Jenny Lundberg

Information exploration using The Pond

In this paper we describe The Pond, a system used to search for and visualise data elements on an engaging tabletop display. The Pond uses methods of unencumbered interaction and audio feedback to allow users to investigate data elements, and supports shoulder-to-shoulder collaboration with the physical Pond artefact mediating the collaboration between those people gathered around it. The user interface is based on an ecosystem metaphor, presenting data elements in the form of shoals of aquatic creatures inside a virtual 3D pond. The Pond is an interactive system offering an appealing and novel way to search for and interchange information. We describe the motivation and design choices behind The Pond, the system as it stands today, details of its implementation, and observations from a study of The Pond in use.

Challenges and opportunities of sensor based user empowerment

Sensor and sensor networks technology are becoming an increasingly important part of information management infrastructures. Challenges related to collection, processing, analysis and user-centric presentation depending of context are of particular interest. Furthermore, design and implementation of proper respond actions to sensor based information is gaining interest in many applications. In this paper we focus on robust application of sensor based systems. With robust we mean in this context supporting user empowerment and allowing adaptations. Two case studies of critical operations for individuals with cognitive impairments are presented. A comprehensive methodology supporting empowerment of users is outlined. The methodology includes ethnography-based analysis of workflows to identify user dependant barriers as a basis for design and implementation of mechanisms supporting empowerment. Identified challenges and opportunities of sensor based user empowerment is a contribution. Requirements engineering, from a user empowerments perspective including user specific barriers and sensor based information mechanisms, as a part of the systems developments process is another important contribution. User-centric training, as an important validation of implemented solutions in given context, is part of lessons learned. Sections on challenges and opportunities as well as of future work conclude the paper.

Health in hand: Putting mHealth design in context

Wireless technologies, cloud computing and connectivity have enabled mobile services that extend the coverage of health services, resulting in a branch of eHealth now commonly referred to as mHealth. However, at least in Sweden, where the healthcare sector is heavily institutionalized and regulated, mHealth has so far mainly evolved in the form of applications for support of healthy life-style and self-management of chronic diseases, implemented outside of the firewalls of traditional healthcare delivery environments. In this paper we present an on-going Indo-Swedish research and development project in which we are putting mHealth design into context both from a patients perspective and from the perspective of a healthcare team working within a professional healthcare organization. Our research approach is inspired by the Scandinavian tradition of Participatory Design of ICT and informed by studies of how to measure usability, user experience and impact of mHealth interventions. The involved research teams are multi-disciplinary, including researchers from engineering, computing and health sciences. The project includes, on the Swedish side, a partner from the public healthcare sector, three SME:s and an industrial partner who is currently providing Electronic Patient Record and other healthcare information system solutions and who is interested in developing mobile solutions for healthcare professionals. We are currently in the process of collaborative articulation and specification of problems, goals and requirements within the framework of the first Swedish case study of the project, focused on mobile support for patients with diabetes type 2 and their healthcare teams.

VISIR work in progress

The VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality) Open Lab Platform is an architecture that enable universities, secondary schools, and other organizations to open instructional laboratories for remote access with preserved context. VISIR emanates from a feasibility study made in 1999 at BTH (Blekinge Institute of Technology) in Sweden. Today, VISIR laboratories are online at seven universities globally where thousands of students can work and conduct most experiments that can be performed on a solderless breadboard remotely without any risk of being harmed. IAOE (International Association of Online Engineering has organized SIG VISIR a Special Interest Group for VISIR. Further development of the platform is carried out in this Community. This paper is about work in progress especially at BTH.

ROBUST APPROACH TOWARDS CONTEXT DEPENDANT INFORMATION SHARING IN DISTRIBUTED ENVIRONMENTS

In the paper we propose a robust approach towards context dependant information modelling supporting trustworthy information exchange. Shortcomings and challenges of present approaches of syntax-based information modelling in dynamic context are identified. Basic principles are introduced and used to provide a robust approach towards meeting some of those challenges. The approach has a main aim of reducing brittleness of context dependant information and enabling intelligible information handling in distributed environments. The application domain is Emergency Service Centres, where the distributed handling of emergency calls in life critical situations of future change is in focus. The main contribution in the paper is a principled approach of use of abbreviations in dynamic emergency situations. Points of interaction for coordination are introduced as a tool supporting mappings of abbreviations between different contexts.

Diabetes Information in Social Media

Social media platforms have created new ways for people to communicate and express themselves. Thus, it is important to explore how e-health related information is generated and disseminated in these platforms. The aim of our current efforts is to investigate the content and flow of information when people in Sweden use Twitter to talk about diabetes related issues. To achieve our goals, we have used data mining and visualization techniques in order to explore, analyze and cluster Twitter data we have collected during a period of 10 months. Our initial results indicate that patients use Twitter to share diabetes related information and to communicate about their disease as an alternative way that complements the traditional channels used by health care professionals.

Early Signs of Diabetes Explored from an Engineering Perspective

Undetected diabetes is a global issue, estimated to over 200 million persons affected. Engineering opportunities in capturing early signs of diabetes has a potential due to the complexity to interp ...

Expert Competence in Remote Diagnostics - Industrial Interests, Educational Goals, Flipped Classroom & Laboratory Settings

The manufacturing industry are dependent of engineering expertise. Currently the ability to supply the industry with engineering graduates and staff that have an up-to-date and relevant competences might be considered as a challenge for the society. In this paper an education approach is presented where academia - industry - research institutes cooperate around the development and implementation of master level courses. The methods applied to reach the educational goals, concerning expert competence within remote diagnostics, have been on site and remote lectures given by engineering, medical and metrology experts. The pedagogical approach utilized has been flipped classroom. The main results show that academic courses developed in cooperation with industry requires flexibility, time and effort from the involved partners. The evaluation interviews indicate that student are satisfied with the courses and pedagogical approach but suggests more reconciliation meetings for course development. Labs early in the course was considered good, and division of labs at the system and the component level. However further long-term studies of evaluation of impact is necessary.

Diabetes Among Children (DAC) - Project - Exploring Opportunities with Support from Mobile Applications in a Cross Cultural Indo-Swedish Study.

In this paper we present opportunities and challenges to meet the worldwide challenge of diabetes. Diabetes has devastating long term complications that cause very great personal suffering and soci ...

A Virtual Community Design for Home-Based Chronic Disease Healthcare

The internet based social network has been applied to serve many social functions, such as democratic decision making, knowledge sharing, education, and healthcare. In this paper, we provide a prototype of virtual community designed for home-based chronic diseases healthcare. We studied the concept “community” from the activity theory model in order to design the prototype with a solid theoretical base. Then we conducted a questionnaire from healthcare recipients and interviewed healthcare providers to gather the requirements for the design of the community. With some user stories we described the requirements as use cases for our design and a conceptual prototype is built based on the requirements. This virtual community servers as a shared platform for all the stakeholders who are engaged in the healthcare activity. With this shared community platform, the interoperability problems of current healthcare systems can be moderated.