1. Human-Computer Interaction for Kids
By Fredric D. Mack
For Dr. Monica Trifas
CS530 Human-Computer Interaction
Jacksonville State University
Spring Semester
April 18, 2014

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Human Computer Interaction for Kids
As I sit and turn the plastic pages of our family photo album, I look back to an era of hard
copies and instant still-image Polaroid photos. Postal mail was still the most common way to
send letters, post cards and bills, while the average typewritten errors were corrected with white-
out or correction tape. I also take note as the telephone begin to ring, that I am no longer limited
to a designated room in order to answer it. Over the course of about 25 years, there is no doubt
how technology has stepped into high gear, changing the way our society operates and interacts
with each other and with devices, appliances, equipment and machinery.
Micro-processing offers unlimited advantages of computer integrated functions in every
aspect of human life. It is evident in cooking, cleaning, working, learning or everyday casual
activities. As these modern and ever-changing technologies swiftly progress, our dependence on
them becomes directly proportional to these advances. That is why the study of Human-
Computer Interaction becomes so important to research in Interaction Design. Rogers et al.,
(2011) reveals that the main objectives of interaction design are to reduce the frustrations and
negative associations with interactive products , while enhancing the positive aspects.
As interactive products and designs shape the lives of older generations that are affected
by the transformations, the younger generations are also affected by these changes.
Parents have also become part of a multi-million dollar market of interactive products for youth.
Kids watch from birth and pick-up on the relationship that their parents and others have with
interactive products. Many toddlers even begin developing skills to interact with these products
before they can speak or walk. That is why there are growing concerns for research teams to
explore innovative efforts in designing interactive products for children.

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This research will present findings regarding the future design for kids by revealing:
(1) how children are different (2) genres of technology for kids (3) designing for and with
children (4) children and the design process. As it is related to Human-Computer Interaction,
these points show the importance of developing interactive products that are functional,
enjoyable, effortless, and effective to use in all aspects of children’s lives.
How are children different?
In order to design for children, design teams of engineers, teachers, programmers,
psychologist, sociologist, and/or any professionals pertinent to the product must understand how
children are different from adult users. Notable differences teams must design around are:
physical development, cognitive development, social development, concentration and experience
(Idler, 2014).
Concerning physical development, ergonomics must be considered in the design process.
Products must comfortably fit all of the different physical sizes of body proportions associated
with each age. Where adults may be able to manipulate their own bodies to adjust to reasonable
to workstation heights and settings in which they interact with products, children do not have that
luxury. Development of strength and limited hand and eye coordination must also be taken into
consideration.
Young children cannot be expected to input on devices in the same manner as adults.
Therefore, alternate ways of input must be developed. For example, interaction with devices such
as I-pads or similar technology offer swipe methods that may be easier for children than pushing
relatively small buttons. Also, when considering the physical size of children’s hand or cognitive
development, buttons may be enlarged or exaggerated to accommodate smaller hands or limited
muscle strength (Idler, 2014).

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Cognitive development is another differentiating factor between children and adults.
Understanding and interpreting the output of information must be related and relayed in a way
that allows various ages are able to comprehend. One can expect adults to understand basic
concepts used or understand how returned information is relative to the activity performed.
Interactive products should be designed to accommodate these cognitive differences in a way
that is fitting to accommodate the appropriate age while promoting further cognitive
development through interaction.
Next, children must learn the social rules and values of communication and perception
before they are responding and interacting at the same levels as adults. Idler (2014) suggests that
kid’s relationships and perceptions change as they develop their own personalities with
individual traits and personal preferences, thus making social development a very important
factor when doing research for and with kids.
When it comes to concentration, it does not take long to see that the attention span of
young kids is extremely limited. Once adults perceive the time it takes to complete a certain task,
he or she can mentally prepare for the activity at hand. On the contrary, kids need some form of
extrinsic benefit to participate. Bold colors, animations and sounds are just a few ways to help
overcome the myriad of internal and external distractions children face (Idler, 2014).
Finally, adults have many experiences or foreknowledge about various instances in which
they may apply to various occasions. Even though they may have never specifically encountered
such instructions, expectations or functions, the cognitive development and learned skill help
most adults to apply the same level of knowledge from one area to another. With limited
experience, children must be trained by giving them relative and valuable experiences to bypass
the limitations of experience. This helps decrease uncertainty and discouragement until the child

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can gain sufficient experience to relate applied concepts (Idler, 2014). Developing innovative
products for the many different genres of kid’s technology can be more constructive and precise
when understanding just how much youth are different from adults.
Genres of technology for Kids
Although the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) insists “no screen time for children
under two years old, AAP expert Gwenn Schurgin O’keeffe M.D. suggests, “there’s really no
‘right’ age to allow our kids to dip a toe in the digital pond (Tahnk, 2014).” Screen time is
basically the allotted time children are exposed to digital screens, such as TV, cellphones, I-pads,
I-pods or computers of any kind. This certainly does not mean that children should not be
allowed to watch an episode of Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues or other
educational broadcast. But, screen times should be very limited for youth depending on their age.
Moreover, allowing children 12 months old or less to safely handle electronic toys to learn cause
and effect of pushing buttons is noted to be sufficient and age appropriate (Tahnk, 2014).
Some parents may not be overly concerned about letting their two-year old handle their I-
phone as a distraction. In fact, there are now cellphone apps that allow parents to interact with
their children in previously unimaginable ways. But, the I-phone was not initially made for a
two-year old. Exploring the different genres of technology for kids will allow more ambitious
future developments of age-appropriate interactive devices that go beyond typical video games,
books, cellphones, and other two-dimensional products commonly used today.
There are now common genres of technology for kids that mimic the functions of more
sophisticated products used by adults. For example, Tahnk (2014) reveals that Vtec InnoTab for
tots has touch screen, music video player, 64 MB of memory, and is equipped with eBook
reader, art studio and educational games. These are such things children 25 years ago could have

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never dreamed of interacting with and now five year olds are able to navigate the internet.
Moreover, it is pretty unbelievable how the infusions of technology have birthed such tech savvy
children. Tablet and swipe technology in the world or never-ending apps has created limitless
possibilities that would seemingly make sitting in front of a television pretty pre-historic.
However, that is not the case. This scarcely researched topic still shows that these technologies
have not replaced screen time; they have extended them.
This brings back the concerns regarding screen times. Although there are still no
conclusive reports that more screen-time, whether educational or not significantly enhances
academics in children, there is another concern. Young kids are still developing physically,
mentally and socially. Therefore, they must maintain sufficient levels of physical, mental and
social interactions with outside, multi-dimensional stimuli.
Studies suggest that most households have appropriate monitoring practices for
appropriate ages. However, in creating new computer interactions for children, more
developments can be made to encourage activities while away from the screen. Here is a general
example. Facebook offers a game called Farmville, where one objective of the game is to grow
digital plants and trees by having to water and tend the crop. The idea of the new interaction in
real-time would be a “game” that instructs with motivational gestures to grow real plants. This is
only a general idea of just how far out into the real world Human-computer interactions for kids
can be within various genres of technologies.
Designing for and with children
It should become clearer in designing interactive products for children that it is first
necessary to know who the consumers are. That is to say, how are they different? Also in order
to design for children, it is also necessary to understand the genres of technologies and what

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children want. What better way is there to find out what children want other than to ask and
design with children themselves? An anonymous artist, Thomas confirms that, “Making
technology for kids without working directly with them, is like making clothes for someone you
don’t know the size of (HCIL, 2006-2010).”
“The touchscreen generation”, as Leslie Hendry (2013) calls them, are raised with
technology at their fingertips. Now it is usually children that are teaching their parents how to
text, Skype, Instagram, Tweet and create a profile on some social media site. Well, maybe it is
the older big kids that are effortlessly handling such tasks, but those big kids were once the little
kids curiously swiping away at mom’s I-pad. It is also found through valuable research that
modern kids enjoy creating things at a whole new level.
When given the opportunities to create, kids are now extremely motivated and ambitious.
ReadWrite (2014) shared that when asked, kids wanted to do things like paint and draw right on
the computer screen, create their own video games, and learn about fashion and other arts from
computer games. Advances in external media and sensory kits can make many creative
innovations come to life with real world interactions like pencils, water, etc. Through working
directly with children, many suggestions and many solutions can be drawn to assist kids with
fulfilling their wildest digital imaginations.
Speaking of assistive technology, working directly with kids with learning and other
disabilities (LD) can help design some of the most innovative products for those with special
needs. Those ideas will not just benefit children with learning disabilities; they may assist
individuals with learning disabilities of all ages. This is an area that design teams would want to
research while considering how children are different. This is where designers actually get to
interact with these individuals that they can clearly see just how to incorporate the right assistive

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technology to meet various needs. As Raskind et al. (1998-2014) shares, “Assistive Technologies
do not cure or eliminate learning disabilities, but it can help your child reach the potential it
allows them to capitalize on the strengths and bypass areas of difficulty.”
While it is true, technology is not a cure for disabilities, there are more and more
combinations of practice-based apps, devices or methods that should be able to help work
through the difficulty instead of bypassing those areas altogether. Some tools currently available
online to assist kids with LD are: Abbreviation expanders, alternative keyboards, audio books
and publications, electronic math sheets, freeform database software, graphic organizers and
outlining, information/data managing, optical character recognition, personal FM listening
systems, portable word processors, proof reading programs, speech-recognition programs,
speech synthesizers/screen readers, talking calculators, talking spell checkers and electronic
dictionaries, variable speed tape recorders and word prediction programs (Raskind et al., 1998-
2014)
Children and the DesignProcess
Ultimately, the design process is also a very important part of the research for design. As
research and target consumers change, the design also changes. The design process is initiated by
choosing the approach to the interaction design, the field of design, prototyping and of course,
user involvement and evaluation.
Actions in the design process help predict the user experience by incorporating
characteristics necessary to meet the usability goals. Those would be the results most closely
associated with enjoyableness, functionality, and effectiveness. Rogers et al. (2011) details more
specifically that effectiveness, efficiency, safety, utility, learnability and memorability are factors
sought in the design. The specific levels of these goals of course are drafted from the research

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and interactions with teams that include children. Again, children can be extremely vocal in
delivering such knowledge as to how the prototype should be. Moreover, trade-offs also occur
when choosing the approaches to the interaction design.
User-centered design, activity-centered design, systems design and genius design are the
four approaches to interaction design (Rogers et al. 2011). The conflict in the design process
stems from the particular designs vs the approach. For example, the user-centered design will not
flow quite as well as the user intends if the designer is less than expert in the technical concepts
provided. Perhaps, if the resources are too padded to design for specified activity-centered
functions necessary to carry out the requirements of the user, then there is a disconnect between
approach and design. The project may extend to graphic, architectural, industrial and/or software
design. Therefore, one can expect some amount of trade-off when attempting to balance
requirements with the reality of technical experience, capabilities, user demand and correct
evaluation of alternate solutions (Rogers et al. 2011).
There are usually many experts and ideas going into process design, including the kids.
The brainstorming between such individuals can often revive difficult concepts with a
collaborative conglomerate of alternate solutions. The prototype can be first supported and
drafted by props and sketches before a commitment to build.
The evaluation of the prototype comes back full circle to the kids for which the human-
computer interaction was designed. Solicited feed-back through questionnaires usually relay
valuable concerns about functionality. Any reasonable problems that come up in user experience
can be reworked depending on the ability to correct. The goal for the finish product should be to
exceed expectations. In this way, glitches would be easier to identify and correct. The design
process with and for children can be a long and daunting project, sometimes taking years to

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complete. But, the much anticipated positive user experience of the finished product makes it all
worth it.
There are often times where companies miss the mark by releasing poorly designed
products that are not very user friendly or aesthetically pleasing. Nevertheless, tightly knitted
design teams grouped with expert ideas, resources, time and appropriate research study will
eventually get it right. For instance, car phones have evolved from the massive hand weights in a
carry bag to the modest sized mobile devices that can easily fit in any pocket. That is the very
technology that began the start of a fad seen at every movie theatre, grocery story, football game
and truly every place one can think of. Elementary school kids all over the nation now have the
world in the palm of their hands by way of touch screen phones, with limitless apps, data,
internet, games, camera, video recorder, and an Mp3 player. They also sport the most colorful
skins with leather and rhinestones while texting at the speed of light.
Human-computer interactions for kids are now equally available and many times just as
sophisticated as electronic devices for adults. Understanding how children are different help
determine the types of products to design, while helping design teams visualize the concept of
how that device will look, aesthetically and functionally. Screen times and how much technology
is too much too soon are concerns of the American Academic of Pediatrics. However, that is not
stopping the potential multi-billion dollar interactive technology market from developing more
screened devices. Next, exploring the genres of technology for kids help define what is currently
available. It is those things that provide the motivation with children to expand, extend and
create great innovations. Interactive products have become so embedded to the generation of
younger society that children must be involved in some way at every level of the design process.
Child Safety is one topic that was not thoroughly covered in this research. But, in designing for

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children and considering how children are different, this should also be major concern. Some
concerns are things like being cautious of toxic paints or detachable parts that can be easily
swallowed affects child safety. Moreover, proper monitoring for appropriate screen times and
searching content on the internet is worth reiterating. But, who would have ever thought that the
average, everyday five year old would be surfing the internet? If Human-Computer Interaction
has already come this far for children, what in this world can we expect for the future of the little
technology savvy geniuses?

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References
Druin, Allison Dr., Children as Design Partners: An Introduction. Human Computer Interaction
Lab (HCIL). Publishers, Inc. San Francisco, CA. 2006-2010.
Druin, Allison. The Design of Children’s Technology. Morgan Kaufman. (HCIL).
Publishers, Inc. San Francisco, CA. 2006-2010
Hendry, Leslie. The Touch-Screen Generation: Digital Natives, Your Kids!
The HuffingtonPost.com. 2014
Idler, Sabrina. 5 Key Differences Between kids and Adults. 2014. retrieved from
www.uxkids.com April 19, 2014.
Raskind, Marshall PHD., Stanberry, Kristin., Assistive Technology for Kids with
LD. Great Schools, Inc. Oakland, CA. 1998-2014. Retrieved from www.greatschools.org
April 19, 2019
ReadWrite. Creation & Design: What Kids Want from Tech. Say Media, Inc. 2014
Rogers, Yvonne; Sharp, Helen; Preece, Jenny. Interaction Design: Beyond Human
Computer Interaction. 3rd edition. John Wiley & Sons. United Kingdom.
2011.
Shields, Margie K., Behrman, Richard E., Children and Computer Technology:
Analysis and Recommendations. The Future of Children. Princeston
University. 2014 www.princeton.edu/future of children/
State of Wales. DOE and Communities. Technology Process. Creating a Common
Language in Technology Learning K-12. 1999-2011.
Tahnk, Jeana. The Right Technology for Kids at Every Age. Meredith Corporation.
2014. retrieved from www.parenting.com/article/tehnology-for-kids April 19, 2014