Empowering Older Adult Creative Groups with Maker Technology

Olivia Richards1, Samantha Whitman2, Ben Jelen3, and Katie Siek3

1 The Pennsylvania State University, Eberly College of Science, orichards@psu.edu 2 Arizona State University, College of Health Solutions, Samantha.Whitman@asu.edu

3 Indiana University, Proactive Health Informatics, {bcjelen, ksiek}@indiana.edu

Motivation

Older adults possess a wealth

of skills and life experiences that

make them capable of creating

their own electronic devices.

This can improve the design of

technology to support their

independence.

Objective

Identify crafting activities that

older adults participate in and

tailor maker technology to

their crafts.

Acknowledgments:

Cheryl Engel, Twin Lakes

Recreational Center-Lap Quilting

Group, Discardia, and IU SROC

and ProHealth students who

participated in the beta testing

process

National Science Foundation CNS-

1560276This material is based upon work supported by the National Science

Foundation under Grant No.CNS-1560276. Any opinions, findings, and

conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of

the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the viesw of the National

Science Foundation.

Identifying Crafting Activities Tailor Technology to Crafts

• 8 hours of Observations at Various Quilting and

Textile Groups

• Collected Field Notes and Qualitativly Analyzed

Field Notes using an Affinity Diagram

• Developed Participatory Design Activities

• Mastered Quilting and Scrapbooking Techniques

• Learned Arduino Programming and Circuitry

• Incorporated Small Electronics into Exemplar

Artifacts

Methods

Results

Paper Circuit Activity Observations Crafting Group Observations

• Dialogues should be kept open to learn the most

from participants

• Participants should be given time and space to

learn, discover, and iterate

• Demonstrations and directions must be given at

a comfortable pace for all skill levels

• Crafting groups behold a unique sense of

community in which crafting is a lifestyle

• They create for themselves, loved ones, and as a

service to others

• Researchers should tailor technology to craft

instead of tailoring their craft to electronics

Preparation for Participatory Design Study

We designed paper circuit activities to teach circuitry to older adults using one 3V battery, one LED, copper tape and paper. We ran a beta test to iterate on these activities for the future participatory design study.

Incorporating Electronics into Crafted Exemplar Artifacts

• We created a quilt that tracks and displays

amount of inactivity of the quilt user

• Purpose: Encourage awareness amongst older

adults of their daily rest time

• We designed a scrapbook cover that counts and

displays how many times it has been opened

• Purpose: Develop a sense of generational use of

the memory album

Image Sources:1. "Code" by Chameleon Design derived from

https://thenounproject.com/term/code/542423/, is licensed under

CC BY 3.0 US

2. Customize" by Camille Rochenoire is derived from

https://thenounproject.com/term/customize/73535/, is licensed

under CC BY 3.0 US

3. "Grandparents" by Marie Van den Broeck is derived from

https://thenounproject.com/search/?q=elderly+couple&i=202103, is

licensed under CC BY 3.0 US

4. "Microchip" by Aaron Dodson is derived from

https://thenounproject.com/term/microchip/30229/, is licensed

under CC BY 3.0 US

5. "Needle And Thread" by A.M. Briganti is derived from

https://thenounproject.com/term/needle-and-thread/64538/, is

licensed under CC BY 3.0 US

6. "Productivity" by Gregor Črešnar is derived from

https://thenounproject.com/term/productivity/426102/, is licensed

under CC BY 3.0 US