大象传媒

Contributing stories: The technology

While interest in World War Two was a powerful hook in People's War, older people generally found the prospect of using IT less enticing. Participation, rather than learning, seemed to be the key attraction.

'It was easier to encourage older people to tell their stories at a one-off event like a victory coffee morning, where volunteer story-gatherers collected stories and took care of the IT (provided the computer is barely mentioned in the publicity) than it was to pull them into a course of IT sessions incorporating the People's War site.'

An important aim of the project was to introduce older people to the benefits of IT, but pilot sessions using the People's Network in local libraries revealed a number of significant barriers.

• Older participants' reluctance to use computers:

'Learn the computer? At my age?'

'It's very hard to get the story tellers to look at the computer. They just want to talk.'

'We offered details of our one to one IT courses as part of the session. Lots of people took them away but only a few have called back.'

• Negative perception of the internet:

'I was led to believe the internet was only for getting pornography. The internet is all right to use - I've learnt that. Millions of people use it.'

'I'm not going to try out a computer - I heard it can electrocute you.'

• Local access to IT, transport and timing:

'We haven't got a place nearby to do computer classes.'

Culture Online were brought on board to encourage the participants' interaction with the internet. Not surprisingly some of the most successful events were those where story sharing was facilitated through a third party who could listen to the story being told, and type it into the website. This enabled the contributor to see where the story was going to be displayed, and to edit it as required. For many older people, the opportunity to engage with the internet through a third party developed both interest and confidence.

Arthur Jones, of the 147th Essex Yeomanry, came along to a People's War session at the RAF Museum in Shropshire because he wanted to tell the story of how he and his tank made it across France after the D-Day landings. He'd never touched a computer before but soon learned how to type his story into the website.

He then became a keen volunteer and continued to type in People's War stories that he collected at the RAF Museum. He also topped up his new-found computer confidence by taking classes at his local library. It is volunteer story gatherers, like Arthur, that made all the difference - supporting people to contribute their stories and learn new skills at the same time.

'Without People's War, I'd never have tried a computer. This has been wonderful. Here at the Museum, I meet so many interesting people. And the other volunteers are great - it's like a family.'

Practical lessons

During the project, several practical issues arose concerning the use of IT by older people, some of which we were able to address. These included:

• Design. It's important that any content created for the audience meets standards of good practice for accessibility. Standard usability testing took place during development of the site, and following further suggestions made by site users, the website was modified after its launch in 2003. A high-visibility text-only version of the site was also available, following standard 大象传媒 practice.
• Visibility. The PC's user interface and monitor were required to be user-friendly and easy to adjust to meet the needs of people with sight problems. (Eg Supernova software). Data projectors or multi-media white screens were used to project a larger, more visible image of the website onto a wall. This turned the IT introduction into a communal experience, far better appreciated by its audience.
• Mobility and physical access. It can be difficult to get close enough to a PC on a desk when you are in a wheelchair. Placing the PC on a table can solve this problem. Ordinary computer mice can be hard to manipulate - a trackball mouse is much easier.
• Internet access. Many community venues did not have a landline for access to the internet, let alone a broadband connection. Some sessions were run with the help of a wireless card which could connect to the mobile phone networks by 3G or GPRS.
• Staff capacity. Users who were inexperienced or not confident in using a computer needed a lot of assistance. Some libraries and older people's services were able to offer one to one sessions. Where this was not possible, people teamed up: Coventry older people's forum delivered 'Clickstart' IT courses using Coventry City Libraries' service facilities.
• Age barrier. Anecdotal evidence from Age Concern IT trainers suggested that some older people were happier taking lessons from people their own age rather than from 'young computer whizzes'. An added benefit was that older trainers were often new to IT themselves, and could identify with the nervousness of the new learner, and encourage by example.

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