 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Older People and The Internet Monika Merkes monika@melbpc.org.au |
Many people think of the Internet as a youth-oriented medium. This may have
been so in the past, but consider this:
In the 12 months to November 1999, the Internet was used in Australia by
- 73% of 18-24 year olds (up from 62% in the previous year)
- 56% of 25 to 39 year olds (up from 40% in the previous year)
- 44% of 40 to 54 year olds (up from 29% in the previous year)
- 16% of people aged 55 years and over (up from 7% in the previous year).
This makes people aged 55 years and older the fastest growing group of Internet users in Australia. Similar trends are reported from the United States and Canada. For many older people the Internet is opening up a whole new world, particularly for those who are housebound or who live a long way from family and friends - it removes barriers of time, distance and physical limitation.
Computers and telecommunications are becoming more important in our daily lives and today more and more information and services - such as banking, paying bills, shopping or information on travel and transport -are being offered online via the Internet. Organisations like the Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Universities of the Third Age (U3A) make sure that older people are not left behind.
Don Ellard from COTA Victoria has been coordinating the Seniors Access to Information Networks (SATIN) Project for the last three years. SATIN is designed to encourage and assist older people to use the Internet and e-mail. Two one hour sessions of one-to-one training and up to 10 hours Internet use are free to people over the age of 50 years, available at the COTA Internet Access Centre in Melbourne's Central Business District (Ph 9654 4443). Over 500 people have already been trained. Mr Ellard describes the sessions as being conducted in a non-competitive environment, and he tries to keep it as simple as possible. The program covers browsing, simple searches and search protocols, and the use of web-based e-mail. On completion of their training, participants are encouraged to continue by using public access at the COTA Internet Access Centre, at their local library or other local community facilities.
Most of the Access Facilitators have gone through the initial SATIN tuition themselves, and stayed on to be trained as peer educators. SATIN seems to be more popular with women than with men, and most participants are between 65 and 75 years old. What type of Internet information are people looking up once they have mastered the search protocols? Mr Ellard says that people's interests are very diverse, but genealogy, craft, radio, television, sports, current events and financial information are popular.
SATIN (http://www.cotavic.org.au/info/satin.html) operates in partnership with public libraries and Skills.net (http://www.skills.net.au/), a State Government funded program that provides free or affordable access and training to the Internet to those Victorians who would not otherwise have such access.
Universities of the Third Age have been in Australia for over fifteen years. They are communities of retired people devoted to learning, where members share their skills and experience, where individuals learn what they enjoy, at their own pace, and where no qualifications are needed to participate and none are awarded. Members of a U3A participate by teaching, learning and/or by assisting with planning and administration. At present, there are sixty U3As in Victoria with a total of approximately 10,000 members (for more information see http://home.vicnet.net.au/~u3avic/).
Of the Victorian Universities of the Third Age, U3A Glen Eira in Caulfield offers the largest number of computer courses: ten per week, including Internet training, Quicken and Excel. Course participants are aged between 55 and 90 years, many come from a European background, and most are women.
New technologies have also entered nursing homes. In response to residents' requests two computers with Internet access have been set up at Queens Park Aged Care Facility in Moonee Ponds, and a staff member with an interest in computers provides training twice a week. Mary Keating, the manager of this 45-bed facility, says that residents originally wanted to use the Internet and e-mail to keep in contact with relatives overseas and to do their banking. The Internet is particularly popular with the female residents, who use it to find information and entertainment on a range of topics. For example, astrology sites are in great demand. The residents of Queens Park are predominantly in their 70s and 80s, and many have mobility problems. For these seniors, access to the Internet and e-mail provides a convenient way to do banking, makes it easy to keep in contact with relatives and friends, and provides entertainment. Because interest in using the Internet is so great, Queens Park is looking for volunteers to assist residents with navigating the Net and to encourage them to keep practicing their Internet skills. Call Mary Keating on Ph 9372 8888 if this appeals to you.
Although a fast growing group, people over 55 years who use the Internet are still a minority. Potentially, there are barriers for seniors to access the Internet, and these include:
- cost - the cost of the equipment and online access are prohibitive to many older people on low incomes;
- lack of awareness - older people may not see any potential benefit for them in using the Internet and do not know of any Internet services that may be of interest or use to them;
- lack of confidence - older people may be fearful of new technology in general and feel that it will be too difficult for them to use;
- lack of suitably designed equipment - older people are more likely to have physical disabilities and need access to equipment that is designed to take this into account;
- outdated equipment - many older people are introduced to computers when their children or grandchildren buy new computers and give them their old 486. As a result, many older adults are working with outdated technology that may be even harder to use than more up-to-date equipment;
- inappropriate training methods - instruction geared more towards younger people might not be carefully ordered and integrated. Different concepts may be presented concurrently, with the relationships between concepts and skills left to the learner to deduce. This sort of instruction requires the learner to keep many ideas in mind at once, one of the very abilities that tends to decline as people age. If new concepts are presented in a clear and logical order with the relationships explained at each transition, older people find it easier to learn.
http://www.acm.org/sigchi/bulletin/1998.4/meyer.html)
However, there are a growing number of Websites and portals with information and services for seniors on health, travel, insurance, financial investments and other topics of interest to older people. Commercial organisations have recognised the potential of investing in this developing market. For example, a major IT company and a health maintenance organisation, the US equivalent of a health insurance company in Australia, have recently announced a new joint venture, an investment of US$19 million to create a new Internet firm for seniors (The Orange County Register, 28/6/2000, http://www.ocregister.com/). There is no doubt that the fastest growing group of Internet users will leave their mark.
| Some sites of interest - not just to older people: VICNET Seniors Information, with relevant links for older Victorians http://www.vicnet.net.au/seniors/ GreyNet http://home.vicnet.net.au/~greynet/ Online Seniors http://www.onlineseniors.net.au/ Endeavour,a Sydney-based senior citizens website http://www.endeavour-web.org/ SAGA, a UK consumer organisation for the over 50s http://home.saga.co.uk/ American Association of Retired Persons http://www.aarp.org/ Web Sites on Aging, a US Government site http://www.aoa.dhhs.gov/agingsites/default.htm SeniorNet aims to provide adults of 55 and older with education for and access to computer technologies to enable them to enhance their lives and share their wisdom and experiences http://www.seniornet.org/ Canada's Association for the Fifty-Plus http://www.fifty-plus.net/ Age of Reason offers over 5000 links to sites of interest to the over 50s http://www.ageofreason.com/ CyberSpace Seniors is designed by seniors for seniors and dedicated to the teaching, learning and sharing about the Internet http://www.azstarnet.com/~rschenk/CSSIndex.html. |
Reprinted from the November 2000 issue of PC Update, the
magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
