Age-Inclusive Environmental Dashboard Design. How Ergonomic Interfaces Bridge Generational Gaps in Natural Capital Data Interpretation

The article analyses the ergonomic aspects of environmental monitoring dashboards from the perspective of age-inclusive design, addressing the dual challenges of demographic ageing and climate change monitoring. A multi-method assessment was conducted to evaluate the accessibility of twelve contemporary environmental dashboards to diverse age demographics. The present study adopted a multifaceted approach encompassing System Usability Scale measurements, Cairo's Visualisation Wheel analysis, Visual Vocabulary mapping, and a rigorous examination for adherence to recognised information design principles. The findings demonstrate a substantial correlation between interface complexity and age-related accessibility issues, with older users exhibiting heightened vulnerability to data density, level of abstraction, and interaction discontinuity. Highly effective dashboards utilizing progressive disclosure principles and redundant visual coding effectively mitigate age-related performance differences. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that optimal ergonomic design can reduce the correlation between age and performance from r=0.67 to r=0.23 in environmental data interpretation tasks. These findings carry significant implications for socio-technical systems in environmental monitoring, particularly regarding intergenerational knowledge sharing and climate resilience.