Automatic Fall
Detection
Families
in Touch
Friend Forecaster
and MyVoice
ALLT
Tangra
Multimedia
Bios
Place in
Maslow hierarchy
Cognitive/social
process
Participant
population
Goal

Safety
Love
Esteem
Esteem + love
Esteem
Self-actualization
Physical
well-being?

Users, usage

Individuals
Individuals +
families + friends
UCD UCD
Individuals

Individuals

Design method

UCD

Technology

Smart cameras
Digital picture
frames
Smartphones
e-books
Web portal
Individuals
+ families
Participatory
design + UCD
Multimedia
on DVDs

• Table 1. A framework for the research described in this article.

 

print listening and talking e-book (ALLT), designed for people who have experienced vision loss or who are struggling with other obstacles to reading, such as motor challenges (Figure 3) [ 12]. A field trial of the effectiveness of this technology in supporting reading by oneself and reading together with family members is under way with an individual who has multiple sclerosis and her family.

Finally, we have developed and will soon release an open source Web portal called Tangra, which allows randomized controlled trials over the Internet of the effectiveness of new and sometimes prematurely hyped brain-fitness exercises and games [ 13].

memories of their lives help them to maintain dignity and a sense of self, despite memory loss or dementia. Several TAGlab projects have focused on enabling people to use visual digital media to reminisce and reflect upon past and recent experiences, which is key to maintaining one’s identity and therefore supports the goal of self-actualization.

For example, we developed an effective method for creating digital multimedia biographies of individuals with AD and MCI, and tested its impact on those individuals and their family members. Viewing the media aided recall and reminiscence, brought much joy along with a few moments of sadness, stimulated conversation and engagement with family, and was valued by family and third-party caregivers [ 14].

Finally, we recently completed a
systematic study of two methods
of having AD- and MCI-afflicted
individuals use automatically cap-
tured images from the Microsoft
Research SenseCam “lifelogging”
camera worn on their chest to aid
their episodic memory of recent
experiences, as well as to yield
other psychosocial benefits [ 15].

Self-Actualization Being able to draw upon your experiences is critical to lifelong learning, growth, the development of wisdom, and the pursuit of a calling or cause. Tools to help individuals regenerate and share

Our Work in Context

Some of these projects address multiple themes. For example, ALLT enables families to read together, thereby strengthening a family’s shared purpose, autonomy, and esteem.

All of these projects involve innovative software and systems design based on understanding needs, deriving requirements, and evaluating success through the use of methods from the social and behavioral sciences.

Technologies such as those described here may have different goals: diagnostic, assistive, rehabilitative, or health-preserving. Diagnostic technologies warn individuals, family members, caregivers, and care staff about

May + June 2012