Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Chumbuggy is an online video platform for users to have scheduled, meaningful face-to-face conversations insmall groups. Chumbuggy has been developed using universal design, making it accessible for people of allages including older adults and people with disabilities. Older adults' comfort level with technology is growing,as evidenced by the increasing adoption the iPad as a device of choice, as well as other tablet devices.Therefore, the opportunity for Chumbuggy is to improve their traction by offering the app on these and othermobile devices. In partnership with Humber School of Media Studies & Information Technology, Chumbuggywants to create an app for the iPad and build a codebase for other deployment of the app on other iOS devices.In addition, the team wants to perform usability testing to maximize the user experience of their product. Tothis end, the outcome of this project will increase the adoption of social technologies within older adults, andencourage meaningful conversation across all age groups. As a social technologies continue to play animportant role in social interactions and communication, the app to be developed will help ensure Canada stayscompetitive in this field, and Humber graduates are exposed to skills training and development that will buildour expertise in the large and growing social media market.