AAL-technology acceptance through experience

Abstract

Despite substantial research and development of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies, their acceptance remains low. This is partially caused by a lack of accounting for users' needs and values, and the social contexts these systems are to be embedded in. Participatory design has some potential to overcome these issues, but still a high threshold in commitment, (financial) investment and effort remains for potential users, who are often not familiar with the technology, its benefits and its user experience. Our goal is to reduce the threshold by allowing people to take a 'sneak peek' in a neutral setting to experience possible benefits of an AAL system and its interaction without the need to commit. In the paper we propose introducing AAL technology through mediator installations. We present three core design qualities for such mediators exemplified in a design case.