Mental model for reminder system: a case study of people aged 50 and above / Rafidah Sulo

The growing numbers of elderly is inevitable. As we aged our memory capabilities reduced, thus reminder system is one of technology that can benefit elderly user. However, the uptake of reminder system is still low. Many researchers from the western country have interested in exploring the use of reminder system as part of assistive technology for the elderly. Nevertheless, no research is solely focus on what actually elderly users expect from a reminder system. Hence, this study attempts to assess and understand elderly mental model on reminder system. We conducted 8 experiments separately. Each experiment consists of four phase namely pre-test phase, test phase, post-test phase and drawing phase. We applied techniques such as semi structured interview, task solving and drawing to assess our participant's mental model. Our result highlights that elderly use reminder for important event/activity, but the definition of important may be differ for each participant. Our results also indicate that elderly mental model on reminder system includes four important principles in which the reminder system must be simple, can be synchronized, mobile and easy to use. As conclusion, it is important to match the design of reminder system with the user's mental model as it will influence the acceptance and the success of a reminder system.