DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2010
Footnote is a means by which difficult online forms and guides can be made accessible to anyone, via a Wiki-style set of advisory notes left by previous users who give tips on how to navigate the process successfully.
How it works
With basic Government services set to go online and many older people intimidated by the digital revolution, a big problem looms. By staying offline, many older people's lives will change for the worst with increasing isolation, unpaid bills, diminished access to essential services and exclusion from such things as online shopping and banking, remote working or social media.
Footnote aims to resolve this. Using a Wiki database, Footnote allows notes to be written for web pages, which can be seen and edited by other Footnote users. Simple tips, recommendations, warnings and advice can be passed between a global community of users - building up an online, universal resource of easy-to-access help and advice. In this way, Footnote retrofits the internet with an online instruction manual that is user-friendly to all.
Footnote can be accessed through www.footnote.me.uk and as an easily downloadable browser toolbar. The toolbar plugs into your internet browser connecting you to the footnote database. Features range from the ability to highlight points of interest to detailed explanations of how to navigate and use a website. Footnote is free, with revenue generated by a business-facing service.
User input
What the designer said:
‘Engaging with a critical issue of growing impact in society has inspired energetic discussion around the impact of digital technology with the aging population - and the potential of design to facilitate positive change. Based on our research, we believe we have found a solution that could make a real difference to older people's lives.'
Webster Wickham - BWA design
What the judges said:
‘The team's response to the very real issue of digital exclusion was not to create a complex technical response but rather to capitalise on the well-understood concept of tFootnote and frame it within the successful Wiki format, allowing people to navigate essential documents with confidence and not a sense of dread. The ability to leave feedback and its potential for audio compatibility means that forms of all kinds can be tailored to suit diverse needs and the judges felt Footnote's potential as an accreditation system would act as a real spur to other websites to become user-friendly.'
