A third of the French population does not consider itself competent to initiate procedures online, according to theArcep (digital barometer 2021). However, over the last twelve months, 67% of French people have made at least one procedure on the Internet. A paradoxical situation, which can induce a stressful situation in some people. And for good reason: “We transfer the responsibility to the user, while no one is a specialist in these types of approaches”, criticizes Tom-Louis Teboul, development manager at Emmaus Connectan association that works for the integration of people in social and digital precarious situations.
For Damien Douani’s mother, 80 years old and “very agile on her tablet”, when it comes to reading and answering emails or finding recipes, everything is fine. On the other hand, filling out a form for taxes has created a blockage lately. “It was completely crazy, he recalls, it was a simple form with boxes but she was unable to do it alone”. If he does not fully explain the obstacle encountered by his mother, the expert in new technologies recognizes that “the off-putting aspect” of the site was certainly at the origin of “his loss of bearings”.
A list of recommendations for easy access
“We need digital guides, simpler sites, lighter procedures and relaxed rules” in the event of an error, insists Tom-Louis Teboul, who is worried about the excessive lack of recourse. A statement shared by the Defender of Rights, who, at the beginning of 2022, presented a list of thirty-eight recommendations to facilitate access to online procedures, including the need “to adapt the ergonomics of sites and vocabulary to the most precarious users”. On the design side of the sites, it is therefore on the developers that the weight rests. “They must make an educational effort,” said Damien Douani.
If the designers of Web2 have not been sufficiently sensitized to these questions, the arrival of Web3 could reshuffle the cards, even if for the moment, in the opinion of Damien Douani, “the digitally illiterate are not in the sights builders of the Web3”, whose technologies are in search of rapid adoption.