Time Line

The project started early 2002. We are engaged in a number of parallel lines of activity:

• General background: through literature studies and interaction with older people we are getting an overview of all the hurdles that exist between older people and the succesful use of technology. Eventually this should lead to ways of overcoming or avoiding those hurdles. This includes subjects like interaction design and learning approaches.
• Application areas: we are exploring a number of areas (leisure, memory aids, exercise, virtual companions) to see what products older people would want to use, and what products they could benefit from.
• Methodology: we are exploring and evaluating different ways of interacting with older people. We want to learn what sort of results can be obtained through each method, and in what ways this is different from interacting with younger people. We also intend to get a number of older people actively involved in our research, as intermediairies between us and older people in general.
• User base: we are contacting a wide range of organisations and user groups in Dundee and the rest of Scotland. Older people are asked to participate in our research in various ways.
• Transfer to industry: one of our goals is to convince industry that it is important to consider older people when developing new products, and to educate them in how to do so. One of our activities will be a number of training days later this year.