End-user composition and re-use of technologies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

This paper presents some early design work of an innovative concept of an incubator, carried out under the European project Palcom. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of user requirements in care settings poses interesting methodological challenges. This paper details some methodological options for developing technologies which allow end-user composition and re-configurability, and documents how fieldwork has been translated into design solutions. In particular we describe the notion of technological assemblies interpreted as the combination of services and devices, which the users can dynamically configure to support their needs. We report on the importance of flexibility and control in the use of such technological assemblies in a neonatal ward and present an early prototype of incubator designed to be sensitive to the particular requirements of the setting