1. Fat Finger Worries: How Older and Younger Users Physically Interact with PDAs Katie A. Siek, Yvonne Rogers, & Kay Connelly Indiana University

2. The population of elderly people is steadily growing MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy Population Ages 15-64 Compared to Global Population

3. Researchers are creating technology for older people to live independently Cognitive aid to help the elderly (S. Carmien, MAPS) Elderly care-giving assistant (Girlado, et al., mPCA) MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

4. A majority of the related work deals with PCs and mobile phones MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy Elderly & PCs Font size (Bernard et al., 2001) Input Devices (Smith, et al. 1999; Chaparro, et al. 1999; Charness, et al. 1995; Laursen, et al. 2001) Input Device performance (Jacko, et al. 2003; Smith, et al. 1999; Laursen, et al. 2001) Elderly & Mobile Phones Needs assessment (Maguire & Osman, 2003) Pros and Cons (Abascal & Civit 2001) Input recommendations (Smith, et al., 1999; Maguire, et al., 2003)

5. Just to review

6. Do vision, dexterity, and coordination effects transfer to PDAs? More specific goals: 1.Compare performance between older and younger participants completing traditional and non-traditional tasks 2.Study how older and younger participants physically interact with PDAs MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

7. Some of the tasks MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

8. Some of the tasks MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy DexterityVision Dexterity & Coordination

9. We created two applications Icon Size Task Recorded preferred icon size, smallest viewable icon, and image preference Button Press Task Recorded errors MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

10. We used three applications that came with the PDA or scanners Voice Diary Task Voice Diary lengths: 1 sec., 5 sec., 10-15 sec. Recorded how many times it took to successfully voice record message Scanner Tasks Scanned three items: book, can, bag Recorded how many times it took to successfully scan each item MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

11. Based on the literature, we predicted… MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy 1.Participants of all ages can press PDA buttons 2.Participants of all ages prefer medium size (10mm or 15mm) icons 3.Participants can record voice messages of various lengths 4.Participants can scan bar codes with some practice

12. Twenty participants volunteered for the study Younger (25-30 years old) 2 women, 8 men 9 use computers often 3 had played with a PDA 6 wore glasses Older (75-85 years old) 5 women, 5 men 7 use computers often No PDA usage All wore glasses Similar computer experience measured by the amount of applications used MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

13. Most participants did not make any mistakes for the button press task 5-Way Navigator MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy 16 out of 20 participants made no mistakes All participants were confused by the 5-way navigator Older male participants worried about “fat fingers” PDA held in non-dominant hand No significant performance differences (T 18 =0.787; p=0.442)

14. There were significant differences in icon preference size Small PDA Icon (5.29mm) Young Can See (5.5mm) Large PDA Icon (7.76mm) Young Preferred Older Can See (10mm) Older Preferred (20mm) Significant differences between preferred (T 18 =3.37, p=0.002) and icon size they could actually see (T 18 =3.25, p=0.004) Younger interested in how many icons can fit on a screen Older interested in details of image Older prefer photographs because more realistic Older had glare problems MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

15. The voice recording task was an easy task for most participants All participants recorded short message in two tries All of the younger participants recorded the long message on the first time Younger and older participants held the PDA differently No performance differences (T 18 0.3) MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

16. Socket SDIO ScannerBaracoda Pen Scanner Quick review of the scanners Press PDA button Hold light steady across barcode Press scanner button Run pen across barcode

17. The socket SDIO scanning task was slightly frustrating for participants Older more successful at scanning during first try Younger more successful at scanning during first try 4 younger and 2 older were able to scan within 3 tries Younger participants who practiced scanning book more, scanned bag quicker All participants operated PDA with one hand; used thumb to press button All participants were confused about what part of barcode to scan No performance differences (T 18 0.8) MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

18. The impossible task - Baracoda Pencil scanning 2 younger and 1 older scanned on first try Only 3 participants were able to scan chips No one successfully scanned the soda Women had difficulty using the pencil because of their nails Participants wanted to see a scanning light Participants rested the PDA on the table and used two hands for the pencil and object being scanned MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy

19. Similar to our predictions, the key findings were… MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy No performance difference in button press and voice recording task Small differences in preferred icon size - Younger (5mm or 10mm); Older (20mm) Older participants scanned items more, but had the same success rate

20. Future Work Increase sample size Investigate cognitive oriented tasks Test people with varying educational backgrounds Test younger people outside of academia and older people in public assisted living facilities Have participants stand or walk

21. Implications for developing applications on PDAs PDA applications can use current PDA buttons Icons will have to be larger Voice recording can be used for input Scanners can be used given enough practice time Questions?

23. What do we mean by fat finger problem? People have perceptions of what they can and can’t do They prove themselves wrong We did have problems with the Baracoda (more of a nail issue) MotivationRelated WorkExperimentFindingsStudy