Designing Technologies with Older Adults: Ethical Tensions and Opportunities

Jenny Waycott, John Vines

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    10 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this chapter, we reflect on our experiences of designing and evaluating new technologies with older adults. We describe encounters from two projects that have prompted us to reconsider our research in two ways. First, we highlight ethical tensions: situations where we have had to adapt our research approach to account for unexpected ethical challenges that emerged in specific situations with older participants. Second, we note how collaborating with older adults brings a wealth of ethical opportunities: older participants often challenge simplistic technological solutions to complex problems and help us question and critique the values and ethics embedded in the technologies we set out to design. We argue that researchers working in this space need flexibility in the way research ethics is approved and managed, and need to be supported in recognising and responding to ethical encounters during the conduct of research. Meanwhile, researchers developing technologies for older users have an ethical imperative to engage older adults in the design and evaluation of new technologies. This, again, requires flexibility: researchers need to be able to thoughtfully respond to emergent issues in order to empower older adults to shape the direction of the research and to critique and iterate proposed designs.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationAgeing and Digital Technology
    Subtitle of host publicationDesigning and Evaluating Emerging Technologies for Older Adults
    EditorsBarbara Barbosa Neves, Frank Vetere
    PublisherSpringer
    Pages173-187
    Number of pages15
    ISBN (Electronic)9789811336935
    ISBN (Print)9789811336928
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 10 Jan 2019

    Keywords

    • Research ethics
    • Collaborative design
    • Older adults
    • Oldest old
    • Fieldwork

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    • Cheque mates

      Vines, J., Blythe, M., Dunphy, P., Vlachokyriakos, V., Teece, I., Monk, A. & Olivier, P., 2012.

      Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

      Open Access
      60 Citations (Scopus)
    • Questionable concepts: Critique as a Resource for Designing with Eighty Somethings

      Vines, J., Blythe, M., Lindsay, S., Dunphy, P., Monk, A. & Olivier, P., May 2012.

      Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

      Open Access
      60 Citations (Scopus)
    • The joy of cheques

      Vines, J., Dunphy, P., Blythe, M., Lindsay, S., Monk, A. & Olivier, P., 2012.

      Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

      Open Access
      44 Citations (Scopus)

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