Desenvolvimento de software com idosos: integrando design participativo à engenharia de software

Abstract

The use of digital technologies has become essential in the daily lives of countless people, including the seniors. Although there are works in the literature that report the involvement of this audience of users in the development of software for their use, these works do not present an approach that integrates Participatory Design practices to Software Engineering methods. Participatory Design allows users to directly participate in the development of technologies for their use, bringing benefits such as the quality of the final product from the perspective of its users, better acceptance of the product generated and the exchange of experiences. Software Engineering, on the other hand, guides software development in a systematic way with an emphasis on the quality of the final product. This work aimed at proposing the development of a software product with seniors, integrating Software Engineering and Participatory Design techniques. Therefore, a qualitative research approach was adopted. This study involved development of an website regarding the history and culture of the city of Alegrete. As a result, there is a highfidelity functional prototype of this site built in co-authorship with the seniors. The evolution of the prototype with the collaboration of its target audience is proposed as a future work.