Sunday, December 27, 2009

thoughts about the upcoming staff meeting and the future

In preparing for our meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday morning, December 30 at 10 AM, we have to cover a lot of ground. We are at a critical moment for the project and have to make some rapid decisions that will shape the final product and our activities over the next five months. Here are the general categories of things that I want to talk about.

  • The results of the testing at overbrook. 
    • Videos
    • Questionnaires
    • Data logs 
  • Review of current system design, focusing on:
    • Feedback behaviors
    • User interface issues
    • Belt holder ergonomics and optics
    • WiiCane weight, length and balance
    • Physical installation
    • Data logging
  • Next tests
    • Need to be more empirical and hypothesis driven, less usability focused.
    • Incorporating vibratory feedback for deaf-blind users
    • Maybe adding a belt unit wtih two additional wii remotes for directional signalling
    • Scheduling for Guild and HKNC tests
  • WiiCane Curriculum
    • Purpose and overview of the wiiCane curriculum
    • working method
    • schedule
  • Commercialization
    • Publications
    • Conferences
    • Marketing
    • IP
There's a great deal to discuss and plan for, and I am really optimistic about this project right now. While we have yet to experimentally prove that WiiCane has therapeutic benefits, I think that we need to go full speed to bring this to market. the low cost means that people will want it even if it is only fun and not proven (yet) to be beneficial. the main thing that I learned from two rounds of testing we have done thus far is that kids enjoy doing it, if it is presented to them as a game, and it seems like we can make it challenging enough to sustain their interest. So, of course we need to make it truly educational, and not just a toy, especially we are expected to be carrying out evidence-based research, but even this preliminary observation appears positive.

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