Memory Aids as Collaboration Technology

The loss of memory can have a profound and disabling effect on individuals. People who acquire memory impairments are often unable to live independent lives because they cannot remember what they need to do. In many cases, they rely on family members who live with them. When I carried out ethnographic fieldwork to explore this domain, I observed that individuals with amnesia were surrounded by family members who provided extensive memory support (e.g. reminders). I found that such families very worked closely together to accomplish everyday activities, such as coordinating a family outing or planning a doctor’s appointment. However, these activities were often undermined by family members forgetting. This led me to view memory aids as collaboration technology, rather than as tools that only support an individual’s memory. My dissertation explores this idea and how it can lead to more appropriate designs of assistive technology. To design collaborative assistive technology, I involved persons with amnesia and their family members in a process of participatory design. The design team included six individuals with amnesia, two neuropsychologists, and myself. Five family members were also involved in later stages. This team envisioned the design of a shared calendar application, called Family-Link, that I implemented for Palm mobile devices. I evaluated Family-Link by comparing it to the commercially available Palm Calendar in a six-month study with four families. I found that participants had significantly more shared events when using Family-Link than when using Palm Calendar. Qualitative evidence suggests that Family-Link increased all participants’ awareness of other family members’ schedules, provided caregivers with a greater a sense of security by enabling them to track their family member with amnesia, and reduced the amount of effort that caregivers needed to coordinate. Family-Link also fulfilled the individual needs of persons with amnesia by providing an information storage and retrieval mechanism. However, persons with amnesia and caregivers differed in their opinions about which features were useful. Family-Link can be a particularly important tool for families where members are not co-located throughout the day.Ph