April 2009
Lots of changes but most exciting over 100,000 visitors to this site!! Thanks to all of you!

September 2008
Many changes this year but the most important is the develpment of the telecare blog, a place to put current rants and general isseus to do with telecare. visit it at:

April 2008
New page added on telecare reveiews added.

24th March 2008
A few more corrections and a big Thanks you to the Chartered Institute of Housing for mentioning this site in thier special edition of technology that was in one this months Inside housing magazines. This site was the URL for smart homes and telecareaware was the site for telecare.

2nd March 2008
A long gap before updates but finally a minor updates and new page on telecare added

July 2007
New telecare pages added and old ones updated. The CSIP and other NHS sites keep changing their webpages and not adding links to where they have gone. As a consequence, it might be best to alert me if a link is incorrect as well as google the page to find where it is now.

January 2007
Many updates of a small nature to correct a few errors. Large update to the Telecare page as well as the projects page. Including the updated link to the IMIA's Working group on smart homes and ambient assisted living which can be found here. Also Publications are now by date or by type.

December 2006
The site is beginning to take shape and I will start to attack the links pages in the new year.

November 2006
Major Website reorganization and hopefully many errors sorted. New Look for most pages. Hope you like it, I was feeling blue when I did it. Also the MDDS pages are now fully functional and the telecare page has been rewritten. The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) 'Smart Homes and Ambient Assisted Living' Working Group has been funded with George Demiris from the University of Washington as Chair. I am pleased to have been asked to co-chair this group until 2009.

Don't forget to put your order in for the book 'Responsibility and Dependable Systems' which is coeditied by yours truly and John Dobson. It should be available from March 2007 but can be ordered beforehand. Still looking for a new job but it is somewhat difficult in the UK at present. But I will try to keep the site updated.

Many Apologies for the downtime the week of the 5th. My server provider Freeola (www.freeola.com) had a crash on the ukideas server which caused the week long outage. Hope you missed the site :) Please accept my apologies for the outage. :(

October 2006:
Sorry for the delay in updating the site but I am currently trying to find a job and this has been taking priority along with my job. Thanks to telecare aware (www.telecareaware.com) for the mention on their site.

January 2006
Happy New year. This year my intention is to slowly upgrade the site. I have updated many of the personal pages such as the CV and publications database but also some of the other pages such as the projects page. I realise there have been many pages left half written as time has been pressing and I will hope to remedy this situation in the coming year. New page added the telecare FAQ.

November 2005
Interviewed for Therapy Weekly on telecare.

October 2005
Interviewed for a featured in the Guardian which focused on telecare. Also in the same section and excellent piece by Keren Downs from FAST. Updated many pages including the CV page. A lot of publicity and exposure recently including the Workshops I undertook in Durham (Thanks go to Pam Mills for the organisation of the event). Also I have been asked to present at Building for 21st Century Living conference, London, November 22nd 2005 so see you there.

August 2005
Many new changes in the most of the pages including an update of MDDS to version 30 so check it out to see the changes. Many minor alterations and pages hopefully made clearer. Guys publications updated and his CV has been added (and as a PDF) and a new pages on ADLs (activities of daily living) and What can SMART Thinking do for you. Google (see bottom of this page) search pane added to some of the pages.

May 2005
More info being added all the time in design pages.

February 2005
Thanks to the person that altered the front page previously, very funny, and sorry for any offence that it might have caused. But it was a good opportunity to redo that page I suppose. On the radio, BBC Radio Scotland featured an interview with Guy, giving his opinions on the issues surrounding Telecare and its implementation in it programme Medical Matters (aired on the 16th of February 2005) and looking at the work undertaken in Aberdeen that he was involved in. A big move from Scotland to England has caused a temporary hold up to updating many pages. but with the 1st birthday of my little boy and third birthday of my daughter, can't be bad, but the site must go on. The site has had a general update, more page errors found and dealt with as well as CATS or CATCH which has been updated to MDDS. The Design pages are coming on and will be developed in the next few months.

November 2004
Various interviews for the radio and press attention. Recordings for Radio Lancashire and Radio Scotland on Telecare systems to support disabled people. Various local press attention in Lancaster and Scotland. This site seems to be getting more hits which is encouraging. Thanks to everyone who has advertised the site online or reference one of the papers in their own work. Congratulations to my older Brother and his wife (Roger and Laura) for the birth of their second child who they call Gillian. Well done!

October 2004
Site updated and design getting better hopefully. New Link to a new range of Design pages which have finally become active with many new pages added including a page on the Aberdeen work (see January below) and the CATS checklist and still more to come. The Pdf files at the bottom of the Articles page which have bibliographies and stuff have also been fixed. Articles page tidied up a fair bit. Generally the site should work better now, load faster, have a consistent colour scheme and not have too many problems. I have not yet checked all the external links and therefore many of these might be problematic. if you spot any please let me know.
Thanks Guy

September 2004
Site updated and general look achieved. Links not updated so let me know if there are problems. There is still a long way to go with updating but at least I have begun the process. Thanks to everyone who has mentioned this site in their publications and on their sites. Many Thanks. Don't forget to keep sending your thoughts and comments on how to improve the site to me.

January - August 2004:

All work no play! Heat went well and seemed a successful venture. A number of papers and conferences attended and presented at. The social model of disability is causing a minor stir which is good. Currently I am developing a checklist to assist people in designing and ensuring dependable AT solutions called CATS. More on this can be found in the Articles section.

January 2004 - August 2004:

The final preparation and opening of the final homes in Aberdeen specifically designed by Guy Dewsbury of SMART Thinking, Liz Sergeant (Sergeant Consulting), Dorothy Askew and Stan Johnson (Goldshield). there have been a few things in the press about them including (but not limited to):

1 2 3

As the above links lead to media news pages I cannot they will remain forever. Photos and detail pages to be included in the site soon

February 2004:

The birth of my second child Scott

November 2003:
Updated a number of pages including the HEAT pages.

October 2003:
A bibliography for students and researchers in the area of socio-technical systems, smart homes, AT and the home has been added to the articles section (scroll to the bottom of the page). Another article appearing in Hometoys for the forthcoming HEAT 2004 pages.

September 2003:
New book out well worth a read entitled 'Inside the smart home' and published by Springer- Verlag and edited by Richard Harper. This book should be of worth considering if you have an interest in the area of technology and the home. Good deals are available from Springer as well as automated home (both on line) check them out, they are only for a limited period.

Also this month the first call for HEAT 2004 is out. HEAT (The Home and Electronic Assistive Technology) is a DIRC workshop organised by myself and Gordon Baxter from York University. Feel free to put in an abstract or a full paper. Ideally everyone should be considered. Places are limited so the first to submit might stand the better chance of a paper acceptance . This workshop has guest speakers of Dr Roger Orpwood who has worked with the Gloucester smart house project and has been involved in some excellent and innovative designs of AT systems. Liz Sergeant is the second invited speaker. Liz has worked for a considerable time in the field of autism and has been a major player in the resettlement of people with autistic spectrum conditions in the community. She is one worked closely with myself for a number of years. Both speakers should provide an excellent overview of the issues of dependability and home EAT (Electronic Assistive Technology). So don't waste time, put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard and rattle off a couple of hundred words and send it to me or Gordon. For latest updates on HEAT 2004 check out the official web pages at http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~am1/HEAT.htm.

July 2003:
Major Thanks to Robin and Lindsay Burley for the mention of the website in their report to Communities Scotland entitled "Digital Living- ICT Opportunities in the Home". The report can be downloaded from http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/communities/upload/DigitalLivingReport2.pdf . This report makes interesting reading and is useful to see the potential future progress of ICT in Scotland. Thanks for the mention on the last page! Check out Robin and Lindsay's website www.eskhill.com, there are some interesting and good articles on technology and older people that are worth a read.

Another Big BIG thank you to Simon Brownsell and David Bradley who write very kindly about this site in their excellent report: Brownsell and Bradley (2003) "Assistive Technology and Telecare: Forging solutions for independent living", Policy Press, ISBN I 86134 432 7. See pages 14-15. This report is a useful starting point to assess the relevance and applicability of telecare solutions whilst considering cost-benefits of such designs. It is a good thing to check out what David and Simon are working on currently. David works for Abertay University in Scotland and Simon works for the University of Sheffield and Barnsley District Hospital. If you are interested in Telecare don't forget to check out the report by Puay Tang: Tang, Gann and Curry (2000) "Telecare: New Ideas for care and support @ home", The Policy Press, ISBN 1 8614 216 0 this report goes well with the online document by Dr Dick Curry (from Imperial University) which is available for download at: http://www.doh.gov.uk/scg/ictolderpeople.htm. Telecare is an extension of Assistive Technology that can enable people to access health services remotely. Together these three reports provide the reader with a good background into this new area where the UK is leading the world. Don't forget to check out "Bringing IT all back home" in the articles section for a similar paper! A few new pages and many more updates. Its a large site and takes a while but I am getting around to it slowly.

June 2003:
A Big BIG thank you to Ricability, the UKs leading research institute into testing products for disability for the inclusion of this site in their latest pamphlet on technology. Check it out at http://www.ricability.org.uk/pdf/WhatsNew.pdf. It is a really useful booklet for people looking for technology to support different aspects of their life.

I have also added a few new papers added to the downloads and started to debug the site, but this will take time! so please bare with me. . The CUSTODIAN material is archived now as much of it is out of date. Should you wish for a copy of anything, let me know and I will send it to you. Eventually as time permits will get around to sorting the site out but I value feedback so if you have any, send it my way. Updates front pages and articles and publications pages. Added a few new pictures to keep you happy.

Cheers

March 2003:
New look is complete, archived material which is not updated has old style and colour scheme Many pages have been updated to reflect current status. All main pages should look the same in your browsers. Hopefully I have caught all the mistakes, but let me know If I have missed any. Thanks as well to all of you who have been contacting me with questions. Would you like an FAQ? or a form to submit? Or would you like a forum group from this page?

February 2003:
New look to some of the pages and newer versions of some articles

January 2003:
More articles added to the site for you to read. Hope you enjoy them.