Introduction

This book is about older people, their homes, technology and data. In any area where a range of professions, practitioners, state and voluntary

agencies combine with technologies that may include a device connected to the Internet and a switch connected to an alarm to deliver services to users, there is considerable scope for confusion and procrastination. Terminology such as health informatics, telecare, telehealth, assistive technology, telemedicine, e-health, telepsychiatry, smart homes, intelligent accommodation and so forth can be found scattered across the academic and policy literature. These categories reflect academic, practice and organisational differences as well as a tendency for the resulting specialism to develop a narrow focus around innovation and problem solving. Here, telecare will be used simply to refer to the broad range of devices, software and so forth that may be available to older people. Telemedicine enthusiasts have argued that it has ‘the potential of having a greater impact on the future of medicine than any other modality’ (DeBakey 1995: 3). In the light of medical developments since the 1990s, this claim appears rather exaggerated, but it denotes an underlying tendency to view new technology as central to the improvement of human health and sense of wellness. In addition, shades of technological determination, if not optimism, have left a legacy on the development of digital welfare.