Final and last gorup project of the course of studies in «Media System Design» at h_da.
via is a social network for the generation 5oPlus following the design-for-all approach. The online platform is a place where “best agers” may find and contact people with similar interests, common ways of life or contrary characters: all with the idea in mind to utilize and connect the knowledge, soft skills and experiences of (whole) generations. In addition to well‐known user profiles members can capture very personal experiences and impressions.
via takes on web 2.0 principles in order to deliver a fast and sematic contact platform with personal relevance. It is rather an online tool than a webpage that features several very visual/graphical access points («find, inspire, explore») with different functionalities such as
- an semantic “interests” or topic browser that supports finding appropiate keywords and search terms
- an interactive affinity diagramm (“who” is close/related to me?”) and
- tool- and Skype-like communication channels for discussions
Whether text based, by video or audio: the system is documenting a chat, whenever a user is communicating with another one, and provides their exchanges afterwards. Novel visual search techniques help users finding others/interesting topics. Intelligent „tagging“ and rating mechanism facilitate networking and support members in generating a stable and valuable network.
A demonstrator proved the basic concept. Great times and great team: Fred Lölhöffel, Patrick Röder, Fred Lölhöffel, Michael Schubert, Heiko Becker, Artur Witt, Julian Hofmann.