Technology Use, Comfort, and Interest: A comparison between caregiver and older adult populations

Remaining community-dwelling is a goal for most aging adults; however, this may necessitate assistance from caregivers. To reduce burden and improve adult autonomy, recent technological advancements have provided various supports. These advancements may improve quality of life (QOL) while also enhancing psychological/physical well-being for adults and caregivers. To investigate relationships between technology, QOL, and caregiver burden, needs assessments with focus groups were utilized. Four older adult focus groups (N=20) and three caregiver focus groups (N=12) were convened. Older adult participants, aged 64-83 years (M=73.1,SD=5.3), were 50% female and generally white (90%). Caregiver participants, aged 31-78 years (M=61.9,SD=12.6), were majority female (83%) and generally white (92%). Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, focus groups were conducted via Zoom video-conferencing. Thematic analyses revealed major themes of privacy, transportation, and interest in streamlined technologies. Throughout groups, privacy was consistently described; participants were either 1) apathetic, noting absence of privacy or 2) hyper-vigilant about security, citing privacy as a major barrier to utilization. Transportation, specifically self-driving/enhanced vehicles, emerged as a focus for future technologies as a means to reduce care burden and improve personal autonomy/QOL. In general, participants noted that major barriers to technology use included complexity and cost; persons expressed interest in simpler/cheaper devices. This study indicates varied interest in technology while exposing barriers to use. Additionally, the methodology demonstrates the utility of technology (e.g., Zoom) in accessing vulnerable and/or isolated populations. Overall, understanding barriers to technology use and adoption informs upcoming developments and may improve accessibility and usefulness in future systems/devices.

The use of everyday and assistive technology in the lives of older autistic adults

Assistive technologies have the potential to provide accessible support to people with varying needs and abilities, including older autistic adults. However, there is currently limited knowledge about how older autistic adults use technology in their daily lives, whether it is sufficient to meet their needs and whether they experience any barriers to technology use. To address these questions, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 autistic adults aged over 50 years. Using thematic analysis, we identified two major themes related to how older autistic adults use technology: ‘Helping to Manage the External Environment’ and ‘Increasing Everyday Accessibility and Convenience’. Overall, participants reported experiencing a number of challenges associated with performing everyday activities and while technology was able to offer some assistance, a number of gaps still remain in meeting the support needs of this population. Based on these findings, we offer some guidelines and recommendations for technology use with this population to guide future research and practice. Lay abstract Technology has the potential to help people with various support needs live more autonomous lives. This includes autistic individuals. In this article, we look at how older autistic adults use technology in their daily lives. Past research examining technology use and autism has mainly focused on helping children to learn new skills. To date, very little research has been conducted looking at how to create and design technology for use by older autistic adults. This is concerning because older autistic adults will likely have supports needs that match or exceed those of similarly aged non-autistic individuals. In this article, we spoke to autistic adults over 50 years about their daily experiences and how they use technology. We identified some important ways that older autistic adults use technology in their daily lives, as well as a number of support needs and barriers to technology use. Based on the findings, we were able to provide some guidelines and recommendations for technology developers and service providers to assist with designing, creating and using technology with older autistic adults.

Barriers to Technology Integration into Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language: A Case Study of Australian Secondary Schools

This case study examines the barriers to technology integration into teaching Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in Australian secondary schools. Previous research on technology integration predominantly focused on higher education and English as a second language. This study extends the field by exploring barriers in secondary schools and targeting Chinse instruction. It identified three layers of barriers: The tool (technology), The user (teacher and student), and The tool supporter (school). This study highlights the students as technology users and as significant factors behind the teacher’s technology consideration. Among the identified barriers, most notably were limited and blocked access to technology, a lack of time for class preparation and technology learning, a lack of technology knowledge, a lack of professional development, and students’ distracting behaviours. Suggestions were made accordingly to improve tech-integrated Chinese teaching in Australian secondary schools.

Intention to use analytical artificial intelligence (AI) in services – the effect of technology readiness and awareness

PurposeThe automation of services is rapidly growing, led by sectors such as banking and financial investment. The growing number of investments managed by artificial intelligence (AI) suggests that this technology-based service will become increasingly popular. This study examines how customers' technology readiness and service awareness affect their intention to use analytical AI investment services.Design/methodology/approachThe automation of services is rapidly growing, led by sectors such as banking and financial investment. The growing number of investments managed by AI suggests that this technology-based service will become increasingly popular. This study examines how customers' technology readiness and service awareness affect their intention to use analytical AI investment services.FindingsThe results indicated that customers' technological optimism increases, and insecurity decreases, their intention to use robo-advisors. Surprisingly, feelings of technological discomfort positively influenced robo-advisor adoption. This interesting finding challenges previous insights into technology adoption and value co-creation as analytical AI puts customers into a very passive role and reduces barriers to technology adoption. The research also analyzes how consumers become aware of robo-advisors, and how this influences their acceptance.Originality/valueThis is the first study to analyze the role of customers' technology readiness in the adoption of analytical AI. The authors link the findings to previous technology adoption and automated services' literature and provide specific managerial implications and avenues for further research.

A Survey of Defensive Measures for Digital Persecution in the Global South

This paper examines the phenomenon of digital persecution in the Global South and evaluates tools that defend against it. First, the paper explains the nature of persecution and its digital incarnation. It then provides a contextual overview of real-world instances of digital persecution in seven Global South countries. The possible defensive technologies against censorship and surveillance are discussed. The article goes on to discuss barriers to technology adoption in the Global South, explains the security implication of these difficulties, and examines the role that human computer interaction (HCI) metrics could play in overcoming these challenges. Finally, the paper surveys the viability of sixteen security tools in a Global South context. The survey results were mixed, with 37.5% of the reviewed tools being deemed to be inviable for use in the Global South to defend against persecution. Prescriptive recommendations are provided for creating security tools that are universal, simple, and effective.