A multimedia social interaction service for inclusive community living: initial user trials

The move from institution to community care has resulted in many people receiving care at home. For some, disability or frailty restricts their involvement in social activities outside the home, resulting in unacceptable social isolation. This problem is compounded if the person has a speech or language impairment. In this paper, we will describe a communication service designed to provide nonspeaking people with a means to interact socially when living independently, based on the sharing of stories using pictures and other media. Initial exploration on the usability of the system by a pair of representative users will be described.