CS547 Human-Computer Interaction Seminar   (Seminar on People, Computers, and Design)

Fridays 11:30am-12:30pm PT · Gates B3 · Open to the public
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Amanda Lazar
University of Maryland
The Role of Technology in Understanding Perspectives on Aging and Health
April 19, 2019

As the population ages, research has increasingly focused on conditions associated with growing older, such as cognitive and physical impairment. Technology is often designed as an intervention to manage or treat these changes. This framing can position health conditions as problems to address through design and can neglect the complexity and positive aspects of older adulthood. In this talk, I draw on critical perspectives from Human-Computer Interaction and Gerontology. I describe three ways in which technology design can help us understand and challenge stereotypes around aging as well as cognitive impairment. I will argue for a view that accounts for the ways that technologies position us as we age and, in turn, the way that this view can inform the design of new technologies to enrich the experience of growing older.


Amanda Lazar is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information studies at the University of Maryland, College Park with an affiliate appointment in the Department of Computer Science. Her research in the areas of Human-Computer Interaction and Health Informatics has received Best Paper and Honorable Mention Awards at CHI, CSCW, DIS, and UbiComp. She studies how technologies designed for health and well-being position and support marginalized populations. She received her PhD from the University of Washington in the Biomedical and Health Informatics program and her BS in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. Her work is supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).