The benefits of the new participatory web are showing up in many places, including providing support for those taking care of aging family members. AGIS or Assist Guide Information Services is designed to help this audience. AGIS was founded by Kevin Sypniewski in 1998 after he left UNUM in Hawaii, a disability and long term care insurance provider. AGIS works with a variety of business partners, including non-profits. Most of the people who work with AGIS have personal experience with elder care. I have experienced this myself on several occasions, as have most people my age, so I was very interested in what they are doing.

The site is well laid out with a variety of resources, including checklists, facilities and services search functions, the ability to connect with others in similar circumstances, and topical information such as Medicare and specific illnesses such as Alzheimer’s. Their partners include Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, Hospice Foundation of America, and the Family Caregiver Alliance. Their contributing experts include Doctor Marion Somers, an elder care advocate. You can ask her questions through the site and get email responses. Those with more general relevance are also posted. There are also community forums on several topics that are monitored by experts who respond to questions, along with other forum members. The facilities and services function can be localized and is one of the most popular features. The Boston Globe recently ran a story on this space, the Web gives boomer caregivers a boost.

The AGIS site is now introducing more web 2.0 features, including the excellent Care Station Blog, supported by the AGIS staff and Tabitha Smith, an experienced blogger. It is one of the better organizational blogs I have seen. I asked Tabitha about its success. She said they have built a community of blog contributors with people experienced with the topic, including Carol O’Dell who wrote “Mothering Your Mother”. She said they also take time to listen to their audience to discover topics of interest. For example, they recently covered male caregivers, a topic that has been under reported as they are in the minority.

One of the most creative applications of web 2.0, or actually enterprise 2.0 in this case, comes through their partnership with Lotsa Helping Hands. They offer a collaborative team workspace for the family and friends of a person in need of care. It works like many of the business collaborative workspaces, except the focus is supporting someone in need. There is calendaring, email notifications, task assignment (like taking the person to a doctor’s appointment), reports of outcomes (such as the appointment) and status reports on activities.

This team workspace application takes group care giving out of group email and into a transparent shared workspace the same way a business enterprise 2.0 tool operates. I was very impressed with this feature. It is a good prototype for taking enterprise 2.0 back into the public or consumer space for any group activity. In this way it reminded me of MyTeam, set up to support Little League baseball and other sports activities through participatory web capabilities. I look forward to finding out about more applications about enterprise 2.0 style beyond the traditional business space.