INTERREG BOTNIA-ATLANTICA AND INTERREG NORD 2014-2020 10 The app that helps seniors find meaningful social activities online @GEING ONLINE Lead partner: Åbo Akademi University, Finland. Project partners: Umeå University, Sweden and Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Finland. Priority area: Innovation. The goal was to develop a launch-ready social application for older people in the Kvarken region. But @geing Online has gone one step further – the app is not only developed, but launched and available for use. – We really see this as a great success, says Johanna Nordmyr, coordinator of the project. @geing Online is an Interreg Botnia-Atlantica cross-border innovation project. The main focus of the project was to develop a social app that supports opportunities for maintaining social networks, relationships, and activities for older adults at risk of social isolation. An important starting point was that everyone should be able to use the app – even those who were not very used to technology. Therefore, the design and development process involved older people of varying ages, various public actors from the social and health areas on both sides of the Kvarken area, as well as IT companies. – We are very happy that we managed to create forums to gather people and groups who do not always meet, says Johanna. Some of the older people they met were not at all familiar with the internet. – For some, it was the first time they sat with a tablet computer in front of them. We felt a great responsibility to create a comfortable and constructive environment for them to test and comment on the app prototypes. The feedback from the people who have been involved has been very positive. Anna Forsman, Johanna Nordmyr and Madeleine Blusi from the @geing online project met with Dagny Carlsson (Swedish blogger, who at the time was 105 years old) at MVTe, Conference for welfare technology and e-health in Stockholm 2018.
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