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Grounded in the socio-emotional selectivity theory, the purpose of this paper is to develop a people recommender and social matching system that better serves the information needs of older people on social networking sites or services (SNSs).

The paper uses systems development as a design science research methodology to construct a conceptual framework and then design and prototype a recommender system.

The research demonstrates that it is possible to exploit Google Maps-based interfaces, coupled with historical geo-temporal information, to develop a recommender system on SNSs that can empower older adults to reconnect with past acquaintances.

The proposed system is an advanced prototype that has been tested using simulated data sets as opposed to real-life data involving actual end-users through field studies.

When examined through the lenses of socio-emotional and neighborhood theories, this research opens new opportunities to develop supportive social networks for older people.

The paper promotes a better social engagement and contributes to the mental and physical health of older people, which can act as a shield against loneliness, anxiety and depression.

The paper uses Google Maps interfaces and the concept of geo-temporal proximity indices to build an “elder-friendly” recommender system that can assist older people to reconnect with past friends, neighbors and colleagues.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which accessibility is taken into account in the assessment and ranking of e-government web sites through the lens of a specific study related to Dubai e-government.

The paper considers a case study related to Dubai e-government and it evaluates the accessibility of each of the 21 Dubai e-government web sites, based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and using an automated accessibility testing tool. A bivariate correlation analysis is performed to assess the correlation between web site ranking and accessibility score.

The research reveals that contrary to common intuition and some earlier studies, there is a weak correlation between e-government web site ranking score and web site accessibility.

The paper uses an accessibility metric that is a proxy indicator of web accessibility and is not a real assessment of accessibility as experienced by a person with disability.

When re-examined through the lens of Rawls's moral theory, this research suggests that accessibility should be given a higher priority in the general evaluation and ranking of e-government web sites.

The paper promotes universal accessibility to e-government information and services.

The paper uses ethical arguments to highlight the need to comprehensively consider accessibility as a major criterion in the assessment and ranking of e-government web sites.