campusreview . com . au industry & research
We found over time that people really enjoyed using the voice assistant to ask for music to be played in their homes . And those were some of the most beautiful and evocative moments of our research process , because they were able to ask the voice assistant to find them some music online and it would be found , and then it would just fill their rooms full of melodies , which can be very relaxing and can also maybe bring forth music that you wouldn ’ t normally play , or that ’ s from the past .
Emerging technologies also learn with people . One of the interesting things about the robotic vacuum cleaners is that it wasn ’ t only a matter of the research participants learning how to use them , it ’ s also the machine learning component of those technologies actually learning how to work in their particular homes – mapping out their floor space and understanding the routes they needed to take in order to vacuum in the homes . It ’ s very much about how people and technologies actually evolve their relationships together .
Another great example was the use of the smart lights . Getting up from bed in the night , you need light , you need to be able to see your way because you really can ’ t risk having a fall . Being able to put lights on to guide you , and to put the lights on in the bathroom before you get there is super important .
COVID came on halfway through this project . Did that change how people used these devices at all ? The COVID-19 pandemic was a big change , not only for the participants living in their homes , but also for us in terms of how we were able to do our research with them .
So we first visited the participants just before the lockdown started . We were able to visit them in their homes and understand how they were learning to use the technologies , how they were building relationships with them , what worked and what didn ’ t work . You can see in the film how the researchers are really interacting with the people and the technologies together .
We planned to go back and visit the participants again and shoot footage for our film , but we were unable to do that .
In the meantime , the participants had a tablet they could use for communicating with people , and they also used it to communicate with the research team .
They were able to use new technologies to speak to their families and see their families on video calls , which was marvellous . Everybody ’ s life became a lot more home-based during the pandemic so there were new opportunities to use those technologies for wellbeing , independence and entertainment .
What would you say were the most significant positive impacts of the technology on the participants ? I wouldn ’ t want to single out any one benefit as being the most important . The smart lights are of immense benefit to older people because they provide this essential service of lighting up your home so that you can avoid a fall .
I would also highlight the voice assistance and the joy that brought to people ’ s lives . Participants sometimes use them to tell jokes , or asked them to tell them a joke or play music , creating these really emotional and sensory experiences .
The voice assistant could also serve as an alarm in the morning to wake you up , or you might greet them when you wake up in the morning , as some of our participants did . And some people enjoyed having the news told to them through the voice assistant .
Participants could ask the smart kettle to start to boil the water while they were still sitting down in one room and then go through to the other room and find the water ready so that they could make a cup of tea , or they could do that from their beds in the morning before they got out of bed .
Did anything surprise you about the way people engaged with the technology ? Very often there are gendered ways of engaging with technology . We might find that men tend to make more jokes with the voice assistance , for example . We found in particular that women participants liked to say please and thank you when they spoke to the digital voice assistant , but were sometimes a bit frustrated that the voice assistants weren ’ t really programmed to accommodate that .
People of certain generations have particular views about manners , and how you should speak to people and how you expect other people to speak back to you . And we felt that was a really interesting insight in terms of the design of future technologies so that they can actually be more adaptable and more flexible to people of different generations in their homes . So there ’ s some really interesting , unexpected design insights . It tells you
It ’ s very much about how people and technologies evolve their relationships together .
how to make the technology much more compatible and aligned with people ’ s existing values and lifestyles , and how they really want to be and feel when they ’ re at home .
Home isn ’ t just a house . Home is a feeling and is about who you have around you . It ’ s about your social relationships . It ’ s about your relationships with the material things that you have in your home .
What did you see in terms of feelings of confidence and independence ? Many of them are very independent , very active in their communities , very active in their families . Older people or seniors have such a wealth of knowledge and expertise , and they have a great ability to share that . They have a great ability to understand others because they have a whole life of insights .
Seniors are also very often carers . Very often they ’ re caring for their own partners . And parents never stop caring for their children , however old those parents are as well . So I think we need to think about seniors and their independence in a whole range of different ways .
One of those is really about respecting their expertise , their knowledge and their ability to advise and care for others , and to think about how emerging technologies and smart home technologies can actually assist them in continuing those roles and continuing to be the experts they already are .
What considerations do you think need to be made in terms of how technology is designed in the future ? We need to rethink completely the way that we design technology , where we design it and how we design it . So we need a complete paradigm shift in terms of ensuring that we really do design technology with and for the people who are really going to use it .
If we want technology to fit into people ’ s lives and their ethics and their values in the home , then let ’ s make sure that the technology does say ‘ please and thank you ’ to the people it needs to say it to . That ’ s the higher level question . ■
19