Search

Monitoring of health parameters in non-clinical settings is one strategy to address the increasingly aging population and age-related disabilities and diseases. However, challenges exist when introducing self-monitoring activities in people's everyday life. An active lifestyle can challenge the appropriation of healthcare technologies and people with comorbidity may have diverse but co-existing monitoring needs. In this paper, we seek to understand home-based health monitoring practices to better design and integrate them into people's everyday life. We perform an analysis of socio-technical complexities in home-based healthcare technologies through three case studies of self-monitoring: 1) pre-eclampsia (i.e. pregnancy poisoning), 2) heart conditions, and 3) preventive care. Through the analysis seven themes emerged (people, resources, places, routines, knowledge, control and motivation) that can facilitate the understanding of home-based healthcare activities. We present three modes of self-monitoring use and provide a set of design recommendations for future Ubicomp designs of home-based healthcare technology. Monitoring of health parameters in non-clinical settings is one strategy to address the increasingly aging population and age-related disabilities and diseases. However, challenges exist when introducing self-monitoring activities in people’s everyday life. An active lifestyle can challenge the appropriation of healthcare technologies and people with comorbidity may have diverse but co-existing monitoring needs. In this paper, we seek to understand home-based health monitoring practices to better design and integrate them into people’s everyday life. We perform an analysis of socio-technical complexities in home-based healthcare technologies through three case studies of self-monitoring: 1) pre-eclampsia (i.e. pregnancy poisoning), 2) heart conditions, and 3) preventive care. Through the analysis seven themes emerged (people, resources, places, routines, knowledge, control and motivation) that can facilitate the understanding of home-based healthcare activities. We present three modes of self-monitoring use and provide a set of design recommendations for future Ubicomp designs of home-based healthcare technology.

In this paper we present Local Area Artworks, a system enabling collaborative art interpretation on-site deployed during an exhibition in a local art gallery. Through the system, we explore ways to re-connect people to the local place by making use of their personal mobile devices as interfaces to the shared physical space. We do this by re-emphasizing the local characteristics of wireless networks over the global connectivity to the Internet. With a collaborative writing system in a semi-public place, we encourage local art discussions and provide a platform for the public to actively participate in interpretations of individual artworks. Our preliminary findings suggest that people were (to our surprise) not questioning the inner workings of our system. Through engaging with the system, individuals felt being part of the exhibition. However, no coherent piece of text emerged during the runtime of the exhibition. In this paper we present Local Area Artworks, a system enabling collaborative art interpretation on-site deployed during an exhibition in a local art gallery. Through the system, we explore ways to re-connect people to the local place by making use of their personal mobile devices as interfaces to the shared physical space. We do this by re-emphasizing the local characteristics of wireless networks over the global connectivity to the Internet. With a collaborative writing system in a semi-public place, we encourage local art discussions and provide a platform for the public to actively participate in interpretations of individual artworks. Our preliminary findings suggest that people were (to our surprise) not questioning the inner workings of our system. Through engaging with the system, individuals felt being part of the exhibition. However, no coherent piece of text emerged during the runtime of the exhibition.