The elderly can't aren't going to be able to bedazzle their names for their myspace pages! oh heavens!
that was certainly a rude, cheap shot, but in all seriousness Mary Zajicek does bring up some valid points about the recent explosion of web 2.0 services and those being left behind. Her main overarching theme is accessibility, something we as media studies students have never had to worry about. After reading her article, It was a bit eye opening to sit down and think about how many groups are being excluded from this new phenomenon because of circumstances of accessibility. While Zajicek does discuss the influence of web 2.0 applications in regards to certain groups like the visually and physically impaired, she tends to focus a lot of her paper on the elderly and their ability to adapt to these new technologies.
To be brutally honest, and this is going to sound very mean, so I apologize, I really don't think there are many web 2.0 services that are worth teaching to old people (sometimes I impress myself with how subtle i am). Her excerpt on Skype was interesting, as I think this is one of the only applications that could prove useful for the elderly. It's a fairly simple program, and it has astounding money saving potential. No elderly person is going to find solace in the depths of myspace or facebook, I don't think. Now, I'm sure there are more than few tech-savvy grannies out there chalking up the friends, but for the most part, it's not worth teaching these people through the accessibility barrier just so they can wonder what the hell tagging a picture means. It would be more trouble than its worth to instruct the elderly on what these applications are let alone how to use them, and even if we did, there is no real positive that could become of their new knowledge.
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How about creating more non-tech-heavy web 2.0 sites for older people? I assumed that they do have the needs and right to build their own online community. It will be also a good commercial opportunity. Don't you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the whole fact you made about that there aren't many web 2.0 services that are worth teaching to elderly people. For an example, I'm not sure how often my grandmother uses her email, but if one thing is for sure, I can't picture her using a site like Facebook or Myspace. I think the use of email is enough for her at this point.
ReplyDeleteI feel like some of these applications are so easy to use as it is..If they really wanted to learn about it, I'm sure they could find some type of tutorial to teach them.
ReplyDeleteIt is very true that most web 2.0 services aren't of any use to the elderly. How often do you hear them talking about getting online and blogging about a sports game, etc. I think it generally just comes down to having different interests and growing up in a different environment. Elderly people grew up in a time where they didn't have the technology to communicate the way we do. They grew up in an environment where face-to-face interaction was how things were done. This is what they are use to and so I agree, there is no real advantage to teaching them new technology to do the same thing.
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