An Approach Using the Design Science Research for the Development of a Collaborative Assistive System.

Advances in technology, as well as society’s evolution have been going toward social inclusion of people with disabilities. They have motivated the development of tools to support people with cognitive problems. This paper aims to create communication artifacts, in smartphones, for the development of a collaborative geographic monitoring system, called Collabtrack. The system enables the communication among people with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers in daily displacements. This research was guided by the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology and it was divided into steps of discovery of knowledge. The first step uses the User Centered Design (UCD) approach to identify the system requirements and it results in prototypes of augmentative communication screens. The second step uses the Participatory Design (PD) approach which allows users to choose the screens images and evaluate the system usability. As a result, the benefits of using the Design Science Research as methodology, measured in a qualitative way, in a collaborative and assistive context are highlighted. The evaluation of Collabtrack indicates the potential to provide the users with intellectual disabilities autonomy, as well as increased the safety for their caregivers.