Giving a Voice to the ‘Hard to Hear’ - Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement - page 84

The project involved two cohorts of participants. One group comprised
older people (aged 60 and over). The second grouping included representa-
tives of Scottish industry. The goal of the project was to provide design
tools to enable older people to use ICTs effectively. In the project, re-
searchers sought to explore in detail what was different about older people
in their relationship with technology, compared to younger age groups
(Eisma et al. 2004).
The approach used by the researchers to recruit participants was to con-
tact organisations concerned with older people throughout Scotland by
mail and by telephone. Organisations contacted included charities such as
Help the Aged and Age Concern, as well as community centres, libraries,
educational institutions offering classes for the elderly, sheltered housing,
residential homes, church groups and social groups such as 'Over 50'
clubs, stroke clubs, etc. Once contact was established, the researchers
maintained their relationships with groups by sending out newsletters,
making personal visits and sometimes by making small contributions (such
as a tin of biscuits for a Christmas raffle).
Both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained through question-
naires, interviews, focus groups and workshops in which ICT products
were handed round to members for them to use and comment on. The re-
searchers note that it was not always easy to keep a group focused on a
subject of discussion, because the opportunity to socialise in such groups
was more important to members than meeting researchers' objectives for
the group.
The researchers discovered that assumptions about older people's de-
sign needs are not always correct. For instance, efforts to make technology
less complex do not always lead to increased adoption amongst older peo-
ple. So although televisions with built-in CD-ROM and DVD drives are
manufactured with the aim of making it easier for people to play CDs and
DVDs than if they have to use separate equipment for each task, older
people do not necessarily use these facilities. Older people are more likely
than younger people to fear using new technology, and lack trust in sys-
tems. They are more anxious to 'get it right' than try to develop speed.
They need more reassurance that they will be able to operate new technology
'correctly', and are more likely to take a step-by-step approach to under-
standing controls. Older people are also less likely to understand concepts,
visual language and interface metaphors on ICTs than younger people.
The researchers confirmed previous findings that “ traditional require-
ments gathering methods are also problematic when used with older peo-
ple e.g. in questionnaires, older people are more likely to use 'don't know'
options and need a higher threshold of certainty before they will select