Where's my stuff?: design and evaluation of a mobile system for locating lost items for the visually impaired

  • Authors:

  • Julie A. Kientz;Shwetak N. Patel;Arwa Z. Tyebkhan;Brian Gane;Jennifer Wiley;Gregory D. Abowd

  • Affiliations:

  • Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 8th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

Finding lost items is a common problem for the visually impaired and is something that computing technology can help alleviate. In this paper, we present the design and evaluation of a mobile solution, called FETCH, for allowing the visually impaired to track and locate objects they lose frequently but for which they do not have a specific strategy for tracking. FETCH uses devices the user already owns, such as their cell phone or laptop, to locate objects around their house. Results from a focus group with visually impaired users informed the design of the system. We then studied the usability of a laptop solution in a laboratory study and studied the usability and usefulness of the system through a one-month deployment and diary study. These studies demonstrate that FETCH is usable and useful, but there is still room for improvement.