Older people, technology and design – a socio-technical approach

This paper presents some empirical data on the design of a technology intended to enrich the lives of older people through facilitating various forms of formal and informal communication and interaction. The application is intended to support aspects of social computing - supporting and encouraging social activities such as games playing and chat - providing a means to continue and develop activities that have been important parts of their lives. The driving characteristic of this interdisciplinary work is the adoption of a sociotechnical approach where we thoroughly examine, through a range of techniques, the social circumstances and conditions of the setting where technologies are to be deployed and consequently think carefully about how to design for that setting. We believe such an approach is critical in order to develop a better understanding of the requirements for social computing. We use our studies to point to some important changes in how we might think about, and understand the changing lives of older people and the relationship between technology and social change.