23-25 April 2024
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Rittika
Basu
Visual Designer at Merkle - A Dentsu Company
"Age and Interface: Equipping Older Adults with Technological Tools"
"Age and Interface: Equipping Older Adults with Technological Tools"
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Session: Age and Interface: Equipping Older Adults with Technological Tools
Older adults are an integral part of any family, community and country. They can provide knowledge, experience, support and love to younger family members and friends. However, we often observe our grandparents struggling with smartphones and computers. In 2015 according to Pew Research Center, 11% of older adults do not feel confident when using modern electronics. The objective of this talk is to promote digital literacy, bridge the digital divide, empower as well as build confidence among older adults and elderly netizens. Additionally, embracing technology will help in reducing technophobia and computer anxiety among older adults who lack computer literacy skills.The talk highlights the importance of creating more gerontechnology, which refers to digital tools and devices that are specially designed and curated for elderly users, the term itself is a portmanteau of gerontology and technology. There is an emerging need to understand Gerontological design, which is a design discipline that utilizes the knowledge of gerontology and design research methodologies to create products and services with the intention to help the older population. Gerontechnology is created with a unique infrastructure that will promote healthy ageing and the functional and psycho-emotional needs of older patients. WHO defines healthy ageing as “the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables well-being in older age”.
Key Takeaways
- Audience will learn about the importance of Gerontechnology, Age Tech, Assistive Technology and implementing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
- Audience will be gaining insights on how to implement Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 in their design to accommodate browsers with different needs.
- This talk is helpful to anyone struggling with digital interfaces, technology usage, new media platforms and facing computer anxiety/technophobia.
- This research will provide insights and factual data and introduce strategies to improve human-centred design services specific to the older population intended to help them in the process of embracing modern technology.
Bio
With 5+ years of experience, Rittika is an awarded designer, researcher, speaker and imaginer. She believes ‘Good Design’ is a service/product that solves problems, improves lifestyle and enhances user satisfaction through innovation as well as optimistic intervention. Currently, she is the Visual Designer at Merkle - A Dentsu Company on connected commerce, CXM, design systems and service design. She was selected as an Erasmus student to ÉSAD de Reims, France based on her academic merit. She is the recipient of the OCADU Dean scholarship and pursued her Master of Design (M.Des) degree from OCAD University, Toronto. Her expertise lies in Accessibility design, research literature, gerontological designs, design systems, HCI and she is a gerontechnology aficionado.She is a member of 'Women talk Design', an author at INDIAai (National AI portal) and a design mentor at UMO Design. Formerly, she has worked for Walt Disney, Toshiba, Govt. of Canada, OCAD University and Total SA across India, Canada and France in domains like technology, healthcare, data analytics, consumer merchandise and academia. She is a certified Level 2 - Adobe Creative Educator and a contributor. Additionally, she is the co-author of two research papers presented at the HCI International 2021 conference (Washington DC) and at Data Echo Culture event by Synapse C (Québec). They are published in ResearchGate, Google Books, WHO and SpringerLink. She spoke at Talk UX Conference (hosted in Tokyo), UXDX series (APAC region) and Rosenfeld Media, New York. She is an upcoming keynote speaker and presenter at ConveyUX, Seattle 2023.
