Paper:"Embracing ambiguity in the design of non-stigmatizing digital technology for social interaction among senior citizen

Sokoler and Svensson used ethnographic research methods to learn about social interaction between older residents of 3 senior housing facilities in Sweden. They found that everyday activities such as going on walks or doing the gardening provide a 'ticket to talk' with unacquainted older people. They are argue that many everyday activities in public or semi-public places open opportunities for social interaction because it leaves room for ambiguities and unspoken non-explicit intention where people can choose to take part in interaction. They provide the example of the 'gardening lot' where people pass by, rest on a bench, have brief conversations, swap tools and plants. They suggest that designers (of digital technology for social interaction) deliberately leave room for ambiguity to make it possible for people to leave their intentions of use unarticulated. The thought of ambiguity and 'not labelling what it is for' supports my current design idea of the 'teletalker'. However, the 'teletalker' system itself would not be integrated 'invisibly' in everyday activities, but be placed in a semi-public place to evoke curiosity. I write more about my idea once I achieved prototyping stage. T. Sokoler, M.S. Svensson: Embracing ambiguity in the design of non-stigmatizing digital technology for social interaction among senior citizens Behaviour & Information Technology, Vol 26, No.4, July-August 2007, 297 - 307

Do latest technologies empowered silver surfers really exist?

Title: Older adults' use of information and communications technology in everyday life NEIL SELWYN,STEPHEN GORARD, JOHN FURLONG,LOUISE MADDEN Ageing and Society (2003), 23 : pp 561-582 Albeit this paper is from 2003 (and I only just discovered it!) it's reassuring to read similar findings to the ones I have made with my research. I believe that not much has changed in the landscape of older adults' ICT use since 2003. Selwyn et al write: "Above all it is clear that to conceptualise all older adults with the popular notion of a polarisation between the ‘cannots’ and the highly empowered silver surfers is misleading. Indeed, the construction of the highly resourced, motivated silver surfer using ICTs for a range of ‘high-tech’ applications is erroneous." The paper concludes by considering how political and academic assumptions about older people and ICTs might be refocused, away from trying to ‘change’ older adults, and towards involving them in changing ICT. Can someone provide me with an example of a highly resourced and motivated silver surfer? reference to the paper

Why an ageing population is an encouraging sign

Hania Zlotnik, director of the UN Population Division, sees an ageing population as an encouraging sign since people have fewer children. In her opinion the greatest challenge for an ageing world population is economic adaptation. By 2050, more than one in five of the 9 billion people on Earth will be over the age of 60, according to a U.N. report. read article here read article about newest population numbers here

Good example of bridging the generations

AgeUK Barnet has teamed up with schools and colleges in Mill Hill, North Finchley, East Finchley, Colindale and Hendon to bring sixth formers together with older adults who would like to learn more about using computers. The free sessions are run at the AgeUK centres in Hendon and East Finchley. I look forward to hearing about the outcome and success of those sessions in the future. See more about the MiCommunity project here

Facebook blocked the social suicide machine

This article may appear a bit dated, but I think it's still apt! Read the article here The recent Oxford Internet survey showed that there is a increasing number of people who are not interested and reject taking part in the 'online world'. With this article I'm also referring to a previous post about the social suicide machine since I looked for official reviews on this service. The social suicide machine deletes your facebook / twitter / linked profile for you (well since 2010 not Facebook anymore), but it doesn't delete it only - the suicide machine shows in a animated way how you loose your online friends and contacts and this might give you some pleasure! I watched the intro movie about the suicide machine and thought there was one big flaw the way the creator of the suicide machine put things. He said: "Online experience is absolutely no substitute for realtime experiences, all those images, youtube links and tweets are leaving us feeling empty". I support the view that online contact can't replace face-to-face contact, but is there not an argument for realtime online experience, for example where a family video calls another family over skype at Christmas?

KIT - keeping in touch

On 30th March 2010 I met with Jeremy from the KIT project. KIT stands for "keeping in touch" and is a project investigating how computer use might help older people to stay in touch in friends and family. Jeremy is the man who roadshows the KIT equipment& functionality in older people and care homes and gets the residents to try it out.

I meet Jeremy at the Wellesley Road Home for Older People in North London. He leads me into the communal area where KIT is set up. I see a colourful keyboard and a monitor showing 8 big buttons on the left-hand side (see photo). The 8 big buttons are the main activities you can do with 'Big Screen live' which is the software for KIT. Big screen live allows you to do the most important computer activities and has removed all other additional functionality to avoid complexity and distraction when an older person is using the system.
Jeremy demonstrates the system to me. The residents of the home have an email set up on the system and their inbox is represented by a number rather than by their names in order to maintain privacy. He also points out some niggles of the system, such as having to click into the message field when composing an email rather than the cursor appearing automatically or the use of the word "store" instead of "save" which had caused some confusion in the past.

I had seen other 'simplified' computer systems before, this one seemed to be similar to SimpliCITy (see previous blog entry), but it was even more interesting for me to learn from Jeremy how he got the residents involved.

Jeremy takes me on a tour in Wellesey Road. We walk past the corridors and various communal kitchens, single rooms and hallway seating areas. I'd guess that the people I see are roughly around 80 years and older, some are more healthy than others. While moving through the home I see people walking around, some resting, some watching television, some having a cup of tea and some are in their rooms with the door ajar. I notice that the conversations I hear are mainly care personal speaking to an older resident or Jeremy greeting or chatting to the residents, and there is very little interaction or conversation between themselves.

Jeremy shares his experience of getting older people interested in trying out KIT. He points out how it's important to have a chat with the person first, to build up a relationship and to know their interests (e.g. movies, gardening etc). On the second visit you introduce them to the 'machine' playfully, by showing them something that would be of interest to them e.g. a movie on youtube with their favourite actor.

"There are 3 challenges when working with older people - you need to ask:
1. Are they asleep?
2. Do they feel alright?
3. And then: Do they want to come to the communal room and …
Never ever use the word computer!… say: do you want to watch a little movie?"

Jeremy's experience was if you used the word computer, they switched off and were not interested.

He further explained that once you had got their interest and they were sitting in front of KIT you could show them how to send messages. Sending and receiving photos was particularly enjoyable for them.

I observed the try-out of the system where Jeremy 'drove' the system and had two female residents watching him. They didn't really want to get their hands onto KIT but enjoyed what Jeremy showed them.
Jeremy explained that when a resident gets an email address of a relative becomes easier to show the benefits of KIT, but getting the email address takes some time. The KIT system usually stayed for 2 weeks in a older people home before it was either purchased by the home or moved to another site for trying out.

I would like to thank Jeremy for allowing me to join him on his demonstration and I would like to thank the residents of Wellesley Road who took part.

More info about KIT

Race Online 2012

They had their manifesto published in July 2011 which I only just read. Generally I agree that there would be a benefit for people to 'being connected', but I don't necessarily agree with the benefits they list: education, employment and improved government efficiency which effectively means reducing telephone or face-to-face contact - the latter basically a cost cutting exercise.

The report further lists the benefits for older people as: "Getting older people online is a cost effective way of improving their standard of living." - they give examples of how a household can save money by using online services and how older people can connect socially by going online.
However, they don't seem to mention anywhere in the report the troubles one can have with a computer (hardware and software) as well as the problems one can have with password management, or the security of using e.g. banking services in a public space like a library.

Read the report here