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

多年来，业界和学术界一直在努力改善所有用户的铁路服务可达性。英国政府和主要行业组织，如铁路安全和标准委员会（RSSB）、铁路网和铁路交付集团（RDG），都热衷于继续改善整个铁路旅行部门的服务可达性，以支持运输部的包容性运输战略。虽然近年在改善建筑环境的可达性方面已取得进展；这些项目往往侧重于通过结构工程以及各种数字系统的实施来改善车站和火车的使用，如实时乘客预测服务和数据驱动的时间表项目，这些项目是通过行业赞助的创新竞赛（如RSSB数据沙盒）出现的。相比之下，试图了解和改进旅游行业数字技术的研究项目主要集中在面向管理和服务提供商的系统上。因此，乘客体验中有几种途径在行业和学术研究中受到的关注较少。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，但使用这些系统的好处通常是由供应商而不是直接由乘客看到的。同样，很少考虑评估一些乘客如何以及为什么不采用旨在帮助和改善他们的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等领域的想法和概念，探索如何改进或调整乘客使用（或不使用）的数字系统，以更好地满足具有后期技术采用趋势的用户的需求。罗杰斯的创新扩散理论认为，一个社会系统中的个人不会同时接受新的想法或产品，而是随着时间的推移，根据不同的个人特征来接受。这个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，即较晚的采用者和落后者。推动这个项目的首要研究问题是：对于采用最新技术的乘客来说，铁路旅行的障碍是什么？这在多大程度上可以用约束谈判理论和技术扩散理论的社会特权维度来解释？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，以消除数字环境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可达性的总体目标。

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.