ABSTRACT
There has been a growing interest in HCI to understand the specific technological needs of people with dementia and supporting them in self-managing daily activities. One of the most difficult challenges to address is supporting the fluctuating accessibility needs of people with dementia, which vary with the specific type of dementia and the progression of the condition. Researchers have identified auto-personalized interfaces, and more recently, Artificial Intelligence or AI-driven personalization as a potential solution to making commercial technology accessible in a scalable manner for users with fluctuating ability. However, there is a lack of understanding on the perceptions of people with dementia around AI as an aid to their everyday technology use and its role in their overall self-management systems, which include other non-AI technology, and human assistance. In this paper, we present future directions for the design of AI-based systems to personalize an interface for dementia-related changes in different types of memory, along with expectations for AI interactions with the user with dementia.
ABSTRACT
Intergenerational social interactions are beneficial for bridging generational gaps, strengthening family bonds, and improving social cohesiveness. However, opportunities for in-person intergenerational social interactions are decreasing as families become increasingly geographically dispersed. Researchers are examining how technology might support these interactions. Extended Reality (XR) is an emerging technology that has shown potential for supporting immersive remote interactions but might cause an "experience asymmetry" in an intergenerational setting. In this poster we contrast the user experience of younger and older participants engaging in remote gardening sessions with our social XR prototypes. We present systemic influence factors that affected user experience of participants from different age groups differently with our XR prototypes. We discuss potential approaches to mitigate their effects based on observational learning and becoming aware of designer biases.
ABSTRACT
As extended reality (XR) systems become increasingly available, XR-based remote instruction is being adopted for diverse purposes in professional settings such as surgery and field servicing. Hobbyists have been well-studied in HCI and may similarly benefit from remote skill-sharing. However, little is known about how XR technologies might support expert-novice collaboration for skilled hobby activities. This paper examines the potential and limitations of XR to connect experts and novices for one such activity: gardening. Through two studies involving 27 expert and novice gardeners, we designed prototypes to understand 1) practitioner perceptions of XR and remote skill-sharing in the garden and 2) what kinds of interactions can be supported in XR for expert-novice groups. We discuss design opportunities and challenges for XR systems in supporting informal connecting interactions and meaningful sensory interactions with a remote environment during skill-sharing.
ABSTRACT
Exploring accessible remote design methods has become the need of the hour for supporting participation in research and collaborative design with individuals with dementia. Existing remote design approaches face specific challenges when facilitating best practices for co-design with participants with dementia. These challenges include, enabling sensory engagement with physical design materials and prototypes and observing these interactions in a natural manner. We present a system architecture and use cases for a portable system with a range of connected devices that support real-time, embodied design activities with individuals with dementia.
