Rejuvenating Design: Bikes, Batteries, and Older Adopters in the Diffusion of E-bikes (May 2017)
Peine, Alexander (Author)
Vivette van Cooten (Author)
Neven, Louis (Author)
Science, Technology and Human Values
Volume: 42
Issue: 3
Pages: 429-459
Old age is not normally associated with innovativeness and technical prowess. To the contrary, when treating age as a distinct category, policy makers, innovation scholars, and companies typically regard younger people as drivers of innovation, and the early adoption of new technology. In this paper, we critically investigate this link between age, ineptness, and technology adoption using a case study of the diffusion of electric bikes in the Netherlands. We demonstrate how, during the first wave of e-bike acceptance, old age was constructed as an arena in which important learning processes took place, and where older persons became early adopters of e-bikes. Theoretically, this paper speaks critically to the prolific literature on innovation diffusion and its treatment of adopter categories as generic concepts. Using age as a central dimension, our research highlights the situated and constructed nature of adopter categories, and thus challenges age-based assumptions about innovation and technology use by younger and older persons. These insights about what we term the rejuvenation of e-bikes help us rectify existing biases of older persons as an inherently problematic group of technology users.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Graham Spinardi;
S.J. Cooper-Knock;
David Rush;
(2020)
Proximal design in South African informal settlements: Users as designers and the construction of the built environment and its fire risks
(/isis/citation/CBB954481617/)
Article
Jan Ploeger;
Ruth Oldenziel;
(August 2020)
The sociotechnical roots of smart mobility: Bike sharing since 1965
(/isis/citation/CBB062123435/)
Article
Lou Therese Brandner;
(December 2021)
When One Becomes Two: Man–Machine Hybridization in Urban Cyclists with Broken Bikes
(/isis/citation/CBB281498024/)
Book
Steven E. Alford;
Suzanne Ferriss;
(2016)
An alternative history of bicycles and motorcycles: Two-wheeled transportation and material culture
(/isis/citation/CBB827118434/)
Article
Bernhard Wieser;
(April 2017)
Research Note: It’s not just about speed: Reviewing the recumbent bicycle once more
(/isis/citation/CBB957649079/)
Chapter
Lindsay, Cecile;
(1999)
From the basement to the kitchen: constructing the gendered personal computer user
(/isis/citation/CBB512625569/)
Article
Björn Fischer;
Britt Östlund;
Alexander Peine;
(April 2020)
Of robots and humans: Creating user representations in practice
(/isis/citation/CBB047169622/)
Article
Ashley Carruthers;
(December 2018)
Taking the Road for Play: Cyclist Appropriations of Automobile Infrastructures in Vietnam
(/isis/citation/CBB728173630/)
Article
Aryana Soliz;
(December 2019)
Exploring Cycling Practices in Central Mexico through a Local Repair Shop
(/isis/citation/CBB076394838/)
Article
Coughlon, Joseph F.;
Brady, Samanatha;
(Spring 2019)
Planning, Designing, and Engineering Tomorrow’s User-Centered, Age-Ready Transportation System
(/isis/citation/CBB234362307/)
Article
Bulliet, William M.;
Berne, Rosalyn W.;
(Sprin 2019)
EES Perspective: Aging, Technology and Ethics
(/isis/citation/CBB220644089/)
Article
Trust Saidi;
Christopher T. Mutswangwa;
Tania S. Douglas;
(2019)
Design Thinking as a Complement to Human Factors Engineering for Enhancing Medical Device Usability
(/isis/citation/CBB854252908/)
Book
Matt Ratto;
Megan Boler;
(2014)
DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media
(/isis/citation/CBB984871595/)
Book
Michael L. Black;
(2022)
Transparent Designs: Personal Computing and the Politics of User-Friendliness
(/isis/citation/CBB017297145/)
Essay Review
Evan Barba;
(July 2015)
Review Essay: Three Reasons Why the Future Is in the Making
(/isis/citation/CBB400962991/)
Article
Roba Abbas;
Holly Tootell;
Mark Freeman;
Grant Ellmers;
(September 2018)
Engaging Young Children as Application Design Partners: A Stakeholder-Inclusive Methodological Approach
(/isis/citation/CBB653005533/)
Article
Mandy de Wilde;
(November 2021)
“A Heat Pump Needs a Bit of Care”: On Maintainability and Repairing Gender–Technology Relations
(/isis/citation/CBB932272197/)
Article
Rebecca Jablonsky;
(March 2022)
Meditation Apps and the Promise of Attention by Design
(/isis/citation/CBB875998706/)
Article
Ross, Philippe;
(April 2011)
Problematizing the user in user-centered production: A new media lab meets its audiences
(/isis/citation/CBB722647017/)
Book
Anne Marie Balsamo;
(2011)
Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work
(/isis/citation/CBB272473814/)
Be the first to comment!