Marita A. O'Brien

Understanding age and technology experience differences in use of prior knowledge for everyday technology interactions

Technology designers must understand relevant prior knowledge in a target user population to facilitate adoption and effective use. To assess prior knowledge used in naturalistic settings, we systematically collected information about technologies used over 10-day periods from older adults with high and low technology experience and younger adults. Technology repertoires for younger adults and high technology older adults were similar; differences reflected typically different needs for kitchen and health care technologies between the age groups. Technology repertoires for low-technology older adults showed substantial technology usage in many categories. Lower usage compared to high-tech older adults for each category was limited primarily to PC and Internet technologies. Experience differences suggest preferences among low-technology older adults for basic technology usage and for working with people rather than technologies. Participants in all groups were generally successful using their everyday technologies to achieve their goals. Prior knowledge was the most common attribution for success, but external information was also commonly referenced. Relevant prior knowledge included technical, functional, strategy, and self knowledge. High tech older adults did not report more problems than younger adults, but they did attribute more problems to insufficient prior knowledge. Younger adults attributed more problems to interference from prior knowledge. Low-tech older adults reported fewer problems, typically attributing them to insufficient prior knowledge or product/system faults. We discuss implications for further research and design improvements to increase everyday technology success and adoption for high-tech and low-tech older adults.

Developing a Framework for Intuitive Human-Computer Interaction:

Many technology marketing materials tout the intuitive nature of products, but current human-computer interaction (HCI) guidelines provide limited methods to help designers create this experience beyond making them easy to use. This paper proposes a definition for intuitive interaction with specific attributes to allow designers to create products that elicit the target experience. Review of relevant literatures provides empirical evidence for the suggested working definition of intuitive HCI: interactions between humans and high technology in lenient learning environments that allow the human to use a combination of prior experience and feedforward methods to achieve an individuals functional and abstract goals. Core concepts supporting this definition were compiled into an organizational framework that includes: seeking user goals, performing well-learned behavior, determining what to do next, metacognition, knowledge in the head, and knowledge in the world. This paper describes these concepts and proposes design approaches that could facilitate intuitive behavior and suggests areas for further research.

ACCEPTANCE OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY: UNDERSTANDING THE USER AND THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

A systematic analysis of acceptance of computer technology was conducted to identify variables that would provide insight to understanding technology acceptance. This led to a development of a comprehensive qualitative model that captures the individual and the organizational user characteristics that influence the acceptance of computer technology. This model suggests that designers must be mindful of the role that sociological and organizational variables play in technology acceptance. Such factors go beyond basic usability issues in the design process. Attention to these variables may increase the acceptance and therefore the diffusion of new computer technologies.

Understanding Acceptance of High Technology Products: 50 Years of Research

This survey of research on acceptance of technology over the past fifty years was conducted to identify and clarify those variables that influence technology acceptance, particularly those that are related to aspects of the technology itself. We surveyed the literature across many domains, selected articles related to this research area, and coded these articles based on the studied variables and products. The results of this survey are an organizational schema for all of the variables as well as specific guidance on the generalized effects of relevant variables such as perceived usefulness, perceived compatibility, and perceived privacy. For each critical variable, we discuss the implications to guide designers of high-technology products.

Text Entry Interface Design Requirements at a Glance

A critical challenge in creating text entry interfaces for noncomputer-based devices is to devise a highly usable solution that blends aesthetic and functional concerns. As psychologists, we study user and environmental factors that facilitate usability, although this research often is not presented in a format that designers can use. This article presents a framework for guiding the systematic and comprehensive analysis of design requirements through the assessment of critical psychological components. We highlight several solutions from typing and mobile devices that can be directly transferred into a new system and note those areas that typically call for customized solutions.

Selection and Design of Input Devices for Assistive Technologies

Assistive technologies have the potential to support a variety of activities for a wide range of user capabilities. A critical design issue is the selection of an input device for the technology. Our research provides guidelines for the selection and design of input devices

Examining Keyboard Shape and Arrangement Effects for Younger and Older Adults

This research investigated the effects of keyboard shapes and letter arrangements for text entry with a rotary input device. In Study 1, we examined movement of a cursor across four different keyboard shapes. Shape and age had significant effects, and the interaction of the two variables was also significant. Compatibility and movement simplicity were key features of the better shapes. In Study 2, we examined visual search across three different letter arrangements on the same four shapes among the same participants. Age and arrangement were significant, but shape was not. Only the shape by arrangement interaction was significant, so the benefit of arrangement familiarity may be limited to specific virtual keyboard shapes.

The Persistence of Content Knowledge

Research has shown that changes in the way a website works or how it is laid out affects how well people are able to use that website. This study examined how changes in the content and procedures of a website-like system affect the way people recover from not being able to find information in that system. Participants were placed in one of four learning conditions, differing by the content and procedures taught for a simple website-like system. They were then tasked with finding certain pages in that system or systems with different procedures, content, or both. The first test (System B Online Test) showed that participants who had to learn new content were less efficient at finding that content, while participants who had to learn new content and procedures were the only ones slowed down. The second test (System C Online Test) showed that participants who had experienced a previous change in content responded to the new change faster, whereas people who started with inconsistent procedures (as compared to consistent) made fewer errors towards the end.

Text Entry on a Virtual Keyboard: Evaluating Shape and Experience Effects

This research study examined the design of a virtual keyboard that can be used for text entry with a rotary controller, particularly for users who may differ in age and experience with a particular system. Features of a virtual keyboard that have been shown to affect the individual movement and visual search components of the text entry task were assessed for younger and older adult users. Participants entered words by finding and selecting individual letters with a rotary controller on a keyboard arranged alphabetically or following the standard QWERTY keyboard. Performance was examined across different levels of experience with the task. We found that experience independently interacted with shape, arrangement, and age group. Both age groups improved their entry time overall and at each measurement period, but older adults learned more slowly. Although performance improved for both arrangements, the Alphabetic arrangement was significantly faster. Neither shape was significantly faster, but results suggest that the more salient corner features on the Plus facilitated memorization and retention.