User Support: Use of Video

It is generally accepted that a good design heuristic is that a user should be able to recognise, rather than recall how to operate something. The ability within elderly people to recall information is typically limited, thus enforcing the importance of following this heuristic. Therefore, a design goal should be to ensure that no prior knowledge should be needed to use the system. However, it is difficult for a user to adopt something they have no understanding of. How a user is given instructions and taught new information should be considered carefully.

Snippets of video will be used in the initial prototype to convey important information to the user. For example, if the user has completely forgotten how to use the system, they can watch a tutorial with a familiar face giving instructions. The use of video gives a warmer feel to the system and television is certainly something that our personas are use to. However, these video sequences cannot be too engaging or lengthy as we do not what to bestow too much information on the user; only instructions relevant to the interaction the user wants to make will be presented.