Session F2

Session F2

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Session F2
Session title:Designing for older adults – Lessons learnt and recommendations from past experiences
Session responsible:Silvio Bonfiglio (EASYREACH project), Italy and Sandra Evans (NETCARITY project), Germany
Session chair:Prof. Udo Weimar, Univers. of Tuebingen, Germany and Dr. Amedeo Cesta, CNR (National Research Council), Italy
Date and time:24 September 2012, 14:00 – 15:30 h
Session partners:
  • IBBT (An Jacobs, Karen Willems)
  • IWT (Alain Thielemans)
  • Telecom SudParis (Jerôme Boudy)
  • CGIET / French Industry Office (Robert Picard, Bruno Charrat)
  • UTT-Champagne-Ardennes Living Labs ActivAgeing initiative (Myriam Lewkowicz, Jacqques Duchene, David Hewson)
  • ENoLL (Anna Kivilehto)
  • Institut Catholic de Lille (Cédric Routier)
Room:Pollux

Session Content
Rationale

To design products and services for older users is not an easy task. The older population is characterized by a wide variation in cognitive abilities (which diverge with increasing age profile), a generally cautious outlook with which older people view technology (and ICT in particular) and the gap between the experiences of the developers and those of the users they are designing for. Furthermore there are cultural differences and ethical issues to be considered.

This session intends to address some of these challenges from a practical perspective, by sharing the experiences and the lessons learnt in conducting research work for and with senior citizens.

Two AAL JP Projects (EASYREACH and NOBITS) both fostering the social inclusion of the senior citizens are adopting a participatory design methodology specifically adapted to the elderly users.

A large-scale collaborative project, NETCARITY, was just recently completed and it can be considered a successful project. The experience made and the insights gained can provide useful suggestions to current and future projects and allow them to overcome obstacles and improve their results.

In a complex and fast changing environment, the success of a project is not only a technological issue; an integrated approach is needed where other changeling aspects such as ethical, business- and policy-related, organizational aspects have to be considered. To learn from the experiences, from the good and the bad things of past projects could represent the right starting point. 

Preliminary program

10 minIntroduction by the chairs Udo Weimar and Roberto Bisiani
10 minUnderstanding the needs of the elderly users – The EasyReach approach

Filomena  Papa, Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, Roma, Italy

10 minThe user as a co-developer – Lesson learnt in the NOBITS project

Luca Morganti, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Italy

10 minValidating the results of the research work with the users

Ilenia Gheno, Age Platform Europe, Brussels

10 minDesigning with older adults – Lessons learnt in the NETCARITY project

Wil Rijnen, Smart Homes, Eindhoven, NL

10 minPersonal data privacy and security – The NETCARITY solution

Bas Goossen, Smart Homes, Eindhoven, NL

10 minWhat works and what doesn’t?

Udo Weimer, University of Tuebingen, Germany

20 minGeneral discussion