How do we make our Senior Center computer room the envy of the world?

September 21, 2015 2:38 PM

I work at a senior center and we received a grant to create a computer room with 7 brand new PCs running Windows with touch screens and internet access. Awesome! The room, computers and internet access are up and running now but we’ve hit a wall with figuring out what software and/or websites we should purchase or make available.

We do currently teach social media classes in the room and that’s been going well, but we’d really like to have great software and games available all the time. We want to create a dynamic and fun room that’s constantly in use.

We’re planning on linking to Khan Academy and Ted Talks. Our members are very interested in “stay sharp” games and we’d love to purchase a Lumosity license for the 7 computers with the ability to have multiple people (more than 7) get accounts and track their progress through us. That’s not an option with Lumosity at this point (as far as I can tell) but I’d love to know if I’m wrong or if there is another option for those kinds of games. We’d also be fine purchasing actual software to install on the machines with games like Tetris, Boggle, Find the item puzzles etc. but I’m a bit overwhelmed by the options and I don’t want to purchase really old and outdated stuff. We’re also fine linking to free online game sites, but it’s critical that the sites be very clean and non-risky for seniors. The worst case scenario is that we link to a dodgy site and somehow the member’s info gets compromised. A clean and simple interface on whatever you suggest would be very helpful.

So, if you were setting up our computers...what would you recommend?

posted by victoriab to Technology (11 answers total)

I teach seniors technology a lot. I think one of the things you want to do is make the interface that they have to deal with before they get to websites as easy as possible. Make the colors high contrast, make the fonts big and readable, make the homepages on the browser go to the right place remove all the crusty nonsense from the desktop that won't help them in his just in the way and or advertising for the people who sold you the computer. If you're going to have more than one browser available, make it clear that they're each Internet browsers don't have the Internet Explorer icon say"the Internet"

Think about having some adaptive technology available, sometimes I have users with a shaky hand and they finally Internet pretty easy-to-use if they have a trackball but almost impossible otherwise. Make sure the chairs in the lab have adjustable heights and there are things like wrist rests available for people.

AARP has a really good set of games that can teach some basic computer skills while the same time are interesting and enjoyable. The people I work with seem to like them. I always give a shout out for mousercise to people who are really new with this. You can set up a homepage that uses something like Internet buttons so that people can just see five or six choices and they don't have to mess around with bookmarks or desktop icons that might not be as useful as they're using a different computer.

Above all you want to try to give them information and advice that we'll not just working your computer lab might be helpful for them to take home. So teaching them how to keep track of their passwords for example is going to be more important actually than teaching them how to choose a super secure password if they can't remember it.

If you've got the time, you might want to be open for a little bit and see if you can get suggestions from the people who were using it as to what did like to see, because people are always happier with technology if they feel they've had some agency in how it's actually working.
posted by jessamyn at 2:45 PM on September 21, 2015

With your social media classes, in which I assume you show them things like how to sign up for facebook, give them a curated list of "popular" pages for them to like/follow.

You'll need to go and choose these because what the greater world thinks is popular is dumb.

Your senior center facebook page obviously should be a thing on there and have useful info. Encourage folks to use your page for conversations with each other and q&a about programs at the center, interesting stuff around town, etc.

My grandma likes following pages on facebook with insipid motivational quotes, pictures of flowers/flower arrangements, nature pictures, and dogs/cute baby animals.

Finding the good pages ahead of time to be like "hey, you might be interested in ____" is going to be way easier and better than what my grandma did which was accidentally end up following a bunch of spammy porn pages instead of whatever it is she was actually looking for.


Whatever games you choose, if there's a way for them to join a league for your center and have the scores feed into a leader board, that'll be a lot of fun, lighthearted competition for everyone.
posted by phunniemee at 2:48 PM on September 21, 2015

You may want to read some of the research on user experience design for seniors (a few examples: 1, 2, 3). Configuring applications to accommodate common physical limitations and offering compassionate support for common behavioral barriers will probably go a long way toward making the center successful.

Also, if you haven't, spend some time talking to your users and find out what they want and expect. This can be more time consuming with older folks, since they often have far less of an idea of what is available, or what the practical limitations are, but it will allow you to get a general feel for what their needs are, both those that can be fulfilled immediately and to plan for going forward. Also, seniors are generally the last people anyone asks for an opinion of any kind about technology - in my experience, just showing that you actually take them seriously and are interested in what their needs are IT-wise will generate a lot of good will.
posted by ryanshepard at 2:49 PM on September 21, 2015

Do the computers have webcams? Skype would be awesome for them.
posted by Lemmy Caution at 3:00 PM on September 21, 2015

Install ad blocking software on all browsers. Most of what screws older people up with the internet is the way ads pop up or look like page elements. Block the ads and they see a much simpler page.
posted by irisclara at 3:07 PM on September 21, 2015

Ancestry.com? I do genealogy and I'd love to help seniors with their genealogy. Maybe someone local could help you with a once a month class or one-on-one help.
posted by ReluctantViking at 3:13 PM on September 21, 2015

Can you include a few tablets? They're so popular, and providing a chance to try them out and some guidance how to work them would probably go over big.
posted by lemniskate at 3:59 PM on September 21, 2015

Seconding Skype for communicating with loved ones elsewhere.

I work some with seniors who live in a Sun City retirement community next to my college library. They come and use our computers. For the most part, they use them to send and receive email and to look at stuff on Facebook. They love being able to print photos on our fast printers. Sometimes we go on google earth and they show me where they used to live, where they went to school, etc. Some of the more adventurous, including one very rickety nonagenarian, use the internet to pay their bills.

One thing you might furnish them all with is a small pocket-sized notebook into which they can write their various user names and passwords, as well as URLs for favorite sites.

Ancestry.com would be great, but it's very expensive. Your public library may have it.
posted by mareli at 4:13 PM on September 21, 2015

Do consider accessibility for seniors with vision loss. I would wager that some of your user base would find it helpful.

For some people, the existing Windows accessibility options may be sufficient.

In terms of accessibility software for people with a higher degree of vision loss, you could look at ZoomText. ZoomText also has some limited screen reading functionality.

For Windows screenreader software for people with even higher degrees of vision loss, there's NVDA (open source) and JAWS for Windows (you'd have to purchase it).

To address a point Jessamyn's answer above brought up, it's worth acquainting yourself with the sticky keys functionality in Windows for users with limited dexterity.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:23 PM on September 21, 2015

Maybe someone local could help you with a once a month class or one-on-one help.

Oh this is key: see what resources they have for free at the local public library and then offer to help them get set up to use, say, Ancestry.com or Mango Languages or Universal Class or something. These can be things that require passwords but that they can log in to (in the lab or at home) if they know that they are available to them.
posted by jessamyn at 7:01 PM on September 21, 2015

Genealogy sites may be popular. Also local newspapers (if they require logins).
posted by metasarah at 11:22 AM on September 22, 2015