Rapid design of inclusive wireless technologies: A participatory workshop process

ABSTRACT

Wireless technology products and services play a significant role in our everyday lives. Great advances in design features have improved the accessibility and utility of these technologies for older adults and people with disabilities. Yet, there is still opportunity to ensure upcoming designers of wireless technologies consider how their design helps or hinders their product’s potential users. In this paper, we describe the evolution of a series of half-day participatory design workshops intended to expose student designers to real-world problem-solving alongside experts in the fields of aging and disability services and end users. Workshop attendees rapidly worked through an inclusive design process identifying and defining problems, considering the design requirements to meet the needs of various individuals, and finally designing and refining concepts to solve those problems. We describe the design of the workshops, iterations intended to improve on the experience, and our recommendations for conducting similar workshops

KEYWORDS:

• education
• older adults
• universal design

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank LeadingAge of Georgia and ATIA for the opportunity to include these workshops in their programs, in addition to the Tools for Life team and other faculty and students at Georgia Tech, who were instrumental in planning, facilitating, and/or participating in the workshops.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

The contents of this paper were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research [NIDILRR grant number 90RE5025-01-00]. NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this paper do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.