We all are damn good with social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook or a Flickr for that matter, but what about our grandparents! Are they as smart as us when it comes to social networking. Barring a few, I would confirm the answer as negative in all cases. Technology has advanced at an unbelievable pace making it impossible for the oldies to comprehend what is going around them. But even they aspire to be in harmony with the world just like we do. And people like Ben Arent thrive on such needs to excel in their final year at the Middlesex University to get their Product Design Degree. Ben designed the Jive, a doodad made for the elderly to hobnob with. It took Ben six months to design the Jive for the late majority and he even went to the limit of spending a day with them to know how it exactly feels to be a sixty year old.
Ben eventually succeeded in sculpting a device that is ideal for the oldies as it isn’t as complicated as a computer but a mere gadget which when hooked up with connectivity throws the world of social networking open to them. All that the oldies need is a friend pass (which is a physical link to the digital life of the oldies) and once that is affixed to the front of the screen it brings all the networking addresses of the specific friend to their doorstep as it works as a data locater.
They can then see what their friends (which could be anyone of their acquaintances or relatives) are up to and reply to the same through the same pass by placing it at different places of the Jive interface. The Jive can be hooked up to the internet via a simple router which can be easily affixed to the landline and then enables wireless connectivity to the service provided. Video and more images after the Jump.
