Kids' Informal Learning with Digital Media
An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures
(the age group in this article is a bit above our boys, but it was helpful and interesting nonetheless).
Searching for Count Whistleboy : Explorations into Collaborative Story Creation through Design Research with Kids
“Explorations into Collaborative Story Creation through Design Research with Kids”
Project staff: Dan Perkel, Sarita Yardi
Collaborators: Carrie Burgener, Nick Reid, Rachel Strickland
STORYTELLING
is a fundamental process through which children explore and make sense of the world. The act of creating and sharing a story is often social and collaborative. In this paper, we describe two months of research into the design of an online, collaborative story creation environment for kids. This work was inspired by a project called Backyard Transformations, conducted between 1988-1991 at Apple’s Vivarium Research Laboratory, which aimed to teach young children principles of narrative construction through evocative content, storytelling games, and digital storytelling tools. We conducted an after-school program with eight fifth graders to gain more insight into their media consumption and production in their everyday lives. We also conducted individual interviews to acquire more in-depth information about their personal media experiences.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Our main question throughout this project was: What were the primary requirements for an online, collaborative story creation system intended for kids aged 9-12 that would be used outside of the class room?
Over the course of the project, a number of other questions arose that we attempted to address including:
1. What relationship between play and storytelling could we capture in our system?
2. What are the various forms of collaboration that might occur during the storytelling process?
3. How important was it for the kids to be able to create their own media to be used in their stories? How would they react to using media provide for them by the system or by other kids?
METHODS
It was critical to our research that we took a stance that recognized that kids should be studied as active participants that have power and agency over their own lives. We borrowed and adapted methodology from the user-centered design process, specifically methods and approaches advocated by researchers and designers who had worked with kids. It was also important that we had a sense of what media and technology experiences the kids had in their daily lives so that we could make some sense of what we may find during the design process.
We set up an after-school program at a local elementary school and conducted eight weeks of “design sessions.” We met a group of eight fifth-grade kids, five boys and three girls, twice a week, for an hour and a half each session. At the halfway point, we began interviewing the kids outside of the program. We interviewed four of the kids on their own, and tried two paired interviews.
We spent the first third of the sessions evaluating ideas from Backyard Transformations using iMovie as our prototype. During the middle third, we opened up the design space somewhat by letting the kids bring in their own artifacts as media, such as physical objects, drawings, and their own photographs, but asking them to use them in very structured activities. Finally, during the last part of the class, the kids worked on final projects where they could use any kind of media that we could somehow digitize with a camera, and they could build the stories in any fashion they saw fit.
During the interviews, we asked the participants about what types of technologies they used at home, who they used them with, what they did with them, and so forth. We also asked them questions about storytelling and media production at home.
KEY FINDINGS & DESIGN IMPLICATIONS
With regard to the experiences that the kids brought to the design process, we found that it was not easy to think of some kids as more technologically proficient and others as less so. Some were savvier about how they used the software in the classroom, but we later learned did not know some computer basics that we would have assumed that they understood. Others had more experience participating in online communities such as role-playing games. Only a few had used email, but most were interested to some extent.
OUR RESULTS
have led us to consider a number of observations for the design of the system that we envision. First, while the Backyard Transformations content and activities did result in some creative characters and stories, it would not be sufficient as the foundation for a story creation environment for these kids. Second, the kids wanted agency with respect to their choice of media, control over that media, and the process of developing their stories. Third, collaboration in storytelling comes in many forms. Sometimes kids wanted to actively work with each other in the creation of stories, but other times they preferred to work alone. Collaboration also came in the form of appropriation, both from each other and from popular culture. Finally, we learned that kids benefited from coaching and help, although they sometimes needed to be approached in order to realize this.
We incorporated these lessons into our design ideas in order to introduce an INITIAL SET OF GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNING AN ONLINE, COLLABORATIVE STORYTELLING SYSTEM. These include:
1. Design for an open, flexible story construction process. The blurring of the boundaries between exploration, inspiration, production, and presentation was evident throughout the session.
2. Provide ways for kids to contribute their own media or media that they may appropriate (such as media from the Web). In turn, provide mechanisms for identifying media source and attribution of original content creators in order to address concern of credit and recognitions.
3. Allow kids to customize their environment to best facilitate gaining inspiration from others in a non-public manner. We believe that the contrast between the participants’ attitudes towards working each other versus the social behavior in the design sessions suggests that the pre-existing social dynamics, the playing out of gender roles, and the physical co-presence of each other had some negative impacts on collaboration and story production. The virtual environment would allow participants to “lurk” without being noticed.
4. Provide a way for kids to seek help from others, but also to receive help when they may not know they need it. In turn, provide kids a way to become helpers and offer assistance to each other.
5. Provide ways for kids to formally collaborate, but without enforcing a particular model of collaboration. Let kids be the ones to decide at what point in their storytelling they wish to actively work with others and let them have a number of ways to work with others.
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
If we were to continue with the design process, our next steps would be to begin to prototype and design various aspects of the system that we began to envision towards the end of the process. However, we would want to make sure that we continue to have kids help design the system, perhaps even have more of a role in explicitly generating concrete feature ideas and how they should function in the interface. Methodologically speaking, however, we believe that it would be important to design more in the perceived context of use. A computer lab at school is one possible environment of use, but we would also want to design at the kids’ homes. Our interviews revealed that the kids have unique circumstances and degrees of access to computers and digital technologies at home. A successful, usable storytelling environment for these kids would have to take all of these into account.
Another aspect of the spatial and social context of the design process that we need to consider is the gender make up of the group of participants and also the their previous social dynamics. We found that we had very little sense of how they kids interacted with each other before and after they left our sessions. However, previous friendships and prior conflicts did have some felt impact on our ability to create a successful environment.
We observed that the research team was an integral part of what was going on in the classroom. We played a number of roles throughout the process, not only as “researchers” but also as teachers, coaches, and facilitators, and researchers. As it turns out, our diverse engagement with the participants in all of these roles led us to insights that have shaped our thinking. Future projects like these would do well to consider, perhaps systematically, how the roles of the research team (from the point of view of the researcher and the participant) influence and shape the research.
Overall, the interviews and session observations emphasized the necessity of more insight into the diverse experiences of the participants. However, how to gain more insight into their lives and media experience is still an important question for us. We feel that the interviews and observations raised as many questions than they answered. However, we also realize that after spending this much time with the kids in an experience that they have found meaningful and fun we may have a unique opportunity to gain greater access to these kids’ lives.
http://groups.sims.berkeley.edu/digitalyouth/1_projects/searching_for_count_whistleboy.html
(the age group in this article is a bit above our boys, but it was helpful and interesting nonetheless).
Searching for Count Whistleboy : Explorations into Collaborative Story Creation through Design Research with Kids
“Explorations into Collaborative Story Creation through Design Research with Kids”
Project staff: Dan Perkel, Sarita Yardi
Collaborators: Carrie Burgener, Nick Reid, Rachel Strickland
STORYTELLING
is a fundamental process through which children explore and make sense of the world. The act of creating and sharing a story is often social and collaborative. In this paper, we describe two months of research into the design of an online, collaborative story creation environment for kids. This work was inspired by a project called Backyard Transformations, conducted between 1988-1991 at Apple’s Vivarium Research Laboratory, which aimed to teach young children principles of narrative construction through evocative content, storytelling games, and digital storytelling tools. We conducted an after-school program with eight fifth graders to gain more insight into their media consumption and production in their everyday lives. We also conducted individual interviews to acquire more in-depth information about their personal media experiences.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Our main question throughout this project was: What were the primary requirements for an online, collaborative story creation system intended for kids aged 9-12 that would be used outside of the class room?
Over the course of the project, a number of other questions arose that we attempted to address including:
1. What relationship between play and storytelling could we capture in our system?
2. What are the various forms of collaboration that might occur during the storytelling process?
3. How important was it for the kids to be able to create their own media to be used in their stories? How would they react to using media provide for them by the system or by other kids?
METHODS
It was critical to our research that we took a stance that recognized that kids should be studied as active participants that have power and agency over their own lives. We borrowed and adapted methodology from the user-centered design process, specifically methods and approaches advocated by researchers and designers who had worked with kids. It was also important that we had a sense of what media and technology experiences the kids had in their daily lives so that we could make some sense of what we may find during the design process.
We set up an after-school program at a local elementary school and conducted eight weeks of “design sessions.” We met a group of eight fifth-grade kids, five boys and three girls, twice a week, for an hour and a half each session. At the halfway point, we began interviewing the kids outside of the program. We interviewed four of the kids on their own, and tried two paired interviews.
We spent the first third of the sessions evaluating ideas from Backyard Transformations using iMovie as our prototype. During the middle third, we opened up the design space somewhat by letting the kids bring in their own artifacts as media, such as physical objects, drawings, and their own photographs, but asking them to use them in very structured activities. Finally, during the last part of the class, the kids worked on final projects where they could use any kind of media that we could somehow digitize with a camera, and they could build the stories in any fashion they saw fit.
During the interviews, we asked the participants about what types of technologies they used at home, who they used them with, what they did with them, and so forth. We also asked them questions about storytelling and media production at home.
KEY FINDINGS & DESIGN IMPLICATIONS
With regard to the experiences that the kids brought to the design process, we found that it was not easy to think of some kids as more technologically proficient and others as less so. Some were savvier about how they used the software in the classroom, but we later learned did not know some computer basics that we would have assumed that they understood. Others had more experience participating in online communities such as role-playing games. Only a few had used email, but most were interested to some extent.
OUR RESULTS
have led us to consider a number of observations for the design of the system that we envision. First, while the Backyard Transformations content and activities did result in some creative characters and stories, it would not be sufficient as the foundation for a story creation environment for these kids. Second, the kids wanted agency with respect to their choice of media, control over that media, and the process of developing their stories. Third, collaboration in storytelling comes in many forms. Sometimes kids wanted to actively work with each other in the creation of stories, but other times they preferred to work alone. Collaboration also came in the form of appropriation, both from each other and from popular culture. Finally, we learned that kids benefited from coaching and help, although they sometimes needed to be approached in order to realize this.
We incorporated these lessons into our design ideas in order to introduce an INITIAL SET OF GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNING AN ONLINE, COLLABORATIVE STORYTELLING SYSTEM. These include:
1. Design for an open, flexible story construction process. The blurring of the boundaries between exploration, inspiration, production, and presentation was evident throughout the session.
2. Provide ways for kids to contribute their own media or media that they may appropriate (such as media from the Web). In turn, provide mechanisms for identifying media source and attribution of original content creators in order to address concern of credit and recognitions.
3. Allow kids to customize their environment to best facilitate gaining inspiration from others in a non-public manner. We believe that the contrast between the participants’ attitudes towards working each other versus the social behavior in the design sessions suggests that the pre-existing social dynamics, the playing out of gender roles, and the physical co-presence of each other had some negative impacts on collaboration and story production. The virtual environment would allow participants to “lurk” without being noticed.
4. Provide a way for kids to seek help from others, but also to receive help when they may not know they need it. In turn, provide kids a way to become helpers and offer assistance to each other.
5. Provide ways for kids to formally collaborate, but without enforcing a particular model of collaboration. Let kids be the ones to decide at what point in their storytelling they wish to actively work with others and let them have a number of ways to work with others.
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
If we were to continue with the design process, our next steps would be to begin to prototype and design various aspects of the system that we began to envision towards the end of the process. However, we would want to make sure that we continue to have kids help design the system, perhaps even have more of a role in explicitly generating concrete feature ideas and how they should function in the interface. Methodologically speaking, however, we believe that it would be important to design more in the perceived context of use. A computer lab at school is one possible environment of use, but we would also want to design at the kids’ homes. Our interviews revealed that the kids have unique circumstances and degrees of access to computers and digital technologies at home. A successful, usable storytelling environment for these kids would have to take all of these into account.
Another aspect of the spatial and social context of the design process that we need to consider is the gender make up of the group of participants and also the their previous social dynamics. We found that we had very little sense of how they kids interacted with each other before and after they left our sessions. However, previous friendships and prior conflicts did have some felt impact on our ability to create a successful environment.
We observed that the research team was an integral part of what was going on in the classroom. We played a number of roles throughout the process, not only as “researchers” but also as teachers, coaches, and facilitators, and researchers. As it turns out, our diverse engagement with the participants in all of these roles led us to insights that have shaped our thinking. Future projects like these would do well to consider, perhaps systematically, how the roles of the research team (from the point of view of the researcher and the participant) influence and shape the research.
Overall, the interviews and session observations emphasized the necessity of more insight into the diverse experiences of the participants. However, how to gain more insight into their lives and media experience is still an important question for us. We feel that the interviews and observations raised as many questions than they answered. However, we also realize that after spending this much time with the kids in an experience that they have found meaningful and fun we may have a unique opportunity to gain greater access to these kids’ lives.
http://groups.sims.berkeley.edu/digitalyouth/1_projects/searching_for_count_whistleboy.html
posted by Laura at 11:02 AM
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