The Design and Evaluation of a Pen-Based Computer Interface for Novice Older Users

The population of older people is growing rapidly worldwide, so it is necessary for all governments to provide them more services in order to improve their quality of life. In a digital era, most of these services can be provided by information technologies. However, older people have a very limited computer use due to economical, physical, sensory and cognitive barriers. In addition, few efforts have been dedicated to the design of specialized computer interfaces for them despite the fact that they have computer interaction problems with the WIMP standard (windows, icons, menus, and pointers). Recently, some researchers have shown that older people have a better computer interaction with the use of direct-manipulation devices such as digital pens than with indirect-manipulation devices such as the mouse. This research goes one step further, proposing and analyzing a pen-based interface for older people in order to explore the usability of gesture paradigm for them