This chapter builds upon the need to adopt a more comprehensive approach when
designing computer-supported technology to mediate social interaction between
older adults and other generations of family members. Recognizing the
complexity and heterogeneity of this communication scenario, the chapter shows
the need to consider the culture as a key factor for reusing HCI design
knowledge when conceiving new technology to mediate intergenerational social
interactions. Considering a cultural perspective, this chapter discusses
similarities and differences in the intergenerational social interaction
process in Latin American and Western countries. On the one hand, the
identified similitudes help reuse existing design knowledge. On the other hand,
the identified differences inform the design of new solutions to mediate
intergenerational communication. Understanding the underlying socio-cultural
traits of the social interaction scenario allows us to determine how to reuse
the knowledge gained during the previous two decades of HCI research with older
adults, and thus design better interaction mechanisms for the next generation
of systems for this application domain.