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Software systems meant to support older adults often are not well accepted as they do not meet the expectations and requirements of the target group. An involvement of older adults in system design seems imperative. The project ParTec investigated and evaluated techniques for participatory software development with regard to their suitability for communication and equal cooperation with older adults. With a group of 15 retirees we developed concepts for an online neighbourhood platform. Using various participatory techniques researchers and participants developed a deep common understanding of everyday life in early retirement, determined requirements and co-created design ideas and concepts. We will show that the use of cultural probes with subsequent qualitative interviews forms an ideal starting point and a strong fundament for a participatory design process with older adults.

This article provides an experience report on an interdisciplinary cooperation between two gender researchers and two automotive engineers at a German technical university. It focuses on the negotiation processes around a joint research proposal, dealing with the question of how to create concepts for a trustworthy human-machine interaction in automated driving systems that satisfy the requirements of different user groups. These systems aim to offer the choice of automobility to groups of users who have so far had rather limited access, or have had reasons to refuse usage. Discussions in the interdisciplinary team are still ongoing. Their substantial shifts and their expected methodological and epistemological effects are analyzed from a feminist science and technology studies (STS) perspective. The general objective of this paper is to provide insights about the contributions and challenges of integrating approaches from gender studies into the field of automotive engineering in order to support interdisciplinary dialogues that foster a socially fair and inclusive digital transformation.