Computing for the Elderly

Software	None
Covers	Human computer interaction, psychology of learning, social attitudes to computers
Skills Required	Interest in use of social media, some interest in how people learn, some interest in the welfare of old people
Challenge	Conceptual ???? Technical ?? Programming

Brief Description

Computer technology has the power to radically improve the quality of life for elderly people as their physical and mental capacities deteriorate. Conversely, the increasing dependence on information technology for all sorts of activities can exclude people who are technophobic or just not computer-literate enough to use the technological possiblities open to them. And people are in danger of missing the boat, by not learning the skills they need to cope with advanced old age when they still can.

The challenge of this project is to investigate the actual and potential role of computer technology for enhancing the lives of people in advanced old age, and what the barriers are to achieving this potential.

Variants

This project could take a broad view of the different kinds of technologies that could help elderly people, or focus on more specific types of activity like the use of social media like Facebook, or the use of photographs to aid memory.

The project could focus on technology for coping with particular disabilities such as progressive loss of vision or hearing, or dementia, or minimizing their effects. How well does the technology meet the special usability requirements of particular disabled groups, or of people with multiple impairments?

The project could take a primarily technological focus, or concentrate on the attitudes and beliefs of people who are old enough to suffer from serious disability and those who are approaching that point, and consider how these are changing, as well as the attitudes and policies of people and organizations responsible for caring for the elderly. How do these beliefs and attitudes affect the uptake of technology by or for the elderly? What institutional or cultural barriers might stop old people getting and using contemporary hardware, or the software applications that go with them? These issues are in the background however technological a view you have of computing for the elderly. You could focus on people in a particular country, or a social group with distinctive features.

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