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Crafting Usable Quantified Self-wearable Technologies for Older Adult

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Advances in Human Factors in Wearable Technologies and Game Design (AHFE 2018)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 795))

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Abstract

Commercially off-the-shelf (COTS) quantified self-wearable technologies (QSWT) have enabled younger individuals to adopt a measurable living style [49] through the collection of “quantifiable data”. However, the adoption of wearables remains lowest among the older adult, and the question of what is holding adoption back remains. The purpose of this study is to: (i) explore and present the device characteristics of smartwatches and pedometers that affect the adoption of wearables across different cultures; (ii) study country-specific older adult’s importance weights on identified issues; and (iii) provide informal usability guidelines for manufacturers, researchers, and application developers. The results revealed that the usability issues such as screen size, tapping detection, device size, interaction techniques, navigation, and typography were some of the reasons for the low adoption of wearables among the older adult. Further, device and screen size were significantly more essential for the Finnish compared to US older adult participants, demonstrating that culture might influence the perception of some device characteristics.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.emarketer.com/Chart/US-Wearable-User-Penetration-by-Age-2017-of-population-each-group/202360.

  2. 2.

    https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.832159.

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Acknowledgments

First author would like to thank Miina Sillanpää Foundation, LUT Research Platform on Smart Services for Digitalisation (DIGI-USER) and Second author would like to thank Ulla Tuominen Foundation for their generous support of research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lapppeenranta University of Technology, Skinnarilankatu 34, 53850, Lappeenranta, Finland

    Jayden Khakurel, Helinä Melkas & Jari Porras

  2. Lero, The Irish Software Research Centre, Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland

    Antti Knutas

  3. California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA

    Birgit Penzenstadler

Authors
  1. Jayden Khakurel
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  2. Antti Knutas
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  3. Helinä Melkas
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  4. Birgit Penzenstadler
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  5. Jari Porras
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Correspondence to Jayden Khakurel .

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  1. University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

    Tareq Z. Ahram

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Khakurel, J., Knutas, A., Melkas, H., Penzenstadler, B., Porras, J. (2019). Crafting Usable Quantified Self-wearable Technologies for Older Adult. In: Ahram, T. (eds) Advances in Human Factors in Wearable Technologies and Game Design. AHFE 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 795. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94619-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94619-1_8

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