Designing Technology for an Aging Population

Jeff Johnson, Assistant Professor in Computer Science, University of San Francisco

Thursday, November, 1, 2018 | 4:10 – 5:00 pm | Tresidder Oak Lounge | Reception to follow

The world’s population is aging, especially in developed countries. The audience for most websites, apps, and digital devices includes older adults, so most websites, apps, and digital devices should be designed to accommodate them. Unfortunately, many are not.

Based on his experience designing, reviewing, and testing apps and websites with older adults, and on an extensive review of the literature, this talk given by Jeffrey Johnson, Assistant Professor in Computer Science at University of San Francisco, describes age-related factors that affect older adults’ ability to use digital technology, and present design guidelines that reflect older adults’ varied capabilities, usage patterns, and preferences. Among other things, it debunks the usefulness of a dichotomy between digital “natives” and “immigrants.” The talk is based on the presenter’s co-authored book: Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design (Elsevier, 2017).

Please join us on November 1st for this talk at the Tresidder Oak Lounge. Reception to follow. This event is free and open to the public, but for planning purposes we ask that you please register. 

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About the Speaker

Jeffrey Johnson, University of San Francisco

After earning BA and PhD degrees from Yale and Stanford Universities, Professor Johnson worked as a UI designer and implementer, engineer manager, usability tester, and researcher at Cromemco, Xerox, US West, Hewlett-Packard Labs, and Sun Microsystems. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he was Chair of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. He has taught at Stanford University, Mills College, and in 2006 and 2013 taught HCI as an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Since 2004 he has served on the SIGCHI Public Policy Committee. In 2013 he presented in the prestigious Authors@Googletalk series. He is a member of the ACM SIGCHI Academy and in 2016 received SIGCHI’s Lifetime Achievement in Practice Award. He has authored or co-authored many articles and chapters on Human-Computer Interaction, as well as the books GUI Bloopers, Web Bloopers, GUI Bloopers 2.0, Designing with the Mind in Mind, Conceptual Models: Core to Good Design (with Austin Henderson), Designing with the Mind in Mind 2nd edition, and Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population (with Kate Finn).