25 April 2006

Dementia work webcast to the world

Key work being carried out at the University of Dundee on using information and communications technology to alleviate the effects of dementia will be broadcast live world-wide this week.

Dr Norman Alm, Senior Lecturer in the Division of Applied Computing at the University, is giving a presentation at a symposium on Scotland's ageing population in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

The event has been organised by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland and marks the first time an RSE event has been presented as a live "webcast" which anyone can log on to through the internet.

Dr Alm will be talking about work being done at the University in developing computer-based support for people with dementia and their families and carers.

"It is great that we are using facilities such as webcasting now to make a presentation much more accessible - a fine example of making good practical use of technology," said Dr Alm.

"The emphasis of my talk will be on developing technology which is appropriate, usable and acceptable, instead of just throwing computers at the problem."

"Another key point is the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to finding solutions to this increasing challenge. One of the examples of this I will be talking about is the CIRCA project, which was jointly developed by Dundee and St Andrews Universities, with the team including psychologists from St Andrews, designers from Duncan of Jordanstone College at Dundee University, and software engineers from Applied Computing at Dundee. It took all three disciplines to make sure the system was appropriate, usable and acceptable."

The symposium takes place at Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Wednesday April 26th, from 2.15 pm to 4.15 pm, and is staged as part of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland Annual Forum,. The webcast can be viewed at the Royal Society of Edinburgh's website at www.royalsoced.org.uk.

For media enquiries contact:

Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk