Exploring the Role of Time and Errors in Real-Life Usability for Older People and ICT

Authors:
Sergio Sayago;Josep Blat
Affiliations:
Interactive Technologies Group Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Passeig de Circunvallació, Barcelona, Spain 08003;Interactive Technologies Group Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Passeig de Circunvallació, Barcelona, Spain 08003
Venue:
ICCHP '08 Proceedings of the 11th international conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs
Year:
2008

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Abstract

We explore herein the role of time and errors as usability measures in real-life usability for older people and ICT, drawing on observation and conversational data collected over a 3-year ethnographic study of the usability and accessibility of ICT for older people. The results show that time has little or no practical value in real-life usability, except for expected complains about slower PCs and Internet connections, unlike making the least number of errors. This finding is independent of educational levels and previous experience with ICT, and grounded in three factors: (i) desire of independency, (ii) extra efforts to overcome mistakes; (iii) using computers as a hobby.