Pensionären och paddan
En studie av pensionärers upplevelser av läsplattor
Portable IT devices such as laptops, smart phones and computer tablets are becoming ever more ubiquitous. At the same time, the population of the Western world is growing older, with aging bringing about changes with regards to individuals' physical and mental capabilities. These facts raises important questions about how well suited these devices are for use by elderly people. This study focuses on the cognitive aspects of the devices' usability, using the concept of mental models to analyze the users' understanding of a computer tablet. It also draws upon theory of graphical user interfaces in its analyses. The study was conducted by doing a set of interviews, where a group of elderly people were asked individually and in a focus group about their impressions and comprehension regarding a computer tablet they used in the study. The results suggest that the there is a mismatch between the mental model of the designers of the tablet and the mental model of the elderly users. The cause of this is posited to be due to a lack of computer experience in general amongst the participants, causing them to have difficulty relating their mental models of everyday objects with the structure and functioning of the computer tablet. The main conclusion drawn from this is that current graphical user interfaces, based on the WIMP paradigm, may not be appropriate for this category of users.