Designing and Evaluating Home-Based, Just-in-Time Supportive Technology.

At MIT, a multi-disciplinary team of researchers is studying how to create pervasive computing environments for the home. We are developing technologies and design strategies that use context-aware sensing to empower people with information by presenting it at precisely the right time and place. Contrary to many visions of future home environments in the literature, we advocate an approach that uses technology to teach as opposed to using technology primarily for automated control. We have constructed a "living laboratory" that will provide a unique, flexible infrastructure for scientifically studying the power of pervasive computing for motivating learning and behavior change in the home. This facility, called the PlaceLab, is being used to study technology for creating homes that are supportive.