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Factors facilitating or impeding older adults’ creative contributions in the collaborative design of a novel DTV-based application

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Abstract

This article describes some of the challenges of supporting older adults’ creative input to the design of an (as yet) undefined digital television application. Focusing on commonly used brainstorming and paper prototyping techniques, constructive insights are gathered from users with limited experience of interactive technology. Encouraging older participants to move beyond what they are familiar with, the research reports on how fragmented conceptual knowledge of familiar technologies can either facilitate or impede the creative development of new ideas. This includes bias or contradictory ideas that can emerge in the elicitation process. As reported, other factors, such as the self-perception of inadequate drawing skills, demonstrate further barriers for some older adults to articulate their visions and aspirations for suitably designed technology.

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Notes

  1. This can be thought of as the abstract interaction layer between the application and operating system and is responsible for managing real-time events, preventing internal hardware damage, and monitoring behavioural changes in the data [39].

  2. Plastic Interface for Collaborative Technology Initiatives through Video Exploration.

  3. http://www.anoto.com/.

  4. http://www.livescribe.com/smartpen/index.html.

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Acknowledgments

The first author is grateful to the EPSRC (doctoral training account) for funding this research. We thank Alan Newell and Norman Alm for their additional support. This work is based on the first author’s PhD thesis entitled: ‘An exploration of design strategies and methods in the development of digital interactive television for older people’ (2009), University of Dundee [48].

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  1. School of Computing, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK

    Mark Rice & Alex Carmichael

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Correspondence to Mark Rice.

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Rice, M., Carmichael, A. Factors facilitating or impeding older adults’ creative contributions in the collaborative design of a novel DTV-based application. Univ Access Inf Soc 12, 5–19 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-011-0262-8

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