Critical perspectives on dependability: an older person's experience of assistive technology

ABSTRACT

This paper considers multiple meanings of dependability as part of a project investigating home based assistive and smart home technology for older people. It argues that because the term dependability is broad, clear levels of analysis must be articulated. It further situates engineering based definitions of dependability in wider critical perspectives. Five levels of analysis are proposed which expand from a single device to a set of devices in a particular building with primary and secondary users. These levels of analysis are then considered in relation to five contextual perspectives: the technological, the personal, the social, the cultural and the environmental. The approach is applied to a case study of an older person's experience of the installation of an automated front door.

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