Anticipation, agency and aging–conditions for making movement irresistible

Abstract

This article describes an approach to developing and maintaining interpersonal agency through guided movement and responsive technologies. Making Movement Irresistible (MMI), considered conditions for developing a digital, online and wearable intervention that could make the act of movement irresistible for older residents in care, and encourage improvisational and social interactions. Working within a co-design framework, we combined making material objects and moving together as a method of examining the efficacy of human to human, and human to technology relationships to cultivate agency. Given that movement as performance is frequently not practiced or uncomfortable, we invited a variety of experts as our co-designers to notice the nuances of movement that interested them and to document these using drawing, writing and visuals. This documentation was gathered regularly in journals as the workshops progressed, leading to a coherent capture of data as it emerged. This data allowed us to attribute value to how simple actions could become a conduit for more ambitious, exploratory interactions. Our playful methods afforded the participation of co-designers, enabling us to situate our proposed intervention within a relational and social, rather than medical model, of ageing. Making movement do-able and relational, so that it can be shared and extended with a partner or carer, informed the idea to design a wearable device that could detect movement variability, resulting in a prototype, named emitts®. The device makes use of the hand as way in to accessing whole body interaction. Our work with responsiveness of visual feedback avoided deterministic targets, as with no two movements being identical, the reported problem of compliance with repetitive tasks could be reduced. The technology foregrounded movement that was capricious and improvisational, offering new modes of artistic practice and engagement through play and performance. The case we describe highlights the importance of understanding the conditions that augment social interaction, rather than specifying design criteria for determining interaction. The longer-term health benefits of our intervention have yet to be measured, however, our collaboration has revealed how interpersonal agency emerges when we socially, aesthetically, and physiologically stimulate movement, making it irresistible where there may otherwise be resistance.