Phones are getting smarter. Many now have sensors that can detect things like location (in other words, these phones know where they are). In a first project, Friend Forecaster, we leveraged this sensing technology to create a context-aware cell phone that could make plausible conjectures of individuals one might encounter in a given situation, thereby aiding the many senior citizens who experience difficulties in recalling people’s names. Currently, we are working on MyVoice, a context-aware application that suggests vocabulary — words, phrases, and sentences — based on the locations the user visits. MyVoice seems particularly useful for individuals with anomic aphasia, which often results from strokes, certain types of dementia, and other types of brain injury.

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Publications

• Baecker, R.M. Fenwick, K., Massimi, M., Black, S., Rochon, E., and Ryan, D. (2009). Cell Phone Software to Aid Senior Citizens in Recalling Names, XIXth IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics, July 2009.
• Carrie Demmans Epp, Rachelle Campigotto, Alexander Levy, Ron Baecker. (2011). MarcoPolo: Context-Sensitive Mobile Communication Support. FICCDAT: RESNA/ICTA 2011, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Fenwick, K., Massimi, M., Baecker, R.M., Black, S., Tonon, K., Munteanu, C., Rochon, E., and Ryan, D. (2009). Cell Phone Software Aiding Name Recall, Proceedings of ACM CHI 2009, 4279-4284.
• Massimi, M. and Baecker, R.M. (2008). An Empirical Study of Seniors’ Perceptions of Mobile Phones as Memory Aids, In Mihailidis, A., Boger, J., Kautz, H., and Normie, L. (Eds.), Technology and Aging, IOS Press, 59-66.
• Massimi, M., Baecker, Ronald M., and Wu, M. (2007). Using Participatory Activities with Seniors to Critique, Build, and Evaluate Mobile Phones, Proc. Ninth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, Tempe Arizona, October 2007, 155-162.