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Lisa D'Ambrosio, a researcher at the MIT AgeLab, agrees that SenseCam might be useful for patients with mild Alzheimer's disease. She also thinks that relatives or caregivers might find the camera useful if it can be modified so that the images are downloaded automatically and wirelessly. "That might be a way for caregivers to check whether Mom or Dad is safe, to take a pulse on how someone is doing," she says. She also suggests that even elderly people without memory impairment may benefit from this technology if it allows them to be monitored and supported by caregivers remotely.
Other groups will soon start investigating additional possible clinical and research uses for SenseCam. On November 27, Microsoft announced that it was giving $550 000 in funding to six teams of academic researchers in the United Kingdom and North America. One of the researchers, Fergus Gracey, a clinical psychologist from the Oliver Zangwill Centre for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, in Ely, U.K., is planning to use SenseCam to help the rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injury. "Many of our clients have a shorter fuse or find it difficult to manage emotional arousal," says Gracey. "We hope to use the reviewing of SenseCam images of the trigger situation, along with heart-rate recordings of the individual during that situation, to help prompt recall and to help the person tune in physiologically to what was going on."
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This is technology investigation at its best. I read that modern people recall less information than their parents - numbers, names, addresses, etc. It seems they rely more on electronic aids to do their remembering for them. I wonder if these always-on camcorders will also come to be relied on for modern people.
I have always thought that in the future, memory implants will become the first voluntary surgical procedure widely adopted.
I WAS going to be funny BUT WHO'S going to remind them to PUT IT ON??Turn it ON?? ECT.. It could be a REAL draw back.Then again why not just buy a CHEAP digi camera on a key chain and take IMPORTANT pictures??If you are not TOO FAR ALONG!~!
With good batteries, it may be possible to leave it on all the time (power off when there's no movement for a while). Building it into clothes might help with forgetting to put it on, but it seems to be designed for situations where there's a helper, anyway.
There are problems with the digi-camera-important-pictures plan. For one thing, raising a camera to your face can drastically change the flow of conversation. For another, it's often not clear that an event is important until after it's happened.
An option to record voice might be the next step.
It appears that I have damage to my basal ganglia -- so I have the reverse problem of Alzheimers; my long term memory works fine, but short term working memory/sensory integration is *shot*.
I wonder if a twist on this system would help -- recording everything (or all "significant" events, measured by change in motion, etc) in 30fps detail. This would create a longer movie to review, but it'd be worth it. I'm also curious to see if a system like this would help short term working memory like the current system seems to help long term memory.
edit: thinking a little more, I can see one easy way that this would be hepful almost immediately: activing as a 2 minute "tivo" for events through the day. I often find myself "lost" b/c I've forgotten the current task (or current thought) -- a visual reminder might really help "jog" the working memory into recalling the current task.
I got fed up waiting for Microsoft to release anything more than a few research studies and a smattering of details on the SenseCam device so decided to create my own out of a cell phone. Many of the issues discussed in the comments I have already faced or pondered in the two years I have been wearing mine. My biggest issue at this time is the sheer amount of data I am collecting. I think that the biggest breakthrough with these devices will not be the device itself but the software applications to manipulate and search through our lives. You can read more about my personal adventures with a SenseCam at http://www.justinlloyd.org/category/sensecam/
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Guest (dib)
Reminder camera
I forget what I wanted to say to my wife before I get from my room to the first floor, so I carry a digital voice recorder everywhere. The camer's the next step. Where can I see one and what do they cost?
Thank you, dib
Reply
MITfoo
1 Comment
Re: Reminder camera
Nice idea. I can see one problem in usage for people with memory problems might be what they do when they go to the loo. If they turn it off, how do they remember to turn it back on? Or, if they don't turn it off, they might not want anyone else to view the pix. The camera could use a "temporarily disable for 5 minutes" button, with a beep that either lets one know it is recording again, or that it's time to turn it on again. This could be good for the my wife's mom, and mine. It might not be bad for me, either. When my wife says, "What did you do today," I can simply play her the film.
Reply
kennita@kennita.com
2 Comments
Re: Reminder camera
The camera isn't looking at you, it's looking at what you see. When you're in the loo, there will be boring shots of the wall -- not a real privacy issue.
Reply