Computers and Kids

Allison Druin, Editor chi-Bulletin-Kids@acm.org Interaction Design and Children (IDC 2002)
By Mathilde Bekker and Panos Markopoulos
Interaction Design and Children (IDC 2002) Eindhoven, The Netherlands, August 28-29, 2002 A bit over one year ago, the idea for a separate conference about Interaction Design and Children was born in The Netherlands. We decided it was a shame that there was no dedicated venue for exchanging ideas in this area. So, we decided to arrange an event like that ourselves. After some initial planning, fund raising and exploring interest we felt ready for it. One of our first successes was finding two inspirational researchers: Allison Druin, from The University of Maryland and Justine Cassell, from MIT Media Laboratory, willing to give keynote talks. About one year later, in August 2002, an international workshop was held that focused on Interaction Design and Children, in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Originally, we planned modestly for 30-40 attendants. Fortunately, there was a lot of interest for the conference and the registrations had to be stopped at 92 people! Given the large number of papers presented, the workshop ended up in a single-track conference format and one that proved exciting and rewarding for the participants. The workshop opened with a keynote by Allison Druin. Her 'onion' model of the different roles children can play in the design of new technology, became a reference point for many of the presentations that followed. Several presentations followed by aspiring industrial designers, educational experts and researchers in user (child)-centred design. On the second day, Justine Cassell, presented her research on story-listening systems, that support children develop their active language skills. This talk was inspirational in that it showed the value of theory in guiding the design of technology and in that it sought ways to provide value to children and society, beyond mere entertainment. Several topics seemed to keep popping up during these days: Are children that different from adults as participants in the design session? Should usability be what we design for? Or should we also be looking at fun and playful learning? How can technology make a valuable contribution to children's lives? Different approaches for involving children in design were illustrated, debating their advantages and disadvantages. Technologies presented varied from PCbased systems, mobile applications or even augmented rooms and interactive mats, etc. Uses of technology for education, play, communication with families, therapy, were discussed. Video records of children seemed to make for excellent and entertaining presentations, though sometimes distracting to the audience, like the usability test participant who banged his head on the table instead of testing the system. A busload of children arrived for a participatory design session for educational software, a design workshop within the conference organized by Madelon Evers and Daniel Lutz, from Human Shareware. Thirty conference-workshop participants designed an interactive pirate adventure together with the children. This event was appreciated highly both by the children and by the workshop participants. All thought it was a shame that the event was finished so quickly, but they were also very enthusiastic about the outcome of the session. (see description on the website of Human Shareware: http:// www.humans.nl/non-flash/ ). The proceedings of the conference have been published by Shaker Publisher (http://www.shaker.nl/ Boekencatalogus.asp, ISBN 90-423-0200-3) and a selection of papers is planned for a special issue of Interacting With Computers. The atmosphere at the conference was very stimulating and there was a feeling of an emerging community. The two days were packed with interesting activities, and a good start was made in hopefully creating a new community. Many participants were talking already of the need for a conference series. IDC 2003 will be hosted in Preston, UK, by the University of Central Lancashire on 1-3 July 2003 (website: www.idc2003.org) and the prospect of organizing the third IDC in the US is under discussion.

SIGCHI Bulletin January/February 2003 6