Computers and Senior Citizens: Menu

Desktop Configuration Options

Softshell a 'desktop for incredably limitted individuals. Not very configuable costs $8/month. Can easily make this ourselves.

Evolvable Computer Interface for Elderly Users

Compared to

younger people, however, elderly people are less comfortable

with computers and perceive less efficacy and control in computer

use [6]. Elderly people can experience computer anxiety which

generally increases in line with less experience [9]. One of the

key obstacles that prevent elderly people from using computers is

the ageing process itself [2]. Despite these difficulties there is a

need for elderly users to integrate computer usage into their

everyday lives in order to be able to participate fully in society

[15]. Computer technologies are a promising method of

increasing the quality of life of elderly people providing that the

systems designed accommodate the specific needs of these users

[5]. Recent research has shown that although elderly people

experience more difficulties with technology than younger people,

their performance is improved if the system design is changed to

meet their requirements [5].

THE AGEING PROCESS

It is impossible to put together a simple profile or to identify a

single stereotypical elderly PC user because there is a great deal

of diversity within the user group. Each elderly individual is

unique and therefore requires different specifications for different

applications and interfaces. A person’s ability can vary widely

through time depending on factors like fatigue and illness [10].

Dickinson et al. (2005) suggests that poorly designed interfaces

are a fundamental obstacle to digital inclusion and that elderly

adults find it more difficult than their younger counterparts to use

standard interfaces [8]. By designing technology to include the

elderly, they can remain living in their own homes longer,

keeping in contact with the outside world through, for example,

Internet banking, shopping and email, and thus increase their

sense of well-being and security. Browne [3] reports that short-

term memory does not decline much with age, but working

Supporting Human Memory with Interactve Systems, workshop at the

HCI 2007 (British HCI conference 2007), September 4th, 2007,

Lancaster, UK

Workshop "Supporting Human Memory with Interactive Systems", HCI Conference, September 4th, 2007, Lancaster, UK

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memory (the ability to make use of items in short term memory),

does show impairment with increasing age [13]. Zajicek (2001)

has reported that exploratory learning is vital for building

conceptual models of the operation of a PC interface where the

user must remember a sequence of actions and reason about them

[23]. However, Age Associated Memory Impairment (AAMI) in

elderly people has a detrimental effect on exploratory learning

where their ability to create a mental model of the operation of an

interface is reduced [23]. Attention span, hearing, vision, memory

and reasoning capability are also shown to degrade naturally with

age [23]. Other research has shown that elderly people have

difficulty remembering and navigating routes and particularly

struggle to select the correct order of landmarks on a route [22].

According to Zajicek (2001), the navigational structure of

information on the Internet is quite similar to the way in which

landmarks and special features of a physical route are organised

[23]. Hence, elderly people encounter the same navigational

difficulties while using the Internet due to their deficiency in

remembering routes [23]. Haimov (2006) reports on studies

which have shown that the foremost impairment which affects the

cognitive performance of an elderly person is deterioration in

memory [11].

3.1 Internet Interfaces

IBM have developed Web Adaptation Technology as part of the

accessibilityWorks project which adapts webpages to suit the

preferences of the user, such as magnifying pages or adapting

mouse and keyboard settings [12].

Current help facilities on webpages are not dynamic and do not

Figure 1: Overview of System Architecture

It is envisaged that the intelligent system will consist of three

components which interact as follows. The RBS will continually

monitor user activities and make a decision on whether the

intelligent system intervenes to provide help. For example, if the

user has not interacted with the computer for a specified period of

time, then the system may initiate help through a rule of the form:

IF interaction = 0 AND time >T THEN output help from the help facility

The RBS may communicate with the CBR system to ascertain if

there was a previous occasion where the same situation occurred

and if so what was the outcome, i.e. what assistance was given to

the user and did the user successfully complete the task. The RBS

will then make the decision on whether to offer the user the same

assistance or to adapt the level of help to the current situation. The

ANN will identify user patterns to provide more detail regarding

user interaction which will provide useful information for the

RBS. By utilising all the information from the CBR system and

the ANN, the RBS can make a decision on the appropriate (initial)

level of help to offer the user.

It is proposed that the output from the help facility will be in the

form of a pop-up window where the user will have the choice of a

number of possible options. These options will be tailored to the

specific user depending on how they have been categorised by the

system, for example, experienced or novice users. By choosing

the appropriate option the user will assist the dynamic help

facility in determining the level of help required. The help facility

will then provide the steps the user requires to complete the task,

where the detail contained in the steps will be relevant to the level

of help the user requires. Once the user has chosen an option, the

RBS then makes further decisions using this additional

information. For example, a user may indicate that he/she cannot

remember the next step needed to complete a task. Therefore, the

dynamic help facility might offer navigational help to the user in

the form of a tutorial detailing the steps involved. In addition, if

the user wishes to refuse the help they can simply choose to close

the help facility. The interaction between the user and the RBS

will be an interactive process and the outcome will be a solution

to the problem that satisfies user needs. This problem/solution

case will be stored in the CBR system to be retrieved later when

similar problems are experienced by the user. The intelligent

system will be trained on the data gathered from the elderly (see

section 4.2). The rule base and problem/solution cases will be

initialised using this data.

4.4 Evaluating the System

It is expected that some of the people in the study group will

experience more problems than others when using computers and

therefore allow the system to be fully evaluated. The development

of the system will be an iterative process and therefore the system

will be subject to frequent testing and evaluation by the target

user group. After the initial prototype of the system has been

developed a full evaluation of system will take place. During this

evaluation the elderly people will be asked to assess the system on

the appropriateness of the help and the suitability of the level of

help that was offered to them. They will be asked about the

aesthetics of the pop-up screens, i.e. could they read the

instructions easily, was the text too small or too large, was the

language used easy to understand, was the colour scheme

suitable? They will be asked for suggestions on how to improve

the system and these will be incorporated into the system design

and subsequently evaluated again after the suggested changes

have been made. The results of the evaluation sessions will be

analysed and subsequently modifications will be implemented in

the system. This process ensures that the final prototype will be

capable of offering the user the appropriate level of help, should

they require it. Further work needs to be carried out with the

target user group in order to ascertain the most acceptable and

Workshop "Supporting Human Memory with Interactive Systems", HCI Conference, September 4th, 2007, Lancaster, UK

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useful methods of presenting help to the user. During the design

process suggestions made by the user group will be incorporated

into the prototype design which will be tested and evaluated by

target users.

ibm web interactability software

http://www.webadapt.org/ibm/about/default.php?PageID=2

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