Airborne wind energy (AWE) systems use tethered flying devices to harvest higher-altitude winds to produce electricity. For the success of the technology, it is crucial to understand how people perceive and respond to it. If concerns about the technology are not taken seriously, it could delay or prevent implementation, resulting in increased costs for project developers and a lower contribution to renewable energy targets. This literature review assessed the current state of knowledge on the social acceptance of AWE. A systematic literature search led to the identification of 40 relevant publications that were reviewed. The literature expected that the safety, visibility, acoustic emissions, ecological impacts, and the siting of AWE systems impact to which extent the technology will be accepted. The reviewed literature viewed the social acceptance of AWE optimistically but lacked scientific evidence to back up its claims. It seemed to overlook the fact that the impact of AWE’s characteristics (e.g., visibility) on people’s responses will also depend on a range of situational and psychological factors (e.g., the planning process, the community’s trust in project developers). Therefore, empirical social science research is needed to increase the field’s understanding of the acceptance of AWE and thereby facilitate development and deployment.
Advanced technology is a primary solution for the shortage of care professionals and increasing demand for care, and thus acceptance of such technology is paramount. This study investigates factors that increase use of advanced technology during elderly care, focusing on current use of advanced technology, factors that influence its use, and care professionals’ experiences with the use. This study uses a mixed-method design. Logfiles were used (longitudinal design) to determine current use of advanced technology, questionnaires assessed which factors increase such use, and in-depth interviews were administered to retrieve care professionals’ experiences. Findings suggest that 73% of care professionals use advanced technology, such as camera monitoring, and consult clients’ records electronically. Six of nine hypotheses tested in this study were supported, with correlations strongest between performance expectancy and attitudes toward use, attitudes toward use and satisfaction, and effort expectancy and performance expectancy. Suggested improvements for advanced technology include expanding client information, adding report functionality, solving log-in problems, and increasing speed. Moreover, the quickest way to increase acceptance is by improving performance expectancy. Care professionals scored performance expectancy of advanced technology lowest, though it had the strongest effect on attitudes toward the technology.
BACKGROUND: Older adults want to preserve their health and autonomy and stay in their own home environment for as long as possible. This is also of interest to policy makers who try to cope with growing staff shortages and increasing health care expenses. Ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies can support the desire for independence and aging in place. However, the implementation of these technologies is much slower than expected. This has been attributed to the lack of focus on user acceptance and user needs.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to develop a theoretically grounded understanding of the acceptance of AAL technologies among older adults and to compare the relative importance of different acceptance factors.METHODS: A conceptual model of AAL acceptance was developed using the theory of planned behavior as a theoretical starting point. A web-based survey of 1296 older adults was conducted in the Netherlands to validate the theoretical model. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships.RESULTS: Our conceptual model showed a good fit with the observed data (root mean square error of approximation 0.04; standardized root mean square residual 0.06; comparative fit index 0.93; Tucker-Lewis index 0.92) and explained 69% of the variance in intention to use. All but 2 of the hypothesized paths were significant at the P<.001 level. Overall, older adults were relatively open to the idea of using AAL technologies in the future (mean 3.34, SD 0.73).CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to a more user-centered and theoretically grounded discourse in AAL research. Understanding the underlying behavioral, normative, and control beliefs that contribute to the decision to use or reject AAL technologies helps developers to make informed design decisions based on users' needs and concerns. These insights on acceptance factors can be valuable for the broader field of eHealth development and implementation.
Craft your own audience: How can a technology-driven company use online gaming communities, like Minecraft, to reach and engage a young audience? This project creates a context in which reality is simulated, by having students work together for a real client in an international context. In this project we explore innovative ways in which Samsung can engage younger audiences through Minecraft, the world's best-selling game with almost 140 million monthly players (2023). This project is focused on on educating, researching and developing playable prototypes within Minecraft that demonstrate how online gaming communities can be used to connect technology companies with a new generation of users. Societal issueInclusion of different ages around technology literacy and education (21st century skills).Benefit to societyGlobal inclusive community around education and R&D, higher cultural awareness.Collaborative partnersManchester Metropolitan University; Samsung Benelux.
This project addresses the fundamental societal problem that encryption as a technique is available since decades, but has never been widely adopted, mostly because it is too difficult or cumbersome to use for the public at large. PGP illustrates this point well: it is difficult to set-up and use, mainly because of challenges in cryptographic key management. At the same time, the need for encryption has only been growing over the years, and has become an urgent problem with stringent requirements – for instance for electronic communication between doctors and patients – in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and with systematic mass surveillance activities of internationally operating intelligence agencies. The interdisciplinary project "Encryption for all" addresses this fundamental problem via a combination of cryptographic design and user experience design. On the cryptographic side it develops identity-based and attribute-based encryption on top of the attribute-based infrastructure provided by the existing IRMA-identity platform. Identity-based encryption (IBE) is a scientifically well-established technique, which addresses the key management problem in an elegant manner, but IBE has found limited application so far. In this project it will be developed to a practically usable level, exploiting the existing IRMA platform for identification and retrieval of private keys. Attribute-based encryption (ABE) has not reached the same level of maturity yet as IBE, and will be a topic of further research in this project, since it opens up attractive new applications: like a teacher encrypting for her students only, or a company encrypting for all employees with a certain role in the company. On the user experience design side, efforts will be focused on making these encryption techniques really usable (i.e., easy to use, effective, efficient, error resistant) for everyone (e.g., also for people with disabilities or limited digital skills). To do so, an iterative, human-centred and inclusive design approach will be adopted. On a fundamental level, scientific questions will be addressed, such as how to promote the use of security and privacy-enhancing technologies through design, and whether and how usability and accessibility affect the acceptance and use of encryption tools. Here, theories of nudging and boosting and the unified theory of technology acceptance and use (known as UTAUT) will serve as a theoretical basis. On a more applied level, standards like ISO 9241-11 on usability and ISO 9241-220 on the human-centred design process will serve as a guideline. Amongst others, interface designs will be developed and focus groups, participatory design sessions, expert reviews and usability evaluations with potential users of various ages and backgrounds will be conducted, in a user experience and observation laboratory available at HAN University of Applied Sciences. In addition to meeting usability goals, ensuring that the developed encryption techniques also meet national and international accessibility standards will be a particular point of focus. With respect to usability and accessibility, the project will build on the (limited) usability design experiences with the mobile IRMA application.
