Systematic Review of Usability Engineering Management Studies for the Aging Population -UEM4Agin

Usability management is one of the core elements of any software to make it efficient and effective. Unfortunately, most of the time usability as well as its management is neglected while developing software that may result as ineffective and inefficient software design. In different eras different researchers performed studies to highlight the management of usability and to show its importance. Due to the increase in the aging population, the concern for the aging population assistances of each equipment becomes to be necessary. Number of Steps has been taken so far to help out the aging population but remained limited to visual considerations, such as stronger contrasts or larger characters on the displays and printing, or such physical characteristics as the ease for pressing buttons. In this paper, our focus is to perform a systematic review (SR) of usability management specifically for the aging population/senior citizens and its limitations. The systematic review aims to address three research questions: 1) What is the current status of usability management/usability engineering management research for the aging population/senior citizen around the globe? As we found that the literature on usability management for the aging population began in 1992 and increased thereafter, there is a lack of organized research teams and dedicated usability management journals for researching the aging population. High-impact theoretical studies are scarce. On the application side, no original and systematic research frameworks have been developed. The understanding and definition of usability and usability management is not well synchronized with international norms. 2) What are the existing methods, approaches, frameworks and practices that are currently being used in usability engineering management for the aging population? 3) What are the limitations of usability engineering management for the aging population/senior citizen? Purpose of this study is to identify the current research problems, existing studies for providing valid solution to these problems and will find out the limitations of existing work for covering the existing problems in usability engineering management specifically for the aging population. This will be done by performing quantitative literature of different databases and all the results will be gathered by analyzing and summarizing the statistical data using “R Studio”. Remedial techniques for handling the limitation of usability engineering management will be planned in future for the aging population

Designing to assist older adults’ navigation in e-commerce websites

The growth of the older population has drawn attention and interest in investigating approaches to help older people to live independently for longer, including the use of Web technology. For example, with online shopping, older consumers will no longer need to carry heavy shopping loads as the goods purchased can be delivered to the house. However, the usage of online shopping among older adults is still low. Furthermore, it has been reported that older adults often experience disorientation while navigating websites. This low usage of online shopping and also disorientation motivates this research. To gain a better understanding on how older adults navigate on e-commerce website and challenges experienced, an observation on older adults’ navigation with an online grocery shopping site was conducted. The study found that technological experience was helpful in easing web navigation. Inexperienced participants were found to face more difficulties while navigating the website than the experienced users, and main difficulties included identifying the ‘add to cart’ button, finding items in menu lists, finding the main menu, and changing the website’s default shopping settings. The difficulties were manifested as complex navigation paths and long task completion times. As difficulty in identifying the ‘add to cart’ button was observed frequently, ‘add to cart’ buttons were investigated further. An evaluation of the ‘add to cart’ button designs conventions on 51 websites was conducted to assess existing button designs against design guidelines for older users. This review highlighted the potential areas for improvement with regard to design for the older users, including the use of colour, focus indicators, contrast ratio and font size. A co-design study was conducted to understand how older users would design e-commerce web pages. Several objects were selected frequently by the older adults for inclusion in the e-commerce websites, that is, product images, price, and an ‘add to cart’ button. Some other objects were selected for inclusion depending on what type of website it was. For example, quantity selection was selected for cheap, multiple purchase items (e.g. groceries), whereas descriptions, reviews and shipping/return information was deemed important to the older adults for expensive, single-item purchases (e.g. assistive technology). The study also investigated older adults’ designs in terms of physical placement of the ‘add to cart’ button, and their designs, the button was most often placed close to the quantity selection and/or the price. The outcomes from these three studies provided design input for the prototype developed in the fourth study. In this fourth study, a ‘senior friendly’ and a ‘senior unfriendly’ design were compared. The two websites were developed and tested with two tasks, that is, a navigation task and shopping. Participants compared the two websites and answered questions pertaining to ease of performing the tasks. This study provides empirical evidence of the benefits on the users’ performance from the use of ‘senior-friendly’ design. The outcomes of this research have contributed to the existing knowledge of what designs could help older users’ navigation. The data provide support for new recommendations that an object that is important and frequently accessed (e.g. main menu) should always be visible to users rather than disappearing when scrolling down the page or appearing only when the cursor is in a particular position, and ‘buy boxes’ on e-commerce websites should be included in order to make important objects such as ‘add to cart’ buttons stand out

EzNav: A mobile Web browser for the elderly

A população mundial está a envelhecer, podendo-se observar uma tendência semelhante no que diz respeito aos utilizadores da Internet. De facto, estudos revelam que as pessoas com mais de 60 anos constituem o grupo com maior crescimento, no que concerne à procura de informação na World Wide Web. No entanto, os desenhos ineficientes das existentes ferramentas tecnológicas e aplicações constituem uma barreira à inclusão digital, por parte dos idosos. Além disso, a maioria destes sofre de um declínio nas suas capacidades visuais, motoras e cognitivas, o que poderá dificultar a interação Web.O projeto descrito neste documento tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento de uma aplicação Android, que consiste num navegador Web para os seniores, tendo como foco as suas necessidades. Para tal, foi feita uma revisão da literatura em profundidade acerca das características e dos comportamentos dos adultos mais velhos em relação à interação Web, para que fosse possível encontrar modificações e melhorias a fazer, no que toca à interação de utilizadores idosos com as tecnologias atuais. A aplicação desenvolvida visa ser orientada para os seniores, não só por considerar aspetos gráficos da interface (como usar menos botões e maiores), mas também aspetos do motor de navegação da Web (como remover anúncios, aumentar espaçamento entre parágrafos e alterar cores).De modo a validar a solução e a obter feedback dos utilizadores, protótipos de baixa e de alta fidelidade foram desenvolvidos e testados com um grupo de idosos, num Centro de Dia. Isto permitiu um ciclo acelerado de contínuo desenvolvimento e testes, aumentando, assim, o feedback recebido e, consequentemente, a qualidade geral do sistema. Tendo em conta estas premissas, o desenvolvimento deste projeto seguiu uma metodologia de desenho centrado no utilizador (user-centred design), que, como o nome indica, coloca o utilizador no centro do processo de desenho.Os resultados dos testes finais são promissores, na medida em que todos os utilizadores foram capazes de realizar todas as tarefas, sem dificuldades. Além disso, os idosos, em geral, consideraram a aplicação fácil de usar e todos eles mostraram interesse em utilizá-la novamente, o que reflete uma grande aceitação da mesma. Tendo em conta estes resultados, pode-se afirmar que os objetivos estabelecidos foram, de modo geral, cumpridos.Ageing population is increasing around the world and a similar trend is being observed in the population of Internet users. In fact, some studies revealed that people aged 60 years and over constitute the fastest growing group of information seekers on the World Wide Web. However, inadequate interface designs of existing technology tools and apps constitute a barrier to elders' digital inclusion. Besides, most older adults suffer from a decline in their visual, motor and cognitive skills that may hamper Web interaction.The project described in this document aimed at the development of an Android mobile application that consists of a Web browser for older adults, focusing on their needs. This was done through an in-depth literature review on older adults' characteristics and behaviours towards Web interaction, as well as on guidelines for designing for older people, in order to find possible modifications and improvements regarding senior user interaction with current technologies. The developed application aims at being senior-oriented, not only by considering graphical user interface (GUI) aspects (like using fewer, bigger buttons), but also Web engine aspects (removing ads, increasing spacing between paragraphs, changing colours).In order to validate the solution and get feedback from users, both low- and high-fidelity prototypes were developed and tested with a group of elders, at a day care centre. This allowed for a fast-paced cycle of continuous development and testing, thus increasing the received feedback and, consequently, the overall quality of the system. Given these premises, the development of this project followed a user-centred design (UCD) methodology, which puts the user at the centre of the design process.The results from the final usability tests proved promising, with all test participants performing all tasks, with no effort. Besides, seniors, in general, felt the application was easy to use and all of them would like to use it again, which shows great acceptance and interest in the application. Given these results, one can say that all the goals were, in general, fulfilled

A inclusão na base da pirâmide : um estudo brasileiro de aspectos motivadores e inibidores da adoção da tecnologia mobile banking pelo público de baixa renda

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração, 2019.Quase a metade da população mundial encontra-se na linha da pobreza e a maioria nas economias emergentes. Cerca de três bilhões de pessoas constituem a base global da pirâmide econômica ou BOP. O mobile banking (m-banking) pode proporcionar oportunidades para promover a inclusão financeira, através da redução do custo fixo, liberdade, flexibilidade, reduzindo preço médio da transação, fornecendo perspectivas para bancos aumentarem sua difusão no mercado e incluindo essa parcela da população no sistema financeiro, mesmo as que vivem em áreas remotas e de difícil acesso. Apesar desses benefícios, o uso de dispositivos móveis, para realizar transações bancárias, não é difundido como seria de esperar. E isto se dá principalmente com os indivíduos da base da pirâmide, nas economias emergentes. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi explorar aspectos inibidores e motivadores da adoção da tecnologia m-banking pelo segmento Base Of Pyramid (BOP). A fim de atingir este objetivo, empreendeu-se esforço exploratório, de abordagem qualitativa, com recorte transversal de coleta de dados, e além da análise da base de clientes e relatórios da instituição, entrevistaram-se indivíduos da BOP sem relacionamento bancário (n=14), indivíduos com relacionamento bancário, mas que ainda não adotaram o m-banking (n=15), indivíduos com relacionamento bancário que já adotaram o m-banking (n=15), funcionários e dirigentes de correspondentes no país (n=9), gerentes, executivos e diretores de um dos cinco maiores bancos do Brasil (n=5) e um dirigente de fintech, totalizando 59 indivíduos participantes do estudo. Por meio de análise conteúdo tanto com categorias definidas a priori, quanto categorias não definidas a priori, aliadas à saturação teórica, esta pesquisa identificou cinco categorais distintas de inibidores: expectativa de esforço, risco percebido, hábito/evitação incertezas, limitações tecnológicas e falta de percepção de utilidade e quatro categorias de motivadores: utilidade percebida, facilidade de uso percebida, capacitação e influência de terceiros e ações promocionais. Adicionalmente, este estudo também discutiu sobre fatores inibidores à bancarização, sobre a relação entre as dimensões da cultura nacional, baseadas em Hofestede et al.(2010) e das características demográficas do público da BOP, com os aspectos motivadores e inibidores da adoção do m-banking. Como principais contribuições, o presente trabalho amplia a compreensão acerca do fenômeno adoção da tecnologia m-banking para o público da BOP, a relação entre as dimensões culturais e as características demográficas, bem como aprofunda o olhar sobre os aspectos inibidores à inclusão financeira. Ao final do trabalho, além das contribuições acadêmicas e gerenciais é proposta uma agenda de pesquisa.Almost half of the world's population is in the poverty line and the majority in the developing world. About three billion people form the global base of the economic pyramid or BOP. Mobile banking (m-banking) can provide opportunities to promote financial inclusion by reducing fixed cost, freedom, flexibility, reducing average transaction price, providing prospects for banks to increase their market diffusion and including this portion of the population in the financial system, even those living in remote and hard-to-reach areas. Despite these benefits, the use of mobile devices for bank transactions is not as widespread as might be expected. And this is mainly with the bottom-of-the-pyramid individuals in the developing world. The objective of this research is to explore the inhibiting and motivating aspects of the adoption of m-banking technology by the Base Of Pyramid (BOP) segment. In order to achieve this objective, an exploratory, qualitative approach with a cross-sectional approach was undertaken and in addition to analyzing the customer base and reporting the institution, we interviewed BOP individuals without banking relationships (14), individuals with banking relationships , but have not yet adopted m-banking (15), individuals with banking relationships who have already adopted m-banking (15), employees and correspondent managers in the country (9), managers, executives and directors of one of the top five Brazilian banks (5) and a fintech manager, totaling a sample of 59 individuals. Through content analysis with both a priori and non-a priori categories combined with theoretical saturation, this research identified five distinct categories of inhibitors: effort expectation, perceived risk, habit / avoidance uncertainties, technological limitations and lack of perceived utility, and four categories of motivators: perceived utility, perceived ease of use, empowerment, and third party influence and promotional actions. Additionally, this study also discussed factors inhibiting bankarization, the relationship between the dimensions of the national culture of Hofestede et al. (2010) and the demographic characteristics of the public of BOP, with the motivating and inhibiting aspects of the adoption of m-banking. . As main contributions, the present work broadens the understanding of the phenomenon of adoption of m-banking technology for the public of BOP, the relationship with cultural dimensions and demographic characteristics, as well as deepens the view on the inhibiting aspects of financial inclusion. At the end of the work, besides the academic and managerial contributions, a research agenda is proposed