REPRESENTATIONS OF THE OLD AND AGEING IN THE DESIGN OF THE NEW AND EMERGING Assessing the design of Ambient Intelligence technologies for older people Graduation Committee Chair: prof. dr. R.A. Wessel Secretary: prof. dr. R.A. Wessel University of Twente Promotor: prof. dr. N.E.J. Oudshoorn University of Twente Referees dr. ir. A. Peine Utrecht University dr. K.E. Konrad University of Twente Members: prof. dr. S. Wyatt University of Maastricht prof. dr. ir. P.P.C.C. Verbeek University of Twente prof. dr. S. Kuhlmann University of Twente dr. E.H.M. Moors Utrecht University The research that led to this thesis was funded entirely by the University of Twente This dissertation was printed with financial support from the Netherlands Graduate School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture (WTMC) and from the department Science, Technology and Policy Studies (STePS) at the University of Twente Cover photography by Marieke van Kammen Language editing by Clare Shelley-Egan Printed by Ipskamp Drukkers BV, Enschede © Louis Neven 2011 ISBN: 978-90-365-3224-2 2 REPRESENTATIONS OF THE OLD AND AGEING IN THE DESIGN OF THE NEW AND EMERGING ASSESSING THE DESIGN OF AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES FOR OLDER PEOPLE PROEFSCHRIFT Ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Twente, op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. H. Brinksma, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 1 september 2011 om 14:45 uur door Louis Barbara Maria Neven geboren op 4 november 1978 te Meerssen 3 Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor: Prof. dr. Nelly Oudshoorn © Louis Neven 2011 ISBN: 978-90-365-3224-2 4 The endless cycle of idea and action, Endless invention, endless experiment, Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; Knowledge of speech, but not of silence. T.S. Eliot – Choruses from ‘The Rock’ 5 6 Acknowledgements This is a book about representations. It is only fitting to start such a book with a small comment on a common representation in academia: that of ‘doing a PhD’ as a solitary affair. For a PhD student their thesis is indeed their major project and chief responsibility and in the latter parts of the process it does generally – and certainly did in this case – involve months of semi-voluntary solitary confinement while the ‘writing up’ is going on. However, one need only look at the acknowledgements of PhD theses to see that doing a PhD is also a distinctly social affair.1 And, indeed, I too owe much to many intelligent, considerate and friendly people. I would first like to go back to the years which preceded my time as a PhD student, as the people who helped me then have also had a major influence on my PhD thesis. Without them I would have never been able to start this thesis in the first place. A special thank you to Thijs Hoex and Geert Somsen for supporting me as a bachelor student during a period that my mind was willing, but my body wasn’t always playing ball. Thanks to Bernike Pasveer for caring about the “technological culture” master students and for forwarding me the job ad that led to this thesis. Thanks to Michiel van Well who took a young intern under his wing and taught me many skills, tricks and lessons valuable to a young researcher. Thanks to Wiebe Bijker for suggesting that I should consider doing a PhD, which made me realize that I could consider doing a PhD. Above all I would like to thank Nelly Oudshoorn. Nelly is the kind of supervisor who never forgets an appointment, who always keeps her promises and who always has sharp and constructive comments. Apart from being a true professional, I also got to know Nelly as an empathic and warm person with an eye for both the development and wellbeing of a young researcher. I simply could not have asked for a better supervisor. I would also like to thank Barend van der Meulen for his role as co-supervisor in the first part of my PhD track. Unfortunately Barend could not stay involved in my project till the end, but for the time that he was involved, Barend proved a sharp observer and a great lateral thinker, who often encouraged me to come up with better and clearer arguments for the choices I wanted to make. For giving me the opportunity to engage in various teaching activities – and for teaching me how to teach – I would like to thank Barend van der Meulen, Ellen van Oost, Nelly Oudshoorn and in particular Willem Halffman (if only for Willems heroic act of teaching first year policy students about equality and fair distribution by illegally sneaking three herrings into a lecture theatre). 1 Indeed the social study of acknowledgments could be an interesting STS project. 7 I would further like to thank all colleagues STeHPS\STePS, and in particular Evelien Rietberg, Hilde Meijer and Marjatta Kemppainen for being friendly, kind and very helpful with all matters, however big or small. Thanks to the organizers of and the attendants to the STePS colloquia, research days, methodology seminars and user cluster meetings at which I have presented my work and have received many helpful questions and encouraging comments. Thanks to Stefan Kuhlmann for being very open to the idea of having a PhD student on the STePS daily board. Thanks to all the members of the STePS daily board and the WTMC education committee for providing a nice and cooperative atmosphere and for taking the plight of PhD students seriously. Thanks to Sally Wyatt, Els Rommes, Willem Halffman and Marjatta Kemppainen for organizing very informative and enjoyable WTMC workshops and summer schools in Ravenstein. I would also like to thank Kelly Joyce and Meika Loe for bearing with an inexperienced young writer, for inviting me to speak at the plenary session during a conference at the British Library, but most important of all, for unwittingly making an invaluable contribution to the overall focus and theoretical background of this thesis. I would further like to thank Alexander Peine, for working together on presentations and publications, for the inspiring discussions over coffee at the library café in Utrecht, and for sharing my enthusiasm for the subject of ageing and technology. Then there were my forays to, in Julian’s words, ‘a potty little place’ in the North-West of England. I would like to thank Arie Rip for sending me on my Lancaster tangent. All my visits to Lancaster, however short or long, have been memorable for all the right reasons. This would not have been possible without Maggie Mort, Celia Roberts, Lucy Suchman, Elizabeth Shove and all the other researchers and (visiting) PhD students at the Lancaster University Sociology department. I would particularly like to thank Maggie Mort, Celia Roberts, Christine Milligan, Elham Kashefi, Josie Baxter and all the other people involved in the EFORTT project for taking me to Barcelona, but, odd as it may seem, even more so for taking me to Morecambe and Preston (see e.g. chapter 7). Thanks to my Lancastrian friends for making my time as a visiting PhD student to the Lancaster University Sociology department very enjoyable. In particular I would like to thank Linda and Julian for their friendship and hospitality. And a special thank you to Lenneke Kuijer; Lancastrian office mate, friend, and organizer of a workshop at the Delft University of Technology which allowed me to try out my ‘seven suggestions’ on four engineers ‘in the wild.’ I would further like to thank all the PhD students and post-docs who have worked at or visited the STeHPS/STePS department over the years for all the serious and less serious discussions at the coffee machine, over lunch or over a beer in the pub. 8 Thanks to Clare Shelley-Egan for being a great office mate, for suffering through all our questions about the English language and for doing the language editing for this thesis. A very big thank you to Haico te Kulve and Frank van der Most for being, in Franks words, my “roomies” from the start, but more so, for sharing the trials and tribulations of PhD life and for having become dear friends. I would like to thank my sister and my ‘non-academic’ friends for sticking with me through more and less difficult times, for providing me with great opportunities to take my mind off of work and for generally being a great bunch of people that I enjoy spending my time with. I would like to thank my parents for their support, particularly towards the end when it mattered most. Finally, I would like to thank Marieke for not complaining too much – or too little (‘tu lavori sempre’) – about my working habits, for being there during the ups and the downs, and for being the kind of girl who occasionally still does a handstand. Being a PhD student has been a rewarding experience. I got to travel far and wide, got to speak at major conferences, got to publish in nice journals and books, got the opportunity to live abroad for a while, met many interesting people and I got to make some new friends. Nevertheless, everyone who has written a PhD thesis knows that this is no picnic, and at times it can be, and indeed was, rather tough. It is at these times that many people have come through for me. I am very grateful for that. De lètste wöärd hiej zeen in ’t plat. Dit proofschrif weurt opgedraage ter noagedagtenis aan Maria Johanna Antoinette ‘Tant Net’ Neven, die altied ’n ljèrares hauw wille weure en dat nwats gewóre is, mèh mich toch de allerbelangriekste dinger geljèrd hèt.