1. The document discusses a study conducted in Southern Patagonia, Argentina on the web accessibility experiences of older users. 2. The study involved having older adult participants complete common email tasks on Yahoo email, both before and after accessibility solutions were implemented. 3. The results showed that error rates were reduced for some tasks, like replying to emails, after scripts were used to remove advertisements and simplify buttons, but that more work is needed to develop fully accessible and easy-to-use solutions for older adults.

1. Web
Accessibility
for
Older
Users:
A
Southern
Argen8nean
View
!
Viviana
Saldaño1,
Adriana
Mar8n1,2,
Gabriela
Gaetán1,
Diego
Vilte1
1GIFIS Research Group, National University of Patagonia Austral (UNPA), Santa Cruz, Southern Patagonia, Argentina
2GIISCo Research Group, National University of Comahue (UNComa), Neuquén, Northern Patagonia, Argentina
emails: { vivianas / amartin / ggaetan} @uaco,unpa.edu.ar ; dvilte773@yahoo.com.ar
… the computer ask me to
close the window… but, how
does it know that I have the
window of my dining open?

2. Older
Popula8on
Evolu8on
• Popula8on
ageing
is
unprecedented,
without
parallel
in
human
history,
and
the
twenty-­‐first
century
will
witness
even
more
rapid
ageing
than
did
the
century
just
past.
Popula8on
aged
60
or
over:
world
and
development
regions,
1950-­‐2050
Context and Motivation

3. Older
Popula8on
Evolu8on
• Popula8on
ageing
is
pervasive,
a
global
phenomenon
affec8ng
every
man,
woman
and
child.
Propor8on
of
popula8on
aged
60
or
over:
world
and
development
regions,
1950-­‐2050
Context and Motivation

4. Older
Adults
Characteriza8on
• Popula8on
ageing
has
profound
implica8ons
for
many
facets
of
human
life.
ABILITY IMPACT DIFFICULTIES
VISION Screen
Keyboard
1. Decreasing ability to focus on near tasks
2. Changing color perception and sensitivity
3. Pupil shrinkage and decreasing contrast
sensitivity
HEARING
Audio
Multimedia
1. Increasing inability to hear higher-pitched
sounds
MOTOR SKILLS
Mouse
Keyboard
1. Slowness of movement, trembling
COGNITIVE Overall Web Use
1. Short term memory problems, concentration
difficulties, distraction, change blindness
FUNCTIONAL
IMPAIRMENTS
AFFECTING
OLDER
WEB
USERS
Context and Motivation

5. Standards
and
Guidelines
World
Wide
Web
Consor8um
(W3C)
Web
Accessibility
Ini8a8ve
(WAI)
• Guidelines:
ATAG,
UAAG,
WCAG
WAI-­‐AGE
Project:
Ageing
Educa,on
and
Harmoniza,on
Background

6. DIFFICULTY WCAG 2.0
GUIDELINE
1. Decreasing ability to focus on near tasks 1.4
2. Changing color perception and sensitivity 1.4
3. Pupil shrinkage and decreasing contrast sensitivity 1.4
4. Increasing inability to hear higher-pitched sounds 1.2 – 1.4
5. Slowness of movement, trembling 2.1 – 2.2
6. Short term memory problems, concentration difficulties,
distraction, change blindness
2.2 – 2.4 – 3.2 – 3.3
OLDER
WEB
USERS
DIFFICULTIES
AND
CORRESPONDING
WCAG
2.0
GUIDELINES
Background
Standards
and
Guidelines

7. DIFFICULTY WCAG 2.0
GUIDELINE
1. Decreasing ability to focus on near tasks 1.4
2. Changing color perception and sensitivity 1.4
3. Pupil shrinkage and decreasing contrast sensitivity 1.4
4. Increasing inability to hear higher-pitched sounds 1.2 – 1.4
5. Slowness of movement, trembling 2.1 – 2.2
6. Short term memory problems, concentration difficulties,
distraction, change blindness
2.2 – 2.4 – 3.2 – 3.3
OLDER
WEB
USERS
DIFFICULTIES
AND
CORRESPONDING
WCAG
2.0
GUIDELINES
Background
Standards
and
Guidelines
Guideline 2.2 Enough
Time:
Provide
users
enough
8me
to
read
and
use
content.
Guideline 2.4 Navigable:
Provide
ways
to
help
users
navigate,
find
content,
and
determine
where
they
are.
Guideline 3.2 Predictable:
Make
Web
pages
appear
and
operate
in
predictable
ways.
Guideline 3.3 Input
Assistance:
Help
users
avoid
and
correct
mistakes.

8. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
• We
are
here…
Our Proposal

9. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
• Our
Experiment…
– Par8cipants
– Materials
– Procedure
– Tasks
•
Read
an
email
• Reply
an
email
• Write
a
new
email
• Delete
an
email
• Close
user
session
Our Proposal

10. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
Problems
found…
1) Adver8sements
2) Visual
presenta8on
difficul8es
3) Not
understandable
buaons
Our Proposal

11. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
How
we
solved…
1) Adver8sements
GreaseMonkey
Script:
CleanUp
1.1
2) Visual
presenta8on
difficul8es
Solu8ons
provided
by
the
Opera8ng
System
3)
Not
understandable
buaons
We
develop
a
Script:
Oldie
1.0
Our Proposal

12. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
How
we
solved…
Our Proposal

13. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
Results
comparison…
TASK COUPLES ERROR RATIO
a) Read an email 0/9
b) Reply an email 6/9
c) Write a new email 0/9
d) Delete an email 2/9
e) Close user session 8/9
Task Id Task Description
Couples Error
Ratio
a) Read an email 0/7
b) Reply an email 1/7
c) Write a new email 0/7
d) Delete an email 1/7
e) Close user session 0/7
Discussion of Results

14. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
Results
comparison…
TASK COUPLES ERROR RATIO
a) Read an email 0/9
b) Reply an email 6/9
c) Write a new email 0/9
d) Delete an email 2/9
e) Close user session 8/9
Task Id Task Description
Couples Error
Ratio
a) Read an email 0/7
b) Reply an email 1/7
c) Write a new email 0/7
d) Delete an email 1/7
e) Close user session 0/7
Discussion of Results
remains
the
same
…

15. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
Results
comparison…
TASK COUPLES ERROR RATIO
a) Read an email 0/9
b) Reply an email 6/9
c) Write a new email 0/9
d) Delete an email 2/9
e) Close user session 8/9
Task Id Task Description
Couples Error
Ratio
a) Read an email 0/7
b) Reply an email 1/7
c) Write a new email 0/7
d) Delete an email 1/7
e) Close user session 0/7
Discussion of Results
Improves
a
liKle
…

16. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
Results
comparison…
TASK COUPLES ERROR RATIO
a) Read an email 0/9
b) Reply an email 6/9
c) Write a new email 0/9
d) Delete an email 2/9
e) Close user session 8/9
Task Id Task Description
Couples Error
Ratio
a) Read an email 0/7
b) Reply an email 1/7
c) Write a new email 0/7
d) Delete an email 1/7
e) Close user session 0/7
Discussion of Results
Oldie
1.0
made
a
Good
Job!

17. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
Conclusions and Future Work
• Certain needs were detected while teaching computing courses to our seniors
We
gained
experience
to
develop
our
proposal
and
to
test
it
on
the
field
…
• The proposed UI helped improving the performance of our seniors
We
provided
a
comfortable
way
to
use
Yahoo
email,
so
our
seniors
can
feel
more
confident
when
interac7ng
with
the
applica7on
…
• These solutions (existing and ours) do not cover all needs and they are not usable
enough for elderly Web users, since require assistance to configure (or install) the
appropriate add-ons
So,
many
elderly
ci7zens
miss
the
chance
to
relax
and
enjoy
using
the
Web
…

18. Older
Users’
Experience
in
Patagonia
• We have to increase quality of life of our Patagonian seniors, avoiding hesitation and
frustration
We
are
going
to
con,nue
our
work
(applying
a
pragma,c
research
approach
+
an
itera,ve
incremental
process)
to
develop
a
tool
that
includes
all
the
adapta,ons
and
provides
help
to
elderly
Web
users
Conclusions and Future Work
• Because the geographical location and extreme weather conditions, our seniors
have limitations to enjoy outdoor activities and require ways to stay connected with
their families and friends
We
are
going
to
con,nue
exploring
difficul,es
experienced
by
our
seniors
with
other
Web
applica,ons,
like
as
social
networks,
to
find
appropriate
solu,ons.

19. An
accessible
Web
can
help
to
grant
our
seniors
one
of
their
main
wishes:
“independence”
Thanks for your attention!
!
Viviana
Saldaño,
Adriana
Mar8n,
Gabriela
Gaetán,
Diego
Vilte
GIFIS Research Group, National University of Patagonia Austral (UNPA), Santa Cruz, Southern Patagonia, Argentina
emails: { vivianas / amartin / ggaetan}@uaco.unpa.edu.ar; dvilte773@yahoo.com.ar
… luckily, my granddaughter
sent us her birthday
invitation via facebook!