LivingLab PJAIT

Abstract

In this paper we provide a brief summary of development LivingLab PJAIT as an attempt to establish a comprehensive and sustainable ICT-based solution for empowerment of elderly communities towards better urban participation of seniors. We report on our various endeavors for better involvement and participation of older adults in urban life by lowering ICT barriers, encouraging social inclusion, intergenerational interaction, physical activity and engaging older adults in the process of development of ICT solutions. We report on a model and assumptions of the LivingLab PJAIT as well as a number of activities created and implemented for LivingLab participants: from ICT courses, both traditional and e-learning, through on-line crowdsourcing tasks, to blended activities of different forms and complexity. We also provide conclusions on the lessons learned in the process and some future plans, including solutions for better senior urban participation and citizen science.

Older Adults and Crowdsourcing

“…Some preliminary studies on using Smart TVs for older adults in the context of Living Labs had been initiated [5], however, this is still a largely unexplored area of research with few general studies on interfaces for TV apps for older adults, such as the one by Nunes et al, who among other things, recommended minimizing navigation steps, clearly marking selections, using the middle of the screen, simple language and allowing for enough time to read [43]. This encouraged us, based on our findings concerning older adults and Living Labs [34], to explore the new technological, but familiar, opportunities that Smart TVs present in the home environment, especially in the context of crowdsourcing. According to numerous analyses, there is still tremendous dominance of using TV sets over computer and mobile equipment, especially among older adults (defined as 65+).…”

“…Our assumptions, based on our previous work with older adults in a similar field [34], were that they enjoy using Android tablets [31] and therefore can learn to proficiently use Smart TVs, which have the benefits of relying on a familiar setting (TV set) and interfaces (e.g. Teletext), a simple remote, as well as sport a larger screen size.…”

“…On top of the question of feeling competent, there are specific physiological changes in the brain of older adults, which comprise of deterioration of working memory, and consequently, the ability to acquire new information [59]. But, this effect can be mitigated by creating step-by-step instructions for doing an ICT task in a workshop format [34], and specific instruction design elements targeting these problems [59]. At the same time, there is evidence that crystallized intelligence, which consists of general knowledge derived from experience, not only does not decline [58], but may benefit from aging [38].…”

“…Solutions Uncomfortable and costly setup [31,51] TV sets at home [5,34] Unfamiliar interfaces [7,16,17,45] Text and remote control [23] Repetitive tasks [11] Educational wide-domain TEDx videos [4] Unclear social benefit [11] Improving subtitles for all [12] Unclear personal benefit [11,56] Learning, positive self-image [42, 60] Unsocial nature of the task [55] Part of the community [14,41] European countries. 6 Unlike dubbing, which employs a cast of actors to recreate the soundtrack in the target language, voice-over translation usually employs the technique of using a single voice actor talking over a quieter original film soundtrack.…”

Older Adults and Voice Interaction

“…For this reason, some older adults are enthusiastic about joining LivingLab ICT initiatives [7] despite some barriers to their involvement in ICT [6,10]. Although there are previous studies on VA usability [9], also with older adults in the context of SH [12] it is worth to further investigate this problem in multiple cultural contexts in order to suggest how to make Voice Interfaces more accessible [3] in general to facilitate different groups of older adults' interaction with ICT-enhanced solutions.…”