research-article

Never too old: engaging retired people inventing the future with MaKey MaKey

Authors:

Margot Brereton,

Kate L. Vaisutis,

Frank VetereAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '14: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 3913 - 3922

https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557184

Published: 26 April 2014 Publication History

Abstract

Within HCI, aging is often viewed in terms of designing assistive technologies to improve the lives of older people, such as those who are suffering from frailty or memory loss. Our research adopts a very different approach, reframing the relationship in terms of wisdom, creativity and invention. We ran a series of workshops where groups of retirees, aged between early 60s and late 80s, used the MaKey MaKey inventor's toolkit. We asked them to think about inventing the future and suggest ideas for new technologies. Our findings showed that they not only rose to the challenge but also mastered the technology, collaborated intensely together while using it and freely and at length discussed their own, their family's and others' relationship with technology. We discuss the value of empowering people in this way and consider what else could be invented to enable more people to be involved in the design and use of creative technologies.

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Cited By

Casey BMarston GVyas D(2025)Self-Care Practices in the Context of Older Adults Living IndependentlyProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/37012059:1(1-26)Online publication date: 10-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3701205
Gutiérrez Castillo JLeón Garrido ABarroso-Osuna J(2024)placa makey-makey en las aulas universitariasIJERI: International Journal of Educational Research and Innovation10.46661/ijeri.9621(1-14)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.46661/ijeri.9621
So JEstrada SJörke MBianchi EWang MHaghighi NFessele KLanday JCuadra A(2024)"They Make Us Old Before We're Old": Designing Ethical Health Technology with and for Older AdultsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36870178:CSCW2(1-30)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3687017
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Never too old: engaging retired people inventing the future with MaKey MaKey
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
2. Social and professional topics

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '14: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2014

4206 pages

ISBN:9781450324731

DOI:10.1145/2556288

General Chairs:
Matt Jones
Swansea University, Wales, UK
,
Philippe Palanque
Université Paul Sabatier, France
,
Program Chairs:
Albrecht Schmidt
University of Stuttgart, Germany
,
Tovi Grossman
Autodesk Research, Canada

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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New York, NY, United States

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Published: 26 April 2014

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CHI '14: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 26 - May 1, 2014

Ontario, Toronto, Canada

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CHI '14 Paper Acceptance Rate 465 of 2,043 submissions, 23%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

Casey BMarston GVyas D(2025)Self-Care Practices in the Context of Older Adults Living IndependentlyProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/37012059:1(1-26)Online publication date: 10-Jan-2025
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3701205
Gutiérrez Castillo JLeón Garrido ABarroso-Osuna J(2024)placa makey-makey en las aulas universitariasIJERI: International Journal of Educational Research and Innovation10.46661/ijeri.9621(1-14)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.46661/ijeri.9621
So JEstrada SJörke MBianchi EWang MHaghighi NFessele KLanday JCuadra A(2024)"They Make Us Old Before We're Old": Designing Ethical Health Technology with and for Older AdultsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36870178:CSCW2(1-30)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3687017
Qian ZFu JZhou Y(2024)Gaining Technological Autonomy and Soci-emotional Support: A Case Study of How and Why Chinese Older Adults Engage with a Semi-acquaintance Online CommunityProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869808:CSCW2(1-35)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686980
Johnstone JNadeeshani MChen HVemula MTandori EStephens KSenaratne HEllis KAnanthanarayan S(2024)Designing Accessible Adaptations for an Electronic Toolkit with Blind and Low Vision UsersProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3675652(1-15)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
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Hu RPradhan ABonsignore ELazar A(2024)Sustaining the Usefulness and Appeal of an Older Adult-led Makerspace through Developing and Adapting ResourcesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36374018:CSCW1(1-29)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637401
Willatt AGray SManchester HFoster TCater K(2024)An Intersectional Lifecourse Lens and Participatory Methods as the Foundations for Co-Designing with and for Minoritised Older AdultsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36372958:CSCW1(1-29)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637295
Grönvall ECiolfi LHogan TDöring TJenkins Tvan Dijk JHuron SLi ZCoyle DSigner B(2024)MusicalAid: A Playful Collaborative Music Tool for People Finding it Difficult to Handle Common InstrumentsProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3635265(1-6)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3623509.3635265
Morrison LMcPherson A(2024)Entangling Entanglement: A Diffractive Dialogue on HCI and Musical InteractionsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642171(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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Zhao WKelly RRogerson MWaycott J(2024)Older Adults Imagining Future Technologies in Participatory Design Workshops: Supporting Continuity in the Pursuit of Meaningful ActivitiesProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3641887(1-18)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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