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Tracking activities holds great potential to improve the well-being of older adults, yet the accuracy of activity trackers for this demographic remains in question. Evaluating this accuracy requires ground-truth data directly from older adults, which has largely been gathered in controlled laboratory settings or labeled by researchers. Moreover, considering the diversity in older adults' activity engagement and tracking preferences, personalized activity tracking appears necessary. We demonstrate that older adults can benefit from personalized activity trackers by showing that cadence thresholds for stepping intensities vary within this group. However, collecting ground-truth data from older adults in real-world settings poses unique challenges. This paper examines two sources of ground-truth labels for the smartwatch Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) data collected with older adults. Using verbal self-reports and a thigh-worn activity tracker, we assess their viability as ground-truth sources in natural settings. Additionally, we evaluate the costs and benefits of triangulating these sources as a ground-truth proxy. Our findings reveal two main costs: data shrinkage and notable effort from both contributors and data stewards. Simultaneously, we observe improved data quality and a greater ability to identify error sources when evaluating a trained model. 

While videoconferencing is a promising technology, it may present unique challenges and barriers for older adults with cognitive concerns. This paper presents a deconstructed view of videoconferencing technology use using a sociological dramaturgical framework developed by Erving Goffman. Our study recruited 17 older adults with varying cognitive concerns, employing technology discussion groups, interviews, and observations to gather data. Through a reflexive thematic analysis, we explore videoconferencing use among older adults with cognitive concerns, focusing on three major areas: the "performances and roles" where users adapt to new roles through videoconferencing; the "backstage," which involves the physical and logistical setup; and the "frontstage," where people communicate through audio and visual channels to present a desired impression. Our discussion generates insights into how deconstructing these elements can inform more meaningful and accessible HCI design. 

Much research on older people with memory concerns is focused on tracking and informed by the priorities of others. In this paper, we seek to understand the potential that people with memory concerns see in tracking. We conducted interviews with 29 participants with concerns about their memory and engaged in an affective writing approach. We find a range of potentials that can be traced to how participants are already self-tracking. Emotions associated with these potentials vary: from acceptance to resistance, and positive anticipation to aversion. Participants are emotionally motivated to foreclose possibilities in some instances and keep them open in others. While individual and unique, potential is structured by forces that include individual routines, relationships with others, and macro-level institutions and cultural contexts. We reflect on these findings in the context of research on self-tracking with older adults, designing with ambiguity, and forces that structure the experience of living with memory concerns. 

Activity tracking has the potential to promote active lifestyles among older adults. However, current activity tracking technologies may inadvertently perpetuate ageism by focusing on age-related health risks. Advocating for a personalized approach in activity tracking technology, we sought to understand what activities older adults find meaningful to track and the underlying values of those activities. We conducted a reflective interview study following a 7-day activity journaling with 13 participants. We identified various underlying values motivating participants to track activities they deemed meaningful. These values, whether competing or aligned, shape the desirability of activities. Older adults appreciate low-exertion activities, but they are difficult to track. We discuss how these activities can become central in designing activity tracking systems. Our research offers insights for creating value-driven, personalized activity trackers that resonate more fully with the meaningful activities of older adults. 

Researchers support race, gender, and age diverse groups of people to create with maker electronics. These groups include older adults, who are often overlooked as not interested or capable of learning new technologies due to ageist stereotypes. One approach, often involving e-textiles, leverages crafting as a bridge to broaden participation in making. We investigated ways to broaden participation in maker electronics for older adults by remotely co-designing e-textile projects with 6 older adult crafters over the course of 5 workshop sessions for a total of 45 hours. We developed a deeper understanding of their practices, identifying a Planner-Improviser Spectrum for how they approached their craft, and created medium fdelity prototypes. Our design implications draw on our participants’ crafting experience and their experience in the workshop to highlight what e-textile toolkit designers can learn from skilled older adult crafters, such as selecting familiar materials, supporting aesthetic goals, and making electronics more attainable. 

Clinical researchers have identified sensory changes people with age-related cognitive changes, such as dementia and mild cognitive impairment, experience that are different from typical age-related sensory changes. Technology designers and researchers do not yet have an understanding of how these unique sensory changes affect technology use. This work begins to bridge the gap between the clinical knowledge of sensory changes and technology research and design through interviews with people with mild to moderate dementia, mild cognitive impairment, subjective cognitive decline, and healthcare professionals. This extended version of our ASSETS conference paper includes people with a range of age-related cognitive changes describing changes in vision, hearing, speech, dexterity, proprioception, and smell. We discuss each of these sensory changes and ways to leverage optimal modes of sensory interaction for accessible technology use with existing and emerging technologies. Finally, we discuss how accessible sensory stimulation may change across the spectrum of age-related cognitive changes. 

Speech and voice interaction is often hailed as a natural form of interaction and thus more inclusive for a larger portion of users. But, how accurate is this claim? In this panel, we challenge existing assumptions that voice and speech interaction is inclusive of diverse users. The goal of this panel is to bring together the broad HCI community to discuss the state of voice interaction for marginalized and vulnerable populations, how inclusive design is considered (or neglected) in current voice interaction design practice, and how to move forward when it comes to designing voice interaction for inclusion and diversity. In particular, we plan to center the discussion on older adults as a representative group of digitally-marginalized populations, especially given that voice interfaces are marketed towards this group, yet often fail to properly include this population in the design of such interfaces.