Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
Smart Sensor Systems, SINTEF Digital, Oslo, Norway.
Sociol Health Illn. 2020 Feb;42(2):232-246. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13012. Epub 2019 Oct 30.
This study analyses 'Do-It-Yourself' (DIY) gerontechnologies and shows that they can be viable and valuable alternatives to 'ready-made' gerontechnologies. Using the concept of innosumption, we analyze the work of care workers in gerontechnology showrooms in Norway. We show how and why care workers will sometimes advice older adults to assemble DIY-gerontechnologies. Such DIY-gerontechnologies are not high-tech solutions made by technology producers, but creative solutions that older adults' suit to their specific needs and assemble for themselves from mundane objects that are available in shops. So far, analyses of the design, implementation and use of gerontechnologies have almost exclusively focused on professionally designed and produced 'ready-made' gerontechnologies. But for various reasons, ready-made gerontechnologies often do not fit in well with the lives of older people. In such cases, care workers guide older people to the innosumption of DIY-gerontechnologies that offer workable solutions that are useful, quickly implemented, easily understandable and often cheap. We show that and how the existence of DIY-gerontechnologies questions the reasons behind the strong and widely accepted assumption that only high-tech innovations are a proper solution to the needs of older people.
本研究分析了“自己动手”（DIY）的老年技术，并表明它们可以作为“现成”老年技术的可行且有价值的替代品。我们使用Innovation 的概念，分析了挪威老年技术陈列室中护理人员的工作。我们展示了护理人员有时为何以及如何建议老年人组装 DIY 老年技术。此类 DIY 老年技术并非由技术制造商制造的高科技解决方案，而是老年人根据自身特定需求，从商店中可用的普通物品中自行组装而成的创意解决方案。到目前为止，对老年技术的设计、实施和使用的分析几乎完全集中在专业设计和生产的“现成”老年技术上。但是，由于各种原因，现成的老年技术往往与老年人的生活不太契合。在这种情况下，护理人员会引导老年人采用 DIY 老年技术，这些技术提供可行的解决方案，具有实用性、易于快速实施、易于理解且通常价格低廉。我们展示了 DIY 老年技术的存在如何以及为何对仅采用高科技创新才是满足老年人需求的恰当解决方案这一广泛接受的观点提出了质疑。
