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.

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

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.

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.

External and internal locus of control

This Monday I listened to BBC4 Mind changers about Julian Rotter's measurement of internal and external locus of control. Depending on the person's perception of where the control lies for events they deal differently with life situations. If you have an internal locus of control you might be a 'go getter' and believing that you can change things. If you have an external locus of control you might believe that a higher power has decided events for you and that you can't do anything about it and this can show in for example "learnt helplessness". Particularly interesting for me was to hear that the locus of control changes with age and how it changes to an external locus in regards to health aspects. The Lifespan Developmental Psychology Laboratory at Brandeis University did research on this. Another interesting aspect for me was to hear how Julian Rotter was an academic, but he was also a keen sportsman and poker player and that these activities were for him as important as his research. Which feds my opinion to be a rounded, happy and enlightened person one should not only seek to accumulate knowledge but also to be in sync with your body through either sports or meditation. Surely poker can be seen as a form of meditation :-)

European Year of Active Ageing

2012 is the European Year of Active Ageing. here is the link to the EU website - the about section I find the events calendar on the right-hand side particularly interesting.

Life's third act

I recently watched with my mother-in-law (in her seventies) the talk by Jane Fonda "Life's third act" on TED talks. view talk here I really enjoyed her talk and thought that the analogy of life as 'going upstairs' (rather than going up some steps and after peaking, going the steps down) was very apt. My mother-in-law felt that most of it was very true. When I probed she said that she couldn't remember the details but it felt that way. She made, however, the point that Jane Fonda is someone who has sufficient money and that an older person's development might be very different when they have money worries. I couldn't disagree with this, and now wonder how for example a homeless older person experience life.