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This paper aspires to develop a deeper understanding of the sharing/collaborative/platform economy, and in particular of the technical mechanisms upon which the digital platforms supporting it are built. In surveying the research literature, the paper identifies a gap between studies from economical, social or socio-technical angles, and presentations of detailed technical solutions. Most cases study larger, 'monotechnological' platforms, rather than local platforms that lend components from several technologies. Almost no literature takes a design perspective. Rooted in Sharing & Caring, an EU COST Action (network), the paper presents work to systematically map out functionalities across domains of the sharing economy. The 145 technical mechanisms we collected illustrate how most platforms are depending on a limited number of functionalities that lack in terms of holding communities together. The paper points to the necessity of a better terminology and concludes by discussing challenges and opportunities for the design of future and more inclusive platforms.

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Aging is a new step of life with a lot of changes that could be related with physical, cognitive and social frailties. Rather than addressing autonomy and dependency issues for which a variety of assistive technologies has been designed, our aim is to define how ICTs could alleviate elderly loneliness, in order to cope with their social frailty. We make the hypothesis that TV is a good medium for this purpose and we design Smart TV applications dedicated to foster the social interaction among elderly. We adopt a living lab approach, which assure us of an early engagement of the end-users.

Awareness of the huge amount of work faced by relatives in caring for a person suffering from a loss of autonomy has led to research focusing on ways to ease the burden on informal caregivers. Among them, services and devices aimed at providing social support and fighting the isolation that may be caused by the caregiving tasks appear important. However, little is known about the social support informal caregivers actually value and look for in practice. To fill this gap, we conducted a multi-sited study, focusing on older informal caregivers, because they are numerous and have lower experience with technology. Our study highlights that being part of a group is a key element in helping informal caregivers to feel that they are not alone, continue leisure activities, learn from others and sustain participation in organized activities. Through this understanding, we discuss design opportunities in a sociotechnical approach complementing online and offline social support.