8-2011
My committee finally has come back to me, with the Dean, and told me that they and the department will not support this proposed research. I have been working on the material for a period of over two years and am totally disapointed. The focus of smartphones and seniors has been agreed on and a new topic is being researched and proposed.
As of: 2010/02/21
Currently I am in the early stages of my doctoral dissertation at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale FL. I have proposed research to gain a understanding of the use of Visual Tags (barcodes, QR codes, and others) on smartphones for individuals with cognitive disabilities.
Current title: Visual tagging on mobile devices to connect the cognitively disabled to their community.
Abstract: This research proposes to explore the potential for using visual tagging (one and two dimensional bar-codes) to enhance the user interface of smartphone devices for use by individuals with mild to moderate cognitive disabilities. The first phase of this research is to interview many field experts to get a better understanding of the needs of these targeted individuals. Special emphasis, of these discussions, will be placed on trying to understand where the technology of visual tagging may be applicable. The second phase will be to build an application by collaborating with a small group of cognitively disabled individuals, their families, and care-givers. This smartphone application will be used to explore the actual usage of visual tags in the environment. It is expected that new knowledge about the needs of individuals with cognitive disabilities and potential solutions will be found. It is also expected that these results may also point to uses of these technologies for children, seniors, and other special needs groups.