Aging, Privacy, and Home-Based Computing: Development of a Framework for Design

While the vast majority of information technologies are designed for younger audiences, recently more attention has been given to home-based applications that can help older adults "age in place". These designs focus on monitoring and providing support for elders while simultaneously providing caregivers the information needed to keep the elder safe. Relatively little attention has been given to the many ethical issues surrounding these types of pervasive technology. In this paper, we discuss the development of a privacy framework for design that we derived from the literature for the development of home-based computing for seniors. Using data from focus groups with over 60 elders, we address how the needs of elders, the perception of technology as a potential solution for aging in place, and the concept of privacy differ across the prototypes as well as between the researchers and the elders. We refine the framework to reflect the concerns and feedback of our research participants and then examine implications for the design of privacy-sensitive technologies for seniors.