Designing and Evaluating Quality of Life Technologies: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Developing quality of life technologies (QoLT) poses unique challenges to engineers and computer scientists. This paper provides a roadmap for design, development, and evaluation. We begin with a definition of quality of life and identify key attributes of QoLT. This is followed by a discussion of methods for identifying target populations and needs. Next, we describe the process of user-centered iterative design and development and conclude with evaluation strategies to assess the impact of QoLT. A central theme of the paper is that successful technology development in this arena is highly dependent on collaborative interdisciplinary teams involving social scientists, clinicians, engineers, and computer scientists.