Inclusive Social Computing

本研究将设计、建立和评估新的协同技术，以改善晚年社会环境的可及性。该项目将侧重于三个主要目标，涵盖不同的人口和环境，共同满足各种需求。第一个目标将解决失语症患者的亲密沟通需求，失语症是一种后天语言障碍，通常在晚年中风后出现。对亲密家庭关系的支持被迄今为止的研究所忽视，尽管许多人在患上失语症后难以维持亲密的社会关系。主席将与失语症患者及其伙伴合作，设计和评估新技术，以满足他们独特的沟通需求。第二个目标是增加轻度至中度痴呆症患者参与在线群体互动的机会。主席最近对基于社区的社会分享的研究详细说明了面对面的小组设置可以利用道具、其他人和环境来积极参与小组活动。有效的远程支持将提供额外的机会，在无法获得或无法获得面对面互动的情况下尤其有价值，但需要新的设计来包容地支持这些环境中的痴呆症患者。第三个目标是开发协作工具，使老年人能够获得家人和朋友的远程支持，帮助他们学习新技术。老年人对手机和平板电脑等技术越来越熟悉，经验也越来越丰富，但有些人在获得新工具时难以获得学习支持。虽然来自家人和朋友的个人支持是非常重要的，但它并不总是容易获得的。主席研究开发的工具将有助于获得这些首选资源。在所有三个目标中，重点是与老龄化相关的可访问性需求。该研究项目的独特之处在于，它专注于在人与人之间更公平地分享无障碍工作，使老年人能够利用他们的网络提供的支持。

This research will design, build, and evaluate novel collaborative technologies to improve accessibility to social environments in later life. The project will focus on three principal objectives spanning different populations and contexts that together cover a diversity of needs. The first objective will address the intimate communication needs of individuals with aphasia, an acquired language impairment that often arises late in life as the result of a stroke. Support for close familial relationships has been overlooked by research to date even though many individuals struggle to maintain close social relationships after acquiring aphasia. The Chair will work with people with aphasia and their partners to design and evaluate novel technologies to address their unique communication needs. The second objective will increase opportunities for individuals with mild to moderate stage dementia to engage in group interaction online. The Chair's recent research on community based social sharing has detailed the ways in-person group settings can leverage props, other people, and the environment to enable active participation in group activities. Effective remote support would provide additional opportunities that can be especially valuable when in-person interaction is either not available or accessible, but new designs are needed to inclusively support people with dementia in these environments. The third objective will develop collaborative tools to enable older adults to access remote support from family and friends to aid in the learning of new technologies. Older adults have become increasingly comfortable and experienced with technologies like mobile phones and tablets, but some have difficulty accessing learning support when acquiring new tools. Though personal support from family and friends is highly valued, it is not always easily available. The tools developed by the Chair's research will facilitate access to these preferred resources. Across all three objectives is a focus on accessibility needs related to aging. The program of research is unique in its focus on sharing accessibility work more equitably across people, enabling older adults to leverage support from their network.