Online technologies are promising for helping older adults (75+) maintain social connectedness, particularly with younger people, yet many older adults resist or participate minimally in the mainstream technologies used by younger members of their social network.
With Professor Anne Marie Piper at Northwestern University, I conducted interviews and design research with older adults in the greater Chicago area. In our interviews, we focused on material social communication practices, including letter writing, and sharing paper-based materials with one's social network. In addition to the interviews, we deployed Little Printers in several homes to explore how bridging technologies might improve intergenerational communication.
Read the findings in our 2014 CHI paper, "Understanding Digital and Material Social Communications for Older Adults."
We investigated the material social practices of older adults, asking them to show us some of their recent correspondence and explain their relationship to the sender.
A crochet newsletter created by one of our participants, which she mails monthly to a small circle of friends. Many of our participants were interested in sharing their hobbies and expertise with a larger audience, but did not wish to do so through digital social media.
In addition to the interviews, we deployed Little Printers in several homes to explore how bridging technologies might improve intergenerational communication.