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The design and domestication of assistive technology by older people being-at-home

Mark Hawker
Mark Hawker

The document summarizes a PhD research project that will examine how older adults domesticate, or incorporate into their daily lives at home, assistive technologies. The research will use qualitative methods like interviews and observation to understand how older adults appropriate, learn to use, and talk about assistive technologies. The goal is to provide insights that can help improve assistive technology design and ensure older adults' voices are represented in the process.

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The design and domestication of assistive technologies by older people being-at-home* Mark Hawker1, Dr. Bridgette Wessels1 and Prof. Gail Mountain2 1 Department of Sociological Studies 2 School of Health and Related Research
2 Contents What are assistive technologies? What is old age? What is being-at-home? What is my PhD about? Why is this research important? What do we already know? Participation, representation or both? 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
3 What are assistive technologies? Defined broadly as: any device or system that allows an individual to perform a task that they would otherwise be unable to do, or increases the ease and safety with which the task can be performed (Royal Commission on Long Term Care, 1999) Role such as aiding physical function (hearing, sight, etc.) or promoting social function (social networks, etc.) Scope from low-tech devices such as pencil grips to high-tech devices such as activity monitors and sensors. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
4 Examples of assistive technologies 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
5 What is old age? Defined simply and pragmatically as the final segment of the lifespan beginning at around 60 years of age (Stuart-Hamilton, 2011: 2) However, chronological age only one variable among many that have potential relevance to a persons identity and behaviour About time, identity and the experience of growing older: biology of age and the body, documentation of chronological age, and the relational and generational (Bytheway, 2011) Often described in terms of what it is not: as not feeling healthy, as not feeling young or as not feeling oneself (Hepworth, 2004) Sociologically, the body is a project in that it is best conceptualised as an unfinished biological and social phenomenon, which is transformed as a result of its participation in society (Shilling, 1993). 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
6 What is (being-at-)home? A (broadly) phenomenological approach Home as a (stative) verb rather than a noun, a state of being which is not necessarily bounded by a physical or spatial environment Focus on practice and the diverse ways people do and feel home Home relates to the activity performed by, with or in persons, things and place. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
7 What is my PhD about? Ways in which assistive technologies are: Introduced (appropriation) Learned, displayed and used (objectification/incorp oration) Accepted or rejected and talked about (conversion) by older people being-at-home. http://retrieverman.files.wordpress.com/ 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
8 But also an interdisciplinary approach Working alongside two other PhD students in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Human Communication Sciences Focus on adaptive lifestyle monitoring and personal adaptive listening systems About design and domestication: domestication is anticipated in design and design is completed in domestication (Silverstone and Haddon, 1996: 46) Feedback through social formation methodology. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
9 The domestication framework Technology seen as something to be tamed Goes beyond the adoption and use of technologies to ask what the technologies and services mean to people, how they experience them and the roles that these technologies can come to play in their lives (Haddon, 2006: 195) Traditionally, research focused on the home and technologies such as televisions but expanded in recent years Comprises five non-discrete phases: commoditisation, appropriation, objectification, incorporation and conversion. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
10 Domestication phases: design Commoditisation is the process by which objects emerge in the public sphere Design is about (and beyond) creating the artefact, constructing the user and catching the consumer (Silverstone and Haddon, 1996). 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
11 Domestication phases: use Appropriation is the point at which an object is sold, leaving the world of the commodity and becoming a possession that is owned by an individual or home Objectification reveals itself in display and provides an embodiment of the values, the aesthetic and the cognitive universe, of those who feel comfortable or identify with them (Silverstone et al., 1992: 23) Incorporation focuses on the ways in which objects are used Conversion defines the relationship between the home and the outside world. Focus on conversation. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
12 A sensitising scenario? Watching assistive technologies go from being cold, lifeless, problematic and challenging [consumer] goods to comfortable, useful tools that are reliable and trustworthy. (Berker et al., 2006: 2) 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
13 Why is this research important? We are living longer which, due to age-related illnesses, is creating increased demand for health and social care services Need to help older people retain independence and quality of life, and foster participation in society rather than encouraging dependency and reliance upon statutory provision Bound up in policy on helping older people age in place Industry products often designed and derived from lab-based research and user trials. Is this the real world? What about non-use? Domestication research has not gone full-circle to explore how the use knowledge thus created feeds back into design (Peine and Herrmann, 2012). 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
14 What do we already know? Most older people wish to stay in their own homes as long as possible (Tinker, 1997; Gitlin, 2003) Social activity is fluid, nuanced and situated (Suchman, 1987) Social groups not only adapt to technologies but they also adapt technologies to their needs (socially shaped and culturally informed, affordance, and doubly-articulated) Technologies may be used in ways unanticipated by designers and this may change over time (interpretive flexibility, script, genderscript and the life course perspective) How use knowledge becomes specified and embedded within technology over time is not (currently) available. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
15 Participation, representation or both? Both! Interpretive methodology; focus on voices of older people and participation in design and use of assistive technology: interviews, observation and visual methods Rejection of assistive technology as a black box Older people as research subjects and not objects Home as state of being not necessarily bounded by physical or spatial environment. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
16 For more Ask me! Tweet me: @markhawker Email me: m.hawker@sheffield.ac.uk Comment on my blog: http://sociologicialsoliloquies.tumblr.com/. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
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The design and domestication of assistive technology by older people being-at-home

  • 1. The design and domestication of assistive technologies by older people being-at-home* Mark Hawker1, Dr. Bridgette Wessels1 and Prof. Gail Mountain2 1 Department of Sociological Studies 2 School of Health and Related Research
  • 2. 2 Contents What are assistive technologies? What is old age? What is being-at-home? What is my PhD about? Why is this research important? What do we already know? Participation, representation or both? 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 3. 3 What are assistive technologies? Defined broadly as: any device or system that allows an individual to perform a task that they would otherwise be unable to do, or increases the ease and safety with which the task can be performed (Royal Commission on Long Term Care, 1999) Role such as aiding physical function (hearing, sight, etc.) or promoting social function (social networks, etc.) Scope from low-tech devices such as pencil grips to high-tech devices such as activity monitors and sensors. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 4. 4 Examples of assistive technologies 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 5. 5 What is old age? Defined simply and pragmatically as the final segment of the lifespan beginning at around 60 years of age (Stuart-Hamilton, 2011: 2) However, chronological age only one variable among many that have potential relevance to a persons identity and behaviour About time, identity and the experience of growing older: biology of age and the body, documentation of chronological age, and the relational and generational (Bytheway, 2011) Often described in terms of what it is not: as not feeling healthy, as not feeling young or as not feeling oneself (Hepworth, 2004) Sociologically, the body is a project in that it is best conceptualised as an unfinished biological and social phenomenon, which is transformed as a result of its participation in society (Shilling, 1993). 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 6. 6 What is (being-at-)home? A (broadly) phenomenological approach Home as a (stative) verb rather than a noun, a state of being which is not necessarily bounded by a physical or spatial environment Focus on practice and the diverse ways people do and feel home Home relates to the activity performed by, with or in persons, things and place. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 7. 7 What is my PhD about? Ways in which assistive technologies are: Introduced (appropriation) Learned, displayed and used (objectification/incorp oration) Accepted or rejected and talked about (conversion) by older people being-at-home. http://retrieverman.files.wordpress.com/ 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 8. 8 But also an interdisciplinary approach Working alongside two other PhD students in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Human Communication Sciences Focus on adaptive lifestyle monitoring and personal adaptive listening systems About design and domestication: domestication is anticipated in design and design is completed in domestication (Silverstone and Haddon, 1996: 46) Feedback through social formation methodology. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 9. 9 The domestication framework Technology seen as something to be tamed Goes beyond the adoption and use of technologies to ask what the technologies and services mean to people, how they experience them and the roles that these technologies can come to play in their lives (Haddon, 2006: 195) Traditionally, research focused on the home and technologies such as televisions but expanded in recent years Comprises five non-discrete phases: commoditisation, appropriation, objectification, incorporation and conversion. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 10. 10 Domestication phases: design Commoditisation is the process by which objects emerge in the public sphere Design is about (and beyond) creating the artefact, constructing the user and catching the consumer (Silverstone and Haddon, 1996). 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 11. 11 Domestication phases: use Appropriation is the point at which an object is sold, leaving the world of the commodity and becoming a possession that is owned by an individual or home Objectification reveals itself in display and provides an embodiment of the values, the aesthetic and the cognitive universe, of those who feel comfortable or identify with them (Silverstone et al., 1992: 23) Incorporation focuses on the ways in which objects are used Conversion defines the relationship between the home and the outside world. Focus on conversation. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 12. 12 A sensitising scenario? Watching assistive technologies go from being cold, lifeless, problematic and challenging [consumer] goods to comfortable, useful tools that are reliable and trustworthy. (Berker et al., 2006: 2) 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 13. 13 Why is this research important? We are living longer which, due to age-related illnesses, is creating increased demand for health and social care services Need to help older people retain independence and quality of life, and foster participation in society rather than encouraging dependency and reliance upon statutory provision Bound up in policy on helping older people age in place Industry products often designed and derived from lab-based research and user trials. Is this the real world? What about non-use? Domestication research has not gone full-circle to explore how the use knowledge thus created feeds back into design (Peine and Herrmann, 2012). 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 14. 14 What do we already know? Most older people wish to stay in their own homes as long as possible (Tinker, 1997; Gitlin, 2003) Social activity is fluid, nuanced and situated (Suchman, 1987) Social groups not only adapt to technologies but they also adapt technologies to their needs (socially shaped and culturally informed, affordance, and doubly-articulated) Technologies may be used in ways unanticipated by designers and this may change over time (interpretive flexibility, script, genderscript and the life course perspective) How use knowledge becomes specified and embedded within technology over time is not (currently) available. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 15. 15 Participation, representation or both? Both! Interpretive methodology; focus on voices of older people and participation in design and use of assistive technology: interviews, observation and visual methods Rejection of assistive technology as a black box Older people as research subjects and not objects Home as state of being not necessarily bounded by physical or spatial environment. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield
  • 16. 16 For more Ask me! Tweet me: @markhawker Email me: m.hawker@sheffield.ac.uk Comment on my blog: http://sociologicialsoliloquies.tumblr.com/. 29/05/2012 息 The University of Sheffield