Evaluating artefacts with children: age and technology effects in the reporting of expected and experienced fun

In interaction design, there are several metrics used to gather user experience data. A common approach is to use surveys with the usual method being to ask users after they have experienced a product as to their opinion and satisfaction. This paper describes the use of the Smileyometer (a product from the Fun Toolkit) to test for user experience with children by asking for opinions in relation to expected as well as experienced fun. Two studies looked at the ratings that children, from two different age groups and in two different contexts, gave to a set of varied age-appropriate interactive technology installations. The ratings given before use (expectations) are compared with ratings given after use (experience) across the age groups and across installations. The studies show that different ratings were given for the different installations and that there were age-related differences in the use of the Smileyometer to rate user experience; these firstly evidence that children can, and do, discriminate between different experiences and that children do reflect on user experience after using technologies. In most cases, across both age groups, children expected a lot from the technologies and their after use (experienced) rating confirmed that this was what they had got. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the collective findings for the design and evaluation of technologies with children

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