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Conversational devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home represent more than a way to tap into the behavioral surplus of consumers. They provide an opportunity to address societal problems by examining data streams produced by these devices. In this paper, we describe usage patterns and problems related to the use of Amazon Echo devices at home by one specific demographic: the elderly. We rely on a pilot project to collect usage data over multiple months based on deployment of these devices in the homes of eight elderly individuals who either live alone or with a spouse. The paper describes methods used to ensure confidentiality, data collection and analysis procedures, and our findings. We find that the use of conversational devices remains restricted to single commands instead of conversations, making yourself understood remains a problem, sustained use remains a challenge, and the interaction rarely goes beyond simple commands. We interpret the results, and point to the potential for such devices in the lives of the elderly, specifically for health-related problems. The paper also describes lessons learned for capture and analysis of data from such conversational devices. 

In spite of much prior work, the design of city services remains the purview of designers and city governments. We examine one community in a city, the elderly, to understand how their value priorities influence their use of city services. Following a semi-structured approach, interviews were conducted with elderly individuals to understand their use of city services. The data analysis consisted of open coding, followed by structuring the findings in light of prior work. The analyses showed that three value priorities influenced the use of citizen services by the elderly community. These were: safety, social interaction and volunteering. These value priorities persisted as important considerations for the design of new services. However, the respondents were not able to articulate specific opportunities for design or improvement of services. The identification of value priorities may, however, provide pointers that the designers can use to derive requirements for new citizen services. The findings contribute to a better understanding of how value priorities of individuals and communities influence the use of city services. 

Population aging is a worldwide trend. Designing systems aimed at this population segment is difficult because requirements identification remains a challenge. We describe value-infused design as a possible solution to this problem. The paper shows how value-infused design may be operationalized by translating value priorities into design imperatives, and then, into design principles that guide the design of systems. We demonstrate this with the design of a service-matching platform aimed at assisting the elderly for locating services such as housekeeping, meal preparation and others. We find that values such as tradition, security and self-direction remain important for the elderly. These, however, require a translation into design principles. The paper describes a prototype system that was built reflecting these principles, and concludes with implications for operationalizing value-infused design and describing next steps aimed at empirical evaluation