Re: [kidsUI] Welcome to the Kids UI mailing list

[Sanjay Chandrasekharan <schandr2@chat.carleton.ca>]

Uh, oh. Trouble! :-(

I am not an expert on the issue of UI for kids! I sort of wandered into this
list, through a couple of postings I made in the Agents list a few months back.
I had suggested there that Agent Interfaces is the way to go, and I suggested
some possible Agent interfaces, and one of them was a kid UI browser. Annika
Waern followed up on those postings, and we had some discussion about a
possible Agent interface for Linux (mostly because other OS's are already
taken). She suggested that I join this list. I am completely in the dark about
the state of the art in kid UIs!

The only kid interface I know about is Surf Monkey.
(http://www.surfmonkey.com/), mostly because it has sort of an Agent interface.
I am interested in kid UIs because I think Agent interfaces are ideal for kids.
Or the other way around -- kids might find Agent Interfaces more interesting
than adults.

My arguments for Agent interfaces are kind of complicated. If it is okay with
you people, I can repost my posts to the Agent list here. Maybe that will
stimulate a bit of discussion.

Happy to be here!

Sanjay

Doug Loss wrote:

> 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

--


-------------------------------------
Sanjay Chandrasekharan,
Ph.D Student (Cognitive Science),
Carleton University,
Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada K1S 5B6
Phone: 520-2600 ext 1568

http://wabakimi.carleton.ca/~schandr2