Interactive Social Technologies for Diverse Experiences of Later Life

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***The structure of the world's population is shifting, leading to a dramatically aging society. While aging has long been associated with diverse and changing needs, research into the design of technology for later life has not often fully recognized this diversity, typically considering adults 65 and over as a single group. This is perhaps unsurprising given the relative scarcity of research in this area; however, ignoring this diversity risks the development of technologies that serve no one. The overarching goal of this research program is thus to build new technologies that recognize and account for the diversity of experiences in later life. Over the next five years, this program will focus on three key projects, each selected to investigate the development of social communication technologies for a different sub-demographic. ******The first project will focus on addressing the needs of those transitioning to retirement. As this group is relatively young, healthy, and technologically savvy, the focus here will not be on bridging a digital divide or accommodating assistive needs, but rather on understanding how to accommodate shifting lifestyles that might influence one's relationship with technology and desire to be part of a socio-technical culture of constant connectivity and availability. Mechanisms for setting boundaries and managing expectations are likely to dominate, as are questions of how to best accommodate conflicting expectations across generations. ******The second project will serve as a counterpoint to the first, focusing instead on the social needs of those with one or more chronic health conditions seeking to age in place. This group will be older, and likely less technologically experienced. Thus here, it will be important to place more emphasis on factors such as affordability, available infrastructure (e.g., of high-speed Wi-Fi), technical competency, and physical, sensory, and cognitive capabilities. The challenge in this project will be to provide novel mechanisms for enabling participation without requiring the full adoption of current tools. ******The third project will investigate how to design for deteriorating health conditions (e.g., early-stage dementia). Here, the challenge will be to accommodate changing needs with the development of designs that maintain maximal agency at each stage in the disease progression. Designs in this project will need to take a longer-term perspective and consider how to leverage earlier capabilities and competencies for continued use as health declines. ******Tying these projects together is the focus on social interaction. While each project targets a different sub-demographic of later life, together they will contribute to the long-term objective of better understanding how the range of experiences encountered impacts the design of technology.