This paper reports the development of a specialized teleguidance-based navigation assistance system for the blind and the visually impaired. We present findings from a usability and user experience study conducted with 11 blind and visually impaired participants and a sighted caretaker. Participants sent live video feed of their field of view to the remote caretaker’s terminal from a smartphone camera attached to their chest. The caretaker used this video feed to guide them through indoor and outdoor navigation scenarios using a combination of haptic and voice-based communication. Haptic feedback was provided through vibrating actuators installed in the grip of a Smart Cane. Two haptic methods for directional guidance were tested: (1) two vibrating actuators to guide left and right movement and (2) a single vibrating actuator with differentiating vibration patterns for the same purpose. Users feedback was collected using a meCUE 2.0 standardized questionnaire, interviews, and group discussions. Participants’ perceptions toward the proposed navigation assistance system were positive. Blind participants preferred vibrational guidance with two actuators, while partially blind participants preferred the single actuator method. Familiarity with cane use and age were important factors in the choice of haptic methods by both blind and partially blind users. It was found that smartphone camera provided sufficient field of view for remote assistance; position and angle are nonetheless important considerations. Ultimately, more research is needed to confirm our preliminary findings. We also present an expanded evaluation model developed to carry out further research on assistive systems.

A common but false perception persists about the level and type of personalization in the offerings of contemporary software, information systems, and services, known as Personalization Myopia: this involves a tendency for researchers to think that there are many more personalized services than there genuinely are, for the general audience to think that they are offered personalized services when they really are not, and for practitioners to have a mistaken idea of what makes a service personalized. And yet in an era, which mashes up large amounts of data, business analytics, deep learning, and persuasive systems, true personalization is a most promising approach for innovating and developing new types of systems and services—including support for behavior change. The potential of true personalization is elaborated in this article, especially with regards to persuasive software features and the oft-neglected fact that users change over time.

The enforcement of the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) began in the European Union (EU) in May 2021. Under MDR, software and information systems may be considered as medical devices. Behaviour Change Support Systems (BCSS) are information and communication technologies aimed at helping their users to achieve behaviour change targets. Designers, developers, and researchers of health BCSS (hBCSS) need to understand the impact of this new regulation on the development of such systems as the regulation influences both design and development in a variety of ways. Furthermore, myriads of health BCSS have been developed previously in the medical, fitness, and wellbeing domains, and a substantial number of them may require qualification, classification, or reclassification as medical devices under the new regulation. However, the regulation process is complex and requires knowledge and expertise which many manufacturers do not have in-house. Depending on the context and classification, the costs may suddenly ramp up and become too much for smaller developers, and thus they should be carefully assessed. In this paper, we discuss the regulation from the point of view of hBCSS developers. We look at the regulatory process and highlight key issues for developers of hBCSS. Particular attention is given to the classification and design requirements most likely to pose immediate challenges to developers. In addition, we discuss the costs associated with MDR which are difficult to estimate without previous experience.

As the COVID-19 storms the globe, there are many efforts to battle it. This paper looks at the development of one such an effort in a form of a mobile game. The game is a 2D arcade game called Unus Terra. It is intended to be entertaining but aims to influence people to partake in social distancing through several mechanics. An early version of the game is evaluated by five usability and user experience experts using heuristics and a few other selected methods. In this paper, we present the results from these evaluations along with our findings from using this type of evaluation method. The use of heuristics is considered from the perspectives of academics and practitioners.

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