Experiences with professional theatre for awareness raising Alan F. Newell a,⇑ , Margaret E. Morgan b , Lorna Gibson a , Paula Forbes a a School of Computing, University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom b MM Training, Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom article info Article history: Received 10 October 2010 Received in revised form 3 August 2011 Accepted 25 August 2011 Available online 3 September 2011 Keywords: Theatre Drama techniques Requirements gathering Awareness raising Older users Disabled users abstract For universal design to be successful, it is essential to understand the needs, wants and characteristics of all user groups, particularly those people who find currently available information technology systems frightening, confusing, and difficult to use. A wide range of standards and guidelines are available, but these do not always have sufficient impact on the design process. It is argued that, in order to design for such ‘‘digitally disadvantaged’’ people, it is important that designers develop an empathy with such groups. The paper refers to previous published work and describes more recent examples of how HCI research- ers worked with theatre professionals – script writers, actors and directors – to produce a range of dra- matic performances, using both film and interactive live theatre. These techniques have been used to raise awareness amongst student and professional designers of the characteristics, needs and wants of digitally disadvantaged people, and to encourage designers to develop an empathy for them. Both ques- tionnaire and anecdotal evidence have shown the power of professional theatre in facilitating the com- munication of these issues to designers, and suggests how these techniques can be utilized by others in the field. The work reported has been primarily concerned with digitally disadvantaged older users – a group who, because of demographic trends are an increasingly important user group for Information and Com- puting Technology. It is suggested, however, that theatre can be a valuable tool for raising awareness of the challenges of other user groups, particularly those who are not experienced and confident users of Information Technology. Ó 2011 British Informatics Society Limited. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Universal design – including digitally disenfranchised groups Good universal design of Information Technology requires designers to have an understanding of the characteristics of digi- tally disadvantaged user groups, such as older people and to have access to relevant human factors knowledge about their needs, wants and abilities (Czaja and Lee, 2008). A range of checklists and guidelines are available, but it has been suggested that tradi- tional checklists and guidelines may not be particularly effective in getting designers to respond to the needs of these groups of peo- ple (Newell and Gregor, 2000; Gregor et al., 2005). These authors suggest that it important for designers to develop a real empathy with their potential users, before referring to traditional informa- tion sources. Developing empathy for potential users, that is an ability to identify with the person and their situation at an emotional level, as well as being aware of the characteristics they have which are relevant to human computer interaction, provides particular chal- lenges when older users are involved, as older people have a range of characteristics and life experiences which can be alien to youn- ger designers. The phrase ‘‘older user’’ is often taken to be synon- ymous with ‘‘retired’’ (e.g. currently over 65 in the UK) but, in the context of IT use, it is not easy to categorise ‘‘older people’’ by a specific age range as some characteristics are a reflection of a lack of experience of technology, and declines in physical, sen- sory and mental capabilities occur at different ages for different individuals. Thus the characteristics referred to in this paper are not dependent on age, but are correlated with it. The ages at which these characteristics tend to manifest themselves are approxi- mately in the range 60–70 years of age. These ‘‘older people’’ pres- ent a wider spread of user-characteristics, along with significant cultural and generational differences in their experiences with, and attitudes to, modern technology. Older people’s relative lack of experience with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can also mean they can have negative attitudes to new tech- nologies. Those who have more difficulties coping with new tech- nology also have a greater tendency to blame themselves, and their 0953-5438/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 British Informatics Society Limited. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.intcom.2011.08.002 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1382 660774. E-mail address: afn@computing.dundee.ac.uk (A.F. Newell). Interacting with Computers 23 (2011) 594–603 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Interacting with Computers journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/intcom