Challenges and experiences in designing for an ageing society. Reflecting on concepts of age(ing) and communication practices

Practice- and user-oriented design approaches, e.g. user centred design (UCD)or participatory design (PD), have built a canon for IT projects in recent years aiming at product development for the ageing society. However, there still seem to be many blind spots, which are simply overlooked or taken-for-granted when reflecting on IT design projects from either a bird´s eye or micro perspective. The symposium "Challenges and experiences in designing for an ageing society" was devoted to create a space for reflections on projects from both perspectives, represented by multiple authors from different fields of research discussing with each other in two tracks. Track A addressed an important research gap, the reflection on images of Age and ageing from a meta-perspective, discussing mainly concepts of ageing. Track B focused more on the micro-perspective, on communication practices in UCD and PD projects with elderly persons in order to identify best practices and recommendations for successful communication throughout the development process. In the following chapters, we will briefly outline the major scope of both tracks, provide an overview on the position papers, and will finally summarize the major points of discussions.