Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Digital Life of Vulnerable Users: Designing with Children, Patients, and Elderly

  • Conference paper
Nordic Contributions in IS Research (SCIS 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 156))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Vulnerability is about being at risk and it is often understood as the effect of limited physical or cognitive capabilities, such as age, frailty or illness. Vulnerable people are frequently excluded from the design of technologies that could in fact support them in tackling these risks. This paper explores designing with three vulnerable groups: children with special needs, chronically ill teenage patients, and isolated, or afraid of being so in the near future, elderly adults. We choose three distinct groups in order to show the breadth and variations in the ways in which people may be vulnerable. We looked at their digital lives and possible new risks and dependencies created by the use of digital technologies. Designing with vulnerable people is practically, methodologically, and ethically challenging. We show how methodological and reflexive sensibilities help to address these challenges and keep the design process on track.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Künemund, H., Tanschus, N.: Gero-Technology: Old Age in the Electronic Jungle. In: Komp, K., Aartsen, M. (eds.) Old Age In Europe, pp. 97–112. Springer, Netherlands (2013)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  2. Warschauer, M.: Reconceptualizing the digital divide. First Monday 7(7) (2002), http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/967

  3. Gurstein, M.: Effective use: A community informatics strategy beyond the Digital Divide. First Monday 8(12) (2003), http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1107

  4. Bødker, S.: When second wave HCI meets third wave challenges. In: Proceedings of the 4th Nordic Conference on Human-computer Interaction: Changing Roles, pp. 1–8. ACM (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Newell, A.F.: Extra-ordinary human-computer interaction. In: Edwards, A.D.N. (ed.) Extra-Ordinary Human-Computer Interaction: Interfaces for Users With Disabilities. CUP Archive (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Stephanidis, C. (ed.): Universal Access in HCI, Part I, HCII 2011. LNCS, vol. 6765. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Goldsmith, S.: Universal Design. Routledge (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Grudin, J.: Groupware and social dynamics: eight challenges for developers. Commun. ACM 37(1), 92–105 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., Ólafsson, K.: EU kids online II: final report (2011), http://www.eukidsonline.net/

  10. Designing for and with Vulnerable People, CHI 2013 workshop (2013), http://di.ncl.ac.uk/vulnerability

  11. Hasselbring, T.S., Glaser, C.H.W.: Use of computer technology to help students with special needs. The Future of Children, 102–122 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Alper, M., Hourcade, J.P., Gilutz, S.: Interactive technologies for children with special needs. In: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, pp. 363–366. ACM (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Wise, P.H.: Emerging Technologies and Their Impact on Disability. The Future of Children 22(1), 169–191 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mintz, J., Branch, C., March, C., Lerman, S.: Key factors mediating the use of a mobile technology tool designed to develop social and life skills in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Computers & Education 58(1), 53–62 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Merchant, G.: Mobile practices in everyday life: Popular digital technologies and schooling revisited. British Journal of Educational Technology 43(5), 770–782 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Gasparini, A., Culén, A.: Tablet PCs – An Assistive Technology for Students with Reading Difficulties? In: The Fifth International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, pp. 28–34 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hourcade, J.P., Bullock-Rest, N.E., Hansen, T.E.: Multitouch tablet applications and activities to enhance the social skills of children with autism spectrum disorders. Personal Ubiquitous Comput. 16(2), 157–168 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. McClanahan, B., Williams, K., Kennedy, E., Tate, S.: A Breakthrough for Josh: How Use of an iPad Facilitated Reading Improvement. TechTrends 56(3), 20–28 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. iPad gives voice to kids with autism. CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/14/tech/gaming-gadgets/ipad-autism/index.html

  20. Benton, L., Johnson, H., Ashwin, E., Brosnan, M., Grawemeyer, B.: Developing IDEAS, pp. 2599–2608. ACM Press (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Druin, A.: Mobile Technology for Children: Designing for Interaction and Learning. Morgan Kaufmann (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Frauenberger, C., Good, J., Keay-Bright, W.E.: Designing Technology for Children with Special Needs - Bridging Perspectives through Participatory Design. CoDesign: International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts 7, 1–28 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Guha, M.L., Druin, A., Fails, J.A.: Designing with and for children with special needs: an inclusionary model. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, pp. 61–64 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Lewis, A., Porter, J.: Interviewing children and young people with learning disabilities: guidelines for researchers and multi-professional practice. British Journal of Learning Disabilities 32(4), 191–197 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ljusberg, A.L., Brodin, J., Lindstrand, P.: Ethical issues when interviewing children in remedial classes. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research 30(3), 203–207 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Culén, A., Gasparini, A.: Situated Techno-Cools: factors that contribute to making technology cool. PsycNology Journal 10(2), 117–139 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Culén, A., Gasparini, A.: When is a Student-centered, Technology Supported Learning a Success? International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications 2(3), 256–269 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Iversen, O.S., Halskov, K., Leong, T.W.: Rekindling values in participatory design. In: PDC 2010, pp. 91–100. ACM, New York (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Teachman, G., Gibson, B.E.: Children and youth with disabilities: innovative methods for single qualitative interviews. Qualitative Health Research 23(2), 264–274 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Karpova, A., Culén, A.: Challenges in designing an app for a special education class. In: IADIS, Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction 2013, Prague, July 22-24 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Alpay, H.: Transition of the Adolescent Patient to the Adult Clinic. Peritoneal Dialysis International 29(suppl. 2), 180–182 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Callahan, S.T., Winitzer, R.F., Keenan, P.: Transition from pediatric to adult-oriented health care: a challenge for patients with chronic disease. Current Opinion in Pediatrics 13(4), 310 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kyngäs, H.: Compliance of adolescents with chronic disease. Journal of Clinical Nursing 9(4), 549–556 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Taddeo, D., Egedy, M., Frappier, J.-Y.: Adherence to treatment in adolescents. Paediatr. Child Health 13(1), 19–24 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Nevins, T.E.: Non-compliance and its management in teenagers. Pediatric Transplantation 6(6), 475–479 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  36. Friedman, I.M., Litt, I.F.: Adolescents’ compliance with therapeutic regimens: Psychological and social aspects and intervention. Journal of Adolescent Health Care 8(1), 52–67 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. van Staa, A., Jedeloo, S., van der Stege, H.: ‘What we want’: chronically ill adolescents’ preferences and priorities for improving health care. Patient Preference and Adherence 5, 291–305 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Lugasi, T., Achille, M., Stevenson, M.: Patients’ Perspective on Factors that Facilitate Transition from Child-centered to Adult-centered Health Care: A Theory Integrated Metasummary of Quantitative and Qualitative Studies. Journal of Adolescent Health 48(5), 429–440 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Waller, A., Franklin, V., Pagliari, C., Greene, S.: Participatory design of a text message scheduling system to support young people with diabetes. Health Informatics Journal 12(4), 304–318 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Berwick, D.M.: What ‘Patient-Centered’ Should Mean: Confessions of an Extremist. Health Affairs 28(4), 555–565 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Reis, C.I., Freire, C.S., Fernández, J., Monguet, J.M.: Patient Centered Design: Challenges and Lessons Learned from Working with Health Professionals and Schizophrenic Patients in e-Therapy Contexts. In: Cruz-Cunha, M.M., Varajão, J., Powell, P., Martinho, R. (eds.) CENTERIS 2011, Part III. CCIS, vol. 221, pp. 1–10. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  42. Lang, A.R., Martin, J.L., Sharples, S., Crowe, J.A., Murphy, E.: Not a minor problem: involving adolescents in medical device design research. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 12 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  43. van der Velden, M., Emam, K.E.: “Not all my friends need to know”: a qualitative study of teenage patients, privacy, and social media. J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc., 16–24 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  44. Chira, P., Nugent, L., Miller, K., et al.: Living Profiles: Design of a health media platform for teens with special healthcare needs. Journal of Biomedical Informatics 43(5(suppl.)), S.9–S.12 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Mack, R., Giarelli, E., Bernhardt, B.A.: The Adolescent Research Participant: Strategies for Productive and Ethical Interviewing. Journal of Pediatric Nursing 24(6), 448–457 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Fitton, D., Horton, M., Read, J.C., Little, L., Toth, N.: Climbing the cool wall: exploring teenage preferences of cool. In: Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts, pp. 2093–2098. ACM (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  47. Read, J., Fitton, D., Cowan, B., Beale, R., Guo, Y., Horton, M.: Understanding and designing cool technologies for teenagers. In: Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1567–1572. ACM (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  48. Machniak, M.: Sprinklr: Designing a ‘cool’ cealth-oriented social networking site with and for teenagers. Master Thesis, University of Oslo (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  49. Leist, A., Ferring, D.: Technology and Aging: Inhibiting and Facilitating Factors in ICT Use. In: Wichert, R., Van Laerhoven, K., Gelissen, J. (eds.) AmI 2011 Workshops. CCIS, vol. 277, pp. 166–169. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  50. Helsedirektoratet: Welfare technology. Report on implementation of welfare technologies in the municipal health and care services 2013-2030 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Culén, A.L., Bratteteig, T.: Touch-Screens and Elderly users: A Perfect Match? In: The Sixth International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions, pp. 460–465 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  52. Culén, A., Finken, S.: Design and Interaction in a Smart Gym: Cognitive and Bodily Mastering. In: SouthCHI 2013, July 1-3 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  53. Dickinson, A., Arnott, J., Prior, S.: Methods for HCI research with older people. Behavior & Information Technology 26(4), 343–352 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Howthorn, D.: Possible implications of aging for interface designers. Interacting with Computers 12, 507–528 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Fisk, A.D., et al.: Designing for older Adults: Principles and Creative Human Factors Approaches. CRC Press, Boca Raton (2009)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  56. Werner, F., Werner, K., Oberzaucher, J.: Tablets for Seniors – An Evaluation of a Current Model (iPad). In: Wichert, R., Eberhardt, B. (eds.) Ambient Assisted Living. Advanced Technologies and Societal Change, vol. 2, pp. 177–184. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  57. Warin, J.: Ethical Mindfulness and Reflexivity Managing a Research Relationship With Children and Young People in a 14-Year Qualitative Longitudinal Research (QLR) Study. Qualitative Inquiry 17(9), 805–814 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Portet, F., Vacher, M., Golanski, C., Roux, C., Meillon, B.: Design and evaluation of a smart home voice interface for the elderly: acceptability and objection aspects. Pers. Ubiquit. Comput. 17, 127–144 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Vatavu, R.-D.: Nomadic gestures: A technique for reusing gesture commands for frequent ambient interactions. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments 4, 79–93 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  60. Vines, J., Clarke, R., Wright, P., McCarthy, J., Olivier, P.: Configuring participation: on how we involve people in design. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2013, pp. 429–438. ACM, New York (2013)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  61. Lindsay, S., Jackson, D., Schofield, G., Olivier, P.: Engaging older people using participatory design. In: Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2012, pp. 1199–1208. ACM, New York (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  62. Perissinotto, C.M., Stijacic C., I., Covinsky, K.E.: Loneliness in older persons: a predictor of functional decline and death. Archives of Internal Medicine 172(14), 1078–1083 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Lim, L.L., Kua, E.-H.: Living Alone, Loneliness, and Psychological Well-Being of Older Persons in Singapore. Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research 2011 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  64. Åmdal, V.S., Klette, K., Simonsen, V.S., Ahmedov, S.: Student project “Selskap”, http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/INF2260/h12/projects/elderly/Elderly-aid-app/

  65. Voje, A., Eggen, H., Gabrielsen, T., Vitikka, T., Bech, L.: Student project “Kamfer”, http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/INF2260/h12/projects/elderly/Kamfer/

  66. Living Profiles–Map your Social Tree, http://livingprofiles.net/?page_id=99

  67. Phelan, S.K., Kinsella, E.A.: Picture This... Safety, Dignity, and Voice—Ethical Research With Children Practical Considerations for the Reflexive Researcher. Qualitative Inquiry 19(2), 81–90 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Mörtberg, C., Studedahl, D.: Silences and sensibilities: increasing participation in IT design. In: Proceedings of the 4th Decennial Conference on Critical Computing: Between Sense and Sensibility, pp. 141–144 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  69. Law, J.: After Method: Mess in Social Science Research. Routledge (2004)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Gaustadalléen 23 B, Oslo, Norway

    Alma Leora Culén & Maja van der Velden

Authors
  1. Alma Leora Culén
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maja van der Velden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Margunn Aanestad  & Tone Bratteteig  & 

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Culén, A.L., van der Velden, M. (2013). The Digital Life of Vulnerable Users: Designing with Children, Patients, and Elderly. In: Aanestad, M., Bratteteig, T. (eds) Nordic Contributions in IS Research. SCIS 2013. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 156. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39832-2_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39832-2_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39831-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39832-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation