In eInclusion, as a first instantiation of the ambient intelligence paradigm, ambient assistive living (AAL) is in the focus of attention at the European level. Even if so far the main interest has been from the perspective of remote people's monitoring (e.g. of parameters connected to healthcare), alarm systems and environmental control by people with severe motor disabilities, recently, particularly for the explosion of the aging problem, there is a shift toward applications of support to any aspect relevant for independent living. This, in turn, has fostered the discussion about the possibility of mainstreaming at least some of the relevant technical innovations, both when they are foreseen as common characteristics of emerging technology and since some of the anticipated necessary developments can lead to improvements for all users, irrespective of their possible lack of abilities.
Due to the potential wide market of AAL, at least in terms of numbers of users, it is arguable that design for all can have an important impact, as a design methodology leading naturally to mainstream the identified solutions. Moreover, it appears that design for all and the following mainstreaming of systems, services and applications may be favoured by the possibility of identifying problems with a common approach and cooperatively finding and testing solutions. Networking interdisciplinary communities of people active in the eInclusion environment and end users can lead to significant improvements, not only from the perspective of identification of user needs and solution, but also toward the diffusion of information and creation of a common level of awareness necessary for building up consensus. Moreover, a more active participation can be envisaged e.g. with some sort of crowdsourcing.
The purpose of this session is first to discuss, with reference to a specific research and development field (Ambient Assisted Living) and, therefore, to specific experiences and results, the possible impact of design for all in producing valuable solutions for inclusion and independent living and the possibilities of mainstreaming these interesting solutions. Then, due to the important developments of networking in the society and particularly the new possibilities, also technological, for cooperation through the networks, it appears particularly important to consider their impact for support design and development in the AAL environment. From this perspective, it is necessary to start from the fact that in the Design for All environment, EDeAN (European Design for eAccessibility Network) has recently attempted to play the role of catalysing interest about these problems at a very general level. Therefore, a discussion of its possible role, starting from a specific application environment, seems also interesting, taking into account e.g. some possible modifications, such as adaptations of the rules for participation, the scope, the sustainability and, possibly, the technical infrastructure on which it is based.