DESIGNING A CRAFT-BASED ELECTRONIC TOOLKIT FOR OLDER ADULT CRAFTERS

Abstract

Many technologies for older adults are designed for them rather than with or by them. These technologies, including everything from home monitoring systems to assistive robots, are often designed to help them age in place. Researchers and designers can be reluctant to involve older adults in the design process, in part due to stereotypes that paint older adults as technology averse. Older adults are a group with a wealth of experience that researchers and designers can support to contribute to HCI, especially a group with a specific skillset, such as older adult crafters. Older adult crafters could contribute to HCI by supporting them to integrate their expertise into tools that make creating with maker electronics easier. Maker electronics – customizable hardware and software for creating with electronics – share similarities with crafting. Both require creativity while creating a physical object. Researchers have developed connections between maker electronics and crafting, even including older adults in the design process. However, researchers are missing an opportunity to build on older adult crafters’ decades of experience to support older adults without technical expertise to create with maker electronics. In this dissertation, I present my prior work supporting older adult crafters to design a craft-based electronic toolkit with and for older adult crafters. I explored older adult crafters’ practices and identified the potential for an electronic toolkit through surveys and participatory design workshops. Next, I developed and evaluated an initial toolkit (Craftec v1). The toolkit showed promise, but I recognized the need for better teaching materials and scaffolded activities to prepare participants. Finally, I remotely co-designed crafted projects with older adult crafters, and developed an updated toolkit design (Craftec v3) for older adult crafters to craft their own projects. I make three key contributions through my work. First, I share a deeper understanding of older adult crafters’ practices. Second, I developed a set of craft and maker electronic-based scaffolded activities and teaching materials to teach older adult crafters to create with electronics. Finally, I present Craftec v3, the craft-focused electronic toolkit for older adult crafters that I designed.