| Sumario: | Purpose Many technology (T) classifications exist, including those that take both human users' (H) and inanimate sides (the "T") into account. Three aspects have to be accentuated for successful gerontechnologies. (1) No-, low, medium, and high tech distinctions are often unspecific. (2) For efficacious 'seniortech,' a) technology by human interactions (T x H) and b) 'T x H mismatch' prevention must be considered in development as well as policies. (3) Appropriate Level Technology (ALT) can substitute innovations after examination of seniors' demand-need profiles and subsequent matching with available devices. Method Systematic Google searches with "technology" and "taxonomy") yielded <103,000,000 hits. The top 20 were content-analyzed with respect to (1) no- to high tech ('n-h'), (2) T x H, and (3) ALT. Results & Discussion The categories engineering-specific (n=7), off-topic (n=5), miscellaneous (n=5) emerged, with two duplicates (N=18). Engineering-specific information included transportation, patents, the WAND and NASA 2020 taxonomies. These accounted for some n-h distinctions. Examples for the off-topic category are metadata and legal empowerment. In the rubric "miscellaneous" were learning-associated results, meeting some T x H requirements. Separately grouped was the FARSEEING Taxonomy of Technologies V4 download (FARSEEING, n.d.) and a key article on its development (Boulton et al., 2016) with the best T x H fit. To compensate for n-h- and ALT-related drawbacks, the term gerotechnics (2016) (Kwon, 2016) -- used interchangeably with gerontechnis - represents the technical operations basics with a focus on technology usage, including non-technical aspects: as simple as human helpers handing canes to elders (Kwon, 2018). Gerontechnicals extend T x H, by requiring little deliberate user effort. Gerontechnologics encompass T x H interactions where goal-oriented interplay of individual characteristics with device features take place (Kwon, 2019). Together, the 'three Gs' furnish a classification sensitive to all three dimensions, fortifying the ALT philosophy.
|