Understanding the Older User of Ambient Technologies

Abstract

This paper reports on the user-driven research and development (R&D) approach adopted with the EU-funded SOPRANO project (http://www.soprano-ip.org/) to develop an “ambient assisted living” (AAL) system to enhance the lives of frail and disabled older people. The paper describes the conceptual framework and methods used within SOPRANO and briefly presents some of the results from requirements capture, use case development and initial prototype development. The focus of the research is on understanding the potential user of the SOPRANO AAL system using a holistic ecological model of person and context and using methods that aimed to explore different experiential “realities”. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the approach for involving user in all stages of R&D and in generating and evaluating ideas for prototype development.