Methods and Tools for Facilitating Social Participation
Older Adults and Computer Usage
1. Older Adults and Computer Usage:
Common Activities and Essential Applications
Melissa Wong, Kristal Chan, Niti Madhugiri, Shengdong Zhao
NUS-HCI Lab, Computer Science
National University of Singapore
3. Computers and older adults
• Global aging population changed the landscape
of information technology industry
– Existing older adults increasingly expose to IT
• Older adults are now the fastest growing population of
computer buyers and Internet users 1, 2
– As we grow up, future older adults will become IT
savvy
1. Becker, S. A. (2005). E-Government usability for older adults. Communications of the ACM, 48(2), 102–104.
2. Hart, T., Chaparro, B., & Halcomb, C. (2008). Evaluating websites for older adults: Adherence to senior-friendly
guidelines and end-user performance. Behaviour & Information Technology, 27(3), 191–199.
4. Motivations
• Older adults have different needs and concerns
• Current interfaces which are mostly designed for
younger users and are too complex for older
adults 1
• Majority of the functionalities are not needed or
used
1. Massimi, M., R.M. Baecker, and M. Wu, Using participatory activities with seniors to critique, build,
and evaluate mobile phones. ACM SIGACCESS 2007, ACM: 155-162
5. Motivation
• Question:
Simple Interface What essential
applications and
for older adults functionalities should it
??? support?
• Not much has been discussed about the use of
specific applications for activities that they do 1
1. Goodman, J.,Syme, A., Eisma, R. (2003). Older adults’ use of computers: A survey. HCI Sept 2003,
Bath, Uk.
6. We are interested to find out the essential
needs of older adults in computer usage, and
how such needs are reflected in the type of
computing activities carried out as
well as the most common computer
applications being used.
7. Interview
Participants
• 8 computer literate participants (5 male, 3
female, age range 51-73, M: 64.5, SD: 7.89)
Format
• Semi-structured interview
• Questions covered:
– Experience with learning and using of computers
– Type of computing activities and motivations such
activities
8. Results
Computer usage
Emails
Online banking
Internet search
Document processing
Connecting with family/friends
Online reservations and ticketing
Entertainment
10. Analysis
Information seeking Communication
• Internet search • Email
• Browsers • Video calls
• News • Social networking sites
11. Analysis
Information seeking Communication
• Internet search • Email
• Browsers • Video calls
• News • Social networking sites
Productivity
• Microsoft Office
• Online transactions
• Photo management
12. Analysis
Information seeking Communication
• Internet search • Email
• Browsers • Video calls
• News • Social networking sites
Productivity Entertainment
• Microsoft Office • Video channels
• Online transactions • Games
• Photo management
13. Take-away & Implications
• The essential interface for older adults should probably
only include the above functionalities
• Make the interface consistent
– Changes made to interfaces should be handled carefully as older
adults may not adapt effectively
14. Q&A
For more information
• http://hci.comp.nus.edu.sg
• http://www.shengdongzhao.com/shen-
publications/
Notes de l'éditeur
As most of you may already know, the world is aging. This effect can be reflected from this graph, which is adapted from an article from the United Nation’s Department of economic and social affair.The Y axis is percentage in population. The X axis is the year. An there are three types of bars. The black bars represent the percentage of senior citizen in the world. The dark red bars represent the aging percentage in more developed regions, while the pink bar represents the percentage of aging population for the less developed regions. As you can see, we expect a significant increase of aging population in the world, and the magnitude of increase is much for the more developed regions than the less developed regions. And Singapore, as one of the more developed regions, is inevitably facing a dramatic increase of aged population in the next few decades. An increasing aging population has many implications to our society, such as the issue of unbalanced labor structure, and the increase cost for healthcare, etc. However, since my expertise is in human computer interfaces, I will focus on the characteristics of aging that’s most relevant for using computers. This is occurring in two ways: through shifts in the age structure that will eventually lead to many more people reaching older ages than before, and through continued success in extending life.
as compared to their younger counterparts as a result of aging