Using galvanic skin response measures to identify areas of frustration for older web 2.0 users

The World Wide Web (Web) is changing. The much vaunted Web 2.0 sees once static pages evolving into hybrid applications. Content that was once simple is now becoming increasingly complicated due to the many updating components located throughout the page. The information overload and visual complexity of such components is significant. This increased complexity can produce lower performance and higher levels of stress and frustration which negatively effect the user. In previous work we have shown how galvanic skin response (GSR) measurements, collected in tandem with eye-tracking data, can be used as a method for determining how stressed users become when interacting with content. The results of that study demonstrated that when used appropriately, the presence of Web 2.0 content can reduce GSR measurements and be of benefit to users. In this work, the previous study was repeated with twenty-three older Web users to establish if similar patterns of interaction could be established. The results reveal that while older participants made use of dynamic content, unlike previous participants, they were a non-homogenous group with a large variance in the GSR measurements. We assert that a cause of this is hesitancy and therefore developing techniques to reduce hesitancy will benefit older users when interacting with Web 2.0 content.