Participatory design of historytelling voice assistance with older adults

Using information and communication technology (ICT) becomes increasingly important for older adults, yet designers often fail to develop usable software for this group, creating a strong incentive to include older adults in a participatory development process. This paper describes how older adults have been included throughout the development process of a storytelling input component for the Historytelling (HT) project, to attain the best possible usability for older adults. HT provides a digital interactive platform for older adults to share life stories across generations, potentially improving their health and well-being and follows the HCD+ (Human Centered Design for Aging) approach. 19 older adults (M = 68 years old) participated in three studies to analyze, evaluate and design a storytelling voice assistance including a conversational agent. They contributed substantially to the development of the HT project by their involvement in the design process with methods adjusted to comprise characteristics of older adults, addressing three central research questions regarding the type of voice input suitable for older adults, the minimal requirements for a conversational agent and the design of a suitable dialogue system.