DaveW
12-07-2009, 10:02 AM
Hi guys.
For those who haven't been following the Ballad of DaveW, I'm now a researcher working on systems designed to improve the quality of life for people who require care. This is primarily aimed at an older audience, but we're also aiming at a wider range of potential users including people with mental disabilities that would normally prevent them living alone, wounded soldiers who want to leave hospital, and people with serious sensory impairments such as deaf-blind people.
The research I'm working on revolves around replacing the idea of a smart home (which requires ripping a house apart to fit the technology) with technology that can be placed into the home non-destructively. In particular, there's a heavy focus on lifestyle management, in particular reminders. Reminders can be simple things such as closing doors or turning off lights, or much more complex things such as reminding someone to eat, to take their medicine, or to maintain social contact with the outside world.
The end goal is to reduce the dependence of our users on their carers, as this helps them retain their independence as long as possible by living in their own homes instead of care homes, hospitals, and hospices.
At the moment, we're gathering as much information as possible about the things people will want to remember about the home, and the systems people might use to remember things. We're doing focus groups with our expected users, but we also want information from the general populace. This is where you come in.
What I'm asking for is 5 minutes of your time to head on over to http://multimemohome.com/share and tell us a story about something you've forgotten. It could be something menial, like forgetting to set your alarm, put your phone in your pocket, etc. Or it could be something much more. Just tell us the last thing you forgot about the home. It helps us more than you'll know.
If you have more time, there's other things you can do to help us out. Have a look at http://multimemohome.com/get_involved. There's an online questionnaire there that would really helps us out if you had the time to fill in. This research could really make a difference to people's lives, so you could consider it your good deed for the day. Plus, it's helping to make a better future for all of us.
Thanks everyone!
-Dave
For those who haven't been following the Ballad of DaveW, I'm now a researcher working on systems designed to improve the quality of life for people who require care. This is primarily aimed at an older audience, but we're also aiming at a wider range of potential users including people with mental disabilities that would normally prevent them living alone, wounded soldiers who want to leave hospital, and people with serious sensory impairments such as deaf-blind people.
The research I'm working on revolves around replacing the idea of a smart home (which requires ripping a house apart to fit the technology) with technology that can be placed into the home non-destructively. In particular, there's a heavy focus on lifestyle management, in particular reminders. Reminders can be simple things such as closing doors or turning off lights, or much more complex things such as reminding someone to eat, to take their medicine, or to maintain social contact with the outside world.
The end goal is to reduce the dependence of our users on their carers, as this helps them retain their independence as long as possible by living in their own homes instead of care homes, hospitals, and hospices.
At the moment, we're gathering as much information as possible about the things people will want to remember about the home, and the systems people might use to remember things. We're doing focus groups with our expected users, but we also want information from the general populace. This is where you come in.
What I'm asking for is 5 minutes of your time to head on over to http://multimemohome.com/share and tell us a story about something you've forgotten. It could be something menial, like forgetting to set your alarm, put your phone in your pocket, etc. Or it could be something much more. Just tell us the last thing you forgot about the home. It helps us more than you'll know.
If you have more time, there's other things you can do to help us out. Have a look at http://multimemohome.com/get_involved. There's an online questionnaire there that would really helps us out if you had the time to fill in. This research could really make a difference to people's lives, so you could consider it your good deed for the day. Plus, it's helping to make a better future for all of us.
Thanks everyone!
-Dave