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Digital Care Project
Technology On The Edge Approaches to Designing
Technology in a Health Care Setting
Connor Graham Department of Information
Systems University of Melbourne Keith Cheverst,
Mark Rouncefield Computing Department University
of Lancaster
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University of MelbourneLocation
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University of MelbourneThe campus
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The University of MelbourneQuick facts

• Established in 1853
• Top 3 in Asia (Asia Week - after NUS and HKU)
• Population 31 March, 2001
• Undergraduate Students 27,014
• Postgraduate Students 9,812
• International Students 5,690
• Total Staff 5,416

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University of MelbourneDepartment of
Information Systems

• Undergraduate, honours postgraduate courses
• E-commerce research
• Organisational applications of IT (OASIS)
• Agent research
• Situated systems research

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University of MelbourneInteraction Design Group

• Mobile Usability
• Methods Tools for Enhancing User Experience of
  ICT's
• Mobile Devices within Intimate Relationships
• 21 members
• 8 full-time PhD students

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University of LancasterVisit to Computing
Department

• Equator Project
• Digital Care Experience
• Care settings
• Difficult and sensitive
• Previous work
• Ethnographic observational techniques
• Cultural probes (Gaver et al., 2001)
• This work focus
• Staff at one location
• Using a framework to understand to propose
  technology

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A Housing TrustResearch questions

• How useful are trajectories for understanding
  sensitive care settings?
• What methods are most effective for understanding
  these settings with a view to design?
• How does the subtleties of the setting affect
  technology choice?

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Digital Care ExperiencePrevious work
PHASE OF PROJECT
OUTCOME(S)
Field work Observation cultural probes Focus on
understanding
Understanding Requirements
Design workshop Presentation of technology Focus
on designing building
Envisaged Systemse.g. panic alarms, medication
system, SPAM
Logging Installation within setting Focus on
understanding change
Text-based logsThemes regarding in situ use
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Digital Care ExperienceThis phase -
understanding
PHASE OF PROJECT
OUTCOME(S)
STEP 1 Initial analysis Analysis of logs Mapping
of themes onto frame
LocalesTrajectories
STEP 2 In-depth interviews Researchers and
staff Understanding through frame
Locales useful Trajectories useful
STEP 3 Rapid analysis Logs and
interviews Generating realistic stories
Themes from data Six scenarios Topics for further
inquiry
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Digital Care ExperienceThis phase - designing
PHASE OF PROJECT
OUTCOME(S)
STEP 4 Probe design Collaborative analysis
Probe pack focused on design Focal questions
STEP 5 Design workshop Verifying
scenarios Piloting probes Presentation of
technology
Verified scenarios Piloted probes Informed users
STEP 6 Collaborative design Design with users in
workshop Design with users in interview Collaborat
ive design exercise
Initial designs Commonly understood
designs Possible technology response
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STEP 1 Understanding staff lifeA taste of the
log data

• mu 2 bol 0 cheeky
• please ring botcherby office sap. Thanksssss
• Do you realise that all these messages are
  looked at Lancaster university?
• im at the house talking to
• did you hear the one about the 2 hungry sharks?
• has been on the phone quiite stressed asking
  for her medicationsays she has been ringing
  since 6.15.

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STEP 1 Understanding staff lifeImportant
concepts

• Trajectory
• a course of actionembraces the interaction of
  multiple actors and contingencies that may be
  unanticipated and not entirely manageable
• Strauss, 1993 53
• Locale
• the use of space to provide the settings of
  interaction, the settings of interaction in turn
  being essential to specifying its contextuality
• Giddens, 1984118
• A locale is constituted by the relationship
  between a particular social world and its
  interactional needs, and the site and means
  used to meet those needs, i.e., the space
  together with the resources available there.
• Fitzpatrick, 199891

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STEP 2 Understanding staff lifeSome interview
themes (staff)

• Phases and schedules in the day
• Immediacy of staff life
• The effectiveness of existing routines
• Importance of information transfer
• e.g. handover, telephone messages
• The site as a residential home
• The ongoing, evolving care plan
• The importance of shared care knowledge
• The need to focus on the positive

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STEP 3 Understanding staff lifeScenario 1 -
Changing shift

• You are coming to the end of your shift and are
  talking through the days events with the next
  member of staff. A resident enters and wants to
  talk to you desperately. You ask politely for the
  resident to wait until you have finished talking
  to the staff member. The resident seems anxious.
  You stop the changeover and walk to the pool room
  to talk to the resident.

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STEP 3 Understanding staff lifeScenario 2
Happy memories

• You are trying to organise a day trip to
  Blackpool for a few weeks time. During your
  morning routine when you check on residents you
  notice that one seems really excited about the
  trip as she has been to Blackpool before and has
  some good memories of the place. This is the
  first time youve seen her as excited about
  something in a long time.

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STEP 4 Probe DesignComposition

• Information booklet
• Photo Diary
• Message book
• Ideas book
• Cameras
• Polaroid disposable
• Miscellaneous stationery
• PostIt notes
• Pens glue

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STEP 5 Design WorkshopVerification,
presentation piloting

• Verification of scenarios
• Presentation of technology
• Phone cameras
• Infrared
• MMS
• Public displays
• Piloting of probe materials in groups

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STEP 5 Design WorkshopPresentation of technology
Taking piccies
Sending piccies
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STEP 6 Collaborative DesignInitial designs

• Digital complaints book
• 1710 1820
• Photo display e.g. for sharing photos
• 2120 2310

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Issues with understandingHow do we know we are
right?

• Ethically right
• No framework for this
• Its really hard to be a good guy
• Trustworthiness
• Prolonged engagement
• Peer debriefing
• Member checking
• Audit trails
• Multiple views on data

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Issues with designTrue envisagement

• Technology on my mind
• Technology driven design
• Feasible participatory design
• Designing when constraints important
• Envisagement from nothing
• The non-designer asked to design
• Technology on the edge
• Solutions for care settings
• Peripheral design
• Picture of probe pack

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Issues with techniquesProbing the probes

• Cultural probes (Gaver et al., 2001)
• About design
• Inspirational (about ideas)
• Focal (provide focus for design)
• Interpretative (involve the designer being wacky)
• Cultural probes (Crabtree et al., 2003)
• About understanding
• Focal (provide focus for understanding)
• Analytic (of activity)
• Longitudinal (over a period of time)

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Issues with techniquesProbing the probes

• Technology probes (Cheverst et al., 2004)
• About understanding
• Embodied (have physical form)
• Prototypical (form resembles a design)
• Situational (in a setting)
• Peripheral (on the edge of activity)
• Analytic (of activity)

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The leap into designProbing the probes

• Participatory design probes? (this study)
• Shared
• Embodied actual
• Longitudinal
• Situational
• Analytic
• Prototypical
• Constrained (design constrained by understanding)

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The road ahead Using the data

• Finish data collection
• Post probe cued recallor exit interview
• Extrapolate design patterns
• Getting at design
• Collaborative design with engaged experts
• At what stage of the development cycle do we use
  different kinds of probes?

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Reflection Comment on usefulness of Locales

• Good as a frame for understanding
• Less to say about techniques
• Limited articulation of quality criteria
• Techniques?
• Participative inquiry
• Participative design
• Meta-methodology
• Guba Lincoln (1989) quite useful