HCI & Universal Usability

On universal usability (general)

[Inkpen 01]

K.M. Inkpen, "Drag-and-drop versus point-and-click mouse interaction styles for children," ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, vol. 8, 2001, pp. 1-33.

• referred to by Joanna; potential application for PwDs with C-TOC

• abstract - drag/drop + point/click interaction styles compared via field study analysis, controlled experiment, state-transition diagrams, GOMS analysis; point/click superior in terms of speed/error/preference

• intro - some prominent user interface designs for adults may not be appropriate for children; children have difficulty w/ marquee-type selection, difficulty maintaining pressure on the mouse for extended periods; gender difference often exist with respect to interactions with computers;
• prev-work: dragging task was slower than a pointing task and more errors were committed during a dragging task than during a pointing task;

• exp 1 setup: IBM version of game used point-and-click, Mac version used drag-and-drop - muscular tension req'd to keep mouse button down while dragging; both use visual feedback of object being moved during move stage; drop errors in drag-and-drop move object back to starting location; drop-errors w/ point-and-click drop at current location;
• goal of exp 1 - interaction style's effect on game achievement (total # of puzzles solved) and motivation (whether or not game was played for full 30min session)
• sig.dif. in proportion of girls who were unable to solve any puzzles using the point-and-click interface and the drag-and-drop interface - 25% vs. 49%
• sig.dif. in # of puzzles solved in each of the experimental condition: P/C: 1.66, D/D: 1.15; S/C girls more successful playing the game;
• sig.dif in motivation in favour of S/C vs. D/D
• discussion: enhanced realism (real game), implementation details inconsistent - may have interacted w. results

• exp. 2 examines P/C and D/D in isolation of a game - simplified software environment, w/o possibly confounding factors, less realistic;
• 8 dif. possibilities of distance b/w source and (2) target x (2) source size x (2) target size x (2) interaction style - each combination appeared once / trial, 16 trials / block, order of appearance of each combination was random within each block;
• when source box picked up, visual feedback given as in exp. 1; in drop errors: S/C - source remains picked up, D/D - source returns to original position, forcing another pickup action;
• order of interaction style counterbalanced within each gender to evenly distributer practice effects; instructed to performa task as quickly as possible w/o any mistakes;
• dep. factors: MT, E, preference;
• sig. main effect for interaction style in MT (S/C faster than D/D); no effect of gender; main effects for target size and target distance also significant, source size also significant;
• sig. main effect for interaction style in E, (S/C less errors than D/D); sig. main effect of error type (mire pickup errors than drop errors), sig. interaction effect b/w type of error and source or target size, w/ size of source box sig. effecting # drop errors; no sig. main effect of errors;
• for pickup errors: sig. main effect for interaction style and size of source; sig. interaction of distance, only for long, not for short distances;
• no sig. main effect for interaction style for drop errors, target size was sig., gender interacted w/ target size - interaction style was only sig. factor on # drop errors for girls, target size was sig. factor on # of drop error for boys;
• Fitts' law analysis + linear regression: D/D - larger MTs than P/C;
• no sig. interaction of gender b/w preferences of girls and boys for interaction style - sig. more children preferred P/C over D/D - found P/C easier; D/D made fingers and hands tired; those who preferred D/D were familiar from using it at home; preferred the tactile feedback it provided; Buxton: kinaesthetic connectivity can help to reinforce conceptual connectivity of subtasks within a compound gesture;
• analysed P/C and D/D using state-transition diagrams; also GOMS style analysis in terms of goals (moving source to target), operators (mouse movements and clicks), methods (interaction style), selections; D/D would be slower than P/C; D/D has an additional mouse button operation and two extra mouse movement operations;
• also used state-transition and GOMS models to explain observations from Exp. 1; errors made in D/D result in more operations than in P/C

• conclusion - P/C more effective than D/D; Fitt's shows that dragging is slower and more error-prone than pointing, also effected by size of target and distance to target; children may have difficulty due to physical requirements needed to maintain constant pressure on the mouse button; research on adults: dragging task is slower and more errors made as compared to pointing task;

[Shneiderman 00]

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=332833.332843&dl=GUIDE&dl=ACM&idx=332833&part=periodical&WantType=periodical&title=Communications

• Comment: This article's contribution to the field is far-reaching and addresses many forms of usability concerns. In the past 10 years, we have seen the rise of broadband internet access, the One-Laptop-Per-Child initiative (i.e. the XO-1 laptop), and the creation of many diverse online communities cited in the article. In addition, we cannot forget the rise of Web 2.0 and social networking, which have undoubtedly adhered to principles of universal usability. However, with the technical divide shrinking, a set of universal usability problems still persist today, such as concerns regarding net neutrality.

[Ho-Ching 03] - Auditory Impairments

Ho-Ching FW, Mankoff J, Landay JA. Can you see what i hear?: the design and evaluation of a peripheral sound display for the deaf. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems. ACM New York, NY, USA; 2003:161–168. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=642641.

• Comment: I expect that efficient wireless microphone arrays, especially those requiring little calibration, could eventually fall within a reasonable cost range, thus enabling users to use sound visualization systems such as the Ripple display. On the other hand, I expect that ubiquitous ambient detection and notification devices may prove to be more viable, and enjoy greater use among both hearing and non-hearing users. For example, imagine a kettle equipped with the capability to send a notification over a local network to a desktop or mobile device, informing the user that water has boiled. Alternatively, sensors under doormats or inside a door detect and notify when a person approaches. If we consider Moore's law and the decreasing costs of such devices, I wouldn't doubt the possibility of a house or office containing many devices with detection and notification abilities.

[Wobbrock 03] - Motor Impairments

Wobbrock JO, Myers BA, Kembel JA. EdgeWrite: a Stylus-Based Text Entry Method Designed for High Accuracy and Stability of Motion. In: Proceedings of the 16th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology.Vol 5. ACM; 2003:70. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=964696.964703.

• Comment: I curious as to whether a similar system exists that will support non-Roman alphabets; the Chinese alphabet for instance contains thousands of unique characters. From my understanding of written Chinese, many characters can be divided into halves or quarters (left and right, top and bottom), with more simplified glyphs in each half or corner. Perhaps an variation of EdgeWrite with a 2 x 2 grid of adjacent writing squares could facilitate input for Chinese and other languages.

[Jacko 02] - Visual Impairments

Mohan Raj, Presenter

Jacko JA, Scott IU, Sainfort F, et al. Older Adults and Visual Impairment: What Do Exposure Times and Accuracy Tell Us About Performance Gains Associated with Multimodal Feedback? CHI. 2003;(5):33-40.

• Comment: It is no surprise to me that redundantly coding feedback across multiple modalities for drag-and-drop interactions is beneficial to all types of users (normal vision and impaired vision) - redundancy encoding has also been discussed at length in CPSC 533C (Information Visualization). Inspired by what was learned in that course, I am curious as to how visually impaired individuals (i.e. those with AMD) respond to animation as a form of redundant feedback. For instance, during a drag-and-drop operation of a file to a folder, it is typical for a small animation (i.e. the folder opening) to occur when the file icon is placed over the target folder. Could animations such as this, or easily-detectable animation such as a flashing icon be justifiably added to multi-modal feedback patterns for visually-impaired users?

more...

• K.A. Moffatt, "Addressing Age-Related Pen-Based Target Acquisition Difficulties," Ph.D thesis, 2010.

• S. Zhai, J. Kong, and X. Ren, "Speed-accuracy trade-off in Fitts' law tasks — On the equivalency of actual and nominal pointing precision," International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, vol. 61, 2004, pp. 823-856.''
  • comment: from Karyn Moffatt's thesis: documents user performance differences between five wordings of speed/accuracy task instructions for a Fitt's-like task.

• Emery VK, Edwards PJ, Jacko JA, et al. Toward achieving universal usability for older adults through multimodal feedback. ACM SIGCAPH Computers and the Physically Handicapped. 2002;(73-74):53. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=957214.

On designing technology for older users

CPSC 544 - Universal Usability: Healthy Older Adults

• 544_Presentation_Universal_Usability_Health.pdf: CPSC 544 Research Topic Presentation (10/13/09)
• 544_A1_brehmer.pdf: CPSC 544 Research Topic Paper

Additional 544 References (not presented)

• Ellis RD, Kurniawan SH. Increasing the Usability of Online Information for Older Users: A Case Study in Participatory Design. Computer Law. 2000;16(3):180-186.

• Goodman J, Dickinson A, Syme A. Gathering Requirements for Mobile Devices using Focus Groups with Older People. In: Designing a More Inclusive World, Proceedings of the 2nd Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT), Springer. Citeseer; 2004:1-10. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.130.7025&rep=rep1&type=pdf.

• Kurniawan SH. An exploratory study of how older women use mobile phones. UbiComp 2006: Ubiquitous Computing. 2006:105-147;122. Available at: http://www.springerlink.com/index/R7G4V0145304J187.pdf.

• Rosson M, Carroll J, Seals C, Lewis T. Community design of community simulations. In: Proceedings of the 4th conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques. ACM; 2002:75–83. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=778726.

• Davis H, Vetere F, Francis P, Gibbs M, Howard S. “I Wish We Could Get Togetherâ€�: Exploring Intergenerational Play Across a Distance via a 'Magic Box'. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships. 2008;6(2):191-210. Available at: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&doi=10.1080/15350770801955321&magic=crossref||D404A21C5BB053405B1A640AFFD44AE3.

more...

• N. Selwyn, S. Gorard, J. Furlong, and L. Madden, "Older adults' use of information and communications technology in everyday life," Ageing and Society, vol. 23, 2003, pp. 561-582.

• P. Gregor, A.F. Newell, and M. Zajicek, "Designing for dynamic diversity - interfaces for older people," Proceedings of the fifth international ACM conference on Assistive technologies - Assets '02, 2002, p. 151.

• P. Gregor and A.F. Newell, "Designing for dynamic diversity - making accessible interfaces for older people," Proceedings of the 2001 EC/NSF workshop on Universal accessibility of ubiquitous computing providing for the elderly - WUAUC'01, 2001, p. 90.

• A.F. Newell and P. Gregor, "Design for older and disabled people – where do we go from here?," Universal Access in the Information Society, vol. 2, 2002, p. 3–7.

• J. Rowe and R. Kahn, "Successful Aging," The Gerontologist, vol. 37, 1997, pp. 433-440.

• N. Charness, "Aging and human performance," Human factors, vol. 50, 2008, p. 548.

On designing technology to address users w/ cognitive/memory impairments

[Lee 07]

• abstract: improved understanding of caregiver support for EMI for design of life-logging technologies, reduce burden on caregiver, allow for better care to be provided;

• rich multimedia memory cues to help users remember their personal experiences better; performed observational study;

• related work
  • focus on how caregivers support need for person w/ EMI for information about their past experiences;
  • reminiscence therapy for EMI; burden caregiver w. recording photos/videos for memory cues
  • lifelogging technologies - video, audio, photos; continuously record a comprehensive account of the user's experience; captured media can be indexed w/ other contextual sensor data such as GPS, accelerometer, body sensors; record when triggered by sensor - systems generate a lot of data for caregiver to sort through that may not be helpful for supporting recollection

• study 1 - use of memory cues - 5 dyads of patients and caregivers, shadowed 4 of them - ranged from MCI to mild AD to moderate AD; attended significant events (i.e. weddings, memorials, etc.)

• results - use of memory cues
  • caregivers engaged in dialog using cues, only when there is a reasonable chance of successful cued recall, sometimes too laborious to correct mistakes or too distressing for person w/ EMI to be corrected; caregivers usually reveal cues in piecemeal fashion until persons w/ EMI can recall rest of episode w/ their own memory; clinical evidence that engaging in such cognitively stimulating mental exercise can slow progression of cog. decline
  • question of whether technology can assist overburdened caregiver in identifying and patiently presenting good cues;

• study 2 - identifying good memory cues
  • w/ an understanding of what good cues are, these extraction techniques can be better designed to automatically select good cues and reduce burden on caregiver
  • card-sorting technique w/ photos automatically taken by wearable digital camera; validated in a follow-up session at least one month after each experience
  • psychological models of autobiographical memory shown that info about an experience such as participants, locations, and time periods can be used as cues to retrieve generalised experience's from one's history
  • interviewed participant and asked them to reflect on what they though were good cues for memory

• results - identifying good memory cues
  • cues must either be memorable or at least recognisable; distinctive or personally significant: people, objects, places, actions
  • qualitative differences in selection strategies and abilities b/w participants and w/ and w/o EMI
  • distinction b/w person, object, place, and action based cues and experiences - most important details of a particular experience can be represented by one type of cue, majority type cue; incidental type cues (weather, clothing worn, daily mood) not found to be important
  • detail recognised or recalled from an experience can be used as a cue to retrieve other temporarily or semantically related details of the experience
  • distinctive details, especially those different from people's normal expectations, usually more memorable than less distinct details - consistent w/ psychological understandings of distinctiveness effects in memory; can be unusual or unexpected details of the experience, helpful for distinguishing a particular experience from similar experiences that fit the same general schema; details that stand out indicating that the unexpected details are good for triggering memory; do not always have to be unusual but can be prototypical of a distinctive experience, used to recall other prototypical aspects of the experience and to remember a particularly distinctive experience
  • personal significance - richer, more deeply encoded memory trace in brain, easier for subsequent retrieval - rich recollection of experience
  • differences b/w those w/ and w/o EMI - those w/ EMI likely to be more cognitively overloaded, limit @ of cues, only use most effective cues, basic orienting cues before more specific cues, those w/o EMI can use cues that are more subtle / less central to the experience

• discussion
  • problems: lack of rich cues in addition to caregiver's descriptions, recurring need to engage in cueing process
  • technology to reduce burden of repetitive support for episodic memory, allowing caregiver to select multimedia cues from experience and create digital narrative that person w/ EMI can review on their own to help recollect;
  • lifelogging tech usually errs on side of comprehensiveness, limited cog. resources to devote to reviewing
  • automatic summarisation techniques to reduce amount of data by extracting most effective cues; can they be identified automatically?
  • knowing the type of experience can help determine what types of cues are most appropriate to be captures and presented to best support recollection of the experience; systems should automatically determine these; resulting in more lightweight, less invasive capture systems, less overwhelming accounts of people's experiences that are still / more effective;
  • personally significant details difficult for technology to identify - needs history of interests - caregiver intervention? sensing physiological arousal? GSR? brain-waves? potentially invasive or embarrassing to wear - not socially acceptable
  • design to leverage expertise of caregiver in identifying good cues
  • caregivers can use their own memory of experience to draw out important cues and retrieve from system by searching / browsing;
  • lifelogging to benefit those w/ EMI before condition worsens - intelligent s¥stems to use personal history to figure out what details of new experiences are distinctive or personally significant;
  • provide caregivers or users ability to delete any captured data;
  • methodology issues: variability or real-world experiences

• conclusion
  • what is most effective modality for capturing data and presenting cues?
  • social and aesthetic issues for logging / presenting

[Sevilla 07]

• abstract: need for a cognitively accessible web; recommendations about cognitive disability are extremely difficult (if not impossible) to test; proposal of a simplified web browser and adequate web design;

• intro: according to web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) of the WAI, disorders such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD, intellectual impairments schizophrenia are included - participants w. barriers to participation and learning- those with intellectual disorders emphasised; within a web page with AAA qualification there is no need to use special elements which indicate to web users that they have to make a choice and, however, many people with cognitive disabilities need this info to be explicit
• need for universal design (flexible and inclusive design, not one-size-fits-all)- same means of use for all users, provide adaptability to user's pace eliminate unnecessary complexity, use different modes for redundant presentation of essential information
• guidelines for easy navigation design: content and navigation - avoiding excess information, provision of linear navigation, stable navigation menus, quick navigation style; supports and help - use adapted language, provide solution for errors, provide alternative supports for making comprehension easier; design and style - clear typography, alternative texts for images, control over multimedia elements
• not to present more than 10-15 items on the same screen, make it easier for user to return to starting point
• make content text legible and understandable, make placement and functionality of content predictable

• cognitively accessible web proposal - focus on choice-making and browsing
• choice making: essential for autonomous navigation and gaining access to wide and growing range of web content
• browsing: visually showing all the stages that should be carried out to perform a task, w. image of starting and finishing point always present during performance
• individual preferences: adapting the content to individual preferences, reducing complexity
• design proposed: designed a specific web navigation and vis. system
  • elimination of browser menu and controls
  • use of scroll avoided
  • icons are large, descriptive text on mouse-over, horizontal and vertical alignment, alternative image on mouse over, alternative mouse pointer on mouse over
  • selection pages: show list of alternatives w/ descriptive text at top of page, audio instructions, allow user to distinguish actual options from page controls, options represented by page centred images, images are distributed around a 'selection' pictogram, large size, max # of choices = 5 (with page controls, max is 7), descriptive text of 12pt font below option images, every control has alternative text on mouse-over; selection pictogram indicated both the action to be done (choice) and the kind of page we are on - no alternative image or mouse pointer and is not clickable
  • browse pages - graphic aid emphasises the step-by-step structure idea and helps the users in the navigation process - first, last, and active step highlighted; action buttons complemented w/ additional descriptive audios created for supporting those who cannot read

• experimental design / development - generated adapted web pages automatically by making use of web ontology parser
• hypotheses: proposed design is usable and accessible by people w/ a range of impairments; underlying arch. of the design is appropriate for giving steps towards a testable protocol on cog. accessibility; level of usability of this adapted design is higher than the level of a typical web
• experimental design: 2 consecutive phases - conventional vs. adapted web - N = 1 experimental design w/ 20 replications
• specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction - ad hoc measure of usability that includes measures of its components - also measured the interaction of the individual with cognitive impairment w/ accompanying teacher in order to complete the comparison study between the adapted and conventional version
• participants - those w/ mental retardation - cannot be generalised to whole spectrum of individuals with cog. deficits;
• results: adapted version found to be much more usable, no difference in satisfaction, no difference in interaction w/ teacher
• correlation of -0.473 between IQ and scores on web understanding, w/ adapted version no correlation b/w IQ and scores of any measures of usability

• discussion - is it necessary to have different levels of cog. accessibility?
• all participants had better performance on adapted version - level of mental retardation not most appropriate scale for determining levels of cog. accessibility
• adapted version very repetitive and boring due to reduced # of choice
• further investigation required into specific cog deficits - matter learning to navigate the web / matter of performing the navigation

[Hawkey 05]

• abstract: alleviating repetitive questioning behaviour

• intro: current guidelines - writing the answer down and directing the PwAD to the written answer; having them find the answer for themselves; providing reorientation with written reminders, signs, clocks, calendars, whiteboards, as well as through familiar objects and memories; misleading or distracting them if the true answer could cause distress
• explored dimensions of repetitive questioning in an effort to provide a user and needs analysis for a proposed technological intervention for the problem; interested in whether or not those w/ AD would be willing to use technology, the barriers to use the technology for this population, effectiveness of technology at relieving some of the caregiver stress associated with repetitive questioning behaviour;

• repetitive questioning study: what are the information needs of AD patients? what are their best modes of interaction? how can we provide information in a manner that is timely, informative, relevant? how can caregiver input the info w/ less stress and effort than answering the PwAD's questions?
• multi-method approach: diaries, semi-structured interviews;

• results: primarily inductive analysis approach
• information needs: time (concept of time for AD patients seems to change); schedule (TV schedules not used), reminders limit independence, but ay be helpful, limit advance notification of an event to reduce questioning - family gatherings should be known far in advance; current event details, information (i.e. misplaced items, recent history, brief biographies w/ photos of people; opinions / feedback - reinforcement questions;
• interaction abilities: not able to use a computer by themselves, mechanical interactions and remotes too complex, difficulty w/ the telephone; problems initiating activities, linguistic difficulties - reading absorption and comprehension, following a plot; stopped writing or are writing unintelligibly; generally found to have intelligible speech - difficulty coming up with right word, forming complex questions, difficulty understanding, problems w/ pronunciation;

• discussion: fluid reality of AD patients; denial vs. face-saving; competing interests of PwADs and CGs; PwAD not only trusts the device to give wanted information, but also must understand the information; those w/ mild AD or MCI would have need for more detailed info
• feasibility: need to satisfy various info needs in various settings; interaction abilities constrain the device; should be able to answer most questions of PwAD; time and schedule info; context about event underway (context and location-aware; item location (sensor technology), moveable within the home / outside the home? opinions and feedback, rules that require reasoning, list of steps to complete common items;
• mechanical skills - eliminate chance for errors; most basic of interactions, direct input (touch), speech may be difficult (declining language abilities, difficulty in remembering words), barriers to complexity and anxiety about technology is common among elderly, exacerbated among PwDs; perhaps introduced during earlier stages of memory decline? important that device does not resemble a computer; needs to always be on / ready to use; method of gaining attention required; interface design will be challenging; willingness of caregiver to maintain? effective enough at lessening the questioning behaviour to justify burden of maintaining the information (CG);

• conclusion: info applicant to reduce repetitive questioning likely to fail - must introduce at appropriate phase, keep level of detail appropriate for that phase;

544 Topic: Cognitive Impairments

• Back M, Szymanski MH. The AirBook: force-free interaction with dynamic text in an assistive reading device. In: CHI'01 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems. ACM; 2001:251–252. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=634216.

• Dawe M. Desperately seeking simplicity: how young adults with cognitive disabilities and their families adopt assistive technologies. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems. ACM; 2006:1152. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1124772.1124943.

• Lee ML, Dey AK. Lifelogging memory appliance for people with episodic memory impairment. Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Ubiquitous computing - UbiComp '08. 2008:44. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1409635.1409643.

• LoPresti EF, Mihailidis A, Kirsch N. Assistive technology for cognitive rehabilitation: State of the art. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. 2004;14(1):5–39. Available at: http://www.informaworld.com/index/789064993.pdf.

more...

• R.M. Baecker, "Designing technology to aid cognition," Proceedings of the 10th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility - Assets '08, vol. 2020, 2008, p. 1.

• M. Balaam, A.M. Hughes, S. Rennick-Egglestone, and T. Nind, "Rehabilitation Centred Design," CHI 2010, Atlanta: 2009, pp. 1-4.

• J. Bauchet, H. Pigot, S. Giroux, D. Lussier-Desrochers, Y. Lachapelle, and M. Mokhtari, "Designing judicious interactions for cognitive assistance," Proceeding of the eleventh international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility - ASSETS '09, 2009, p. 11.

• S. Carmien, "End user programming and context responsiveness in handheld prompting systems for persons with cognitive disabilities and caregivers," CHI '05 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '05, 2005, p. 1252.

• M. Pollack, "Autominder: an intelligent cognitive orthotic system for people with memory impairment," Robotics and Autonomous Systems, vol. 44, 2003, pp. 273-282.

• H. Kautz, L. Arnstein, G. Borriello, O. Etzioni, and D. Fox, "An overview of the assisted cognition project," AAAI-2002 Workshop on Automation as Caregiver: The Role of Intelligent Technology in Elder Care, 2002, p. 60–65.

• M. Morris, J. Lundell, and E. Dishman, "Catalyzing social interaction with ubiquitous computing: a needs assessment of elders coping with cognitive decline," CHI'04 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, ACM, 2004, p. 1154.

On designing technology to address users w/ dementia

[Wherton 08] - IDRG 05.18.10

J. Wherton and A. Monk, "Technological opportunities for supporting people with dementia who are living at home," International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, vol. 66, 2008, pp. 571-586.

• abstract
  • grounded theory analysis of interview transcripts with dementia patients + caretakers; discussed ADLs: dressing, taking medication, personal hygiene, preparing food, socialising; design challenges for flexible prompting systems sensitive to intentions, capabilities, values of users;

• intro
  • problem domain - users w/ impaired episodic memory, parallel deficits in exec. function; past efforts to address this area in pervasive computing + sensing have involved computer vision, RFID tags; affecting ADLs
  • exec functioning: sequencing, omissions, action additions, concurrent task performance;
  • impairment to attentional control processes - problems more likely w/ novel procedures; occupational therapy solution: procedural memory stimulation, environmental cues to support action, independence achieved through environmental manipulations, making task-relevant items more visible
  • stress need of naturalistic methods of assessment
  • temporal and spatial orientation: visual cues - flowcharts, calendars; reality orientation therapy - use of large signposts, signs on drawers and cupboards + verbal prompts + cues; extended w/ use of technology - large digital clocks; ENABLE project: activity compass, portable orientation + GPS, verbal prompts to return home;
  • prompting actions: prompt at designated times to support schedule keeping, sensors to guard against accidents;
  • less clear what people w/ dementia and their caregivers want from the technology - what tasks are most important to them? what difficulties are most hard to find non-technological workarounds for? what tasks would their caregivers rather not do for the people they care for?

• study rationale + method
  • 2 small sample interview (opportunistic) - #1 w/ OTs and care workers (20 participants - 11 in focus group, 9 interviews); #2 w/ 18 participants (8 PwDs, 10 caregivers) in home environments; studies not methodologically equivalent, but maximally informative; grounded approach to characterise data - to elicit ideas for technological interventions; concepts grouped to from main categories and component sub-categories (axial coding)

• results - study 1 - fig. 1
  • problems in the home: daily activities (dressing, medication, food/drink, washing, toilet), risks (cooker safety, wandering), interpersonal interaction (communication, recognising people);
  • underlying deficits: sequencing (initiating and ordering actions, problem solving), learning (appliances, surroundings), memory/orientation (forgets events, forgets to do things, orientation to time/place, recognising objects)
  • consequences: PwD: physical wellbeing (safety, security, health), control (personal space, achievement, social isolation), caregiver: patient-caregiver relationship: relationship (interaction, frustration), care demands (constant supervision, anxiety)
• results - study 2 - fig. 2
  • problems in the home: daily activities (dressing, medication, food/drink, washing, toilet), domestic (washing-up, locking-up, ironing, cleaning), leisure (TV, loss of interests) (not mentioned in study 1), interpersonal interaction (conversing, telephone, appointments);
  • situated factors: verbal cues (prompts, notes), visual cues (display items, items visible), familiarity (surroundings, appliances, routines);
  • underlying deficits: sequencing (formulating procedures, becomes motionless), memory/orientation (forgets events, forgets to do things, locating items, knowing the time, finding their way)
  • consequences: PwD: physical wellbeing (safety, security, deterioration), control (personal space, stress, filling time - boredom), caregiver: patient-caregiver relationship: relationship (confrontation, frustration), care demands (tiredness (not among professional caregivers), worry)

• discussion
  • high-level characterisation of results useful for engineers and others new to the area
  • extracted parts of the transcript: suggestions for technological interventions

• discussion - dressing
  • no existing products to help one get dressed
  • provide prompts?
  • how to monitor state of dress of PwD? RFID tags?
  • have items been put on appropriately? appropriate choice of clothes for season / occasion?

• discussion - medication
  • tools exist to automatically dispense medication appropriately
  • has medication been swallowed?
  • call-centre operative to call throughout the day?
  • ripe for future research
  • intelligent toilets for monitoring medication compliance?

• discussion - food and drink
  • cooker safety (i.e. leaving on the stove)
  • cooking tasks too complex to manage alone
  • problems in making a hot drink - for oneself and for visitors (self-esteem issue and sense of personal role + status)
  • safety:
    • cooker: lockable gas shut-off for detecting emergencies in kitchen such as extreme temperature? - rely on automated feedback from PwD / caregiver;
    • can pervasive computing techniques be used to infer how an incident arose and choose between alternatives
    • call centre operator?
    • dangerous for use w/ some PwDs
  • prompting + preparing:
    • no commercially available systems for prompting through process of multi-step task such as making a hot drink; clear objective for research
    • RFID utensils? large screen in kitchen cupboards?
    • how to detect completed actions? how to prompt?
  • measuring quantities (i.e. baking)?

• discussion - washing
  • automatic water shut-off?
  • system exists for prompting through hand-washing process? detecting when actions out of sequence;
  • showering? bathing? brushing teeth? grooming?

• discussion - toilet
  • massive research agenda here - flexible automated systems that are acceptable to PwDs;

• discussion - possibilities for support w/ technology:leisure + interpersonal interaction
  • difficulty in recognising and communicating w/ others - detrimental effect on social interaction and maintenance of social networks;
  • PwDs show decline in personal interests
  • limitations on socialising and entertainment lead to feeling of loneliness and boredom
  • design issue: safety has been higher priority than product development;
  • recreationally oriented technology - "social memory aid"
  • MS SenseCam - life-logging
  • leisure and socialising: have not yet found a niche for older people or PwDs

• discussion - possibilities for support w/ technology: preventing and mitigating consequences
  • devices may alert a call centre or relative if they leave the dwelling
  • uncertain about guests: if nervous about a caller, householder can alert the call centre who can advise them what to do and if necessary record the ensuing conversation;
  • recording the activities of elder living alone using sensor technology - provide peace of mind for extended family living in a remote home?
    • reducing the anxieties of informal caregivers when PwD is left alone
  • communication rather than monitoring? more acceptable way of providing assurance needed by PwD and caregiver - privacy for ageing in place

• discussion - constraints on design
  • PwDs and technology
  • adapting to new appliances, environments, routines
  • problems w/ novelty - optimise user familiarity, make perceptually similar to other devices, attaching device to appliances already owned by PwD - familiarity can only be achieved up to a certain point;
  • evidence that people w/ severe dementia can cope w/ novel interactions and technology
  • present affordances for action - do what the message says, touch this picture), does not require learning of multi-step procedures; provide visual cues; Norman: different visual representations can implicitly guide the user's actions and can be justified by psychological theory;
  • exploit visual and tactile cues?

• conclusion
  • collection of challenges to tech. designers
  • contextual account of everyday problems; captures POV of PwD and informal caregivers

• IDRG discussion points:
  • curb-cut effects?
  • opportunities for haptics? affect loop? large-screen displays? table-top displays? robotics? mobile devices? machine learning? intelligent user interfaces?
  • implications w.r.t. privacy for ageing in place?
  • avoiding call-centre interventions?
  • designing interactive software for desktop / laptop / tablet computers
    • communicating / keeping in touch
    • access to information
    • word processing
    • games
  • methodology issues
    • grounded theory analysis

• IDRG comments:
  • monitoring vs. communication (distributed family awareness) - Gokhan
  • see Georgia Tech (Tran et al reference) - Kelly
  • reminiscing (CHI paper) - Mohan

[Topo 09]

P. Topo, "Technology Studies to Meet the Needs of People With Dementia and Their Caregivers: A Literature Review," Journal of Applied Gerontology, vol. 28, 2008, pp. 5-37.

note: ISG reference - not immediately relevant to HCI

• analysis of 66 studies of interventions for people with dementia
• those that take into account impact of technology, impact of personal characteristics of PwDs, impact of fCG, impact of environment, impact of research process and researchers
• refs to follow-up on: [Baruch, Downs, Baldwin, Bruce 2004], [Labelle and Mihailidis 06], [Schreiber 98]
• discussion: bias towards residential care and moderate stages of dementia, emphasis on safety issues and CG well-being; little to alleviate social isolation
• not RCTs of PwDs living at home, very limited # of assessment studies focused on supporting the independent living of people w/ dementia
• only peer-reviewed journals queried, defining search terms difficult, defining technology difficult

more...

• A. Mihailidis, J. Boger, M. Canido, and J. Hoey, "The Use of an Intelligent Prompting System for People with Dementia," interactions, 2007, pp. 34-37.

• J. Wherton and A. Monk, "Choosing the right knob," Proceedings of the 27th international conference extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems - CHI EA '09, 2009, p. 3631.

• J. Wherton and A. Monk, "Designing cognitive supports for dementia," ACM SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing, 2006, pp. 28-31.

• R. Orpwood, C. Gibbs, T. Adlam, R. Faulkner, and D. Meegahawatte, "The design of smart homes for people with dementia: user-interface aspects," Universal Access in the Information Society, vol. 4, 2005, pp. 156-164.

On task interruption + resumption

more...

• M. Czerwinski, E. Horvitz, and S. Wilhite, "A diary study of task switching and interruptions," Proceedings of the 2004 conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '04, vol. 6, 2004, pp. 175-182.

• D.D. Salvucci, "On reconstruction of task context after interruption," Proceedings of the 28th international conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '10, 2010, p. 89.

• D.D. Salvucci, N.A. Taatgen, and J.P. Borst, "Toward a unified theory of the multitasking continuum: From concurrent performance to task switching, interruption, and resumption," CHI 2009, 2009, pp. 1819-1828.

On cognitive reserve / brain training (FuturePlay ref's)

more...

• K. Ball, D.B. Bersch, K.F. Helmers, J.B. Jobe, M.D. Leveck, M. Marsiske, J.N. Morris, G.W. Rebok, D.M. Smith, S.L. Tennstedt, F.W. Unverzagt, and S.L. Willis, "Effect of cognitive training interventions with older adults," Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 288, 2002, pp. 2271-2281.

• A.M. Owen, A. Hampshire, J.A. Grahn, R. Stenton, S. Dajani, A.S. Burns, R.J. Howard, and C.G. Ballard, "Putting brain training to the test," Nature, 2010, pp. 1-5.

Clinical Conditions and Diagnoses

Review Papers

more...