Abstract

Older people can often fall on the wrong side of the digital divide in terms of accessing and enjoying new digital technology. One approach to this issue is to provide training programmes and customisation techniques for using existing technology. However, another is to re-invent technology with and for older people themselves.  In this talk I make four recommendations for re-invention, based on my own work on digital photography, and illustrate these with examples. 

This was a keynote talk at the recent Brazilian Congress of Gerontechnology, 10-12th October 2019, São Paulo, Brazil. 

Biography

David Frohlich is Director of the Digital World Research Centre at the University of Surrey and Professor of Interaction Design. He joined the Centre in January 2005 to establish a new research agenda on new media innovation with social and cultural benefits. Current work includes a mixture of PhD and Research Council projects exploring digital storytelling, sight correction and interactive paper (http://www.surrey.ac.uk/dwrc/). Prior to joining Digital World, David worked for 14 years as a senior research scientist at HP Labs, conducting design research on the future of mobile, domestic and photographic technology. He has a PhD in psychology from the University of Sheffield and post-doctoral training in Conversation Analysis from the University of York. He is currently Visiting Researcher at the Department of Gerontology, UFSCAR, Brazil. At the ICMC-USP, he has been collaborating with Maria da Graça Pimentel since Jan/2017 (https://bv.fapesp.br/pt/auxilios/96040/assistive-media-for-health-and-wellbeing-in-ageing-uk-and-brazil-network).