Digitalization is one of the main drivers for change and innovation in our society. However, some groups of people are left out due to their lack of technical knowledge, digital competence and acceptance. In Germany, a majority of older adults belongs to these groups that do not make use of the added value of digital media in different areas of life. As technology developers and co-design researchers we would like to change this situation and, on the one hand, be in continuous dialogue with older adults around their technology needs and, on the other hand, develop technology that fits these needs.
In the digital health sector, co-creation processes are fundamentally important in order to create a human-centred service or product. The main goal of the accompanying research project CoCre-Hit is to implement co-creation in the developing process of new technologies and services right from the beginning. To support the other research projects of the call “Hybrid interaction systems to maintain health even in exceptional situations “, who are funded by the federal ministry of education and research and the VDI/VDE.
KISS is a student project guided by Prof. Dr. Alina Huldtgren. Focusing on user-centered design, the project aims to create a design concept and interactive prototype of a mobile application that specializes in first aid for babies and children.
The name „Further Perlenkette“ (EN: Further Pearl Necklace) stands for an online platform specifically designed for the needs of citizens living in the north of Neuss in a neighborhood called Neusser Furth. The goal is to create an integrative network of people with different age-, skill- and cultural backgrounds. The platform is designed to allow people to use it on all devices (PC, mobile, all OS), and even offline through a number of volunteers, thereby allowing people who are not connected to the Internet or have less technical skills to partake.
Digital media like digital music, video and images can trigger memories for people with dementia. Especially material from the past, ie. from a period that is still prevailing in people with dementia’s memories, can be used, for instance in reminiscence sessions with caregivers and support communication of people with dementia.
As part of a funding scheme “FH Struktur” of the Northrhine-Westphalian government a research program was set up at in 2014 our university to design digital media for people with dementia combining knowledge from design, media informatics, electrical engineering and social sciences.
Up to 90% of people with dementia (PwD) develop so-called challenging behaviors (emotional or physical), such as wandering, apathy, beating, crying or running away. Consequences are high burdens and impairments in quality of life for the PwD as well as for the caring relatives. Providing highly customized guidelines (interventions) could be a proper solution.
