SHOW:    All     Research    Publications     Roles 
2021
Probing Social Interactivity in Later Life
RMIT Shaping Connections
U3A Network Victoria


A key topic in age studies, and a context in which designers actively engage, is the way ageing is imagined and portrayed, often in assumptive and biased ways. This study seeks to employ a cultural probe and take a open and provocative approach to images of ageing. Conducted with members of U3A Network Victoria, ageing in their local communities, the resulting materials detail how the pandemic accelerated the prevalence of technologies in their lives but perhaps not a quality to social interactions.  

As part of this research design process, I sought to explore how we might support ‘improved’ images of ageing, which formed insights into the implications of improving the resolution of our images of ageing. This probe was used by older adults towards higher accuracy, offering designers a tool for the targeted creation of critical images of ageing.

To be Submitted - Gaining Resolution: The Role of Probes in Designing for Ageing. ︎


I acknowledge the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands I conduct my work. I respectfully acknowledge their Ancestors and Elders, past, present and emerging.


©2022 Jacob Sheahan