Tech writing for seniors?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

I'd like to reiterate and expand upon some things Elna reported:

<<These are not dumb people - they just don't have the same frame of
reference that a lot of us have who use computers daily.  They may also
have sight, hearing, or coordination impairments.>>

These are two key points many people forget. I'll be giving a talk to the
local STC chapter on audience analysis, and one thing I'll touch on is how
easy it is to be misled by stereotypes, such as the one about old folk
having trouble with computers. My 90-year-old great aunt, stone deaf (to the
point even a hearing aid doesn't help) had been largely incommunicado for a
few years because she could no longer hear well enough to carry on a
conversation. About a year ago, she picked up a computer, learned e-mail and
IRC, and her world suddenly opened up again. Now she spends tons of time
chatting online.

It's the disabilities or handicaps that are the important things, and it's
important to note that while these are more common among the elderly,
they're by no means limited to them. In addition to those Elna mentioned,
there are often cognitive impairments too. One of the biggest and
least-mentioned problem is not something obvious like Alzheimers, but rather
the fear of the unknown. That's common to all age groups, but younger folks
are more likely to be forced (at school, at work, and elsewhere) to deal
with new things on an ongoing basis, and while that may not remove the fear,
it at least provides ongoing practice in dealing with change. As Elna notes,
the frame of reference is also different, and you need to talk in terms they
understand, using familiar metaphors.

<<In general, instructions for devices to be used for seniors should be
extra clear, simple steps, preferably with lots of labeled illustrations and
a minimum of jargon.>>

I'm actually convinced that this is one case where "lowest common
denominator" design works for everyone: clear writing will be clear to all
your audiences. The key point is that writing simply and clearly doesn't
mean you lack respect for your audience; it means that you recognize they
just want to get to the facts quickly, and don't have time or energy to work
hard to get there.

<<It won't hurt for instructions for caregivers to be written this way too,
since a lot of caregivers are older women or people for whom English is not
their native language.  (I'm not being prejudiced here - the pay for
caregivers for the elderly is such that it 
doesn't attract those with more job or language skills.)>>

It's the latter group that is most common, in my experience. One of the sad
losses in modern society is that we no longer care for our own elders, and
have to hire people to do it for us. (That's also very liberating, by the
way. Caring for the elderly takes enormous passion and commitment, and not
everyone is suited for the job.) Many caregivers are recent immigrants, and
it's their lack of proficiency with English rather than a lack of job or
language skills that is often the key point.

<<these are the folks about whom the legend of the computer  CD ROM disk
drive being called a cup holder was written.>>

It's not necessarily just the elderly, nor is it a legend. I used to
consider this an urban legend until I received a mail-order catalogue from a
computer products company that showed a CD tray being used to support a
coffee cup. And a friend who works tech support at a large bank reported
that one colleague broke their CD drive in precisely this manner.

--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada

"Writing, in a way, is listening to the others' language and reading with
the others' eyes."--Trinh T. Minh-Ha, "Woman native other"


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