Human-Computer Interaction for Kids

By Fredric D. Mack

For Dr. Monica Trifas

CS530 Human-Computer Interaction

Jacksonville State University

Spring Semester

April 18, 2014

Human Computer Interaction for Kids

As I sit and turn the plastic pages of our family photo album, I look back to an era of hard

copies and instant still-image Polaroid photos. Postal mail was still the most common way to

send letters, post cards and bills, while the average typewritten errors were corrected with white-

out or correction tape. I also take note as the telephone begin to ring, that I am no longer limited

to a designated room in order to answer it. Over the course of about 25 years, there is no doubt

how technology has stepped into high gear, changing the way our society operates and interacts

with each other and with devices, appliances, equipment and machinery.

Micro-processing offers unlimited advantages of computer integrated functions in every

aspect of human life. It is evident in cooking, cleaning, working, learning or everyday casual

activities. As these modern and ever-changing technologies swiftly progress, our dependence on

them becomes directly proportional to these advances. That is why the study of Human-

Computer Interaction becomes so important to research in Interaction Design. Rogers et al.,

(2011) reveals that the main objectives of interaction design are to reduce the frustrations and

negative associations with interactive products , while enhancing the positive aspects.

As interactive products and designs shape the lives of older generations that are affected

by the transformations, the younger generations are also affected by these changes.

Parents have also become part of a multi-million dollar market of interactive products for youth.

Kids watch from birth and pick-up on the relationship that their parents and others have with

interactive products. Many toddlers even begin developing skills to interact with these products

before they can speak or walk. That is why there are growing concerns for research teams to

explore innovative efforts in designing interactive products for children.

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This research will present findings regarding the future design for kids by revealing:

(1) how children are different (2) genres of technology for kids (3) designing for and with

children (4) children and the design process. As it is related to Human-Computer Interaction,

these points show the importance of developing interactive products that are functional,

enjoyable, effortless, and effective to use in all aspects of children’s lives.

How are children different?

In order to design for children, design teams of engineers, teachers, programmers,

psychologist, sociologist, and/or any professionals pertinent to the product must understand how

children are different from adult users. Notable differences teams must design around are:

physical development, cognitive development, social development, concentration and experience

(Idler, 2014).

Concerning physical development, ergonomics must be considered in the design process.

Products must comfortably fit all of the different physical sizes of body proportions associated

with each age. Where adults may be able to manipulate their own bodies to adjust to reasonable

to workstation heights and settings in which they interact with products, children do not have that

luxury. Development of strength and limited hand and eye coordination must also be taken into

consideration.

Young children cannot be expected to input on devices in the same manner as adults.

Therefore, alternate ways of input must be developed. For example, interaction with devices such

as I-pads or similar technology offer swipe methods that may be easier for children than pushing

relatively small buttons. Also, when considering the physical size of children’s hand or cognitive

development, buttons may be enlarged or exaggerated to accommodate smaller hands or limited

muscle strength (Idler, 2014).

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Cognitive development is another differentiating factor between children and adults.

Understanding and interpreting the output of information must be related and relayed in a way

that allows various ages are able to comprehend. One can expect adults to understand basic

concepts used or understand how returned information is relative to the activity performed.

Interactive products should be designed to accommodate these cognitive differences in a way

that is fitting to accommodate the appropriate age while promoting further cognitive

development through interaction.

Next, children must learn the social rules and values of communication and perception

before they are responding and interacting at the same levels as adults. Idler (2014) suggests that

kid’s relationships and perceptions change as they develop their own personalities with

individual traits and personal preferences, thus making social development a very important

factor when doing research for and with kids.

When it comes to concentration, it does not take long to see that the attention span of

young kids is extremely limited. Once adults perceive the time it takes to complete a certain task,

he or she can mentally prepare for the activity at hand. On the contrary, kids need some form of

extrinsic benefit to participate. Bold colors, animations and sounds are just a few ways to help

overcome the myriad of internal and external distractions children face (Idler, 2014).

Finally, adults have many experiences or foreknowledge about various instances in which

they may apply to various occasions. Even though they may have never specifically encountered

such instructions, expectations or functions, the cognitive development and learned skill help

most adults to apply the same level of knowledge from one area to another. With limited

experience, children must be trained by giving them relative and valuable experiences to bypass

the limitations of experience. This helps decrease uncertainty and discouragement until the child

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can gain sufficient experience to relate applied concepts (Idler, 2014). Developing innovative

products for the many different genres of kid’s technology can be more constructive and precise

when understanding just how much youth are different from adults.

Genres of technology for Kids

Although the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) insists “no screen time for children

under two years old, AAP expert Gwenn Schurgin O’keeffe M.D. suggests, “there’s really no

‘right’ age to allow our kids to dip a toe in the digital pond (Tahnk, 2014).” Screen time is

basically the allotted time children are exposed to digital screens, such as TV, cellphones, I-pads,

I-pods or computers of any kind. This certainly does not mean that children should not be

allowed to watch an episode of Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues or other

educational broadcast. But, screen times should be very limited for youth depending on their age.

Moreover, allowing children 12 months old or less to safely handle electronic toys to learn cause

and effect of pushing buttons is noted to be sufficient and age appropriate (Tahnk, 2014).

Some parents may not be overly concerned about letting their two-year old handle their I-

phone as a distraction. In fact, there are now cellphone apps that allow parents to interact with

their children in previously unimaginable ways. But, the I-phone was not initially made for a

two-year old. Exploring the different genres of technology for kids will allow more ambitious

future developments of age-appropriate interactive devices that go beyond typical video games,

books, cellphones, and other two-dimensional products commonly used today.

There are now common genres of technology for kids that mimic the functions of more

sophisticated products used by adults. For example, Tahnk (2014) reveals that Vtec InnoTab for

tots has touch screen, music video player, 64 MB of memory, and is equipped with eBook

reader, art studio and educational games. These are such things children 25 years ago could have

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never dreamed of interacting with and now five year olds are able to navigate the internet.

Moreover, it is pretty unbelievable how the infusions of technology have birthed such tech savvy

children. Tablet and swipe technology in the world or never-ending apps has created limitless

possibilities that would seemingly make sitting in front of a television pretty pre-historic.

However, that is not the case. This scarcely researched topic still shows that these technologies

have not replaced screen time; they have extended them.

This brings back the concerns regarding screen times. Although there are still no

conclusive reports that more screen-time, whether educational or not significantly enhances

academics in children, there is another concern. Young kids are still developing physically,

mentally and socially. Therefore, they must maintain sufficient levels of physical, mental and

social interactions with outside, multi-dimensional stimuli.

Studies suggest that most households have appropriate monitoring practices for

appropriate ages. However, in creating new computer interactions for children, more

developments can be made to encourage activities while away from the screen. Here is a general

example. Facebook offers a game called Farmville, where one objective of the game is to grow

digital plants and trees by having to water and tend the crop. The idea of the new interaction in

real-time would be a “game” that instructs with motivational gestures to grow real plants. This is

only a general idea of just how far out into the real world Human-computer interactions for kids

can be within various genres of technologies.

Designing for and with children

It should become clearer in designing interactive products for children that it is first

necessary to know who the consumers are. That is to say, how are they different? Also in order

to design for children, it is also necessary to understand the genres of technologies and what

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children want. What better way is there to find out what children want other than to ask and

design with children themselves? An anonymous artist, Thomas confirms that, “Making

technology for kids without working directly with them, is like making clothes for someone you

don’t know the size of (HCIL, 2006-2010).”

“The touchscreen generation”, as Leslie Hendry (2013) calls them, are raised with

technology at their fingertips. Now it is usually children that are teaching their parents how to

text, Skype, Instagram, Tweet and create a profile on some social media site. Well, maybe it is

the older big kids that are effortlessly handling such tasks, but those big kids were once the little

kids curiously swiping away at mom’s I-pad. It is also found through valuable research that

modern kids enjoy creating things at a whole new level.

When given the opportunities to create, kids are now extremely motivated and ambitious.

ReadWrite (2014) shared that when asked, kids wanted to do things like paint and draw right on

the computer screen, create their own video games, and learn about fashion and other arts from

computer games. Advances in external media and sensory kits can make many creative

innovations come to life with real world interactions like pencils, water, etc. Through working

directly with children, many suggestions and many solutions can be drawn to assist kids with

fulfilling their wildest digital imaginations.

Speaking of assistive technology, working directly with kids with learning and other

disabilities (LD) can help design some of the most innovative products for those with special

needs. Those ideas will not just benefit children with learning disabilities; they may assist

individuals with learning disabilities of all ages. This is an area that design teams would want to

research while considering how children are different. This is where designers actually get to

interact with these individuals that they can clearly see just how to incorporate the right assistive

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technology to meet various needs. As Raskind et al. (1998-2014) shares, “Assistive Technologies

do not cure or eliminate learning disabilities, but it can help your child reach the potential it

allows them to capitalize on the strengths and bypass areas of difficulty.”

While it is true, technology is not a cure for disabilities, there are more and more

combinations of practice-based apps, devices or methods that should be able to help work

through the difficulty instead of bypassing those areas altogether. Some tools currently available

online to assist kids with LD are: Abbreviation expanders, alternative keyboards, audio books

and publications, electronic math sheets, freeform database software, graphic organizers and

outlining, information/data managing, optical character recognition, personal FM listening

systems, portable word processors, proof reading programs, speech-recognition programs,

speech synthesizers/screen readers, talking calculators, talking spell checkers and electronic

dictionaries, variable speed tape recorders and word prediction programs (Raskind et al., 1998-

2014)

Children and the Design Process

Ultimately, the design process is also a very important part of the research for design. As

research and target consumers change, the design also changes. The design process is initiated by

choosing the approach to the interaction design, the field of design, prototyping and of course,

user involvement and evaluation.

Actions in the design process help predict the user experience by incorporating

characteristics necessary to meet the usability goals. Those would be the results most closely

associated with enjoyableness, functionality, and effectiveness. Rogers et al. (2011) details more

specifically that effectiveness, efficiency, safety, utility, learnability and memorability are factors

sought in the design. The specific levels of these goals of course are drafted from the research

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and interactions with teams that include children. Again, children can be extremely vocal in

delivering such knowledge as to how the prototype should be. Moreover, trade-offs also occur

when choosing the approaches to the interaction design.

User-centered design, activity-centered design, systems design and genius design are the

four approaches to interaction design (Rogers et al. 2011). The conflict in the design process

stems from the particular designs vs the approach. For example, the user-centered design will not

flow quite as well as the user intends if the designer is less than expert in the technical concepts

provided. Perhaps, if the resources are too padded to design for specified activity-centered

functions necessary to carry out the requirements of the user, then there is a disconnect between

approach and design. The project may extend to graphic, architectural, industrial and/or software

design. Therefore, one can expect some amount of trade-off when attempting to balance

requirements with the reality of technical experience, capabilities, user demand and correct

evaluation of alternate solutions (Rogers et al. 2011).

There are usually many experts and ideas going into process design, including the kids.

The brainstorming between such individuals can often revive difficult concepts with a

collaborative conglomerate of alternate solutions. The prototype can be first supported and

drafted by props and sketches before a commitment to build.

The evaluation of the prototype comes back full circle to the kids for which the human-

computer interaction was designed. Solicited feed-back through questionnaires usually relay

valuable concerns about functionality. Any reasonable problems that come up in user experience

can be reworked depending on the ability to correct. The goal for the finish product should be to

exceed expectations. In this way, glitches would be easier to identify and correct. The design

process with and for children can be a long and daunting project, sometimes taking years to

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complete. But, the much anticipated positive user experience of the finished product makes it all

worth it.

There are often times where companies miss the mark by releasing poorly designed

products that are not very user friendly or aesthetically pleasing. Nevertheless, tightly knitted

design teams grouped with expert ideas, resources, time and appropriate research study will

eventually get it right. For instance, car phones have evolved from the massive hand weights in a

carry bag to the modest sized mobile devices that can easily fit in any pocket. That is the very

technology that began the start of a fad seen at every movie theatre, grocery story, football game

and truly every place one can think of. Elementary school kids all over the nation now have the

world in the palm of their hands by way of touch screen phones, with limitless apps, data,

internet, games, camera, video recorder, and an Mp3 player. They also sport the most colorful

skins with leather and rhinestones while texting at the speed of light.

Human-computer interactions for kids are now equally available and many times just as

sophisticated as electronic devices for adults. Understanding how children are different help

determine the types of products to design, while helping design teams visualize the concept of

how that device will look, aesthetically and functionally. Screen times and how much technology

is too much too soon are concerns of the American Academic of Pediatrics. However, that is not

stopping the potential multi-billion dollar interactive technology market from developing more

screened devices. Next, exploring the genres of technology for kids help define what is currently

available. It is those things that provide the motivation with children to expand, extend and

create great innovations. Interactive products have become so embedded to the generation of

younger society that children must be involved in some way at every level of the design process.

Child Safety is one topic that was not thoroughly covered in this research. But, in designing for

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children and considering how children are different, this should also be major concern. Some

concerns are things like being cautious of toxic paints or detachable parts that can be easily

swallowed affects child safety. Moreover, proper monitoring for appropriate screen times and

searching content on the internet is worth reiterating. But, who would have ever thought that the

average, everyday five year old would be surfing the internet? If Human-Computer Interaction

has already come this far for children, what in this world can we expect for the future of the little

technology savvy geniuses?

References

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Druin, Allison Dr., Children as Design Partners: An Introduction. Human Computer Interaction

Lab (HCIL). Publishers, Inc. San Francisco, CA. 2006-2010.

Druin, Allison. The Design of Children’s Technology. Morgan Kaufman. (HCIL).

Publishers, Inc. San Francisco, CA. 2006-2010

Hendry, Leslie. The Touch-Screen Generation: Digital Natives, Your Kids!

The HuffingtonPost.com. 2014

Idler, Sabrina. 5 Key Differences Between kids and Adults. 2014. retrieved from

www.uxkids.com April 19, 2014.

Raskind, Marshall PHD., Stanberry, Kristin., Assistive Technology for Kids with

LD. Great Schools, Inc. Oakland, CA. 1998-2014. Retrieved from www.greatschools.org

April 19, 2019

ReadWrite. Creation & Design: What Kids Want from Tech. Say Media, Inc. 2014

Rogers, Yvonne; Sharp, Helen; Preece, Jenny. Interaction Design: Beyond Human

Computer Interaction. 3rd edition. John Wiley & Sons. United Kingdom.

2011.

Shields, Margie K., Behrman, Richard E., Children and Computer Technology:

Analysis and Recommendations. The Future of Children. Princeston

University. 2014 www.princeton.edu/future of children/

State of Wales. DOE and Communities. Technology Process. Creating a Common

Language in Technology Learning K-12. 1999-2011.

Tahnk, Jeana. The Right Technology for Kids at Every Age. Meredith Corporation.

2014. retrieved from www.parenting.com/article/tehnology-for-kids April 19, 2014

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