Deconstructing ageing stereotypes through Participatory Design: a Design Anthropology perspective.

Short Abstract This contribution presents a case study in which Participatory Design is combined with Design Anthropology in order to unearth and deconstruct ageing stereotypes, involving seniors as co-creators, through the making of a multimedia project. Long Abstract In the field of STS and system design it has been recently documented how ICT design for seniors is permeated with ageism (ageing stereotypes) and focuses prominently on an individual medicalized dimension, neglecting the collective dimension of ageing and its socio-cultural context (Vines et al 2015, Cozza and De Angeli 2015). In this paper, we argue that a design process liberating from ageism calls for the involvement of seniors as co-creators and needs to start from their everyday practices. Therefore, we adopt Participatory Design as methodology, integrating a Design Anthropology perspective (DA). DA improves the design with an anthropological gaze, characterized by a reflexive approach of the participants as well as of the researchers (Gunn et al 2013, Tonolli et al 2015). The case study presented is an on-going workshop realized with a Senior Community Centre, on the use of digital technologies. Ethnographic methods have been adopted while engaging with the participants in interactive activities. Seniors' approach to ICT often produces a stressful and anxious condition rather than a state of well-being, while senior's fascination for it is not always supported by personal needs, rather by induced ones. Therefore, we engaged seniors in critically reflecting on the use and usefulness of digital technologies. The result was the making of a multimedia project for sharing their expertise. A reflexive process in-the-making has been articulated: making sense of ICT and ageing in seniors' own terms, activating a participatory deconstruction of ageism, in contrast with the normative narratives articulated under the label "active aging".