TAO - Third Age Online
TAO - Third Age Online was a European research project with partners from Switzerland , Germany and the Netherlands under the direction and coordination of the Business and Administration Department of the Bern University of Applied Sciences . The project started in October 2010 and ran for 36 months until September 2013. The total budget of the project was around three million euros, around half of which was funded by the Swiss Federal Office as part of the European Ambient Assisted Living Joint Program for Vocational Education and Technology , the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the European Commission .
The acronym is derived on the one hand from the abbreviation of the project title, on the other hand it is based on the Chinese Tao , which translates as “way”.
Project
The aim of the project was to increasingly open up and utilize the possibilities of online communities also for older people and thus at the same time the potential of older people for non-profit and community-based offers such as the senior web platforms in Switzerland and the Netherlands or the projects of Use and promote the Wikimedia Foundation .
In order to achieve these goals, methods and measures have been developed to motivate older people to participate and integrate into online communities. On the other hand, the design of the user interface and the functionalities of online platforms have been adapted to the special needs of older people.
partner
The consortium consisted of 11 research institutions, organizations and companies from Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands:
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Bern University of Applied Sciences , Department of Economics and Administration, Health, Social Work (WGS) -
Maastricht University - MERIT, Collaborative Creativity Group -
Ulm University , Center for General Scientific Further Education (ZAWiW) -
SeniorWeb Netherlands
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Seniorweb Switzerland
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Wikimedia Germany
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Wikimedia CH (until June 2012)
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Zeix AG
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MD Systems
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Foundation access for everyone
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terz Foundation
In addition to these partners, the Wikimedia Foundation , Swisscom and the Coop shopping center Bern / Wankdorf were involved in the project as cooperation partners.
