaret was a founder member and currently a Trustee of a charity to support the elderly in officially the most deprived area of the city of Southampton. By obtaining lottery funding, a once beautiful four-storey Grade 2 listed building, then derelict, was purchased in that area. After major rework, it was opened in 2001, to support local elderly communities. This Third Age centre holds many daily and regular weekly activities, including sessions on IT, encouraging fitness and mobility, art and craft sessions organised by the Alzheimer's Society, and opportunities regularly for counselling sessions for the elderly and those diagnosed with serious illnesses, including Cancer and HIV. In addition these activities, there is also a local community radio at the centre which provides dedicated sessions in seven different languages, for the local population in their own languages.
Abstract
The presentation will consider the current and future possible developments in education, health and living from the perspectives of students, the elderly, educational establishments, organisations and governments. Various legal and ethical issues will be also considered.
The changes in September 2014 to the English school curriculum relating to ICT, the introduction of Higher Apprenticeships and the need to address employers' requirements, together with the introduction of MOOCs, possibly affecting universities, will be discussed. The combination of these could lead to new developments in e-learning, including in developing countries.
Some current and potential future medical developments, together with their ethical issues, will be addressed, including the Internet of Things, embedded chips and robotics.
The methods to change the views of those working directly and indirectly with the elderly will be considered. These include the use of “ageing suits” to make those more aware of what it is like to be elderly. These are used by medical and care workers, and designers of clothes, goods and furniture, suitable for the disabled and the elderly. The experiences involving these and other aging equipment at Southampton Solent University will be discussed.