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Design of a Social Media Voice Assistant for Older Adults

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Social Robotics (ICSR 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 13817))

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Abstract

Older adults can increase their social cohesion and belongingness by accessing social media content. Voice is a particularly suitable modality for older adults. While general voice design guidelines for social media content exist, past work has not investigated design requirements of voice systems that provide social media content specifically to older adults. A preliminary interview and usability test (N = 15 Canadian adults aged 65 or older) explored how older adults evaluate and interpret the use of a voice assistant that retrieves real-time Twitter content in their everyday lives by demonstrating a custom prototype that lets participants access social media content using their voice. Interpretation insights included that participants appreciated the friendly appearance yet disliked the user – i.e., a child – implied by the appearance and that framing can help participants perceive themselves as potential users. Usability findings included that participants valued a screen, adjustable volume, quick response time and a detailed news broadcast. This research may assist researchers and designers interested in voice assistants to support older adults’ social media practices.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ccT6UUyfFCQmawee2DIpqQ8JJak4zUG7/view?usp=sharing.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, M5B 2K3, Canada

    Jamy Li & Karen Penaranda Valdivia

  2. University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A1, Canada

    Noah Zijie Qu

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  1. Jamy Li
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  2. Noah Zijie Qu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jamy Li .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Filippo Cavallo

  2. Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    John-John Cabibihan

  3. University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Laura Fiorini

  4. University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Alessandra Sorrentino

  5. Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, USA

    Hongsheng He

  6. Qingdao University, Qingdao, China

    Xiaorui Liu

  7. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan

    Yoshio Matsumoto

  8. National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Shuzhi Sam Ge

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Li, J., Qu, N.Z., Penaranda Valdivia, K. (2022). Design of a Social Media Voice Assistant for Older Adults. In: Cavallo, F., et al. Social Robotics. ICSR 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13817. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24667-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24667-8_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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