Wiesław Kopeć

A Location-Based Game for Two Generations: Teaching Mobile Technology to the Elderly with the Support of Young Volunteers

This paper presents a cooperative location-based game for the elderly with the use of tablets equipped with mobile application. The game was designed to tackle at once several crucial topics related to the issue of aging, namely the social inclusion, education in the field of modern technology, motivation for learning as well as physical activity. Mixed-aged teams consisting of two players: a junior and a senior took part in the game. The preliminary results suggest that the game can successfully address a number of issues including improving the elderly technical skills, increasing the elderly physical activity as well as positive intergenerational interaction. The paper describes the game setup in details and presents some initial data gathered during the gameplay.

LivingLab PJAIT: towards better urban participation of seniors

In this paper we provide a brief summary of development LivingLab PJAIT as an attempt to establish a comprehensive and sustainable ICT-based solution for empowerment of elderly communities towards better urban participation of seniors. We report on our various endeavors for better involvement and participation of older adults in urban life by lowering ICT barriers, encouraging social inclusion, intergenerational interaction, physical activity and engaging older adults in the process of development of ICT solutions. We report on a model and assumptions of the LivingLab PJAIT as well as a number of activities created and implemented for LivingLab participants: from ICT courses, both traditional and e-learning, through on-line crowdsourcing tasks, to blended activities of different forms and complexity. We also provide conclusions on the lessons learned in the process and some future plans, including solutions for better senior urban participation and citizen science.

Turned 70?: it is time to start editing Wikipedia

Success of Wikipedia would not be possible without the contributions of millions of anonymous Internet users who edit articles, correct mistakes, add links or pictures. At the same time Wikipedia editors are currently overworked and there is always more tasks waiting to be completed than people willing to volunteer. The paper explores the possibility of involving the elderly in the Wikipedia editing process. Older adults were asked to complete various tasks on Wikipedia. Based on the observations made during these activities as well as in-depth interviews, a list of recommendation has been crafted. It turned out that older adults are willing to contribute to Wikiepdia but substantial changes have to be made in the Wikipedia editor.

Older adults and hackathons: a qualitative study

Globally observed trends in aging indicate that older adults constitute a growing share of the population and an increasing demographic in the modern technologies marketplace. Therefore, it has become important to address the issue of participation of older adults in the process of developing solutions suitable for their group. In this study, we approached this topic by organizing a hackathon involving teams of young programmers and older adult participants. In our paper we describe a case study of that hackathon, in which our objective was to motivate older adults to participate in software engineering processes. Based on our results from an array of qualitative methods, we propose a set of good practices that may lead to improved older adult participation in similar events and an improved process of developing apps that target older adults.

Press F1 for help: Participatory design for dealing with on-line and real life security of older adults

In this paper we present the report on the design and development of a platform for the inter-generational exchange of favors. This platform was designed using participatory design approach during a 24-hour hackathon by a team consisting of younger programmers and older adults. The findings of this report show that inter-generational cooperation in which the older adults serve as representatives of the end user, not only improves the design and development of the application, but also provides an effective method for designing and applying solutions aimed at improving the security of older adults while using online and mobile tools.

Emotions make cities live: towards mapping emotions of older adults on urban space

Understanding of interaction between people and urban spaces is crucial for inclusive decision making process. Smartphones and social media can be a rich source of behavioral and declarative data about urban space, but it threatens to exclude voice of older adults. The platform proposed in the paper attempts to address this issue. A universal tagging mechanism based on the Pluchik Wheel of Emotion is proposed. Usability of the platform was tested and prospect studies are proposed.

Guidelines towards better participation of older adults in software development processes using a new SPIRAL method and participatory approach

This paper presents a new method of engaging older participants in the process of application and IT solutions development for older adults for emerging IT and tech startups. A new method called SPIRAL (Support for Participant Involvement in Rapid and Agile software development Labs) is proposed which adds both sustainability and flexibility to the development process with older adults. This method is based on the participatory approach and user empowerment of older adults with the aid of a bootstrapped Living Lab concept and it goes beyond well established user-centered and empathic design. SPIRAL provides strategies for direct involvement of older participants in the software development processes from the very early stage to support the agile approach with rapid prototyping, in particular in new and emerging startup environments with limited capabilities, including time, team and resources.

Influence of consumer reviews on online purchasing decisions in older and younger adults

Abstract We investigated how product attributes, average consumer ratings, and single affect-rich positive or negative consumer reviews influenced hypothetical online purchasing decisions of younger and older adults. In line with previous research, we found that younger adults used all three types of information: they clearly preferred products with better attributes and with higher average consumer ratings. If making a choice was difficult because it involved trade-offs between product attributes, most younger adults chose the higher-rated product. The preference for the higher-rated product, however, could be overridden by a single affect-rich negative or positive review. Older adults were strongly influenced by a single affect-rich negative review and also took into consideration product attributes; however, they did not take into account average consumer ratings or single affect-rich positive reviews. These results suggest that older adults do not consider aggregated consumer information and positive reviews focusing on positive experiences with the product, but are easily swayed by reviews reporting negative experiences.

Correction to: older adults and hackathons: a qualitative study

The below acknowledgement was missing in the original version of this article. This work by Fabio Casati was supported by the project “Evaluation and enhancement of social, economic and emotional wellbeing of older adults” under the agreement no. 14.Z50.310029, Tomsk Polytechnic University.

From Close the Door to Do not Click and Back. Security by Design for Older Adults

With the growing number of older adults who adopt mobile technology in their life, a new form of challenge faces both them, as well as the software engineering communities. This challenge is the issue of safety, not only in the context of risk older adults already face on-line, but also, due to the mobile nature of the used applications, real life safety issues raising from the use of on-line solutions. In this paper, we wish to use a case study they conducted in order to address this issue of interrelating on-line and real life threats. We describe how the observation from the case study relate to the collected body off knowledge in the relevant topic, as well as propose a set of suggestion for improving the design of applications in regards to addressing the issue of older adults safety.