Enrich lives of loved ones living far away: create an electronic family newspaper

The Calafia Team of Pedro C. Santana, Marcela D. Rodríguez, Víctor M. González, Luis A. Castro and Ángel G. Andrade have developed the Electronic Family Newspaper project. Its aims are to provide a technological solution that eases the isolation of elder people living alone in Mexico while their families are abroad.

They envisioned a communication tool in the form of a family newspaper through which seniors and their relatives not only maintain close social ties by sharing information, personal reminiscences and cultural stories, but enable them to exercise their minds through its entertainment section, as it has been found that elders experience a cognitive decline as they become older.

The Calafia team found their family newspaper enriched communications over telephone alone. The family newspaper became a central repository of information that connected whole families distributed in different cities in Mexico and in the USA. Items such as photos and videos were noted as especially precious to the seniors. A key focus is on senior usability and step-by-step instruction, which most Internet services currently ignore.

The electronic family newspaper is still in prototype phase. I hope the Calafia team gets the financial resources to make the project into an operating company. It’s a good start to an idea with great meaning. With multi-language capabilities the electronic family newspaper would appeal to a broader segment of families with aging parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and loved ones…

Unfortunately there is no contact information on Calafia's website for families to particpate.

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