Meerkat: A Social Community Support Application for Older Adults

Tamir Mendel, Eran Toch

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Meerkat is a social support app that helps older adults tackle hurdles in interacting with mobile applications by receiving contextual support from friends and family or community volunteers. The app allows users to describe the interaction issue, capture a screenshot, draw, and write queries to helpers who can provide understandable explanations. Meerkat is informed by theories of collective efficacy and aims to reduce the barriers to existing social networks. Given COVID-19 social distancing measures, the design of Meerkat adapts patterns of peer support to situations where the users are not co-located. To users who do not have available social support, the app provides a foundation to receive support from a community of volunteers who are social connections to other users. Meerkat also includes a practice mode, facilitating social learning by presenting users with mobile tasks. We conclude with how Meerkat can contribute to collective and individual efficacy.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI 2022 - Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9781450391566
DOIs
StatePublished - 27 Apr 2022
Event2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2022 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: 30 Apr 20225 May 2022

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period30/04/225/05/22

Keywords

  • Peer support
  • help
  • mobile application
  • older adults
  • social support

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