Drew Williams

Considerations in Designing Human-Computer Interfaces for Elderly People

As computing devices continue to become more heavily integrated into our lives, proper design of human-computer interfaces becomes a more important topic of discussion. Efficient and useful human-computer interfaces need to take into account the abilities of the humans who will be using such interfaces, and adapt to difficulties that different users may face - such as the difficulties that elderly users must deal with. Interfaces that allow for user-specific customization, while taking into account the multiple difficulties that older users might face, can assist the elderly in properly using these newer computing devices, and in doing so possibly achieving a better quality of life through the advanced technological support that these devices offer. In this paper, we explore common problems the elderly face when using computing devices and solutions developed for these problems. Difficulties ultimately fall into several categories: cognition, auditory, haptic, visual, and motor-based troubles. We also present an idea for a new adaptive operating system with advanced customizations that would simplify computing for older users.

PriDaC: Privacy Preserving Data Collection in Sensor Enabled RFID Based Healthcare Services

The integration of sensing capability into active RFID tags has recently generated a lot of interest among the RFID community. In any sensor enabled Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system data collection is done continuously. Data collection in this context can refer to the computation of statistical means and moments, as well as other cumulative quantities that summarize the data obtained by the system. However, these systems are usually very critical and used in sensitive applications. One such application area is healthcare where sensor enabled RFID tags are used in hospitals and clinics to provide various healthcare services by collecting different environmental and physiological data. In these types of healthcare services, the leakage of any raw data may lead to privacy violation of the system and the application users (in this case patient) in general. In such sensor enabled RFID based healthcare applications, privacy preservation cannot be accomplished using different cryptographic techniques because they involve heavy computation which is not feasible for resource constrained tags. Moreover, in these types of system, it is desirable to have end-to-end security with the data decrypted only at the reader in order to avoid security vulnerabilities as much as possible. Ensuring system security and preserving data privacy are two conflicting goals. To address this problem, we propose a privacy preserving data collection technique (PriDaC) for sensor enabled RFID based healthcare application. In PriDaC the data secrecy maintenance and data privacy protection mechanisms work cooperatively. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first work that allows privacy preserving data collection in sensor enabled RFID systems that provides healthcare services.

Designing Interpersonal Communication Software for the Abilities of Elderly Users

Feelings of loneliness and social isolation can occur in many older adults - and impairments that may occur in old age, such as reduced mobility, deteriorating sight, and deteriorating hearing, can prevent elderly adults from visiting their friends and family. Interpersonal communication software -such as Facebook Messenger and Skype - can be very useful in keeping bonds with loved ones strong over long distances. However, sometimes these applications can be confusing and difficult for elderly people to use. A design created with considerations for the variety of abilities and older user may have could prompt more elderly users to use interpersonal communication software, and assist in the fight to reduce loneliness and social isolation in older adults. In this paper, we highlight a design for interpersonal communication software for elderly adults to use. Properly designed chat software would allow elderly users to quickly communicate with their friends via an interface designed with the different abilities of elderly users in mind.

Privacy in Healthcare

In recent years, the field of healthcare has seen an increased prevalence of electronic healthcare systems. Some of these systems seek to help patients make more informed decisions about their own health, while others may assist users in receiving proper care no matter where they are. Despite these positive impacts, the systems bring with them new risks. In particular, electronic healthcare systems have a variety of privacy concerns surrounding their use due to the personal nature of the data collected. In this chapter, we introduce several electronic healthcare systems that are currently in use and explore the different privacy challenges surrounding some of these systems. Finally, we highlight a few methods to address these privacy concerns and, thereby, improve privacy protection in healthcare systems.

Reality Versus Grant Application Research “Plans”

This article describes the implementation of the American Indian mHealth Smoking Dependence Study focusing on the differences between what was written in the grant application compared to what happened in reality. The study was designed to evaluate a multicomponent intervention involving 256 participants randomly assigned to one of 15 groups. Participants received either a minimal or an intense level of four intervention components: (1) nicotine replacement therapy, (2) precessation counseling, (3) cessation counseling, and (4) mHealth text messaging. The project team met via biweekly webinars as well as one to two in-person meetings per year throughout the study. The project team openly shared progress and challenges and collaborated to find proactive solutions to address challenges as compared to what was planned in the original grant application. The project team used multiple strategies to overcome unanticipated intervention issues: (1) cell phone challenges, (2) making difficult staffing decisions, (3) survey lessons, (4) nicotine replacement therapy, (5) mHealth text messages, (6) motivational interviewing counseling sessions, and (7) use of e-cigarettes. Smoking cessation studies should be designed based on the grant plans. However, on the ground reality issues needed to be addressed to assure the scientific rigor and innovativeness of this study.

Agile Development for the Creation of Proper Human-Computer Interfaces for the Elderly

While computers may greatly enhance the lives of the elderly, many software developers fail to create human-computer interfaces that properly appeal to elderly users. Developers often fail to take into consideration the elderly user from the beginning, and the elderly now face a variety of challenges when using most applications. We believe that the adoption of a modified agile development workflow when developing human-computer interfaces for the elderly will assist in better integrating an inclusive design into applications as early as possible. Agile development relies heavily on user feedback, which is imperative in the development of elderly-friendly human-computer interfaces where the target audience has a diverse set of abilities.

A Mobile Survey Tool for Smoking Dependency Among Native Americans

Smoking and tobacco related cancers are very common among Native Americans. Gathering information during different phases of smoking cessation can help us understand different factors that may work during smoking cessation. In this paper, we will present a survey system designed to collect data for several phases of smoking cessation. We designed and developed a survey system that helps researchers to collect data from people who are going through different phases of smoking cessation. We evaluate this system from the experiences of end users and by generating reports.

ShowMeHow: Using Smart, Interactive Tutorials in Elderly Software Development

Many elderly users fail to use technology simply because of the fear of failure, and perceiving themselves as “too old” to use new technology. Studies show that coaching is helpful in assisting the elderly with learning new technology, but unfortunately many do not like to ask for help. We propose the development of smart tutorials that detect user frustration by tracking various affective markers, communicate with the user clearly and offer customized tutorials for the users’ convenience. We hope that such a system will benefit the elderly by giving them on-demand, customized assistance while allowing them to retain their independence.