Progressive Research (Part 1) Introduction
My group decided to take up a non-profit organization, Alzheimer’s Diseases Association Singapore (ADA) as our final NMT project. The requirements of the project is to improve ADA’s presence online as well as offline, to propose the best possible (and creative) solutions to their current problems, improving communication in getting the message of Alzheimer’s disease across to a greater audience thus creating mass public awareness.
About ADA and its website
The Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA) was formed in 1990 as a result of growing concern for the needs of people with dementia and their families. ADA is a voluntary welfare organization and is made up of caregivers, professionals and all who are interested in dementia. (ADA, 2009)
The website aims to :
- provide information about dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease which is the most common form of dementia
- provide information about Alzheimer’s Disease Association (Singapore) and its services
- provide support and help for people with dementia and their caregivers
The reason we chose ADA is because, it will be a challenge for us to improve on their web presence as their site appears to be “outdated” in layout (more to Web 1.0 than 2.0). We believe that a better web presence will spur a greater public awareness of ADA in Singapore. I personally feel that civic engagement should start from young and the web is a better (and probably the best) option to reach the youths.
So What is Dementia?
Dementia is a mental health problem that usually afflicts the old, however, in rare cases certain forms of dementia may affect a young person. Dementia is an umbrella term that covers Alzheimer’s disease, as well as a variety of other dementing illnesses.
Dementia is a progressive and degenerative disorder of the brain (characterized by multiple cognitive deficits) that include impairment in memory. In the early stages, it can start as absentmindedness or forgetfulness. The patient may forget names, or where they left their keys. Since most people occasionally forget things, these early symptoms can go unnoticed, however, they will become more frequent and more severe, eventually developing into other symptoms of dementia.
For more information about Dementia visit here.
So this is roughly the idea that my group has to understand. Studying ADA’s current website, a base understanding of Alzhiemers/Dementia, case studies of other organizations (their successful campaigns) and researching other possible new media to improve ADA’s presence both online and offline.
My role is to:
- Research and compare current websites, between ADA other Alzheimer’s disease organizations (other countries).
- Research on various new media tools that is appropriate and implement them to the new ADA website.
- Design a mock website.
I write more on new media adoptions with regard to the case studies given in upcoming posts. (:
