Abstract :
The population of older adults is growing rapidly worldwide, but technical communicators have not accounted for the needs of these audiences nor drawn from the wide range of research on aging. This article suggests four challenges practitioners, educators, and researchers must undertake to accommodate older adults´ physical, cognitive, and emotional needs: refine the demographic variable of age, operationalize age to enrich current methods of audience analysis, investigate multidisciplinary sources of aging research, and participate in research on aging by offering our expertise in document design and communication strategies.
Keywords :
demography; gender issues; professional communication; socio-economic effects; accessibility; aging audience; communication strategy; disability; document design; gerontechnology; older adult population; technical communicator; usability; Aging; Cultural differences; Demography; Economic forecasting; Gerontechnology; Global communication; Government; Internet; Senior citizens; Usability; Accessibility; disability; document design; gerontechnology; older adult; usability;