Information and Knowledge Management using ArcGIS ModelBuilder

Minna Isomursu and Marja Harjumaa
involve doing co-design together with the end-users before the service implementation, and
evaluating the implemented complete service in real life settings afterwards. Even though more and
more products and services are developed for older people, there are only few studies describing
experiences of doing co-design and service evaluation together with the older users.
Eisma et al. (2004) have described their experiences on user involvement with older users in ICT
development. They state that the details of interactions with older people should be carefully
considered. In particular, the purpose of events and the role of the participants should be clearly
explained in terms they fully understand, terminology should be understandable, interactive
prototypes or devices should be used when possible, and it is encouraged to have group meetings
with social nature. They also mention that the expected usefulness of the device should be clearly
communicated for the users.
Newel et al. (2006) have reported experiences of collaboration between academic and industrial
partners. Their findings are based on the same project with Eisma (2004). They had faced challenges
in persuading the industrial partners to work together with the older people when designing a portal
for older users. In their results Newel et al. (2006) emphasize that time and patience is needed when
designing for older users. They state that in the beginning of the project, both developers and clients
have felt that the researchers exaggerate the difficulties that the older people have in using
computers, but their views changed significantly when they got an opportunity to work together with
the older people.
Depending on the research problem, researchers have not found it always necessary to conduct the
field work at the homes of the users, but they have used other use contexts instead. As an example,
Sayago and Blat (2009) have studied how older users use the web in their everyday lives by using insitu
observations and interviews during computer courses, workshops and meetings. In their research
they have focused merely on human-computer interaction, not understanding the processes of how
the technology facilitated services are used within the context of everyday life.
Vastenburg et al. (2008) have identified five design goals on how to design acceptable assisted living
services for the older users. They state that 1) if the product requires effort from the user, it should
give immediate benefit in return, 2) product should fit into existing living patterns of the users and use
metaphors they already know, 3) product should offer several interfaces to different situation and to
different purposes, but still offer a coherent interaction experience, 4) social network of the older
people could be used as a resource of more complex operations with the technology are needed and
5) the service platform should adapt to changing user needs.
3. Research methods
3.1 The case studies
Researchers’ experiences that are summarized in this paper are based on six case studies of
different domain areas, namely meal delivery service, grocery ordering service, medicine
management, wellness management, wayfinding, and video-assisted communication. In each of
these case studies a new ICT based service concept was developed and evaluated with older users.
In addition, four researchers have earlier experience from user research with younger users.
In the first case study, Meal delivery service, a group of nine customers of the meal delivery service
adopted a mobile service that provided them a possibility to choose the meal they would receive the
following day. The trial lasted from three to eight weeks depending on the starting time and
rehabilitation or hospital periods of the user. The trial setup and outcome has been explained in more
detail in Häikiö et al. (2007).
In the second case study, Grocery ordering service, 16 older people were provided a possibility to
order groceries to their homes by touching NFC tag-equipped product cards using their mobile
phones. The results have been described in detail in Häikiö et al. (2010).
The third case study, Wellness management, introduced a daily life management service with a touch
screen computer offering a calendar, exercise support, phone, games, diary, and a web browser. The
user group consisted of seven older users and they used the service for several months depending on
206