Margaret E. Morris

It's not that i don't have problems, i'm just not putting them on facebook: challenges and opportunities in using online social networks for health

To understand why and how people share health information online, we interviewed fourteen people with significant health concerns who participate in both online health communities and Facebook. Qualitative analysis of these interviews highlighted the ways that people think about with whom and how to share different types of information as they pursue social goals related to their personal health, including emotional support, motivation, accountability, and advice. Our study suggests that success in these goals depends on how well they develop their social networks and how effectively they communicate within those networks. Effective communication is made more challenging by the need to strike a balance between sharing information related to specific needs and the desire to manage self-presentation. Based on these observations, we outline a set of design opportunities for future systems to support health-oriented social interactions online, including tools to help users shape their social networks and communicate effectively within those.

New Perspectives on Ubiquitous Computing from Ethnographic Study of Elders with Cognitive Decline

A rapidly growing elder population is placing unprecedented demands on health care systems around the world. Cognitive decline is one of the most taxing health problems in terms of both its relation to elders’ overall functioning and the cost of care. The needs of elders with cognitive decline – for invisible, intuitive support and assessment – invite a reconsideration of the assumptions behind and specifications for ubiquitous computing solutions. This paper describes findings and implications of ethnographic research conducted with cognitively impaired individuals and their informal care networks in 45 households in 5 U.S. regions. Key themes regarding needs and barriers to successful aging are addressed through a set of design principles which apply across the stages of cognitive decline. To convey stage-specific findings and associated challenges for ubiquitous computing, case studies of four representative households and example concept solutions are presented. The design principles and technology challenges outlined in this paper may generalize to other contexts for ubiquitous computing.

Social networks as health feedback displays

Social networks have thus far served primarily as analytic tools for social scientists. By leveraging pervasive computing, this new research transforms social-network models into behavioral feedback displays. These ambient displays, which reflect data on remote and face-to-face interaction gathered by wireless sensor networks, were intended to raise awareness of social connectedness as a dynamic and controllable aspect of well being. An interdisciplinary health technology research group at Intel recently developed and tested prototypes in the homes of older adults and their caregivers. This article reviews the psychological rationale for the project and highlights some reactions of participants to the displays.

Embedded assessment: overcoming barriers to early detection with pervasive computing

Embedded assessment leverages the capabilities of pervasive computing to advance early detection of health conditions. In this approach, technologies embedded in the home setting are used to establish personalized baselines against which later indices of health status can be compared. Our ethnographic and concept feedback studies suggest that adoption of such health technologies among end users will be increased if monitoring is woven into preventive and compensatory health applications, such that the integrated system provides value beyond assessment. We review health technology advances in the three areas of monitoring, compensation, and prevention. We then define embedded assessment in terms of these three components. The validation of pervasive computing systems for early detection involves unique challenges due to conflicts between the exploratory nature of these systems and the validation criteria of medical research audiences. We discuss an approach for demonstrating value that incorporates ethnographic observation and new ubiquitous computing tools for behavioral observation in naturalistic settings such as the home.

Out of the lab and into the fray: towards modeling emotion in everyday life

We conducted a 19 participant study using a system comprised of wireless galvanic skin response (GSR), heart rate (HR), activity sensors and a mobile phone for aggregating sensor data and enabling affect logging by the user. Each participant wore the sensors daily for five days, generating approximately 900 hours of continuous data. We found that analysis of emotional events was highly dependent on correct windowing and report results on synthesized windows around annotated events. Where raters agreed on the timing and quality of the emotion we were able to recognize 85% of the high and low energy emotions and 70% of the positive and negative emotions. We also gained many insights regarding participants perception of their emotional state and the complexity of emotion in real life.

Facebook for health: opportunities and challenges for driving behavior change

Obesity, mood, and associated behaviors spread within social networks [1]. Facebook, the primary representation of these networks, shapes our perceptions of social norms and the expectations we set for ourselves. As such, Facebook holds potential to influence health behaviors of individuals and improve public health. This panel explores that potential from a variety of perspectives including psychology, public health, privacy, and design innovation. Panelists include: Margie Morris and Sunny Consolvo, researchers at Intel who have created novel mobile health and Facebook applications; Sean Munson, a social computing researcher at University of Michigan; Kevin Patrick, of UCSD, who is investigating social media for preventing and reducing weight gain in young adults; and Janice Tsai, from Microsoft, who focuses on privacy implications of Facebook. This panel will identify opportunities for health interventions on Facebook to have a broad social impact, challenges to implementing effective interventions on this dynamic platform, appropriate research methods, and considerations related to privacy and ethics.

Tales, Tours, Tools, and Troupes: A Tiered Research Method to Inform Ubiquitous Designs for the Elderly

As the elder population continues to increase throughout the world, there is a tremendous need for technologies that will keep elders healthy and self-sufficient in their homes. Ubiquitous, smart home technologies can fulfill this role, but a thorough understanding of elders’ routines, lifestyles, and home environments is required in order to develop effective aids. This paper describes our research approach, which evolved from stories related in household interviews (‘tales’), ethnographic observation of elders’ routines and environments (‘tours’), analysis of artefacts (‘tools’) and finally interactive performances (‘troupes’) to convey and elicit feedback about the capabilities of future home technologies for the elderly. This combination of methods revealed a range of user values, behaviours, coping styles, and requirements for ubiquitous technology that would otherwise have been difficult to gather in this domain of ubiquitous, ‘invisible’ computing.

Designing for Movement in Public Life with Itinerant Probes

This pictorial illustrates how objects can illuminate peoples experience of public space, an approach we call itinerant probes. Itinerant probes are not individualized, mediated artifacts, but instead dynamic events that en- liven peoples personal and collective memories. Building on the probes literature and recent ecological perspectives, we describe three probes related to lighting that we investigated at three public sites. Our explorations with these probes highlight the intimate histories associated with public spaces.

HCI challenges in health assessment

BACKGROUND Health is an increasingly important area for computing and experience design. Due to the shift towards preventative medicine and the overburdened health care system, individuals are increasingly in charge of their own wellness strategies. One particularly vexing health problem for individuals and society at large is early disease detection. Early detection is critical for proactive health decisions, ranging from participation in medication trials to lifestyle changes. Assessment of initial decline is also essential to advance scientific knowledge about treatment effectiveness and vulnerability factors.

PIXEE: pictures, interaction and emotional expression

An interactive system, PIXEE, was developed to promote greater emotional expression in image-based social media. Images shared on social media were projected onto a large interactive display at public events. A multimodal interface displayed the sentiment analysis of images and invited viewers to express their emotional responses. Viewers could adjust the emotional classification and thereby change the color and sound associated with a picture, and experiment with emotion-based composition. An interdisciplinary team deployed this system around the world to explore new ways for technology to catalyze emotional connectedness. This paper describes the system, design iterations, and observations about how people used it for self-expression and connection.