Proceedings of the 2005 conference on Interaction design and children

There was a time--not long ago--when a discussion of educational technology conjured up relatively predictable images of children sitting at desks in front of computer screens. In this tradition, "technology" meant "the computer"--and a rather standard view of the computer at that, consisting of a CPU, keyboard, screen, and perhaps a couple of additional peripheral devices. During the past decade, this traditional portrait was augmented to include a connection to the World Wide Web; but the image of the child at the screen remained the standard.This image is rapidly becoming superseded by a multitude of unexpected, provocative, and creative portraits of the ways in which children employ technology. For one thing, the term "technology" itself has begun to encompass more varied terrain: mobile and ubiquitous computing, embedded computation, novel sensors and actuators, fabrication tools, "smart" materials of various sorts, and newly accessible interaction techniques (for, e.g., speech or gesture recognition), just to name a few. In turn, this more expansive definition of technology suggests a view of children's activities that includes, but is not limited to, the classroom. As a research community, we can now begin to integrate the creative design and assessment of children technology with a variety of settings--city streets, playgrounds, museums, and parks. We can re-examine children's relationship with other sorts of "technology", including clothing and toys. We can create new and enabling artifacts for children with various sorts of physical or cognitive disabilities. We can make hitherto inaccessible ideas, techniques, and devices available to children, thus empowering them and democratizing technology.The traditional view undeniably remains a powerful one: there are tremendous opportunities yet to be explored in the world of desktop machines and "keyboard-andscreen- based" software. Moreover, much has been learned within this tradition, and continues to be relevant as children's activities take new forms and as technology expands. Indeed, there are many opportunities for productive integration of desktop computers and the welter of new technologies mentioned above. The IDC conference represents a gathering of researchers who are respectful of, and knowledgeable about, the field of children's technology as it has existed up until now. At the same time, these researchers, in collaboration with today's children, are exploring directions in design that promise still more creative and satisfying lives for children yet to come.