Re-imagining commonly used mobile interfaces for older adults

Many countries have an increasingly ageing population. In recent years, mobile technologies have had a massive impact on social and working lives. As the size of the older user population rises, many people will want to continue professional, social and lifestyle usage of mobiles into 70s and beyond. Mobile technologies can lead to increased community involvement and personal independence. While mobile technologies can provide many opportunities, the ageing process can interfere with their use. This workshop brings together researchers who are re-imagining common mobile interfaces so that they are more suited to use by older adults

Seniores online: apropriação de dispositivos móveis em diferentes cenários de aprendizagem

Comunicação apresentada no 3º Encontro sobre Jogos e Mobile Learning, realizado em maio de 2016 na Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade de Coimbra.Esta comunicação apresenta uma investigação em curso cujo objetivo é contribuir para a redução das desigualdades no acesso e uso de dispositivos digitais táteis bem como para promover uma participação mais efetiva dos idosos na sociedade digital. Diversos estudos indicam que os seniores estão mais predispostos a utilizar dispositivos móveis táteis do que computadores com teclados e ratos físicos, devido às suas características e funcionalidades. Nesta investigação pretende-se estudar qual é a apropriação realizada dos dispositivos móveis por toque (tablets e smartphones) por indivíduos na 3ª idade em diferentes cenários de aprendizagem nas áreas de comunicação, socialização, saúde e bem-estar, em tarefas relacionadas com a aquisição de bens e serviços online. Pretende-se construir um modelo de formação específico adaptado às suas características, interesses e necessidades com recurso aos dispositivos táteis e aplicações móveis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Design For Communication

Increasingly numbers of younger generation have settled down their new homes away from parents after years of endeavor in bigger cities in China. They leave their parents for their works and take care of their own families. Elderly care becomes a crucial problem since filial piety is a tradition and a need in Chinese culture. Because of the implementation of “One child policy” in China in such a long time, elder parents only have one child in each family, which weights much more pressure of taking care of elder parents on the “only child”. Lack of smart phones use of elders and silent way to express love between youngers and elders also have reduced the opportunity of communication. This thesis will discuss the cause of the problem, and then focus on helping with improving the communication between the elder and the younger

Apropriação de dispositivos móveis no quotidiano dos seniores: investigação sobre um protótipo de modelo de formação

O envelhecimento é um fenómeno cada vez mais inquietante na nossa sociedade. Espera-se um aumento significativo desta faixa etária no futuro próximo (2050. Este estudo pretendeu contribuir para a redução das desigualdades digitais e para uma participação mais efetiva dos idosos na sociedade digital, através do uso de dispositivos móveis, dado as suas características e funcionalidades. Com uma metodologia Design-Based-research, estrutura-se 4 fases e em dois cenários - Cenário de Aprendizagem Urbano e Cenário de Aprendizagem Rural. se apropriaram dos dispositivos móveis, em áreas identificadas na literatura e de acordo com os seus interesses, como a finalidade de conceber um protótipo de Modelo de Formação adequado ao uso dos dispositivos móveis pelos seniores nas suas atividades diárias. Os resultados apontam que em ambos os Cenários de Aprendizagem se confirmaram situações de apropriação, isto é, os seniores após tomarem contacto com as aplicações móveis, avaliando a sua utilidade, decidiram explorá-las e experimentá-las, integrando-as nas suas rotinas e em determinadas áreas, pelo que o protótipo de Modelo de Formação se revelou adequado. O estudo também concluiu que as Oficinas de Formação revelaram ter sido pertinentes, não só porque a maioria dos seniores desconhecia as aplicações, mas também porque permitiu testar estratégias pedagógicas para a integração das tecnologias no seu dia a dia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lineamientos para el diseño de aplicaciones de ingreso de texto para adultos mayores

The care and monitoring of the health of the elderly in order to increase life expectancy, their safety, make them self-sufficient, and improve their quality of life, have been the focus of many investigations that involve the use of the Internet of the Things or Internet of Things (IoT). Likewise, many of these systems, social networks and communication tools, are making it necessary for older people to be interested in the use of smartphones or Smartphones, which has inspired to carry out this work, whose objective is to determine the guidelines for the design of text entry applications for older adults. Some works carried out by other authors were considered to obtain the guidelines used for the development of a prototype (called KeySenior) focused on the entry of text, applying the guidelines considered positive for our purpose. The prototype was tested through a user study with a very heterogeneous group of elderly people, from their socio-economic level, the frequency of use and type of mobile phone, to the pathologies they suffer from. They finally answered a questionnaire with the help of one of the researchers, who also took notes of the most important observations, to help to determine the degree of fulfillment of the objective of this work. Some of the guidelines implemented in KeySenior did not have the expected acceptance, however most of them had great acceptance.El cuidado y monitorización de la salud de las personas mayores con el fin de aumentar la esperanza de vida, su seguridad, lograr que sean autosuficientes, y mejorar su calidad de vida, han sido el foco de muchas investigaciones que involucran el uso de internet de las cosas o Internet of Things (IoT). Así mismo, mucho de estos sistemas, las redes sociales y herramientas de comunicación, están haciendo lo necesario para que las personas mayores se interesen en el uso de los teléfonos inteligentes o smartphones, lo que ha inspirado para la realización de este trabajo, cuyo objetivo es determinar los lineamientos para el diseño de aplicaciones de ingreso de texto para adultos mayores. Se consideraron algunos trabajos realizados por otros autores para obtener los lineamientos usados para el desarrollo de un prototipo (denominado KeySenior) enfocado al ingreso de texto, aplicando los lineamientos considerados positivos para nuestro propósito. Se probó el prototipo mediante un estudio de usuarios con un grupo de personas mayores muy heterogéneo, desde su nivel socio-económico, la frecuencia de uso y tipo  de teléfono móvil, hasta las patologías que padecen. Ellos al final contestaron un cuestionario con la ayuda de uno de los investigadores, quien también anotó las observaciones más importantes, para ayudar a determinar el grado de cumplimiento del objetivo de este trabajo. Algunos de los lineamientos implementados en keysenior no tuvieron la aceptación esperada; sin embargo, la mayoría de ellos tuvo gran aceptación

Improving accessibility of tactile interaction for older users: lowering accuracy requirements to support drag-and-drop interaction

International audienceMobile applications offer great possibilities to the aging population but older adults face accessibility problems when using devices equipped with touchscreen. In order to respond to older users' special needs, it is necessary to support older users during tactile interaction to reduce error rates. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the accuracy requirements for drag-and-drop interaction. 24 able-bodied older adults with different profiles (aged 65 to 86 years old, with corrected and not corrected eyesight, normal and low dexterity, different levels of education, different experience of use of computers and touchscreen) executed a series of tactile puzzle games on smartphone and tablet, with pen and fingers. We evaluate the number of errors for two levels of accuracy required for positioning the puzzle pieces: 95% (higher) and 80% (lower). Older adults made fewer errors of accuracy during lower accuracy levels and consequently fewer supplementary gestures for positioning the targets. Besides, lowering the accuracy requirement was an effective support for interaction because it also reduced the effects of users' profiles, improving the accessibility for people with no experience of use of computers

Interaction techniques for older adults using touchscreen devices : a literature review

International audienceSeveral studies investigated different interaction techniques and input devices for older adults using touchscreen. This literature review analyses the population involved, the kind of tasks that were executed, the apparatus, the input techniques, the provided feedback, the collected data and author's findings and their recommendations. As conclusion, this review shows that age-related changes, previous experience with technologies, characteristics of handheld devices and use situations need to be studied

The effect of dyadic interactions on learning rotate gesture for technology-naïve older adults

Older adults having limited experience with modern computing technology may find it difficult to learn touch gestures, especially the more complex rotate gesture. Social interactions, as implied by social constructivism, are assumed to be powerful in enabling older adults to acquire the skill of touch gestures. The social effect can be reinforced with the motivational effect of digital games. To verify the assumption, we conducted empirical studies with 59 older adults, who were divided into two groups: 17 Singles and 21 Dyads. They were asked to play a set of digital games on a multi-touch tabletop. Results show that on average Dyads have spent significantly longer time in the games and have performed a significantly higher number of correct rotate gestures than Singles. Future work focuses on analyzing the emotional aspect of social interactions and identifying further applications of social gaming to other ageing issue

Typing performance of blind users:an analysis of touch behaviors, learning effect, and in-situ usage

Non-visual text-entry for people with visual impairments has focused mostly on the comparison of input techniques reporting on performance measures, such as accuracy and speed. While researchers have been able to establish that non-visual input is slow and error prone, there is little understanding on how to improve it. To develop a richer characterization of typing performance, we conducted a longitudinal study with five novice blind users. For eight weeks, we collected in-situ usage data and conducted weekly laboratory assessment sessions. This paper presents a thorough analysis of typing performance that goes beyond traditional aggregated measures of text-entry and reports on character-level errors and touch measures. Our findings show that users improve over time, even though it is at a slow rate (0.3 WPM per week). Substitutions are the most common type of error and have a significant impact on entry rates. In addition to text input data, we analyzed touch behaviors, looking at touch contact points, exploration movements, and lift positions. We provide insights on why and how performance improvements and errors occur. Finally, we derive some implications that should inform the design of future virtual keyboards for non-visual input. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User Interfaces- Input devices and strategies. K4.2 [Computers an