When Technology Makes Us All “Feel Old”: The iOS Photos Debate

by Alice Ashcroft The recent iOS photos app update has sparked widespread frustration across social media, with users of all ages struggling to navigate its redesigned interface. What’s particularly interesting isn’t just the collective confusion, but how it’s making younger users question their technological competence – a feeling traditionally associated with older adults’ technology experiences.   “Does this mean I’m old?” […]

The 10 Year Health Plan to Make the NHS Fit for the Future – Contribution of the DigiAge Project to the “biggest ever conversation about the future of the NHS”

Monday 2nd December was the deadline for the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) first public inquiry into the future of the NHS since Labour came into power. Open to members of the public and organisations alike, the inquiry provided ‘an early opportunity to share your insights as we begin an extensive programme of engagement to develop the 10-Year […]

Digital Transformations / Transforming the Digital – Just and Democratic Futures for Ageing Societies

Insights and personal reflections from a session held at the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Annual International Conference, London, 2024 by Judith Tsouvalis with contributions from Emilene Zitkus, Ruhamah Thejus, Melissa Martinez-Perez and Alice Ashcroft Older adults have long been identified as lesser beneficiaries of the digital economy. According to the UK-based charity Age UK, around […]

CHI and EmpathiCHI Workshops Accepted!

Excited to announce that both our CHI 2024 HCI and Aging: New Directions, New Principles: New Directions and EmpathiCHI workshops have been accepted! The CHI workshop Bringing together a panel of experts, this workshop will reflect on where the HCI and Aging field is now, how it got there and where it is heading. One aim of the workshop is to […]

UCL Co-design activities and ‘Ageing lens’ focus groups and interviews

Following its series of diary studies run over the summer, UCL has been planning the next stage of co-design activity with older adult participants. We are currently looking at areas in East London to target for co-design recruitment. There are many minority ethnic communities here that are accessible through UCL East’s Stratford campus. By engaging these communities we hope to […]

INTERACT workshop

Work continued on CHI publications and Julia and Caroline met up to plan recruitment for the Phase 2 interviews and focus groups, which will be exploring issues relating to the Ageing strand of the project. In late August, UCL organised a workshop on AI Technologies for Older Adults at INTERACT 2023 in York, UK. Plenty of interesting, wide-ranging discussions covering […]

Social Justice Interviews and CHI publication

Julia completed the last of 15 interviews focused on the Social Justice strand this month, with transcription and analysis work due to take place after the summer break. Ongoing preparatory work for a literature-review CHI publication was also undertaken, with a first draft of core sections ready for review.

Project meeting and UCL diary studies

The project team met up mid-May in the beautiful Cockerham countryside near Lancaster to discuss progress and plans for the various research strands of the project. Judith also gave an introduction on how she sees her role developing over the coming months. Pleased to say the weather was set fair. UCL began their series of 7 day diary studies with […]

Welcome Judith!

April was a good month because, in addition to Easter eggs and forging ahead with more Social Justice lens interviews, we also welcomed Judith Tsouvalis to the team here at Lancaster! Judith’s particular focus will be on how the concept of ‘older adult’ is constructed in the Sociotechnical Imaginaries (STIs) of digital futures advocates, including the Government, digi tech companies, […]

Pilot Interviews and INTERACT Workshop

At Lancaster, an initial set of pilot interviews (relating to the ‘Social Justice’ research strand of the project) has been conducted with older adults at a local community centre. A project has been set up for these interviews within ATLAS.ti, using a number of a priori categories and codes (primarily participant attribute codes) in preparation for qualitative data analysis. Recordings […]