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

• Published in: Universal access in the information society 2017-03, Vol.16 (1), p.129-149
• Main Authors: Gonçalves, Vinícius P., de Almeida Neris, Vânia P., Seraphini, Sibelius, Dias, Teresa C. M., Pessin, Gustavo, Johnson, Thienne, Ueyama, Jó
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Appropriate technology; Computer Communication Networks; Computer programs; Computer Science; Computers and Society; Developing countries; Economics; Elderly people; Inclusions; Information Storage and Retrieval; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); IT in Business; LDCs; Long Paper; Older people; Reduction; Smartphones; Technology utilization; User behavior; User interface; User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction; User satisfaction
• ISSN: 1615-5289; 1615-5297
• DOI: 10.1007/s10209-015-0429-9

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.