Multimodal and ubiquitous computing systems: supporting independent-living older users

We document the rationale and design of a multimodal interface to a pervasive/ubiquitous computing system that supports independent living by older people in their own homes. The Millennium Home system involves fitting a resident’s home with sensors – these sensors can be used to trigger sequences of interaction with the resident to warn them about dangerous events, or to check if they need external help. We draw lessons from the design process and conclude the paper with implications for the design of multimodal interfaces to ubiquitous systems developed for the elderly and in healthcare, as well as for more general ubiquitous computing applications

Painting the ideal home: using art to express visions of technologically supported independent living for older people in North East England

This paper describes the investigation of the development of future technological products to support older people in everyday living through the agency of a community art group. Recent research has identified a number of challenges facing designers seeking to use traditional participatory design approaches to gather technology requirements data from older people. Here, a project is described that sought to get a group of older people to think creatively about their needs and desires for technological support through the medium of paint. The artistic expression technique described in this article allowed the identification of issues that had also been found by previous research that used a range of different techniques. This indicates that the approach shows promise, as it allows information to be gathered in an environment that is comfortable and familiar using methods already known by the participants and which they find enjoyable. It provides a complement (or possible alternative) to standard protocols and has the potential benefit of extracting even richer information as the primary task for participants is enjoyable in its own right and is not associated with an interrogative process. Furthermore, it is argued that some of the key risks of traditional approaches are lessened or removed by the naturalistic setting of this approach

Virtual Office Design For The Effectiveness Of Web_based Office Administration Works

Virtual Office is the science of information technology which is a new thing for some people. The word of virtual has a meaning of visible or tangible, it means that in the future an office is intangible because it will be replaced by a system which is specifically designed to replace the role of office by applying web -based computer programming. Nowdays, Offices have been applied are still using a certain place with a wide range of file and requiring a storage cabinet. These issues triggered the researcher tried to design a virtual office with a concept which is able to handle a variety of problems, ranging from archival storage , searching the archives , phone , video conference , sending letters, categorizing archives and saving faculty and staff data. These concepts developed by the researcher offered well organized data that all files or all archives of administrative office tucked neatly away in a database in well organizing so it made easier in searching a spesific archive. The final objective of the research is the improvement of the workers’ performance because it will shorten the time to manage archives or files. Manufacture of incoming mail, outgoing mail, disposition and also numbering letters will be arranged neatly, thus will increase the effectiveness of a worker. (Abstract

Simple smart homes web interfaces for blind people

Last-decade great advances in technology have contributed to make home smarter and more comfortable, especially for people with disabilities. A lot of low cost solutions are available on the market, which can be controlled remotely by a Home Automation System (HAS). Unfortunately, the user interfaces are usually designed to be visually oriented which can exclude some user categories, like those who are blind. This paper focuses on the design of usable Web user interfaces for Home Automation Systems, with a special attention to the functions as well as the interface arrangement in order to enhance the interaction via screen reader. The proposed indications could inspire other designers to make the user experience more satisfying and effective for people who interact via screen reader

Internet of Things-aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions

Traditional power grids are being transformed into Smart Grids (SGs) to address the issues in existing power system due to uni-directional information flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability and security. SGs offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers, involving power generation, transmission, distribution and utilization systems. SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis and control of the grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers and in consumers' premises in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation and the tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of Internet of Things (IoT). IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy by incorporating IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators and smart meters), as well as by providing the connectivity, automation and tracking for such devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT-aided SG systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications and prototypes of IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues, challenges and future research directions for IoT-aided SG systems

Home Energy Consumption Feedback: A User Survey

Buildings account for a relevant fraction of the energy consumed by a country, up to 20-40% of the yearly energy consumption. If only electricity is considered, the fraction is even bigger, reaching around 73% of the total electricity consumption, equally divided into residential and commercial dwellings. Building and Home Automation have a potential to profoundly impact current and future buildings' energy efficiency by informing users about their current consumption patterns, by suggesting more efficient behaviors, and by pro-actively changing/modifying user actions for reducing the associated energy wastes. In this paper we investigate the capability of an automated home to automatically, and timely, inform users about energy consumption, by harvesting opinions of residential inhabitants on energy feedback interfaces. We report here the results of an on-line survey, involving nearly a thousand participants, about feedback mechanisms suggested by the research community, with the goal of understanding what feedback is felt by home inhabitants easier to understand, more likely to be used, and more effective in promoting behavior changes. Contextually, we also collect and distill users' attitude towards in-home energy displays and their preferred locations, gathering useful insights on user-driven design of more effective in-home energy display