ORCID

Abstract

Designing interactive outdoor technologies for older adults often emphasises tracking and exercise, which can conflict with enjoyment, autonomy, and the realities of public space. Previous work on tangible systems for older adults have largely focused on indoor, supervised, or therapeutic contexts, leaving limited guidance for outdoor community settings. We present Melomove, a 3D printed handheld dumbbell shaped device that maps movement to real-Time musical feedback for self-paced exploration. We report an exploratory outdoor workshop with 16 older adults (63-93) in a campus bandstand, using structured observations and interviews to examine how a tangible movement music interface can scaffold agency, affective engagement, and social interaction. Participants engaged in rhythmic play and shared choreographies, with the familiar form acting as a social anchor that supported turn taking and informal leadership, while highlighting technological and structural constraints that inform design considerations for joyful socially shared outdoor movement for older adults.

Keywords

Embodied Interactions, Movement and Music Interfaces, Older adults, Outdoor Public Spaces, Participatory Design, Tangible Interaction

Publication Date

2026-06-12

Event

ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, DIS 2026

Publication Title

DIS 2026 - Companion Proceedngs of the 2026 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

ISBN

9798400726323

First Page

496

Last Page

503

Deposit Date

2026-07-27

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Download


Share

COinS