Technological innovations and users requirements: how to fill the gap? An enduser organisation perspective.
1. AEGIS 1° International Conference
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND USER REQUIREMENTS: HOW
TO FILL THE GAP?
AN END-USER ORGANISATION PERSPECTIVE
Speaker: F. Cesaroni
Autors: F. Cesaroni; M. Antomarini; E. Piangerelli, F. Scocchera; C. Sdogati
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
2. Purpose of this presentation
To highlight problematic areas end-user
organisations meet when taking part to AT
research projects devoted to older and disabled
persons.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
3. Two contrasting approaches contribute to broaden the cultural
gap between engineers/technicians and social scientists:
the “Technological push” urges producers to achieve important
technical results in a limited period of time;
The“Demand-pull” advocates the users centrality and the priority
of their requirements.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
4. End-user organisation roles
user needs analysis
definition of scenarios of use
field trials
assessment of the users satisfaction and the system usability
and acceptability
support to the technical partners during the development, to
ensure the match between the functional specifications and the
user requirements, and to guarantee the users centrality in the
design process.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
5. COOSS experience in 4 different
EU research projects is quickly illustrated,
with the focus on the users’ perspective.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
6. THE USER PROJECT - TIDE programme
It proposed a practical handbook and a handy guidance on:
how to gather and analyse the user needs
how to turn them into functional specifications
how to ensure the user centrality in the design process.
Concepts as “usability”, “user-centred design”, “acceptability”,
“user requirements” started to enter into the authors’ practice
since then.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
7. THE VISIOBOARD PROJECT – (5FP): a positive example
It developed a PC to be accessed through the eyes movement.
Cameras incorporated in the PC frame captured the eye position,
calibrating the system accordingly.
To activate an application, the user only had to stare at the
desired icon in the screen.
The project potential was enormous, giving people with no other
residual abilities than their eyes movement an opportunity to
communicate, to read and write, and to activate common home
applications (turn-on and off the TV, the radio, start the heater,
call for help, etc...).
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
8. THE VISIOBOARD PROJECT
Among the volunteers testing the system, there was a
boy on a wheelchair. Unforeseen involuntary spasms at
his legs violently moved the table where the system
was positioned, making the delicate system get stuck.
It revealed to be a common feature on subjects
suffering from his syndrome; the problem was
immediately faced and easily solved with a mechanic
arm supporting the screen, demonstrating attention
and compliance with the user requirements.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
9. THE CAALYX PROJECT (6FP) – a challenging experience
It proposed a bracelet for elderly people, constantly monitoring their
vital signs and detecting eventual falls in real time.
During the user-needs analysis, the system components, its functionality
and advantages were explained to real users through illustrations, being
a system mock-up missing.
During the development, the bracelet revealed inappropriate, being its
contact with the human body too loose. An elastic belt was proposed
instead, as its adhesion to the body ensured a reliable communication of
data. It was tested with real users, and it resulted very successful under a
technical perspective.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
10. Some mismatches between the users requirements and the technical
achievements.
During the user needs analysis, elderly had appreciated the idea of a bracelet, as
it was discrete and not stigmatising, easy to wear and use, self-calibrating and
requiring no complicated intervention on their part.
But:
The elastic belt substituted the expected bracelet, requiring fingers strength and
dexterity to fasten and unfasten it;
Three electrodes had to be fixed in specific areas of the body, with wires forming
a bulky knot difficult to be hidden under the dresses;
A mobile phone with small buttons and tiny characters on the screen had to be
daily calibrated by the users themselves.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
11. To minimise the users’ difficulties, daily assistance was guaranteed to
help users to wear, calibrate and remove the system.
Users sometimes asked to be “released” earlier than the 5 hours a day
fixed by the protocol, because annoyed by the electrodes, or by the belt
hindering a comfortable afternoon rest, or simply because they weren’t
in the proper mood to test the system that day.
These “tantrums” obviously complicated the validation process, but
highlighted an uneasiness worth to be taken into account to make the
prototype a marketable product.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
12. THE CONFIDENCE PROJECT (7FP) – an ongoing experience
It is developing a system conceived to prevent falls by the detection of
anomalous behaviours on the users’ part. The system consists of small
body tags, sensors to be fixed on the home furniture, a base station and a
portable device acting as user interface.
Wireless communication among the devices facilitates the users’
movements while monitored by the system.
Technical complications imposed the revision of the initial conception,
and a wire-based communication system is now under development.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
13. THE CONFIDENCE PROJECT
40 users were selected for the system testing, recruited
according to well defined criteria to guarantee the target
homogeneity.
The unexpected intrusiveness of the new system may
cause some withdrawals. The solutions can be:
to recruit a smaller group of “homogeneous” users
to maintain the number of 40 users, widening the
recruitment criteria. The risk is that a “heterogeneous”
group might distort the scientific meaningfulness in the
comparison of data.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
14. THE CONFIDENCE PROJECT
Matching rigorous scientific methods with the users’ habits and
moods is a frequent problem a user organisation experiences.
Validation protocols and evaluation tests rely on methodological
approaches implying schematisations and objective measurements,
while individuals are hardly adaptable to predefined schemes.
Elderly persons are often intimidated by things they don’t know;
decency and personal dignity often lead them to refuse to test a
device, or to interrupt its use when they feel inadequate and unable
to manage.
Human dignity is an aspect requiring proper consideration when a
validation plan is drafted, as it can highly affect its process.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
15. Hints for discussion
Technology develops very quickly, and very quicly
becomes obsolete. But elderly people attitude doesn’t
change so quickly as technology does.
Their resistance to technological solutions is sometimes
due to a prejudicial refusal of a “machine” as assistive
support, still preferring the human-based care.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
16. Hints for discussion
If technical achievements are the main goals in AT
solutions, their usability and acceptability, as well as the
related ethical issues, should be equally considered.
After 15 years of experience, the feeling is that the “user
centred design” approach still finds it difficult to fully
impose itself.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
17. Hints for discussion
There is a “cultural” problem at the basis of this: the high-
education models concentrate in their specific disciplines,
with no attention to transversal competencies.
When professionals with different backgrounds work
together, they often tend to consider their field of expertise
prevailing on the others in terms of importance.
This attitude hinders dialogue, with detrimental effects on
the design process.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
18. Hints for discussion
Demographists and statesmen unanimously indicate the
AT industry for older and disabled people the most
promising market for the next 30 years.
Promoting interdisciplinary and positive communication
can reveal a first step to reduce the gap between
engineers/developers and social scientists.
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010
19. Thanks for your attention
AEGIS 1° International Conference Seville, 7/8 October 2010