Quality of Life Technologies: Experiences from the Field and Key Challenges

Inevitably, as basic human needs are assured in any developed society, differentiating factors for quality of life (QoL) relate to a greater capacity to make informed decisions across daily life activities, especially those related to health. The availability of powerful, personalized, and wearable mobile devices facilitates the provision of ubiquitous computing applications that enable health monitoring and QoL improvements. Here, the authors discuss QoL technologies and present examples of currently researched mobile services for monitoring and improving individuals' physical and psychological health, social interactions, or environmental conditions. They also delineate future work areas for successfully deploying and adopting QoL technologies.