Global aging has become an overarching issue of our time. By 2030, there will be more people aged 60+ than people below the age of 5. In about 30 years, one in every five people in the world will be a senior citizen. With this drastic increase in pensioners and a corresponding reduction in working age adults, the current model of institution based care is not sustainable in the long run.

 

To switch from the current elder care model to a primarily home based independent living model, new information technologies must be explored to take the burden of care-giving. In this issue of IJIT, we have selected research as well as application papers documenting cutting edge directions related to this vision of active independent living for future good lifers. Experience in interactive digital media research, computer security research, as well as emerging ideas in IT infrastructure design and policy related considerations from Canadian, Chinese, Indian, and Singaporean researchers are presented in this issue. We hope to generate more active discussions among researchers and practitioners with these thought provoking pieces of work.