Seocho-gu Hosts Online 'Smart Senior Competition'

On the 30th, 'Seocho Halma Halppa Iyagi' YouTube Live Broadcast to Compete Skills Online in Real Time... Selecting 25 Senior Quiz Champions through Latest IT Knowledge, OX Quiz, and Ontact Recreation

Kiosk Training

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Elder A, residing in Bangbae-dong, Seocho-gu, recently experienced an embarrassing situation when visiting a cafe with an acquaintance. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, orders were taken by a ‘machine’ instead of a cafe employee, and after struggling for a long time with the machine that did not even understand speech, Elder A received help from a student waiting in line behind.

Elder B, living in Yangjae-dong, also recently purchased a so-called ‘smartphone’ to contact grandchildren, but no one kindly taught them how to use it. Now, feeling embarrassed to ask their grown children who are busy with their social lives, Elder B mostly uses the smartphone as a watch.

As in these cases, with the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic accelerating digitalization in all areas of society, elders are facing the ‘untact era’ unprepared. Consequently, the inconvenience experienced by digitally vulnerable elders leads to social isolation, emerging as a social issue.

Seocho-gu (Mayor Eunhee Jo) will hold the ‘Ontact Smart Senior Competition,’ where Seocho elders compete in various games testing their smartphone skills and latest IT knowledge, via a two-way live broadcast on the ‘Seocho Halma Halppa Iyagi’ YouTube channel at 2 p.m. on the 30th to reduce the digital gap and motivate elders to use smart devices.

The competition will be conducted with 100 Seocho elders aged 55 and older who applied in advance. Before the event, assistance will be provided to install a quiz app for elders, and through OX questions, subjective questions, and ontact recreational events using the quiz app, 25 senior quiz champions will be selected. Prizes for events and participation will also be awarded to motivate and bring joy to elders in using smart devices.

Last year, in June and November, the district held the ‘Challenge Golden Bell’ contest testing elders’ smartphone skills and the ‘I am also a YouTube Star’ contest selecting excellent YouTube videos, receiving enthusiastic participation from over 500 elders.

Seocho-gu has consistently worked to eliminate digital exclusion in elders’ daily lives.

Notably, it was the first in the nation to establish an IT experience zone exclusively for elders (VR, robots, one-person media) and developed the kiosk education system ‘Seocho Toktok C,’ which was even patented. Including all 18 community service centers and a total of 23 elder welfare facilities, digital courses teaching smartphone and kiosk usage have been opened, actively promoting the Smart Senior project.

Additionally, starting this year, eight facilities including local senior welfare centers offer 125 courses ranging from basic smartphone education to the latest IT convergence education (AI artificial intelligence, IoT utilization, drones, UCC & YouTube, VR sports, 3D printing, etc.). In particular, Seocho Central Senior Welfare Center has newly established an IT-dedicated education room where brain health and coding can be taught using three types of robots, including humanoid AI robots.

Furthermore, to provide direct education to elders urgently needing digital education, 20 IT supporters have been trained. Using the tablet version of the kiosk education system developed earlier this year, they plan to visit about 160 senior centers and elder welfare facilities in the region to provide customized digital education necessary for daily life, such as smartphones and kiosks, once the COVID-19 situation improves.

Seocho, which is bringing positive changes to elder digital education, developed a non-face-to-face voice-guided kiosk education app that allows elders to experience and learn kiosk use directly on their smartphones without an instructor. This app was released for free on the App Store in November this year to alleviate the inconvenience elders face as many educational programs have shifted to online lectures due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Also, as it became difficult for elders to use welfare centers due to COVID-19, since April this year, the ‘Seocho Halma Halppa Iyagi’ YouTube channel has produced and provided over 200 various COVID-19 overcoming programs, including online lectures in fields such as physical exercise, lifelong language learning, culture and arts, informatization, two-way live senior talk shows, and COVID-19 coping methods, recording a cumulative 190,000 views and receiving enthusiastic responses from elders.

Seocho-gu Mayor Eunhee Jo stated, “We will strive to ensure that elders are not left out in the rapidly changing untact environment due to COVID-19,” adding, “We will further upgrade the Seocho Smart Senior project, an elder digital welfare project, so that elders can spend a healthy and fulfilling old age without digital exclusion.”