=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=Towards an Architecture Supporting Social, Adaptive and Persuasive Services for Active Elderly
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1013/casfe2013_submission_8.pdf
|volume=Vol-1013
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/casfe/GhianiMPS13
}}
==Towards an Architecture Supporting Social, Adaptive and Persuasive Services for Active Elderly==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1013/casfe2013_submission_8.pdf
Towards an Architecture Supporting Social, Adaptive and
Persuasive Services for Active Elderly
Giuseppe Ghiani, Marco Manca, Fabio Paternò, Carmen Santoro
CNR-ISTI, HIIS Laboratory
Via Moruzzi, 56124 Pisa, Italy
{giuseppe.ghiani, marco.manca, fabio.paterno, carmen.santoro}@isti.cnr.it
ABSTRACT In order to address this trend, the approach described in this
In this paper we present the architecture of a platform with paper consists in providing the elderly with a novel,
the goal to support social, context-aware and technological Web-based context-aware platform offering
adaptive/persuasive services aimed at stimulating the social features (e.g. sharing knowledge, crowdsourcing
elderly to stay active/occupied in life. The platform is Web- services, etc.) aimed to support, motivate and persuade
based and consists of several modules whose main features seniors to continue to be active in the workforce so
are presented and discussed in the paper. promoting their lifelong workability.
Author Keywords The use of persuasive strategies for encouraging elderly
Adaptation; Social aspects; Web-based architecture; people to adopt healthy lifestyle habits has been considered
Elderly. in some previous work. In [6] the authors report some
guidelines to motivate elders to do (physical) exercise by
following a user-centred approach so as to design
ACM Classification Keywords appropriate persuasive technology prone to be adopted by
H.5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI): elders. In particular, in that paper the authors report on the
Miscellaneous. design and evaluation of an ambient information system for
General Terms mobile phones, which supports a number of strategies for
Human Factors; Design; Languages. persuasion: abstraction, historical information and
reflection, triggers for exercising, and positive and playful
INTRODUCTION reinforcement. While doing physical exercise by the elderly
Nowadays, population ageing is a common phenomenon in has already been considered in the past, in our approach we
various countries, which has important implications on the focus on a quite novel and to some extent more
labour market, as the ratio between the number of inactive difficult/demanding goal, which is encouraging the elderly
individuals and the ones still active in the workforce will to stay active in the labour workforce, which implies a more
continue to rise [1]. This leads to the consideration that for demanding commitment from them. This will be achieved
the economy and public health older workers should be by providing effective motivational strategies to stimulate
encouraged to participate in or continue doing occupational seniors’ behaviour change, by using just-in-time, context-
activities, as there are several advantages. Indeed, raising dependent information, and present at the appropriate
the retirement age would increase the labour supply, so time/place, intuitive, timely and persuasive interactive
producing increased revenues from work and tax, and lead services/suggestions stimulating them to change -or
to lower pension costs. At the same time, there would be maintain- their attitude towards continuing being active.
greater equity and intangible benefits for older workers e.g. This will also be obtained by using natural and adaptive
improved sense of purpose/usefulness, respect, autonomy multimodal User Interfaces (UIs) that well fit specific
and higher self-esteem. Moreover, providing each person elderly's needs, abilities, skills and characteristics.
with a job could give them a sense of worth and In addition, the platform described in this paper is expected
responsibility, which adds more value to how they see to monitor elderly's physiological parameters through
themselves, while they feel less excluded from society. suitable sensor-based technologies to check elderly’s health
status so that e.g. any possible signal of declining health
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for
(from sensorial, motor, and cognitive viewpoints) is
personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are detected and adequately managed. The technological
not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies solution presented in the paper will provide support for
bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, monitoring elderly's everyday routines, tasks and (social)
or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior
specific permission and/or a fee.
experiences in order to assess their current level of
occupational/social activity/wellbeing, to understand
whether unusual activity/deviation appeared in seniors’ An Example Scenario
everyday routines and act appropriately. Modelling routine Giovanni is a 70 years old man, former employee of an ICT
tasks for improving users quality of life has also been used company. He retired two years ago. Three months ago his
for various purposes in other works addressing ubiquitous wife died: since then, he is facing an increase in his
environments. For instance, in [5] the authors have monthly expenditure (e.g. he pays someone to fulfil the
exploited models in which users’ routine tasks are specified home needs previously done by his wife). He was told by
with the goal of automating (tedious) routine tasks, so one friend about the existence of a platform through which
improving users' quality of life by making users' lives more companies can indicate consultancy/knowledge transfer
comfortable, efficient, and productive, and helping them to needs they might have and which could be filled by an
stop wasting time in performing tasks that they do not older candidate. Giovanni decides registering to the
enjoy. In order to do this, they propose a context-aware platform and fills in some information about himself. After
model driven approach and a software architecture in which some days, the platform informs him of an opportunity
the task model and the context model are used at runtime, posted by a small company, which cannot afford the high
by means of being interpreted by an automation engine costs of a specialized assistance. Giovanni logs in the
which executes the tasks required to automate the routines system from his PC and receives further details on the offer
specified in the models. To achieve the automation of user through an adapted, multimodal UI. Giovanni is a bit
tasks in the opportune context, a context monitor is sceptical about his capability to cope with that challenge:
continuously updating the context model according to the system detects a lack of reaction and adapts its
context changes. When a context change is detected, the behaviour accordingly, by providing him with further info
context monitor updates the context model according to the about the advantages of accepting the offer, e.g. possibility
detected change, and informs the automation engine about to work from home, with flexible time arrangements and, if
this change. The engine checks if some behaviour routine selected, he will be paid 2000 euros, a good complement to
has to be executed in the current context: if so, it executes his pension. Giovanni finally accepts the offer and starts
the tasks required to automate the routines as specified in drafting a solution. The platform, according to the
the models. Differently from this work, in our approach the information associated with him (e.g. knowledge,
routine tasks are just meant as the “expected” tasks and preferences, skills and abilities) adapts its UI so that he can
therefore they are analysed (namely: compared with the easily submit his proposal in the system. Three weeks later,
logged user’s tasks) in order to check whether they are Giovanni is informed that his idea was selected. Apart from
correctly carried out by users or deviations are occurring in being satisfied by his personal achievement and regaining
their execution. self-confidence, he also thinks that the monetary reward
are very welcome. Finally, the monitoring system of the
As target group we consider healthy retirees as well as platform, which tracks Giovanni’s work/social activity and
people who are coming closer to their retirement, both health status, records his improvements in the last period
having basic familiarity with ICT technologies e.g. Internet, and appropriately informs him about them. It also rewards
Web browsing, use of smartphones. It is worth pointing out and further encourages him to stay active, by highlighting
that such target group is not homogeneous. Indeed, some of the overall benefits of this good behaviour.
them may have limitations in using technology depending
on e.g. cognitive issues (memory, language comprehension,
visual attention, ..), perception problems (vision, audition) THE PLATFORM ARCHITECTURE
and motion problems, not mentioning that such abilities can The platform aims to support a variety of services for active
also decline over time. In addition, target seniors span an elderly, e.g. sharing experiences and content across their
array of different age, background and knowledge, and may communities, connecting job seekers that offer jobs for
be even considered differently depending on the sector in elderly, as well as persuading users to stay active through
which they work/have worked. For example, in the adequately adapted Web interfaces supporting anytime-
information technology sector, a main concern for a anywhere access to the platform services.
potential employer is not represented by user motor
impairments, but rather by his/her cognitive abilities and The architecture of the platform is mainly based on Web-
knowledge skills. Therefore, suitable adaptation based technologies to allow the elderly to access and use
/personalisation techniques should be put in place to anytime and anywhere the platform from various devices
address such highly varied yet specific users’ (PCs, tablets, smartphones, TVs, ...). It consists of a number
characteristics. of modules providing the needed functionalities, which are
split into User-oriented services and Core Services in
From a technological point of view we have designed a Figure 1. The latter is the set of logical modules providing
platform including a number of modules described in the basic functionalities mostly exploited by other modules of
continuation of the paper. In the following section, an the platform. The User-oriented services have instead a
example scenario of use is provided for the expected more user-related dimension, i.e. being either platform
system.
services directly exploited by users, or services exploited by Manager can occur e.g. over HTTP (i.e. in case of a
the system applications. JavaScript Context Delegate, an Ajax call can be used).
The Core Services mainly include Adaptation, Behaviour The Context Manager server uses an associated repository
Analysis and Context Manager. Context information is (Context data) for e.g. storing and updating four types of
gathered by the Context Manager which has a client-server context information: user (preferences, tasks, physical and
architecture. The context manager server receives the emotional state, …), devices (interaction resources,
contextual information from the Context Delegates connectivity, …), environment (light, noise, ..), and
associated with each user/device, and which are able to information concerning social relations (groups of users,
supply the context data detected by the sensors connected to privacy rules, …).
the devices. A Context Delegate can be implemented in
All the data collected is gathered by the Context Manager
different ways according to e.g. device capabilities. For
server and stored in the Context Data repository, which is a
instance, the Context Delegate for monitoring user position
collection of context entity instances modelled according to
could be a lightweight stand-alone application that reads the
a specific XML-based language. The Context Manager
GPS serial stream, extracts the terrestrial coordinates and
provides an interface for performing typical operations on
forwards them to the Context Manager, while the Context
such repository (e.g. insert/query, update/remove a context
Delegate for tracking user’s Web activity can directly be
entity, (un)subscribe to receive updates on changes of
included in the navigated Web page as JavaScript code. The
context entities’ state).
connection between a Context Delegate and the Context
Figure 1: The architecture of the platform for active elderly.
The Context Manager also provides the Behaviour Analysis repository), their planned activities (Task models
module with relevant context information, so that the latter repository, represented using the ConcurTaskTrees notation
module can assess whether any abnormal situation has [3]), their current activities and e.g. the current environment
occurred in users’ behaviour. The Behaviour Analysis (Context data repository). Depending on this input, the
module gets information about users (User models Behaviour Analysis module is able to assess whether the
user is behaving properly or not, possibly providing sequence of logged actions corresponding to the actual user
relevant input to the Persuasion service when further behaviour, which are gathered in the current context and
actions are needed. For instance, the Persuasion service is provided by the Context Manager. The outcome of such a
expected to identify situations in which suitable messages comparison will be able to highlight a range of possibilities
should be provided to users to stimulate them to change about where the main problem is, for instance performing
their current behaviour [2]. Such messages will pass actions in a wrong order, not performing at all an action,
through the Adaptation service in order to be appropriately performing an action too many times, performing the action
tailored to the current context of use before being actually using incorrect resources, and so on. The various outcomes
exploited by the applications built on top of the platform. will then be classified in terms of importance/seriousness
Indeed, the Adaptation module provides the platform and adequate actions will be undertook accordingly by the
applications with adaptation functionalities. It will use platform (e.g. sending some messages to the user).
relevant information (i.e. context data and information
about users contained in User models) to decide which Identifying elderly’s decline in cognitive/physical/social
adaptations should be applied in order to provide users with activity
effective and intuitive applications. Functional decline and chronic illness become increasingly
prevalent/likely with advancing age. Our idea is that, by
The User-oriented services include two main functionalities comparing the usual elderly’s routines with tasks they
and two main data repositories. The data repositories are the actually do, or more in general, by analysing their health
repository for handling privacy rules and the repository status, it is possible to spot in advance early symptoms of a
containing structured information on social knowledge. mild/progressive decline in their physical, mental/cognitive
Both of them will be used by the Social Features module, and social status. This, in the long term, could compromise
which includes social-oriented services, such as features their willingness/ability to remain active, then it is
supporting users to share/annotate relevant content based on important to identify such deviations early so as to be able
their experiences, crowdsourcing services providing to act promptly.
relevant functionalities for handling task/job offers from
organisations/job providers and then connect such offers Mental/cognitive/emotional changes. A typical example of
with skills, knowledge and abilities of elderly through an initial mental/cognitive decline can be represented by a
adequate match-making strategy. It is worth noting that non-adherence with medication, e.g. elderly start to
users will be able to exploit not only the applications (built mismanage their daily medicines (alter the doses, swap
on top of platform functionalities), but also directly some medicines), or they even forget to take them. If this occurs
services of the platform (namely: crowdsourcing service, frequently it could be a sign of a mental decline. Another
social knowledge sharing and persuasion service). A example considers the fact that older people often link the
number of applications can be identified (e.g. sharing administration of such medication to specific lifestyle
personal knowledge on multimedia TV content, supporting events, time and patterns of daily activities: involuntarily
workers having initial health diseases). They will be and frequently altering these patterns can be a symptom
developed on top of the services provided by the platform. that the elderly is mildly/progressively experiencing a
mental decline. Other deviations can occur when the elderly
Monitoring and Behaviour Analysis e.g. place objects in the wrong place, or when they are
The literature reports that electrophysiological body signals unable anymore to carry out common/essential daily
(e.g. galvanic skin response or skin conductivity, heart rate, activities autonomously, as they used to do before. Other
facial electromyography, electroencephalography, blood changes could involve emotions: feelings of sadness over
pressure and respiration) are related to personal emotional an extended period of time could indicate depression.
state. Thus, one of the goals of this module will be to However, it is worth pointing out that depression could also
monitor the elderly’s status so as to be able to develop be connected with e.g. elderly not eating regularly anymore
algorithms for analysing/handling their emotional state. and/or staying in bed longer than usual.
Moreover, this module will perform an analysis of users’ Physical changes. An abnormal behaviour could be
behaviour in order to detect whether abnormal deviations identified in a progressive reduction (or even a lack) of
occur. The analysis is carried out by comparing elderly physical activity, or a deterioration of elderly
routine/planned/expected user tasks, with the behaviour that physical/muscular strength (e.g. the elderly is less able to
they actually show. Routine tasks are specified in task grasp common objects with a hand, or his/her moving is
description repositories (namely: CTT task models, which becoming slower than before). Another example of a
are specified in XML, a format which supports high physical decline can occur e.g. when the elderly
flexibility/interoperability), while the actual behaviour of experiences more frequent awakenings during the night
the elderly will be captured through various types of (e.g. to go to bathroom). This could lead to have a poor
ubiquitous/body sensors. The analysis will be mainly sleep, which in turn could conduct to memory declining and
carried out by comparing the expected actions (specified brain deterioration.
according to the hierarchical CTT task model) and the
Social activity changes. Elderly decline in social standing addresses more specific user-related aspects by exploiting
include e.g. having a smaller social network, less frequent information contained in user models.
participation in social activities, less interaction with
friends, etc. Social disengagement/isolation/exclusion could Social Features
have consequences also on elderly’s mental decline. This module provides intuitive social/knowledge sharing
mechanisms empowering seniors to e.g. share their
Above, we just provided examples of abnormal situations experience/expertise with others, facilitate information
that could be signs of a starting elderly’s decline. They transfer/communication, and get in contact with other
could be identified by comparing suitable descriptions of people. This will have the benefit of e.g. helping the elderly
expected elderly activities (e.g. contained in CTT task in creating and maintaining social relationships and
models) and/or status, with actual elderly contacts, while limiting the risks of their social exclusion
activities/conditions. Of course, the situations actually and isolation. In addition, the social/knowledge sharing
detected will depend on the specific type of sensors used. features will support a process in which the elderly will be
engaged in informal learning activities where people will be
The Context Manager
able to learn from life experiences of seniors, even in inter-
The sensed context data will be made available to other
generational interaction. Moreover, this module will
architectural components by the Context Manager, which
provide some Web-based crowdsourcing services
consists of a set of (REST) Web Services providing access
supporting elderly in having an easier and more effective
to various operations (e.g.: subscribe, update, notify) for
access to job/activity opportunities specifically targeted to
handling context data. Thus, it will act as a centralised
them will be developed. Through this crowdsourcing
mediator between entities providing context information
services potential job providers (e.g. public/private
(e.g. sensors), and entities consuming context information
organisations, industrial companies, etc.) can specify tasks
(e.g. services). The Context Manager will also store and
and/or particular expertise/knowledge/skills they need.
access in a consistent and flexible manner rough context
According to requested skills, users of the virtual elderly
data acquired from heterogeneous and arbitrary
crowd will be able to respond, by offering their availability
sensors/devices/applications in the user’s environment, and
for filling that gap through their contribution/work. The
then aggregate/abstract these data into relevant context
crowdsourcing services will be built in such a way to
information, so as to make it available to other context-
support match-making between skills required and
sensitive components of the platform architecture.
competences offered, as well as facilitate even non-
technologically skilled senior people to access, be part and
The Adaptation Module
actively engage in the virtual elderly crowd.
This module supports relevant context-aware techniques
able to support runtime adaptation depending on the
Persuasion Services
characteristics of e.g. users (characteristics, limitations,
This module supports effective motivational strategies to
knowledge, skills, emotional state), available devices,
stimulate seniors’ behaviour change, by using just-in-time,
surrounding environment. In order to be able to express
context-dependent information, and present at the
various types of adaptations, a specific language for
appropriate time/place simple and tailored triggering
adaptation has been developed [4] within the SERENOA
messages, to persuade elderly to have a target behaviour.
Project. It is structured in terms of events (related to
Persuasive techniques will also be realised through positive
something that happens in the application or the context of
reinforcement/rewarding strategies delivered to seniors
use), conditions (related to the current state or previous user
when they perform the desired behaviour. They can be
interaction) and actions (indicating the effects that the
realised by using e.g. virtual points/scores or monetary
adaptation should provide. The Adaptation Modules
incentives and/or by reminding users how good it is to them
module will receive from the Context Manager information
a certain behaviour and/or by providing them with suitable
about updates of the status of contextual entities. Such
visualisation techniques for supporting self-
updates will trigger the selection of suitable adaptation
awareness/monitoring of their current behaviour progress.
rules, which in turn will trigger the application of the
needed (in the current context of use) adaptation actions.
CONCLUSIONS
Such actions can be very simple (e.g. changing a In this paper we have presented the architecture of a Web-
background colour or font) or more complex (changing based platform for stimulating the elderly to stay active in
completely the user interface since a different interaction their life. The platform consists of a set of logical modules
modality is more suitable for the current context of use). supporting core and user-oriented services.
The Adaptation module will also consider the issue that
information presentation may need to adapt to the same Future work will be dedicated to developing some
user even over time (as e.g. user abilities themselves can applications for active elderly able to exploit the features of
change/deteriorate over time). Finally, this module also such platform and to provide opportunities for end user
validation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We gratefully thank the SERENOA ICT EU Project for the
partial support in the development of some components of
this architecture.
REFERENCES
1. Old-age dependency ratios. The Economist, May 2009.
http://www.economist.com/node/13611235
2. B.J. Fogg, Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to
Change what We Think and Do, 2003, Morgan
Kaufmann.
3. Paternò, F., Model-Based Design and Evaluation of
Interactive Application, Springer Verlag, ISBN 1-
85233-155-0
4. Santoro, C., Paternò, F., Spano, D., Serenoa Project,
AAL-DL: Semantics, Syntaxes and Stylistics,
http://www.serenoa-fp7.eu/wp-
content/uploads/2012/07/SERENOA_D3.3.1.pdf
5. Serral, E., Valderas, P., Pelechano, V. : Context-
Adaptive Coordination of Pervasive Services by
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87-114 (2013)
6. Marcela D. Rodríguez, José R. Roa, Alberto L. Morán,
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