How to deal with aging technology "suitable for old age"
"The real challenge of technological ageing does not lie in technical barriers, but is our way of thinking whether it is'technological age-appropriate' or'technological age-appropriate'?"
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I’m at a loss in front of the hospital’s automated teller machine; I can’t pay when I go to the supermarket to buy things with money, because stores use online payments... This is the embarrassment that many elderly people encounter today: they don’t know how to make payments on their phones or use small programs. Will not call up the health code...The rapid development and rapid application of smart technology has isolated some elderly people on the other side of the information gap, embarrassed and lonely.
The data of the seventh national census just released shows that my country's population is becoming more and more aging.
There are 260 million people over 60 years old, accounting for 18.7% of the total; 190 million people over 65 years old, accounting for 13.5%.
In response to this problem, although the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Special Action Plan for Internet Application Adaptation and Accessibility Improvement" last year, daily life in the mobile era is increasingly closely connected with mobile phones, and the information gap encountered by the elderly still exists.
"Elderly people who can't keep up with the pace" face higher and higher thresholds in daily life such as travel, medical treatment, and consumption, and even become outsiders in the age of technology.
Scholars, technology companies, and non-profit organizations are paying more and more attention to how to promote the solution of the difficult problems of the elderly in the use of smart technology.
At the "2021 Youth Elite Conference of the Chinese Computer Society" (YEF2021) held in Shenyang a few days ago, this topic runs through multiple sub-forums.
Information barriers need "more perfect" technology to solve
Information accessibility refers to the use of information technology to make up for differences in physical functions and environments, so that anyone (whether able or disabled, young or old) can access it equally, conveniently and safely. , Interaction, and use of information.
"Using information accessibility technology to bridge the information gap still has problems and challenges. The universal technology in key technologies cannot directly solve the problem of information accessibility. The traditional offline service model is limited by various factors such as venues and personnel, and its service capabilities are limited. "The first speaker of the thought show at the elite conference is Zhejiang University professor and associate dean of the Graduate School Bu Jiajun. According to him, because 80% of people's information is obtained by vision, users with visual and hearing impairments face the most obstacles.
He introduced the long-term achievements of the team: the establishment of a national barrier-free information service platform to support the business services of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation and more than 20 provinces and municipalities; the construction of the China Digital Library for the Blind, which is the first country for the visually disabled Class-level library; provide technical support for barrier-free webcasting for the Spring Festival Gala...
In cooperation with Braille publishing houses and video platforms, they plan to launch 100 accessible video content in the next three years, so that visually impaired people can "chase blockbuster movies" anytime, anywhere.
"Everyone will get old, but we can choose to let everyone enter the old age with dignity, let the elderly integrate into the science and technology society, and let the scientific and technological achievements benefit more elderly people." We have devoted ourselves to the research and development of technology in the field of information accessibility for more than ten years. Bu Jiajun realized his vision a little bit, "Zhejiang University has opened information barrier-free courses, involving artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, information processing and other subjects."
Regarding this interdisciplinary field of technology and application, he put forward this point of view: "Information accessibility should be a necessary option for technological research, service research and development, and government decision-making.'Imperfect' information technology promotes social change while bringing There is an information barrier, which requires a'more perfect' information technology to solve it."
He also started from the five aspects of "government, industry, university, research and application", and gave suggestions on accessibility and technology for the elderly, such as providing subsidies for people with disabilities to purchase information services and smart assistive devices; increasing support for basic research on accessibility; Significant barrier-free effects. Enterprises provide tax relief; speed up the legislative process, etc.
Technological products should serve people, not just serve standards
At YEF2021, the CFF YOCSEF (China Computer Society Youth Computer Science and Technology Forum) Technology Charity Interest Group held a forum, inviting people from the government, academia, technology companies, and non-profit organizations to discuss the status quo and challenges encountered by science and technology. .
Huang Xitong is a senior public welfare architect of Tencent and has been involved in the research and development of barrier-free technology for many years.
He believes that the ageing of science and technology is a sub-problem of information accessibility. Information accessibility is to help various groups with information barriers to obtain information.
Older users are originally a barrier user group, so the ageing of technology is not a completely new problem, it is a problem that has always existed but has been ignored.
From the perspective of a technology developer, he shared his experience in the field of information accessibility, which is to consider accessibility and ageing from the software design process.
For example, he said that his team had previously made some handicapped versions of mobile apps, such as the Braille version. The developers would make their own claims to remove features that people with disabilities did not need, but they were criticized.
Because this is not from the user's point of view to design the product.
So now to make an old version, the interface requirements are simple and easy to implement, the situation is different, but it is necessary to understand the application needs of the elderly.
He pointed out that it is necessary to start with the value education of software developers to make everyone aware of how to make the right software to serve the entire society.
He also mentioned a problem. At present, some technology developers believe that meeting the requirements of relevant departments is enough. This raises the question of whether the product is serving people or serving standards, which is worthy of reflection.
"Technology is suitable for the elderly" to fully understand the needs of the elderly
At the forum, Xu Weihua, a first-level investigator of the Shenyang Municipal Health Commission, provided a set of data: The population over 60 in Shenyang has reached 25%, entering a deeply aging society.
Since 2016, Shenyang has been listed as a pilot city for the integration of medical and elderly care.
He said that the combination of medical care and elderly care is the combination of medical care, sanitation, and old-age care. Now, five systems including policy system, service system, standard system, talent system, and information system are basically formed, of which the information system is the most lacking.
Yang Jinlong, a special guest and deputy secretary-general of the Shenzhen Barrier-free Environment Promotion Association, analyzed the status quo and challenges of the ageing of information technology from a practical perspective.
He believes that my country’s population of 65 years and over reached 7% in 2000. The problem of the digital divide can be said to have existed for a long time, but with the rapid update of technical means and the catalysis of the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, this problem has been caused. Highlighted as a social issue.
"The real challenge of adapting technology to the elderly is not technical barriers, but whether our way of thinking is'technological adaptability' or'old adapting technology'?" Regarding this question, Yang Jinlong believes that let the elderly continue to adapt to the new The state of technology is due to the fact that we did not conduct in-depth demand research, and did not have a detailed and in-depth understanding of the psychological needs and application scenarios of the elderly.
The solution of social problems requires the coordination and cooperation of all parties. The government, market, academic and social organizations should form a joint effort from policy standards, product research and development, market research and service projects to propose solutions.
When public opinion is more focused on how to let the elderly cross the digital divide, the "2020 Elderly Internet Life Report" gives a set of reverse data: the average daily use of the Internet for people over 60 years old is as high as 64.8 minutes, which is longer than 40 years old. The above users are 16.2 minutes longer. At present, there are more than 100,000 elderly people in China who rely heavily on the Internet. They are online for more than 10 hours a day. They are almost obsessed with mobile phones around the clock, and only use one or two video-based application platforms.
Regarding this contradiction, the young man gave his own thoughts.
Zhang Zeyu, an undergraduate student at Shandong University, put forward three questions. One is that there are certain intergenerational differences and different needs among the elderly of different generations; the second is whether the elderly recognize their identity; the third is the platform to consider The commonality and differences between the elderly and other users should not be too biased.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Li Xinling Source: China Youth Daily