MobileAge (Kopie 1)

Project leader: Dr. Juliane Jarke (ZeMKI Lab  "Socio-technical systems and critical data studies")

Research association/cooperation: Institute for Information Management Bremen GmbH (ifib)

Funding institution: EU Horizon2020

Mobile Age was a three year Horizon2020 project, funded by the European Union that provided the basis for the development of mobile-based open government services focused on senior citizens. The project followed a co-creation methodological approach that allowed for a substantive participation of senior citizens. MobileAge focused on the co-creation of services related to the production and use of open data for cities.

The „Mobile Age“ project focused on open government data, mobile technology, and the provision of public services in relation to Europe’s elderly population. Europe’s senior citizens are growing steadily and are predicted to comprise 28% of Europe’s population by 2020. However, senior citizens do not normally share the same level of connectivity to the Internet as younger generations, and while government agencies are increasingly providing their services through digital platforms, this risks excluding senior citizens from the design and use of such services. Mobile Age will provide the basis for the development of mobile-based open government services focused on senior citizens. We follow a co-creation methodological approach that will allow for a substantive participation of senior citizens. MobileAge will focus on the co-creation of services related to the production and use of open data for cities. This will be achieved by pursuing four objectives:

1. to explore and develop innovative ways to support senior citizens to access and use public services through personal mobile technologies that are based on open government data,
2. to develop and deploy co-creation approaches and methodologies to engage senior citizens effectively;
3. to develop a situated, practice-based understanding of accessibility, mobility and usability of services from a senior-citizen point of view; and
4. to develop a framework for impact assessment and evaluation for co-creation approaches to open service development for the ageing population.

Mobile Age’s approach was applied in cities and counties that were already providing innovative approaches for the participation of senior people in the development of city services: Bremen, South Lakeland, Zaragoza and the Region of Central Macedonia, with scenarios related to social inclusion, extending independent living, data curation for a safer and more accessible city, and the management of personal health information. MobileAge developed and evaluated innovative methods and processes for the participatory design of open government services as well as mobile applications. Dr. Juliane Jarke (ifb)  led the work package on method innovation.