Over 14 million people in the UK are digitally excluded, in that they have never used the internet. Of the many reasons given, one of the most cited was a lack of relevance. This is combined with technological and cultural barriers make computing and the internet unattractive and impenetrable. Working with industrial partner BT, the objective of this project was to make broadband accessible and useful to older people who had not used computers before.
Helen Hamlyn Research Associates Cian Plumbe and Matthew Harrison conducted user-centred research with input from older people and developed a product to bridge the gap between the on and offline communities. They developed a bimodal telephone called the ‘Two-tone’ that combines familiar landline calling with broadband enabled ‘voice-over-internet’ calling from the same handset. This user-centered design provides a crucial step towards introducing non-computer users to the most important technology in modern communication since the invention of the telephone.
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Digital Divide, broadband, telephones, old age, inclusive design, VoIP, user centred design, digital accessibility
