Shedding Ageist Perceptions of Making: Creativity in Older Adult Maker Communities

Abstract

Contrary to stereotypes, the capacity for creativity and innovation does not diminish post-retirement. The domain of older adult-led maker-based communities offers HCI researchers the opportunity to explore not only how older adults innovatively and collaboratively create in later life, but also how we might design with these communities rather than for them. We report findings from a design workshop study spanning over two weeks involving 13 members of an urban Australian men's shed. Our findings show that making in the men's shed was influenced by (1) socio-materiality, (2) interpersonal dynamics and (3) shared expertise. We provide HCI researchers with an understanding of how older adults worked collaboratively within their own creative community as found through the deployment of a novel card-based probe, a workshop and followup investigations. We further unpack recommendations for organising design workshops with older adult maker communities that work towards meaningful community-oriented participation and greater agency in co-design studies.