Keeping Older People Behind the Wheel for Longer

Harnessing New Technology To Keep Older People Behind The Wheel For Longer

ScienceDaily (Sep. 20, 2008) — A new study has highlighted the key role technology could play in extending the age at which people can drive safely on our roads.


With input from older people, researchers from the University of the West of England, Bristol, have identified ideas for innovative in-car information systems which, if developed, could help compensate for the reduction in reaction time that affects many drivers as they get older.

The research could give older people the confidence to continue driving for as long as their capabilities allow. Crucially, because the systems would not take control of the car away from the driver, they would also enable users to retain their sense of independence.

Undertaken as part of the SPARC (Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity) initiative, the study will be discussed at this year's BA Festival of Science in Liverpool on Thursday 11th September. SPARC is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Specific ideas generated include:

* A system that unobtrusively displays road sign information through a head-up display on the windscreen. This is a see-through display that shows information without impeding the user's view. Harnessing Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, this would track a car's position and identify approaching signs. Exactly the same information contained in the signs would then appear on the windscreen at the right moment. The driver would therefore not have to keep scouring the road side for information.
* A system providing the driver with audible feedback on their current speed, again harnessing GPS technology. For example, one short, non-distracting bleep could indicate the car is approaching the local speed limit; a longer bleep could indicate the speed limit has been reached. The driver would therefore not have to look at the dashboard so often.
* The systems have the potential to minimise the amount of time drivers divert their attention from the road ahead, cutting the chance of an accident.

These ideas emerged as a direct result of a groundbreaking survey of older people's driving-related needs and attitudes undertaken as part of the study. This was the first-ever wholly qualitative study to focus specifically on this topic. Over a six-month period, focus groups and interviews were conducted with a sample of 57 people aged between 65 and 85. The sample included a balance of men and women, those living in urban and rural areas, and people who were still driving as well as those who had given up.

A key finding was the important psychological role that driving plays in older people's lives, in contributing to feelings of independence and freedom, and their quality of life.

Those surveyed expressed strong reservations about in-car technologies now under development which aim to take an element of control away from the driver (e.g. systems automatically limiting car speeds or regulating the distance between a car and the vehicle in front). By constraining feelings of independence, such technologies could discourage older people from driving even though they are still physically capable.

But a strong preference was expressed for technologies which simply improve information provision and aid decision-making, such as the GPS-based systems described above.

"Our research highlights issues that have been overlooked by car designers and those advising older people on lifestyles", says Dr Charles Musselwhite, who led the study. "The current emphasis on developing technologies which take over part of the driving task may actually end up deterring older drivers. By contrast, better in-car information systems could help them drive safely and ensure they want to keep driving."

Dr Musselwhite and his team are now planning to work with technical experts to produce a prototype speed information system and in-car road sign information display system.

The 14-month study 'Prolonging Safe Driver Behaviour through Technology: Attitudes of Older Drivers' received financial support from SPARC of £27,564. Additional support was received from the University of the West of England.

The study also highlighted that:

* Older women are currently more likely than older men to give up driving voluntarily. This may be because driving tends to play a different role in older men's perception of status and role.
* Older drivers' needs can be split into three categories: practical (e.g. going to the shops or doctor's surgery), social (e.g. visiting friends and attending functions) and aesthetic (e.g. enjoying the countryside and fulfillment of independence and control over one's life).

Adapted from materials provided by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The Sea of Life

Joe Kita wanted to give his son, Paul, a 22-year-old recent college graduate, some wisdom he couldn't learn in a classroom. The perfect opportunity came when the pair set sail for a 108-day cruise around the world.

On board and ashore, Joe sought to teach Paul what he knew about, among other life lessons, ambition, pride, money, friendship, and love.

Joe, a 48-year-old freelance writer, and Paul, a journalism major, each penned a series of essays that encompass the experiences a trip that docked in nearly 50 ports in roughly 30 countries—covering about 35,000 miles.

Using the backdrops of North Africa, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, and the Mediterranean, Joe and Paul took us along to teach us a thing or two about the sea of life.

Local architect makes good

Oregon-based architect unveils re-imagined NYC landmark

by Inara Verzemnieks, The Oregonian
Thursday September 18, 2008, 10:50 PM

NEW YORK CITY--The lollipop building had been a part of New Yorkers' memories for more than 40 years, a strange, mysterious place with Venetian whisperings, an impenetrable marble skin, tiny portal-like windows and loopy-topped columns evoking its candy-sweet nickname.

Ross William Hamilton/The OregonianBrad Cloepfil leads a parade of architecture through the airy interior of his redesigned Museum of Arts and Design.

Situated at the edge of Columbus Circle, it began life as a gallery devoted to the art collection of a supermarket heir, eventually passed into the hands of the city and finally, was abandoned and closed-up, an enigmatic white bunker.

Over the years, despite its quirkiness, or perhaps because of it, the building at 2 Columbus Circle became something of an icon, a marker, a point of reference in the city, a landmark derided until the derision turned to love.

So messing with the lollipop building, re-imaging and re-interpreting it, was guaranteed to be a fraught proposition. And so it is significant that the task of redesigning 2 Columbus Circle -- and all that this act entailed (a very public grappling with questions of past and present, preservation and change; can something be both old and new?) -- was awarded to an Oregonian: Brad Cloepfil, principal of the architectural firm Allied Works, which Cloepfil started in Portland in 1994.

On Thursday, after a six-year process marked by preservationists' lawsuits and endless public scrutiny, Cloepfil's vision for 2 Columbus Circle -- the new home of the Museum of Arts and Design -- was officially unveiled to the public for the first time in a sleek preview attended by the national press.

Among the details on display: the terra cotta skin of the building, created from 22,000 handcrafted tiles, which feature an iridescent glaze that took two years to perfect and which react to the light in different ways depending on the time of year and time of day. And downstairs, an auditorium that pays deliberate homage to the original architecture of 2 Columbus Circle, which was designed by Edward Durrell Stone.


Stone was hired by a wealthy man named Huntington Hartford who wanted to showcase his private collection of figurative paintings -- a sort of one-man protest against all the abstract works at the Museum of Modern Art. Hartford apparently had a predilection for the swank, and the auditorium references that time in the building's history: the dark wood paneling, the gold and red-color scheme, a ceiling veiled as if in chain mail.

In keeping with this motif, the opening will be followed by swanky events -- cocktail receptions and gala events. And undoubtedly, even more weighty commissions, because it marks a crucial moment in Cloepfil's career. "I now feel like I have a body of work," he has said, and 2 Columbus Circle cements his place among the major architects working today. In other words, Cloepfil is white-hot.

Just the night before the opening, Cloepfil, who grew up in Metzger and attended the University of Oregon, had returned to Columbia University, where he earned his graduate degree in architecture, to address students and faculty. The school's dean, Mark Wigley, pronounced him a unique voice in architecture today: "That this paying respect to the most traditional understanding of what a building can be, can be turned into such an experiment ... I think there are very, very few architects in the world who have that level of command in that kind of specialized way."

Indeed, Cloepfil, perhaps best known in Portland for his design of the Wieden+Kennedy headquarters in the Pearl District, beat out big, international names to do the 2 Columbus Circle redesign, including one who went on to win the Pritzker Prize, the world's most prestigious architecture award. At the time, Cloepfil was just completing his first major commission, the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis.

The idea of supporting an emerging American architect appealed to the Museum of Arts and Design. "That this could be a defining part of an architectural career was very important to us," said Holly Hotchner, director of the museum, as people drifted into the building's lobby, where the original lollipop columns remain behind the street-facing windows, framing the view of the world outside.

During the past six years, Cloepfil has gone on to other big commissions, largely museums and cultural institutions: A massive addition to the Seattle Art Museum, a renovation and expansion of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. But none will ever receive the same level of scrutiny as 2 Columbus Circle.

On Thursday, Cloepfil, with a bottle of water in hand, navigated microphones and cameras. He met with journalists from The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, the New York arts press, and major design magazines. For perhaps the thousandth time, he talked about what he had done to the building: a deliberate referencing of the past by preserving its original size and shape and color, while at the same time trying to give it a new life -- and its visitors a new experience -- by opening it up, literally carving ribbons of concrete from its body to let the light in.

He called this a kind of editing. But in many ways, it was as much a kind of archaeology, a stripping away to show what had been there all along.

Walking through the galleries, it was possible to catch glimpses of the city through these ribbons of glass: a patchwork of references, nothing whole or complete, just snatches of disembodied brownstones and floating skyscraper tops.

"I love this corner cut -- the way this building just hovers," he said, pointing to a corner of the gallery, where inside and outside blurred.

One of the criticisms that has been leveled at Cloepfil's building is that it is not bold enough, not enough of a break with the past. But this blurring of past and present seemed to be what Cloepfil wanted. He seemed to like playing with the tension between what you thought you remembered -- is that the lollipop building? -- and what you now see. That it was possible for the two to occupy the same space.

"The ambiguity of memory," he said. "Isn't that sometimes the nature of cities?"

Inara Verzemnieks:
503-221-8201;
inarav@news.oregonian.com

Pavement Art

Summer in the City

Silhouette Dance by Pilobolus Dance Company

Click on Image to see video.

***, Lies, and Videogames

Can games make your kid a better citizen?

Study: Game experiences can provide hands-on learning opportunities

By Kristin Kalning Games editor MSNBC
Tues., Sept. 16, 2008

Parents of video-gaming children, take heart: Your kid is not destined to become an anti-social hermit who lives at home until he’s 35. In fact, a new study shows that all that game time could actually be making him a better citizen.

No, this isn’t a study funded by the video-game association. It’s from the respectable folks at the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And it’s the first, says study co-author Joe Kahne, to track the sorts of things kids do when playing — not just how much time they spend playing. “It’s really valuable to focus heavily on the quality of those experiences,” he says.

Kahne, a professor at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., worked with Pew to conduct this particular survey, which focused specifically on the relationship between gaming and civic experiences among teens. It was part of a larger, $50 million initiative by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation aimed at assessing how digital media is affecting how kids learn, play and participate in civic activities.

If high-school social studies are but a distant memory, a quick refresher: Anything that has to do with engaging in public life qualifies as a civic activity. Reading up on current affairs is one way to be civically involved; so is raising money for a walk-a-thon, or showing up at a protest.


So, how can playing “Madden” or “World of Warcraft” influence your teenager to get psyched about the three branches of government? It’s not as incongruous as it might sound, says Kahne. Game experiences “can be quite valuable from the standpoint of civic and political engagement.”

Americans have been pulling away from civic engagement for decades — Robert Putnam wrote about the phenomenon in his 1995 essay “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital.” Some academics tie this to increased distractions such as television, the Internet and video games — others, like Putnam, cite our lack of trust in government and the political process. Either way, participating in elections and public discourse has long been considered necessary for a healthy democracy.

Video games can provide hands-on learning opportunities for kids that can be much more meaningful than reading a textbook. For instance, you can play a mayor in “SimCity,” and get a close-up look at what it takes to build and maintain a community. Helping a newbie get his sea legs in a game simulates the real-world experience of volunteering. And playing games online can expose kids to people with worldviews that differ from their own — in positive and negative ways.

Many of the of the 1,102 teenagers polled said they’d encountered hostility, racism and sexism while playing online — stuff that can certainly happen offline too, says Kahne. “Just as some playground experiences are enriching and some are unpleasant for young people, one can imagine that that would be true in the game world.”

The fact is, video games are ubiquitous among today’s generation of kids, for both girls and boys. with girls and boys both. Virtually all of the teenagers polled — 97 percent — report playing games. So it’s important, says study co-author and Pew researcher Amanda Lenhart, for us to understand that games are “sitting at the table with all the rest of the media that children and teenagers are being exposed to.”

One commonly held stereotype paints teenage gamers as solitary, anti-social basement dwellers that can't socialize their way out of a paper bag. But Lenhart says their research ran counter to this notion. For the vast majority of the kids polled, games are a social experience, where they get to interact with their friends. Some kids play with other people in the room, and some play online. But regardless, teenagers view games as something they do with other people, and not just something they do when they’re alone.

It might also surprise you to learn that teenagers aren’t just into violent shoot-em-up games. In fact, 74 percent of the teenagers polled reported that racing games were their favorite, followed closely by puzzle games such as “Bejeweled,” “Tetris” and “Solitaire.” Sports titles such as the “Madden” and “FIFA” series were also cited as favorites.

That’s not to say that first-person shooters such as “Halo” or violent-themed action games such as “Grand Theft Auto” aren’t sought after — they definitely are. But daily gamers are more likely to play a wider range of game genres, according to the Pew study.

he fact that teens are interested in a diverse swath of game types presents an opportunity for parents — and educators, says Kahne. Most kids report learning about social studies through worksheets and classroom activities. But games provide a “whole new and potentially powerful way” to not only teach kids about civic issues, but get them thinking about them, too, he says.

“If we’re careful, we can harness young people’s interest in video games, and use them to connect them to a range of valuable experiences.”

XXII

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

William Carlos Williams