Aide's Aide Users
Aide's Aide users are Russian speaking home health aides that serve elderly and sick people (also Russian speaking) around the Northeast locality of Philadelphia. The user community is definitely a community of practice that exists across official organizational boundaries, is in an active stage of development (i.e. aides engage in joint activities, share information, develop relationships), but visible only informally to those who are informed (Wenger, 1998). The user factors that affect the design and functionality of the system are the following:
1. User group consists of around 300 aides, 35-60 years old, almost all females.
2. Users work and live in the same locality (radius of about 5 miles).
3. Most work more than 40 (often 50-60) hours, 6-7 days a week. Time management is probably the most important task aides face every day.
4. Many aides work for two or more agencies at the same time because their patients may be registered at different agencies. This fact is very important because it shows that this is a patients driven job market. Patients choose an agency and they may request an aide from another agency. Since agencies fiercely compete for patients they would hire any aide on request of their patients. Thus, aides try to create good relationship and please their patients. On the other hand, many patients recognize the importance of good relationship with their aides since they depend on the quality of their service.
5. All or almost all have regular access to computers and Internet; however, technology is often bought for and used by their children. Computers are used for simple games (e.g. solitaire), reading online books, and social networking (mostly by younger and more computer proficient aides).
6. The main speaking language is Russian. Many know only little English.
| milestone2.pdf | |
| File Size: | 463 kb |
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To read more about Aide's Aide users, download the Milestone 2 file on the left.