REWBAH 2021

Program

All times are in the South Bend (USA) time zone (EST).

8:00-8:15am Welcome and Introductions

• Daniel Amyot (University of Ottawa and LIFE Research Institute, Canada), Meira Levy (Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Israel), Lin Liu (Tsinghua University, China), Eric Yu (University of Toronto, Canada)

8:15-9:15am Keynote Talk

9:15-9:45am Senior DT - A Design Thinking Method to Improve Requirements Engineering for Elderly Citizens

• • Alexandra Jussli (University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm, Germany), Heiko Gewald (University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm, Germany)

  • Abstract: Requirement engineers face challenges in assessing the needs of elderly citizens, who typically differ a lot in terms of experiences, perspectives, and cognition. Design Thinking (DT) is a promising methodology for overcoming this barrier because it offers a structured approach for assessing users’ needs and developing new ideas. However, DT needs to be adapted to the specifics of older participants to grasp user insights fully. For instance, the endurance of older participants is limited, and collaboration with other stakeholders is hampered due to decreasing physical, cognitive, and psychological capacity. This research utilizes a design science approach for developing the SeniorDT methodology, which functions as the artifact of this study. Aim of the SeniorDT method is to facilitate older participants’ engagement. This approach is tested in practice and evaluated by observations, group discussions, and interviews. On this basis, the SeniorDT method is presented, and further opportunities and challenges for applying DT with elderly participants are illustrated. Limitations are discussed and implications for further research and practice are derived.

9:45-10:15am Requirements Engineering for the Ageing Population: a Teaching Perspective

• • Amélie Lachapelle-Dagenais (UQAM, Canada), Sébastien Mosser (UQAM, Canada), Anne-Marie Pinna-Dery (Université Côte d’Azur, I3S, CNRS, France), Mireille Blay-Fornarino (Université Côte d’Azur, I3S, CNRS, France)

  • Abstract: Elders occupy an ample space among the potential end-users of the pieces of software we are designing. This situation is only increasing, and even the pessimistic projections forecast global ageing in the World population. In this context, it is our duty as software engineers to design and implement software adapted to elders. However, this particular problem is too often bypassed in the classical software engineering curriculums. In this paper, we report about a set of courses dedicated to requirements engineering for the ageing population, currently implemented at Université Côte d'Azur (UCA, France) and Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM, Canada). We identify challenges related to the ageing population that can be addressed in a course and report on how such courses are implemented in both institutions. The work reported in this paper is validated through an in-depth case study at UCA, based on 18 years of experience in the teaching of requirement engineering for specific populations.

10:15-10:45am Break and Informal Discussions

10:45-11:15am Guidelines for Validation Interviews with Senior Citizens

• • Eduard C. Groen (Fraunhofer IESE, Germany), Svenja Polst (Fraunhofer IESE, Germany)

  • Abstract: In an aging population, technology-based solutions, such as Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems are indispensable in supporting senior citizens with retaining their independence. Senior citizens have different physical abilities, contexts of use, and attitudes to technology than younger user groups. This demands a different approach to ascertain their technology acceptance. In the STuDi research project, we constructed an interview guideline based on a survey of the literature on technology acceptance and regarding requirements elicitation and validation with senior citizens, and conducted 33 validation interviews with senior citizens who used a prototypical AAL system for 5–12 months. The guideline facilitated pleasant conversations and helped obtain a good understanding of factors contributing to acceptance versus avoidance and dismissal of the AAL system. We share the findings of our literature survey and the interview guideline, because its design makes it a suitable instrument for researchers and practitioners to measure technology acceptance and/or validate a (prototypical) system with senior citizens, and probably also for requirements elicitation.

11:15-11:45am Creating Mobile Self-Triage Applications: Requirements and Usability Perspectives

• • Mir Kamyar Ziabari (University of Ottawa, ISM, Canada), Daniel Amyot (University of Ottawa, ISM, Canada), Wojtek Michalowski (University of Ottawa, ISM, Canada), El Mostafa Bouattane (Hôpital Montfort, ISM, Canada), Nassoh Hafez (Hôpital Montfort, ISM, Canada)

  • Abstract: Many people visit an emergency department immediately after experiencing some unusual symptoms, without any regard to the scale of acuity of their condition. Some of these visits are unnecessary and lead to overcrowded emergency departments, increased wait times, and overutilization of scarce healthcare resources. At the other end of the spectrum, there are people who do not seek medical advice when they should. One solution to these problems is to provide a reliable source of information that would allow people to assess their need for consulting (self-triage) in a way that helps reduce the number of inappropriate visits and that promotes seeking medical help when necessary. This paper aims to identify requirements that make such self-triage applications usable. To this end, after assessing existing apps, we studied a new self-triage mobile application called Symptoms Pal, co-developed with Montfort Hospital in Ottawa, Canada. This application guides a user through a series of questions and, at the end, provides advice about the possible problem and course of action (911, visit an emergency department, visit a doctor, or self-care). The usability of Symptoms Pal was evaluated by a study involving 34 participants. Several strengths and weaknesses of the usability and perceived usefulness of the application were identified and led to additional requirements and a revised version. This research contributes 25 reusable requirements and validated user interface design artefacts for self-triage mobile applications that can be used by developers of similar applications.

11:45am-12:15pm Eliciting Smartphone App Requirements for Helping Senior People: A Questionnaire Approach

• • Julie R. Rauer (The University of Texas at Dallas, USA), Kirthy Kolluri (The University of Texas at Dallas, USA), Lawrence Chung (The University of Texas at Dallas, USA), Cong Liu (The University of Texas at Dallas, USA), Tom Hill (Fellows Consulting Group, USA)

  • Abstract: The world's unprecedented growth of the senior demographic is bringing key age-related issues to the forefront. Issues such as memory loss, vision impairment, hearing loss, loss of mobility (or loss of dexterity in the hands), and speech loss prevent seniors from interacting with others. We believe that a lot can be done to improve seniors' lives, but current smartphone apps are often not usable or adaptable enough to address these issues. Specifically, current app development practices do not seem to adequately consider seniors' needs and possibly lack a process that includes asking appropriate questions, building relevant scenarios, or coming up with essential requirements. We observe that omitting questions and asking irrelevant or incorrect questions in the requirements elicitation phase needs to be avoided. We propose a Goals, Questions, Scenarios, Requirements (GQSR) elicitation framework as well as an expanded questionnaire approach for requirements elicitation. We develop improved guidelines and rules for questions as part of the question/interview process. Through asking important questions and applying the GQSR framework, we developed the smartphone app, HOPE (Helping Our People Easily), with the intention of helping seniors in their daily lives and alleviating problems such as aphasia. The GQSR framework defines non-functional requirements (NFRs), FRs, questions, and scenarios producing questionnaires for the purposes of interviewing seniors. We achieve traceability between the GQSR Requirements Engineering framework and the HOPE smartphone app. HOPE, a real mobile app targeting seniors, is used to illustrate and evaluate our framework.

12:15-13:00pm REWBAH: Towards a Roadmap

• • All participants!