Technology development with older people : the role of “unfettered design”
Fischer, Björn LU
and Östlund, Britt
LU
(2020)
6th International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, ITAP 2020, held as part of the 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2020
In Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
12207 LNCS.
p.18-33
- Abstract
This article introduces a new method to design with older people: unfettered design. We discuss three points of concern with existing methods of involving older users: unspecific design outcomes, prejudiced views on older users, and underlying power asymmetries, which can diminish the innovative capacities of the older adults involved. To overcome these issues, we argue for the benefits of adopting unfettered design. Through unfettered design, the users involved are given the space to explore design ideas on their own terms, and unusual and unsolicited responses are explicitly desired and listened to. This, in turn, may help designers to elicit novel design ideas and identify potentials for innovative technologies. Thereby, designers... (More)
This article introduces a new method to design with older people: unfettered design. We discuss three points of concern with existing methods of involving older users: unspecific design outcomes, prejudiced views on older users, and underlying power asymmetries, which can diminish the innovative capacities of the older adults involved. To overcome these issues, we argue for the benefits of adopting unfettered design. Through unfettered design, the users involved are given the space to explore design ideas on their own terms, and unusual and unsolicited responses are explicitly desired and listened to. This, in turn, may help designers to elicit novel design ideas and identify potentials for innovative technologies. Thereby, designers may learn about the concerns and potentials for which older adults would find technologies particularly helpful - a crucial aspect considering rather low levels of technology uptake in this population segment. We illustrate our approach by means of examples from our own design experiences, and we formulate four core principles of unfettered design: ongoing reflection, retained impartiality, a distinct focus on the participants’ view and remaining flexible throughout the procedure. Having undergone several waves of both technological and social change, older adults possess unique experiences and tacit knowledge that can serve as valuable inspirations for designers. Unfettered design can be particularly helpful to benefit from these competences during design projects.
(Less)
- author
- Fischer, Björn
LU
and Östlund, Britt
LU
- publishing date
- 2020
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Involving the elderly in HCI methodology, Older people, Participatory design, User involvement
- host publication
- Human aspects of IT for the aged population. : technologies, design and user experience. 6th International Conference, ITAP 2020, Held as part of the 22nd HCI International Conference, HCII 2020, proceedings, part I - technologies, design and user experience. 6th International Conference, ITAP 2020, Held as part of the 22nd HCI International Conference, HCII 2020, proceedings, part I
- series title
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
- editor
- Gao, Qin and Zhou, Jia
- volume
- 12207 LNCS
- pages
- 16 pages
- publisher
- Springer
- conference name
- 6th International Conference on Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population, ITAP 2020, held as part of the 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2020
- conference location
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- conference dates
- 2020-07-19 - 2020-07-24
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85088742854
- ISSN
- 1611-3349
- 0302-9743
- ISBN
- 978-3-030-50251-5
- 978-3-030-50252-2
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-030-50252-2_2
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Funding Information: Acknowledgements. Our proposed approach has emerged out of several design workshops conducted during an ongoing EU project: BConnect@Home, which focuses on co-designing technologies that may support older people as they maintain connected at home. This work is funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare [grant number: 2017-02301] as part of the More Years, Better Lives Joint Programme (MYBL). Furthermore, we are thankful to the many people that participated during our workshops.
- id
- 19981dea-8611-4c54-aa7a-d4bac13b5f47
- date added to LUP
- 2023-12-04 13:30:46
- date last changed
- 2024-04-03 07:31:47
@inproceedings{19981dea-8611-4c54-aa7a-d4bac13b5f47,
abstract = {{<p>This article introduces a new method to design with older people: unfettered design. We discuss three points of concern with existing methods of involving older users: unspecific design outcomes, prejudiced views on older users, and underlying power asymmetries, which can diminish the innovative capacities of the older adults involved. To overcome these issues, we argue for the benefits of adopting unfettered design. Through unfettered design, the users involved are given the space to explore design ideas on their own terms, and unusual and unsolicited responses are explicitly desired and listened to. This, in turn, may help designers to elicit novel design ideas and identify potentials for innovative technologies. Thereby, designers may learn about the concerns and potentials for which older adults would find technologies particularly helpful - a crucial aspect considering rather low levels of technology uptake in this population segment. We illustrate our approach by means of examples from our own design experiences, and we formulate four core principles of unfettered design: ongoing reflection, retained impartiality, a distinct focus on the participants’ view and remaining flexible throughout the procedure. Having undergone several waves of both technological and social change, older adults possess unique experiences and tacit knowledge that can serve as valuable inspirations for designers. Unfettered design can be particularly helpful to benefit from these competences during design projects.</p>}},
author = {{Fischer, Björn and Östlund, Britt}},
booktitle = {{Human aspects of IT for the aged population. : technologies, design and user experience. 6th International Conference, ITAP 2020, Held as part of the 22nd HCI International Conference, HCII 2020, proceedings, part I}},
editor = {{Gao, Qin and Zhou, Jia}},
isbn = {{978-3-030-50251-5}},
issn = {{1611-3349}},
keywords = {{Involving the elderly in HCI methodology; Older people; Participatory design; User involvement}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{18--33}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)}},
title = {{Technology development with older people : the role of “unfettered design”}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50252-2_2}},
doi = {{10.1007/978-3-030-50252-2_2}},
volume = {{12207 LNCS}},
year = {{2020}},
}