Co-creating Digital Public Services for an Ageing Society

This open access book attends to the co-creation of digital public services for ageing societies. Increasingly public services are provided in digital form; their uptake however remains well below expectations. In particular, amongst older adults the need for public services is high, while at the same time the uptake of digital services is lower than the population average. One of the reasons is that many digital public services (or e-services) do not respond well to the life worlds, use contexts and use practices of its target audiences. This book argues that when older adults are involved in the process of identifying, conceptualising, and designing digital public services, these services become more relevant and meaningful. The book describes and compares three co-creation projects that were conducted in two European cities, Bremen and Zaragoza, as part of a larger EU-funded innovation project. The first part of the book traces the origins of co-creation to three distinct domains, in which co-creation has become an equally important approach with different understandings of what it is and entails: (1) the co-production of public services, (2) the co-design of information systems and (3) the civic use of open data. The second part of the book analyses how decisions about a co-creation project’s governance structure, its scope of action, its choice of methods, its alignment with strategic policies and its embedding in existing public information infrastructures impact on the process and its results. The final part of the book identifies key challenges to co-creation and provides a more general assessment of what co-creation may achieve, where the most promising areas of application may be and where it probably does not match with the contingent requirements of digital public services. Contributing to current discourses on digital citizenship in ageing societies and user-centric design, this book is useful for researchers and practitioners interested in co-creation, public sector innovation, open government, ageing and digital technologies, citizen engagement and civic participation in socio-technical innovation

All together now: factors that foster older adults' feelings of independence

The combination of current demographic trends, which see people living longer and in better health, and the increasing ubiquity of technology in modern life has encouraged research into making technology useful and usable by older adults. Older adults‘ relationship with technology has traditionally been pessimistically portrayed, but recent evidence suggests that older people want to be able to interact with new technologies in order to remain active and engaged with society. Older adults are keen to make their own choices and do things for themselves but there are tasks for which they often enlist the help of other people, regardless of their ability to perform them on their own. On the surface, this apparent paradox seems at odds with the essence of Inclusive Design, which has always been an advocate for independent living, particularly in later life. Yet maybe the problem lies with how ‗independence‘ is defined – usually taken to mean a lack of reliance on others – and how it is actually perceived by the older population. Therefore, the aim of the study presented in this paper is to explore how older adults conceptualise independence, dependence and interdependence. Probe kits distributed to people over the age of 50 were used as a primary method, and were followed up with supporting semistructured interviews. The probes were designed to enable participants to express themselves on various levels of creativity, generating rich material for design inspiration. Emerging results are presented here and their implications for the design of inclusive and desirable future products are discussed. Finally, the probe elements used in this study are reviewed as a method for collecting data from older adults

Designing out-of-box experiences for older adults: exploring the boundaries of inclusive design

This thesis investigates the Out-of-Box Experience (OoBE) of interactive consumer products for older adults, with a view to improve the User Experience (UX) of a product by manipulating factors of the OoBE. This research emerges in the context of current demographic trends, which see people living longer and in better health, and the increasing ubiquity of technology in modern life. The OoBE describes the very first stages of interaction with a new product, including acquisition, unpacking and setup. This crucial initial experience has the potential to influence product acceptance and therefore determine its future use. Creating a positive OoBE requires an empathic understanding of the intended users, as well as contextual knowledge about current practices. A review of the literature revealed that many of the difficulties older adults experience with technology concern elements of the OoBE, such as complicated documentation, technical jargon and inadequate support for inexperienced users. However, the absence of research on how to engage older adults during the OoBE of new technology reinforced the need for further research. To this end, two user studies were conducted with older people, followed by a design study with designers. The first study explored older adults relationship with technology and their current practices of the OoBE, using the Technology Biography method. The second study used cultural probes to investigate the social side of UX and its effect on personal feelings of independence. Data from these two studies were used to create four personas, which were used in the design study. This third and final study focused on whether the construct of social benefits could be operationalised within the OoBE of new technology. Collectively, the findings indicated that the involvement of other people during the OoBE can be a strong motivator for older people to take up and use technology. Far from impinging on individual perceptions of independence, some older people actively manipulate the OoBE in order to derive social benefits. This research thus contributes to the discussion of how Inclusive Design can evolve through the incorporation of social benefits, in order to generate desirable and successful future products

Community Consultation and Environmental Justice in the Regent Park Revitalization

The neighbourhood of Regent Park, located in the east end of downtown Toronto, Ontario, is the oldest and largest public housing development in Canada. In 2002, under its new management by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, the development was announced to undergo a total redevelopment to be completed over 12 years. The revitalization of Regent Park has involved, among other things, an extensive and uniquely designed community consultation process, as well as a redesign for its green space. The community consultation process is examined through a case study method, wherein the use of archival documents, interviews with community staff, and focus groups with residents of the neighbourhood form the data. The revitalization is analyzed according to its context within ecological levels, and situated within the framework of environmental justice

Include 2011 : The role of inclusive design in making social innovation happen.

Include is the biennial conference held at the RCA and hosted by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. The event is directed by Jo-Anne Bichard and attracts an international delegation

An exploration and a participatory study toolkit: identifying the relationship between pavements and older pedestrians

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonWalking is the most regular activity for older people to keep healthy and is a popular means of transport for seniors doing their daily errands. Pedestrian pavements play an important role regarding the quality of walking among older people, whereas poorly designed or badly maintained pavements may pose challenges to walking. An empirical study was conducted in London with 41 senior residents aged 60 and over. It aimed to identify hazardous factors of the pavement, explore the behavioural and physical impact of pavement hazards on older people and gather the elders’ requirements for improving the pavement. A mix of qualitative methods and quantitative methods collaborating interviews, observations, cultural probe, and questionnaires were used to collect data. Qualitative analysis encompassing transcription, coding, and categorising and statistical analysis, assisted by the use of software, were applied to examine the data. The study outcomes show that hazardous pavement factors were made up of poor pavement conditions and pavement obstructions categorising broken conditions, uneven surfaces, narrow pavements, slippery obstacles, parked vehicles, overgrown plants, and so on. These factors could increase the risk of falling to the participants, cause physical burdens to the participants and limit their walking and view. The participants had to adapt their walking behaviour or gait patterns to avoid the hazardous factors. For example, they often adopted cautious steps, walked slowly, stepped aside, gave way to other people, adjusted their pace, or stopped walking to mitigate the walking risk caused by pavement hazards. Regarding minimising those accident-prone conditions and creating a safe and comfortable walking environment for older pedestrians, the participants came up with suggestions for improving the pavement. Wide and flat pavements, clean paved surfaces free from obstacles, and a pedestrianised pavement with well-maintained and uniformly designed street amenities were found to be mostly requested by the participants. The empirical outcomes have been translated into a map-based toolkit to enable researchers, namely local councillors, urban planners, neighbourhood designers, and road engineers, to have a better understanding of the relationship between pavements and older adults and to further explore the study topic through a participatory study with older adults as the participants. In the participatory study, users can use the tool to identify hazardous factors of pavements and their impact on walking in the study participants and to propose recommendation to enhance the walking environment based on a printed map of a local pavement environment. As to the outputs of the study, plenty of analysable data which are systematically categorised by the tool will be provided to researchers. Then, researchers can prioritise problems with the pavement, analyse the significant walking behaviour associated with the pavement hazards and make improvements in the pavement. The toolkit has been evaluated by target users in interviews and workshops with questionnaires applied to collect feedback. According to the user feedback, the tool encouraged elderly participants to actively share their views and to generate ideas in a group activity. Also, the tool enabled researchers to conduct an efficient group study, to develop their work with new knowledge and to create an assessment report and design guidance for the age-friendly pavement environment