_________________________________________________________________ VOLUME 6, ISSUE 1 PSYCHNEWS INTERNATIONAL May 2001 _________________________________________________________________ SECTION J: BRIEF CONFERENCE REPORT OLDER ADULTS, HEALTH INFORMATION AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB Mary H. Parker, Ph.D. The Second Biennial Conference, "Older Adults, Health Information & the World Wide Web", was held February 26-28, 2001, on the campus of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. Over 50 speakers representing the research, media, and government communities discussed progress to date in empowering older people to use technology to meet their needs. A paper copy of the Proceedings of the Conference is available and can be requested by contacting the SPRY website: www.spry.org. An electronic copy of the report is expected to be available from the SPRY's webpage by July 2001. Of particular interest may be the following presentations: "Designing for Older Users", Wendy A. Rogers and Sara J. Czaja, provided a tutorial on how age-related perceptual, cognitive and movement control differences influence use of technology and how to improve age-related design and product and web design strategies. "Introduction to Usability Testing with Older Adults," Sanjay Koyani, reported on recent data collected by CHESS, National Cancer Institute, NIH, illustrating how involving older adults in Web design influences user acceptance and ease-of-use, including data from usability tests with older adults (65+) and younger adults (20-30). "The Art of the Possible", W.S. "Ozzie" Osborne, General Manager, IBM Voice Systems, discussed recent enhancements in the IT environment to assist elderly and those with disabilities. "Human Factors: Designing for Successful Computer Use," Neil Charness, describes early results from a Florida State University project on input device use by older adults which indicate that direct positioning devices can minimize age differences as well as hand differences, suggesting that computer system designers need to create multiple age-sensitive interfaces. - - - Dr. Mary Hamil Parker is Managing Director of MKHP Associates, LLC. _________________________________________________________________