Willeke van Staalduinen
In an interview with Agnieszka Ciesla, founder of Mimo Wieku foundation, Warsaw, Poland, it became clear why Mimo Wieku joined the BIG project and what they have learned from it.
Q: Why did you join the BIG project?
Our societies are changing rapidly: we are ageing and experiencing enormous technological progress. We need to adapt to these changes, which bring us both: some advantages but also challenges. Due to demographic ageing, more people will experience mobility and cognitive issues. At the same time, new means of education using ICT solutions allow sensitizing others about the special needs of older adults and the young and people of all ages who, at a certain point in life, are challenged by some incidents. The BIG project offered a brilliant opportunity to combine these processes and propose a solution to the expected challenges: growing social indifference and isolation.
Q: What did you like most thus far in the project? Why?
I liked the most the usage of the game concept in education. Learning through entertainment is the most effective way of acquiring new skills. Such approaches should be made more popular and accessible. The ICT progress gives a great chance to expand them to those who otherwise could not reach it.
Q: What is the most important thing you learned or take away from the project thus far? Why?
Being part of the BIG project meant being part of the great team. I learnt that inclusiveness starts with the people.
Q: How will you involve BIG in your work?
I want to promote the BIG Game among different stakeholder groups. These are the institutions dealing with older adults’ issues and secondary schools (particularly those providing teaching in the online mode). The commercial ones, too, as I have feedback that shopping and service providers are increasingly interested in learning how to become more inclusive and better respond to their customers’ needs.