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BackgroundAntimicrobial surveillance and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) are essential pillars in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), but practical guidance on how surveillance data should be linked to AMS activities is lacking. This issue is particularly complex in the hospital setting due to structural heterogeneity of hospital facilities and services. The JPIAMR ARCH and COMBACTE-MAGNET EPI-Net networks have joined efforts to formulate a set of target actions for linking surveillance data with AMS activities.MethodsA scoping review of the literature was carried out addressing research questions on three areas: (i) AMS leadership and accountability; (ii) antimicrobial usage and AMS; (iii) AMR and AMS. Consensus on the target actions was reached through a RAND-modified Delphi process involving over 40 experts in different fields from 18 countries.ResultsEvidence was retrieved from 51 documents. Initially 38 targets were proposed, differentiated as essential or desirable according to clinical relevance, feasibility and applicability to settings and resources. In the first consultation round, preliminary agreement was reached for 32 targets. Following a second consultation, 27 targets were approved, 11 were deleted and 4 were suggested for rephrasing, leading to a final approved list of 34 target actions in the form of a practical checklist.ConclusionsThis White Paper provides a pragmatic and flexible tool to guide the development of calibrated hospital-surveillance-based AMS interventions. The strength of this tool is that it is a comprehensive perspective that takes into account the hospital patient case-mix and the related epidemiology, which ultimately drives antimicrobial usage, and the feasibility in low-resource settings.

We present Paper Ladder, a low-cost, light-weight, and paper-based variant of the Sticky Ladder rating scale to collect children's product preferences in user studies. This paper version revamps the original, effective but arguably impractical evaluation method by making it more accessible to researchers. In this paper, we show its potential with preliminary results from a pilot study, where 45 grade-2 children used a Paper Ladder to rate their preference for different types of correctness feedback in a math app. Results suggest that Paper Ladder could be an effective and valuable instrument for conducting user studies with young children.

We present Paper Pocket Pets, an approach to create personal interactive toys that children can carry along with them. Creating Paper Pocket Pets involves four activities that combine traditional crafts with digital fabrication: paper folding to create a pet; fabrication of the pet's shelter (a platform where the pet lives on); fabrication of the pet's electric components; and programming the pet's behavior. We invite the FabLearn audience to create their own pets and explore these activities during the demo at the conference.

Background Approximately 5%-10% of elementary school children show delayed development of fine motor skills. To address these problems, detection is required. Current assessment tools are time-consuming, require a trained supervisor, and are not motivating for children. Sensor-augmented toys and machine learning have been presented as possible solutions to address this problem. Objective This study examines whether sensor-augmented toys can be used to assess children’s fine motor skills. The objectives were to (1) predict the outcome of the fine motor skill part of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children Second Edition (fine MABC-2) and (2) study the influence of the classification model, game, type of data, and level of difficulty of the game on the prediction. Methods Children in elementary school (n=95, age 7.8 [SD 0.7] years) performed the fine MABC-2 and played 2 games with a sensor-augmented toy called “Futuro Cube.” The game “roadrunner” focused on speed while the game “maze” focused on precision. Each game had several levels of difficulty. While playing, both sensor and game data were collected. Four supervised machine learning classifiers were trained with these data to predict the fine MABC-2 outcome: k-nearest neighbor (KNN), logistic regression (LR), decision tree (DT), and support vector machine (SVM). First, we compared the performances of the games and classifiers. Subsequently, we compared the levels of difficulty and types of data for the classifier and game that performed best on accuracy and F1 score. For all statistical tests, we used α=.05. Results The highest achieved mean accuracy (0.76) was achieved with the DT classifier that was trained on both sensor and game data obtained from playing the easiest and the hardest level of the roadrunner game. Significant differences in performance were found in the accuracy scores between data obtained from the roadrunner and maze games (DT, P=.03; KNN, P=.01; LR, P=.02; SVM, P=.04). No significant differences in performance were found in the accuracy scores between the best performing classifier and the other 3 classifiers for both the roadrunner game (DT vs KNN, P=.42; DT vs LR, P=.35; DT vs SVM, P=.08) and the maze game (DT vs KNN, P=.15; DT vs LR, P=.62; DT vs SVM, P=.26). The accuracy of only the best performing level of difficulty (combination of the easiest and hardest level) achieved with the DT classifier trained with sensor and game data obtained from the roadrunner game was significantly better than the combination of the easiest and middle level (P=.046). Conclusions The results of our study show that sensor-augmented toys can efficiently predict the fine MABC-2 scores for children in elementary school. Selecting the game type (focusing on speed or precision) and data type (sensor or game data) is more important for determining the performance than selecting the machine learning classifier or level of difficulty.

Background Cerebral palsy (CP) is a physical disability that affects movement and posture. Approximately 17 million people worldwide and 34,000 people in Australia are living with CP. In clinical and kinematic research, goniometers and inclinometers are the most commonly used clinical tools to measure joint angles and positions in children with CP. Objective This paper presents collaborative research between the School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences at Curtin University and a team of clinicians in a multicenter randomized controlled trial involving children with CP. This study aims to develop a digital solution for mass data collection using inertial measurement units (IMUs) and the application of machine learning (ML) to classify the movement features associated with CP to determine the effectiveness of therapy. The results were calculated without the need to measure Euler, quaternion, and joint measurement calculation, reducing the time required to classify the data. Methods Custom IMUs were developed to record the usual wrist movements of participants in 2 age groups. The first age group consisted of participants approaching 3 years of age, and the second age group consisted of participants approaching 15 years of age. Both groups consisted of participants with and without CP. The IMU data were used to calculate the joint angle of the wrist movement and determine the range of motion. A total of 9 different ML algorithms were used to classify the movement features associated with CP. This classification can also confirm if the current treatment (in this case, the use of wrist extension) is effective. Results Upon completion of the project, the wrist joint angle was successfully calculated and validated against Vicon motion capture. In addition, the CP movement was classified as a feature using ML on raw IMU data. The Random Forrest algorithm achieved the highest accuracy of 87.75% for the age range approaching 15 years, and C4.5 decision tree achieved the highest accuracy of 89.39% for the age range approaching 3 years. Conclusions Anecdotal feedback from Minimising Impairment Trial researchers was positive about the potential for IMUs to contribute accurate data about active range of motion, especially in children, for whom goniometric methods are challenging. There may also be potential to use IMUs for continued monitoring of hand movements throughout the day. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) ACTRN12614001276640, https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=367398; ANZCTR ACTRN12614001275651, https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=367422

Background Indoor air pollution is a well-known risk factor that triggers and exacerbates asthma, the most common pediatric chronic disease. Using a mobile app to monitor indoor air quality could be promising in engaging children in keeping their indoor air quality clean and healthy as secondary environmental prevention for asthma management. However, no app is available to allow children to monitor, assess, and improve their indoor air quality. Objective This study aims to design a mobile app that encourages children to monitor indoor air quality and track their asthma conditions through a user-centered, iterative design approach. Methods We reviewed existing apps for indoor air quality monitoring or asthma management for children and conducted two sets of semistructured interviews with 12 children with asthma. We then iteratively created prototypes and evaluated and revised them. Results Participants raised a series of outstanding questions on the prototype features and content that described their needs and perspectives, which informed the final designs. Following the identified requirements and recommendations, we developed two versions of the app: AirBuddy for presenting concrete information for indoor air quality and AirPet for gamifying the practice of monitoring indoor air quality. Conclusions By following an iterative, user-centered design process, we developed two versions of an app to encourage children with asthma to monitor indoor air quality and track their asthma condition. The user-centered design approach revealed two crucial aspects that require deeper consideration when creating a child-friendly app, including balancing brevity and expressivity and considering the longitudinal effects of gamification. As a next step, we plan to conduct a longitudinal deployment study to evaluate the real-world effects of our apps.

Background The knowledge of cancer burden in the population, its time trends, and the possibility of international comparison is an important starting point for cancer programs. A reliable interactive tool describing cancer epidemiology in children and adolescents has been nonexistent in the Czech Republic until recently. Objective The goal of this study is to develop a new web portal entitled the Czech Childhood Cancer Information System (CCCIS), which would provide information on childhood cancer epidemiology in the Czech Republic. Methods Data on childhood cancers have been obtained from the Czech National Cancer Registry. These data were validated using the clinical database of childhood cancer patients and subsequently combined with data from the National Register of Hospitalised Patients and with data from death certificates. These validated data were then used to determine the incidence and survival rates of childhood cancer patients aged 0 to 19 years who were diagnosed in the period 1994 to 2016 (N=9435). Data from death certificates were used to monitor long-term mortality trends. The technical solution is based on the robust PHP development Symfony framework, with the PostgreSQL system used to accommodate the data basis. Results The web portal has been available for anyone since November 2019, providing basic information for experts (ie, analyses and publications) on individual diagnostic groups of childhood cancers. It involves an interactive tool for analytical reporting, which provides information on the following basic topics in the form of graphs or tables: incidence, mortality, and overall survival. Feedback was obtained and the accuracy of outputs published on the CCCIS portal was verified using the following methods: the validation of the theoretical background and the user testing. Conclusions We developed software capable of processing data from multiple sources, which is freely available to all users and makes it possible to carry out automated analyses even for users without mathematical background; a simple selection of a topic to be analyzed is required from the user.

Background: Few studies have analyzed gains in using computers in speech and language therapy interventions for children with speech and/or language disorders when compared to a control group, but virtual tutors and computer-based visual feedback have been gaining interest in the literature. Previous systematic reviews mainly focused on development technological details of computer-based speech training systems or the potential of integrating mobile technology into education and rehabilitation, but recent systematic reviews have also evaluated the efficacy of computer-based speech and language therapy for children and how digital technology can support different activities, at school or elsewhere. Objective: This study aimed to analyze a continuous communication and joint team approach to develop solutions focused on the real needs of end users, which digitally emulate reliable and validated physical intervention materials for children with speech sound disorders (SSD). Methods: The Table to Tablet (T2T) software was developed using a design-based research methodology, which included four phases: activities development; ethnographic pretesting with a sample from the target population; software development; and beta-testing. The technology used to develop the software, the method used to ensure satisfaction and replay ability of the intervention materials, and results from the ethnographic and beta-testing phases are presented. Results: Nineteen activities were developed during the first phase, which were then tested, with 7 service users, using a physical prototype. The beta-test approach included extensive testing and reformulation, supported by direct, nonparticipant observation and data collection using a questionnaire designed for children. Feedback was used to improve the software and interaction with users. Conclusions: The use of T2T-based intervention programmes by speech and language therapists (SLTs) will allow these professionals to make a better and more effective communication intervention, based on proven methodologies, that coexists in a structured physical and a digital version. These versions provide a full, 6-week intervention program, with minimal effort in preparing the session by the SLTs while delivering a very consistent intervention, with high replay value. A continuous communication and joint team approach was beneficial to the project and to the development of a solution focused on the real needs of SLTs and children with SSD. All problems were approached as a team with different skills and expertise, which minimized errors (eg, the developer making choices that would save him from spending time doing something that would not be used) and time spent. To add to this, the importance of integrating the end users as testers and collecting their opinions and actions per session allowed the production of better-targeted activities. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02490826; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02490826

Background: Children affected with cystic fibrosis do respiratory exercises to release the mucus stuck in their lungs. Objective: The objective of our study was to develop prototypes of digital games that use breath pressure to make this daily physiotherapy more fun. Methods: We used a participatory design approach and organized short events to invite contributors from different disciplines to develop game prototypes. From the 6 prototypes, 3 were tested by 10 children during a prestudy. The source code of the games, of which 2 continue to be developed, has been released on the internet under fair use licenses. Results: We discuss 7 themes of importance in designing games for health, combining our experience with a review a posteriori of literature. Conclusions: This study provides examples of games and their pitfalls as well as recommendations to create games for health in a participatory approach that enables everyone to improve and adapt the work done.

We present the design of the first prototype of TOK - a tangible interface for children to create their own stories. Based on data collected with two groups of five years old preschoolers we present our findings regarding the interaction design of the system. The picture cards have shown to generate ideas, acting as input for the creation of stories, promoting creativity while proposing a framework that supports and guides the construction of logical structures. This is a first step in an effort to build a toolkit of tangible interfaces allowing children and teachers to build their own digital enhanced learning activities., FCT-QREN-COMPETE-UE

Design of new technology with children has been widely investigated, and lately several workshops have been organised with children for designing novel IoT or smart objects, e.g., for smart cities or parks. Gradually, the research focus has shifted, from an analysis of the technology itself, which children help create, towards an analysis of children’s possible gains in design workshops. However, in spite of several recent efforts, it is still unclear what happens when children participate in diverse parts of a design process, ranging from ideation to prototyping. This paper investigates it, focussing on children’s gains in relation to their knowledge of design. A structured design workshop can help obtain such gains and analyse their achievements. Therefore this paper presents a structured design workshop with 27 children, aged from 11 to 14 years old, ideating, programming and prototyping smart objects for their town park. The workshops was structured and centred around a board-game with cards, so as to playfully make children reflect about design, and promote their awareness of what they were doing. Data were gathered in relation to children’s reflections from different perspectives, during the workshop, and in relation to their awareness of design, after the workshop. The analysis of the gathered data suggests that the workshop positively affected children’s reflections on design and awareness of design, giving indications for future work concerning critical design with children.

Memory is defined as the capability of encoding, storing, and retrieving information and is a pillar of our cognitive functions. Memory is one the most investigated processes in people with Intellectual Disability (ID), and studies have documented severe deficits in its functioning. While there are several attempts to exploit GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) to support memory training for children with ID, limited research explores Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) for this purpose. The paper describes the design and technology of a novel TUI named VIC (VIsual spatial Cubes for memory training), a system composed by a set of digitally enhanced cubes that emit light and sound, a sensorized board and a mobile app. VIC enables children to perform multiple, configurable memory training activities that involve block manipulation and block placements. The research is based on a vast analysis of the state of the art and on validated methods adopted in memory rehabilitation contexts. From this analysis, and from the theories underlying TUIs, we distilled a set of design principles that informed the design of the multi-sensory affordances of VIC, and can be exploited for other researchers to develop TUIs in this field. The paper also reports an exploratory study that involved 12 children with ID and 3 therapists from a specialized daycare Center. The study focused on the evaluation of the quality of the system in terms of usability, likability and potential for adoption. Although preliminary, the results suggest that our design approach was sound and VIC has the potential to become a valid tool to complement existing practices in memory training and can be expanded to support also memory assessment for children with ID.

In this paper, we explore applying learning goals in participatory design (PD) practice as an approach to mutual learning in a school context. The paper is based on experiences from master students in interaction design, who were instructed to define learning goals for children participating in PD activities that they organized in a school context. Based on the results of this study, we suggest a number of strategies for aligning and applying learning goals in PD in school contexts in practice: Debrief the results from the children's reflections with the teachers, Scalability in regard to time and context, Adjust to age, Collaborate with the teacher to define specific learning goals, Formulate learning gains for the teachers, and Develop support materials.

Conversations are structured by norms for turn taking. Turn taking is practiced in primary schools, starting from 8 years of age, when turn taking is used for managing group conversations. Being rather abstract for children to master, teachers use physical objects to convey turn taking. However, such physical objects tend not to be effective with children. Past research indicates that interactive tangible objects (briefly, tangibles) might help primary school classes master turn taking and positively affect their conversation behaviours. The research of this paper pursues this idea and shows how a meta-design approach, based on action research, can help design tangibles for conveying turn taking in group. The paper focuses on several actions with TurnTalk in the same primary school classroom with 9–10 years old children, and it shows how actions led to benefits for the class and designers.

This paper introduces the Co-Op World computer game for supporting child psychotherapy. The game involves a virtual AI-based player and a human player, thus facilitating repeated interactions for requesting help from one another. The therapist, who is not part of the interaction, can then focus on reciprocity aspects emerging from playing the game, either in real-time by discussing different considerations for providing or refusing to help, or offline through a set of supporting tools (e.g., reports). One critically innovative aspect of the system is that, unlike with traditional computer games or traditional therapy, our game offers the therapist a-priori control over the behavior of the virtual player, facilitating various kinds of targeted reciprocity-related interactions between the patient and the virtual player. This capability of offering appropriate social communication challenges via the game has various advantages, as discussed throughout the paper. As a proof of concept, the game was tested in psychotherapy with four school-aged children. The case studies reveal high acceptance of the game among the users, as well as a varied set of behavioral strategies that the children adopted. The insights gained point to various directions for future development and research.

In literature a lot has been done to investigate the possible advantages of integrating the virtual and physical world, combining the benefits of both and improving the overall user experience. Plenty of tangible user interfaces were designed, to facilitate the development of cognitive skills, motor skills, social skills, or more concrete notions such as STEM concepts for children. Also, thanks to the flexibility provided by digital systems, it is recently growing a sub-research field that specifically addressed people with a cognitive disability. In this scenario, immersive multi-sensory environments are gaining more and more interest as a support tool for learning and therapeutic methods. In this paper, we present Smart Buckets, an interactive interface integrated into "Magika", a multi-sensory system; the result of co-design with therapists specialized in the treatment and education of children with a cognitive disability. The paper illustrates the multi-step co-design process used to produce this idea as a tailored support for their therapeutic activities. Finally, it highlights the importance of adding a new customizable tangible interaction combined within the multi-sensory experience of Magika system.

Info-graphics are designed to make complex information accessible. They are visual representations of data designed to convey information in a succinct and efficient way [1] (Newsom and Haynes, 2004; Smiciklas, 2012). An example may be a pictogram or public safety sign designed to warn people of a hazard. Such communication devices are currently developed through designer- centered, adult-led processes. While many adults are able to interpret public signs correctly, [2] Siu et al. (2014) question whether children understand them, even when they are exposed to public signs in child-friendly spaces such as playgrounds or schools. In a bid to enhance sign design and improve children’s understanding of infographics, [3] Siu et al. (2017) make a case for including children in their design, as children’s drawings can give new insights. However, the challenges of engaging children as co-designers in infographic research are yet to be addressed. In this paper, the author reflects on her involvement in the Together through Play project [4] (Holt et al., 2014), a three-year, Leverhulme Trust funded project aimed at developing understanding of children’s needs and aspirations through the process of co-design. With the intention of addressing the power imbalance between adults and children in co-design research, the researcher employed and adapted methods of cooperative inquiry, an approach to creating new designs for children, with children [5] (Druin, 1999). This paper focuses specifically on the participatory approaches, strategies and methodologies employed to encourage designers to truly listen to the voices of children, and their relevance to visual design research. Twenty-two children aged 7 to 11 were recruited to participate in the study from four UK-based mainstream Primary Schools. At least one child participant from each school had a recognised physical impairment and at least one of their co- participants did not. Six disabled children and their non-disabled peers took part in the study, with four of these children having physical impairments relating to cerebral palsy. One child had dyspraxia and one child had a hearing impairment. Undergraduate students from Product Design and Engineering programmes at the University of Leeds were recruited to work alongside the children as co- designers. Their involvement included realising the children’s design ideas as prototypes and producing a series of critical artefacts as tools for discussion. Through semi-structured interviews with the researcher, the students reflected upon their experience and involvement in the study. Where focus groups with children have traditionally been used as a means of verifying design solutions, this project aimed to actively engage children in the design process from conception to completion. Rather than focusing on the end product, feedback and interaction with prototypes was used to develop understanding of the barriers encountered by children and their aspirations for inclusive play. It was anticipated that this dialogue would be more insightful than straightforward interviewing alone [6] (Holt et al., 2012). Previous attempts to include children in research, particularly in the area of childhood studies, have emphasised the pre-existing power differentials between adults and children that lead to the silencing of children’s voices [7] (Kay and Tisdall, 2012). However, the Together through Play project identified that many other factors can contribute to the silencing of children’s voices in design research, with the attitudes of other children identified as one of the most significant barriers. In this paper, reflections on the methods employed in the Together through Play project are used to inform a set of guidelines for designers of infographics seeking to work collaboratively with disabled and non-disabled children in the future. It addresses the communication barriers identified that warrant the attention of infographic designers. It also highlights scope for infographics to be used to bring a greater balance of power to co-design projects with children.

Nowadays, computers and mobile devices play a huge role in our daily routines; they are used at work, for private purposes and even at school. Moreover, they are used as support for different kinds of activities and task, like for example, learning applications. The interaction of these applications with a computer is based on predefined input methods, whereas a touchscreen facilitates direct input via handwriting by using a finger or a pen.This paper deals with the invention of a mobile learning application, which is supposed to facilitate children’s learning of simple multiplication. The aim of this paper is to collect the data of children’ experiences using interactive handwriting on mobile devices. In order to gain this data, a school class of the school “Graz-Hirten” was tested and afterwards for evaluational purposes interviewed. The results of these usability tests have shown that children perceived handwriting via finger on screen as quite positive.

The paper presents the NTC (Nikola Tesla Centre) learning methodologies. The researches that shows the importance of movement for children, especially before primary school, are presented. One of the basic principles of the NTC learning system is to help children, parents and educators for a whole development, in order to achieve the full potential of the child. To gain this result the NTC learning system provides exercises that include rotation, balance, dynamic accommodation of the eye, fine motoric, stimulation of the foot, coordination eye - hand, speech, etc.. The paper presents also the importance of usage the Information and communication technologies (ICT) for educational purposes and for a proper use of ICT in education. The second part of the paper presents the results of a pilot research project on the NTC camps held in Croatia and Serbia. The population analysed is a sample of 68 kids from Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina from 7 to 12 years old. The aim was to understand how children acquire new learning methodologies and to define which activities they like most. The activities were: morning gym, NTC learning methodologies, playing in nature and on the beach or mountain. The paper analyses also the perception of the possibility to use the NTC learning techniques for learning at the school. The last part of the questionnaire analyses if the children own a smartphone. If yes, how much they use it during the workweek and during the weekend and how to they spend their free time

Aim/Purpose: To capture digital training experiences, the paper introduces a novel data collection method – a graphic questionnaire. It aims to demonstrate the opportunities and limitations of this tool for collecting feedback from socially disadvantaged participants of digital literacy training about their progress. Background: In training of digital skills for disadvantaged audiences through informal educational interventions, it is important to get sufficient knowledge on factors that lead to their progress in the course of training. There are many tools to measure the achievements of formal education participants, but assessing the effectiveness of informal digital skills training is researched less. The paper introduces a small-scale case study of the training programme aimed at the developing of reading and digital skills among the participants from three socially disadvantaged groups – people with hearing impairments, children from low income families, and elderly persons. The impact of the training on participants was evaluated using different tools, including a short graphic questionnaire to capture the perceptions of the participants after each training. Methodology: We performed a thematic analysis of graphic questionnaires collected after each training session to determine how the students perceived their progress in developing literacy and digital skills. Contribution The findings of the paper can assist in designing assessment of digital literacy programmes that focus not only on final results, but also on the process of gaining digital skills and important factors that facilitate progress. Findings: The graphic questionnaire allowed the researchers to get insights into the perception of acquired skills and progressive achievements of the participants through rich self-reports of attitudes, knowledge gained, and activities during training sessions. However, the graphic questionnaire format did not allow the collection of data about social interaction and cooperation that could be important in learning. Recommendations for Practitioners: Graphic questionnaires are useful and easy-to-use tools for getting rich contextual information about the attitudes, behaviour, and acquisition of knowledge in digital literacy training. They can be used in applied assessments of digital literacy training in various settings. Their simplicity can appeal to respondents; however, in the long-run interest of respondents in continuing self-reports should be sustained by additional measures. Recommendations for Researchers: Researcher may explore the variety of simple and attractive research instruments, such as “honeycomb” questionnaires and similar, to facilitate data collection and saturate feedback with significant perception of personal experiences in gaining digital literacy skills. Impact on Society: Designing effective digital literacy programmes, including engaging self-assessment methods and tools, aimed at socially disadvantaged people will contribute to their digital inclusion and to solving the issues of digital divide. Future Research: Exploration of diverse research methods and expanding the research toolset in assessing digital literacy training could advance our understanding of important processes and factors in gaining digital skills.

This paper introduces a concept based on monitoring human behavior using sensors with social media connectivity to distribute data and provide help to people in challenging situations. Together with its sub-concepts, it defines a framework for and specific aspects of communication in several application areas, in which sensors are used to track human behavior and measure the human physiological status. The thus gathered information is then shared via social media.Conventional information flow between a sensor and the social web is a one-way street, based on extraction of information or placement. Sensor data is shared on the social web on the user's initiative. One-way flow is useful in many situations. More advanced functionality can be realized with bidirectional flow. Here, a sensor automatically invokes the social web to obtain relevant information that can influence the user. The social web can also take the initiator role and provide useful information for the sensor to act on.SEWEB concept was developed to provide help in challenging situations. Testing and evaluation of the concept was conducted using a schoolchildren's safety service application, and a related business model was created to discuss aspects linked to the concept's commercialization prospects. Safety of children and marginalization of youth are increasing problems in our modern society. Developing technologies, however, offer more possibilities for building safety solutions for children and teenagers. This paper describes a new concept of using sensors to monitor human behavior in combination with data processing and information transfer via different communication channels as well as different types of support the concept makes available. The concept utilizes the web and social media to create services and new business centered around different applications designed to support child safety in challenging situations and to prevent the marginalization of young people. This conceptual work involves different sub-concepts in the areas of information flow and connections, potential services and business potential. Some application areas will be introduced and discussed as specific cases demonstrating the features of the developed concept.

This study aims to understand the interactions and communication processes taking place during Joint Media Engagement (JME) sessions involving older adults/grandparents and (grand)children in the collaborative use of tablets and tablets’ Apps. In this paper, the exploratory methodologies to be implemented during empirical studies are described, as well as the development of scripts for the pre and post JME session's interviews. It is also addressed the development and validation of indicators, scales and surveys to assess grandparents/older adults and (grand)children's digital literacy and the quality of intergenerational relationship. Moreover, the paper presents the results of the pre-pilot interviews and a JME session with a grandmother and granddaughter, in which they used a tablet App to build their family tree.

Wearable sensors constitute an increasing market in providing various promising opportunities for improving and controlling safety issues for children in day care and schools. This paper presents the technological enablers and requirements for building a complete end-to-end energy-efficient safety system. Our work introduces a proof-of-concept for a wearable sensor vest with integrated wireless charging, designed to enhance the security of children. The wireless charging takes place in the ordinary repository for the vests, such as in a wardrobe or a coat rack, without requiring any specific actions from the user. The developed sensor vest provides information about the location and well-being of children, based on received signal strength indication, global positioning system, accelerometer, and temperature sensors. This paper also discusses the experiences of the "safety service for children" school pilot, which utilized various sensors with end-to-end applications. Piloting and technological implementations are based on a participatory study conducted among children, teachers, and parents, to gain important knowledge and understanding about the real user needs and service system usability requirements.

This paper presents a game design experience in primary schools, with children creating game design ideas and prototypes. Children were organized in cooperative groups. Game design tasks were organized following gamification principles, with ad-hoc gamified material. Cooperative learning and gamification served to elicit emotions and social inclusion. This paper measures them as follows. It operationalizes social inclusion with peer acceptance in three different social contexts, measured before and after the game design activity. It tracks achievement emotions experienced during game design at school. Then the paper examines the relationships between achievement emotions and peer acceptance. In this manner, it tackles an open problem in the literature concerning the links between emotions and social well-being in a game design experience. Path analyses indicate that, respectively for received choices and mutual friendships, positive emotions played a significant role in improving children’s social relations, and negative emotions were associated with a significant deterioration of social relations, but only for the extra-school leisure context. The paper concludes assessing the study limits and results in relation to game design with and for children.

In this paper, we describe the design considerations and implementation of a smart toy system, a technology for supporting the automatic recording and analysis for detecting developmental delays recognition when children play using the smart toy. To achieve this goal, we take advantage of the current commercial sensor features (reliability, low consumption, easy integration, etc.) to develop a series of sensor-based low-cost devices. Specifically, our prototype system consists of a tower of cubes augmented with wireless sensing capabilities and a mobile computing platform that collect the information sent from the cubes allowing the later analysis by childhood development professionals in order to verify a normal behaviour or to detect a potential disorder. This paper presents the requirements of the toy and discusses our choices in toy design, technology used, selected sensors, process to gather data from the sensors and generate information that will help in the decision-making and communication of the information to the collector system. In addition, we also describe the play activities the system supports., Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Universidad de Alcalá

This special issue is devoted to the topic of tangible user interfaces and children. It emphasizes research on tangibility that transcends system descriptions, focusing on the empirical support of theories and design guidance. The papers result from the organization of a workshop at the CHI 2009 ACM conference in Boston, USA. As an introduction to this issue, empirical evidence is discussed for the potential benefits that using TUIs may have for children. Next, we focus on the impact of tangibility in terms of usability, learning, collaboration, and fun. Finally, we suggest directions for future work and outline the papers that are included in this special issue. ispartof: Personal and Ubiquitous Computing vol:16 issue:4 pages:367-378 status: published

versão acessível em http://ace2015.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ACE_2015_submission_148.pdf, This paper describes the reengineering t-words, a tangible interface that aims at promoting children’s collaborative and playful exploration of the oral language. t-stories, the new version of the interface, is composed by 10 client modules and a server module; each module has a slot on the top surface for placing paper cards (that can be customised) and a surface for drawing on the bottom. t-stories allows recording and reproducing audio as well as drawing, or writing on its surface. Additionally it allows recording and playing audio based on NFC tags, which can be stuck to different surfaces or objects, and used in various scenarios, e.g., record a story on a tag and stick it to a drawing. Children can use the interface to carry a wide variety of language related activities, and choose how they want to hear them (e.g., specific sequences or the whole story). This paper describes the new implementation of the interface and presents an intervention that was carried at kindergarten with a group of 18 children, aged between five and six years old., CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), Portugal

Computing technology is currently adopted in emerging countries. Especially mobile phones and smart phones become widely used - with a much higher penetration than traditional computers. In our work we investigate how computing technologies and particularly mobile devices can support education. While previous work focused on controlled experiments, in this paper we present the results of a 20 weeks long study of mobile phone usage in an emerging region. Our aim was not only to investigate how the phones are used for education but also to learn how they are adopted by children in daily life. By logging screenshots, we used an unsupervised approach that allowed to unobtrusively observe usage patterns without the presence of researchers. Instead of offering tailored teaching applications, we used general-purpose applications to support teaching and found that the phone itself was an empowering technology similar to pen and paper. Based on a detailed analysis of actual use in a natural setting, we derived a set of typical use cases for mobile phones in education and describe how they change learning. From in-depth interviews with a teacher, selected guardians and pupils we show that introducing mobiles phones has great potential for supporting education in emerging regions., SIGCHI ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

In this paper, we suggest Laddering as a promising empirical method to evaluate the impact of tangibility on young children’s user experiences. In the first part of this paper, we explain what Laddering is. We explicate the conceptual foundations of Laddering, discuss the typical Laddering interviewing technique and focus on the Laddering data treatment. Then, we argue why Laddering might be especially valuable in a context of UX evaluations of tangible and embedded interfaces with children. In the second part of this paper, we present a case study, comparing three cuddly toy interfaces, and we demonstrate how Laddering can be used with preschoolers to explain preferences between these tangible interfaces. The case study confirms that Laddering can contribute to verifying the assumed benefits of tangibility. Laddering revealed how specific cuddly toy attributes as opposed to non-cuddly toy attributes led to specific benefits for the young participants. However, contrary to research findings from developmental literature, only children aged 5 years and older proved to be capable of performing as full Laddering respondents. ispartof: Personal and Ubiquitous Computing vol:16 issue:4 pages:451-465 status: published

The Curriculum Development Centre of Malaysia implemented a Children's Contemporary Literature Programme to promote reading among pupils in year 4, 5 and 6 in schools. This paper explores some issues in the teaching and learning of children's literature in Malaysia. It also looks at the role of the teacher as well as the functions of children's literature. Further the English Language textbook and its role with reference to the teaching and learning of literature is analysed in this paper.

In this paper we explore the vertical selection methods in aggregated search in the specific domain of topics for children between 7 and 12 years old. A test collection consisting of 25 verticals, 3.8K queries and relevant assessments for a large sample of these queries mapping relevant verticals to queries was built. We gather relevant assessment by envisaging two aggregated search systems: one in which the Web vertical is always displayed and in which each vertical is assessed independently from the web vertical. We show that both approaches lead to a different set of relevant verticals and that the former is prone to bias of visually oriented verticals. In the second part of this paper we estimate the size of the verticals for the target domain. We show that employing the global size and domain specific size estimation of the verticals lead to significant improvements when using state-of-the art methods of vertical selection. We also introduce a novel vertical and query representation based on tags from social media and we show that its use lead to significant performance gains.

In this paper, we present a framework that describes commonly used design techniques for Participatory Design with children. Although there are many currently used techniques for designing with children, researchers working in differing contexts and in a changing technological landscape find themselves facing difficult design situations. The FACIT PD framework presented in this paper can aid in choosing existing design techniques or in developing new techniques regardless of the stage in the design cycle, the technology being developed, or philosophical approach to design method. The framework consists of eight dimensions, concerning the design partners, the design goal, and the design technique. The partner dimensions are partner experience and need for accommodation. The design goal dimensions are design space and maturity of design. The technique dimensions include: cost, portability, technology and physical interaction. Three cases will be presented which describe new techniques developed using the framework and two cases will describe existing techniques.

Background In this study, we describe a participatory design process to develop a technology-based intervention for sun protection for children and their parents. Our methodology embraces and leverages the expert knowledge of the target users, children and their parents, about their sun protection practices to directly influence the design of our mobile just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI). The objectives of this paper are to describe our research procedures and summarize primary findings incorporated into developing our JITAI modules. Methods We conducted 3 rounds of iterative co-design workshops with design expert KidsTeam UW children (N: 11–12) and subject expert children and their parents from local communities in California (N: 22–48). Iteratively, we thematically coded the qualitative data generated by participants in the co-design sessions to directly inform design specifications. Results Three themes emerged: (1) preference for non-linear educational format with less structure,; (2) situations not conducive for prioritizing sun protection; and (3) challenges, barriers, and ambiguity relating to sun protection to protect oneself and one’s family. Based on the design ideas and iterative participant feedback, three categories of modules were developed: personalized and interactive data intake module, narrative-education module with augmented reality experiment, person/real-time tailored JITAI, and assessment modules. Conclusions This is one of the first projects that maximally engage children and parents as co-designers to build a technology to improve sun protection with iterative and intentional design principles. Our scalable approach to design a mobile JITAI to improve sun protection will lay the foundation for future public health investigators with similar endeavors. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12529-021-09987-9.

Face-to-face design with child and adult design partners is not always possible due to distant geographical locations or time differences. Yet we believe that the designs of children in areas not co-located with system builders, or who live in locations not easily accessed, are just as important and valid as children who are easily accessible especially when designing for a multi- national audience. This paper reports on the prototype design process of DisCo, a computer-based design tool that enables intergenerational co-designers to collaborate online and asynchronously while being geographically distributed. DisCo contains tools that enable the designers to iterate, annotate, and communicate from within the tool. This tool was used to facilitate distributed co-design. We learned that children were less forgiving of their inability to draw on the computer than on paper, and they formed small, intergenerational design teams at their own locations when the technology did not work as they expected.

Interactive tables provide multi-touch capabilities that can enable children to collaborate face-to-face simultaneously. In this paper we extend existing understanding of children's use of interactive tabletops by examining their use by school children in a school in Delhi, India. In the study, we explore how the school children exhibit particular types of collaboration strategies and touch input techniques when dealing with digital objects. In particular, we highlight a number of behaviours of interest, such as how the children would move the same digital object on the table together. We also discuss how the children work in close proximity to each other and dynamically organize their spatial positions in order to work together, as well as establish territory and control. We go on to examine some of the finger-based interaction and manipulation strategies that arise in these contexts. Finally, the paper considers the implications of such behaviours for the deployment of tabletop applications in these particular educational contexts.

Part 1: Long and Short Papers; International audience; In this paper we describe the design process of an interactive accessory to play anywhere and anytime while encouraging free-play and practice social skills. We explain the design process, the resulting conceptual design of FeetUp and the preliminary user’s evaluation. FeetUp is a playful accessory that takes advantage of children’s interest to jump, or perform body stunts. These activities generally include lifting both feet, and FeetUp gives audiovisual feedback whenever this happens to encourage free-play related with jump activities. Preliminary user’s experience shows how FeetUp, encourages freeplay.