[kidsUI] Welcome to the Kids UI mailing list

[Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

You have all shown an interest in discussing the design of user interfaces
for children, both for operating systems and application programs.  That's
why I've set up this mailing list and added you to it.

We've got representatives from various window managers and desktop
environments, end-user applications, and the HCI community on the list.  I
hope it will gradually grow as others with an interest in the topic are
added.  I see the discussion as working toward a set of guidelines that can
be used to create interesting, functional interfaces that are designed with
children's needs in mind.  When those guidelines are finished, this list
won't be needed any longer.

I'll mention a general idea that I have about UIs appropriate for children
as a starting discussion topic, and then ask Sanjay Chandrasekharan to
bring us up to date on the current thinking in the HCI community on
appropriate interfaces for children.

I think that rather than having completely separate interfaces and programs
for children it might be a good idea to have UIs that are configurable so
that they start very simple and easy to understand and use, and can then be
gradually enriched and complexified until the kids are using the same
things as their adult counterparts.  I'm thinking of something like a very
simple and constrained interface to a subset of the capabilities of the
GIMP as an alternative to a program like Kid Pix Studio.  As the kids
master what's available, the interface could be expanded to allow more of
the GIMP's functions, till the kids were using the full GIMP.  This isn't a
hard position, but a point to start debate.  What do you think, and does it
seem feasible and/or desirable to you?

Sanjay, could you give us an overview of the current thinking about kids
and computer use in the HCI community?

-- 
Doug Loss            There's no trick to being a humorist
dloss@suscom.net     when you have the whole government
(570) 326-3987       working for you.
                        Will Rogers