Shopping delivered to Great Grandma, by Ubuntu Linux
Posted in Learning, Silver Surfers
Irene Shopping
‘I went to a computer class today. How do I use your father’s computer?’ This was Irene on the phone, twice a great grandmother, who had never used a computer before in her life. This came out of the blue, and was the last thing we had expected.
Irene is an 88 year old who in her early years was a hairdresser, then with a busy family life and young children, never learned to drive. She now lives on the outskirts of a small town which does not have fast transport links, on the UK east coast. Being widowed a year ago she naturally felt very isolated and dependent on others. Her family are supportive although they live many hours travel away.
Lifts from friends, use of taxis or local community transport, walking short distances in good weather, and even local buses are all used sometimes to get about. Irene has suffered falls, on one occasion breaking a hip, so that even though she is quite prepared to make efforts, travel decisions, including for shopping, are made with some care.
When her technically minded husband was alive, he occasionally used an old computer for printing lists. Irene never used it herself. When, sadly, she found herself on her own, the computer remained unused.
But desperation turned Irene’s thoughts towards the computer. To the great surprise of her family, who are all computer literate, Irene informed them that she was attending computer classes in a local adult class. Surprise is an understatement. The motive was soon clear. Shopping.
The course she had found locally, and joined, was for 2 hours, twice a week – a foundation course in computing.
Says Irene ‘The first time I went, there was a big screen on the wall. We didn’t touch a PC’. ‘I went to two more lessons. I was typing out columns and paragraphs of text from a book’. ‘I did not even learn how to turn a computer on or off.’ ‘I do not think I learned anything’.
Irene was clear that she wanted to do shopping on line and the teacher explained that this course was not suitable for that. The teacher said she would try to get Irene onto a particular 6 week course, although Irene says she heard nothing more. Irene left the course and looks back on it saying it was a ‘waste of time’.
By this time her family had got over their surprise about the turn of events, and not knowing where it might all lead, they had decided that the ancient computer her husband had used was not good for a novice who would do online shopping.
A family member had recently been given a discarded a computer from a friend, and this computer was prepared for Irene’s use. Irene also got connected to broadband internet, an activity which revealed an interesting ‘catch 22′ situation where communication, letters, passwords and emails were expected to be dealt with by the elderly novice householder, not by another person (a relative) living on the other side of the country who wanted to make all the arrangements. It was resolved with the help of, thankfully, some common sense and understanding by the Internet Service Provider (ISP).
The family are users of Ubuntu linux, and also had a lot of experience with helping vulnerable novices, so Ubuntu was judged ideal in terms of ease of use and dependable security.
The broadband connection and the computer were set up during the next family visit. Things were easily arranged so that there was a User account appropriate for what Irene needed, and that the administration of the computer was well protected.
Menus were also easily trimmed to contain only useful items, and the display resolution and font sizes were set to be suitable for a user who did not always wear glasses, even when needed.
The area is served by one of the big supermarket chains for delivery after online shopping. An account was registered.
The computer, the broadband unit, speakers, desk lamp etc were connected from a single mains wall socket, which would be turned off when not in use. The web browser (Firefox) on the computer was arranged so that it started up automatically when the computer started up, and also that its home page was the supermarket shopping site.
After the original activity of installing the equipment and setting up, time only allowed a couple of hours for Irene to have one-to-one instruction for her first ever online shopping experience. It had been hoped that this would be a trial shop of only a couple of items.
However, two hours and two dozen items later, Irene was shepherded though the ‘Shopping Delivery slot’ calendar, and then the ‘Checkout’ sign off. She had survived the unfamiliarity, the searches, the unpractised novice wandering cursor, and the brutal formality of the checkout, all successfully.
The shopping delivery arrived on schedule in a couple of days, to the delight of all concerned.
Some days later, a bit of family remote support was needed to help with Irene getting her next order through the checkout successfully. It turned out that the entry field which needed the credit card number was being given the text name of the bank instead. This confusion was soon cleared up and another successful delivery was soon on its way.
One unexpected bonus Irene noticed with online shopping was – Ice Cream! Online shopping resulted in delivery of ice cream straight from a freezer to the door.
The following week, the checkout activity again did not go smoothly, and the shopping basket stayed full, refusing to get through the checkout. The family later learned that Irene had then decided to use the telephone help line shown on the shopping site to sort things out. With indomitable persistence, the help line was phoned four times in different ways and combinations until she got through to someone who understood the problem, who could see her full shopping basket and could accept the credit card number over the phone. Another successful delivery. And congratulations for using the helpline successfully!
Around this time Irene was in conversation with another person who had been going to the computer classes for two years. He was pleased to say he could now manipulate a printer font to be upside down. Irene asked if he could do online shopping. ‘No’ he replied. ‘What’s the good of that then? Irene asked.
About a week later, Irene’s next shopping event went smoothly with no outside support needed. A real first!
In the space of about 4 weeks, Irene had graduated to independence for her online grocery shopping in the alien world of computers and online shopping. This had been with remarkably little help, because although family support was available, it was by phone or remote help on request.
Irene’s skills with the mouse needed as much practice as possible and a good way to get enjoyable exercise has been to play an on screen game such as Majhong. The rules were explained over the phone.
The next family visit to Irene was not long after, and it happened that Irene had been considering making an existing spare room into a more comfortable bedroom, replacing an existing old bed. Her daughter suggested using the broadband connected computer to buy – not groceries this time – but a bed. It would save at least one lengthy round trip to the nearest large town, and would hopefully offer a more convenient choice.
With the experienced help of her daughter, Irene now saw further benefit from having a broadband internet connection. Choosing a reliable retailer came first, then identifying a suitable replacement bed and finally deciding and arranging delivery – all when sitting comfortably, with her daughter, and with a cup of tea.
The bed was delivered four days later. Irene was impressed.
She is going from strength to strength with her confidence in using the computer. She can mostly now do what she wants, shopping, on her own, and has even checked her email. Having the computer and the basic skills has helped a lot and she says it has ‘brought my independence back’.
Technical stuff:
Grocery shopping via Tesco http://www.tesco.com
Bed shopping from John Lewis http://www.johnlewis.com
The computer is a recycled gift, tower, Tiny PC Pentium III 500 MHz, 384MB RAM, 20GB HD, CD ROM.
Monitor is CRT 17 inch.
Modem/router is Netgear DG834GT, wireless turned off.
Operating System is Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. Community based software, free of charge.
User account – non admin, reduced menus, panels and menus locked.
Web browsing is with Firefox.
Email is with Thunderbird.
Remote help facility is via Remote Desktop (VNC) through secure shell tunnel (ssh).
Dynamic DNS used to facilitate secure remote access connection. (Free account).
Broad band is 2MB, ISP is UKOnline.net, with modem router. (Lite package).
March 31st, 2009 alancocks | 24 Comments »
March 31st, 2009 at 1:55 pm
A great little feel good story.
Tell Irene to keep it up. And explore more of what the internet has to offer.
It’s not just a big shop!
Ciarán
March 31st, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I have been saying for years that anyone can use a computer if properly trained. Sadly most people are not properly instructed.
Secondly I also maintain that a Linux box (properly configured) is at leas as easy if not easier to use than a correspondingly Windows box.
Finally a Linux box is much easier to maintain, in my case I look after my father’s system at the other end of the country in exactly the same way as the story here does.
You can read my experiences here: http://www.iredale.net/p/by-topic/unix/desktop/
April 1st, 2009 at 8:46 am
Adam I really a gree with you.
My father thought he can’t learn using a computer (he is 64) and he will never know, and now he is on the net all day long
April 1st, 2009 at 8:46 pm
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April 2nd, 2009 at 3:01 am
[...] Shopping delivered to Great Grandma, by Ubuntu Linux The family are users of Ubuntu linux, and also had a lot of experience with helping vulnerable novices, so Ubuntu was judged ideal in terms of ease of use and dependable security. [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:22 am
[...] http://dnc.digitalunite.com/2009/03/31/shopping-delivered-by-ubuntu-linux/ [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:53 am
Great story, thanks.
April 5th, 2009 at 8:03 am
A very touching story. I can relate as my mum has got her first computer and her knowledge and enthusiasm for it and what it can do is excelerating is pace. Only today was she showing me Google Earth! I never even installed it for her so how on Earth did she find it, install it and understand it. The mind boggles lol This generation is normally ignored when developing sites and processes but personally, as a web designer myself, I learn the most from them.
April 6th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Good show Irene! This story proves a point, the lucky ones are those with kids or grandkids. If you have neither and have to go to classes then hard luck. The classes teach you the daftest things. If they would just listen to the Irene’s of this world the teacher would become a student and then learn what real people want.
power to the People. and to Irene – I hope you read this one day and then learn to reply! clue: click on comment button and type your reply, then click on ‘submit comment’ button. that makes you a blogger. LOL.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
to cyberdoyle
quite right i think the teachers could learn quite a lot from our generation
irene
April 14th, 2009 at 3:44 am
Congratulations Irene! And wonderful job to the family…it is not easy to teach family sometimes, they tend to lose their tempers with you.
That is what I try to accomplish when I go out to help people over 40 learn their computers. I call myself a computer translator: I turn complex concepts into ordinary words and examples. I enjoy it tremendously!
To anyone that is new to the technical world, keep your spirits up! You CAN do it, I promise!
April 15th, 2009 at 2:28 am
A fantastic story but how bout including some html links to ubuntu as well as other things mentioned ?
April 15th, 2009 at 3:08 am
[...] Complete article here. [...]
April 15th, 2009 at 3:19 am
[...] Read more at Digital Unite [...]
April 15th, 2009 at 5:13 am
[...] a comment » Who ever said that Linux is just the realm of highly technical computer users, here is proof that even grandma can do Linux (in this case, Ubuntu). So the pundits saying Linux is just [...]
April 15th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Well done Irene! It’s great to hear a story about an older person being given a new lease of life with the internet. I hope she goes from strength to strength.
April 15th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I just love a story with a happy ending!
April 17th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I am 70 and I got my first computer in August. I can shop on line, do spread sheets, put my photos into my pictures, transfer music and videos to the computer, and use power point. I am eager to see what more I can do. Although Irene has done well, where is her natural curiosity to do more?
April 21st, 2009 at 8:42 am
Pat, I’m not sure how it applies to Irene, but I think it’s an interesting topic: how do you promote/harness curiosity and the impetus to find out the next thing? Why do some people have more of it than others? Plainly this quality of curiosity is key to ‘getting on’ in the modern world.
Gill
May 1st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
[...] we know age has nothing to do with it – just ask great-grandmother Irene or Kath of the Grannies for You Tube. And if she gets a little stuck we’re bound to have a [...]
May 2nd, 2009 at 8:46 am
My 55yr old brother-in-law attended one of these “computer courses” a couple of years ago. He was taught just enough to be dangerous, and not enough to get himself out of trouble (nothing about dealing with or protecting yourself from viruses/malware, nothing about not deleting stuff you’re not sure about etc). That’s resulted in a lot of beer-money trips over to him to sort out his problems. Unfortunately running Linux is not really an option for him as he plays mainstream games now and then, as well as being of the mind-set that unless he’s paying for software it’s not going to be any good.
My 65yr old father on the other hand, took to his PC like a fish to water. No courses needed just a couple of hours of solitaire to get him used to the mouse. I recently removed XP from his 4 year old Dell and dropped a copy of Ubuntu on instead as he’d just caught the digi-cam bug and traded in his old 35mm SLR and darkroom for a nice shiny new DSLR, and didn’t Photoshop as a good investment. He’s happily red-eye removing and filtering inside the GIMP, has figured out Synaptic and is converting all his old MS Office documents to OO format.
May 2nd, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Paul
are you aware of the google funded small application called ‘gitso’? it works with Windows as well as Linux. After a simple change to your own system router, which can be a temporary change, you are able to see and control someone’s machine after they have requested help. I have been using this a lot lately because a lot of my friends have been asking for Ubuntu! One lives in France. Not so convenient for a beer money trip.
http://code.google.com/p/gitso/
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 am
Great story but I will add a couple of tips. Ditch the mouse and get a trackball. I’ve taught a couple of older people to use a computer and after first trying a mouse they found the trackball a lot easier. Also you want to turn off that stupid double click nonsense.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
People who don’t think they know about computers have no trouble at all. It’s people who think they do know about them that have the problems. They expect the problems they are used to and find it difficult to adapt to something different.
:¬}