Towards a Human Centered Perspective on Ambient Assisted Living

Abstract

While reviewing some of the 150 projects that received funding under the AAL-Joint Programme, it becomes obvious that most of them exhibit several major drawbacks. Among these, the most important is the excessive focus on technology. Many of the proposed solutions still follow the design pattern of the feeding machine presented in the famous Charlie Chaplin’s movie “Modern Times”, by treating the assisted person as an object. The research described in this paper aims to outline a different approach on the implementation of the AAL systems, by focusing on a neglected resource, which is the assisted persons themselves. We explore two possible solutions aimed to facilitate the participation of the assisted persons in the process of caregiving. First, in an “asynchronous” scheme, we consider the possibility that careseekers may act as caregivers at distinct time moments. Second, in a “synchronous” perspective, the assisted persons actually provide some sort of assistance to other people in need, either by sharing information about their activity patterns, or by participating in technology mediated social interactions similar to those established in therapy groups.