Privacy considerations when designing social network systems to support successful ageing

A number of interventions exist to support older adults in ageing well and these typically involve support for an active and sociable ageing process. We set out to examine the privacy implications of an intervention that would monitor mobility and share lifestyle and health data with a community of trusted others. We took a privacy-by-design approach to the system in the early stages of its development, working with older adults to firstly understand their networks of trust and secondly understand their privacy concerns should information be exchanged across that network. We used a Johari Windows framework in the thematic analysis of our data, concluding that the social sharing of information in later life carried significant risk. Our participants worried about the social signaling associated with data sharing and were cautious about a system that had the potential to disrupt established networks.