Developmentally situated design (DSD): making theoretical knowledge accessible to designers of children's technology

There is a wealth of theoretical knowledge about the developmental abilities and skills of children. However, this knowledge is not readily accessible to designers of interactive products. In this paper, we present the requirements, design and evaluation of developmentally situated design (DSD) cards. DSD cards are a design tool that makes age specific information about children's developing cognitive, physical, social, and emotional abilities readily accessible for designers. Initial requirements were elicited through interviews with design practitioners and students. The cards were evaluated through a design-in-use study in which design students used the cards to address three different design problems. Our analysis of observational notes and post-design interviews revealed how the cards' characteristics enabled different kinds of uses including framing, orienting, inspiring, informing, integrating and constraining. We conclude with a discussion of possible refinements and an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of our approach.

[1]  Jörn Messeter,et al.  Facilitating collaboration through design games , 2004, PDC 04.

[2]  Amy Bruckman,et al.  HCI FOR KIDS , 2012 .

[3]  P. Markopoulos,et al.  Interaction design and children: (IDC 2002) , 2003, CHIB.

[4]  Kim Halskov,et al.  Inspiration card workshops , 2006, DIS '06.

[5]  Panos Markopoulos,et al.  Interaction design and children , 2003, Interact. Comput..

[6]  D. Clements.  Computers in Early Childhood Mathematics , 2002 .

[7]  David England.  A USER INTERFACE DESIGN TOOL , 1987, SGCH.

[8]  Alissa Nicole Antle,et al.  The CTI framework: informing the design of tangible systems for children , 2007, TEI.

[9]  John S. Pruitt,et al.  The Persona Lifecycle: Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product Design , 2006 .

[10]  ALISTAIR SUTCLIFFE,et al.  On the effective use and reuse of HCI knowledge , 2000, TCHI.

[11]  Wolmet Barendregt,et al.  A comparison of two analytical evaluation methods for educational computer games for young children , 2007, Cognition, Technology & Work.

[12]  Yvonne Rogers,et al.  Kids as informants: telling us what we didn't know or confirming what we knew already? , 1998 .

[13]  Judith Good,et al.  CARSS: A Framework for Learner-Centred Design with Children , 2006, Int. J. Artif. Intell. Educ..

[14]  Andrés Lucero,et al.  PLEX Cards: a source of inspiration when designing for playfulness , 2010, Fun and Games '10.

[15]  Miki Baumgarten,et al.  Kids and the internet: a developmental summary , 2003, CIE.

[16]  Debora Shaw,et al.  Handbook of usability testing: How to plan, design, and conduct effective tests , 1996 .

[17]  Allison Druin,et al.  The role of children in the design of new technology , 2002 .

[18]  Paula Kotzé,et al.  Ten design lessons from the literature on child development and children's use of technology , 2009, IDC.

[19]  W. Buxton.  Human-Computer Interaction , 1988, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[20]  Alan Cooper,et al.  The Inmates are Running the Asylum , 1999, Software-Ergonomie.

[21]  Scott Isensee,et al.  User-Centered Design: An Integrated Approach with Cdrom , 2001 .

[22]  Nuno Jardim Nunes,et al.  Towards useful and usable interaction design tools: CanonSketch , 2007, Interact. Comput..

[23]  Alissa Nicole Antle,et al.  Child-based personas: need, ability and experience , 2008, Cognition, Technology & Work.

[24]  T.L.J. Ferris,et al.  User-Centered Design: An Integrated Approach , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

[25]  Eva Hornecker,et al.  Creative idea exploration within the structure of a guiding framework: the card brainstorming game , 2010, TEI '10.

[26]  CamposPedro,et al.  Towards useful and usable interaction design tools , 2007 .

[27]  Cathleen Wharton,et al.  Testing a walkthrough methodology for theory-based design of walk-up-and-use interfaces , 1990, CHI '90.

[28]  Yvonne Rogers,et al.  New theoretical approaches for human-computer interaction , 2005, Annu. Rev. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[29]  Ben Shneiderman,et al.  Designing The User Interface , 2013 .

[30]  Douglas Schuler,et al.  Participatory Design: Principles and Practices , 1993 .