Engaging older people with participatory design

Abstract

We present a design case focusing on participatory design (PD) with older people. We experimented with PD techniques to foster engagement with participants in development of a graphical user interface (GUI) for controlling a robotic system in a smart home environment. The tenet of our approach is that to engage older people in the design of future systems, it is of paramount importance to increment and reinforce knowledge using different techniques and materials, and to create an empathic and trusted relationship between participants and designers. We experimented with different techniques for achieving this, from videobased scenario evaluation to hands-on and gaming activity in which participants had to evaluate the dynamics of a context-dependent interface using an expression-rich modality of interaction. This permitted exploration of experiential elements of design, to reduce the need for the participants to engage in abstract thought and to collect insights on design solutions while having fun together. The entire procedure implied incremental PD cycles in which knowledge was shared and consolidated through a learning process based on doing and playing together. The final reflections highlight a number of recommendations that demand consideration when undertaking research and design work with older peopl

User-Centered Design of Serious Games for Older Adults Following 3 Years of Experience With Exergames for Seniors: A Study Design

“…Iacono and Marti [50] point out how important it is to create an empathic and trusted relationship between participants and designers in participatory design with seniors and state that the role of the facilitator is crucial. Being in line both with our experience and the view of Iacono and Marti is that knowledge is not acquired once and for all by older adults, since they often forget recent events.…”

A multi-perspective evaluation of a service robot for seniors: the voice of different stakeholders

“…This GUI was developed following a person-centred approach based on the concept of actionpossibility. This means the robot has the possibility to execute tasks in a context dependent way [14]. For example: if the environment gets dark, the action-possibility "Switch the light on" appears in the form of a button on the screen.…”

Research Methods Applied to Studies with Active Elderly: A Literature Review

“…Regarding the methodologies used for and with the participation of elderly people, the researchers show the following results: Bossen et al [6], Keith [7] and Iacono et al [8] used Participatory Design methods; Colonius et al [9] and Abeele et al [13] used and approach of Participatory Design associated with User Center Design; Demirbilek et al [11] used a combination of Participatory Design and USAP (Usability, Safety, Attractiveness Participatory) design model; McGee-Lennon et al [10] used Co-designing; and Flinn et al [12] did not specify a method, despite all phases of the research contemplating the participation of the elderly user.…”

“…In the article of Iacono et al [8] the objective was "to develop a graphical interface with elderly users to control a robotic system of a "smart home", proposing a system to facilitate the lives of elderly people living alone. The system includes a tablet software, which works as a remote control, and a robot that receives, encodes information and perform tasks as the user's needs and desires".…”

“…Concerning the nature of the developed product with and for the elderly people, the focus of the researches were: Bossen et al [6] CareCoor, software of elderly assistance in performing everyday activities; Keith [7] elaboration of methodological strategies to understand the role of the elderly user as a partner while designing a project; Iacono et al [8] Software, graphic interface in a robotic system of a " smart house" to facilitate the everyday activities of elderly people who live alone; Colonius et al [9] " intelligent" assistance device for seniors who suffer from cognitive impairments from diseases; McGee-Lennon et al [10] multimodal system of reminders with mobile applicability for elderly in the home environment, considering problems of the public associated to cognitive, sensorial and physical impairments; Demirbilek et al [11] system of quality implementation matrices, in order to achieve that, a case study was performed to develop doors and door accessories with the goal to trial the conceptual design phase of the purposed model; Flinn et al [12] investigate participative experiences from elderly women with hand limitations, diminished handling, in the analysis and project generation phases of designing bottle lids, focusing in a make tool inspired activity to improve the ability of opening of the container and verify the utility of the results of this approach; and Abeele et al [13] development of game concept for the elderly and with their participation, the goal was to define game concepts according to a " passion" model from the elderly.…”