ABSTRACT:

There is a growing desire to address societal challenges in healthcare and sustainability through the use of information technology such as medication reminders and smart electricity meters. Although these technologies have managed to raise awareness regarding people’s care activities or energy consumption, most of these technologies have failed to consider how people actually use and integrate these devices into their everyday lives. As a result, people still find it difficult to adopt and embrace these technologies to improve their health or save energy. For example, an older adult with an active lifestyle might frequently be outside the home (e.g., at work, restaurant or any other social setting) when they are supposed to take their blood pressure or medication, challenging their care activities in relation to their everyday practices. Taking a more practice-based research approach, this talk presents the challenges and opportunities for designing a new generation of information technologies (e.g., self-care technology, eco-feedback technology) that better fit into people’s everyday practices. These points are presented using several case studies such as supporting older adults in their medication management practices as well as understanding the practices of residents of a sensor-equipped student dormitory targeted to motivate them to reduce and shift their energy consumption.

BIO:

Nervo Xavier Verdezoto is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Ubiquitous Computing and Interaction Group in the Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University in Denmark. His work combines fieldwork with user-centered and participatory design methods to further understand people’s everyday practices, different stakeholder’s needs, and how people appropriate technology. In particular, he has been working in various research projects related to healthcare, physical computing, and sustainable HCI.