Television goes online – that’s the trend with TVs and suppliers. Standard hybrid broadcast broadband TV (or HbbTV for short) makes this possible by linking television with the interactive world of internet. With their new media products, vendors nowadays still aim their efforts at younger target groups, which are more used to modern internet technologies. But the partners in the European GUIDE (Gentle User Interfaces for Elderly People, www.guide-project.eu) research project are different. They want to come up with TV applications that can be used more easily and intuitively to make sure that elderly persons also have fun working with these new interactive television deals. The Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD in Darmstadt, Germany is the project coordinator and has taken on a particular role to support industry with these solutions. Together with its partners, the Fraunhofer team is devising software that enables applications to be adapted to individual users at low cost while focusing on individual preferences or capabilities of the users. For instance, users can control their television with the remote control, by speech, using gestures or a combination of all the above. The software automatically manages all interaction devices and applies the right settings for the user.

Another tool that the University of Cambridge came up with in the GUIDE Project is software for age simulation. Age simulators are already in use in some sectors for developing and designing products. A case in point is specially prepared overalls that have weights at various points to show the wearer how freedom of motion changes as you become older. It’s similar with the GUIDE simulation software. The simulator recreates specific audio and visual weaknesses and cognitive or motor restrictions, which means that the developer experiences how his or her application functions (or not) when it is used by older persons with these limitations. The insight gained helps identifying problems and adapting the design at an early stage of product development – and reducing the amount of expensive customer tests. Christoph Jung works at the Fraunhofer IGD so he ought to know: "Nowadays, most applications are still mainly developed by engineering experts, and end users have to be involved in dedicated user studies, which are of course costly and time-consuming. With GUIDE we want to take a step forward towards more efficiency in a user-centred design process, through using ‘virtual‘ users in a simulation, and making applications personalisable by software support."

The developers from Fraunhofer will be providing insight into the findings of current research in GUIDE at this year’s IFA fair in Hall 11.1 at Stand 8. Interested visitors can test the simulator at their stand and learn more about software-supported personalization of applications.