Output details

Designing inclusive ICT products for older users : taking into account the technology generation effect

This paper presents a new approach for designing technological products in the field of inclusive design, which proposes that in addition to considering age-related decline in ability, designers should also take into account both the user’s formative age when the use of technologies is first learnt, and the ‘technology era’ in which this occurred. Using a multi-method approach, interviews were first used and a critical independent variable (interface layers) was identified. This was followed by experiments measuring the performances of users of different ages and cohorts using past and current ICT products with varying levels of interface layers. Results revealed causation between effectiveness in handling different type of interfaces belonging to different eras and the users formative age. This was described as a technology generation effect. Using this finding, the author proposed that in the design of new ICT products in order for them to be acceptable and used effectively by older people, it is essential to consider users’ own historical frames of reference and mental models of interaction. To facilitate the consideration of technology generation effect, a visual tool called Generation Timeline Tool (GTT), was developed in conjunction with the research. Final year student designers evaluated the tool by using it in their project. The use of GTT provided them with new user insights. They recommended that the GTT be used during the user / market research as well as the concept stage of the design process. This work is citied among them in Prof Alan Newell’s book “Design and the Digital Divide: Computer Support for Older People”. Prof James L Fozard (University of South Florida), a eminent figure in ageing studies and gerontechnology has approached the author about using GTT for his lecture series and workshop in the summer of 2013.