34 Design and Digital Care

This paper is primarily about design and some of the difficulties of “appropriate” design in care settings. This is hardly a novel concern but this particular focus arises as a consequence of digital technologies maturing and transferring to the everyday domain. Domestic environments are becoming key sites for the consumption of information and communication technologies, embracing in the “care” domain various forms of “assistive” technologies and the design and provision of “smart” homes. This paper reports on the Equator IRC “Care in the Digital Community” project – a multidisciplinary research programme concerned with the development of enabling technologies to assist care in the community for particular user groups with different support needs. The general aim is to examine how digital technology can be used to support sheltered housing residents and their staff.