Breaking Digital Barriers

White Paper

Breaking Digital Barriers: Digital Literacy for the Elderly

Lilly Manns, Jim Stapleton, Sarah Ingold White Paper 10/20/13

Introduction
Breaking Digital Barriers is a project that was founded in 2011 by professors at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. Lead by Dr. Charles Wallace, Dr. Lauren Bowen, and Dr. Leo Ureel, Breaking Digital Barriers is committed to narrowing the digital literacy gap for senior citizens in the Houghton/Hancock, Michigan, and surrounding community. The group currently offers free learning sessions on Friday mornings in the Portage Lake District Library to teach seniors how to operate their personal computers or laptops. The learning sessions are currently staffed by student volunteers who assist patrons with operating the mouse and other interface hardware, navigating software and internet, and learning basic computer safety. For example, one of the regular Breaking Digital Barriers learning sessions patrons, Elaine, was having trouble understanding her computers file systems. She was afrai d that she had lost some sentimental, important pictures. With a little training, she was shown where the photos were and how she could find them in the future. The project is well received within the community, as the current learning sessions are exceeding capacity. Breaking Digital Barriers plans to expand their sessions to better serve the community. Breaking Digital Barriers is funded primarily through donations and grant opportunities. They are partnered with Michigan Technological University and the Portage Lake Public Library. Their initiative through Superior Ideas, a fundraising website for local residents to provide support, raised $2,385 in 2012 through private donations. Figure 1: Elderly patrons at Breaking Digital Barriers learning
sessions.

Recognized Digital Literacy Problem

Technology is advancing at unprecedented rates; new devices and interfaces are being developed daily. Utilizing these technologies has become part of our modern lives. The internet alone has molded our lives in uncounted ways; according to the International Telecommunications Union, in 2012 over 81% of all Americans used the internet to access social networks, local business information, and other various online resources. Many individuals, organizations, and businesses are utilizing the internet to connect to different
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people and places. Using these new technologies has become second-nature to people who have grown up in the digital age. However, people with less digital accessibility, physical limitations (such as vision loss, blindness, and limited motor skills), or little understanding of current technology experience frustration, anxiety, and discomfort when navigating the digital world.

The visual, motor, and cognitive challenges of the standard keyboard, mouse, and monitor computer interface are daunting for those with impaired physical function and limited digital experience. - Breaking Digital Barriers Superior Ideas webpage

Disadvantaged groups not only experience these feelings when they use digital technology, but this prevents them from engaging in digital technology in the first place (Wired Seniors). The senior citizen population generally does not have the same ability to access, use, or understand digital information as groups that grew up with and understand computers, and they feel intimidated by unfamiliar interfaces and protocols. According to Pew Internet Statistics, many senior citizens may be interested in using the internet, but may need training to get started or feel comfortable. In West Virginia, computer training sessions were held at a regional library, and were well received by the senior citizens in the area. As time has passed, a greater percentage of elders want to use new technology, but are not being exposed to it at work like younger generations (Wired Seniors). Additionally, the elderly clients mentioned that with younger generations using the internet as much as they are, it acts as a great way for seniors to stay connected with their family.

Nearly 3 in 5 online senior citizens (56%) say that the Internet has improved their connections with family. -Pew Internet (Wired Seniors)
Figure 2: Learning to navigate the internet and programs.

Senior members of the Houghton/Hancock community have very few options to keep up with advancing technology. Modern devices typically utilize touchscreen technology, and it is fast becoming the norm for digital devices. According to a study by IDTechEx, an independent technology research firm, the touchscreen market is expected to triple within the next decade, and many technology companies are pushing to produce more devices with touch screen technology. Breaking Digital Barriers patrons are currently responsible for supplying their own devices to learn and experiment with during learning sessions, which in many cases, leads to the utilization of dated technology.
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Solution - Breaking Digital Barriers Digital Literacy Project

Breaking Digital Barriers hypothesizes that removing the mouse-keyboard-monitor interface and replacing it with touch-screen technology will alleviate many of the issues that digitally inexperienced populations encounter, such as difficulty operating a mouse or laptop touchpad and little understanding of how the mouse-monitor hardware functions together.

Tablet computers, such as iPads and Android tablets, offer participants many advantages: - Touch-screen technology eliminates the mousea formidable obstacle for seniors. -Portability avoids problems of positioning screens or other hardware. -Reasonable prices provide seniors on a limited income an affordable digital option. -A suite of tablet computers for use by library patrons will help local seniors make steps toward digital literacy, and will allow us to explore ways to best serve the digital needs of this age group. -Breaking Digital Barriers Superior Ideas webpage

Unfortunately no such devices are available for seniors to learn about and use at current learning sessions. Providing the touch-screen devices is the best way to conduct a series of specialized training sessions, informally referred to as Tablet Camp. Breaking Digital Barriers project offers a unique opportunity to research and test more intuitive, and less physically challenging computer interface designs. Touch screen technology will theoretically help senior citizens learn, use, and become more proficient with digital technology. Conducting this research with senior citizens is advantageous because seniors are an excellent research proxy for other digitally inexperienced groups. Senior citizen populations generally encompass many of the limitations that digitally illiterate groups have, such as physical disabilities (limited motor skills, blindness, hearing loss, etc), lower digital accessibility (both financial and physical access), and less understanding of how digital technology works in the modern world. Figure 3: Dr. Wallace assisting a In addition, Breaking Digital Barriers is hoping to set an learning session regular. example of how to create senior citizen digital literacy programs in similar areas. Many digital literacy programs like this exist; however, they are located in large metropolitan areas which are easily able to support such programs. The
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Houghton area is a smaller region, with fewer resources and demand. The Breaking Digital Barriers project will likely be focusing on 10-12 residents at a time. This will refine a method for instructing the use of tablets and computers, leading to an efficient example of how to get a program like this up and running for similar areas. Breaking Digital Barriers is seeking to expand their program by implementing tablet computer training sessions during the summers to keep current with changing technology, and provide a more understandable learning interface, offer support to seniors learning to navigate digital devices, and research how tablets, with their theoretically more intuitive touchscreen interface, may help increase digital accessibility for all digitally illiterate populations. Funding is needed to finance the acquisition of tablet computer technology, wages for 2 graduate student trained workers, and a specialized training session with a local computertraining professional. Computer equipment: Breaking Digital Barriers would like to offer a variety of tablet environments, for a couple of reasons: It gives senior learners the opportunity to comparison shop and see which platform works best for them; and from a research perspective it gives Breaking Digital Barriers the ability to compare interaction styles on different platforms. The base tablet models that Breaking Digital Barriers are targeting are the Apple iPad ($500 per unit) and the Google Nexus 10 ($400 per unit). Support for graduate students: For the planned week-long summer training session, Breaking Digital Barriers would like to hire two Michigan Tech graduate students, at a rate of $800 per student per week. Support for trainer: To prepare these students for the summer training session, Breaking Digital Barriers plans to hire Harriet King. Ms. King has an M.S. degree in Computer Science from Michigan Tech and has conducted research on how users learn new computer skills. She also runs a local business that provides computer help. Breaking Digital Barriers would hire Ms. King to give a two-day training session, at a rate of $800.
2013 expenses 6 Apple iPad tablets @ $500/unit 6 Google Nexus 10 tablets @ $400/unit 1 week support for 2 graduate students @ $800/week Support for training session from Ms. King Total 1 week support for 2 graduate students @ $800/week Support for training session from Ms. King Total Superior Ideas ($3000) ($2400) ($1600) ($800) ($7800) ($1600) ($800) ($2400) ($10,200) $1744 ($8,456)

2014 expenses

Total expenses 2013 funding Balance

Table 1: Breaking Digital Barriers 2013-2014 budget breakdown.

Breaking Digital Barriers

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Grant Opportunity - Aspirus Health Foundation

The mission of the Aspirus Health Foundation is to develop the resources needed in order to advance the health and wellbeing of the people in the communities they serve. The foundation accepts a wide range of health-related projects and projects that alleviate needs and issues in a community. Breaking Digital Barriers is a key example of a community wellness project; they will solve an important issue present in the Houghton/Hancock area by reducing and removing barriers to digital success that older generations face. This is the type of project Aspirus Health is looking for; a sustainable project that will leave a positive effect on the community and provide great advantages to their patrons. Breaking Digital Barriers is eligible for this grant, being located within the acting region of Aspirus Health Foundation (which includes the Upper Peninsula), and having 501(c)(3) status. They offer a large grant of up to $10,000. The next submission date is for early January. If accepted for this grant, Breaking Digital Barriers must develop a marketing plan, and utilize the Aspirus logo on any materials purchased with the grant money. This can be as simple as applying stickers to the back of the tablets. Breaking Digital Barriers must also keep track of project progress and outcomes to report back to the foundation, in order to gauge goal achievement. Because they are capable and committed to helping the Houghton/Hancock senior community, and will make a meaningful impact in the area, Breaking Digital Barriers is a good candidate for this grant.

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Works Cited
"Aspirus Wausau Hospital." Our Services and Departments -. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. "Breaking Digital Barriers: Digital Literacy for the Elderly." Breaking Digital Barriers. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. "Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000-2012", International Telecommunications Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 21 Oct 2013 "Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project." Seniors Getting Plugged into Technology. Pew Internet, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Touch Screen Modules: Technologies, Markets, Forecasts 2012-2022: IDTechEx. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. "Wired Seniors." Wired Seniors a Breed Apart. Pew Internet, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.