Meerkat: A Social Community Support Application for Older Adults

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.