Muna Azuddin

Mobile applications using augmented reality to support older people

Increasing trends in using augmented reality applications on mobile devices among older people have been observed. It is well recognized that some problems are faced by older people in adopting mobile devices. It is vital to understand the problems in order to design better mobile devices that suit older people since they will make up the highest proportion of the population in later years. The paper highlights literatures conducted in investigating mobile applications and augmented reality applications developed for older people that can enhance the mobile device usage among them. The new trends of augmented reality applications allow older people to achieve more benefits from use of mobile devices.

Older people and their use of mobile devices: Issues, purpose and context

Today the use of mobile devices has increased tremendously in all aspects of daily life. It has also provided older people with better means of communication, which allows them to connect with their family and social groups. However, they face challenges in using mobile devices due to their age-related physical limitations and unfamiliarity of various mobile device designs. This preliminary study was conducted to understand the older peoples experiences in using mobile devices and their applications, in which a survey and a discussion had been carried out among the older users. Findings indicated that older people were aware of its technological benefits, but they faced issues related to the variety of mobile device designs and also motivational factors that prevented them from fully utilising the devices.

Mobile technology for older people : Use of personas

This paper is concerned with the use of mobile phone by Malaysian older people and the main focus was the appropriate methods for collecting data. There are a number of problems with conventional techniques when using older people as participants. This was due to the fact that older people had an extremely wide range of characteristics and impairments compared to other groups. It seemed that there should be more techniques adapted and used in gathering user requirements for mobile phone and older people. In fact, there is a need for an evaluation of existing methods with respect to older people. In this study, two similar experiments were carried out that focus on focus groups. In addition, the use of personas as a tool in elicitation was explored. The purpose of using personas in the study was to personalize and engage the users into discussion where they were able to be more open in providing feedback about mobile phone usage. Personas were also used in order to get better understanding and information about the strengths of the methods used in this study.

Smart card technology integration in a higher education institution

The application of smart card technology in many industries locally and abroad is common nowadays. The technology is used in ensuring security and attaining functional capabilities. Based on an Internet search, there appears to be several reported cases of successful smart card technology implementation projects. However, there may not be as many challenged projects reported. In this paper, we report a challenged implementation of smart card technology in a higher education institution using the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) as the framework.

What Makes Older People Want to Use Mobile Devices

The use of mobile devices have huge potential to assist mobile users to perform everyday tasks. However, there is small percentage of older people are using mobile devices. This shown that, there is several factors that influenced the small group of older people to adopt the technology. In addition, there have been limited studies which investigate factors that influenced older people to adopt mobile devices. This study aims to understand the cause in which have encourage older people to adopt such technology. Qualitative methods including interview and focus groups were conducted among twenty one older people aged 55 and above. The results indicated that, there were five factors that influence older people to use mobile devices. The factors were mobile device design, functions, social inspiration, economical and others.

Rising Ageing Population: A Preliminary Study of Malaysian Older People Expectations in Information and Communication Technology

The older people population in the world is showing a steady increase and Malaysia is projected to having an ageing population in 2025 as the percentage will reach over 7.1% (an indicator of an ageing population) of the total population. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers opportunities to create conducive environment for older people, but there may be a significant number of older people particularly in Malaysia who are not informed, astute, and learned consumers with respect to ICT and so could be denied many of the technology potential benefits. Drawing upon data from group sessions held with 51 participants of various age groups, this paper reports on a preliminary study to explore the current state of Malaysian older people interaction with and expectations in ICT including mobile communications in aspects of their everyday life. Comparison in terms of mobile device usage among participants was also presented. The study has highlighted (1) ways in which ICT has supported and can support older people and (2) mobile usage patterns of younger and older users.

Concerning Matters of Mobile Device Usage Among Older People

The adoption of technology will usually affect its users. Moreover, technology such as mobile devices have become important for mobile users to perform everyday tasks. This study discusses the effects of using mobile devices among older people. The concerning matters are gathered from their experiences and observations they have made from their surroundings. A qualitative method is employed where interview and focus groups were conducted with twenty-one respondents aged 55 and above. The results showed that older people are concerned with the addictive use of mobile devices, lack of relationship with human, and misuse of mobile devices. However, older people have also observed the positive effect of using mobile devices as a learning tool for special children.

Qualitative Findings on the Use of Mobile Phones by Malaysian Older People

This paper reports on qualitative findings that have been obtained from a study about mobile phone usage by Malaysian older people. The information has been classified into various categories such as usage, difficulties encountered with the physical interface of the mobile phone, functions complexity, cost, language related issues, ideal phone and etc. In this study, two similar experiments were carried out that focus on focus groups. In addition, the use of personas as a tool in elicitation was explored. Mobile phones can potentially play an important role in helping older people in many ways if the problems related to the use of mobile phone can be solved. It is customer product that relates to theories of identity, culture and social structure. The findings presented in this paper may have implications for the design of mobile phones in general. It may be concluded that the usability of current mobile phones has to be enhanced in order to cater the needs of other groups of users, including older people.