Gender issues in ICT adoption

Abstract

In the UK, only 66% of people over the age of 65 and 29% of people over the age of 75 have used the Internet. While it is important to design inclusive Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for this population, ''older people'' are often lumped together by designers, negating the diversity within this population. One important factor that is not taken into account is gender differences during learning. There is a rich history of research in how men and women react differently to various aspects of the learning experience, particularly success and failure, but this knowledge has yet to be incorporated into many ICT designs. This paper discusses the gender differences literature as it relates to user interface design for the aging population.