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|title=Reminiscence Systems
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-499/paper01-Mulvenna.pdf
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==Reminiscence Systems==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-499/paper01-Mulvenna.pdf
Reminiscence Systems
Maurice Mulvenna Huiru Zheng Terence Wright
University of Ulster University of Ulster University of Ulster
School of Computing and MathematicsSchool of Computing and Mathematics School of Art and Design
Faculty of Computing and Engineering Faculty of Computing and Engineering Faculty of Art, Design & Built
+442890366591 +442890366591 Environment
+442890267320
md.mulvenna@ulster.ac.uk h.zheng@ulster.ac.uk
t.wright@ulster.ac.uk
ABSTRACT grows, as we impact on the world, and as the world impacts on us.
This paper discusses the role of reminiscence systems, used to An old photo, of sentimental value, can mean everything to a
support reminiscing work. It is intended to provide an overview of person, becoming imbued with tremendous significance and
the area of reminiscing research and to define the technologies often-talismanic importance. These artefacts, whether a location,
that are used in such research. Recommendations on future person or event, or indeed a photo of such an artefact, become the
directions in reminiscence systems research are provided. stuff of reminiscing, fuelling what is viewed as a therapeutic
process, that, when managed, offers benefits [8][12], but can
reinforce feelings of isolation and depression when unmanaged.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
H.1.2 [User/Machine Systems]: Human factors, Human As people age, they accrue more life experiences, but they also
information processing, Software psychology. increasingly face old age alone, especially in developed
economies, as the demography of the post-war (1939-45) period
H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: Evaluation/methodology, Graphical user impact on societies today. The 'baby boomers' of the post-war
interfaces (GUI), Input devices and strategies (e.g., mouse, period are now of retirement age, and this increase in numbers of
touchscreen), Interaction styles (e.g., commands, menus, forms, older people is putting increasing strain on social and health
direct manipulation), User interface management systems services. It is projected that within the next fifteen years, over
(UIMS). 70% of UK households will comprise of people living alone,
where a majority will be elderly people. This large body of
General Terms people, each of who may 'own' many sets of shared experiences,
Design, Human Factors has no real facility to use material for reminiscing or share these
and to enjoy the therapeutic benefit arising from sharing.
Keywords Reminiscing includes a range of activities and traditional tools
Reminiscence systems, Reminiscence therapy, Inclusive aimed at stimulating thoughts, feelings and memories of times
interfaces. gone by. For example, these could be recalling significant cultural
issues, events, old friendships or places. Reminiscing can help
elderly people to improve health and wellbeing. The impact of
1. INTRODUCTION reminiscing therapy as an intervention has been demonstrated for
In Europe by 2050, it is estimated that one-third of Europe’s
a range of populations; primarily for people with dementia.
population will be over 60. The number of ‘oldest old’ aged 80+
is expected to grow by 180% [6]. For example, in 1951, there
were 300 people aged 100 and over in the UK. By the year 2031, 3. REMINISCING RESEARCH
it is estimated that this figure could boom to 36,000 [2]. Life Reminiscing includes activities and the use of traditional prompts
expectancy has been rising on average by 2.5 years per decade in aimed at stimulating feelings and memories; e.g., the use of multi-
Europe. This growing number of people with significant leisure sensory triggers to stimulate recall [7]. The majority of research in
time available, often socially isolated, who will live for longer, reminiscence systems has been carried out to assist people with
may benefit from the therapeutic stimulus offered by reminiscing dementia and related illnesses [1][13]. The impact of reminiscing
activities, either individually or offered via networked services. therapy as an intervention has been examined; e.g., Wang [14]
demonstrated how it was valuable and beneficial to people with
2. THE CONTEXT FOR REMINISCING dementia although Woods et al. [15] found inconclusive evidence
As we age, we gather a large number of life experiences, many of of the efficacy of reminiscence therapy for dementia in a
them signifying important life stages, for example, as our family Cochrane Review. However, it has been shown that reminiscence
in general, but especially life review, are potentially effective
methods for the enhancement of psychological well-being in older
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for
personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are adults [3] and the therapeutic potential of place-based
not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that reminiscence has been proposed as an avenue in enhancing the
copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy quality of life for older people in long-term care facilities [4],
otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, sometimes using remote reminiscing facilities [9].
requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.
HCI’09, September 1–5, 2009, Cambridge, UK.
Copyright 2009 ACM
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4. REMINISCENCE SYSTEMS 5. CONCLUSIONS
We define Reminiscence Systems (RS) as the use of technology to This paper has described recent reminiscing research activities, in
support reminiscence work. While this may include basic tools particularly from the perspective of supporting technologies and
such as paper-based prompt cards, generally RS technology is defined reminiscence systems. The different types of technology
considered to encompass the use of information and supporting reminiscence work are described from the use of
communications technology (ICT). The use of ICT in RS has multimedia and touch screen technology to the growing
evolved as computing technology has developed in sophistication importance of UGC and Internet-connected systems for
and usability. reminiscing. Finally three modalities of use for reminiscing
systems are described.
The use of multimedia in RS was arguably the first stage in the
growth of research in RS supported by ICT, and there are a Acknowledgements
significant number of research projects and publications The authors wish to acknowledge the active support and
highlighting such work [10]. It is natural, perhaps that reminiscing encouragement provided by Professor Faith Gibson and the
work, which uses visual and hearing senses (as well as other Reminiscence Network of Northern Ireland (www.rnni.org/) in
senses) could be enriched with multimedia material encompassing helping to define the needs for reminiscing work, supported by
photographs, videos, audio recordings, music as well as historical technology.
material from newspapers, for example.
The multimedia paradigm also lends itself to extending the 6. REFERENCES
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