A Fundamental Study of Information Education for Aged People---A Case Study of Advanced Aged PC Users

Research Project

Project/Area Number	06680201
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Educational technology
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	SHIBAWAKA Teruaki The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Education, Associate Professor, 大学院・教育学研究科, 助教授 (90107467)
Project Period (FY)	1994 – 1995
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1995)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000) Fiscal Year 1995: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000) Fiscal Year 1994: ¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
Keywords	Information Education / The Aged People / PC communication / Log Analysis / 情報機器 / コンピュータ・ネットワーク / ライフスタイル / 健康意識
Research Abstract	It is very important and useful in information society to investigate the information education for the aged, who are considered to be unfamiliar and clumsy to information devices such as computers. The focus is put in this study on the minority of the aged who are regularly contact major comercial computer communication networks such as Nifty-Serve. They are considered to be top runners among aged in respect to information skills, and the aim of this study is to get some important hints of the information education for the aged by the behaviors and characteristics of them. Log analysis of a major senior forum of Nifty-Serve is conducted and a questionnaire including items of familiarity toward information devices such as computers, health and daily life is done for small group of general aged people for the purpose of comparison. Major results are as follows : 1.The familiarity of general aged people toward information devices is low. But in some cases it is comparatively higher in case they have relatives or friends who are familiar toward information devices. 2.The participants in the senior forum is not so skillful or familiar toward information or computing than those in other forums. Majority of the participants of it are those who had had jobs concerning computing or machines, or those who received recommendation to participate in by their friends. 3.The senior forum is regarded to play a useful social role for the aged people, because there are few forums that satisfy the needs of the aged.