Not For Me

Abstract

This paper considers what we can learn from the experiences of people who choose not to participate in technology-based social interventions. We conducted ethnographically-informed field studies with socially isolated older adults, who used and evaluated a new iPad application designed to help build new social connections.In this paper we reflect on how the values and assumptions guiding the technological intervention were not always shared by those participating in the evaluation. Drawing on our field notes and interviews with the older adults who chose to discontinue participation, we use personas to illustrate the complexities and tensions involved in individual decisions to not participate. This analysis contributes to HCI research calling for a more critical perspective on technological interventions. We provide detailed examples highlighting the complex circumstances of our non-participants' lives, present a framework that outlines the socio-technical context of non-participation, and use our findings to promote reflective practice in HCI research that aims to address complex social issues.

The Technology Explorers: Partnering with Older Adults to Engage with Virtual Reality and Virtual Avatars

“…While these findings are consistent with recent research that has emphasised the heterogeneous nature of older adult groups with respect to technological knowledge (Baker, Waycott, Pedell, Hoang, & Ozanne, 2016;Hill, Betts, & Gardner, 2015;Vines, Pritchard, Wright, Olivier, & Brittain, 2015;Waycott et al, 2016), we were none-the-less faced with the challenge of how best to engage with such a diverse group on technical matters relating to the workshops. In this section, we first discuss some of the techniques, derived from action research principals that we used to build a strong group culture within the Technology Explorer groups.…”

Look who's talking: appearance of embodied conversational agents in eHealth

“…Research indicates that older adults put effort into learning new digital technologies as long as they are believed to be worthy of time and dedication (e.g., when technology can be used to keep in touch with others to foster relationships (Lindley et al, 2009). Similarly, research shows that the elderly value apps that address a social problem (Waycott et al, 2016). The app used in our study did not address a social problem, which could have resulted in some participants not seeing the added value of the app and not showing an intention to use the app.…”

Successful Leisure in Independent Living Communities

“…More importantly, it calls for us to question whether adding communication capabilities to a television will impinge on precious time alone create a sense of obligation for older adults to respond. Our analysis contributes to an ongoing dialogue around the need to honor older adults' choice to not partake in interventions that aim to increase social interactions [86].…”

“…The successful aging narrative emphasizes individual responsibility in maintaining health, ignoring systemic factors that affect older adults' ability to maintain their health and participate in activities [34,67]. When adopted by researchers, the successful aging narrative manifests in technologies that focus on personal responsibility to participate in activities, such as technologies to motivate social interaction and physical or cognitive exercises [82,86]. Though these are important areas of study, we can expand our focus to encompass technologies that move us past individual responsibility towards ecological and societal factors that affect opportunities in older adulthood.…”