Welcome to Q-Life!
Q-Life explores new ways in which information
technologies can be designed and applied to enhance life quality
for a wide range of individuals: in everyday life, in clinical
settings and in other specific circumstances. Q-Life started in 2005 as a studio of the Interactive Institute. We are now a research group within the Department
of Informatics, at Umeå
University in Northern
Sweden.
Our work is intrinsically multi-disciplinary, drawing on interaction research,
design, science, technology and social concerns. We work closely with
local organisations, for example those concerned with the needs of groups such as the elderly, the mentally or
physically disabled, and others.
We believe that without
technology we are not human, and that information technology can change lives - for better and for worse. While some information technology has had a role in creating seemingly
intractable and growing problems in modern society, appropriate technology also has a huge potential to improve such common conditions as
stress, depression, loneliness, anxiety, age-related dementia, physical and social isolation, and self-destructive lifestyles.
We seek to make radical innovations that have
a positive impact on the quality of life of the people who use them.
We want to contribute to a future where technology is used
to constructively engage with and address problems, rather than
the currently standard approach of applying pharmaceutical and
technological fixes unquestioningly.
More generally, we are interested in how technology can be
used to create life-changing experiences: intellectual,
emotional, practical, artistic, social and spiritual.
