The Buddy project is going to make it easier for people with cognitive disabilities to interact with digital services. We will do this by collecting assistive technology and creating a recommender that supports the user in choosing the right tool.
This way, end users with cognitive disabilities will get easier access to the most fitting tools for using the web in an independent way. The Buddy platform will also minimise the bureaucratic processes when interacting with service providers to get assistive technologies, like asking for permission and filling in applications.
Buddy is funded by the European Commission and run by the Johannes Kepler University, Austria, and Funka, Sweden. The project duration is 12 months, February 2021 – January 2022.
Buddy objectives
The specific objectives of the Buddy project are:
- To build an online repository of digital assistive technologies allowing users with cognitive disabilities to have direct access to the most suitable tools
- To facilitate for tool producers to include their assistive technologies into the Buddy repository.
- To create a recommendation system, using artificial intelligence, that recommends the most suitable tools to users with cognitive disabilities.
- To engage tools producers in adapting and sharing their products in the Buddy system and raise awarenes about the repository among end users