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Digital play has gradually become popular in young children's families, and electronic toys have become an important type of toy for young children. This study concerns preservice early-childhood teachers' preferences about play and how their experiences with electronic toys in childhood influence their preferences about play. A total of 108 preservice early-childhood teachers participated in this study, and data were collected through questionnaires with them. The results revealed that these preservice teachers rated different play activities as follows: constructive play, expressive play, pretend play, digital play, and gameplay. In addition, preservice teachers who favored traditional toys in childhood preferred constructive play more than those who favored electronic toys. The results of the study provide useful suggestions for the design of electronic toys and preparation programs offered for preservice early-childhood teachers in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital play has gradually become popular in young children’s families, and electronic toys have become an important type of toy for young children. This study concerns preservice early-childhood teachers’ preferences about play and how their experiences with electronic toys in childhood influence their preferences about play. A total of 108 preservice early-childhood teachers participated in this study, and data were collected through questionnaires with them. The results revealed that these preservice teachers rated different play activities as follows: constructive play, expressive play, pretend play, digital play, and gameplay. In addition, preservice teachers who favored traditional toys in childhood preferred constructive play more than those who favored electronic toys. The results of the study provide useful suggestions for the design of electronic toys and preparation programs offered for preservice early-childhood teachers in the future.

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Since digital media such as smartphones, tablets or laptops are available in almost every household in industrialised countries, parents are challenged to integrate them into their everyday family life. To gain more information on parents' mediation of digital media, the relationships between their educational intentions, objectives and their children's use of digital media were investigated in consideration of the children's age. Overall, 150 Austrian parents with children aged one year and a half to six years participated in the study (two groups were formed based on the age of the children: toddlers and preschool children). They filled in a questionnaire on their intentions and rules for their children's use of media. Moreover, the parents provided information concerning their objectives for digital media use and the kind of activities for which their children use interactive digital toys or passive digital media. Results show that parents' intentions of their children's media use is mainly to gain time for household chores or work. Whereas the age of the children does not seem to be of great importance to parents concerning the media regulation, the results for the objectives and activities parents want their children to do with digital media do indeed differ between the two age‐groups. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicAverage households in industrialised countries are well equipped with digital media technologies.Digital media increasingly become a part of young children's living environment.Parents find it necessary to prevent their children from potential negative effects of digital media use and try to implement rules eg, concerning the time spent with media or content restrictions.What this paper addsParents' intentions for their children's digital media use as well as the rules they apply for the use of digital media do not differ between toddlers and preschool children.Parents' objectives for their children's use of digital media as well as why and for which purpose their children should use interactive digital toys and passive digital media differs between toddlers and preschool children.Implications for practice and/or policySupport is needed for parents on digital media use with toddlers together.Awareness for digital media use in connection to the rules and objectives needs to be created. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether the Internet of Toys (IoToys) (de)limits children's make‐believe play and whether the functionality and manipulatives offered by the IoToys serve as motivational pleasure (tactile, virtual and visual) for children to engage in make‐believe play. Combining Piagetian and Vygotskian ideas of play as a unity of cognition and social context, we consider IoToys as a motivational conduit for children's symbolic actions that leads to make‐believe play. Qualitative methodology was employed using observations of young children at home when interacting with IoToys (total n = 10 families) from England (n = 5 families) and Australia (n = 5 families). Data showed that children's interaction does not limit the development of their make‐believe play as they engage in imitation schemata and create imaginative situations within and beyond the intended pre‐programmed functions of the IoToy. To conclude, it is argued that instead of differentiating virtual and physical play, we should (re)think play with multimodal playscape lenses. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Children from a very young age engage with mainly touch screen technology and this engagement has led to the discourse of digital play inquiries.When children use technology, they create imaginary situations that leads to make‐believe play.What this paper adds Research on the haptic technologies is still in an embryonic stage. Thus, this paper aims to examine how children engage with this new developing technology in home‐based settings.The findings of our research suggest that when haptic technological tools are used by children, this leads to make‐believe play using physical and virtual spaces as a continuum of child's learning and development.Implications for practice and/or policy As children's interactions with haptic technologies showed that they exhibit motivated actions and psychologically triggered interactions, this calls for parent‐educator partnerships to foster a pedagogy that embeds a poly‐pronged approach (digital, virtual, visual, physical) which enhances children's multimodal playscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on TOMMI, German Children's Software Award 2020, and children's jury is allowed in around 20 public libraries across Germany, the game apps, computer and extensively test console games and electronic toys.

Recently, toys have become more interactive than ever before. The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) makes toys smarter and more communicative: they can now interact with children by "listening" to them and responding accordingly. While there is little doubt that these toys can be highly entertaining for children and even possess social and educational benefits, the Internet of Toys (IoToys) raises many concerns. Beyond the fact that IoToys devices might be hacked or simply misused by unauthorized parties, datafication of children by toy conglomerates, various interested parties, and perhaps even their parents could be highly troubling. It could profoundly threaten children's right to privacy by subjecting and normalizing them to ubiquitous surveillance and datafication of their personal information, requests, and any other information they divulge. While American policymakers acknowledged the importance of protecting children's privacy online back in 1998 when crafting Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), this regulatory framework might become obsolete in the face of the new privacy risks that arise from IoToys. Do fundamental differences between websites and IoToys necessitate a different legal framework to protect children's privacy? Should policymakers recalibrate the current legal framework to adequately protect the privacy of children who have IoToys devices? Finally, what are the consequences for children's privacy of ubiquitous parental surveillance through IoToys--allegedly granted to safeguard children from online risks? And how might children's privacy be better framed and protected in this context?. This Article focuses on the privacy concerns that loToys raises. Part II briefly outlines the evolution of IoToys while examining its devices' capacity to collect and retain data. Then, in reference to the legal framework chosen to protect children from online datafication twenty years ago, Part III discusses the American perception of children's privacy, focusing on COP PA. Through this analysis, this Part will show how key market players currently comply with COP PA regulation, and it will evaluate whether such compliance is relevant to IoToys's dangers and challenges. Part IV revisits COPPA, challenges it, and in calling for its recalibration, offers some practical solutions to IoToys's privacy threats. Thereafter, Part V normatively evaluates children's conception of privacy, argues that IoToys's monitoring practices could jeopardize the parent-child relationship, and calls for recalibrating children's privacy in the digital era. The final part summarizes the discussion and concludes that children's privacy matters today perhaps more than ever before and that the potential movement toward a ubiquitous surveillance era should not lead to its demise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ralph Baer (1922–2014) and his family fled Nazi Germany in 1938 and immigrated to New York. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and became an expert in foreign small arms. After his discharge from the military, Baer trained for an engineering career in electronics, radio, and television. Fascinated by television, he came to think of it as an underused technology. He believed that television owners should be able to do more than change channels and turn the set on or off—he wanted people to interact with their sets, playing games like ping pong, tennis, and checkers. In 1966, he began experimenting with ways to realize his vision. The video game industry for the home market launched in 1972 when Magnavox debuted the Odyssey game console, based on Baer's inventions. In the course of his long career, Baer invented myriad electronic toys and games, illustrating a commitment to interactivity that continues in video games today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that TOMMI 2020 is taking place and growing for Apps, personal computer (PC) and console games or electronic toys for children wanted and games on learning and educational topics are awarded.

This paper introduces a smart toy (SmartAnimals) which provides a mixed reality environment for children with intellectual disabilities. SmartAnimals includes a virtual space including computer based animations, sounds and characters, and a real space including plastic toys, and a receiver panel. SmartAnimals with a flexible context leads children to learn daily life concepts easily. To test usability of SmartAnimals, an empirical study was carried out with 6 children having intellectual disability (ID) and four special education teachers. The findings indicated that smart toys could be beneficial for children with ID especially who have limited concentration. It enables children with easy and fast learning. Smart toys also affect children's performance in a positive way while learning cognitive concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart toy is a specific IoT (Internet of Things) device, and its market demand is growing dramatically. Combined with edge computing technology, smart toy can generate valuable data. Smart toy data exchange is a new powerful area. However, there is no efficient, secure and reliable data exchange mechanism among isolated smart toy data platforms and other IoT systems. In this paper, we propose a smart-toy-edge-computing-oriented data exchange prototype using Hyperledger Fabric v1.0. We target to solve the issue of automatically maintaining a tamper-resistant, reliable and distributed ledger by writing smart contract in the environment where the participants are distrustful of each other. This prototype can simplify the process, save resources and ensure a fair solution of dispute. This method also facilitates the implementation of P2P data exchange among the isolated smart toy and other IoT systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Media use is increasingly becoming common in preschoolers and starting before the age of three years. While several studies have documented the effects of screen time on sleep duration in this age group, investigations including sleep quality are scarce and mainly cross-sectional. Moreover, they are limited by investigating sleep across broader age ranges or in older preschoolers, which may blur early effects and the ideal time for intervention.Methods: The current study analyzed data from the Ulm SPATZ Health Study, a birth cohort study in which 1006 live newborns were recruited from the general population shortly after delivery at the University Medical Center Ulm, Southern Germany, from April 2012 to May 2013. Longitudinal data on child sleep were parent reported on the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) at ages two and three years. Child media consumption was assessed at three years of age with different questions on electronic media and books. Statistical analyses included Kruskal-Wallis tests and multivariable linear and logistic regression models.Results: Electronic media consumption had a moderate prevalence and dose, and prevalence of never using books appeared to be high (39%). The preliminary results indicated strong statistically significant inverse cross-sectional associations between electronic media consumption and overall sleep quality and, using longitudinal data, with worsening indicators of bedtime resistance, sleep anxiety, and daytime sleepiness.Conclusions: This was the first larger-scale study to comprehensively investigate the effects of electronic media consumption and book reading on all CSHQ items in three-year-olds. Considering the risk of chronification, preventive efforts (eg, by effective sleep-oriented training programs) already seem necessary in early life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jon-Paul C. Dyson is vice president for exhibits and director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) at The Strong. Trained as a cultural and intellectual historian, he joined The Strong in 1998 and has worked on and supervised the development of dozens of exhibits on play and video games. He initiated the museum's efforts to collect, preserve, and interpret video games in 2006, and today The Strong's collections are the most comprehensive in the world. He writes frequently on video games and play for both scholarly and general audiences. This interview explores how The Strong has developed its video game collections, what some of the pressing issues are in preserving those materials, and some possible directions that video game scholarship will take in the coming years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding non-functional software requirements and developing realizable operationalizations of them are critical to the success of any information system. Non-functional requirements dealing with accessibility and usability are especially important considerations when developing information systems for visually impaired stakeholders; however, this is not, yet, an area well understood in information systems development. This work aims to better understand the non-functional software requirements and realizable operationalizations needed to address the accessibility and usability challenges in computer gaming for the visually impaired. Building on previous work, this paper provides the analysis, results, and recommendations stemming from a systematic qualitative analysis of elicited qualitative text using adaptations of the grounded theory method. To do so, the authors developed a PC version of a 1980's, 2D, Arcade style video game incorporating joystick controls and sound effects and gathered user experience data from six visually impaired users through a closed, pre-game and post-game interviews. The contribution of this work is part of a larger effort to develop systematic requirements engineering approaches, utilizing qualitative methods, to elicit, analyze, and operationalize non-functional software requirements within the information systems development process, to provide equal access to information systems for visually impaired users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restless with my artistic output of participatory gallery-based installations that engaged audiences about broader issues around energy and resources in crisis, I've recently shifted my practice toward working directly with communities in addressing their local environmental problems. Appropriating the popularity of citizen science and do-it-yourself making as tactics for engagement, this new work builds upon an important history of engineered artworks and activist strategies to make environmental sensing devices with community participants. Airtracs is a two-year community-based project that uses electronic toys as a starting point for dialogue and hands-on learning about the cradle-to-grave life cycle of electronics. The project then progresses to air quality monitoring, augmenting remote control toy trucks (rovers) equipped with cellular networking and inexpensive sensors to push data to a server. The rovers are created by youth participants living in an environmental justice community with a long-time struggle with the City of Albany and the State of New York to reduce the air pollution in their neighbourhood. Building upon a history of similar art and activist initiatives, this paper demonstrates how these community-based projects challenge regulatory standards in air quality assessment, confronting the controversies and critical issues revolving around calibration and data quality of low-cost sensing devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that exposure to violent media increases aggression. However, the neural underpinnings of violent-media-related aggression are poorly understood. Additionally, few experiments have tested hypotheses concerning how to reduce violent-media-related aggression. In this experiment, we focused on a brain area involved in the regulation of aggressive impulses-the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC). We tested the hypothesis that brain polarization through anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over rVLPFC reduces aggression related to violent video games. Participants ( N = 79) were randomly assigned to play a violent or a nonviolent video game while receiving anodal or sham stimulation. Afterward, participants aggressed against an ostensible partner using the Taylor aggression paradigm (Taylor Journal of Personality, 35, 297-310, 1967), which measures both unprovoked and provoked aggression. Among those who received sham stimulation, unprovoked aggression was significantly higher for violent-game players than for nonviolent-game players. Among those who received anodal stimulation, unprovoked aggression did not differ for violent- and nonviolent-game players. Thus, anodal stimulation reduced unprovoked aggression in violent-game players. No significant effects were found for provoked aggression, suggesting tit-for-tat responding. This experiment sheds light on one possible neural underpinning of violent-media-related aggression-the rVLPFC, a brain area involved in regulating negative feelings and aggressive impulses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video games have traditionally held a dubious reputation in the media and have been linked to many antisocial behaviors. A large amount of research has borne out some of these concerns, linking video games with addiction and particularly aggression. However, recent work in this area has begun to examine the positive aspects of video gaming. In this work, we examine how playing casual, low-involvement video games with an outgroup member may reduceprejudice. In Study 1, participants played cooperatively or competitively with a (trivial) outgroup member or alone. In Studies 2 and 3, a meaningful social identity was used: students’ university affiliation. Participants played either cooperatively with a rival university student against the computer, or alone. Analyses of all three studies showed that attitudes toward the outgroup were more positive after playing with an outgroup member compared with control conditions. How these findings may be applied to real world groups and extensions for future research are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The evolution of cooperation in group-structured populations has received much attention, but little is known about the effects of different modes of migration of individuals between groups. Here, we have incorporated four different modes of migration that differ in the degree of coordination among the individuals. For each mode of migration, we identify the set of multiplayer games in which the cooperative strategy has higher fixation probability than defection. The comparison shows that the set of games under which cooperation may evolve generally expands depending upon the degree of coordination among the migrating individuals. Weak altruism can evolve under all modes of individual migration, provided that the benefit to cost ratio is high enough. Strong altruism, however, evolves only if the mode of migration involves coordination of individual actions. Depending upon the migration frequency and degree of coordination among individuals, conditions that allow selection to work at the level of groups can be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT As the traditional toys of the past are quickly being replaced with electronically 'enhanced' toys, it is important to understand how these changes impact parent-child interactions, especially in light of the evidence that the richness and variety of these interactions have long-term effects on diverse areas of cognition (Hart & Risley, 1995). Here, we compared the quantity and quality of the language children hear during play with either a traditional (nonelectronic) or an electronic shape sorter designed to teach children about geometric shapes. Spatial toys and spatial language, in particular, were explored since recent work has established that parents' use of spatial language links to children's short- and long-term performance on spatial tasks (Pruden, Levine, & Huttenlocher, 2011), and that spatial skills are relevant to success in learning mathematics and science (Newcombe, 2010). Traditional toys prompted more parental spatial language and more varied overall language than did electronic toys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video games are pervasive in today's culture, and the time kids spend playing them may seem, from a teacher's perspective, as time that is lost to education. Sometimes, sadly, this is true. But many good video games, although not explicitly educational in focus, provide powerful experiences that are rich fodder for subsequent instruction. Looking at game play this way—as a source of rich prior experiences that can be brought to bear to illuminate curricular concepts—frees teachers to explore the potential benefits of having a classroom full of gamers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes adaptive schemes to cope with time-related changes in muscle activities during playing video game. A myoelectric control with the core of support vector machine is applied to manipulate a car in a computer-based video game. The proposed adaptive schemes model fatigue-based changes in myoelectric signals and modify the classification criteria to keep stable performance in long-term operations. Both unsupervised and supervised methods were applied to detect time-related steady state deviations in myoelectric signal patterns. Both methods improve the performance of myoelectric control and keep it stable in long-term applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has long been a shared history of visual influence and narrative crossover between comics and videogames. Taking this history into account, this article provides a critical examination of the newly emergent medium of game comics. A game comic can be defined as a game that takes the underlying structure and language of comics as the basis for its gameplay. The article presents a case study on two prototype game comics that were created as a practice-lead enquiry into the potential of the form. The study draws ideas from comics, games and new media theory. It uses these ideas to examine changes in the aesthetic experience of the comic form that have resulted from digital remediation. In this manner the article provides a critically grounded exploration and analysis of how the medium of comics can be adapted via hybridisation with the ludic qualities of the videogame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a project focused on obtaining the current consumption and disposal habits of electrical and electronic toys from a survey aimed at parents of children of nine pre- and primary schools. In addition, it is also focused on identifying the most effective way of transmitting environmental information to parents and children to promote the collection of electrical and electronic toys at their end-of-life. The study was implemented in a Spanish municipality. With regard to the consumption habits, aspects related to the amount of toys that children receive annually and percentage of those which are electrical and electronic toys have been obtained and classified according to the family size. Results from Chi-squared analysis and Ordinal Logistic Regression show that there is a statistically significance relationship among these variables. Regarding disposal habits, aspects related to the reasons and way for discarding electrical and electronic toys, time that toys are kept at home or the willingness to rent or buy second hand e-toys have been obtained. What really attracts attention is that, apart from consumers who donate the toy to family or social associations, 67.1% of consumers discard them along with other waste fractions in domestic bins, whereas only 32.9% do so at recycling points, as Directive 2012/19/EU requires. To increase this percentage, three environmental education actions (distinguishing from each other by the way used to transmit the environmental information: paper, audiovisual or personal communication) have been designed, applied and evaluated their efficiency according to the amount of waste toys collected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]