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Involving Older Adults in Designing Interactive Technology: The Case of SeniorChannel

Published: 28 September 2015 Publication History

Abstract

Because of their specific aging-related needs, older users should be involved when it comes to designing and evaluating devices that target them. While emphasis is usually put only on the accessibility of the final interface to this population, the participatory design and evaluation methods should also be adapted to their needs. This paper aims to contribute to the literature of human-computer interaction for older users by showing---in the context of the development and evaluation of an actual prototype, an interactive television (ITV) for senior citizens within the SeniorChannel project---how design and evaluation methods can be adapted to older users. The paper first describes the strategies that have been reported in human--computer interaction literature to involve older adults in design (i.e., visual prompts, warm-ups, experiencing, hands-on, and natural tasks). It then illustrates the way in which such strategies were implemented in the design and evaluation of SeniorChannel applications (i.e., illustrated material, video clips, tutorials, peer sessions, cards, natural tasks). Finally, the results of the final users' evaluation of the prototypes are reported.

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Cited By

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  • (2025)Grand Challenges of Smart Technology for Older AdultsInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2025.2457003(1-43)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2025
  • (2023)EquiP: A Method to Co-Design for CooperationComputer Supported Cooperative Work10.1007/s10606-023-09463-w32:3(385-438)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2023
  • (2022)DOMHO: Internet of Things for Ambient Assisted Co-housingAmbient Assisted Living10.1007/978-3-031-08838-4_8(117-128)Online publication date: 29-Jul-2022
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cover image ACM Other conferences
CHItaly '15: Proceedings of the 11th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter
September 2015
195 pages
ISBN:9781450336840
DOI:10.1145/2808435
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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  • Sapienza: Sapienza University of Rome

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Association for Computing Machinery

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Publication History

Published: 28 September 2015

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Author Tags

  1. Interactive Television (ITV)
  2. older adults
  3. participatory design and evaluation methods

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  • Research-article
  • Research
  • Refereed limited

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  • EU Ambient Assisted Living Joint Program

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CHItaly 2015

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CHItaly '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 31 of 59 submissions, 53%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 109 of 242 submissions, 45%

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Cited By

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  • (2025)Grand Challenges of Smart Technology for Older AdultsInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2025.2457003(1-43)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2025
  • (2023)EquiP: A Method to Co-Design for CooperationComputer Supported Cooperative Work10.1007/s10606-023-09463-w32:3(385-438)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2023
  • (2022)DOMHO: Internet of Things for Ambient Assisted Co-housingAmbient Assisted Living10.1007/978-3-031-08838-4_8(117-128)Online publication date: 29-Jul-2022
  • (2022)SHIP Project: Designing Inclusive, Accessible, and Sustainable Urban ParksAmbient Assisted Living10.1007/978-3-031-08838-4_11(153-162)Online publication date: 29-Jul-2022
  • (2020)Participatory Design of Historytelling Voice Assistance with Older AdultsInformation and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health10.1007/978-3-030-52677-1_6(101-118)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2020
  • (2017)Interactive multimedia content for older adultsMultimedia Tools and Applications10.1007/s11042-016-3553-576:4(5171-5189)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2017
  • (2017)Automatic Creation of TV Content to Integrate in Seniors Viewing ActivitiesApplications and Usability of Interactive TV10.1007/978-3-319-63321-3_3(32-46)Online publication date: 13-Jul-2017
  • (2017)Introducing Wearables in the Kitchen: An Assessment of User Acceptance in Younger and Older AdultsUniversal Access in Human–Computer Interaction. Human and Technological Environments10.1007/978-3-319-58700-4_47(579-592)Online publication date: 17-May-2017

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