A Link To Our Presentation

Below is a link to our online presentation that we have created and made available:

www.screenr.com/user/nburns

Presentation Time!

We presented our finished presentations too our lecturers; Sarah, Keith and Ian. During the rehearsals for our presentation I did feel confident in what I was saying and the points I was trying to make as we ran over the presentation several times before we went into the room and luckily we had more spare time as the presentations from other groups were running over their time slots. However, when we got into the room nerves really hit home for me and I didn't feel confident at all. I find this is a recurring theme when it comes to presentations that I get very nervous when it comes to actually presenting it. Ways in which i could get over this is to prepare even more, even when i think i have done enough, still do it one more time.

Before starting the presentation once entering the room we did have a few problems with the sound as it wasn't playing at all and the projector was a bit off angle but they were easily sorted and were able to begin our presentation.

During the presentation we all worked well together and we nearly managed to keep it within the time frame however we over ran by one minute whereas in rehearsals we always got it spot on which was a bit of a shame. Each of our parts went very well and I feel as though we did get across the research we had done and the points we were trying to make and solutions we had come up with in response to the question we had been set. The presentation as a whole I feel ran very well and it went according to plan.

I do feel as though we could of made more of an effort to use Prezi rather than Keynote as it would of made the presentation look more dynamic and interesting, however, I still feel as though we did made an interesting and thoughtful presentation in the end and it was clear and well presented by the whole team.

I have really enjoyed completing this assignment as it has been a very interesting experience and I have also had the chance to learn some new things that I never knew before about the companies that we met. It really did get my mind thinking, especially Rebel Plays presentation and 'why don't women play computer games'. I have also enjoyed keeping this blog as part of the assignment as I been able to look back and recognise what we have learnt and it also helped me create my PowerPoint as I stored all of my research on here and it made it easily accessible. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and it has been a great module to have been involved in.

The Beginning Of The Presentation

We have began creating our PowerPoint to show the findings and conclusions that we have came up with in response to their question - 'How can you engage an online audience in storytelling? – How do you encourage users, especially those from an older generation to participate?

We have been meeting up week by week in university to give in research that we have found to each other, work we have completed to make our finished artifact, ideas we have come up with for the presentation and how we are going to set it out. We have also created a very simple presentation plan to stick by to help us set out our presentation properly and keep it all in order.

We set out to use the programme Prezi to create our PowerPoint to show them what we have done and also this was the recommended programme to use however we found this a slight bit difficult and we didn't really understand how to use it. We also wanted a slightly basic approach as our work is about making things basic! So we moved onto the software 'Keynote' which is much easier and have created our PowerPoint. We didn't really come across any more problems while using Keynote and are very happy with what we have created.

We have brought together all the work we have all done and the research to show the conclusions that we have made ready for the presentation to be shown next Thursday.

Further Research

Further Research

This graph shows why older people do not use the Internet and most of the reasons were similar to the findings we found in our questionnaire.

http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2011/2011article5.htm =

Many people think of the Internet as a youth-oriented medium. This may have been so in the past, but consider this:In the 12 months to November 1999, the Internet was used in Australia by

73% of 18-24 year olds (up from 62% in the previous year)
56% of 25 to 39 year olds (up from 40% in the previous year)
44% of 40 to 54 year olds (up from 29% in the previous year)
16% of people aged 55 years and over (up from 7% in the previous year).

This makes people aged 55 years and older the fastest growing group of Internet users in Australia. Similar trends are reported from the United States and Canada. For many older people the Internet is opening up a whole new world, particularly for those who are housebound or who live a long way from family and friends - it removes barriers of time, distance and physical limitation.

Although a fast growing group, people over 55 years who use the Internet are still a minority. Potentially, there are barriers for seniors to access the Internet, and these include

• Cost - the cost of the equipment and online access are prohibitive to many older people on low incomes
  
• Lack of awareness - older people may not see any potential benefit for them in using the Internet and do not know of any Internet services that may be of interest or use to them;
  
• Lack of confidence - older people may be fearful of new technology in general and feel that it will be too difficult for them to use;
  lack of suitably designed equipment - older people are more likely to have physical disabilities and need access to equipment that is designed to take this into account.
  
• Outdated equipment - many older people are introduced to computers when their children or grandchildren buy new computers and give them their old 486. As a result, many older adults are working with outdated technology that may be even harder to use than more up-to-date equipment.
  
• Inappropriate training methods - instruction geared more towards younger people might not be carefully ordered and integrated. Different concepts may be presented concurrently, with the relationships between concepts and skills left to the learner to deduce. This sort of instruction requires the learner to keep many ideas in mind at once, one of the very abilities that tends to decline as people age. If new concepts are presented in a clear and logical order with the relationships explained at each transition, older people find it easier to learn.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5146222.stm =

Just 28% of people over the age of 65 have home Internet access, compared to a UK average of 57% of households.

The research also found that more than half of all people over 65 voluntarily excluded themselves from Internet access because they see no benefit to the net.
However, more than two thirds of pensioners who are currently not connected said they would get online if they had the right support.


http://www.itnews.com.au/News/39795,older-people-would-use-internet-if-they-were-assisted.aspx =

Ofcom says two thirds of pensioners would go online given the opportunity.

Older people who miss out on critical online services because they do not use the Internet would get connected if they had back-up research reveals.Two-thirds of older people who initially rejected using the Internet said they would change their behavior if they had the right support, assistance and learning environment the Ofcom Consumer Panel’s ‘older people and communications technology' research shows.


http://www.ihealthbeat.org/features/2009/seniors-who-use-internet-could-reap-health-benefits-studies-show.aspx =

According to research released in October, spending time online reduces depression and increases cognitive brain function among senior citizens. A study conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Phoenix Center found that spending time online reduces depression by 20% for senior citizens.

Along with improvements in quality of life, researchers say reducing the incidence of depression by widespread Internet use among older Americans could help trim the nation's health care bill.

Results Of The Questionnaire And Findings

Results - I have also included some graphs I have made to demonstrate the findings.

1. Have you ever used the Internet?
Yes – 5 No – 10

2. If no why?

· Never been taught – 4
· Couldn’t afford it -2
· It doesn’t interest me -3
· I’ve always wanted to but never had the chance – 1

3. Have you ever been taught how to use a computer?
Yes – 7 No – 8

4. Do you have a laptop?
Yes – 2 No – 13

5. If no why?
· I can’t afford one – 10
· I don’t want one -3

6. Would u find a video of how to use the Internet useful in teaching you how to use it?
Yes - 13 No- 2

7. Do you feel if you knew how to use a laptop, would u use it more?
Yes -12 No - 3

8. How would you feel about using an IPhone or a Blackberry?
· I would love to - 8
· I don’t feel I could use one -3
· Wouldn’t want to – 4

9. Would you like to use the Internet if u were taught too?
Yes - 10 No -5 Already can – 5

10. Are u aware of the benefits of using the Internet?
Yes - 4 No -11

Findings

One of the first conclusions I can come too from the results are that the majority of people in the care home have never used the Internet and most have never been taught or just don’t want too.

Secondly I can draw the conclusion that most of the people in the home who has used the
Internet before were female and of a younger age of the rest. Their average age was around 60 for those who have used the Internet and 70+ who haven’t used the Internet.

Thirdly I can see that of those who have never used the Internet most of them are willing to learn if they had the chance. This is where we could step in and show them basics of how to use it. The results also show that people in the care home would also find a video teaching them how to use the Internet useful so we could take this into consideration and maybe create a video for them to use.

Some of the main reasons I can draw from the findings as to why they don’t use the Internet are mainly because they have never been taught, are too scared or just don’t have an interest. Hopefully if we did show them the benefits of using the Internet, which most of them don’t know, maybe it will make them change their minds and participate in online story telling.

Research On Our Question

We visited the home Seabank Care Home in Wallasey to hand our questionnaires out and this is the Questionnaire that we have made and we handed it out to 15 people in the home we visited;


Questionnaire

1. Have you ever used the Internet?

Yes No

2. If no, why not?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

3. Have u ever been taught how to use a computer?

Yes No

4. Do you have a laptop of your own?

Yes No

5. If no, why not?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

6. Would u find a video of how to use the Internet useful in teaching you how to use it?

Yes No

7. Do you feel if u knew how to use a laptop, would u use it more?

Yes No

8. How would you feel about using an IPhone or a Blackberry?

I wouldn’t want too Don’t feel I could use one I would love too
Other …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

9. Would you like to use the Internet if u were taught too?

Yes No Already can

10. Are u aware of the benefits of using the Internet?

Yes No

We also decided that we would interview someone who works for Apple and find out what they think about the older generation using smart phones and becoming more technology savvy.

We will ask them what products are mostly sold to the older generation, if more older people are actually using the technologies, what age ranges mostly come into store and what they personally think about the older generation using the Internet. We can also look into how we could encourage the older generation to use these smart phones and show the older people how they can share their stories online very easily using the IPhones and how easy it would be to use.

We will also find out which products the older generation are more drawn towards e.g. IPad, IPhone or Apple Mac. I believe that quite a lot of the older generation would like to use this type of technology if they just had the chance or a little bit of support. We can also ask the Apple employee if they would consider maybe doing a little tutorial for the older generation on how to use the technology to help them into using it and becoming part of this new technology generation.

We have also thought about looking into the use of Face Time and how much the older generation would benefit from using this technology as some older people do struggle to get about and see family and this would rid of the barriers that cause them to not see their families. It's a very useful and amazing technology that can even keep you in contact with people across the world. We will look into this to see how we could encourage the older generation to use it and let them know the benefits of using it.

Face Time can be used any were at anytime and i feel the older generation would really enjoy using this. Also another technology that is slightly similar to Face Time that we can look into is Skype. This also is an amazing technology that it most importantly free and can be downloaded by anyone in the world on a PC, phone or laptop. This would also help the older generation stay in touch with the rest of the world and also it means they can share their stories to others who are listening.

Setting Up Our Group Work

Today we were put into our groups to complete presentations on our chosen question. We were put into teams of three and the question we are doing is 'How can you encourage an online audience in storytelling? - How do you encourage users, especially those from an older generation to participate?

We brainstormed a few ideas together on what we are going to do. We decided that we will go into a old persons home and ask them what they thought of the Internet and usage and hand them a small questionnaire to fill out which I will upload to my next post. This will give us an insight into what they think about the Internet and what we could do to help them become more active users.

Furthermore we said we could ask a employee of Apple what they think of older generation using the Internet and how they would encourage them to buy the technology. We would also ask what the company themselves do to simplify their phones and computers so that everyone can use them.

We also discussed the option of going into the BBC radio and asking if they would consider having a small section in one of their shows for older people to ring in and tell their stories. This would encourage them to take part and share parts of their history.

Another thing we could do is create a 'how to' video of very clear simple instructions on how to use the Internet and upload content and show it to groups of older people so that they don't feel as intimidated when it comes to using a computer or laptop.

We have split the research up and designated a section to each person in our group. We have decided that we should all compile research on technology usage, Niall should do an interview with an apple employee and write up his findings. Rory will teach an older person how to use Skype and document this through either filming, videos or pictures and I will compile a questionnaire and we will go to an old persons home, hand them out and gather the results for our end presentation. We will also together write up things that could be done in the future for older people and how this could have a knock on effect in older people homes.

During reading week we will be going into the old persons home and handing out the questionnaires and asking them what they think. I will upload the results to my next post.