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Designing For Civil Society

Designing For Civil Society. Net Neighbours: Dependability, Accessibility and Online Shopping for Older People. Mark Blythe. Project funded by DIRC: Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration in Dependability

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Designing For Civil Society

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  1. Designing For Civil Society Net Neighbours: Dependability, Accessibility and Online Shopping for Older People. Mark Blythe • Project funded by DIRC: InterdisciplinaryResearch Collaboration in Dependability • Previous DIRC projects have investigated dependability in industrial and medical contexts • Recently work began on the dependability of assistive technologies for older people living independently.

  2. Online Shopping as Assistive Technology Most major UK supermarkets are now offering on line shopping facilities. The target demographics of these home pages are relatively affluent computer literate professionals Not the frail and elderly although they might benefit most from the service.

  3. Age Concern Research and Initiatives • UK National Statistics Omnibus survey shows just 12% of the over 65s have used the internet • The UK charity Age Concern identify three barriers: cost, fear and poor design • They have undertaken a number of initiatives – taster sessions, mobile tutors and design guidelines

  4. Ethnographic Work York Mobile Warden Service • But for some users a PC might never be the best way to access online shopping • Freda - 79, suffers osteoporosis and lives on the 3rd floor of block of flats. • She recently had a fall that meant she wasn’t able to get up and down the stairs • She had lived there for thirty seven years and did not want to move • How was she going to do her shopping?

  5. Net Neighbors Scheme • How do we design an on-line shopping Interface for the frail and Elderly? • Maybe we don’t! • Informally people may place orders for elderly friends or relatives using their cards • We hope to extend this service with a pilotscheme we’re developing with Age Concern, York • Shopping is an important social as well as functional activity. This service must be more than a phone ordering system as offered by some shops.

  6. Simple Scheme to widen access to online services 1. The client, phones through with her shopping list. She reimburses the organisation by cheque or cash 2. The volunteer creates an online account for the client, places the order and has a general chat as well. 3. The supermarket or other on line shop delivers to the client’s doorstep in the usual way

  7. Progress so Far • Two supermarket sites tested for adaptability • Four Clients from a respite care scheme have used the service so far • Mr and Mrs Sprout (all names have been changes) were the first to try the scheme out. The first delivery was a success but there were several mistakes in the second one and they dropped out. They were both very ill. • Two other clients used the service, were happy and would like to use it again. • Mr Potatoes had recently had a serious operation, when the AC volunteer asked how he was feeling she urged him to report his growing pain to his health visitor. • During the call to Mrs Ketchup ( who owns computer!) the AC volunteer found that a grab rail which should have been installed had not yet arrived and she promised to follow that up for her • A general chat was quite natural in all cases so we hope that this kind of service would have a social as well as a functional role.

  8. Future Work • We intend to develop the order and payment procedure through consultation with volunteers and users • We will develop a database for the volunteer emphasizing social support (e.g. it might for example store the client’s children’s names) • We also hope to develop a general method for designing proxy based internet services (e.g. booking and information services as well as shopping)

  9. Any Questions? • Sorry I couldn’t make it to the workshop • Hope it was fun! • If you have any questions or comments please email: m.blythe@psych.york.ac.uk

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