Supervisor

Shortly after the submission of my proposal, I was advised by Bob to communicate with Ms Suzette Kieth regarding my research. She is a Research Fellow at the IDC and I managed to speak to her on the 18th of July.

One of the research areas that Suzette has specialised and still works on is the “Usability and accessibility by the more mature or older person, with or without minor impairments.” After communicating my area of research with Suzette, she introduced me to the Hackney Silver Surfers.

Also, She advised me on considering the following points in performing my research:

1: Ethical approval:
To check with Bob about arrangements for ethical approval and getting 'informed consent' from my interviewees.

2: Methodology:
She suggested interviews and 'workshops' with a small number of people and she advised me do this early enough in the project to get some background context, and so that what I learn can influence my design development.

3: Getting comments on my design:
Using a simple mock up to demonstrate my proposal and then describe the story around the parts that I cannot mock up.

She also suggested two research papers (listed below) that has so far been a great deal of help in understanding and identifying the means necessary for planing and performing my research.

• Kurniawan, S., Nugroho, Y., Mahmud, M. (2006) A Study of the Use of Mobile Phones by Older Persons. University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
• Eisma, R., Dickinson, A., Goodman, J., Syme, A., Tiwari, L., Newell, A. F., Early user involvement in the developement of Information Technology-related products for older people. University of Dundee, Dundee. University of Glasgow, Glasgow. University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee.