Social help: developing methods to support older adults in mobile privacy and security

Older people experience difficulties when managing their security and privacy in mobile environments. However, support from the older adult's social network, and especially from close-tie relations such as family and close friends, is known to be an effective source of help in coping with technological tasks. On the basis of this existing phenomena, I investigate how new methods can increase the availability of social support to older adults and enhance learning in tackling privacy and security challenges. I will develop and evaluate several technological interventions in the support process within social networks for older adults: finding methods that increase seekers' technology learning and methods that increase help availability and quality.

In my Ph.D., I suggest conducting three studies: the first study aims to analyze existing approaches and scenarios of social support to older adults. The initial results suggest that people have a significant willingness to help their older relatives (specifically, their parents), but the actual instances in which they do so is much rarer. We conclude that the potential for social help is far from being exploited. In the second study, I plan to explore social support as a system to increase older adults' self-efficacy and collective efficacy to overcome privacy and security problems. The final study will investigate physiological signals to identify when an older adult required help with mobile security and privacy issues. A successful outcome will be a theoretical model of social support, focused on the domain of privacy and security, and based on vulnerable populations such as older adults. From a practical standpoint, the thesis will offer and evaluate a set of technologies that enable and encourage social support for older adults on mobile platforms.