Welcome to SEEDS

Welcome to the website for the SEEDS research project (“an organic approach to virtual participatory design”), which is being undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team from the University of Dundee, the University of Kent, and the University of Leeds, and which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Older people and disabled people form a substantial number of those who do not use digital technology. For example, statistics show that 60% of those with a disability, and 80% of those over 75 do not use the internet (The Internet in Britain, OxIS, 2009).  However, increasingly we find that vital information, communications, better shopping and financial deals, and some public services are now only available online.  Indeed, many of these facilities are most beneficial to those who are not using them. There is concern that those who are not using digital technology, and indeed those who wish to, but are trying to “catch up”, are excluded.  As a society that is aging and working for longer, we must develop solutions such that we can all benefit from digital technology.