Haptic Remembrance Book Series

While having strong social networks is essential for good quality of life, socializing gets more difficult as we age even if we are surrounded by people in a nursing home setting. Care staff and family members want to be able to connect with residents/loved ones but have limitations (time constraints, unsure how), and it can be challenging to feel a connection to another resident who has differing abilities. We propose that through sharing strong positive memories, members of a nursing home community (residents, care staff, and families) will be able to build empathy for one another and thus strengthen their community bonds. By applying multi-modal technologies to a familiar medium, the book, we provided a means by which intergenerational users, from various backgrounds, could interact with and gain meaning from the content.