Quincy Brown

Using gamification to motivate children to complete empirical studies in lab environments

In this paper, we describe the challenges we encountered and solutions we developed while collecting mobile touch and gesture interaction data in laboratory conditions from children ages 5 to 7 years old. We identify several challenges of conducting empirical studies with young children, including study length, motivation, and environment. We then propose and validate techniques for designing study protocols for this age group, focusing on the use of gamification components to better engage children in laboratory studies. The use of gamification increased our study task completion rates from 73% to 97%. This research contributes a better understanding of how to design study protocols for young children when lab studies are needed or preferred. Research with younger age groups alongside older children, adults, and special populations can lead to more sound guidelines for universal usability of mobile applications.

Examining the need for visual feedback during gesture interaction on mobile touchscreen devices for kids

Surface gesture interaction styles used on modern mobile touchscreen devices are often dependent on the platform and application. Some applications show a visual trace of gesture input as it is made by the user, whereas others do not. Little work has been done examining the usability of visual feedback for surface gestures, especially for children. In this paper, we present results from an empirical study conducted with children, teens, and adults to explore characteristics of gesture interaction with and without visual feedback. We find that the gestures generated with and without visual feedback by users of different ages diverge significantly in ways that make them difficult to interpret. In addition, users prefer to see visual feedback. Based on these findings, we present several design recommendations for new surface gesture interfaces for children, teens, and adults on mobile touchscreen devices. In general, we recommend providing visual feedback, especially for children, wherever possible.

DisCo: a co-design online tool for asynchronous distributed child and adult design partners

Face-to-face design with child and adult design partners is not always possible due to distant geographical locations or time differences. Yet we believe that the designs of children in areas not co-located with system builders, or who live in locations not easily accessed, are just as important and valid as children who are easily accessible especially when designing for a multinational audience. This paper reports on the prototype design process of DisCo, a computer-based design tool that enables intergenerational co-designers to collaborate online and asynchronously while being geographically distributed. DisCo contains tools that enable the designers to iterate, annotate, and communicate from within the tool. This tool was used to facilitate distributed co-design. We learned that children were less forgiving of their inability to draw on the computer than on paper, and they formed small, intergenerational design teams at their own locations when the technology did not work as they expected.

Child or Adult? Inferring Smartphone Users’ Age Group from Touch Measurements Alone

We present a technique that classifies users’ age group, i.e., child or adult, from touch coordinates captured on touch-screen devices. Our technique delivered 86.5 % accuracy (user-independent) on a dataset of 119 participants (89 children ages 3 to 6) when classifying each touch event one at a time and up to 99 % accuracy when using a window of 7+ consecutive touches. Our results establish that it is possible to reliably classify a smartphone user on the fly as a child or an adult with high accuracy using only basic data about their touches, and will inform new, automatically adaptive interfaces for touch-screen devices.

Characterizing How Interface Complexity Affects Children's Touchscreen Interactions

Most touchscreen devices are not designed specifically with children in mind, and their interfaces often do not optimize interaction for children. Prior work on children and touchscreen interaction has found important patterns, but has only focused on simplified, isolated interactions, whereas most interfaces are more visually complex. We examine how interface complexity might impact childrens touchscreen interactions. We collected touch and gesture data from 30 adults and 30 children (ages 5 to 10) to look for similarities, differences, and effects of interface complexity. Interface complexity affected some touch interactions, primarily related to visual salience, and it did not affect gesture recognition. We also report general differences between children and adults. We provide design recommendations that support the design of touchscreen interfaces specifically tailored towards children of this age.

Educational interfaces, software, and technology

One of the primary goals of teaching is to prepare learners for life in the real world. In this ever changing world of technologies such as mobile interaction, cloud computing, natural user interfaces, and gestural interfaces like the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect people have a greater selection of tools for the task at hand. Teachers and students can leverage these tools to improve learning outcomes. Educational interfaces and software are needed to ensure that new technologies serve a clear purpose in the classrooms and homes of the future. Since teachers are always looking for creative ways to engage 21st century learners there needs to be an academic venue for researchers to discuss novel educational tools and their role in improving learning outcomes. This workshop aims at filling this void: combining the pedagogical expertise of the cooperative learning, and learning sciences communities with the technical creativity of the CHI, UIST and interactive surface communities. The objective of this workshop is to become a conference within two years.

Social networking as a vehicle to foster cross-cultural awareness

The growth of online social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Linked-In has transformed the way in which individuals establish and maintain relationships for both business and entertainment. In this paper we present the analysis of a similar online social network that was used to foster cross-cultural awareness among users ages 14--17. The social network provided students across the globe with an environment to establish online identities, explore their own culture and the culture of peers who were located in three different countries. We make recommendations to network designers to reconsider friendship metaphors, work within existing network tools, and replace text as the default medium in communication.

LUCID: a visualization and broadcast system for cyber defense competitions

In this article, we discuss LUCID, a visualization and broadcast system targeted to improving a spectators ability to understand and make sense of cyber defense competitions. The system aims to engage the spectator by presenting information pertinent to understanding the real-time events of the competition as they unfold. It accomplishes this through a combination of techniques, including real-time network security visualization, live video and audio monitoring, animation, computer graphics, user profiling, and commentary. We examine, specifically, how the LUCID system enables the audience to make sense of ongoing activities in a cyber defense competition.