Designing assisted living technologies 'in the wild' : preliminary experiences with cultural probe methodology

Background There is growing interest in assisted living technologies to support independence at home. Such technologies should ideally be designed ‘in the wild’ i.e. taking account of how real people live in real homes and communities. The ATHENE (Assistive Technologies for Healthy Living in Elders: Needs Assessment by Ethnography) project seeks to illuminate the living needs of older people and facilitate the co-production with older people of technologies and services. This paper describes the development of a cultural probe tool produced as part of the ATHENE project and how it was used to support home visit interviews with elders with a range of ethnic and social backgrounds, family circumstances, health conditions and assisted living needs. Method Thirty one people aged 60 to 98 were visited in their homes on three occasions. Following an initial interview, participants were given a set of cultural probe materials, including a digital camera and the ‘Home and Life Scrapbook’ to complete in their own time for one week. Activities within the Home and Life Scrapbook included maps (indicating their relationships to people, places and objects), lists (e.g. likes, dislikes, things they were concerned about, things they were comfortable with), wishes (things they wanted to change or improve), body outline (indicating symptoms or impairments), home plan (room layouts of their homes to indicate spaces and objects used) and a diary. After one week, the researcher and participant reviewed any digital photos taken and the content of the Home and Life Scrapbook as part of the home visit interview. Findings The cultural probe facilitated collection of visual, narrative and material data by older people, and appeared to generate high levels of engagement from some participants. However, others used the probe minimally or not at all for various reasons including limited literacy, physical problems (e.g. holding a pen), lack of time or energy, limited emotional or psychological resources, life events, and acute illness. Discussions between researchers and participants about the materials collected (and sometimes about what had prevented them completing the tasks) helped elicit further information relevant to assisted living technology design. The probe materials were particularly helpful when having conversations with non-English speaking participants through an interpreter. Conclusions Cultural probe methods can help build a rich picture of the lives and experiences of older people to facilitate the co-production of assisted living technologies. But their application may be constrained by the participant’s physical, mental and emotional capacity. They are most effective when used as a tool to facilitate communication and development of a deeper understanding of older people’s needs

Socio-technical system design for an ageing population: Issues with stakeholder engagement

Abstract not available

Older adults' use of a novel communication system: client goals versus participant experiences

This paper reports on the outcomes of a collaborative industry project which designed and deployed a novel communication systems for older adults. We outline a gap between the goals of our industry partner and the needs and experiences of our participants. We highlight the need to carefully consider the location of set-up, the training needs of older people, and any existing social support networks and technological systems already in use, while ultimately recognising the emotional connections of older people. These contextual factors influence individual older adults' acceptance, use and adoption of novel technologies such as the one presented in this paper

Where is the 'I' in iPad?: the role of older adults' interest in learning mobile touch screen technologies

This research explores the role of individual interest in the adoption of mobile touch screen technologies by older adults (above 60 years of age), based on the Four-Phase Model of Interest Development by Hidi and Renninger (2006) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT) by Deci and Ryan (1985). A twelve-week study consisting of observations and interviews with teachers and participants in short course classes was conducted, during which we investigated the specific interests of older adults. Specifically, we explored the influence of individuals' level of interest on their learning and use of technologies. The engagement of 35 participants across four short course classes was compared both with and without the use of mobile touch screen technologies. Results show that there is a close relationship between individual interest and uptake of mobile touch screen technologies. This research aims to investigate how individual interest in a domain can engender and maintain engagement with technology learning and use by older adults

Engaging stakeholders with agent-oriented requirements modelling

One advantage of using the agent paradigm for software engineering is that the concepts used for high-level modelling, such as roles, goals, organisations, and interactions, are accessible to many different stakeholders. Existing research demonstrates that including the stakeholders in the modelling of systems for as long as possible improves the quality of the development and final system because inconsistencies and incorrect behaviour are more likely to be detected early in the development process. In this paper, we propose three changes to the typical requirements engineering process found in AOSE methodologies, with the aim of including stakeholders over the requirements engineering process, effectively using stakeholders as modellers. These changes are: withholding design commitment, delaying the definition of the system boundary, and delaying the stakeholder "sign-off" of the requirements specification. We discuss our application of these changes to a project with an industry partner, and present anecdotal evidence to suggest that these changes can be effective in maintaining stakeholder involvement

Shared artefacts as participatory Babel fish

We propose an interwoven set of shared artefacts for stakeholder participation for designing domestic technology for intergenerational fun. Our toolkit includes technology probes, associated fieldwork, and conceptual goal models. We used the high-level goal models, derived from Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE), as a template to analyse rich field data collected via three technology probes with grandparents and grandchildren. The goal models combined with technology probes and field data, provided a uniquely inclusive set of artefacts for the participation of stakeholders in the design process

Combining the Digital, Social and Physical Layer to Create Age-Friendly Cities and Communities

This qualitative investigation makes suggestions about creating age-friendly cities for older adults focusing on three domains of the World Health Organization (WHO) age-friendly city framework namely "Communication and Information", "Outdoor Spaces and Buildings" and "Social Participation". The authors present two case studies, the first one focusing on older adults using activity wearables for health self-management in the neighborhood, and the second one focusing on older adults engaged in social prescribing activities in the community. The authors then reflect on the relationships of the domains and future opportunities for age-friendly cities. These case studies apply a co-design and citizen-based approach focusing within these larger frameworks on emotions, values and motivational goals of older adults. Results suggest how the convergence of the often siloed age-friendly city components based on older adults' goals and input can lead to better social participation and longer-term health outcomes. The authors propose that the digital, physical and social aspects need to be considered in all domains of age-friendly cities to achieve benefits for older adults. Further work involving older adults in the future shaping of age-friendly neighborhoods and cities, and identifying barriers and opportunities is required

Understanding socially-oriented roles and goals through motivational modelling

Technology has the potential to transform our home life, but only if it addresses the needs of its users. Understanding and modelling social needs is a challenge. For example, how do we understand, model, and then evaluate a system that must support needs such as "being fun"? In this paper, we define a systematic and repeatable process and method for understanding the roles and goals within a social domain for the purpose of informing technology design. We use the case study of building technology that supports meaningful interactions between grandparents and grandchildren separated by distance. Rather than attempt to define the roles of grandparents and grandchildren, and their associated goals, we study the roles and goals of activities in which grandparents and grandchildren typically engage, such as storytelling and gifting, and define role and goals models from the resulting data. The data obtained from the study of these activities provides a form of validation of the models. From these, we gain a better understanding of this complex social relationship, and how software systems can be built to support it. The models that emerge during the process are useful boundary objects, allowing knowledge to be shared across and between the disparate stakeholder communities, including end users, software engineers, and field researchers, and serve as inputs to the design process

Substantiating agent-based quality goals for understanding socio-technical systems

In this paper we propose a method for using ethnographic field data to substantiate agent-based models for socially-oriented systems. We use the agent paradigm because the ability to represent organisations, individuals, and interactions is ideal for modelling socio-technical systems. We present the results of in-situ use of a domestic application created to encourage engagement between grandparents and grandchildren separated by distance. In such domains, it is essential to consider abstract and complex quality requirements such as showing presence and sharing fun. The success of such domestic technologies is based on the meaningful realisation of these difficult-to-define quality goals. Our method addresses the need to adequately inform these quality goals with field data. We substantiate the quality goals with field data collected by introducing an application into the home of three families. The field data adds an understanding of what sharing fun means when "filled" with concrete activities. The quality goals served as a template to explore and represent the rich field data, while the field data helped to formulate the requirements for a more complex and refined technology. This paper's contribution is twofold. First, we extend the understanding of agent-oriented concepts by applying them to household interactions. Second, we make a methodological contribution by establishing a new method for informing quality goals with field data