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(Under Review) Workshopping ICT Risk Strategies with Older Australians

Sheahan, J., Hjorth, L., Figueiredo, B., Martin, D., Reid, M., Aleti, T., & Buschgens, M.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
As digital inclusion becomes a growing indicator of health and social wellbeing in later life, the need for older adults to adopt Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and develop digital literacy sees them face barriers (such as their perceived ICT risks and capacity to learn). This article describes the results of a series of co-design workshops conducted with older adults to develop strategies that support those in later life to use ICT and reduce their perceived risks around it. We argue that by using co-designed persona methods, we can develop more nuanced ICT risk strategies that are built with and for older adults.

(Forthcoming) 2022 - The Future of Work: Designing for Safety, Wellbeing and Workplaces of Tomorrow

Dim, W. & Sheahan, J. 

RMIT University & Worksafe Victoria
The future of work is a context that is rapidly being shaped by powerful forces; the growing adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace, the increasing casualisation of the workforce, and the decentralised nature of where and how ‘work’ is being performed. This report, The Future of Work, centres on research and case studies that speculate the issues facing all workers in the workplaces of tomorrow.

In seeking to support healthy ageing, designers have struggled to reduce their assumptions and biases towards older adults, interpret the worlds of later life through unfiltered imagery, engage with stigmas, and ultimately diminish the technologies they construct. Towards this, we proposition ‘resolution’ as a concept indicative of the level of detail that seeks to characterise the fidelity that representations of later life have. Responding to the inequities and social isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, this concept is explored through a cultural probe study that investigated the sentiments of several older Australians.

2022 - Co-designing Participatory Strategies With Older Adults: Reducing Perceived Risk and Promote Digital Inclusion ︎

Figueiredo, B., Aleti, T., Reid, M., Martin, DM., Hjorth, L., Sheahan, J., Buschgens, M.,  Kutin, J., Wall, G., and Grigg, A.

Australian Communications Consumer Action Network



As the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, digital engagement is crucial for fostering social inclusion forolder adults, however, perceived risks are one of the main reasons many older adults do not engage with ICT and the digital economy. In addressing such concerns about better equipping older Australians to engage with the digital economy, our report explains the perceived risks that affect older adults the most and outlines co-designed strategies that respond to their lived experiences of ICT – connecting practices with perceptions.

As the field of Industrial Design moves beyond its industrial manufacturing roots, exploring curricula that anticipate diverse participation and complexity in creative innovation is still emergent in this era of education. This paper discusses the adoption of the RMIT University, My First 6 Months (MF6M), finding the approach required less teaching staff intervention and gave more flexibility to students, reinforcing notions of trust and self-efficacy in learning.


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