UTOPIA Newsletter 3
The UTOPIA newsletter is produced by the UTOPIA
consortium, a group of Scottish universities working towards the design of
usable technology for older people. If
you would like to be removed from our newsletter list please contact us at the
address on the back page.
Learning, Support and Help Discussion Group
In March, we
held a hands on workshop, which included a focus group
discussion on learning, support and help.
We were interested in which methods of support older adults sought when
using the computer and if these methods were effective. Eleven older adults, who had previously shown
an interest in being involved in the Utopia project, were invited to the
workshop. The following are the main
issues resulting from the discussion group.
We asked
questions such as, “If you were learning a new application, what type of method
would you use whilst learning this new application?” and participants were
given 4 methods to rank in order of preference:
hands-on trial and error, tutor (or human help), manual or CD rom/video.
These rankings showed that “human help”
was a very popular method, with 7 participants ranking it first and second
choice (4 and 3 respectively). The
manual was also a very popular method, with 7 participants ranking it first and
second choice (3 and 4 respectively).
The hands-on trial and error was a first choice for 4 participants, as
well as final choice for 4 participants.
The CD rom/video method was the least popular
choice. These results illustrate the importance
of tutor (or human help) early on in the learning experience of computer
users. However, manuals came very close
to human help as a method of support.
During
discussion further issues arose. The
language used in manuals and other forms of instructive material such as help
facilities, was an issue for most participants.
A comment from a workshop participant illustrated this point: “They’re
talking Greek, whilst I’m talking Icelandic”.
Other problems with manuals and help facilities were the additional,
irrelevant information; for example humour was seen as a distraction, as well
as the use of “little asides” or instructions to do one procedure in different
ways – “I want to know just one way, or I won’t remember how to do any way.” Although manuals and help facilities were
found to be unhelpful or caused frustration, computer users continued to use
them. The preference of manuals may be
related to the “accessibility” of manuals, in terms of knowing where to buy
them and being affordable. Also, the
manual allows people to work at their own pace, whilst still remaining
independent.
Although human help was very popular, this type of support was not always available with participant’s families being dispersed, and not always desirable, as participants reported often being embarrassed and a burden on family and friends. Conclusions from this focus group discussion, have provided support that various methods of help are not effective and due to the sometimes unavailability of human help, it would be desirable to have effective inbuilt support that could mimic the style of tutor (human) help. We hope to explore this area further and if anyone is interested in being involved in this or other research areas, please give us a call.
Industry has started to listen!
After the success of our industry
workshops comes further promising news from mobile phone giants Nokia. We
mentioned briefly last time the video footage of our interview with Chris
McKinley discussing the technology in her life, and the positive responses it
provoked amongst workshop attendees. Well the short film made from this
interview was requested by Nokia and has generated considerable interest within
the design team and has been sent to the global headquarters to bring the needs
of older users to sharp attention of the head executives. Nokia have since
requested the help of UTOPIA to investigate how these needs can be incorporated
into their mobile phone designs of the future. We’re going to need your help
with this, so if you are a mobile phone user, or even if you are not, we need
you to tell us what you like and what you don’t. We’ll be holding a workshop on
this issue in the near future so please drop us a line if you’re interested,
and you can help us to help industry help you!
In Other
News…
Students at
The UTOPIA
project is working with old people’s residential homes in
Work at Napier exploring companionship has begun. They will be looking
for volunteers to discuss with them issues such as pet ownership. They hope to
understand how people form relationships with pets and people so as to help in
the design of more friendly and helpful technologies in the future.
And finally…
Over the last year, we’ve been surveying
the use of technology among people over 50 in
We found that
many technologies were widely used. Nevertheless, the use of most technology
(with the exception of telephones, televisions and microwaves) declined with
age. Newer and more complicated devices were also used less than older ones.
Respondents’ comments provided an insight into
reasons for technology use and barriers against it. The most common problem
described was mental discomfort, such as confusion, frustration and lack of
understanding. On the other hand, positive comments mostly focused on the
usefulness of technology.
When it comes
to computers, there was also a decrease in use with age. The importance of an
application’s usefulness was also clear, with the most commonly used
applications being word-processing, the Internet and e-mail. Difficulties
were often caused by applications and their documentation being too
complicated, with too much jargon and inadequate support, both during learning
and on-going use.
As well as
giving an interesting picture of technology use, we hope that these results
will help to improve the design and development of technology by indicating
where things could be improved and what important motivating factors are.
If you would like to contact the UTOPIA team
please write to: or phone us on 01382 344787 or visit our website: http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/projects/UTOPIA/ The UTOPIA Project Applied Computing Freepost
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