Karyn Moffatt is the associate director of the Technologies for Aging
Gracefully Lab (TAGLab) at the University of Toronto, a Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Postdoctoral Fellow,
and a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fellow in Health
Care, Technology, and Place (HCTP). Her research explores the ways in
which technology can be employed to meet human needs and enable older
individuals to overcome everyday challenges and obstacles. This work
has led to a number of publications in top-tier academic venues and
has been recognized with awards at ACM ASSETS 2007 and ACM CHI 2009.
Karyn received her PhD in Computer Science in 2010 from the University
of British Columbia, where she worked with Professor Joanna McGrenere
on methods for increasing the accessibility of pen-based interaction
for older adults.

SWS, RG1   Info

Expert Audience

English

60 Minutes

Kaiserslautern

Abstract:
Older adults are quickly becoming diverse and savvy users of a broad
range of technologies. Of adults age 65 and over, 38% are currently
online, and of these, one in four has adopted social media. Though
uptake remains low compared to that of younger generations, it is
growing dramatically; for example, social networking use among
internet users 65 and older doubled over the past year. These trends
are encouraging because computer technologies offer immense potential
to support individuals as they age - by compensating for cognitive and
sensory impairments, by supporting independent living, and by
promoting social interaction.

In this talk, I will first give an overview of my dissertation work on
increasing the accessibility of pen-based interaction for older
adults. Pen-based devices are an appealing platform for older adults
because they allow users to take full advantage of their hand-eye
coordination skills in a familiar form of interaction. However,
research has chiefly focused on the accessibility limitations of the
mouse as it has historically garnered more wide-spread adoption. As we
move beyond accessibility, we can begin to explore the ways in which
technology can be designed to further enrich lives and fulfill unmet
needs. Within that theme, I will present ongoing projects aimed at
better understanding the technological needs of older adults, and at
envisioning new technologies specifically targeted to those needs.

Vera Laubscher

0631-9303-9600

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Saarbrücken

MPI-SWS Wartburg

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