No.28 Aging Societies and Web Usability (June 14, 2005)
Developed countries, including Japan, along with countries such as China and Korea are beginning to face societies with declining birthrates and aging populations. I would like to spend some time in this column discussing the importance of usability in an aging society.
First, in a society with declining birthrates and an increasingly aged population, we can predict the following with respect to the total amount of services a country needs and the people who will be responsible for providing services (the labor force):
- A decline in the nationwide labor force due to a decline in the number of young people and the retirement of older people.
- No rapid decline in the number of people (the population) who need services.
- An increase in the demand for special services required by the elderly.
What this means is that in contrast with the rapid decline in people who can provide services, there is no significant change in the number of people who need services. Instead, in the healthcare and nursing care segments, the amount of services which are needed will certainly increase.
A great deal of dialogue has already taken place on this issue, and the following are some common measures for dealing with it:
- Admit temporary labor from overseas. Or, open the door to immigrants.
- Increase the participation rate of women in the labor force.
- Postpone the retirement age.
Here at beBit, we?fd like to add to this list the online provision of services, on a website for example, which do not need to be provided directly by a person.
The advent of the Internet has brought about a revolution in information distribution. Services which were once provided face-to-face are now being provided via the web. In the Internet age, services which were previously provided by dozens or even hundreds of stores, in some cases, can now be provided by one website.
This shift is not occurring only in the business world. Even in the government sector, the more the web is used and computerization progresses, the less labor force is required to provide services. (Even though less labor force is required, I think we still need manpower, especially from overseas, in order to maintain services.)
In other words, it is ideal to have people provide service in fields that actually require a human touch, and to reduce, as much as possible, the number of people involved in all other fields. However, if these web-based services are poor in terms of usability, this could bring a decline in the value of society as a whole.
In addition to the conventional perspective on accessibility, declining birthrates and aging populations are bringing about a greater demand for usability for society as a whole.
Ryosei Wakabayashi
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