Those of you who follow our Snook blog will know that we are involved in the TSB Long Term Care Revolution, with our RITA project. Our amazing team from School of Creative Technologies at University of Portsmouth  are working hard producing the most amazing avatar and interface for the project.

Meantime, one of the other Long Term Care Revolution projects has set up in Oak Mall shopping centre in Greenock. Full details of the project and directions are available at http://www.poppinsproject.co.uk/

According to project lead Richard Dikstra, of Belle Media,

“The ‘Poppins’ project is an integrated test system that explores the potential for a virtual currency that will help change attitudes to how the elderly and vulnerable are treated in society and within the dynamics of the High Street.”

They are engaging local people with archive footage of the town, but also involving locals in sharing their stories with each other. The shop has been laid out with vintage items that can act as conversation prompts, and even has a mini-cinema, complete with old-fashioned cinema seats!

People are given tagged coins by local retailers and cafes who have agreed to adopt a Code of Practice in their dealings with the elderly. These ‘poppins’ are then used to access services in the “Poppins” shop, such as ipad training sessions and archive video footage of the area. Staff in the shop (who are amazingly friendly and welcoming) have been moved to tears by the responses of the older people accessing the service.  They have a full programme of events and talks scheduled until the end of August so do ‘Poppin’!

Brilliant work.