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Connecting Grandparents and Grandchildren

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Abstract

Grandparent–grandchild relationships are diverse and ever evolving. Effective design of communications technology for them requires consideration of this complexity. This chapter considers grandparent–grandchild relationships from a life-course perspective, with the aim of identifying new opportunities for technology to support them. The grandparent–grandchild relationship is reviewed, discussing why it is important, identifying factors that challenge its success, and outlining its evolution over time. Current technology use is considered with the goal of identifying opportunities for improvement. A number of projects are presented as examples of the breadth of ways in which technology can support different grandparent–grandchild communication needs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We acknowledge that not all older adults are grandparents, and not all grandparents are older. However, the two groups overlap sufficiently for the purposes of this discussion: as of 2001, nearly 75 % of Canadians 65 or older and less than 2 % of those 45 or younger were grandparents (Turcotte and Schellenber 2006).

  2. 2.

    http://www.livescribe.com.

  3. 3.

    Print disability includes a broad spectrum of visual, perceptual, and physical disabilities, including sight impairments, learning disabilities, and any other cognitive or physical disability that prevents a person from reading a standard print edition of a book. In Canada, its prevalence is estimated to be 1/10, increasing with age (Canadian Library Association 2005).

  4. 4.

    Currently, this synchronization is achieved at the sentence level by having the reader gesture as they advance through the text. We are also exploring the use of natural language processing techniques to automate this task.

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Acknowledgments

The research projects described in this chapter reflect the work of students and research assistants supervised by Dr. Ronald Baecker in the Technologies for Aging Gracefully Lab (TAGlab). Multimedia biographies was a joint research project carried out by a team led by Masashi Crete-Nishihata and Karen L. Smith. Families in Touch was conceived by Elaine Macaranas for her undergraduate thesis at the Ontario Collage of Art and Design, undergraduate student Thariq Shihipar helped build the initial prototype, and the project is currently led by Jessica David for her master’s project. ALLT was initially designed and build by Xavier Snelgrove for his undergraduate thesis, with input from Bev Dywan, Greg Van Alstyne, Leila Rezai, Velian Pandeliev, and Karyn Moffatt. Take Me With You is led by Deborah Ptak, with development support from Nermin Moufti, Nick Shim, and Sarah Strong. Shared Stories is Karyn Moffatt’s postdoctoral project. We would also like to thank the rest of TAGlab for their feedback, and to especially thank Garry Ing for creating artwork. TAGlab is grateful for financial support from NSERC, GRAND NCE, CIHR-HCTP, Microsoft Research, Google Research, MyVoice, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Connaught Fund of the University of Toronto.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Karyn Moffatt

  2. Technologies for Aging Gracefully Lab, University of Toronto, 3661 Peel Street, Rm 303C, H3A 1X1, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jessica David & Ronald M. Baecker

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  1. Karyn Moffatt
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  2. Jessica David
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  3. Ronald M. Baecker
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Correspondence to Karyn Moffatt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Interactive Arts & Technology, Simon Fraser University, 102 Avenue 250-13450, Surrey, V3T 0A3, British Columbia, Canada

    Carman Neustaedter

  2. Department of Computer Science and Schoo, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State, Kraft Drive 2202, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, Virginia, USA

    Steve Harrison

  3. Microsoft Research Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue 7, Cambridge, CB3 0FB, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

    Abigail Sellen

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Moffatt, K., David, J., Baecker, R. (2013). Connecting Grandparents and Grandchildren. In: Neustaedter, C., Harrison, S., Sellen, A. (eds) Connecting Families. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4192-1_10

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