Providing adaptive smartphone interfaces targeted at elderly people: an approach that takes into account diversity among the elderly

Author(s)

Goncalves, Vinicius P. ; de Almeida Neris, Vania P. ; Seraphini, Sibelius ; Dias, Teresa C. M. ; Pessin, Gustavo ; Johnson, Thienne ; Ueyama, Jo

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: UNIVERSAL ACCESS IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY; v. 16, n. 1, p. 129-149, MAR 2017.
• Web of Science Citations: 6

Abstract

The growth of the elderly population in many countries makes it necessary to develop appropriate technologies for them. These include mobile phones, as they are increasingly becoming cheaper and more widespread. Furthermore, many families would like their elderly relatives to use this technology as a means of fostering digital inclusion. However, the current designs for mobile devices software are aimed at a young audience, rather than taking account of the different needs of the elderly. The elderly population can be characterized by their wide diversity which can be attributed to decades of varied experiences. Moreover, this is heightened by sharp differences in acquired education levels, use of technology at work, cognitive skills and physical dexterity. The authors believe that this diversity is even more striking in developing countries, such as Brazil, since in these countries a huge economic gap still exists between different elderly people. This paper seeks to investigate: (1) What can be done to solve the problem of enabling the elderly to use smartphone interfaces and (2) how one should develop adaptive smartphone interfaces that can be targeted to the elderly. With this in mind, this paper shows how a prototyped platform was implemented and evaluated. It is worth stressing that real-life experiments with Brazilian elderly people were carried out. The results suggested that there had been a reduction in the interaction time as well as a significant increase in user satisfaction. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/22550-0 - Exploiting the sensor web and participatory sensing approaches for urban river monitoring
• Grantee: Jó Ueyama
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 14/19076-0 - Providing Smarer Wireless Sensor Networks and UAVs: A Study in the Autonomous Networks Laboratory at USC
• Grantee: Jó Ueyama
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• FAPESP's process: 08/05346-4 - Exploiting parallelism and dynamic reconfiguration in sensor networks
• Grantee: Jó Ueyama
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants