PROFESSOR JOHN D NELSON Director, Centre for Transport Research Email: j'd'nelsonabdn'ac'uk

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Inclusive Digital Economy Transport Cluster
PROFESSOR JOHN D NELSON Director, Centre for
Transport Research E-mail j.d.nelson_at_abdn.ac.u
k
http//www.abdn.ac.uk/ctr/
September 2008
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Overview

• Transport in the Inclusive Digital Economy
• Case study Older people, health, ICT, quality of
  life and transport in Aberdeenshire
• Future Ideas for Research

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Transport in the IDE

• The UK Governments Foresight Initiative
  2004-06 assessed how Intelligent Infrastructure
  Systems IIS might evolve over the 50 years to
  2055.
• The Transport IIS study explored the potential
  impact of increasing intelligence in
  infrastructure provision on the key policy areas
  of sustainable living, travel behaviour and how
  new intelligence might encourage multi-modal
  transport. Issues highlighted were
• Environmental
• Technological capabilities
• Policy challenges
• Courageous decision-making
• Sustainable living
• Changing travel behaviour
• Connecting travel modes intelligently

(Source Transport page on IDE Website by Dr
Martin Higginson)
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Transport, ICT and Health in Aberdeenshire

• Scottish context
• Internet access has increased rapidly but for
  those aged 65 only a minority have access at
  home.
• 65-74 age group home access is 18.
• There is clearly a need for alternative channels
  of information to be maintained so that the
  majority - without Internet access - are not
  disadvantaged. (Older People In Scotland
  Results from the Scottish Household Survey
  1999-2002, p34)
• Men more likely to access the Internet than women
  (cf above ref)

(Source IDE Sub-Project Report by CTR,
University of Aberdeen)
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65 Concern with Trust
E-mails are fine as they can be left on the
system until the person connects. However, the
sender can never be sure if the e-mail was
received e.g. spam filters sometimes cut out the
message. Mobile phones are less reliable as a lot
of people carry them for emergencies and do not
like them switched on in public places. Messages
left are not always picked up so the sender must
double check
Mobile telephones are good to have in cases of
emergency (assuming one can get a signal)
Male, 65-74
I use Internet more to find accessible
accommodation rather than transport as it is
easier to explain to taxi or rail what help
exactly I need to complete a journey. I wish the
Internet/computers specifically were more
reliable less likely to go wrong than always
coming out with new models
Male, 65-74
Neither of these methods are of any use to me
and, even if I had the use of them, I would not
use them for the purposes stated. I prefer a
personal hands-on approach, which I trust more
than the technology.
Female, 65-74, disabled
Male, 75
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Focus Groups in context

• Relevance to life and of content as well as
  accessible design factors should be taken into
  account
• Feeling excluded is not sufficient motivation to
  take up new ICT, but targeted training may help
• Choice of approach, i.e. non-ICT options, still
  need to run alongside to avoid social exclusion
  of older unwilling/unable

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Future Ideas for Research

• Transport and Health is a fruitful area of
  enquiry
• A longitudinal study on differences a
  participatory approach can make to both ICT
  developers and users
• Quantifying accessibility problem faced by health
  service promoting ICT intervention
• Quantifying ICT impact on health transport
  service

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Contact details

• Centre for Transport Research
• http//www.abdn.ac.uk/ctr
• Professor John D. Nelson
• Email j.d.nelson_at_abdn.ac.uk
• Dr Paulus Aditjandra, Research Fellow
• Email p.t.aditjandra_at_abdn.ac.uk
• Kate Pangbourne, Research Assistant
• Email k.pangbourne_at_abdn.ac.uk