Department of Media and Information, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2024 Oct 11;8:e60712. doi: 10.2196/60712.
Older adults, a population particularly susceptible to misinformation, may experience attempts at health-related scams or defrauding, and they may unknowingly spread misinformation. Previous research has investigated managing misinformation through media literacy education or supporting users by fact-checking information and cautioning for potential misinformation content, yet studies focusing on older adults are limited. Chatbots have the potential to educate and support older adults in misinformation management. However, many studies focusing on designing technology for older adults use the needs-based approach and consider aging as a deficit, leading to issues in technology adoption. Instead, we adopted the asset-based approach, inviting older adults to be active collaborators in envisioning how intelligent technologies can enhance their misinformation management practices.
This study aims to understand how older adults may use chatbots' capabilities for misinformation management.
We conducted 5 participatory design workshops with a total of 17 older adult participants to ideate ways in which chatbots can help them manage misinformation. The workshops included 3 stages: developing scenarios reflecting older adults' encounters with misinformation in their lives, understanding existing chatbot platforms, and envisioning how chatbots can help intervene in the scenarios from stage 1.
We found that issues with older adults' misinformation management arose more from interpersonal relationships than individuals' ability to detect misinformation in pieces of information. This finding underscored the importance of chatbots to act as mediators that facilitate communication and help resolve conflict. In addition, participants emphasized the importance of autonomy. They desired chatbots to teach them to navigate the information landscape and come to conclusions about misinformation on their own. Finally, we found that older adults' distrust in IT companies and governments' ability to regulate the IT industry affected their trust in chatbots. Thus, chatbot designers should consider using well-trusted sources and practicing transparency to increase older adults' trust in the chatbot-based tools. Overall, our results highlight the need for chatbot-based misinformation tools to go beyond fact checking.
This study provides insights for how chatbots can be designed as part of technological systems for misinformation management among older adults. Our study underscores the importance of inviting older adults to be active co-designers of chatbot-based interventions.
老年人是特别容易受到错误信息影响的人群，他们可能会遭遇与健康相关的骗局或欺诈，并且可能在不知不觉中传播错误信息。之前的研究已经调查了通过媒体素养教育来管理错误信息，或者通过事实核查信息并警告潜在的错误信息内容来支持用户，但关注老年人的研究有限。聊天机器人有可能通过教育和支持老年人来管理错误信息。然而，许多专注于为老年人设计技术的研究采用了基于需求的方法，并将老龄化视为一种缺陷，从而导致技术采用方面的问题。相反，我们采用了基于资产的方法，邀请老年人积极参与构思智能技术如何增强他们的错误信息管理实践。
本研究旨在了解老年人如何利用聊天机器人的错误信息管理能力。
我们与 17 名老年人参与者进行了 5 次参与式设计研讨会，以构思聊天机器人如何帮助他们管理错误信息的方法。研讨会包括 3 个阶段：开发反映老年人在生活中遇到错误信息的场景，了解现有的聊天机器人平台，以及设想聊天机器人如何帮助干预第 1 阶段的场景。
我们发现，老年人在错误信息管理方面的问题更多地源于人际关系，而不是个人识别信息中错误信息的能力。这一发现强调了聊天机器人作为促进沟通和帮助解决冲突的中介的重要性。此外，参与者强调了自主性的重要性。他们希望聊天机器人能够教导他们在信息环境中导航，并自行对错误信息做出结论。最后，我们发现老年人对 IT 公司和政府管理 IT 行业的能力的不信任影响了他们对聊天机器人的信任。因此，聊天机器人设计者应该考虑使用可信赖的来源，并实践透明度，以增加老年人对基于聊天机器人的工具的信任。总的来说，我们的研究结果强调了聊天机器人为基础的错误信息工具需要超越事实核查的必要性。
本研究为设计聊天机器人作为老年人错误信息管理技术系统的一部分提供了见解。我们的研究强调了邀请老年人作为基于聊天机器人的干预措施的积极共同设计者的重要性。
