Developing Communication Technologies to Promote Intergenerational Awareness and Social Re-Engagement Dave Harley Interact Lab, Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK
[email protected]
Functionalist, cognitive notions of ageing dominate current approaches to interaction design for the elderly. Solutions arrived at in this way, tend to pathologise the ageing process through their focus on physical and cognitive deficits. This paper will argue for a more holistic view of the person which encourages technology development which is engaging and meaningful rather than purely functional. Social changes inherent in industrialised societies mean that there are increasing levels of social isolation amongst the elderly which impact upon health and well-being. This paper will look at ways of designing communication technologies in order to ease this sense of isolation by encouraging greater social contact between generations. Methodologies for developing technologies which will promote positive and meaningful interactions in this context are explored. Intergenerational communication; social isolation; Smart Homes; communication technologies; cultural probes
1. INTRODUCTION The process of industrialisation has had a dramatic impact on the socio-demographics of the developed world. In the UK life expectancy for men has increased from 45.7 years in 1901 to 76.2 years in 2002 and for women from 49.6 years to 80.7 years over the same period [10]. Providing adequate health and social services for a growing elderly population has become a increasing concern in the UK [5] and has hastened a move to supporting the elderly to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible so easing the tax burden of residential care services. Assistive technology is being promoted as an enabler of the above scenario in the developed world [1] and currently represents an impetus for interaction design. However technology development in this field often has a rather limited view of human experience, translating design processes inappropriately from the work place directly into the home environment. For instance in the field of ubiquitous computing there have been sincere attempts to augment health and social care support though the use of embedded systems in the home, often referred to as ‘Smart Homes’. This research is taking place both in the UK [7] and in the US [2,9] . These ubiquitous solutions are able to monitor and interpret aspects of an elderly person’s physical state and infer corresponding behaviours, reporting them back to relevant support staff. They have focussed primarily on those with degenerative disorders associated with old age such as Alzheimer’s or more general cognitive deficits. Whilst these approaches may provide ‘efficiency gains’ for providers of care, they are in danger of pathologising the ageing process and disregarding the important aspects of an elderly person’s experience which help to make their lives meaningful rather than just longer. They also ignore changes in the social context of elderly people’s lives which impinge upon their health and well being long before issues of physical debility set in. The breakdown in traditional family structures and increased levels of geographical mobility mean that the elderly are now more likely to live separated from family and friends and hence be more socially isolated than ever before [8]. Opportunities to share experience across generations are diminishing. Current communication technologies afford opportunities for greater social contact between generations at a distance which might help assuage these societal changes. Unfortunately they have not been developed to support this kind of communication. Indeed current communication technologies often exacerbate generational divisions through poor accessibility.
2. EMBEDDING TECHNOLOGY DESIGN WITHIN ONGOING FAMILY AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION In order to develop technologies which will support and encourage intergenerational communication it is necessary to move beyond this limited conception of elderly people and to start considering the whole depth of their experience, acknowledging their full potential as family and community members. At this preliminary stage in the research establishing suitable methods for making this possible is the main concern. The initial focus is on understanding the nature of the relationships as they already exist between generations in everyday life and helping this to develop into something more. Intergenerational contact takes many forms. It may be about ongoing relationships between grandparents and grandchildren or impromptu contact that takes place between different age groups within a community. The way in which culture is communicated and common purpose established is of interest in both of these scenarios having implications for society as a whole. The importance of sharing experiences and of mutually creating those experiences is intrinsic to both intergenerational research and the development of suitable communication technologies for this context. For potential technologies to be meaningful they must be socially innovative as well as technologically. This represents a challenge for interaction design 2.1 Appropriate Methods Ethnographic methods developed within HCI have gone some way to incorporating contextual and phenomenological experience into the design process but they are not intended to be proactive in effecting social change. Ethnography is most often concerned with the elaboration of the socio-technical status quo rather than exploring potentialities. The ethnographic approach required in this context needs to have more in common with action research. A potential candidate which has grown out of ethnographic concerns is that of cultural probes [3, 6]. With this method prospective technology users are presented with materials which act as phenomenological prompts, helping them to communicate to designers pertinent insights about possible avenues for design. This method can be adapted to emphasise possibilities for interaction between intergenerational participants rather than between designer and prospective users [4]. This is currently being pursued as a suitable method of investigation. REFERENCES [1] Independence and Well-Being 4 (2004) Assistive Technology. Independence and Well-Being 4. (Audit Commission Report) Audit Commission, London, UK [2] Consolvo, S. Roessler, P. and Shelton, B. (2004) The CareNet Display: Lessons Learned from an In Home Evaluation of an Ambient Display. Proceedings of 6th International Conference of Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp 2004). Nottingham, England, September 7-10, 2004, pp 1-17. [3] Crabtree, A., Hemmings, T., Rodden, T., Clarke, K., Dewsbury, G., Hughes, J., Rouncefield, M. and Sommerville, I. (2002) “Sore legs and naked bottoms” - Using Cultural Probes in Dependability Research. Proceedings of the 1st DIRC Conference on Dependable Computing Systems, November 20-21, The Royal Statistical Society, London. [4] David, H., Francis, P., Benda, P. Gibbs, M. Howard, S. and Vetere, F. (2005) “Bridging the Intergenerational Divide:Implications of Employing Cultural Probes in Distributed Homes” . Proceedings of OzCHI 2005. Canberra, Australia, November 23-25, 2005. [5] White Paper, 30th January 2006. (2006) Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services. Department of Health, London, UK [6] Gaver, W., Dunne, A. and Pacenti, E. (1999) “Cultural probes”, Interactions, vol. 6(1), pp. 21-29. [7] Lo, B. Wang, J. and Yang, G. (2005) From Imaging Networks to Behaviour Profiling: Ubiquitous Sensing for Managed Homecare of The Elderly. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Pervasive Computing (PERVASIVE 2005), Munich, Germany, May 8-13, 2005. [8] McCarthy, H. and Thomas, G. (2004) Home Alone. Demos, London. [9] Munguia Tapia, E., Intille, S. and Larson, K. (2004) Activity recognition in the home setting using simple and ubiquitous sensors. Proceedings of PERVASIVE 2004, Linz, Austria, April 18-23, 2004, vol. LNCS 3001, pp. 158175 A. Ferscha and F. Mattern, Eds. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. [10] Office for National Statistics www.nationalstatistics.gov.uk accessed May 2006
