Software for Older People to Enable Informal Communication

Older adults are possibly one of the groups who have not been able to take advantage of technologies. This report is based on the research done at Computing Department at Lancaster University in the UK for developing software that enables seniors to communicate informally with their friends and families through a computer, without the complexity of traditional computing platforms.

The studies revealed that the seniors were less concerned with high-end technology and more concerned with activities such as cleaning their homes and being isolated for much of the time.  Many participants said isolation was due to family and friends not visiting or having passed away. Many of the older adults found that during weekends they could be alone and at times they could spend up to a week without any social interaction. Similarly, seniors were reluctant to make contact even with neighbors, as they did not wish to bother them and did not wish for visitors themselves as this meant a lot of preparation beforehand.

Finally it was agreed that some form of computer system that could show when people were available to be contacted would be a serious benefit.  The system should show who was on the network but there should be no obligation on the user to make contact if they did not want to.

A ‘slate tablet’ computer was considered the best solution as it proves to be light, portable, requires no additional buttons/keyboards and has a screen large enough for the participants to see the program properly. The tablet has its own software platform that would use the core features of Windows without requiring the users to interact with Windows. The software platform was developed to have a welcome screen called the Chooser, which showed who was logged on to the networked system and allowed users to post pictures and comments to entice communications with other users. If a person wishes to instigate ‘chatting’ with another user, they are required to click on the person’s active area and click on the ‘CHAT’ button using a pen-like stylus.  This sends a message to the chosen party inviting them for a chat and giving them the option of accepting or rejecting the chat invitation. If the chat is accepted, then the two parties are able to interact with each other, either by writing or drawing. It also has a ‘time-out’ option for the user when he/she is not available or does not respond in a timely fashion.

The seniors enjoyed the connectivity of the tablet computers and the synchronous writing and drawing functions. Skype has been set up so that they can chat with each other informally.

The games platform allows the users to play any card game that they wish as it has no rules embedded in the software. As such, it therefore requires the seniors to discuss and decide on the appropriate rules. 

It is difficult to draw conclusions at this time, although the older people in the UK are enjoying using it. A clear indication at this stage is that the systems will have much wider applications than its initial design specification. Moreover, the user interface can be modified to the user’s preferences, be that color, font size, language etc. Even though it is being piloted as slate tablets, it can soon be used on a standard PC using a USB tablet. 

Source: Guy Dewsbury, Lancaster University / SeniorNet