Mobile computing devices, such as smart phones, offer benefits that may be especially valuable to older adults (age 65+). Yet, older adults have been shown to have difficulty learning to use these devices. In the research presented in this article, we sought to better understand how older adults learn to use mobile devices, their preferences and barriers, in order to find new ways to support them in their learning process. We conducted two complementary studies: a survey study with 131 respondents from three age groups (20--49, 50--64, 65+) and an in-depth field study with 6 older adults aged 50+. The results showed, among other things, that the preference for trial-and-error decreases with age, and while over half of older respondents and participants preferred using the instruction manual, many reported difficulties using it. We discuss implications for design and illustrate these implications with an example help system, Help Kiosk, designed to support older adults’ learning to use mobile devices.
This work reports on the design and evaluation of culturally appropriate technology for older adults. Our design context was Cognitive Testing on a Computer (C-TOC): a selfadministered computerized test under development, intended to screen older adults for cognitive impairments . Using theory triangulation of cultural attitudes toward uncertainty, we designed two interfaces (one minimal and one rich) for one C-TOC subtest and hypothesized they would be culturally appropriate for older adult Caucasians and East Asians respectively. We ran an experiment with 36 participants to investigate cultural differences in performance, preference and anxiety. We found that Caucasians preferred the interface with minimal elements (i.e. those essential for the primary task) or had no preference. By contrast, East Asians preferred the rich interface augmented with security and learning support and felt less anxious with it than the minimal.
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