Objectives

The main objective of the project is to promote older persons’ participation in online communities through appropriate measures and to foster their social integration in a sustainable way. In order for the project to be successful it is central that a win-win-win situation for older persons, online communities (e. g. platform operators) and society as a whole be established. This situation is a prerequisite for online communities to proactively address older persons and to integrate them into their respective communities.

As a consequence of the main objective, three core goals will be pursued in the course of the TAO project:

• Development and implementation of measures for the promotion of older persons’ participation in online communities
• Design of a handbook for online-communities and operators of community platforms, respectively, containing effective strategies for an improved inclusion of older persons in online communities (with a focus on older persons’ motivation and inclusion)
• Implementation of technological solutions in community platforms in order to improve the user experience in the context of online communities (improved accessibility of the media wiki platform as well as improvements of the Drupal platform)