New devices like iPads seem to be much easier for the elder generation to understand and to use.

It’s an opinion based on my observations of individual users. I admit there is a lack of hard and scientifical evidence about it. Early Nielsen research done in the US suggests iPads and other devices are bought first by early adopters who tend to be young (63 % of iPad buyers are aged 35 and younger). But it is a nascent market, premium priced at the moment — many things will change when the market matures, number of devices become available and prices fall. Obviously, more research is needed.

I do believe iPads and similar devices have some killer features making them attractive for elder people:

• Intuitive touch-based interface: so no more intimidation when the young try to teach you the new technology, no more problems with operating the mouse and finding cursor on-screen.
• Simplified operating system and apps: no more fear that pressing anything is going to corrupt the device or data, no more features regular guys don’t need and that make the whole experience complicated.
• Concept of apps: this world of ”one click = one feature” seems to be somewhat more familiar to their world of brands/utilities they trust and look for.
• Media consumption patterns: according to our research old users tend to be rather consumers of media than producers. iPad and similar devices — more easy than flexible – are simply more suitable to their needs.

These new devices may diminish the most important barriers for the growth of the Internet usage.

Until today in all European Union countries the Internet has been adopted more by the young than by the old. Some Eurostat data: among people aged 18-29 almost 100 % use the Internet. among people aged 55-64 do it only 48 %. Among people aged 65 and older the Internet is used only by 25 %. In my Poland the difference is even bigger: compare 95 % to 30 % and 8 %.

So if the Internet usage is to grow, it is to grow among people aged 55 and older.

This difference is a market opportunity recognized already by many players like telecommunication companies, financial services etc. It is yet to be recognized by many other players as hardware or software producers… and media themselves. It will be recognized sooner or later as Europe is aging. At this very moment 30 % of Poles are aged 50 and older. In 20 years there will be 50 %. No business can ignore such a change on the market.

According to our latest research study done in Poland infrastructure or money are not in fact the most important barriers for the elder people to start using the Internet. The top barrier is that they don’t see it any useful. The second barrier is they believe it is too complicated.

You can interpret these answers in many ways. Many researchers including me believe that what these people really mean is they face a lack of devices/services suitable to their capabilities and interests, and they don’t know what’s really useful for them on the Internet and how to use it.

Here come the iPad and others.

This new breed of hardware have been already supported by a new generation of software and you can just expect this trend to excelerate. New, easier to use software will help the old people to discover things we — the younger ones — already know like digital entertainment, communication, e-commerce. The most popular features of the Internet apart of finding information and news.

I have just shared my iPad with my parents-in-law. They have learnt it almost immidiately and started to use features they had never used before.

And watch this 99-year-old woman rediscover reading and writing thanks to this new device:

Remark: I have wrote this post to answer to questions raised after I have contributed to an overview of digital media trends published at BetaTales, the blog of John Einar Sandvand of Aftenposten in Norway.

I am going to share more insights about new media devices at the INMA Transformation of News Summit at Harvard on December 2-3, 2010.

“We have committed $25 million over five years to the Knight News Challenge because we believe in media innovation through experimentation,” says Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation president and CEO. “Each winning project is an experiment with the potential to transform how we practice journalism in the digital age.”

Do you have a big idea for informing and inspiring a geographic community using social media, Web 2.0 tools or OpenID? How about exchanging information via video, photos or text messaging? A way to integrate game theory with web browsing to support local community engagement?

Winning entries must have three elements:

• use of a digital media
• delivery of news or information on a shared basis
• a geographically defined community

Entries must be open-source and share the software and knowledge created. Deadline for applications: November 1st.

Last year’s winners included the US newspaper Bakerfield Californian with its printcasting project. It will allow individuals to easily create ad-supported, customized publications with a mix of local news and information. The Knight Foundation awarded the newspaper with $837,000. 

To support applications this year, Knight has created a new incubator - the Garage – where prospective applicants can receive peer reviews and mentoring from screeners and awardees from previous years.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation invests in journalism excellence worldwide and in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950, the foundation has granted more than $400 million to advance quality journalism and freedom of expression. The foundation focuses on projects with the potential to create transformational change.

“Dying is an experience that we don’t know how to cope with. We are afraid not only of dying, we are afraid of talking about it, even thinking about it,” wrote Piotr Pacewicz, deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, the best read Polish newspaper in March 2008.

Gazeta – well known for its public campaigns – launched a new one called “Humane Dying”. It is an obvious reference to the campaign “Humane Birth” that in the last 12 years improved services offered to young mothers by Polish maternity wards.

Now we decided that it was a high time to try to improve services offered to old and ill people.

We launched this campaign together with the Hospice Foundation based in Gdansk. It is a non-governmental body that offered us a professional support and advice.

1. Debate in the newspaper

On the launch day we put “Humane Dying” slogan on the front page. We explained the reasons of the campaign and our plans in an editorial article that served that day as a main story on page number 1.

The campaign started with a new daily section in the newspaper. During the week Gazeta published many features, interviews and letters.

The first feature was about Ilona Miller, a woman from Gdansk who volunteered at the hospice there. When she found she had a cancer, she decided to die in the same place she served. Ilona adviced us when we were working on our campaign’s plans. She died just before the launch.

She said: “Death is closing one’s eyes and opening somebody else’s.” We run this campaign with her last words in mind.

Examples of other topics:

• How to die in a humane way? “The beginning is not very different from the end. A man is nude and helpless. He needs a support because he is afraid,” said in an interview Piotr Krakowiak, a director of Hospice Foundation that co-organises the campaign “Humane Dying”.
• I did not come here to convert you: it was an interview with Father Stanislaw Wysocki working with dying persons in the hospital (see the picture below).
• Come to me, please: it was a feature story about “bad deaths” – about the people who pass alone.
• A house of departures: it was a heart-breaking video documentary shot at the hospice by our journalists and some volunteers. It had its premiere online.
• Where is the death hiding today? There were opinion articles by a sociologist, psycho-oncologist, advertising proffesional.
• Letters: we got thousands of letters. We could publish in the printed newspaper just a fraction. We put more letters online. Read a short summary prepared by our deputy editor-in-chief Piotr Pacewicz.

2. Activities on the field

As we really wanted to make a difference, we prepared a campaign’s plan for the whole year. Gazeta is happy to have its own public campaigning department financed by a foundation of Gazeta’s publisher: a multimedia company Agora SA.

Here are the main activities planned for “Humane Dying” campaign:

• Volunteers: We invited schools and universities to attend training sessions about how to serve dying patients at the hospices and hospitals. These training programs are open to teachers and students. All participants will get professional advice and diplomas. Students are invited to write down their experiences from volunteer work at hospices and hospitals. The best articles will be awarded.
• 10 rights of a dying human being: We promote the ten commandments, for example: dying person have a right to die in his own home, a right to get an honest information about his condition, or a right to get a professional psychological help. We invite hospices and hospitals to promote these ten commandments among their workers and patients. We offer them materials and professional advice.
• Guide on hospices and hospitals: In November we are going to publish a guide about conditions and policies at hospices and hospitals in Poland. It will be based on data gathered from the authorities, these institutions and a survey among Gazeta’s readers.
• Communication: We launched a secretariat for the campaign, a hotline and a website for all the parties involved. This is the best way to spread information about our activities and how to get involved. Of course, we launched also an advertising campaign. If you want to learn more about it, read here.