Feb 9^th, 2000

I went out with Jack Driscoll and Marko Turpeinen to visit the Silver Stringers at the Milano Senior Center in Melrose today. The purpose of the visit was to initiate a dialogue regarding shared information and awareness within the community, and present some early concepts of technological approaches.

After we arrived at the senior center around 2:00 PM we walked into a weekly meeting attended by 10-12 regulars. They were discussing issues related to Melrose Mirror; the atmosphere was friendly and comfortable. After Jack and Marko made some comments, Jack introduced me to the group. I described my background and interests ... the group listened attentively.

I started out posing a number of questions before describing our early concept.

Shared interests, Demographics - age, race, income, shared experiences and personal stories (WWII). Most importantly face-to-face interaction.

Personal stories and events in their local community. This info. is typically found in local community papers, word-of-mouth, TV and radio.

Meet people and maintain social contact easily. Mental and physical stimulation. Virginia pointed out that Melrose has a remarkable group that listens to everyone and enjoys hearing from them. There is a real sense of trust and admiration.

I then briefly described the portals concept to them … showing some images from the garden and projected display. I tried to demonstrate the fluid user interface of walking and glancing, and traces of activity over time. At this point I may have lost them.

Who decides what goes up on that display? Politicians, Advertisers?

There was a real fear of "big brother" watching them and deciding what kind of information to show.

Who is going to pay for it? If companies pay then do we have to see their ads? What incentive do we have to pay for it?

Hence the economic model for deploying such a system became an important issue.

Why is what you're talking about relevant to me? How do you expect us to be involved in this? (a blunt and frustrated voice from a skeptical older man)

Marko pointed out that people who don’t have access to the internet or the experience of using it can't even read the Melrose Mirror, hence a public display may entice them to do so … or somehow get engaged within a new community.

Virginia said the 6 o'clock news is no longer interesting to her - it just reports bouts of violence. She prefers news relevant to her local community or perhaps informing her of broader global issues.

There was some consensus that people wanted to know how others are doing? A sick friend who hasn't been around lately …

I think the presentation certainly confused many folks and probably left them somewhat over-whelmed with the scope of what we were trying to do.

Several seniors came to me later and spoke to me individually, trying to convey what they found confusing or things that concerned them about it.

"I thought with your introductory line of thought, you were down-playing technology and focusing on the role of community itself … I was surprised when …"

"People talk about events among each other and there is a natural social way of disseminating information ... do we really need technology to replace that?"

A key problem was that people misunderstood that role of the portal in their space ,, they thought it was more of an advertising billboard … I didn't do a good job of explaining or convincing them that they were indeed going to decide what content goes on it.

Jack pointed out that many Media Lab students often have to go through a process of taking an initial concept and flushing tit through in this manner, and that they should not expect a fully developed set of ideas or completed product at such a stage.

Some seniors later came up to me and were being complimentary for my making an attempt to have such a discussion with them ... I was relieved to hear they wanted me to come back and talk with them again.

Mary handed me several Melrose senior newsletters and a community calendar. It’s a good resource to understand the events and information shared by the community. I should examine them closely.

I later also examined their physical billboard - it had a calendar, some photographs, a few recent articles stuck up and several sheets about the weekly "Bridge" and Cribbage games. There were schedules for Bridge, scores from recent tournaments and so on … Mary remarked that playing Bridge was really a key part of their community. The billboard represented the active community memory.

I feel (as I had suspected earlier) that making a power-point presentation is really not a good way to initiate a discussion with such a community. Perhaps it is intimidating ... a sales pitch? I think they were more comfortable when we were talking in a more relaxed manner … presenting material also changes one's tone of discussion - it becomes more formal and academic somehow. I don't think that works.

It really ought to be an open-ended discussion and has to be much less abstract - it would have been better to try to relate the discussion very clearly to their particular context ... we did try, but it would have helped to know more about their context and environment. For future visits to other sites I would probably want to spend the first day or so getting to know the community and perhaps try to immerse within their active working or living environment, That would give one better perspective before trying to engage them in a participative discussion.

But regardless of the presentation manner and level of understanding on their part, there is probably a more basic problem to address here.

Is there a compelling argument for introducing "novel" technology in elderly communities?

Can we clearly identify what does and does not work in their existing setting, before imposing a technological solution?

To what extent should the process of design and development be a participative one?

Should one simply spend time observing such communities and gradually hope to come to terms with understanding what and how technology would play a role in their context or should one develop a fully working prototype and simply insert it in their environment and watch how its used.

A middle-ground is to do concurrent observational studies while developing and actively using a prototype at the Media Lab. Perhaps we can ask the seniors to come by the lab to see it being used by folks in the Garden, so they can consider what benefits, if any, there would be in having such a system adapted to their setting. At that point a simpler version could be installed on a trial basis in their space to see its usage. The design would have to evolve over time.

How does one factor in social and economic issues while trying to introduce novel technology in improvised or elderly communities?

I'll be making some field trips with Marko in the next few weeks, one to an elderly community in Revere on Monday. Hopefully that will give us both a chance to survey such communities and get a real understanding of their social context, problems and needs. I'd like to try and write-up these encounters which may serve to inform future work.

I also want to find a way to continue maintaining a dialogue with the Silver Stringers - overall they seem to be quite supportive. Not sure at the moment exactly what if anything one should try to implement in their environment.

Overall the visit has been quite a "reality check" for me personally, to see that it is often difficult to propose novel technologies in communities without better understanding their unique socio-economic situation.