Proposal Submission Party Meeting November 2nd

Friday November 2nd will we have a small celebration for the succesfull proposal writing. In this post I will explain why we do it, how we do it and how you can contribute. The invitation for the Party Meeting is by itself a Party -download the PDF-version!

Why do we celebrate the submission of the HANDS proposal?
There are two reasons:
1. Because Partners of HANDS have joy being together, but not have had any chance to do so. We have been together at meetings, meetings and mail. The Party Meeting is the fun part of HANDS.
2. Because the work for creating a FP7 ICT proposal was huge. In terms of money I would estimate the price of the HANDS proposal to be around 30-35.000€. A lot of people did a great job, but the physical product the papers does not seem much.

How do we celebrate the submission?

1. We have this Proposal Submission Party Meeting. Download and colorprint the poster(cut the white margins away to see what it is like. Hopefully we have fun!
2. We hope you, as a partner will send participate virtually with a video. Send appr. 30 second video clip or upload it to youtube.

What can you do to support the HANDS proposal?

1. Participate in the Party Meeting(30€). Yipppi!
   
2. Read more about Persuasive Technology. Download and read the "Compilation for Partners".
3. Consider a Plan B. If the proposal is rejected, what then? Consider national and european oppurtunities. Contact and discuss your ideas with me. Before X-mas. Best before December 1nd.
   

Morten

Submission of HANDS – a great feeling

Five days after the submission I still suffer: I am still all too tired and I have absolutely no need to work effectively for any goal. Luckily do we have the autumm holiday and I will celebrate it by being together with my children. Henrik is on holiday too, Lars have not mailed anything since tuesday and my mailbox is as empty as it can be. It is almost scary. Only chairman Peter and Professor Per Hasle is still active.

Eventhough I still are a very tired my mind is filled with a feeling of thanksfulness to alle those people, who have helped the proposal to be qualified.
I have a feeling of being carried by a lot of people, rather than working alone.

The days before the final submission
Three weeks did I work very intense on the proposal and got approx. 20 HANDS mails pr day, Very little sleep and lots of decisions. At the same time I had to produce papers and participate in meetings.
But it was great joy too. People around me kept being entusiastic and encouraged me to continue. And the engagement of the HANDS involved never failed.

The projectplan of the proposal writing, a evolving prototype, appeared in the final stage to be a good one. All the major considerations was in place before the last two weeks. We had to focus on getting the EU-terminology right and complete the argumenations in various small subsections.

While writing I had a rhetorical discussion going on with myself. Many people involved in HANDS tells me, that I am very entusiastic and it influence them. In the EU application it is emphasised many times, that you have to be sober and formel. In writing and in the argumentation. How can I put my entusiasm in to the proposal? That discussion continued to fill my free timeslots. A week before submisssion I got the clue: the proposal has to argue for the proposal on every single sentence of the proposal. New arguments or variants but endless argue for the ideas of HANDS. Likewise when we argue for taking ethical concerns serious we do not only do so because we believe it is right, but because it is a more efficient in terms of persuasive efficiency.

Looking back on the work I wish I knew all about EU proposal writing that we do know now. The quality of the the proposal would probably be simular due to the fact, that the core idea of HANDS would have been the same. But the details of the proposal would be better and the organisation of the work would too.


But anyway:
Thank you very much!

Morten

Why the HANDS proposal succeed or fail?

The HANDS proposal might get accepted. It might not. The decision is in the hands of the FP7 administrators and their evaluators. It is a partly an sound and rational decision, partly an political decision and partly an matter of national interests.
In the sense that it is a rational proces, we can argue for both.

The HANDS proposal is being accepted because

It is indeed a new approach to caretaking of individuals with ASD

• The results of the HANDS project will have impact on caretaking of people with cognitive disabilities and generally the Mobile Persuasive Healthcare field.
• Persuasive Technology will take a giant step forward - in the Aalborg schools interpretation.
  
• All the ethical considerations are important and new
  
• The consortium is well balanced - geographically, economically, organisationally
  
• The impacts are great and fits well with the EU policies on the areas like: elderly people, marginalised people, the labourforce and more.
  

The HANDS proposal is being rejected because

• Teenagers with ASD is an minority, a too small minority.
• The proposal lacks hardcore ICT research. Design of Gadgets and simular. (We do not agree - knowledge about the users are very important.
  
• The consortium lacks an genuin partner with track record within ICT research for individuals with ASD.
• The ethical concerns plays are to large role in the proposal.