Using Cultural Probes to Inform the Design of Assistive Technologies

Abstract

This paper discusses the practical implications of applying cultural probes to drive the design of assistive technologies. Specifically we describe a study in which a probe was deployed with homebased carers of people with dementia in order to capture critical data and gain insights of integrating the technologies into this sensitive and socially complex design space. To represent and utilise the insights gained from the cultural probes, we created narratives based on the probe data to enhance the design of assistive technologies.

Collaborative Futures

“…In dementia research, interviews are the most commonly used method to elicit information. Yet, as explained above, most of these interviews are conducted in the presence of a proxy, such as a partner or professional carer [9,16,23,29]. Similarly, we found literature on the use of cultural probes [23,30] to elicit personal experiences of living with dementia.…”

“…Despite this, research efforts often conflate YOD and LOD [23] as a single group, with similar needs and experiences. When we began to design this inquiry, we did not find effective guidance in the literature as to how to conduct research specifically with individuals living with dementia in the younger age demographic.…”

Design Probes for People with Dementia

“…Since Gaver's contribution, probes as a method have been applied to various areas in HCI and design, also in the context of dementia: Van Rijn, van Hoof, and Stappers (2010) collaborated with relatives of people with dementia in later stages (instead of the persons with dementia themselves). Brown et al, and Brankaerts and Wallace et al applied probes directly with people with dementia (Brankaert, 2016;Brown et al, 2014;Wallace et al, 2013a). Brown et al used a camera and two workbooks to have people take pictures of their daily life, describe them in the workbooks and rate the captured situations on an emotion scale.…”

“…Their aim was to elicit deeper insights in the life of persons with dementia to aid the development of assistive technologies. The probes have a strong diary character but their design in relation to the types of responses is not discussed in detail in their article (Brown et al, 2014). Wallace et al on the other hand describe their very artistic and inspirational probes in more detail, but cannot reflect on a larger number of returned probes due to only one participating couple (Wallace et al, 2013a).…”

“…The adaptability of the probes method implicates a need to describe and reflect upon the detailed use and appropriation of the method in the different contexts (Brown et al, 2014). With this paper, our aim is to explicitly report and reflect on the design of probes for persons with dementia, the process around distribution and recollection of the probes and the types of reactions and information our specific probes evoked.…”