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Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the user experience of young people with video content accessed through different technological artefacts. Design/methodology/approach: To this purpose, an essay has been assigned to the pupils of two lower secondary school classes (mean age 12 years) to know their diverse types of usage of multimedia content in their everyday lives. These compositions have been analysed using a plurality of text analysis tools to find out both the preferred artefacts and their mutual relationships. Findings: The results are here presented giving emphasis to qualitative and methodological aspects. Practical implications: The analysis is to be intended as a preliminary field research study mainly oriented to testing the visualization power of the selected technical tools, primarily network text analysis, in the context of children exposure to video content made available by today's information and communication technologies. Originality/value: The originality of the paper is characterized by methods used to analyse quantitative data derived from textual compositions of children.

This paper presents a pilot field research on the user experience of students and teachers with a digital classroom in a comprehensive institute (primary and lower secondary school) in Rome, Italy. The investigation was carried out in the framework of the original methodology KidLab Media Research, an innovative approach for field studies on younger users, initially designed for schools. Personal interviews to teachers and focus groups with students are at the core of the first phase of research. Due to the limited size of the considered sample, emphasis is given to the methodology followed, which encompasses the exploration of user experience according to the constructs of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT): performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influence and behavioural intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a qualitative investigation on user reactions, opinions, and sentiments about a TV-based technological solution developed within the EasyReach Project of the EU Ambient Assisted Living Joint Program to promote social interaction of less educated elderly people, that is, those individuals who, because of poor scholarization, low income, and, possibly, linguistic barriers, still find it difficult to use computers in order to improve their socialization. Experimental data were collected by extensive trials involving 40 real-end users. A methodology called “scenario engagement” was applied to get participants engaged in a live demonstration with the mediation of a facilitator who assisted elderly people to interact with the system. Results point out that the system can be effectively employed to foster social interaction, particularly when it is introduced in a collective use environment (e.g., Senior Center). Although the focus of the investigation was on information and communication technology-enabled social environments, the end users themselves strongly suggested to include in future system releases extra functions considered as essential opportunities for their potential digital lives: that is, medical or health services and bridges toward public administration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]