TAO/Handbook/Description of the idea

Topics
This Handbook gives information on how to involve older adults in your online community or projects of online collaboration. It includes background information, practical examples of activities and some principles of organisation and business planning. Participating in online communities is an interesting opportunity for older adults and the communities themselves – the authors hope that this Handbook will encourage their inclusion.

Target groups
This Handbook is a tool for anyone working with older adults in the context of online communities or collaboration. Specifically, it includes information for...


 * ... managers and staff of online communities;
 * ... people in charge of of online collaboration (in an educational setting or other);
 * ... trainers and multiplicators in online communities and collaboration.

Creation of the Handbook
This Handbook is open to your experiences and ideas!

Set in Wikiversity, it is drafted in a collaborative manner – this means that anyone can edit any part of it and add new information. You’ll find more information on this in the chapter “Sharing your know-how with others - How to contribute”.

Its first contents are the results of the project Third Age Online (TAO). TAO’s main target is to highlight the ways in which the access of older persons to the opportunities offered by online communities can be facilitated. At the same time, the project aims to profit from the growing number of older persons to advance charitable projects of online communities. The main focus of the project is on two important challenges that pertain to the enhancement of older persons’ participation in online communities:


 * To develop effective methods and measures for motivating older persons to participate in online communities and fostering the intergenerational integration of these communities.
 * To adapt the design of the user surfaces and the functionalities of online platforms to the specific needs of older persons (all the while considering the needs of the existing community).

TAO lasts from 2010 to 2013. The project is co-funded within the European Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Joint Programme.

Links
How to contribute to the handbook

Website of the project TAO

Website of the AAL programme