Aging in Place

	year(s):	2004-2008
	role:	Primary Researcher and Designer
	skills:	interviews, cultural probes, qualitative data analysis, grounded theory, c++ development, prototyping, field deployments, technology probes study, participatory design, user-centered design
	final stage:	deployment of two prototypes in real settings.
	deliverables:	2 working prototoypes, scientific publications, design ideas, identification and description of PeerCare behaviors, highlighting of the role of rhythms and routines awareness in social contacts

This research studied the role of communication in elderly people's well-being and safety when living independently. A user study with 14 elderly participants explored the role of communication in maintaining independence and well-being. Results of this study highlighted the role of peer support behaviors called PeerCare in providing reciprocal care amongst elderly friends, neighbors and club members. It also highlighted elders' needs for non-intrusive communication means with their social networks and families in particular. In addition, this study highlighted the role of routines and rhythms in building awareness of each others' activities and status. These concepts suggest that communication appliances can help establish and maintain PeerCare behaviors by supporting an awareness of environmental and personal cues which serve as a basis for establishing and maintaining reciprocal rhythms awareness.


Workshops with elderly women. All three are friends and live in close proximity. With a fourth woman, they form the Gang of Four, a group of friends who look after each other.


Interviews with elderly women linving in a shelter housing project. They share activities with other residents such as games or physical exercise.

To explore these aspects further, I conducted two studies involving two communication systems, i.e. mirrorSpace and markerClock, which I used as technology probes to gather data in real settings with elderly participants. Initially designed by Roussel et al. (2004), mirrorSpace is a video-based always-on communication device which uses proximity to adjust privacy using a blur filtration. Designed specifically for this project, markerClock (See also markerClock's portfolio page) is an augmented clock supporting the ambient communication of motion information reflecting people's home activities and the direct communication of symbolic codes. I designed markerClock specifically to support rhythms awareness by using the implicit mapping of the communication history on the clock. These studies confirmed the role of rhythm awareness in peer support, and highlighted the need for value in direct communication.

   
MarkerClock connected between two users. For more details, visit the markerClock webpage.

   
The mirrorSpace concept (original idea by Nicolas Roussel). Proximity provides a mediation of video's details to reinforce privacy. Images of connected people are overlaid to provoke interaction and playfulness.

I specifically explored the concept of value in communication in a series of participatory design sessions which suggested the influence of sensuality, effort and empathy in establishing and maintaining mediated interactions between individuals. As a result of this process, I proposed two design concepts called AmiVision and MiraCadre, created in collaboration with elderly participants, and introduced various iterations on the markerClock concept. AmiVision is a video-communication tool allowing friends to share the viewing of a TV program. Simple to use and flexible, AmiVision bridges distance to allow elderly friends to watch their favorite shows together. Briefly, AmiVision allows user to establish an audio-video connection with a friend, spliting the TV screen between the TV program and the friends' image. The respective sizes of the program and the friend's image can be adapted to fit various phases of viewing, from a full TV image with a thumbnailed friend's image to a full frame friends's image with a thumbnailed TV program, particularly useful during commercial breaks. MiraCadre is an augmented digital photo frame allowing users to take photos and create drawings. MiraCadre devices work in pair, each photo or drawing sent by a device is visible on the other device. This system allows for the sharing of day to day mundane information, as well as important events using photos, but also of simple messages by means of hand-written notes or little drawings such as a smiley face.


Participatory design workshop with older adults.


Paper prototypes created with participants.

   
Right: The AmiVision concept, sharing a TV program with a friend far away. Left: The MiraCadre concept, sharing pictures of mundane life and exchanging playful symbols and notes.

PeerCare: Supporting Awareness of Rhythms and Routines for Better Aging in Place

Yann Riche and Wendy Mackay, in the Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Work (JCSCW) 19(1), Springer Verlag Feb. 2010.

Designing Communications to Support Aging in Place

Yann Riche Ph.D. Thesis from the University Paris Sud (in English)

markerClock: A Communicating Augmented Clock for Elderly

Yann Riche, Wendy Mackay, presented at INTERACT 2007 (the IFIP 2007 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction).