Coast to Coast Seminar Series: "Understanding the end-user and their needs"
11:30 - 12:30
Rm10900
Dr. Arlene Astell and Dr. Uwe Glaesser
Dr. Astell, Community Management of Dementia Chair and Associate Professor, University of Toronto and Dr. Glaesser, Professor of Computing Science and Associate Dean of Applied Science, Simon Fraser University
Abstract
Working in partnership with end-users is the key to developing successful interventions for any population. With an ageing population it is particularly important to understand how people make decisions about purchase and adoption of novel technologies and the key factors that influence these decisions. In this C2C seminar we will discuss techniques developed to encourage seniors to share their views about novel technologies and how their needs influence their decision-making. We will also explore examples of how user needs can be modelled to improve understanding of accessibility and scalability. In collaboration with users, caregivers, industry partners and other stakeholder groups, we will devise a reference model specifying the principal user requirements and needs in terms of a service model to be defined in abstract computational terms. This service model is intended as the starting point for building a flexibly extensible framework for developing an ensemble of software services utilizing cloud computing and distributed communication networks.
About the Speaker
Dr. Astell is the inaugural Ontario Shores Research Chair in the Community Management of dementia and Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Sheffield, UK. Arlene’s research is concerned with applying psychology to supporting people to live and age well. This includes the development and evaluation of novel interventions, including the creative application of technology, to early detection of change, maximizing spared abilities and minimizing impaired ones, and educating caregivers about the impact of cognitive impairment on communication and relationships.
Dr. Glaesser is Professor of Computer Science and Acting Dean of Applied Sciences at Simon Fraser University. His work concentrates on applied computer science, spanning industrial applications of formal methods, software technology for intelligent systems, and computational criminology and security informatics.. More recent work focuses on modeling of complex social systems: ambient assistive living, computer models in the study of crime and criminal network analysis.
