Technology in health and social care: a critical reflection from across two continents

An ageing population, with pressure on health care and social care capacity, is driving demand for innovative solutions to support independence at home. Digital technologies have been proposed as a way to respond to these challenges, and as a consequence, the delivery of care is being transformed. However, in spite of technology being positioned as a panacea to meet the current challenges facing health and social care, a lack of critical discourse around technology use in this context is of concern. Issues regarding user acceptance, role of care technology and setting realistic expectations on what technology can contribute to these challenges have yet to be addressed

Achieving digital inclusion of older adults through interest-driven curriculums

One outcome of increased life expectancy is that older adults are leading active lives in their third age as they seize opportunities to learn new skills, pursue new interests and hobbies to challenge themselves. However, there are many misconceptions about older adults’ capabilities and aspirations, especially their attitudes towards technology. They are often misunderstood and seen to lack interest and motivation in the use of technology. Thus, this article examines interest-driven curriculums in order to achieve digital inclusion for older adults. Investigation methodology into this dilemma was best served with a mixed methods approach because, to date, there has been very little research about how technology could support older adults’ interests. The majority of the existing studies consulted were focused on school children in a classroom setting. Older adults can differ greatly in their general background and level of technical experience and knowledge. Consequently, it would be very difficult to conduct quantitative research with control groups to investigate single variables. In compensation, 131 older adults, five staff members and eight teachers participated in this study. Qualitative methods such as observations and interviews (one-on-one and focus group) provided a deeper insight into teachers’ experiences and teaching. Older adults were not always able to articulate their attitudes and problems with technology and consequently, observations were often a more effective means of data gathering. Finally, an Action Research approach was taken to trialling the concepts developed in the course of the investigation. This research comprised of four studies looked at expanding and extending on The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development by Hidi and Renninger (2006). The results show that when older adults are taught according to requests based on their pre-existing interests, it encourages long-term engagement of technology and ability to integrate technology into their everyday lives, thereby achieving digital inclusion amongst older adults

Building relationships with remote participants through playful technology interactions in online codesign

“Hybrid is here to stay!” If that is so, then how we educate design students and the techniques they learn need to work in a technology-driven online environment as well as face-to-face on campus. Learning codesign typically involves students being in a design studio environment where they create activities using tangible materials, for use in workshops, giving participants hands-on experiences to gather useful design insights. The question is, how does codesign need to be adapted to be effective in an online environment? To identify those elements of codesign that work effectively online, we offer lessons learned from teaching codesign online during the lockdowns and the resulting isolation of academics and students imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This necessitated rapidly adapting on-campus codesign techniques to online versions using available technologies to engage remote participants in online participatory experiences. We describe codesign activities of design teams who created 24 unique online activities to explore designs for Welcoming Community onto Campus, trialling them in virtual workshops with the local community. Case study method was used to collect and analyse weekly student reflections and educator observations using thematic analysis and basic inductive coding. The unexpected finding is that online codesign activities need to remain tactile and include multisensory qualities. We argue that online codesign needs to focus on building relationships, engaging the senses, keeping it simple and allowing flexible timing. We identify the benefits, challenges and implications for online codesign and provide a checklist for designers wanting to prepare for a hybrid codesign future

The role of users’ emotions and associated quality goals on appropriation of systems: two case studies

In this paper, we examine the role of emotions and associated system qualities in encouraging adoption and effective use of systems. In two different contexts, we examine the use of a learning management system in an educational setting and a personal emergency alarm system in an aged care setting. This study reveals that technology appropriation is driven by different emotions depending on whether users are in the adoption decision-making stage or during actual use as a part of their everyday routine. Findings from this study suggest that social factors influence peoples’ emotions in the decision to adopt a system. However, as people use a system, it is the non-functional system qualities, based on personal experiences with the look, feel, functionality and features that trigger positive and negative emotional responses. Our findings therefore propose that these emotional responses should be considered during system design and implementation to encourage appropriation and avoid rejection of systems

Co-Creating Futures of Care with Older Adults

Designing for care futures in older adulthood often begins and ends with techno-solutions for use in formal care systems, while older adults and their informal care networks are often excluded contributing their own visions for care and the future. In this workshop, we will explore how we can better design not only for but with care in older adulthood, applying the PDC 2022 'Senti-Pensar' (thinking-feeling) lens, to ask 'how can we enact and represent design practice that is difficult to describe but is heartfelt and passionate?' We aim to challenge current narratives of care in HCI, embracing the diversity of experiences of older adults, and facilitating discussion around a future of care that values interdependency, relationality, and thinking-feeling in design. By considering multiple perspectives on care in older adulthood, we will speculate on the role of technologies within future ecosystems of care, where care is the concerted and organising principle.</p

Mediating Intimacy: Digital Kisses and Cut and Paste Hugs

Interest in personal and domestic technology is growing rapidly. In this paper, we explore what it means to understand and support the most personal of human acts - maintaining intimacy between family members. Intimate acts are different to other domestic behaviours; are challenging to study; and, we speculate, provide opportunities for technologies quite different in form and purpose to those appropriate for other aspects of home life

Visualising embodied interaction in design or why we laugh about monkeys

The context in which a device is used has a major impact on mobile device design. However, there are few system design methods available that assist user interface designers to represent use context in a useful and systematic manner throughout the whole design process. Current scenario-based design approaches are able to represent context, but still present a challenge to support a shared understanding of the rich context in which activities take place and to represent the embodied nature of actions and interactions. This paper reports on a method called Picture Scenarios. These scenarios provide an effective way of communicating and debating use context (within which activity unfolds) with design partners in mobile device design. The suggested format of the picture scenarios facilitates to represent use context during design activities in a systematic way. These scenarios are easy to create, easy to use and capture important contextual details about activity that is difficult to represent otherwise