Ageing with smartphones

Doteveryone, a UK charity focused on how technology is changing society, has published a report “Better care in the age of automation” that sets out how technology can support a sustainable, effective and fair social care system. It does not…
Although many older Americans have, like the rest of us, embraced the tools and playthings of the technology industry, a growing body of research shows they have disproportionately fallen prey to the dangers of internet misinformation and risk being further…
Behind the screens of the games we play and digital communities we interact with are psychologists and other behavioral science experts, who are hired to create products that we want to use more and more. Big tech now employs mental…
Many public services, from welfare to healthcare, are mainly intended for the elderly. One of the challenges of designing digital services is to create simple and effective public services for older users. Designers Italia, the Italian community of public service…
EPIC is the premier international gathering on ethnography in the business world. Its latest edition, EPIC2017, took place in Montreal in October 2017 and had the theme of “Perspectives”: perspectives explores the vantage points that create and constrain ethnographic practices.…
The frustration and stress caused by complex technologies that can seem unknowable — not to mention the time and mindshare that gets wasted trying to make systems work as people want them to work — doesn’t tend to get talked…
Everyday Schooling in the Digital Age: High School, High Tech? By Neil Selwyn, Selena Nemorin, Scott Bulfin, Nicola F. Johnson Routledge 2018 – 224 pages [Amazon link] Today’s high schools are increasingly based around the use of digital technologies. Students…
Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design By Jeff Johnson and Kate Finn Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, March 2017 258 pages > First chapter Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design presents age-friendly design guidelines…
In this recent talk at the RCA in London, writer and academic Jeremy Myerson explores how social challenges can catalyse design-led innovation in industry. Rather than seeing such issues as ageing populations, growing healthcare needs or climate change as a…
Yesterday, the New York research institute Data & Society released the report How Youth Navigate the News Landscape (download) that explores how young people use mobile devices, messaging apps, and social media to consume breaking news. Co-authors Mary Madden, Amanda…
The Cyber Effect: A Pioneering Cyberpsychologist Explains How Human Behavior Changes Online Dr. Mary Aiken Spiegel & Grau, August 2016 400 pages A groundbreaking exploration of how cyberspace is changing the way we think, feel, and behave Mary Aiken is…
The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age Sonia Livingstone and Julian Sefton-Green New York University Press May 2016, 368 pages > Read online for free Do today’s youth have more opportunities than their parents? As they build their…
Designer Erin Lynch recently interviewed Amélie Lamont, a NYC-based design anthropologist, and the result is quite stimulating, particularly also on the topic gender and racial gaps in the design industry. According to Amélie, “design anthropology focuses on better understanding human…
Age-friendly banking: What it is and how you do it Age UK 30 April 2016 The new report showcases examples of good practice which, if rolled out more widely, could revolutionise the way in which the banks interact with older…