Interaction design of community-driven environmental projects (CDEPs): A case study from the Anacostia Watershed.

Water is becoming an increasingly precious resource across the world, but citizens can help ensure good-quality water by helping to manage their local watersheds. Local, place-based advocacy projects that are strongly grounded within their geographical area have the potential to inspire environmental change as citizens come together to collectively address environmental challenges in their own neighborhoods. However, less attention has been given to these small, intensely place-based local projects.

Usability and accessibility in consumer health informatics current trends and future challenges.

It is a truism that, for innovative eHealth systems to have true value and impact, they must first and foremost be usable and accessible by clinicians, consumers, and other stakeholders. In this paper, current trends and future challenges in the usability and accessibility of consumer health informatics will be described. Consumer expectations of their healthcare providers and healthcare records in this new era of consumer-directed care will be explored, and innovative visualizations, assistive technologies, and other ways that healthcare information is currently being provided and/or shared will be described.

Community response grids: using information technology to help communities respond to bioterror emergencies.

Access to accurate and trusted information is vital in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from an emergency. To facilitate response in large-scale emergency situations, Community Response Grids (CRGs) integrate Internet and mobile technologies to enable residents to report information, professional emergency responders to disseminate instructions, and residents to assist one another. CRGs use technology to help residents and professional emergency responders to work together in community response to emergencies, including bioterrorism events.

Usability of health Web sites for older adults: a preliminary study.

Although an increasing number of Web sites are devoted to providing health information to older adults, many sites have usability problems unique to this population. The purpose of this study was to explore the usability of three health-promoting Web sites specifically designed for use by older adults. This descriptive study used two usability assessment methods: (1) a heuristic evaluation by four experts in Web usability and gerontology and (2) a usability test by 10 senior Web users with a mean age of 73.