VR with Older Adults: Participatory Design of a Virtual ATM Training Simulation
This addresses the problem of making emerging technologies like VR accessible and usable for older adults, though it is incremental in applying participatory design methods to this specific context.
The researchers tackled the challenge of involving older adults in designing VR applications by conducting participatory design workshops to create a virtual ATM training simulation, resulting in practical recommendations for co-creating VR/AR solutions with end-users.
In this paper we report on a study conducted with a group of older adults in which they engaged in participatory design workshops to create a VR ATM training simulation. Based on observation, recordings and the developed VR application we present the results of the workshops and offer considerations and recommendations for organizing opportunities for end users, in this case older adults, to directly engage in co-creation of cutting-edge ICT solutions. These include co-designing interfaces and interaction schemes for emerging technologies like VR and AR. We discuss such aspects as user engagement and hardware and software tools suitable for participatory prototyping of VR applications. Finally, we present ideas for further research in the area of VR participatory prototyping with users of various proficiency levels, taking steps towards developing a unified framework for co-design in AR and VR.