Open source home care technology : technical design and development, user research, cost-benefit analysis, and business modeling

This paper presents the work in progress for the Hightech@home project. The aim of this project is to develop technology and knowledge concerning open source home care technology, utilizing open standards. Currently, there is limited availability of high tech sensor and communication technology while costs are high. By producing open source technology we aim at providing a starting point towards interoperability. Hence, increasing availability and lowering costs by avoiding vendor lock-ins. The Hightech@home project consists of five tracks. The first track, the technical design and development, focuses on a portal being generically available through any web browser. The portal will facilitate video contact and transmit and receive data from sensors located in the house, or on the body of the user. Technical design and development is iteratively informed by the user research in the second track. The iterative cycles start with small scale experiments with mock-ups leading to a field study when robust prototypes are available. During this field study, data will also be retrieved to perform a cost-benefit analysis, the third track of the project. To ensure the structural embedding, viable business models are developed in a fourth track. Finally, a fifth track focuses on the facilitation of bachelor students in the Hightech@home project in particular and in eHealth research in general.