Exploring late adopters of digital technology in the rail sector: Enhancing accessibility in the digital and built travel environments.

多年来，工业界和学术界一直在努力改善所有用户的铁路服务可及性。英国政府和铁路安全与标准委员会(RSSB)、网络铁路(Network Rail)和铁路运输集团(RDG)等主要行业组织热衷于继续改善整个铁路旅游部门的服务可及性，以支持交通部的包容性运输战略。虽然近年来在改善建筑环境的可达性方面取得了进展，但这些项目往往侧重于通过结构工程改善通往车站和火车的通道，以及实施各种数字系统，如实时乘客预测服务和数据驱动的时刻表项目，这些项目是通过行业赞助的创新竞赛(如RSSB Data Sandbox)产生的。相比之下，试图了解和改进旅游部门数字技术的研究项目主要侧重于管理和服务提供商面对的系统。因此，在行业和学术研究中，乘客体验中有几个途径受到的关注较少。例如，虽然有几个项目旨在提高铁路部门数字系统的效率和可用性，但使用这种系统的好处往往是供应商而不是乘客直接看到的。同样，很少考虑评估一些乘客如何和为什么采用旨在帮助和增强他们旅行体验的技术创新。为了解决这些差距，这个博士项目将采用旅游、残疾研究、人为因素和交通研究领域的想法和概念，探索如何改进或调整乘客使用(或不使用)的数字系统，以更好地适应用户的需求，并采用新的技术趋势。罗杰斯的创新扩散理论表明，一个社会系统中的个人不会同时采用新的想法或产品，而是随着时间的推移，根据不同的个人特征采用。这一博士学位的重点将放在社会的后半部分，即较晚采用新思想和新技术的人，即后进者和落后者。推动该项目的首要研究问题是：采用晚技术乘客的铁路出行障碍是什么？约束谈判理论的社会特权维度和技术扩散理论在多大程度上解释了这一点？这项研究的结果将为铁路部门提出有关改善无障碍政策和行业标准的建议，以消除数字和建筑环境中的技术、心理或物理障碍。这将有助于实现使铁路对所有乘客更具吸引力和更容易到达的总体目标。

Efforts to improve the accessibility of rail services for all users have been ongoing in the industry and academia for many years. The British government and key industry organisations such as the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), Network Rail, and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) are keen to continue to improve the accessibility of services across the rail travel sector in support of the Department for Transport's Inclusive Transport Strategy. Whilst progress has been made towards improving the accessibility of the built environment over recent years; these projects have tended to focus on improving access to stations and trains through structural works as well as the implementation of various digital systems like real-time passenger prediction services and data-driven timetabling projects which have emerged via industry sponsored innovation competitions such as the RSSB Data Sandbox. By contrast, research projects that have sought to understand and improve digital technologies within the travel sector have largely been focused on the management and service provider facing systems. As a result, there are several avenues within the passenger experience that have received less attention in industry and academic research. For example, whilst there are several projects aimed at improving the efficiency and usability of rail sector digital systems, the benefits of using such systems are most often seen by the provider rather than directly by the passenger. Similarly, little consideration has been given to assessing how and why some passengers do (not) adopt technological innovations designed to assist and enhance their journey experience.To address these gaps, this PhD project will adopt ideas and concepts from the areas of tourism, disability studies, human factors, and transport studies to explore how digital systems used (or not used) by passengers can be improved or adapted to better suit the needs of users with later technology adopting tendencies. Rogers' theory of the diffusion of innovation suggests that individuals within a social system do not adopt new ideas or products simultaneously, rather they adopt over time depending upon various personal characteristics. The focus of this PhD will be on the latter half of society which are later to adopt new ideas and technologies, namely late adopters and laggards. The overarching research question driving this project is: What are the barriers to rail travel for late technology adopting passengers and to what extent is this explained by the social privilege dimension of constraints negotiation theory and the diffusion of technology theory? The findings of this research will generate recommendations for the rail sector related to improving accessibility policies and industry standards to remove technological, psychological, or physical barriers in both the digital and built environment. This will contribute towards the overall objective of making the rail more appealing and accessible for all passengers.