CSCS: Council of Senior Centers and Services of NYC, Inc.

I bought myself an iPad.  Actually, I got it the first week they were out.  Usually I wait on technology for a second release to give the powers that be some time to work out the bugs, however, given the potential the iPad offers to seniors I felt it worthwhile to get my hands on one sooner than later.

It’s an interesting machine.  Apple appears to have realized that 80% of the time people are consuming information/entertainment or doing simple communications.  Given it’s smaller size, high resolution screen and speed in processing, for these types of activities (the 80%) one can argue that the iPad is a superior interface to the desktop or laptop PC.

So, if you want a computer to surf the net, watch a video, read the news, play a game, or e-mail a friend the iPad is the device for you.  If you need to do stuff for work - like use a word processor, develop presentations, crunch spreadsheets, edit photos, etc – this is not the machine to use.

But is it senior friendly? There have been some reports that it is being received well in the senior community (see article in SF Chronicle ) and given the more intuitive nature of the touch screen interface, it is understandable why this might be the case.  It sure beats using a mouse, however, in my brief observations with seniors using it, I can see problems in the size of the icons and sensitivity of the screen.  Also, I feel the assistive technology options are rather clunky.  But I’ll hold off any judgments on this until I  take it around to senior centers to get a better sense on how easy people find using it.

If you get a chance, go on down and give it a test drive.  Let us know what you think.

There’s still a long way to go but several key technologies useful for seniors were discussed or on display at the Aging in America Conference, sponsored by the National Coalition on Aging and the American Society on Aging.  Numerous workshops focused on health monitoring and a special full day of workshops was dedicated to brain fitness, with technology being an important component.

I wrote a round-up on some of the tech products on display in the vendor exhibit hall for InformationWeek. (see  Technology Connects, Protects Seniors).

A program, known as the Virtual Senior Center, has been implemented by SelfHelp’s Benjamin Rosenthal Senior Center in Flushing, Queens.  In partnership with Microsoft, SelfHelp is using technology to fight social isolation and give older, homebound New Yorkers better access to community services.  In this program, a small group of seniors were given new computers that included video cameras to allow them to participate in programs remotely.  In addition to hardware and just as important was the technical support provided to help the seniors learn how to utilize the new tools.

The pilot program has received publicity from local and national news sources.  Hopefully this will translate into greater understanding in the potential these technologies can offer to seniors.  For more information see the Daily News or Business Week articles on the subject.

Over the past few months I’ve been working with some other folks involved with technology and an interest in the field of aging.  We’ve put together a resource site with short reviews of some of the promising technologies and useful reports and entitled it Senior Friendly Design.  It’s located at https://sites.google.com/site/seniorfriendlydesign/

Visit the site and contact us if you have any suggestions of sites or articles to include or people we should engage in this important discussion.

- Michael

On November 20th, over 100 people attended the BRICA conference Wired up Seniors: Technology and Aging.  The day was marked by high quality presentations and wonderful support by the hosts Jewish Home Lifecare.

Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. opened the proceedings, speaking about his enjoyment in figuring out how to use new technologies and his feeling that this process of discovery can be shared by seniors when there is proper training and support. He also eloquently articulated the duty for the current generation to appreciate the efforts of their forbears and to make sure they are well provided for.

Keynote speaker Tom Kamber of OATS spoke how technology has the potential to significantly impact the lives of seniors and help them stay connected and involved with the larger community.  He suggested we focus on the issues that matter and provide the support needed to make this transition truly meaningful (Tom’s presentation was recorded - see http://www.seniorplanet.org/staging/node/1251 ).   Abby Stokes our luncheon speaker reviewed the rapid growth of seniors in social networking sites.  She suggested that providers could utilize these trends to publicize their activities and engage seniors as part of both their in person and on-line community.

The workshops were dense with information.  Topics included:

• Healthy Aging Initiatives and Technology - presented by  Debbie Bobe, Galina Vaysman and Sheila Colombani of Jewish Home Lifecare.  It included a review of “Telehealth” technologies which facilitates the connection between health providers and clients at home.  For example, using a product called Health Buddy, patients answer a series of daily questions about their health and well being.  The data is sent over a telephone line to the providers who can determine the patient’s status and enable early intervention before a patient’s condition becomes acute.  Due to the importance and high interest in this workshop, it was presented during both sets of workshops.
• Technology to Improve Service Delivery and Increase Program Participation - included three presenters; Joshua Peskay of Fund for the City of NY, Abby Stokes and myself.  I began with a review of the implications for small non-profits of “cloud computing” and related technologies that take advantage of the Internet as the new platform (such as Google apps).  Joshua focused on the issues of technology planning for organizations of all sizes and then he and Abby responded to a series of concerns from participants related to issues of social networking and privacy.
• Community Technology Resources for Seniors - included presentations by Jennifer Engstrom from the NYC public library and Reeva Mager from Dorot.  Jennifer spoke about the range of technology related services and Internet access offered by the public libraries. Reeva presented about Dorot’s teleconference programs  that enable those with limited mobility to join in in a range of educational offerings from their home, through the telephone
• Creating a More Senior Friendly Technology -  focused on defining key design principles involved in making a technology “senior friendly.”  I reviewed various communication services targeted to the senior market such as the Jitterbug phone, PawPawMail, BigScreenLive and It’s Never Too Late.  Extracting some of the design principals employed on in these products/services, we compared their interface to the iphone and discussed how this transformational device and others like it could easily be made more senior friendly.  Abby spoke about the key design features in making a senior friendly website and how to involve program participants to your on-line offerings.
• Setting Up and Successfully Managing a Computer Lab for Seniors - John Figuerora of OATS a veteran in setting up senior centers presented the key issues involved in successfully managing this type of service.

Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, chair of the Aging Committee visited the workshops to inform participants about the state’s deficits and the need for senior providers to understand and react to probable upcoming budget cut pressures.

Beyond the specifics, and the high quality of the presentations, it was noteworthy and encouraging to see so much interest related technology and seniors.  To those of us who have been involved in the field, it’s exciting to see a shift in public interest and the growing recognition in private firms of the potential in this market.

A special thanks to Jewish Home Lifecare for use of their wonderful facilities the tremendous support of the staff.  They ensured that the conference was a success.

Several senior oriented computer products were highlighted in a recent article in the New York Times entitled Helping Grandpa Get His Tech On. including Pawpawmail, BigScreenlive, Jitterbug and others.  While all were senior friendly, their range of functionality varied, with most were focusing on getting seniors on-line to either send and receive e-mails with family and friends or surf the web.

I’ve been compiling a list of these products (some mentioned in the article) and invite readers to add examples in comments here.  I’ll be highlighting this in the upcoming BRICA conference on Wired Up Seniors: Technology and Aging,  that will be held at Jewish Home Lifecare on Friday, November 20th.  For more information about the conference, you can download the pdf conference brochure.

Bronx Interagency Conference on Aging (BRICA)will be holding it’s 2009 Conference entitled Wired Up Seniors: Technology and Aging on November 20th at Jewish Home Lifecare at their facility at 100 West Kingbridge Road in the Bronx.  The conference will include Tom Kamber, founder of OATS as keynote speaker and Abby Stokes, author of Is This Thing On? will be the lunchtime speaker.  Workshops will include: Healthy Aging Initiatives and Technology; Technology to Improve Service Delivery and Increase Program Participation; Community Technology Resources for Seniors; Creating a More Senior Friendly Technology and Setting Up and Successfully Managing a Computer Lab for Seniors.

The cost is free - so it’s really quite a good deal!  Download the conference brochure for more info including how to register.

As part of our work with seniors and technology, Abby Stokes and I visited seven senior centers during the month of June.  Abby spoke about a range of technology related  including Internet access, e-mail, cell phones, digital photography, etc.  The focus varied depending upon the interest of the seniors attending the sessions.

I presented senior friendly design principles to small groups (2-5 people) of seniors to get their feedback on how they would like different features in a home based personal information manager.  I’m hoping to use this information either to help build such a product or to advocate with technology companies how they should incorporate senior related concerns into their design framework. If you have any thoughts on this topic or resources that we should include please contact Michael Greene at CSCS.

I gave a presentation to the Voice Search conference on Senior Friendly Design on March 3, 2009.  The conference focused on voice related technologies and clearly a truly friendly computer interface would allow seniors to speak to the computer to get results.  The presentation is available on-line at http://sites.google.com/site/seniorfriendlydesign/presentations - For those interested contact Michael Greene at CSCS and I would be more than happy to discuss the key concepts presented

CSCS is proud to present “Technology ABCs - Abby’s Basic Computing for Seniors,” an on-line column by Abby Stokes, author of IS THIS THING ON? A Computer Handbook for Late Bloomers, Technophobes, and the Kicking and Screaming. It includes exerpts from Abby’s book as well as reviews of various digital devices in relation to their “senior friendliness.”

Abby will be writing articles on various technology themes In between speaking engagements throughout the nation promoting her book.  Check out Abby’s column!