Thursday, August 30, 2012
NY times Article: the high price of loneliness
This article sums up how tricky it is to measure the consequences of loneliness experienced with age. What does it mean to be lonely? "62.5 percent of older adults who reported being lonely in this new study were married"
read the article here
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Trend: increasingly more older internet user
The latest estimates by the ONS confirm that the number of older Internet users between 65-74 years is increasing. When I started my studies in 2008 only about about 20percent of the 65plus category (in those days ONS didn't differentiate between 65-74 and 75+) had regularly used the Internet.
The group of 75+ years old are with 29% the smallest group of Internet users.
Read the ONS Internet access report update here.
Friday, August 10, 2012
the joy of reminiscence
Mid July I had to speak to the local TV & areal business to sort out our television. Bernard came over to check out our leads, sockets and areal connections. I guessed Bernard to be over 60 years old - at some point he mentioned that he had been through 3 marriages. We ended up chatting about my research and I showed him a website which I used as a resource for inspiration for the Teletalker design.
He absolutely loved it. It made his day he said and wrote down the link to the site. He surely will sit down in the evening and look at the visuals of the old TVs... why has made this day, because he repaired them when he was 13 years old or a bit older - the visuals take him back to he youth ... he hasn't seen those television sets in ages
I felt very happy for him and that I accidentally gave him a tool (the websites) to revisit experiences from the past. Being German and living in the UK I noticed how difficult it is to be reminded of things from my German past. If I'd like to create memories of that time I either need to dig out the photo album or I need to be prompted by someone German... although the German and English culture are pretty similar there are not many things here that remind me of my childhood or teenage days.
He absolutely loved it. It made his day he said and wrote down the link to the site. He surely will sit down in the evening and look at the visuals of the old TVs... why has made this day, because he repaired them when he was 13 years old or a bit older - the visuals take him back to he youth ... he hasn't seen those television sets in ages
I felt very happy for him and that I accidentally gave him a tool (the websites) to revisit experiences from the past. Being German and living in the UK I noticed how difficult it is to be reminded of things from my German past. If I'd like to create memories of that time I either need to dig out the photo album or I need to be prompted by someone German... although the German and English culture are pretty similar there are not many things here that remind me of my childhood or teenage days.
Friday, July 20, 2012
My key learnings from the ISG and ISARC conference in Eindhoven 26 - 29th June 2012
Topic: who is afraid of aging? (This topic wasn’t mentioned at all again during the conference talks, at least not in those I attended)
All projects were subscribing to the idea of supporting independent living, self-efficacy and quality of life when growing older. Technology was seen as the key vehicle to enable this (this is also aim of the ISG). The ISARC part of the conference investigated the use of robots in delivering care and support for daily living as well as in construction.
Overall it seemed that all projects were very context dependent (which is in line with a heterogeneous user group ). The technology acceptance model – TAM (e.g. Venkatesh and Davis 2000) was referred to in several talks. Only in one talk (by Bouwhuis on telecare adoption) it was pointed out that a person does not act rational, but irrational and that ‘the actual use’ influences behavioral intention and therefore perceived ease of use and usefulness, i.e. reversing the TAM model.
All projects related to the use of video telephony were related to 'Telehealth or Telecare'. Telehealth always included a button for emergency situations and a service to contact health staff, GP surgeries or social workers. Sometimes personal monitoring data (diabetes, blood pressure) was exchanged or repeat prescription were possible to order.
There was a least one Taiwanese robot, which offered the option (among many options) to video call a family member or friend… this robot is still in prototyping stage and suffers in my opinion function overload.
It was noticeable in the Telehealth projects that acceptance of the technology was quite low and most reactions from the users were "useful, but not for me at the moment", unless they experienced an emergency. It seemed that the cost for implementing this service was a lot greater than the savings when the service was used.
The most frequently mentioned problems of working with the user group of elderly people (people over 75 or in their eighties) were that there was a lack of interest, a type of resignation or ‘engagement fatigue’ (SOPRANO project).
My criticism about the conference
I didn't feel that the conference reflected on the negative side of technology use or where technology has really a place in the older person's life. Also the ‘older person’s life’ was in my opinion not clearly enough defined.
For example, a speaker from Valencia made a very ‘showy’ commercial advertising their stamp of approval of good design for the ‘elderly’ – not being aware that ‘elderly’ in the UK has the connotation of being frail… this may have been a simple language problem, but I feel the conference didn’t look closely enough at attitudes towards technology by older people or by designers.
The world of Gerontechnology seems to be dominated with projects by the industrial developed and mainly ‘white’ countries. There were no representatives from the African continent, nor the Middle East. Mainly Europe, America, Brazil and China, Korea, Japan mainly involved in ISARC were represented.
Even though there was a re-occurring theme of problems of working with older people and technology acceptance by older people, it didn’t seem that projects could learn from each other – I think it would have very beneficial to have some panel discussion where the speakers could have exchanged their views.
Personally, I feel that technology gets in the way of growing older (which for me comes down to taking time for yourself & health, meditate and reflect, feel in sync with the world and give back to the younger generation) - I do think that technology has a place to support care givers in their work helping older people, people with dementia and as a tool for daily living tasks (which would be good for people of any age) and as a tool for communication.
All projects were subscribing to the idea of supporting independent living, self-efficacy and quality of life when growing older. Technology was seen as the key vehicle to enable this (this is also aim of the ISG). The ISARC part of the conference investigated the use of robots in delivering care and support for daily living as well as in construction.
Overall it seemed that all projects were very context dependent (which is in line with a heterogeneous user group ). The technology acceptance model – TAM (e.g. Venkatesh and Davis 2000) was referred to in several talks. Only in one talk (by Bouwhuis on telecare adoption) it was pointed out that a person does not act rational, but irrational and that ‘the actual use’ influences behavioral intention and therefore perceived ease of use and usefulness, i.e. reversing the TAM model.
There was a least one Taiwanese robot, which offered the option (among many options) to video call a family member or friend… this robot is still in prototyping stage and suffers in my opinion function overload.
It was noticeable in the Telehealth projects that acceptance of the technology was quite low and most reactions from the users were "useful, but not for me at the moment", unless they experienced an emergency. It seemed that the cost for implementing this service was a lot greater than the savings when the service was used.
The most frequently mentioned problems of working with the user group of elderly people (people over 75 or in their eighties) were that there was a lack of interest, a type of resignation or ‘engagement fatigue’ (SOPRANO project).
My criticism about the conference
I didn't feel that the conference reflected on the negative side of technology use or where technology has really a place in the older person's life. Also the ‘older person’s life’ was in my opinion not clearly enough defined.
For example, a speaker from Valencia made a very ‘showy’ commercial advertising their stamp of approval of good design for the ‘elderly’ – not being aware that ‘elderly’ in the UK has the connotation of being frail… this may have been a simple language problem, but I feel the conference didn’t look closely enough at attitudes towards technology by older people or by designers.
The world of Gerontechnology seems to be dominated with projects by the industrial developed and mainly ‘white’ countries. There were no representatives from the African continent, nor the Middle East. Mainly Europe, America, Brazil and China, Korea, Japan mainly involved in ISARC were represented.
Even though there was a re-occurring theme of problems of working with older people and technology acceptance by older people, it didn’t seem that projects could learn from each other – I think it would have very beneficial to have some panel discussion where the speakers could have exchanged their views.
Personally, I feel that technology gets in the way of growing older (which for me comes down to taking time for yourself & health, meditate and reflect, feel in sync with the world and give back to the younger generation) - I do think that technology has a place to support care givers in their work helping older people, people with dementia and as a tool for daily living tasks (which would be good for people of any age) and as a tool for communication.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Poster: Teletalker - an online window to connect older adults
At the ISG I presented my poster about my research field research with the Teletalker.
Field research took place from 12th - 15th June 2012 between the Day centre Age UK Barnet and the atrium Middlesex University.
Summary of main findings:
* The Teletalker worked well as an introduction for older people to online face-to-face communication
* Signage is needed to make the purpose of the Teletalker clearer
* Communication through the Teletalker worked better when there was a person at one end all the time
* Physical placement of the Teletalker was crucial for getting people to try it out and to connect older adults
Summary of main findings:
* The Teletalker worked well as an introduction for older people to online face-to-face communication
* Signage is needed to make the purpose of the Teletalker clearer
* Communication through the Teletalker worked better when there was a person at one end all the time
* Physical placement of the Teletalker was crucial for getting people to try it out and to connect older adults
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
At the ISG*ISARC conference
At the moment I'm at the ISG conference in Eindhoven. The ISARC part of the conference is all about robots, which I find fascinating. With fellow academics I discussed the question whether the majority of older people are still likely to be out of touch with technology in 20years time (even though by then the majority will be proficient Internet users)? There is the possibility that other technologies have been developed where the older person (including me by then) may not feel the need of wanting to learn.
What is your view?
Tomorrow I will be talking about my research: the Teletalker - an online window to connect older adults. With this research I investigate how to make online face to face communication easier for everyone... in particular for technological novices.
From 11th June to 15th June I conducted field research with the Teletalker between Middlesex University and AgeUk Barnet. I'm still analyzing my observations, but here is a little video to give you a feeling for how it went.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Martha Lane-Fox introduces the Digital Unite Academy
Digital Unite Academy offers a Digital Champion ITQ (accredited by city & guilds) for people who are interested in helping other people to learn the computer.
Martha Lane-Fox introduces the Digital Unite Academy in this little video. I agree with her that most people are not aware of the benefits of what you can do online and that it is people power what would bring more people online. Am just surprised to find that she's worried whether she's going to pass the ITQ course - not sure how encouraging this is.
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