Rethinking mobile interfaces for older adults

Charness, Neil and Dunlop, Mark and Munteanu, Cosmin and Nicol, Emma and Oulasvirta, Antti and Ren, Xiangshi and Sarcar, Sayan and Silpasuwanchai, Chaklam (2016) Rethinking mobile interfaces for older adults. In: ACM CHI 2016, 2016-05-07 - 2016-05-12. (https://doi.org/10.1145/2851581.2886431)

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Abstract

This SIG advances the study of mobile user interfaces for the aging population. The topic is timely, as the mobile device has become the most widely used computer terminal and at the same time the number of older people will soon exceed the number of children worldwide. However, most HCI research addresses younger adults and has had little impact on older adults. Some design trends, like the mantra “smaller is smarter”, contradict the needs of older users. Developments like this may diminish their ability to access information and participate in society. This can lead to further isolation (social and physical) of older adults and increased widening of the digital divide. This SIG aims to discuss mobile interfaces for older adults. The SIG has three goals: (i) to map the state-of-art, (ii) to build a community gathering experts from related areas, and (iii) to raise awareness within the SIGCHI community. The SIG will be open to all at CHI.