Equity for the Older: Beyond Digital Access
Lead Research Organisation:
Lancaster University
Department Name: Computing & Communications
Abstract
Older adults have long been lesser beneficiaries of the digital economy, with many unable or choosing not to adopt digital technologies which do not speak to their particular needs and wants. With COVID-19 spurring societal digitalisation at an unprecedented pace, digitally disadvantaged older adults have been locked out of essential and life-saving services, while others have been made to take up technologies they may be deeply uncomfortable using. As we reimagine society to deal with an ongoing pandemic reality, it is essential that older adults are neither left behind nor forced to make major concessions in their way of life. It is not enough, therefore, to simply improve access to digital technologies. An equitable digital society requires that older adults are welcomed into a digital economy that treats them as first order stakeholders.
This project fills this critical need to create a digital society that delivers equal to benefits older adults by:
1) Analysing data on older adults that has been collected over the last 20 years to understand various interrelated and multiplicative factors in older adults' exclusion from the digital economy;
2) Conducting interviews and focus groups with older adults to explore how this period of rapid digitalisation has altered older adults' relationship with digital technologies, focusing on four key areas undergoing important change as a result of the pandemic: Health, Communication, Place, Finance;
3) Co-designing new technology prototypes with older adults to establish a radical new practice which enables older adults to meaningfully participate in creating an equitable digital society; and
4) Creating lasting resources to instill best practice for a digital economy that is inclusive of the full diversity of older adults.
This project fills this critical need to create a digital society that delivers equal to benefits older adults by:
1) Analysing data on older adults that has been collected over the last 20 years to understand various interrelated and multiplicative factors in older adults' exclusion from the digital economy;
2) Conducting interviews and focus groups with older adults to explore how this period of rapid digitalisation has altered older adults' relationship with digital technologies, focusing on four key areas undergoing important change as a result of the pandemic: Health, Communication, Place, Finance;
3) Co-designing new technology prototypes with older adults to establish a radical new practice which enables older adults to meaningfully participate in creating an equitable digital society; and
4) Creating lasting resources to instill best practice for a digital economy that is inclusive of the full diversity of older adults.
Publications
Ashcroft, A.
(2025)
Beyond Binary: Re-imagining Age using Gender in HCI for Inclusive Design
Aung K
(2024)
"What a stupid way to do business": Towards an Understanding of Older Adults' Perceptions of Deceptive Patterns and Ways to Develop Resistance
in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
Knowles B
(2023)
Un-Paradoxing Privacy: Considering Hopeful Trust
in ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
Knowles B
(2023)
Trustworthy AI and the Logics of Intersectional Resistance
Knowles, B.
(2025)
Not Just a Number: A Multidimensional Approach to Ageing in HCI
Knowles, B.
(2024)
HCI and Aging: New Directions, New Principles
McDowell, J.
(2024)
What do older adults want from financial services
| Description | Evidence submission to the Labour Government's Inquiry "The 10 Year Health Plan to Make the NHS Fit for the Future" |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/digi-age/2024/12/06/the-10-year-health-plan-to-make-the-nhs-fit-for-the-futur... |
| Title | The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2023) |
| Description | A longitudinal dataset of information on the dynamics of health, social, wellbeing and economic circumstances in the English population aged 50 and older. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Made available through the UK Data Service for use in a multitude of research publications. |
| URL | https://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/ |
| Description | AgeUK |
| Organisation | Age UK |
| Department | Age UK London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Participation in joint workshops |
| Collaborator Contribution | Participation in joint workshops |
| Impact | Research publications (in progress) |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | The Young Foundation |
| Organisation | Young Foundation |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | In dialogue with Dr Alice Mathers of The Young Foundation, who has joined our project as a Consultant. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Brings a wealth of subject knowledge relating to public policy and age. |
| Impact | Working towards joint publication outputs. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | "Who's Speaking, Who's Listening?" - Smartspeakers' workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This workshop, run by Ewan Soubutts and Aneesha Singh from the University College London team on the 31st of January 2024, was attended by around 12 older adults fom AgeUK, East London. Smart speakers were used as a means of engaging this group (who have had less exposure to digital technology), with an easy to control technology, using their voice. Participants were engaged and raised a lot of questions around how smart speakers work and the appropriateness of the technology in their own lives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | AHRC-funded Design & Policy Research Network Workshop 6 September 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Judith Tsouvalis attended the fourth workshop of the AHRC-funded Design & Policy Research Network of which she is a member, The workshop brings together people working with participatory (design-based) approaches in academia with policymakers and aims to encourage collaborations and best practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.arts.ac.uk/research/current-research-and-projects/design-and-policy-network |
| Description | AI and Creativity Workshop with AgeUK East London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | A public engagement workshop with AgeUK East London, introducing the center's participants to AI through the lens of creative tools, such as ChatGPT and BingAI. The participants gained an understanding of what AI is and can do and experimented with some of these tools, to gain a greater appreciation for how they could be applied within their own lives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | AgeUK Digital Champions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Formal data collection and information exchange activities with seven Age UK Digital Champions to hear their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges faced by older adults in their communities in using digital technologies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | BCS HCI workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Workshop accepted as part of the BCS HCI 2024 conference; exploring generational dynamics in HCI. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/digi-age/2024/05/21/bcs-hci-workshop-call-for-participation/ |
| Description | Blog: Digital Transformations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Blog post reporting insights and personal reflections from session led by project team member at the Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference, London, 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/digi-age/2024/10/14/rgs-conference/ |
| Description | Blog: Digitising Health and Social Care |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Blog commentary on the digitisation of healthcare in the UK and the impact on older adults. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/digi-age/2024/09/02/digitising-health-and-social-care-why-a-technofix-wont-do... |
| Description | Blog: The 10 Year Health Plan to Make the NHS Fit for the Future |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Blog post commenting on the Department of Health and Social Care's first public inquiry into the future of the NHS under the UK's new government. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/digi-age/2024/12/06/the-10-year-health-plan-to-make-the-nhs-fit-for-the-futur... |
| Description | Blog: When Technology Makes Us All "Feel Old" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Blog post exploring the ways that technology can make people feel old. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://wp.lancs.ac.uk/digi-age/2024/12/12/ios-photos-update/ |
| Description | Community centres and recruitment panel |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Engagement with 10 older adults in the community, both formally during data collection exercises, and informally, to gain insights into their uses (or non-use) of digital technology to help ensure the research addressed and responded to issues relevant to older adults as key stakeholders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | DELETE |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This workshop, run by Ewan Soubutts and Aneesha Singh from the University College London team on the 28th of February 2024, was attended by around 12 older adults fom AgeUK, East London. The group (who have had less exposure to digital technology), was engaged on issues around Artificial Intelligence and Creativity. This raised a lot of questions, including around the appropriateness of the technology in their own lives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | ELSA policy roundtable |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | 10 people attended a Digital Connections Policy Roundtable focusing on the ELSA dataset. Bran Knowles and Aneesha Singh were invited attendees, though were the only academics. The other attendees were representatives of older adult advocacy groups: Independent Age, Citizens Online, Good Things Foundation, and AgeUK. Advice from this event will feed into updates to the survey questions in ELSA and a policy brief. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Engagement with local community centres and the Centre for Ageing Research (Lancaster) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Julia McDowell engaged with 26 older adults in the community, both formally during data collection exercises, and informally at coffee mornings and other activities, to gain insights into their uses (or non-use) of digital technology, including during COVID, to help ensure the research addresses and responds to issues relevant to older adults as key stakeholders. Engagement with community centre managers/leaders to elicit their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges faced by older adults in their communities using digital technologies, and discussions around the need for and provision of dedicated training. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Focus groups |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Collaboration with six older adults from the local community as part of a series of co-research focus groups to gain insights into their experiences (or lack of experience) of using smartphones, and to design and publish a series of user guides. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Full-day Workshop, Interact 2023 Conference "Design for Equality and Justice" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was organised by project team members Ewan Soubutts and Aneesha Singh from UCL and attended by Judith Tsouvalis from Lancaster. It focused on older adults' engagement with digital technologies in playful, accessible and creative ways in everyday life. The aim of the workshop was to develop a research agenda for HCI research with older adults to explore, enjoy, build new and extend existing interactions with such technologies. It focused on five themes for the role of such technologies: (i) for enabling expression and creativity, (ii) as a catalyst for experience and action, (iii) for enabling reflection and awareness, (iv) for communication and (v) supporting the design process for (re) inventing new products and avenues for use. This hands-on workshop featured co-creation and exploration of research methods and technologies, bringing together researchers interested in designing for and with older adults and in questions related to ethical dimensions of AI, its governance, and issues related to social justice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://interact2023.org/workshops/0/ |
| Description | Institute of Healthcare Engineering (UCL) public engagement award |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a one-off event with a presentation about the co-design activities on the project, that subsequently received a certificate in recognition of the varied public engagement activities that have gone on, on the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Just One Thing Podcast: How to stay young |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Provides insights gleaned from analysis of English Longitudinal Study of Ageing on how to stay young. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001tscr |
| Description | Panel/Presentation Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr. Judith Tsouvalis organised and chaired a panel on "Digital Transformations/Transforming the Digital - Just and Democratic Futures for Ageing Societies", held at the Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers in London in August 2024. The panel attracted national and international speakers and an equally diverse audience. Dr. Alice Ashcroft, a researcher from the DigiAge project, gave a paper on "Identity Construction in HCI: Comparing Structures of Age, Gender and Intersectionality in HCI". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.rgs.org/about-us/our-work/latest-news/ac2024-explores-mapping-in-all-its-forms |
| Description | Paper presented by Bran Knowles in June 2023 at the FAccT '23: ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency in Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The paper focused on the growing awareness of the capacity of AI to inflict harm has inspired efforts to delineate principles for 'trustworthy AI' and, from these, objective indicators of 'trustworthiness' for auditors and regulators. Such efforts run the risk of formalizing a distinctly privileged perspective on trustworthiness which is insensitive (or else indifferent) to the legitimate reasons for distrust held by marginalized people. By exploring a neglected conative element of trust, we broaden understandings of trust and trustworthiness to make sense of, and identify principles for responding productively to, distrust of ostensibly 'trustworthy' AI. It was published in the conference proceedings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://facctconference.org/2023/ |
| Description | Presentation at the Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, August 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr. Judith Tsouvalis presented a paper in the session on "Mapping Participation" held as part of the Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the IBG in London in August 2024. Her talk was based on research conducted as part of the DigiAge project and was called "Material Participation in England's Digital Transformation of Health and Social Care - How Technology and Older Adults are Enrolled in Tackling England's 'Crisis of Care'". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.rgs.org/about-us/our-work/latest-news/ac2024-explores-mapping-in-all-its-forms |
| Description | Speculative Digital Futures Workshop Lancaster (Gregson Community Centre) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was organised by Dr. Judith Tsouvalis and run by her together with Dr. Julia McDowell and Dr. Alice Ashcroft. It involved nine older adults and lasted a whole morning. The focus of the workshop was discussing participants' views and experiences of digital technology and digitalisation, and the kind of futures they imagine it could bring. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Tonic Housing London, AgeUK (Bow, Islington, Hammersmith and Fulham), Tower Hamlets Borough Council |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | These partnerships form our means of engagement with different public sector and charity bodies around London. They have helped with both co-design study recruitment and interview study recruitment alike. Significant outcome: Longer-term engagement with communities, with potential to extend beyond the lifespan of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | UCL "Health and Wellbeing" Co-design Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was led by Ewan Soubutts from the University College London team on the 24th of April 2024 and was attended by Judith Tsouvalis from the Lancaster team. It involved around 12 older adults fom AgeUK, East London. The group (who have had less exposure to digital technology), was engaged on issues around Health and Wellbeing. There was much discussion about the way technology interfaces are design (e.g smart watches, health track apps on phones) and about the usefulness of digital technology for looking after ones own health. Findings from this workshop will inform HCI research and development taking place at UCL. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Workshop 2 at AgeUK East London: Energy Tools and Technologies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 1.5 hour workshop with older adults 65+ looking at how smart energy meters and in-home energy devices can be better designed to help older adults manage their energy more efficiently and understandably. Impact: Critical thinking and self-reflection with group, engagement with low-income under-represented group in this type of energy research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Workshop 3 at UCL East: Health Tools and Technologies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 1.5 hour workshop with older adults 65+ looking at how personal wellbeing technologies e.g. smartphone apps/wearable devices can be used to help older adults gain better awareness of their physical health. Impact: Critical thinking and self-reflection with group, engagement with low-income under-represented group in this type of energy research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |