SHARE_PERSONAS. Prototypes of Older Persons

Isabella Buber-Ennser, Vienna Institute of Demography
Benjamin Wimmer, CURE - Center for Usability Research and Engineering

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technology needs to meet requirements and specific needs of the target group. Engineers have to consider concerns, needs and limitations of users when designing technology for elderly people. However, unless the target group is defined, specific problems of the user group often remain unclear. To solve this problem researchers implement user requirements analysis approaches like interviews, focus groups, observations and cultural probes which are based on small samples. We aim to generate a set of Senior “PERSONAs” on the basis of the “Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe” (SHARE) Database. “PERSONAs” is a method in the realm of human computer interaction and is used in the development phase of IT products. It helps to bridge the gap between target group and developers. Based on a large sample, the study allows the development of a Senior PERSONAs set that overcomes these mentioned limitations.