Multimodal Reminders
An ideal home reminder system would consider multiple factors such as user activity, social context, user preferences, device availability, reminder urgency and reminder sensitivity when delivering reminders. For example, it should be able to automatically switch from a mobile device to a static device (such as a television) when the user is at home. In a social context, notifications could be delivered discretely via tactile or abstract notifications. If there is lot of background noise, then a user-preferred audio notification could be swapped for a visual one. In addition, older users may find their requirements will change over time; new impairments may develop, or they may begin to suffer from reduced mobility. If a reminder system has a wide range of multimodal delivery methods at its disposal, it will be much better equipped to deal with both evolving requirements and the dynamic, complex environment of the home.
One study [Interact PDF] showed that when you receive a reminder while busy doing something else, it is likely that the reminder will have the same distracting effect on your task regardless of the way it is delivered. Furthermore - when asked to attend only to target reminders when several others might be delivered, all modalities are equally distracting [ICMI PDF].
Researchers
David Warnock (PhD Student)
David is a full-time postgraduate student at the University of Glasgow with an MSci in Software Engineering. David's Master's Thesis concerned advanced scheduling in heterogeneous processor architectures. David will focus on the multimodal interaction aspect of the MMH project. If he ever has any spare time, David likes to spend it tinkering with computer hardware and developing websites.
Dr Marilyn McGee-Lennon (Researcher Co-Investigator)
Marilyn is a senior research fellow with a BSc in psychology and a PhD in computer science. Marilyn has over 10 years of teaching and research experience in the field of HCI. Her expertise includes multimodal interaction and user-centred design & evaluation. Marilyn specialises in health care and home care systems, and was recently a Research Fellow on the MATCH project, conducting user-based studies of home care technology and designing multimodal interfaces suitable for home care. She is one of the most experienced researchers in user-centred multimodal interaction in the UK, and one of few with any knowledge of multimodal design for home care settings. Marilyn lives in Glasgow with her husband Peter and enjoys live music, playing netball, watching football, and Las Vegas.
Prof Stephen Brewster (Principal Investigator)
Stephen leads the Multimodal Interaction section of the Glasgow Interactive Systems Group and has over 150 publications. Stephen's work is in the area of multimodal human-computer interaction, aiming in particular to improve the use of sound, touch, and smell in HCI. He has done fundamental work on the use of Earcons (non-speech audio icons), with projects ranging from interfaces for visually impaired people to mobile phones. His current research studies the use of multimodal interfaces for mobile computing, where lack of screen space means audio and tactile displays become important. Stephen led the Glasgow part of the UTOPIA project, which conducted a large-scale study of older people's attitudes to technology and developed a mobile multimodal navigation aid for older adults. He was also co-investigator on the MATCH project.
Publications
