Evaluation of prototype
A functional prototype was evaluated by both elders and members of their family. Although it was challenging, we decided to include in our evaluation not just elders but also members of their families living abroad in order to gain feedback from both perspectives. We were able to contact a total of eight persons who were willing to evaluate the prototype, including five elders and either a son or a daughter living abroad. None of those persons participated in the initial interviews for the design of the system. The goal of the evaluation was to explore the feasibility of our solution as well as its appropriateness for the context of elders and their families. It was expected that participants, while facing the prototype, would raise more specific issues that would serve to refine our solution and, in general, our understanding of the challenges they face in their lives.
Each evaluation lasted about an hour and was based on three major phases. During the first twenty minutes, we asked participants to have a brief interview to discuss their patterns of communication, tools used, circumstances leading to contact each other, and their feelings of isolation resulting from being separated. After that, with the help of a set of pictures, we presented two scenarios to illustrate the context and usage of the system. Those two scenarios were described in a previous section in this document. We asked the participants their impressions about the scenarios and how well those scenarios described the situations that they typically face. Finally, we gave to each participant a tour through the functionality incorporated in the prototype to explore its interfaces and the way that information was organized. Each evaluation was recorded in tape.
Based on an analysis of the data collected during the evaluation we identified results both with respect to the system and with respect to situation of being separated from their families. Related to the system, elders expressed that it was easy to understand but they were concerned with not having a direct and easy way to launch it. To facilitate the access, we are planning to provide a very simple mechanism for elders to open and start using the system. They emphasized that as long as the system was not complex they would use it. When we asked them what would be a good example of something not complex and easy to use, a lady pointed out to her microwave and another informant pointed to his cell phone. We found that elders have learned to use these devices, that have some level of complexity, by asking someone to teach them to use them, and keeping notes of the sequences of steps required to perform some typical functions. Once they memorized the steps they usually discarded the notes. For our design, we are considering to include figures depicting the sequences of steps to be performed to use the main functions. Such figures would be useful if they are attached to the device or are easily placed on a wall near the device. Furthermore, from the data of the evaluation we found that participants perceived that the family newspaper would be a complement to their current communication tools (e.g. phone) as it would provide richer ways to share information. Participants highlighted that by using the system they could share pictures and other information that currently cannot be transferred using the phone they have. In particular, family members thought that the system could provide a way to transfer interesting contents found in the Internet to their parents who were not able to access those resources in their own.
With respect to the phenomenon of being separated, elders expressed that isolation is not a critical factor for them. They sometimes feel nostalgic but perceived the separation as worthwhile. Elders have learned to build their own local social networks that let them to avoid isolation. The maintenance of those network is not always easy as they cannot always contact their local friends, but those provide some level of companionship for them. When asked, they recognized that they would love to have their family members near by, but they said that being separated is the price they have to pay in order for their relatives to have a better life. In the other hand, family members are very concerned about the well-being of their parents and in particular they feel that as their parents become older, they would need to increase their communication with them. Furthermore, we found that although their family members use tools such as email and instant messaging to communicate among them, most elders lose the opportunity to maintain these bounds due to the complexity of these tools. Elders are very aware of those communication interchanges going on among their family members, sharing pictures or messages, but they expressed that computers are too complex and this conception stops them to even try to start using them. When evaluating the system, they expressed that the system proposed would let them integrate themselves into those networks and keep in touch with their families. Consequently, the motivation to keep connected with their families, their openness to learn new things , and simple schemes to access and use the system can be the ingredients to integrate elders into their family networks.
Challenges and opportunities to support elders
Our experiences designing technology for elders indicated that this process can be very challenging. It is not just the fact that technologies have to be shaped to cover the needs of elders but that their circumstances can at times have a strong emotional load. In our case, the circumstances around separation and isolation are very sensible issues for elders and their families. It is not always easy for informants to talk about those things with strangers. In a couple of cases we found that interviews were interrupted as people became emotional while describing situations and shared a tear with us. Furthermore, we found that family members can be somehow reluctant to leave their parents talk to us or to be open about some situations experienced by them. Family members face a very complex trade-off as they wish to be aware of the well being of their parents but cannot always afford the means to be in close contact. This might cause some tension and dissatisfaction of the relationships with them. This situation becomes more complicated as some informants might have problems with their immigration status in the USA. For our initial interviews we faced a situation were two persons rejected our request to be interviewed as they were concerned about our affiliation (they thought we were either social workers or USA immigration officers). In addition, for many Mexican elders, literacy can represent a natural barrier to use any system. Many people are from very poor communities characterized by low literacy levels. Interfaces have to consider this and provide mechanisms to facilitate memorization of steps that people can learn without difficulty.
Finally, although many barriers can exits, Mexico, and other Central American countries, are rapidly deploying telecommunication networks. In the near future new forms of networks (e.g. 3G) will provide the means to establish richer forms of communication. Consequently, we believe that opportunities exists to create not just devices that can be used to communicate individuals (e.g. cell phones), but to develop platforms that let whole families to share pictures, information, messages, and other digital artifacts.