Handheld computer for personal health advice
Name
51273127-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
6.78 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
6ccac0436bb9ae9c519b807b492527ec
Author(s)
Hutchings, Cédric (Cédric Nils), 1976-
Advisor(s)
Thomas B. Sheridan.
Date Issued
2002
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The overall objectives of the project were to conceive, design, implement and evaluate a portable personal health advisor. The system would integrate data from various sources and handheld computers on a real-time basis to provide "advice" (intelligent and knowledge) anytime and anywhere so that a consumer can take practical and immediate actions to maximize their vitality to enjoy life. The conception phase included the identification of technologies and approach to deliver personal and real-time advice at points of decision. Using this knowledge, I developed a prototype in the context of a person shopping in a pharmacy or market to ensure that foods, medicines or other products do not pose hazards relative to that person's known medical condition. In order to implement a real-life and thus estimate the usability and the user's perception of the system, we chose to focus on Type II diabetics in this first phase. A field test was run at a Research Laboratory of the major project sponsor, Procter & Gamble. The experiment confirmed the great appeal of decision-aiding system for people who have to manage strict or complex diet. It also underlined its design challenges, because even an ubiquitous device that provides "perfect advice" would promote a long-term behavior change only if human factor issues related to trust, privacy and user perception are carefully analyzed. It finally revealed the need for a trusted infrastructure, and some of the difficulties to overcome in order to implement the system in a large scale.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2002.
Includes bibliographical references (leaf 58).
Subjects
Aeronautics and Astronautics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Terms of Use
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