Bek Hodgson challenged our class to design a product and service for a local Non-Profit Organization. I partnered with classmate Evinn Quinn and we chose the Learning Worlds Institute. We met with the Learning Worlds Institute and learned they were looking into future technology for senior citizen healthcare.

For user research, we visited the Isabella senior center in northern Manhattan. It was an eye-opening experience, and we discovered many seniors felt isolated and wanted a human connection to comfort them emotionally, not just more medical devices to help them physically. We also noticed how ubiquitous TV was in their lives. It was the main technology they were comfortable using.


With these two key observations, we thought about a system that would foster meaningful social connections, be easy to learn, and use TV as a medium. We made ConnecTV — an iPad application that builds a local community of senior citizens through TV.


ConnecTV uses the physical metaphor of tabs because they are familiar to seniors. One tab works as a TV Guide and remote, allowing users to browse shows and change channels on their TV. At the bottom of the screen there's a list of friends online, similar to Instant Messaging software.


When a user selects a show, they can see other local senior citizens with similar interests who are watching the show.


The user can choose to video chat with these local senior citizens. More background information is shown for each senior citizen, providing common topics for seniors to chat about while watching TV. Video chat relies on a future version of the iPad that will inevitably have a camera.


ConnecTV uses TV and interests as avenues for connections, but encourages seniors to meet in person and attend local events. This supports a healthier and more meaningful lifestyle. We used the physical metaphor of a date book for seniors to immediately understood how to flip through and browse events.


Seniors can see details of an event, which friends are going, and arrange for transportation.