In this paper, we report on the findings of an acute trial in which we evaluate the design of a novel gesture-based game. 60 younger and older players, divided into three separate group-types: (i) Young-Young, (ii) Old-Old, and (iii) Young-Old, took part in the study. The primary aim of this work was to evaluate the communicative and cooperative behavior of same-age and mixed-age pairs, with secondary interests in their perceived ease-of-use of the game. A mixed-method approach was used, comprising of direct observations, a post-game questionnaire and paired interviews. Our results identified noticeable differences between the group-types, with the Young-Old showing more physical cooperation, as compared to the same-age groups. The work elaborates on how the young and old differ in expectations and perceived interaction, and concludes with some recommendations for future research.
__________________________________________________________________________________________The adoption of digital television (DTV), if appropriately designed, could be particularly attractive for older people, who tend to be overlooked when new services and applications are introduced, and remain a marginalized segment of the television broadcasting population. This article explores a range of methodologies and interactive approaches designed to support older people who have difficulties in using current interface models for DTV. Following an extensive requirements-gathering exercise, four different navigational layouts with a simplified remote control were tested and evaluated with older users to assess their ease of use. The results demonstrated the expected difficulties in understanding some of the terminology and interactive concepts utilized in "traditional" DTV design. Aspects of the experimental layouts suggest promising new directions in the development of visualization and navigation metaphors for user-led activities on DTV for older adults.
ACM Reference Format:Rice, M., and Alm, N. 2008. Designing new interfaces for digital interactive television usable by older adults.
Gesture-based games offer lucrative opportunities to engage users across all segments of the population. However, this requires that associated features go beyond mere expectations to meet the needs and requirements of diverse audience groups. Focusing on designing games for healthy older adults, we present a study exploring the usability and acceptability of a set of three gesturebased games. Designed for a large projection screen display, these games employ vision-based techniques that center on physical embodied interaction using a graphical silhouette. Infrared detection, accompanied by back-projection is used to reduce the effects of occluded body movements. User evaluations with 36 older adults were analyzed using a combination of pre-and postgame questionnaires, direct observations and semi-structured group interviews. The results demonstrate that while all the games were usable, they varied in their physical and social engagement, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. In particular, items associated with physical wellbeing were rated highly. During the discussion, we highlight strengths and weaknesses of our findings, including related interaction and application features.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.