ATHENE : Assistive technologies for healthy living in elders : needs assessment by ethnography

Numerous assistive technologies to support independent living –including personal alarms, mobile phones, self-monitoring devices, mobility aids, software apps and home adaptations –have been developed over the years, but their uptake by older people, especially those from minority ethnic groups, is poor. This paper outlines the ways in which the ATHENE project seeks to redress this situation by producing a richer understanding of the complex and diverse living experiences and care needs of older people and exploring how industry, the NHS, social services and third sector can work with the older people themselves to ‘co-produce’ useful and useable ALT designs to meet their needs. In this paper, we provide an overview of the project methodology and discuss some of the issues it raises for the design and development process

Towards <i>Smart Kennels</i> for Supporting Canine Welfare: an Early Exploration of Requirements

We present the findings of an early requirements elicitation study for a smart kennel supporting canine welfare. We discuss unique challenges posed by the kennel environment in terms of design outcomes and research processes

A dependability model for domestic systems

Abstract. Technically-based models of dependability such as Laprie&apos;s model suggest that there are attributes that should be reflected in the design of a system. These attributes tend to be attributes of the software or hardware and the models assume that system operators can be treated in the same way as software or hardware components. While this approach may be valid for some control systems with tightly specified operational processes, we argue that it must be extended if it is to be applied to systems where there is significant discretion on the part of the user as to how they will use the system. In particular, for systems in the home, we argue that the notion of dependability should be broadened This paper suggests that through the design of assistive technology (AT) systems for older people we can demonstrate the user should be placed at the centre of the process when considering system dependability. 1