Technology is rapidly changing day-to-day tasks, but along with coming up with efficient solutions to problems both common and unique, it’s also just making things a lot more cool.
Paden Shorey knows a little something about using technology in an innovative way. As a first-year master’s student in Carleton’s Human Computer Interaction (HCI) program, Shorey said he hopes to create video games for children with neurological disorders as a form of rehabilitation.
The Charlatan’s Radiyah Chowdhury sat down with Shorey to talk about his research and plans to create video games that will make rehabilitation more fun for children who need it.
The Charlatan (TC): Could you tell me more about your area of research and what you hope to achieve?
Paden Shorey (PS): I have a history in game development just throughout university and I wanted to do something with games. My supervisor, Dr. Audrey Girouard, has a lot of experience with flexible displays—so bendable screens—and I thought it’d be a good idea to do something with that since my supervisor obviously knows a lot about it. We decided to try and look into something that’ll actually benefit people. We wanted to do games that help originally everyone with neurological disorders but that’s too broad of a spectrum so we narrowed it down to kids. It’ll still have to be narrowed down to some sort of rehab type thing because obviously there are different types of rehab. There are people who can barely move their fingers, people who can squeeze, people who have enough dexterity to type . . . I’m not too deep into the research yet but it’ll be some sort of game for people who are regaining movement and motor skills.
TC: What would constitute a neurological disorder?
PS: It’s more for people who suffer trauma who have lost feelings in their hands or lost the ability to use hands or even lost motor skills, so they’re doing rehab to try and regain movement. I’m sure rehab right now is just boring tasks like “squeeze this ball,” but no kid wants to sit in a bed and squeeze a ball for half an hour when they can use a flexible display, squeeze the flexible display to play a game or something. It’ll just make the time pass better and it’ll be a better experience for them.
TC: Where did the idea originally come from?
PS: I used to be more of a video game player as a kid . . . I’ve always been interested and found it a cool medium that’s growing a lot and it’s definitely an industry I’d want to work in the future.
TC: It’s interesting because there’s a lot of gaming websites like Lumosity, the online website that helps you improve your memory. Gaming is being tied in with the sciences.
PS: It’s becoming a more accepted form of media. The term is “gamification.” I’ve had classes that have been gamified where the prof wants you to be more involved in the class so you get rewards for doing certain things. It turns more into a competition. You’re going to see it more and more in the future, in terms of everything.
TC: Where do you hope your research will take you?
PS: I’m really interested in this and I hope it turns into something that can be applied to the real world and actually help people. If you do something that changes the world for the better and gives a small population of the world more comfort and better living I see that as a good thing, and I see that ultimately where I want this to go.
TC: What has the feedback been like so far?
PS: I’m getting a lot of positive feedback about this which is odd because I didn’t think anyone knew about it. People have been supportive of it and they really want to see it happen.
TC: Do you have any advice for someone who wants to go into this sector?
PS: Be passionate, know your math, don’t be ignorant, and don’t be close minded to ideas.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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