978-1-4244-1670-7/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE

Connecting Families with ICTs: A Board Messaging System for Older Adults and their Family Abroad

Víctor M. González Manchester Business School

University of Manchester, UK vmgonz@manchester.ac.uk

Marcela D. Rodríguez School of Engineering,

UABC, Mexicalli, Mexico marcerod@uabc.mx

Luz M. Colsa School of Engineering,

UABC, Mexicalli, México colsa_ley@uabc.mx

Abstract

Many older adults in Mexico are likely to experience

isolation and emotional discomfort because of the migration of one or more family members to the USA. Despite the increasing number of communication tools provided by the Internet, their current design and characteristics, limit their use by older adults. Our work aims at offering a board-based messaging system with a simplified interface, which can be used by older adults to interchange messages and pictures through the Internet with those members of their family living abroad. The system works as a shared board of messages that family members can access from any web browser. We report on the design and the implementation of the system, and the plans for a future in-situ evaluation. 1. Introduction

Traditionally in Latin American countries, the pragmatic concept of family expands well beyond siblings to include many branches of the genealogy, linking individuals who maintain constant communication and awareness about the life of each other. In Mexico, this type of relationship pattern is commonly endangered by the migration of one or more family members to other countries (mainly the USA), which often limits the face-to-face contact for extended periods. Thus, the reality of the migratory phenomenon has a deep impact on the well-being of the family. Of all the family members, older adults are the ones who are more prone to feel the effects of the lack of contact and communication [1]. This situation can cause not just emotional discomfort, but a decline in health and a deterioration of cognitive abilities. For many Mexicans living abroad, the Internet has brought new opportunities to enhance communication with their families [2]. Unfortunately, older adults are often left outside these networks given the complexity

involved in using Internet tools and their lack of Internet access. We believe that although Internet access can eventually become a more affordable channel for older adults to support communication with their families, the situation will not change dramatically if communication tools are not designed to support older adults’ particular needs.

Our approach is to provide simplicity not only in the user interfaces conceived for older adults, but also in the functionalities that enable them to exchange information with their relatives. Other projects also follow a similar approach. For instance, the CareNet Display [3] aims to provide awareness of the day-to-day older adults’ activities to people who care about them. The ‘Keep in Touch’ audio messaging system is an appliance that supports inter-generational communication [4]. The MEMENTO system is a physical digital scrapbook for memory sharing or dissemination activities among older adults and their families [5]. The above projects are limited to providing alternative channels of communication, as opposed to opening access of older adults to the existing ones. Our work strives to build adequate systems and interfaces for older adults that facilitate their communication with family members over the Internet. Furthermore, we aim to go beyond “fixing and revamping” interfaces to create novel forms of communication for older adults and their families abroad.

Our previous work reported the first instantiation of a home-based communication system that we called “Electronic Family Newspaper”. Through it, older adults and their families: share important information, personal reminiscences and cultural stories, and may interact with relatives [6]. From that version, we refined and developed a new one through a series of prototype evaluations with older adults and members of their family. This paper reports on the design and implementation of a new prototype that, responds to the needs of potential users, moves from the “newspaper” metaphor and operates as a shared board of messages and pictures with simplified

standalone interfaces for older adults and web-browser interfaces for the rest of the family.

2. Informing the Design of a Board-based Messaging System

With a fully functional first instantiation of the Electronic Family Newspaper, we conducted an evaluation session in which older adults used the system at their homes so they could perform a set of typical tasks and give us in situ feedback.

We conducted a two-hour evaluation with a group of 10 Mexican older adults, between 60 and 70 years-old. All participants had at least one child living either abroad or in other states within Mexico. Most of them had some experience using computers or mobile phones. The system was implemented on a Tablet PC and we used both the pen and the embedded keyboard as input mechanisms. In order to capture pictures we used a mobile phone with a built-in camera.

During the evaluation, we provided a general context of the system by presenting a set of photo-illustrated scenarios. Then, we explained the system’s functionality to the participants and asked them to perform three tasks: sending a text message, sending a text message with an attached image as illustrated in Figure 1, and playing the memory game included in the system. These activities were first performed by the staff and then by the older adult. We also explored with the participants other uses of the system by reflecting with them on their needs.

The evaluation results provide evidence of the usefulness of the system. Participants found that the system would enable them to be aware of events related to

their families that cannot be easily explained by phone; i.e. some participants said: “I would like to see what my children are seeing when they are traveling”, “I would like to share photographs with my daughter that describe our progress in gardening”. They also suggested new uses for the system, for instance: they could teach their daughters to knit through photographs.

As for the ease of use of the system, participants did not have major problems understanding and learning to use the system. Four (4) participants said that the task they considered the easiest was sending a text message and four (4) said it was playing the memory game. The most difficult task was sending an image. They pointed out that transferring images required many steps for configuring the mobile phone, and for attaching it to the message. Even though most of them (9) are regular mobile-phone users, they were not familiar with the use of mobile phones for taking and transferring images. In spite of that, this was the activity that the participants enjoyed the most, as stated by eight (8) of them.

During the evaluation session, we observed the difficulties faced by the participants while using the system. For instance, attaching a picture can be difficult as participants find it challenging to memorize the required steps for completing the task. We also found some usability problems resulting from the design of the user interface. For example, locating the option for writing a note was not easy, the size of the font seemed to be too small for some participants, and for others it was not easy to use a scroll bar in order to visualize a message with an attached picture.

Figure 1: A message with a picture attached to it on the Family Newspaper

Figure 2: The new design of the Board-Based Messaging System

The results of the evaluation let us identify three

main aspects to guide the design of a new system: a) Streamline the capturing process. Specifically, we

identified that the process of taking a photograph with the mobile phone and attaching a photograph to a message should be simplified.

b) Provide simpler and more intuitive user interfaces. We observed during the evaluation tasks, that learning to use the system was not easy for older adults. They faced several problems while interacting with the system, especially locating the system options to follow for reading or writing a message.

c) Provide access to the system through a web page. Some family members who evaluated the system commented on how unlikely it would be for them to use the system through the same interface provided to the elders. They expressed some preference for using a normal web browser. 3. Design of the Board-based Messaging Communication System

Taking into account the system features previously presented, we identified the functional requirements of the system that guided our final design.

a) Provide dual interfaces with the same interaction metaphor for presenting messages. We changed the newspaper presentation metaphor for a message board metaphor that enables both older adults and their families to visualize the messages shared between them easily.

b) To support the communication among the members of the family social network formed around the older adult. In [6] we provide evidence that children

tend to receive recent family news through their parents who tend to become the “networkers” who collect and distribute family news. Thus, our system aims to support this communication pattern through a message board in which messages are public for family members, even though the messages were addressed to a specific family member.

c) Provide a simpler and an intuitive user interface. To meet with this requirement for the older adult’s user interface, we focused on: i) making the user interface consistent at two levels: its behavior and the presentation of information (such as messages and system options); ii) organize the information presented to allow visual clarity and iii) use intuitive icons to help users to locate options and remember their behavior. For designing the interface for use by the elders’ relatives, we considered they had a higher level of computing skill than older adults and aimed at providing typical web-browser interfaces.

The following lines present how we propose to meet the identified system requirements. Figure 2 presents the system interaction interface of the older adult. It consists of three frames. Frame (A) shows a picture of the older adult currently using the system. Frame (B) presents a panel of options to register/login with the system, write a message, and quit. Frame (C) displays the messages shared among the family members on a message board. When the older adult logs into the system, they will see the last six messages posted; and they can use the icons shown at the end of the frame to move among the pages of the board. As there are only four messages posted on the board in this case, these icons appear deactivated. The older adult can identify on each note (D): the message sender, subject, the attached picture, sending date, and if the message has already been read. When

the user selects a note, they can see the message content including the picture attached to it. They can continue viewing the following or previous messages by selecting the icons shown at the end of the frame. The middle icon will always show the last six messages posted.

The system is designed to operate in a Desktop or TabletPC. A module was designed to facilitate transferring pictures from mobile devices to the computer. Once pictures are in the computer, the older adult can attach any of them to their messages. Family members can access the system from any web browser.

4. Conclusions and Future Work

Social software tools such as Friendster or MySpace

provide mechanisms to link and reunite people, which can be useful for geographically distibuted networks of friends, but provide less private and exclusive forums for family communication. Similarly, E-mail tools can work well for one-to-one communication but do not provide a shared space where people can post group messages and pictures. The system we propose aims at solving both challenges, creating a board-based shared repository of messages for families that can be accessed by older adults through simplified interfaces.

Clearly, our system, which relies on better interfaces and tools that are more appropriate, just solves part of the problem of limited access to communication technologies as experienced by Mexican older adults. Unfortunately, the cost of Internet service can still be very high for older adults in Mexico, particularly for those living exclusively on state pensions or with support of some member of their family. That financial limitation would prevent the adoption of our solution. However, we believe that initiatives, like ours, that provide appropriate technology can be a first and essential step towards Internet Service Providers, and perhaps the Mexican government, to envision mechanisms that will reduce the digital divide as experienced by older adults.

Our board-based messaging system is fully operational and ready to be used in the next stage of our investigation. We plan to conduct an extended trial of at least three months with three (3) older adults in Mexico with family members remotely located. Each older adult

participating in the trial will receive a TabletPC that has the system installed. To simplify the interaction, the TabletPC will launch the application when booted. The analysis of the experiences of older adults using the system will result in the refinement of our design. As we increase our understanding of the particular needs of the older population, we will better understand how communication technologies can answer those needs.

References [1] Morris, M., Lundell, J., Dishman, E., and Needham, B., New Perspectives on Ubiquitous Computing from Ethnographic Study of Elders with Cognitive Decline. Ubicomp 2003 Springer-Verlag, (2003). 227-242. [2] Gonzalez, V. and Castro, L., Keeping Strong Connections to the Homeland via Web-based Tools: The Case of Mexican Migrant Communities in the United States. Journal of Community Informatics Vol 3, No 3 (2007). [3] Consolvo, S., Roessler, P., and Shelton, B.E., The CareNet Display: Lessons Learned from an In Home Evaluation of an Ambient Display, Ubicomp 2004. Springer-Verlag, (2004) pp. 1-17. [4] Langdale, G., Kay, J., and Kummerfeld, B., Using an Intergenerational Communications System as a ‘Light-weight’ Technology Probe, CHI-2006, (2006) 1001-1006. [5] West, D., Quigly, A., Kay, J., MEMENTO: a digital-physical scrapbook for memory sharing, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing Springer-Verlag (2007) 313-328. [6] Santana, P., Rodríguez, M., Castro, L. Andrade, A., Favela, J., and González, V., A Web-Based System to Facilitate Elders Communication with Their Families Living Abroad. ENC 2005, IEEE Press (2005) 18-25.