Jerry Alan Fails, Allison Druin, Mona Leigh Guha May 28, 2009 HCIL Symposium Mobile Collaboration for Young Children

Collaboration Young Children Mobile To work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort. ( Ages 6-10 Spatial Co-locatedDistributed Temporal Synchronous Same Place & Time Different Place, Same Time Asynchronous Same Place, Different Time Different Place & Time

Move Beyond … Summary of current status –Devices for consumption/entertainment/collection –Limited range of interactions –Mobile device limitations Need to make: –Mobility part of purpose, not just a feature –Mobile devices more:  Collaborative  Child-appropriate  Creative, generative, constructive

Children in the design process Kidsteam Cooperative Inquiry (Druin, CHI 1999; Guha et al., IDC 2004) Design Approach

Face-to-Face Collaboration

DisconnectedConnected (Two Devices) View IndependentContent SplittingSpace Sharing Story Previous/ Next Page Page Part Collaborative Configurations

DisconnectedConnected (Two Devices) View IndependentContent SplittingSpace Sharing Story Previous/ Next Page Page Part Collaborative Configurations

DisconnectedConnected (Two Devices) View IndependentContent SplittingSpace Sharing Story Previous/ Next Page Page Part Collaborative Configurations

Mobile Stories 3.0: Development Data Interactions Primary goals: –Story collaboration –Collocated collaboration Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Implementation –Mobile phone version (Windows Mobile 6.0) –Desktop versions for viewing stories and history –Program: C#, ~24K lines of code (some inherited)

Collaborative Story Study Collaborative reading –Within-subject –Alternating order  Content splitting  Space sharing Collaborative creation –Ability to change collaborative modes Collaborative sharing Users –26 children –Ages 8-9 Data –Interviews –Field notes –Collaborative stories –Technology logs –Video

Reading Trends DisconnectedConnected (Two Devices) View IndependentContent SplittingSpace Sharing Story Previous/ Next Page Page Part

Content splitting –“Easier” to use –Only picture or words Space sharing –Both pictures and words –“Harder” to use –Previous/next page –Thought sharing words/pictures cool, but hard to read story Boy/girl proximity Everyone had fun! Reading Trends

Reflecting on Differences When would you want to read with someone with the words and the picture split [splitting the content]? I’d prefer it that way if I was reading to my little brother, because he can’t read that well yet. And so, I could give him the picture phone and I could have the word phone. When would you want to read with someone [sharing the space]? Probably when I was reading, by myself … probably with someone who reads just as well as me or better. How would you prefer to read together with someone? I think it depends … on my audience … like if my audience was my little brother, then I’d want to read [using content splitting], but if it was [my friend who reads as well as I do], I’d want to read [sharing the space]. (9-year old girl)

Things to Consider Supporting collaboration is important –But also need independence Different collaborative configurations may be more appropriate for certain scenarios Gender makes a difference Hardware needs to support user needs

Summary Mobile devices need new interfaces and interactions to support collaboration Content splitting and space sharing are promising interfaces for different situations Need to make: –Mobility part of purpose, not just a feature –Mobile devices more:  Collaborative  Child-appropriate  Creative, generative, constructive Mobile Collaboration for Young Children Educational learning The way mobile devices are used

Questions Acknowledgments Kidsteam, Dissertation Committee Gene Chipman, Kevin McGehee, Shaili Desai, Evan Golub, Bobby Owolabi, Juliette Taillandier National Park Service, Microsoft

Other Trends Creation –All children used independent the entire time  X tried unsuccessfully to change  Cannot be editing to enter split or shared –Verbally coordinated splitting content Share –Most frequently split content (Split 20; Share 6) Summary –“Connected” collaborative configurations best when reading or sharing a story –Independent best for creating a story

Collaborative Stories DigitalPaper

Collaborative Stories DigitalPaper Day 1Day 2 Page #C1*C2* † C3C4C5C6C7C Day 1Day 2 Page #C5C6C7C8C1*C2*C3C

Collocated Collaboration Concepts Space sharing Content splitting Ciconia Ciconia (White Stork) by Andrea Petrlik published 2003, Kašmir Promet – Croatia, Available in the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL)

DisconnectedConnected (Two Devices) View IndependentContent SplittingSpace Sharing Story Previous/ Next Page Page Part Collaborative Configurations

DisconnectedConnected (Two Devices) View IndependentContent SplittingSpace Sharing Story Previous/ Next Page Page Part Collaborative Configurations

DisconnectedConnected (Two Devices) View IndependentContent SplittingSpace Sharing Story Previous/ Next Page Page Part Collaborative Configurations