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The development of assistive dementia technology that accounts for the values of those affected by its use

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Abstract

Developing technology that accounts for values has been achieved in many areas, including security, gaming, finance, engineering, and many more. The main methodological approach has been that of value sensitive design. But most of the work to date has been on the first of its three stages. The focus of this article is on advances related to its second stage, empirical investigation, and in particular the impact of contextual understanding in that stage. Although lessons can be learnt from other domains, the specific context of dementia means that there are nuances to understanding values, including justice and autonomy, that differ from other areas. The integration of value considerations in the development of assistive technology in dementia is explored in two broad categories: the traditional and ongoing need for fixed decision support, and adaptable decision support technologies. For fixed decision support the A&D Benchmark is particularly useful in design. But for adaptable technologies, that benchmark requires further development, including consideration of the values of additional stakeholders, such as the general public.

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Notes

  1. http://nonnatech.com/.

  2. http://www.gerijoy.com/senior-living.html.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was initially presented as an invited keynote titled: “Entwicklung technischer Assistenz unter Berücksichtigung der Werte der Betroffenen”, for the Robert Bosch Interdisciplinary Symposium, Berlin, Germany, October 2015. The symposium was titled: “Technische Assistenzsysteme für Patienten mit Demenz im Krankenhaus unter dem Leitbild Entstigmatisierung und Selbstbestimmtheit”. Case study 2 is based on a 2014–2015 project called “Situationsadaptive Navigationsassistenz für Demenzpatienten auf Basis kausaler Modelle” (SiNDeM). It was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF 16SV7091). The chief investigators were T. Kirste (Lead) and S. Teipel. Other investigators were C. Heine, R. Henkel, P. Koldrack, and K. Zarm. Partners to the project were O. Burmeister (Charles Sturt University) and Grey Innovation Pty Ltd.

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  1. School of Computing and Mathematics, Charles Sturt University, Panorama Avenue, Bathurst, NSW, 2795, Australia

    Oliver K. Burmeister

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Correspondence to Oliver K. Burmeister.

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Burmeister, O.K. The development of assistive dementia technology that accounts for the values of those affected by its use. Ethics Inf Technol 18, 185–198 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-016-9404-2

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