Ageing and Digital Technology

Barbara Barbosa Neves is a lecturer in Sociology at the University of Melbourne. Her research intersects the sociology of technology with social networks, ageing, social inequalities and digital and social inclusion. This work crosses the Social Sciences, Computer Science and Engineering, and has been published in both top tier Sociology journals and Computer Science (HCI) contexts. Barbara has held academic appointments at the University of Lisbon and the University of Oslo, she was an Associate Director and Research Associate of the ‘Technologies for Aging Gracefully Lab’ at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Toronto, and she is an elected board member of the International Sociological Association. Barbara's research has been used to improve the design and implementation of digital technologies for older adults as well as to inform social policy on digital literacy.  Frank Vetere is a Professor of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. He is the Director of the Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces and leads the Interaction Design Laboratory, both at the University of Melbourne. Frank's expertise is in Human-Computer Interactions (HCI), with particular interests in Social Computing, Natural User Interfaces, and technologies for ageing-well. His research aims to generate knowledge about the use and design of information and communication technologies (ICT) for human wellbeing and social benefit. Frank has led four large Australian Research Council (ARC) projects and in 2011 was awarded the CHISIG Medal for outstanding service to and promotion of Human-Computer Interaction in Australia.

Foreword.- Introduction.- Part 1: Theoretical and Conceptual Approaches.- Chapter 1. The lady with the roses and other invisible users: Revisiting unused data on nursing-home residents participating in living labs.- Chapter 2. Aging in the Digital Age: Conceptualizing Technology Adoption and Digital Inequalities.- Chapter 3. Technology and Ageing – Theoretical propositions from Science and Technology Studies (STS).- Chapter 4.  Building Social Connections: A Framework for Enriching Older Adults’ Social Connectedness through Emerging Information and Communication Technologies.- Chapter 5. Digital Games with Older People from a theoretical and conceptual Perspective: a critical literature review.- Part 2: Methodological Approaches.- Chapter 6. Usability is Ageless: Conducting Usability Tests with Older Adults.- Chapter 7. Vignethnographies: a method for fast, focused and visual exploration.- Chapter 8. Using Netnography to Study Older Adults’ Online Communities.- Chapter 9.  Older Adults as Co-Researchers for Built Environments: Virtual reality as a means of engagement.- Chapter 10.  Designing Technologies with Older Adults: Ethical tensions and opportunities.- Chapter 11.  Field Studies of Interactive Technologies for Marginalized Users: a Canadian ethics policy perspective.- Chapter 12. Working with Assistive Technologies and People Living with Dementia.- Part 3: Cases Studies.- Chapter 13. The Technology Explorers and Virtual Reality Research: Partnering with Older Adults to Engage with Virtual Reality and Virtual Avatars.- Chapter 14. Exergames and Neuropsychological Functions in Older Adults: An experimental approach.- Chapter 15.  Robot-Assisted Gait Training for Older Adults: Niltwamor and Lucia.- Chapter 16.  Technologies for Promoting Social Participation in Later Life.- Chapter 17. Design of Social Networking Services for and with Older Adults.- Afterword.