Posts Tagged ‘senior friendliness’

Simplifying Computers for the Technology Challenged

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

Laura Nuhaan, CEO and Co-Founder FamiliLink

Since  the launch  of  FamiliLink we have adult children of our users approaching  us with questions like: What is the best computer I can buy for my mother? How do I get her started ? My father has problems with his hands, is there any mouse or key board you recommend?

And there are many others that have a need for simple computers. FamiliLink, focuses on the interface and the software but the hardware is as important to create a good user experience for the technology challenged among us.

In generally touch screens like you often find in libraries or at ATM machines work better for an elderly audience than  a mouse and keyboard.  HP has several touch screen computers but the less expensive ones (for example the HP GO Pavilion 1X1000 for approx $1000,–) still operate with a stylus which is less desirable than a touch screen that can be operated using your fingers.

That there is need for simplified computers is also  proven by the success of ASUS’ Eee line of computers. Since their launch at the end of 2007 they have sold over 4 millions of their Eee notebook. See also this article. Just two weeks ago ASUS  launched their new Eeetop with a single touch screen. The Eee top is positioned as their kitchen counter pc  and has some key features that we think would appeal directly to a senior user:-

Senior using ASUS EeeTop

Senior using ASUS EeeTopThe features are the following:

  • Touch screen: does it all at one touch, operated with your hands which is great advantage for seniors.
  • Wide panel screen of 15.6″ 16:9 the screen is large enough for people that have some vision difficulties and also to display nicely photos and videos from loved ones
  • No need to use a mouse or key board, these are included but no need to use. For seniors that are intimidated by computers this will help tremendously as the notebook will be more perceived as a frame. The Eeetop can actually be hanged as a frame as well
  • The notebook is compact (weight is approx 9.46 LB) which makes it a good choice for people with limited space and it is easy to carry around
  • The Easy Mode within Windows®  makes EeeTop PC also a good  computer for beginners. Customization of programs to choose from is not available yet but might be in the next release. How nice would it be to have FamiliLink accessible right there?
  • Efficient power system which makes it possible to leave the notebook on all time
  • Attractive price of  $599.99 available at Amazon
  • A wireless camera and wireless connectivity

These features make the EeeTop very suited to use together with FamiliLink which simplifies the way you stay in touch with all your connected family and friends.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in 1 | 1 Comment »

Easy ways for grandparents to stay in touch with grandchildren

Friday, March 20th, 2009

By Laura Nuhaan, CEO and Co-founder FamiliLink

With families becoming smaller and living more dispersed finding easy ways to stay in touch becomes increasingly more important. Grandparents living far away from their grandchildren can feel lonely and disconnected from their loved ones. Today, caring family members are looking for solutions to easily connect and share their digital lives with their older loved ones. Remember the time when people use to print all their photos and make actual physical photo albums? Then it was easy to print “doubles” and have the extra photos dropped in the mail and sent to loved ones. Today, people’s lives are being captured digitally and online photo albums are becoming the “norm”. Digital photos and videos are easy and fun to share with more tech savvy family and friends, but this creates an even greater divide and disconnect with our older loved ones who are more technology challenged.

Families are trying a number of solutions to help their older loved ones stay connected, including digital picture frames and email…with little success. The frames require too much work to upload images at a special website. Older adults continue to struggle with email. (Studies show that seniors have twice as hard a time as their younger counterparts using the computer.) Research shows this to be a huge problem for millions of families. Of course there is always the phone and snail mail but everyone is becoming more and more digital. Fortunately seniors are increasingly going online and adopting email as a way to stay in touch with their loved ones. A recent article stated that in 2000, fewer than 20% of Americans older than 64 could access the Internet, but today 37% of Americans older than 64 are online. This is an 85% increase in just eight years. From the same article some other interesting facts:

  • The top reason seniors want to go online is to connect with family and friends
  • Most seniors like e-mail so they can stay in touch with children and grandchildren.
  • Seniors said one of the values of being online is so they can see family photos.

Time to look into what the internet has to offer grandparents who want to stay in touch. Email is an obvious solution; others are webcam, instant messenger, Skype and online sharing sites like Kodakgallery, Flickr, Shutterfly and even Facebook. These are all valuable but have some disadvantages for both the tech savvy user and the more technology challenged grandparent. These disadvantages include:

  • Skype, webcam needs some tech expertise from the grandparent to be able to use conveniently. And there is still a large group of seniors that do not like to talk to a computer at all, they prefer the phone.
  • Photo sharing sites and social networks are hard to navigate for a less experienced senior because of the many links and small fonts. Even if the grandparent knows how to use a specific photo sharing sites he or she might end up having to go to 3 or 5 different sites to stay updated , as different grandchildren and children use different sites to post their content. As for social networks, seniors in general do not embrace the “group” concept and grandchildren are not always happy if grandma writes something on their wall.
  • Photos that family members send as an email attachment are sometimes hard to open for a less computer experienced user and then get lost on the computer and cannot really be “enjoyed” later.

FamiliLink fulfills this need by aggregating family content for the grandparent at one place with a very simple to use interface. Grandchildren can send photos as an attachment to the grandparent’s FamiliLink email address and the photos will automatically display at their FamiliLink page. The grandparent can easily enlarge the photos received, forward them to others and view them as a slide show.

So far the ability to view photos and also videos at one place definitely has proven one of the killer apps for FamiliLink users together with just simply having all social content of people that matter most conveniently aggregated at one place. No need to follow complicated links or download attachments.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in 1 | 2 Comments »

The importance of error messages for an older audience in particular

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

By Laura Nuhaan, CEO and Co-Founder FamiliLink

I never realized that a simple error message would require so much thought, especially when considering the needs of an older audience. FamiliLink’s user interface is specifically designed for older adults and therefore requires ongoing usability testing. One of our early learning points was the significant importance of error message for our older users. The language and text has very specific requirements. Our first usability study indicated that several of our error messages describe a problem but didn’t provide solutions. Older Users like to understand what to do to fix the problem (for instance, the statement “invalid user name” could be very frustrating to a senior user…what do I do about an invalid user name? When older users do not know how to solve problems that arise, it can leave them frustrated and unable to move forward. They already approach the computer with some fear and intimidation. So it is vitally important that error messages be proactive and offer the elderly users with potential solutions.

Some additional research showed similar results:

· Error messages are often hard to read, either because the wording is obscure or imprecise, or the message’s placement on the page is easily overlooked. Simplicity is even more important than usual when seniors encounter error handling: The message should focus on the error, explain it clearly, and make it as easy as possible to fix. (Source: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/seniors.html)

· As older adults move onto the Web, many report that maneuvering online can be intimidating. Take George McKinney, a 73-year-old retired structural engineer in San Diego who uses the Internet to research stocks. He often shuts down his computer in frustration, for example when he enters a stock symbol and gets an error message that doesn’t tell him exactly what he did wrong.
Mr. McKinney’s online experience is common among older adults. “They can often be stumped by even the smallest problem,” says Jakob Nielsen, a co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group in Fremont, Calif., a consulting firm that specializes in optimizing the user experience on the Internet. (Source:http://www.suddenlysenior.com/wsjgrowupseniorwebsites.html)

I did a little research myself and went to some services online that target older adults like Finerday, AARP and Commino. Deliberately I tried to log in with mistakes to see what kind of error message would show. Here are some examples:

· Sorry, this username is unknown.

For seniors this error message is too abbreviated and there is no potential solution what to do next. Why is it unknown?

· Please enter a valid e-mail address and password. This error message only provides the solution. Seniors like to know what they did wrong. This message could be frustrating because I will think to myself…I did enter an email address and password.

· You ID or password you typed is incorrect. Please Click OK and then retype the your ID and password, or Register if you haven’t already done so. This error message is better for seniors as it indicates what was wrong.In terms of wording, seniors are insecure when using the computer and words as incorrect are sometimes perceived intimidating. Your ID is not recognized is probably better received. It also probably should be shorter.

More on error message text I found at this website:

· Make sure the error message identifies the related field with the name as it is written in the label for that field.

· Do not use complicated words

· Describe what the user should do to correct the error, especially if it could be difficult to understand.

· Make it clear if there were more than one error so that the user can correct all errors at once.

Summarizing: Error messages especially for older adults need to state the problem first followed by the possible solution and what to do next. The text needs to be as short and crisp as possible and positive. Not using terms as not valid incorrect etc. At FamiliLink we are working hard to clean up all our error messages and so our senior users have a positive and rewarding user experience. You can visit us at www.familiLink.com and let us know how we are doing.

Tags: , ,
Posted in 1 | No Comments »

Sensors in the home to bring peace of mind to adult children of aging parents

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

By Laura Nuhaan, CEO and Co Founder FamiliLink

You hear and read more and more about people trying to find ways to keep an elderly parent living independently in their own home, trying to postpone the perhaps necessary move into a retirement community or assisted living facility when heir health may deteriorate while also trying to avoid scary (not too mention expensive) trips to the emergency room. The benefits of living longer independently is not only to avoid the substantial increase in monthly costs if a move to assisted living becomes necessary but also, like many of us, we want to stay independent as long as possible.

There are various companies out there that provide advanced sensor systems for adult children to track the activities of the aging loved one and alert them when there has been an important change in behavior. One of those companies is Quietcare. Quietcare lets the adult children also login to a webpage where they can get more information on their aging loved one. See an example here

The child will also receive phone alerts from QuietCare emergency response operators and notification emails if values are not within the normal range. Last week an article in the New York Times covered this specific topic as well. Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13senior.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

The article gives a good example of an elderly woman , Berta 78 years old who fell from the bed and didn’t have within reach their personal alert system like Lifeline Alert Systems from Philips offers. The sensor under the bed part of the system provided by eNeighbor detected that Berta had gotten up but other motion detectors in the bedroom and bathroom registered no motion, which prompted a security call to her. When that call wasn’t answered, the alert system was set in motion and within an hour additional help arrived.

Technologies like eNeighbor come with the possibility of increased care at lower cost and with the backing of large companies like Intel and General Electric.

But there are also some disadvantages with it. One of the disadvantages is the idea that big brother is watching you in your own private setting, what is left for yourself if sensors register all your activities. Or the feeling that your children are following all your moves in your own home? As a daughter of an aging mother living alone, I personally wouldn’t like the idea of following my mother’s moves on the computer. To me it seems like she is perhaps in an observation facility being constantly watched and monitored. While it helps me feel better knowing she is safer, there is a price to pay…her privacy and self-dignity are at stake. So probably there is a balance between how concerned you are and how much you want to compromise your privacy. The same applies to personal alert systems like Lifeline Alert. To give my mother an alert pendant around her neck would feel to me like I was labeling her in some negative way, however if the risk of falling or other issues increases this may be the price we are both willing to pay.

It would be nice if someone could develop a less intrusive solution that keeps these privacy and self-dignity aspects in mind.

Getting back to FamiliLink, as part of our service we offer an urgent message alert feature: With the touch of one button an elderly user can send a pre-set urgent message to a group of pre-selected people (such as an adult child, neighbor, or nurse). The message will be sent to their email and in the near future the same message will also be sent to their cell phone. This is not a complete solution but it will help in feeling more secure and safe and will provide some peace of mind to the family. In the near future we will introduce other safety related features as indeed the technology is available and we can leverage modern communication technologies.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in 1 | No Comments »

Senior Friendly Video Phones

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

By Laura Nuhaan, CEO and co-founder at FamiliLink

This was an exciting week for us…we became partners with www.Caring.com. Caring.com helps adult children of aging parents to give them the the information and other resources they need to make better decisions in their parent’s care. Their work is very complimentary to ours as we want to help adult children to engage their aging parent and facilitate the communication process between them. More information on Caring.com here.

We also are talking to Vidtel they provide a very easy to use video phone service which will be great to use for families living dispersed from each other. How nice would it be for a grandmother in Atlanta to not only hear the voice of her 6 year old grandson but actually see his smiling face as well? Check their website. Just in a short time we also have seen other video calling services coming up, like ACN’s video phone. We think seniors and their loved ones would welcome products like this.

About FamiliLink’s progress; we are working closely with some families to further improve our services. Results are very promising. The families all really feel the need to include the more technology challenged in their digital lives and see FamiliLink as a solution to do this.

We are taping some of our users as well and today on YouTube, our first video went live.

Gloria Using FamiliLink Staring Gloria, a grandmother of 12 who describes herself as technology          challenged. She was looking for a way to easily communicate with her family without having to go to multiple websites, follow confusing links etc. to stay in touch. She found FamiliLink. At a touch of a button she turns on the FamiliLink website to easily enjoy viewing and sending online messages, photos, videos and also can get help with reminders. FamiliLink is specifically designed for seniors. Family and friends can continue using their own email systems to communicate with her. Now Gloria feels included in the family digital loop. Watch it your self at Gloria Uses FamiliLink.

Tags:
Posted in 1 | 1 Comment »