Accessibility and Beyond: Addressing the Technology Needs and Wants of Older Adults
Older adults form one of the fastest growing demographics of computer
users. Increasingly, they are becoming proficient, savvy, and regular
users of a wide variety of technologies including social networking
sites like Facebook and video calling services like Skype. However,
despite their enthusiasm for the capabilities of new technologies,
challenges remain. Aging leads to declines in a wide variety of
cognitive and motor processes, which can hamper an individual’s
ability to use off-the-shelf technology. Moreover, few technologies
have been designed with the needs and preferences of older adults in
mind. In this talk, I will present work on improving computer
accessibility for older adults, and describe a few projects aimed at
envisioning new technologies specifically targeted to both their needs
and wants.
Karyn Moffatt is associate director of the Technologies for Aging
Gracefully Lab (TAGLab) at the University of Toronto and a
postdoctoral fellow supported by NSERC and a CIHR strategic initiative
in Health Care, Technology, and Place (HCTP). Karyn’s interests are
situated in human computer interaction, and span a range of topics
including accessible/assistive technology, social computing, and
ubiquitous computing. She earned her PhD in Computer Science (2010)
from the University of British Columbia, where she investigated
methods for increasing the accessibility of pen-based technology for
older adults. She also holds a MSc in Computer Science (2004) and a
BASc in Computer Engineering (2001), both from the University of
British Columbia.