Tonja Molin-Juustila

Multiple voices in ICT design with children – a nexus analytical enquiry

Childrens participation in information and communication technology (ICT) design is an established interdisciplinary research field. Methods for childrens participation have been developed, but a closer link between theory and design has been called for, as well as an examination of various participants influencing childrens participation in ICT design. This paper addresses these gaps by introducing the research strategy of nexus analysis as a promising theoretical framework. Especially the concepts of ‘interaction order’ and ‘historical body’ are utilised in the analysis of six empirical studies on ICT design with children. The analysis shows that through the participating children there were also ‘others’ involved, multiple voices to be heard, often invisible but informing design. Some of these ‘others’ have already been acknowledged in literature but the issue has not been examined in depth and common vocabulary for this is lacking. Some practical implications will be offered by illustrating how to consider these concepts in different phases of ICT design: when establishing relationships with children, involving children as participant designers and analysing the results of these participative processes.

Video diary as a means for data gathering with children – Encountering identities in the making

Abstract This paper examines video diaries gathered from 10–11-year-old pupils with the aim of inquiring children׳s technology use in their everyday life. A discourse lens is utilized to provide novel insights into the nature and use of videos and diaries in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research and design. The paper shows how the children, given the same assignment, produced their video diaries from a range of different positions such as ‘a diarist’, ‘a news anchor’ and ‘a stage performer’, and through a variety of widely known genres such as ‘an intimate, confessional diary entry’, ‘a news broadcast’, and ‘a homework assignment’. The children also smoothly moved between the positions and genres sometimes changing them several times even during one video clip. Our findings bear implications on two types of HCI research: firstly, studies using diaries for research and design purposes and, secondly, studies interested in videos produced by the research subjects. The paper emphasizes videos and diaries as a multifaceted resource not only revealing facts from the producers׳ lives but also playful experimenting with different positions and genres highlighting constant identity exploration and construction going on during the creation of the data. During the data analysis it is useful to consider within what kind of positionings and genres the pieces of data or ‘facts’ have been created as these genres and positions always frame and limit what is said and how. The paper also suggests that researchers could try to guide the research subjects to adopt certain positions and to rely on certain genres in producing their diaries or video clips to obtain better-focused data for particular research or design purposes. On the other hand, challenges involved with this kind of an attempt are also highlighted.

Switching perspectives: from a language teacher to a designer of language learning with new technologies

Despite abundant research on educational technology and strategic input in the field, various surveys have shown that (language) teachers do not seem to embrace in their teaching the full potential of information and communication technology available in our everyday life. Language students soon entering the professional field could accelerate the process, which highlights the role of teacher education in contributing to the change. The students should see how technology development may change the affordances for language learning, at the same time transforming the teachers’ professional roles and practices. However, taking an active role in designing a new kind of language pedagogy seems to be challenging for students. This study explores an attempt to facilitate the students’ perspective switch from the teacher role to the designer position through participatory design. This effort was to lead the students to envision new practices for language learning and teaching with new technologies. However, initial analyses of the research materials indicated that, despite the support, the students were not fully able to see their role as designers for the future. Cultural--historical activity theory was used to examine the problem more closely. The analysis suggests that in order to position themselves as designers of the future language learning activity, language students need to understand their role as designers, conduct real-life experiments on the evolving visions with their learners, and involve learners as participants in the design activity by sharing visions and collaborative reflection on the experiments. The findings of the study provide tools for language teacher educators to make these activity systems visible and, thus, target for change.

‘Listening to the Voices of the Users' in Product Based Software Development

(IT) development, but it is often challenging, especially in the product based software development context. This article critically examines the practice of ‘listening to the voices of the users’; how it is accomplished in product based software development. First literature addressing users’ role in the product development context is reviewed. Afterwards, empirical analysis in three IT companies involved in product business but with different degrees of productization is carried out. In the analysis, the focus is on: 1) Where do the uses’ voices come from? 2) When are the users’ voices listened to? 3) What happens to the users’ voices; whether and how do they affect the development? 4) What are the challenges and particularities of each case? The analysis reveals similarities but also clear differences between the cases. Implications both for theory and practice discussed.

Children’s Participation in Constructing the Future School: A Study of a Large-Scale Effort Involving ICT

Children are active technology users. Still, a literature review reveals that they are not positioned in a very strong role in large-scale efforts involving information and communication technology (ICT) development. Information systems (IS) literature hardly mentions children in connection to ICT. The authors have examined how children have participated in the development of a ‘future school’ in a large-scale ICT development effort, involving also developments in the domains of pedagogy, architecture and interior design. They identified three established roles for children: the user, the informant and the tester. In addition, the authors identified traces of children’s more genuine participation, hardly addressed in the IS literature but discussed extensively within other disciplines. Therefore, the authors offer a broadened conception of what ‘participation’ may entail for the IS community. They argue that large-scale efforts of this kind would benefit from more active participation by children as it has been acknowledged that children’s participation may lead to improved decision-making.

What if it Switched on the Sun? Exploring Creativity in a Brainstorming Session with Children Through a Vygotskyan Perspective

We contribute in this study a first step in theory-based understanding on how creativity in collaborative design sessions relates to the elements that are present in a creative act. These elements include group composition, objects present, practices used, and previous knowledge of the participants. The context of this study was our search for lightweight methods for technology design with children, which can be used in a school context with large groups, will require as little amount of training as possible, and can be set up quickly. We formed a mixed group, consisting of young children, an older child and an adult, with the aim of involving children in creative collaborative brainstorming during the very early phases of design, so as to come up with fruitful ideas for technology development. We report our process and examine the implications of our results in relation to different elements that trigger and affect creativity in the collaborative design process. Use of Vygotsky’s cycle of creativity as our theoretical lens together with timeline analysis method presented in the paper were essential for seeing beneath the surface of what happened in this complex, collaborative creative process. Our results can be used for further methodological development of creative collaborative sessions, both with children and adults.

Urban planning and ubicomp design: do we need to extend legally enforced participation?

The paper attempts to open a discussion on user participation in the new situation, where information technology penetrates everyday and becomes part of our physical environment. Participation in the planning of built environment is legally enforced in urban planning, and the paper asks, if the participation in the design of ubicomp environments should be treated in a similar way.

Exclusions in social inclusion projects : struggles in involving children in digital technology development

While social inclusion projects have centred on digital technology for a long time now, they have remained silent about educating and empowering children to act as technology makers and shapers, not merely passive users. We have organized, together with children, digital technology projects that we now critically examine from the perspective of inclusion/exclusion. The paper shows that in social inclusion projects, there is exclusion taking place in a multitude of forms, shaped by a variety of rules and powers. We use nexus analysis as a theoretical and methodological tool that guides us to study inclusion/exclusion as processes, within which both discourses and concrete actions are to be acknowledged as well as historical and interactional aspects—both at individual level and at the level of social structures. Our study shows that inclusion and exclusion may be intentionally accomplished by children themselves, those may result without any intentional effort because of circumstances and those may also be done for children by various kinds of adults. Although childrens empowerment and agency are significant, also adults play a decisive role. Implications for social inclusion and digital technology education research and practice are discussed. Nexus analysis is suggested as a useful means for revealing and managing the complexity involved in social inclusion/exclusion.

You have to start somewhere: initial meanings making in a design and making project

Maker movement has recently gained worldwide recognition. Educating children in making activities has also become advocated. Studies have reported experiences on engaging children in making activities and the importance of nurturing a maker identity in children has been advocated. This study reveals findings from a case where, in the spirit of genuine participation of children, 10--12-year-old children gained initial experiences in design and making activities within an elective mathematics class as part of their primary school education. The study shows that children adopted multiple subject positions and relied on various discourses when describing their experiences. We argue that none of them developed a designer or a maker identity as such during the project, whereas many of the children reported of having developed some sort of meaningful relationship to design and making. We argue that this is a valuable outcome per se. Implications for HCI research and design are discussed.