GR1: Project Proposal and Analysis

Who We Are

  • Brian Chang
  • Sophia Cui
  • Viksit Arora
  • Sarah Han

Problem Statement

“One of the greatest challenges or losses that we face as older adults, frankly, is not about our health, but it’s actually about our social network deteriorating on us, because our friends get sick, our spouse passes away, friends pass away, or we move,” - Joseph F. Coughlin, director of the AgeLab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Members of the elderly community, who suffer from a diminishing social circle, would like to participate and contribute to society and connect with others
  • Technology for connecting seniors is too cryptic to use and not designed to meet their needs

Observations & Interviews

Josh is 65 year old former accountant, who recently moved into a nursing home with his wife. He was concerned about keeping in touch with his previous community and reminisces about his neighbors with whom he use to regularly chat with.  He misses being in the immediate vicinity of his grandchildren and tending to his garden. He mostly uses his phone as means to communicate with grandchildren and friends, but occasionally gets emails that he checks and replies to on the public computer in the nursing home. He has a facebook account that his youngest gran daughter Sarah made him a while ago, but he barely uses it. His profile is mostly empty. He finds facebook difficult to use, but does check the "nursing home's society's Facebook page", that gets updates of various weekend events held by the society. On being told about social networks and how people (including his grandchildren) use them to stay connected, especially facebook, he spoke about how he always found the numerous options, and the changing layout very difficult to get used to.

Lessons Learned:

  • wants to keep in touch with his old friends and family.
  • finds facebook & other social media too complicated/cryptic for everyday use

Mary is a widow who lives in the suburbs surrounding Boston.  She lost her husband 3 years ago and misses the companionship of her deceased spouse.  She has had a hard time dealing with the loss of her husband and misses their daily chats.  Mary wishes she had someone to talk to about her loss and wants to find others who can relate.  Trying to make new friends has been hard for Mary because she’s not sure where to go.  

Lessons Learned:

  • wants a way to meet new people.
  • would like to talk to people with similar life experiences.
  • wants advice on living alone. 

Chengran was an eye doctor in Bellevue, WA. But due to age and deteriorating health, he retired two years ago. He and his wife moved to the suburbs because his wife likes gardening and wants to live somewhere quiet. Now that he doesn't go into town for work, he has a lot of extra time on hand. Chengran longs for a way to continue to help others. He misses the social connections afforded to him through his profession and misses interacting with patients.  He struggles to redefine himself in this new retired state.  

Lessons Learned:

  • wants a way to meet new people.
  • wants to find new activities for his newfound time.
  • wants a sense of fulfillment.

User Class

General user class consists of seniors (65+), who are retired and desire to meaningfully connect with others and contribute to society. Some specific users include:

  • Elders who want to stay in contact with friends/family
    • Old folks displaced from their original community
    • Elderlies who moved to a different geographical location
  • Elders who want to meet new people
    • Lonely nursing home residents
    • Widow/widower
    • Seniors with a diminishing social circle
  • Elders who want to find new activities/hobbies
    • Elderlies desiring to contribute to society
    • Retirees

User Needs and Goals

  • Find trusted peers with similar problems for support and advice
  • Establish meaningful relationships in a community
  • Keep from boredom and retain mental agility
  • Desire to be useful to others
  • Shine on a new stage
  • Discover new hobbies
  • Make new friends

Research for Elderly Studies

The researchers at Pew released a report on "Older Americans and the Internet" in 2004, which found that 22 percent of seniors go online while "most seniors live lives far removed from the Internet, know few people who use e-mail or surf the Web, and cannot imagine why they would spend money and time learning how to use a computer." Sometimes I think that they are the lucky ones. More recent data from May 2008 show that 35 percent of seniors now use the Internet. E-mail is the top motivation for getting up to speed. Health information, checking the retirement account, and genealogical research are next in line. Seniors, rather poignantly, look up more spiritual and religious information than the younger demographics.

"Among the obvious physical attributes often affected by the human aging process," he writes, "are eyesight, precision of movement, and memory." He recommends using larger font sizes and avoiding "hierarchically walking" menus (such as Slate's) that require dextrous mouse-work. So perhaps the Internet will become some Large Type, easily clickable, grown-up version of itself.

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1 Comment

  1. Unknown User (meelap@mit.edu)

    Your interviews really motivate your project - great job!