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The firekeepers: aging considered as a resource

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Abstract

Technology can improve the quality of life for elderly persons by supporting and facilitating the unique leadership roles that elderly play in groups, communities, and other organizations. Elderly people are often organizational firekeepers. They maintain community memory, pass on organizational practices, and ensure social continuity. This paper reports studies of several essential community roles played by elderly community members—including the role of volunteer community webmaster—and describes two positive design projects that investigated how technology can support new kinds of social endeavors and contributions to society by elderly citizens. Finally, the paper speculates on the utility of intergenerational teams in strengthening society’s workforce.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a series of grants from the US National Science Foundation (0355212, 0353097, 0353075, 0113264, 0081102, 0080864). Gregorio Convertino is now at the Palo Alto Research Center, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1314 (convertino@parc.com). Umer Farooq is now at Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052 (umfarooq@microsoft.com). Yu-Chu Lin, Bonnie J. F. Meyer, and Fengfeng Ke were collaborators and contributors in our study of intergenerational teams.

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  1. College of Information Sciences & Technology, Center for Human-Computer Interaction, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    John M. Carroll, Gregorio Convertino, Umer Farooq & Mary Beth Rosson

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  1. John M. Carroll
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  2. Gregorio Convertino
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  3. Umer Farooq
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  4. Mary Beth Rosson
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Correspondence to John M. Carroll.

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Carroll, J.M., Convertino, G., Farooq, U. et al. The firekeepers: aging considered as a resource. Univ Access Inf Soc 11, 7–15 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-011-0229-9

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