Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Early user involvement in the development of information technology-related products for older people

  • Long paper
  • Published:
Universal Access in the Information Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The UTOPIA project (Usable Technology for Older People—Inclusive and Appropriate) is focused on developing effective methods for the early involvement of older people in the development of information technology-related products for people aged 60 and over, and on providing industry with tools to assist in the development of information technology products for such older people. An essential part of this methodology is building a diverse user base, forming a long-lasting partnership with older people, and developing approaches for effective interaction with this target user group. Our experiences with eliciting information from groups of older people about technology is described, together with a report on seminars for Scottish industry designed to raise an awareness of these issues.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Banks J, Blundell R, Smith JP (2000) Wealth inequality in the United States and Great Britain. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, WP00/02.http://www.ifs.org.uk/workingpapers/wp0020.pdf. Cited 2000

  2. Banks J, Smith Z, Wakefield M (2002) The distribution of financial wealth in the UK: evidence from 2000 BHPS data. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, WP02/21.http://www.ifs.org.uk/workingpapers/wp0221.pdf. Cited 2002

  3. Clarkson J, Keates S, Coleman R, Lebbon C, Johnston M (2000) A model for inclusive design. In: Proceedings of Engineering Design Conference 2000, London, UK, June 2000

  4. Coleman R (2002) Living longer—the new context for design. The Design Council, London

  5. Dickinson A, Goodman J, Syme A, Eisma R, Tiwari L, Mival O, Newell AF (2003) Domesticating technology. In-home requirements gathering with frail older people. In: Proceedings of HCI International, Crete, Greece, June 2003

  6. Eisma R, Dickinson A, Goodman J, Mival O, Syme A, Tiwari L (2003) Mutual inspiration in the development of new technology for older people. In: Proceedings of Include 2003, London, UK, 25–28 March 2003

  7. Foresight Ageing Population Panel (2000) Finance. Office of Science and Technology.http://www.foresight.gov.uk/servlet/Controller/ ver=27/userid=2/Ageing_Report_2.pdf. Cited 2000

  8. Foresight Ageing Population Panel (2000) Labour, leisure and learning. Office of Science and Technology.http://www.foresight.gov.uk/servlet/Controller/ ver=27/userid=2/Ageing_Report_1.pdf. Cited 2000

  9. Goodman J, Gray P (2003) A design space for location-sensitive aids for older users. Department of Computing Science, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK. Technical Report, TR-2003–140

  10. Goodman J, Syme A, Eisma R (2003) Age-old question(naire)s. In: Proceedings of Include 2003, UK, 25–28 March 2003

  11. Goodman J, Syme A, Eisma R (2003) Older adults’ use of computers: a survey. In: Proceedings of BCS HCI 2003, Bath, UK, 8–12 September 2003

  12. Gregor P, Newell AF (2001) Designing for dynamic diversity—making accessible interfaces for older people. In: Proceedings of WUAUC’01 (2001 EC/NSF Workshop on Universal Accessibility of Ubiquitous Computing: Providing for the Elderly) Alcácer do Sal, Portugal, 22–25 May 2001

  13. Gregor P, Newell AF, Zajicek M (2002) Designing for dynamic diversity—interfaces for older people. In: Proceedings of The Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (ASSETS 2002), Edinburgh, UK, 8–10 July 2002

  14. GROS (General Register Office for Scotland) (2001) Population by sex and quinary age groups, 1911–2000.http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/grosweb/ grosweb.nsf/pages/populatn. Cited 2001

  15. Hamill L (2000) The introduction of new technology into the household. Pers Technol 4:1-16

    Google Scholar 

  16. Hardy M, Baird C (2002), Is it all about aging: technology and aging in social context. In: Charness N, Schaie W (eds) Impact of technology on successful aging. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York

  17. Kayser-Jones J, Koenig BA (1994) Ethical issues. In: Gubrium JF, Sanker A (eds) Qualitative methods in aging research. Sage, Thousands Oaks, CA

  18. Keates S, Clarkson PJ (2002) Defining design exclusion. In: Keates S et al. (eds) Universal access and assistive technology, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York

  19. Keates S, Lebbon C, Clarkson PJ (2000) Investigating industry attitudes to universal design. In: Proceedings of RESNA 2000, Orlando, FL, December 2000

  20. Kubitschke L, Hüsing T, Strähler B, Stroetmann KA (2002) Older citizens (50+) and European markets for ICT products and services: representative data from the SeniorWatch user surveys. empirica Gesellschaft für Kommunikations-und Technologieforschung mbH (in German). Bonn, Germany

  21. Lines L, Hone KS (2002) Research methods for older adults. In: Brewster S and Zajicek M (eds) A new research agenda for older adults, a workshop at BCS HCI 2002, London, UK, September 2002

  22. MacDonald C, Storkey H, Raab G (2001) Older people in Scotland: results from the first year of the Scottish household survey, Social Inclusion Research Programme Research Findings No. 3. Scottish Executive Central Research Unit

    Google Scholar 

  23. Marquie JC, Jourdan-Boddaert L, Huet N (2002) Do older adults underestimate their actual computer knowledge? Behav Info Technol 21(4):273–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Monk A, Baxter G (2002) Would you trust a computer to run your home? Dependability issues in smart homes for older adults. In: Brewster S and Zajicek M (eds) A New Research Agenda for Older Adults, workshop at BCS HCI 2002, London, UK, September 2002

  25. Newell AF, Gregor P (2000) User sensitive inclusive design in search of a new paradigm. In: Proceedings of CUU 2000, First ACM Conference on Universal Usability (USA 2000), Arlington, VA November 2000

  26. Newell AF, Gregor P (2002) Design for older and disabled people—where do we go from here? Universal Access in the Information Society 2(1):3–7

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  27. Norman DA (1998) The design of everyday things. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

  28. Park D, Schwarz N (eds) (2000) Cognitive aging: a primer. Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Hove, UK

    Google Scholar 

  29. Preece J, Rogers Y, Sharp H (2002) Interaction design: beyond human computer interaction. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  30. Reed D (2002) Towards dependability of technology assessment in the delivery of care to the elderly: a case study. In: Brewster S and Zajicek M (eds) A New Research Agenda for Older Adults, workshop at BCS HCI 2002, London, UK, September 2002

  31. Registrar General for Scotland (2002) Scotland’s Census 2001: 2001 Population Report Scotland.http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/grosweb/grosweb.nsf/pages/censushm. Cited 2002

  32. Russell C (1999) Interviewing vulnerable old people: ethical and methodological implications of imagining our subjects. J Ag Stud 13(4): 403–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Selwyn N (1997) Teaching information technology to the “computer shy”: a theoretical perspective on a practical problem. J Voc Edu Train 49(3): 395–408

    Google Scholar 

  34. Sloan M (2001) Web accessibility and the DDA. J Info Law Technol (JILT) 2.http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/01–2/sloan.html. Cited 2001

  35. Smith CD (1989) Transforming user-centered analysis into user interfaces: the design of new-generation products. In: Wood LE (ed) User interface design; bridging the gap from user requirements to design. CRC Press, London

  36. Sutherland S (1999) With respect to old age: long term care—rights and responsibilities, a report by the Royal Commission on Long Term Care. The Stationery Office, London, UK

    Google Scholar 

  37. Syme A, Dickinson A, Eisma R, Gregor P (2003) Looking for help? Supporting older adults’ use of computer systems. In: Proceedings of Interact 2003, Zurich, Switzerland, September 2003

  38. Szmigin I, Carrigan M (1998) The usage and portrayal of older models in contemporary consumer advertising. J Mark Prac 4(8): 231–248

    Google Scholar 

  39. The Scottish Executive Health Department (2001) Better care for all our futures. Scottish Executive

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out as part of the UTOPIA project funded by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC). We would like to thank all organizations and individuals who participated in our research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Applied Computing, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK

    R. Eisma, A. Dickinson, A. Syme & A. F. Newell

  2. University of Glasgow, Department of Computer Science, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK

    J. Goodman

  3. ICCAVE, University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee, DD1 1HG, UK

    L. Tiwari

Authors
  1. R. Eisma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Dickinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. Goodman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. A. Syme
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. L. Tiwari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. A. F. Newell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Eisma.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Eisma, R., Dickinson, A., Goodman, J. et al. Early user involvement in the development of information technology-related products for older people. Univ Access Inf Soc 3, 131–140 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-004-0092-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-004-0092-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation