Emanuela Mazzone

Bluebells: a design method for child-centred product development

This paper presents Bluebells, a design method that balances child-centred design with expert design in a progressive approach that marries the best of both disciplines. The method is described in the context of a museum technologies project. Bluebells comprises several new design techniques; these are evaluated and discussed in the paper. The authors conclude with guidelines for future use of the Bluebells method including the importance of providing a context for design partners and allowing them to express their ideas in ways they are comfortable with.

Designing and testing a tangible interface prototype

This paper describes the design and testing of a research Tangible User Interface (TUI) prototype for children. Some theoretical background is given on the evaluation methodology for childrens products and designing TUI for children. The prototype is described and an exploratory initial study that investigated its usefulness is outlined. The authors found that the prototype went some way towards meeting the requirements but that it also needed some modifications for future use. The paper concludes with some reflections on the design of research prototypes and some recommendations for further studies in this area. The authors propose that a modified prototype can be used for evaluating the usability of a range of child-centered evaluation methods in future studies.

Using obstructed theatre with child designers to convey requirements

This paper describes the use of obstructed theatre as a novel design method for the elicitation of ideas from children for the design of a new mobile product. Obstructed theatre has previously been used, in this same context with adults, but this is the first paper that outlines its use with children. The paper describes the initial ideas for the script for the theatre and evaluates its use. It is shown that the method can be useful and it specifically conveyed the idea of portability and mobility but was less effective at conveying the more complex interactive ideas. Specifically the paper outlines the origins of the method, presents some reflection on the usefulness of the method and suggests how it can be used with other contexts.

School friendly participatory research activities with children

Participatory Design is a common practice in HCI and user based evaluations are also highly recommended. This paper looks at the practice of carrying out design and evaluation sessions with school aged children by describing a general method for carrying out and arranging whole class activities that are school friendly and then by analyzing the academic value of these activities. An analysis of 6 MESS days with 21 activities yielded a research out of 9 publications at a research output of 43%.

In search for evaluation methods for children's tangible technology

We selected some user-based evaluation methods for use with school children to evaluate our Tangible User Interface (TUI) prototype. We aimed to evaluate mainly the usability of the prototype, and also fun and educational design. The evaluations were carried out in different environments. We found location of the study and disposition of the space play important roles; selection of the participants is also important

User-oriented design and tangible interaction for kindergarten children

This paper describes a tabletop prototype that allows kindergarten children to take the benefits of the new pedagogical possibilities that tangible interaction and tabletop technologies offer to manipulative learning. After analyzing childrens cognitive and psychomotorial skills, we have designed and tuned a prototype game suitable for children aged 3 to 4 years old. Our prototype uniquely combines low cost tangible interaction and tabletop technology with tutored learning. The design has been based on observations of the children using the technology, letting them freely play with the application during three play sessions. These observational sessions informed the design decisions for the game whilst also confirming the childrens enjoyment with the prototype.

Towards a framework of co-design sessions with children

In this poster we present a framework of the elements of co-design sessions with children. The involvement of children in the design process is important in order to understand their needs but it is often considered a complex practice. Considering a thorough appreciation of this practice as the basis for its accurate application, we addressed its complexity in a framework. To do so, we identified and organised elements that have an impact on co-design sessions in who, where, when, what and how dimensions. This theoretical framework aims to support novice practitioners in their decisions when coordinating co-design sessions.

Requirements gathering in designing technology for children

The aim of this PhD study is to critically investigate and develop methods for designing technologies for children, by focussing on the requirements elicitation phase. The context is the educational activities outside traditional learning environment (i.e. museums), where to explore possible applications of novel technologies (mobile devices, distributed computing, tangible interfaces) in supporting immersive experience and collaboration amongst children.

Recognition errors and recognizing errors: children writing on the tablet PC

The paper describes a research study to determine the usability of handwriting recognition technology on a tablet PC for free writing by children. Results demonstrate that recognition error rates vary according to the metrics used, and the authors discuss how some of the errors are created concluding that the error rates say very little about what was happening at the interface and that with research of this type (novel interfaces and young users) researchers need to be immersed in the context in order to produce useful results.

The ChiCI group

This paper describes the work, the vision, and the approach of the Child Computer Interaction (ChiCI) group at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK. This group, formed four years ago, has grown to become one of the leaders in its field whilst maintaining a democratic structure, an open mind, and an invigorating message. The paper describes the groups creation, outlines its current activities, and contemplates its future.