CommunityNet
Mediating care at the local community level
Information
Author: Stroomer, B.
Contributor: Vastenburg, M.H.
Faculty: Industrial Design Engineering
Department: Industrial Design
Programme: Master of Science Design for Interaction
Type: Master thesis
Date: 27-08-2010
Keywords: User-centered design | mediating care | Community | System |
Abstract
The care potential at the local community has become increasingly important given growth of the elderly population and the escalating cost of public health care. CommunityNet aims to bring together family and friends in a community system while lowering the barrier towards asking for help. A user-centered design process was followed to find a product concept which appeals to the target user group and which addresses the user needs. The concept was evaluated in a field test, which showed success in lowering the barrier towards asking multiple contacts for support. Participants indicated that they preferred using CommunityNet compared to face-to-face contact and telephone when support is not urgent. Since participants indicated problems building their network, the next step will be to integrate an automated mach-maker facility.
The main goal of the concept is to enable the next generation elderly to activate and maintain a local network of potential caregivers. The barrier to ask for support should be removed by introducing a peer-to-peer solution in an early stage, when seniors are still willing to adopt a new technology. The concept consists of a touchscreen interface using the Internet to enable the user to communicate with family, friends, neighbors and other potential caregivers.
The main functionality is the bidirectional care-network; sending and receiving informal requests. These can be sent to those contacts the user wishes to invite. Since the requests are sent to as many contacts as possible, users are free to decide when and what they respond. The interface is built up out of the contact area (left), and the request- and profile area (right), using tabs to switch. The contact area shows pictures of the user and its contacts, with request bulbs floating around their pictures. To enable quick responses and keep overview, a request can only be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The user can select whom the request is sent to; by default all contacts are selected to stimulate users to ask as many contacts as possible for the request.
