Engaging older people using participatory design

Older adults and hackathons: a qualitative study

“…Some researchers like (Lindsay et al 2012) or Davidson and Jensen (2013) point out that there is more to the discussion about participatory design with older adults than the dispute on the new key trend in HCI, the third wave. One of the fundamental underlying ideas is related to the need to continue the research and present new examples on participatory design leasing to broader acceptance of the practice in industry.…”

“…Unfortunately, the relationship between technology and some key concepts such as user experience and various design approaches can be complex and sometimes difficult to define. It is worth mentioning that despite current discussion about trends in software development, in particular about the differences between second and third wave of HCI, many authors, like (Lindsay et al 2012) or Davidson and Jensen (2013) claim that the most important challenges of current studies on participatory design with older adults are connected to addressing their real needs and desires instead of simply tackling their most obvious functional impairments. However, they say that experience-centered design also plays an important role in relation to work with older adults.…”

“…Both approaches are vital in HCI and directly connected to older adults in terms of facing the disabilites and transforming them into impairments that can be properly addressed according to the social model of disability such as that proposed by Oliver et al (2012). On the other hand it was mentioned before that according to Lindsay et al (2012) and Davidson and Jensen (2013) designing the solutions for older adults should not be treated as addressing the list of identified functional impairments but rather as an opportunity to explore their needs and desires. Moreover, Lindsay et al stipulate the early engagement of older adults in design process cycle regardless the area of design.…”

Keep, lose, change: Prompts for the re-design of product concepts in a focus group setting

“…The latter include tiredness, lack of stamina, concentration, attention and motivation, slow responses and a tendency to get side-tracked in conversation (Barrett & Kirk 2000, Newell et al 2007. Several authors address these challenges by working with older partners in multiple stages over time (Demirbilek & Dermirkan 2004, Lindsay et al 2012, Vines et al 2012a. Although some of these stages involve refining earlier design ideas in various ways, none do so in a traditional focus group setting.…”

“…Redesign sessions were typically an hour long and this felt too rushed in many cases. A better method might allow for more time and the chance to reflect and return to the task another day (Lindsay et al 2012, Vines et al 2012a.…”