Mohammad Rashidujjaman Rifat

Ph.D. Student, Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto.
http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/~rifat/

Abstract of the paper--

Although older adults feel generally positive about technologies, many face difficulties when using them and need support during the process. One common form of support is the product instructions that come with devices. Unfortunately, when using them, older adults often feel confused, overwhelmed or frustrated. In this work, we sought to address the issues that affect older adults’ ability to successfully complete tasks with product instructions. By observing how older adults used the product instructions of various devices, and how they made modifications to simplify the use of the instructions, we identified eleven guidelines for creating senior-friendly product instructions. We validated the usability and effectiveness of the guidelines, by evaluating how older adults used instruction manuals that were modified to adhere to these guidelines, against the originals and those that were modified by interaction design researchers. Results show that overall, participants had the highest task success rate, lowest task completion time when using them. Participants also perceived these instructions to be the most helpful, most easy-to-follow, most complete, and most concise among the three. In the end, we compared the guidelines derived from this research to existing documentation guidelines and discussed potential challenges of applying them.