Towards an evaluation framework for assistive environments

ABSTRACT

As the world population is aging, there is an increasing need to support independent living of elderly people. Assistive environments incorporate the latest pervasive and ubiquitous technologies and provide a viable alternative to traditional assistive living. In this paper, we propose an evaluation framework to assess the quality of assistive environments. An assistive environment can be successful only if the potential users are willing to adopt it. The proposed framework identifies a set of attributes that are considered critical to user adoption. Sample metrics, as well as possible approaches to measure them, are also suggested to quantify those attributes. The framework is illustrated using an experimental assistive apartment environment that is being built at the University of Texas at Arlington.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.m Miscellaneous

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Languages, Measurement, Performance, Reliability, Security, Standardization, Verification

Keywords:
assistive environments, assistive living, metrics, pervasive computing