Expected Information Needs of Parents for Pervasive Awareness Systems

Abstract. This paper examines the communication needs of busy parents that can be served by awareness systems: systems supporting a continuous and semi-automated flow of information about the activities of communicating individuals. We report an online survey involving 69 participants. This survey focused on whether the types of information offered by awareness systems as these are introduced in current research literature are appreciated by busy parents. The results show a) that information items that allow personalization and expressing intentionality are more desired than those than low granularity and automatically sensed information that is easy to collect automatically b) the attitudes regarding the information that people wish to share about themselves is almost identical to what they wish to know of their partners and c) survey methods focusing on information do not need to differentiate between the direction of information flow or whether this is symmetric, since people report almost identical preferences

Evaluation of a Pervasive Game for Domestic Energy Engagement Among Teenagers

In this article, we present Power Agent—a pervasive game designed to encourage teenagers and their families to reduce energy consumption in the home. The ideas behind this mobile phonebased game are twofold; to transform the home environment and its devices into a learning arena for hands-on experience with electricity usage and to promote engagement via a team competition scheme. We report on the game’s evaluation with six teenagers and their families who played the game for ten days in two cities in Sweden. Data collection consisted of home energy measurements before, during, and after a game trial, in addition to interviews with participants at the end of the evaluation. The results suggest that the game concept was highly efficient in motivating and engaging the players and their families to change their daily energy-consumption patterns during the game trial. Although the evaluation does not permit any conclusions as to whether the game had any postgame effects on behavior, we can conclude that the pervasive persuasive game approach appears to be highly promising in regard to energy conservation and similar fields or issues

Parent perceptions of time spent meaningfully by young adults with pervasive support needs

This article describes a qualitative study that examined how 23 young adults with pervasive support needs and limited functional communication spent their time and how their parents (n=23) and direct support professionals (DSPs; n=2) defined meaningfulness in relation to the young adults’ experiences. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the parents and DSPs. Findings indicated that most of the young adults spent time in their communities, though typically without friends and not engaged in integrated employment. The participants defined meaningfulness according to three dimensions: community participation, individual indicators, and the nature of activities in the young adults’ schedules. They also described both episodic and ongoing challenges that hindered their ability to focus on time spent meaningfully. Finally, their definitions, which reflected basic care needs and community participation goals, raised questions related to the awareness, availability, and utilization of services and supports in the adult developmental disabilities system

More Efficient High Schools in Maine: Emerging Student-Centered Learning Communities

American K-12 public education all across the nation is at a difficult and critical crossroads. We are at a time when keen global competition underscores the need for exceptional performance in our primary and secondary schools. Yet, state and federal governments face unprecedented budget deficits and limited resources for the foreseeable future. Additionally, our schools are being called upon to do an even better job of preparing students for the 21st century. There is growing evidence that success in the 21st Century requires more than what has traditionally been the content of schooling. It requires more and different types of knowledge, skills, and learning. To help students acquire this knowledge base and skills, many educators and leaders are calling for transformative changes in our schools and changes in how we help students learn. This transformative change is called by many names: performance-based learning, standards-based learning, and student-centered learning. The Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF) describes this transformation to more student-centered learning as the need for:... growing a greater variety of higher quality educational opportunities that enable all learners -- especially and essentially underserved learners -- to obtain the skills, knowledge and supports necessary to become civically engaged, economically self-sufficient lifelong learners. (2011) Can our schools be transformed to meet these challenges? More importantly, can they be high performing, efficient, and student-centered at the same time? To explore these questions, the Center for Education Policy, Applied Research, and Evaluation at the University of Southern Maine conducted a study in 2010-2011 of a sample of Maine high schools. Funded in part by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, the study examined the degree to which these More Efficient high schools were also student-centered. In 2010, NMEF identified some of the key principles and attributes of studentcentered learning. The principles are that: Student-centered education systems provide all students equal access to the skills and knowledge needed for college and career readiness in today's world. Student-centered education systems align with current research on the learning process and motivation. Student-centered education systems focus on mastery of skills and knowledge. Student-centered education systems build student's identities through a positive culture with a foundation of strong relationships and high expectations. Student-centered education systems empower and support parents, teachers, administrators, and other community members to encourage and guide learners through their educational journey. The key attributes are that: Curriculum, instruction and assessment embrace the skills and knowledge needed for success. Community assets are harnessed to support and deepen learning experiences. Time is used flexibly and includes learning opportunities outside the traditional school day and year. Mastery-based strategies are employed to allow for pacing based on proficiency in skills and knowledge. The goal of the study reported here was to determine to what extent these principles and attributes may be found in the high schools. To that end, once a sample of More Efficient high schools was identified, the beliefs, strategies, and practices found in these schools were examined in light of the 2010 NMEF key principles and attributes

Ubiquitous systems and the family: Thoughts about the networked home

Developments in ubiquitous and pervasive computing herald a future in which computation is embedded into our daily lives. Such a vision raises important questions about how people, especially families, will be able to engage with and trust such systems whilst maintaining privacy and individual boundaries. To begin to address such issues, we have recently conducted a wide reaching study eliciting trust, privacy and identity concerns about pervasive computing. Over three hundred UK citizens participated in 38 focus groups. The groups were shown Videotaped Activity Scenarios [11] depicting pervasive or ubiquitous computing applications in a number of contexts including shopping. The data raises a number of important issues from a family perspective in terms of access, control, responsibility, benefit and complexity. Also findings highlight the conflict between increased functionality and the subtle social interactions that sustain family bonds. We present a Pre-Concept Evaluation Tool (PRECET) for use in design and implementation of ubicomp systems

The Internet of Hackable Things

The Internet of Things makes possible to connect each everyday object to the Internet, making computing pervasive like never before. From a security and privacy perspective, this tsunami of connectivity represents a disaster, which makes each object remotely hackable. We claim that, in order to tackle this issue, we need to address a new challenge in security: education

Teensites.com: A Field Guide to the New Digital Landscape

A 2001 report from the Center for Media Education, provided here as background to work produced by Kathryn Montgomery after coming to American University and CSM (see http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/ecitizens/index2.htm -- Youth as E-Citizens'), surveys the burgeoning digital media culture directed at -- and in some cases created by -- teens.This report surveys the burgeoning new media culture directed at -- and in some cases created by -- teens. TeenSites.com -- A Field Guide to the New Digital Landscape examines the uniquely interactive nature of the new media, and explores the ways in which teens are at once shaping and being shaped by the electronic culture that surrounds them

Designing the Health-related Internet of Things: Ethical Principles and Guidelines

The conjunction of wireless computing, ubiquitous Internet access, and the miniaturisation of sensors have opened the door for technological applications that can monitor health and well-being outside of formal healthcare systems. The health-related Internet of Things (H-IoT) increasingly plays a key role in health management by providing real-time tele-monitoring of patients, testing of treatments, actuation of medical devices, and fitness and well-being monitoring. Given its numerous applications and proposed benefits, adoption by medical and social care institutions and consumers may be rapid. However, a host of ethical concerns are also raised that must be addressed. The inherent sensitivity of health-related data being generated and latent risks of Internet-enabled devices pose serious challenges. Users, already in a vulnerable position as patients, face a seemingly impossible task to retain control over their data due to the scale, scope and complexity of systems that create, aggregate, and analyse personal health data. In response, the H-IoT must be designed to be technologically robust and scientifically reliable, while also remaining ethically responsible, trustworthy, and respectful of user rights and interests. To assist developers of the H-IoT, this paper describes nine principles and nine guidelines for ethical design of H-IoT devices and data protocols

Comprehensive Sexuality Education

Healthy Teen Network recommends and encourages the teaching of developmentally and age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education, as it holds the greatest hope for reducing the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy among adolescents