Document management for elderly people

The demographic change in European societies has lead to increased attention for the needs of elderly people. Techniques and tools to support their independent living at home are of particular interest. In this article we focus on the aspect of daily information management for this user group. We describe a system which simplifies access to and the management of printed documents. It enables the use of information technology even for users with decreased visual abilities as well as for users with limited experience in human computer interfaces. To implement the system we exploit consumer electronics being commercially available (e.g. television set, webcam). This embeds the system into the context of media experience of most elderly people. Furthermore, our approach results into a cost-effective realisation of a document management system which should be affordable for a large number of persons.