Learning from COVID-19: Design, Age-friendly Technology, Hacking and Mental Models
Category: User Experience
Journal paper: Abstract: In March 2020 the United Nations published an open brief for the creative community to propose interventions to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. However, when faced with unprecedented wicked problems such as these, the rigour of design and creative processes can tested. COVID-19 has demonstrated how important human centred design responses are in understanding the worldviews and ecosystems of users. Ad hoc design responses or design hacks have demonstrated that they have a role to play in how we create our future individual, community and societal ecosystems. In terms of age friendly design, this pandemic makes us envision what should be, furthermore, how we could create better products and services through technology. For our ageing communities ?ocooning' and other social restriction measures have exposed technological deficiencies for the needs of older people and opens up questions of our future preparedness for a growing ageing society. Now more than ever, designers need to understand the behavioural mind-set of older people in their own ecosystem and understand existing mental models. In this opinion piece we posit what acts of design hacking can lead us to greater understanding of users mental models and therefore better understanding of technology needs for both older and younger adults. While presenting various examples of how design hacking is conducted by citizens and participants alike, it shows that it offers designers differing perspectives, experiences and inspiration for technology.
Read MoreLearning modules Hands-on SHAFE BUILT
Category: User Experience
To learn to build inclusive environments we developed 7 online modules, including (among others) age-friendly house, dementia-friendly house, mobility outdoors.
Read MoreCategory: User Experience
Aging is continuously depicted as a force majeure event despite clear and robust premonitions of its coming. However, such depiction serves to justify the unpreparedness and inadequacy of policies manifesting in loneliness and isolation, unsatisfied demands in health and social care, lack of suitably inclusive residential and social facilities, and inequitable access to support and services. Recent years have seen an increase in social innovation that involves alternative transaction models, such as time-banks and circular economies. These initiatives represent collective responses to changes and challenges such as aging by identifying and innovatively capturing and exchanging locally- and freely- available assets with the intent to fulfill economic needs (more affordable goods and services), social ambitions (skills development and exchange, repurposing space, social inclusion, and cohesion) environmental aspirations (up-cycle) and psychological needs (sense of purpose, identity, belonging, recognition). Whilst it is often assumed that ad hoc measures are appropriate to resolve the challenges posed by an aging demographic, the learnt assumption that underpins this work is that aging is a systemic issue and ought to be understood, and resolved, in its context, not by producing niche- relevant policy and interventions, but considering the impacts it has on the whole society. Henceforth it is proposed that truly transformative social innovation for the aging population must consider and resolve the challenges of communities as these are where older adults can stay relevant socially and, in the presented approach, also economically. Through the review of four international case studies, a framework with four cornerstones has emerged. This includes the changing role of local and central governments, the models of value creation, co-creation mechanisms, and finally, technology, especially digital social currency. The concurrent presence of the four factors in the framework is not always a requirement for social innovation to emerge and flourish. However, the presented analysis suggests that all four themes have an impact even when not being direct agents of social innovation. The authors conclude by making a case for developing Living Labs for Aging-in-Place, to experiment and study proposed solutions for systemic challenges facing the aging population, grounded in community-led schemes.
Read MoreMeasuring and 3D modelling of indoor spaces, a 3D point cloud dataset of a hospital ward
Category: Other
Scanned 3D data and techniques to do more scans and reconstruct 3D models out of them
Read MoreCategory: User Experience
The mHealthINX solution will provide an entirely new user experience in coping with the sensitive but very important and urgent topic of Mental Health in occupational settings. The solution targets the support of older employees (50 ) and the prevention of stress-related diseases such as depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular diseases.
Read MoreCategory: Other
The Agile Ageing Alliance (AAA) aims to demonstrate that through innovations in technology, business and service models, our homes and multigenerational neighbourhoods of the future can be reimagined to boost health and wellbeing, and promote independent living, leading to a reduction in the financial burden on Citizens and State. AAA asked expert stakeholders what, in an ideal world, our homes and neighbourhoods could look like in 10 to 20 years, and what steps must be taken now to disrupt the status quo and make their vision a reality?Neighbourhoods of the Future captures the thoughts and predictions of a veritable `who's who' of distinguished experts and emerging thought leaders.
Read MoreOne Health Approach for Health Innovation and Active Aging in Campania (Italy)
Category: User Experience
Campania's strategy for digitalization of health and care and for healthy aging is based on a person-centered, life-course, ?ne Health?approach, where demographic change is considered capable of stimulating a growth dynamic linked to the opportunities of combining the ?ilver Economy?with local assets and the specific health needs of the population. The end-users (citizens, patients, and professionals) contribute to the co-creation of products and services, being involved in the identification of unmet needs and test-bed activity. The Campania Reference Site of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Aging is a flexible regional ecosystem to address the challenge of an aging population with a life-course approach. The good practices, developed in the context of research and innovation projects and innovative procurements by local stakeholders and collaborations with international networks, have been allowing the transfer of innovative solutions, knowledge, and skills to the stakeholders of such a multi-sectoral ecosystem for health.
Read MoreCategory: Projects
Living lab project for testing gerontechnologies with older adults. A categorization of 150 companies active in this field is available (airtable dataset, accessible upon request).
Read MoreSmart Age-Friendly Living and Working Environment
Category: Projects
SmartWork is supporting active and healthy ageing at work for older office workers, through a suite of smart services, building a Worker-Centric AI System for work ability sustainability.
Read MoreSmart textiles and wearables for keeping independent longer the ageing population
Category: User Experience
Collecting health data for early diagnostic, treatment from distance, send help for emergency
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