Welfare technology (WT) is often developed with a technical perspective, and little consideration is taken regarding the involvement of important ethical considerations and different values that come up during the development and implementation of WT. Safety, security and privacy are significant, as well as the usability and overall benefit of the tool, but to date assessments often lack a holistic picture of the WT as seen by the users. This paper suggests a user-centered ethical assessment (UCEA) framework for WT to be able to evaluate ethical consequences as a part of the user-centered aspects. Building on established methodologies from research on ethical considerations, as well as the research domain of human-computer interaction, this assessment framework joins knowledge of ethical consequences with aspects affecting the “digitalization with the individual in the center”, e.g. privacy, safety, well-being, dignity, empowerment and usability. The framework was applied during development of an interface for providing symptom information to Parkinson patients. The results showed that the UCEA framework directs the attention to values emphasized by the patients. Thus, functionality of the system was evaluated in the light of values and expected results of the patients, thereby facilitating follow-up of a user-centered assessment. The framework may be further developed and tested, but in this study it served as a working tool for assessing ethical consequences of WT as a part of user-centered aspects.

Serious games are an established field of study, where exergames provide a combination of conducting exercises and playing games. The aim of this work was to identify important features to include in, and design recommendations for exergames using sensor technology. The outcome of this work was two-folded. Firstly, a literature review of design guidelines with respect to older adults as users of exergames resulted in a categorized summary of design guidelines for specific target groups, e.g. people undergoing physical rehabilitation after stroke or injury or users suffering from a chronic disease. Secondly, these guidelines are discussed from various perspectives, based on insights from several years of work in the area. A general design guidelines covered by most of the literature is that exergames should provide a wide range of difficulty levels and be possible to adjust to individual needs. Insights from own work in the area highlight the importance of task and context relevant tools and devices. The result will serve as a starting point for a framework consisting of both general and domain specific design guidelines when designing sensor-based exergames for older adults.

In this paper we discuss how theories of vision, touch, sound, and learning behavior can form a basis for the development of a testbed through which real-life task performance can be compared with task performance in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment. By taking a multisensory approach, it will be possible to simulate the functionalities of a real training setting in a VR environment. Approaching this problem from a theoretical perspective, we will view it from a new angle and discuss whether we can enhance and nuance feedback in the virtual experience through the use of ambient media like sound, scent, heat, and wind. Sound may hold a great potential here. For visual perception, it is not only crucial that we can see relationships but that we are also able to search for patterns that we recognize. If an object is taken outside its context, its meaning can easily shift. To see is to search for patterns, but vision is also dependent on our experience of other senses. We can imagine how a given surface might feel by looking at a representation of the object, and this is because of previous tactile experiences with similar objects. From a technical perspective, integrating sound in a virtual environment is a straightforward process. Research shows that the process of learning a series of physical actions can be enhanced when it occurs in parallel with verbal or written information. In the literature, this phenomenon is described in terms of enactment or subject-performed tasks. Based on theories regarding vision, touch, sound and learning behavior, we suggest the design of a testbed that can be used in a pilot study aimed at increasing knowledge on how VR and AR can support learning in an assembly or installation context in order to produce guidelines for such an environment.

Background: In this study an interactive distance solution (called the DISKO tool) was developed to enable home-based motor training after stroke. Objectives: The overall aim was to explore the feasibility and safety of using the DISKO-tool, customized for interactive stroke rehabilitation in the home setting, in different rehabilitation phases after stroke. Methods: Fifteen patients in three different stages in the continuum of rehabilitation after stroke participated in a home-based training program using the DISKO-tool. The program included 15 training sessions with recurrent follow-ups by the integrated application for video communication with a physiotherapist. Safety and feasibility were assessed from patients, physiotherapists, and a technician using logbooks, interviews, and a questionnaire. Qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics were used in the analysis. Results: Fourteen out of 15 patients finalized the training period with a mean of 19.5 minutes spent on training at each session. The DISKO-tool was found to be useful and safe by patients and physiotherapists. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the feasibility and safety of the DISKO-tool and provides guidance in further development and testing of interactive distance technology for home rehabilitation, to be used by health care professionals and patients in different phases of rehabilitation after stroke. © 2017 Taylor & Francis.

Welfare technology (WT) is often developed with a technical perspective, which does not involve important ethical considerations and different values that come up during the development and implementation of WT within elderly care. This paper presents a study where we have applied an ethical value matrix to support systematic ethical assessments of WT intended for personal health monitoring. The matrix consists of values in a checklist and a number of stakeholders and it is possible to analyze which values are emphasized by which stakeholders. The aim was to assess the matrix and find out how the matrix supports identification of values and interests that drive the various stakeholders in the development and implementation of WT. We have realized that several values specified by different actors as especially important were not included in the matrix and that the values in the matrix did not visualize or enable identification of value conflicts.

Bringing real users into the design process is often seen as a successful way of creating useful IT systems. However, when it comes to designing for elderly, this is not always possible since many elderly suffer from age-related decline, both with respect to physical and cognitive abilities. This paper elaborates on the approach of working with proxies, in this case elderly care personnel. Different groups of people (N = 117) working with elderly and well familiar with needs and contexts around elderly were engaged in this study. Using a questionnaire and a more in-depth workshop we explored with municipality care professionals their experiences as well as the need to create a framework to improve such a proxy approach, and whether a method using care professionals as mediators could be possible to establish in elderly care. The results described in this paper are complementary to ours and others previous knowledge and show promising commitment and willingness to work in accordance with the proposed method.

This paper describes user-related aspects in the deployment of a live broadcasting service. Four user studies were conducted, addressing different user groups and different research questions. Participating user groups were the production team that generated content for live broadcasts and the viewers of the broadcasts. The aim of the studies was to investigate to which extent quality affects the experience and which functionality is needed to convey a feeling of presence. Technology and functionality needs were studied regarding the production team. The results showed the importance of a production environment that is easy to use, and providing the opportunity for producers to use the technology in their own creative way. The results related to the viewers supported the assumption that it was important to create a feeling of presence for those watching the matches via the service. Finally, the user groups also had several suggestions for functionalities that could increase the social interaction and feeling of presence.

In Sweden, digital TV services have until very recently not been accessible to most people through the TV set. At the same time, TV channels offer more and more content on the web and the majority of the population has access to high-speed internet connections. A web survey aimed at investigating attitudes and behavior related to on-demand TV was distributed in December 2008 to 52 households in an experimental, open (operator neutral) access network in Sweden. Questions were posed on TV arrangements, habits and attitudes; social aspects of TV watching; watching film or TV on-demand; and watching film or TV using the computer. Complementary interviews were also performed with participants that were not part of the experimental environment. Results show that participants in the studies understood and felt a need for time-shift and on-demand TV services: time-shift needs for re-scheduling, catch-up and repeats were expressed as well as on-demand needs for movies and for accessing otherwise unavailable TV content. Support for on-demand TV could also be found in that subjects reported little need for viewing TV content according to a broadcast schedule, with the main exception of news, sports events and other live broadcasts.