Constructing the Cool Wall: A Tool to Explore Teen Meanings of Cool

This paper describes the development and exploration of a tool designed to assist in investigating ‘cool’ as it applies to the design of interactive products for teenagers. The method involved the derivation of theoretical understandings of cool from literature that resulted in identification of seven core categories for cool, which were mapped to a hierarchy. The hierarchy includes having of cool things, the doing of cool activities and the being of cool. This paper focuses on a tool, the Cool Wall, developed to explore one specific facet of the hierarchy; exploring shared understanding of having cool things. The paper describes the development and construction of the tool, using a heavily participatory approach, and the results and analysis of a study carried out over 2 days in a school in the UK. The results of the study both provide clear insights into cool things and enable a refined understanding of cool in this context. Two additional studies are then used to identify potential shortcomings in the Cool Wall methodology. In the first study participants were able to populate a paper cool wall with anything they chose, this revealed two potential new categories of images and that the current set of images covered the majority of key themes. In the second study teenagers interpretations of the meaning of the images included in the Cool Wall were explored, this showed that the majority of meanings were as expected and a small number of unexpected interpretations provided some valuable insights

Constructing the Cool Wall: A tool to explore teen meanings of cool

This paper describes the development and exploration of a tool designed to assist in investigating ‘cool’ as it applies to the design of interactive products for teenagers. The method involved the derivation of theoretical understandings of cool from literature that resulted in identification of seven core categories for cool, which were mapped to a hierarchy. The hierarchy includes having of cool things, the doing of cool activities and the being of cool. This paper focuses on a tool, the Cool Wall, developed to explore one specific facet of the hierarchy; exploring shared understanding of having cool things. The paper describes the development and construction of the tool, using a heavily participatory approach, and the results and analysis of three studies. The first study was carried out over 2 days in a school in the UK. The results of the study both provide clear insights into cool things and enable a refined understanding of cool in this context. Two additional studies are then used to identify potential shortcomings in the Cool Wall methodology. In the second study participants were able to populate a paper cool wall with anything they chose, this revealed two potential new categories of images and that the current set of images covered the majority of key themes. In the third study teenagers interpretations of the meaning of the images included in the Cool Wall were explored, this showed that the majority of meanings were as expected and a small number of unexpected interpretations provided some valuable insights

A comparative study into how pupils can play different roles in co-design activities

We explore the roles children play in the design and evaluation of technological tools in a formal educational environment. In order to do so, we describe two separate projects set in a formal educational context: primary schools, with children aged 8-10, in Switzerland (called PADS), and with older students, 11-12, in Scotland (called CHIS). In the first case the teacher and pupils were co- designing a novel application to support the creation of multimedia fairy tales, where in the second students and teachers worked towards the definition of new tools to assist them in searching for information. Tasks are different but comparable in terms of complexity and level of interest expressed by children. Researchers followed a similar approach in order to interact with the stakeholders. We here describe the different attitudes and assumptions of the teachers involved. In the Scottish study these encouraged students to make choices, propose solutions and work independently. In the Swiss study these aimed at supporting children use of digital media and artefacts for the creation of a digital fairy tale. Our investigation aims at getting a better understanding of the kind of roles and contributions young users could bring to collaborative design and how to better engage and motivate them

On power and participation: Reflections from design with developmentally diverse children

The involvement of developmentally diverse children in design has been driven by pragmatic concerns and also an emancipatory aim to give children voice and agency over decisions. However, little attention has been given to how participation and power are performed in the early exploratory phase of design prior to overt decision points. Our research seeks to contribute to this gap with two separate case studies of design involvement, one with dyslexic children and the other with children with cerebral palsy. An analysis of children’s and researchers’ power dynamics during design sessions supports us to understand the contextual factors shaping how the different participants exercised power; the outcomes of this power and to reflect on how these moments shaped the design agenda. Our work identifies a number of challenges and raises new questions that may guide future reflexive participatory practice with developmentally diverse children

Widening participation in technology design: A review of the involvement of children with special educational needs and disabilities

This article presents a review of the design methods and techniques that have been used to involve children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in the technology design process. Situating the work within the established child–computer interaction research sub-field of participatory design, we examine the progress that has been made in relation to the participation of this specific child population. An extensive review of the literature in this area has been undertaken and we describe the different roles, responsibilities and activities that have been undertaken by both the child and adult participants within previous technology design projects. We also highlight the different types of outcome from this previous work involving children with SEND, exploring the impact the children’s participation has had on both the resulting technology as well as the impact on the child participants themselves. Finally we conclude this review with a set of reporting recommendations for technology designers and researchers aiming to involve this population in future technology design projects

Widening participation in technology design: A review of the involvement of children with special educational needs and disabilities

This article presents a review of the design methods and techniques that have been used to involve children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in the technology design process. Situating the work within the established child–computer interaction research sub-field of participatory design, we examine the progress that has been made in relation to the participation of this specific child population. An extensive review of the literature in this area has been undertaken and we describe the different roles, responsibilities and activities that have been undertaken by both the child and adult participants within previous technology design projects. We also highlight the different types of outcome from this previous work involving children with SEND, exploring the impact the children’s participation has had on both the resulting technology as well as the impact on the child participants themselves. Finally we conclude this review with a set of reporting recommendations for technology designers and researchers aiming to involve this population in future technology design projects

Engaging Young Users in Collaborative Design: How Much, How Far and How Deep?

We explore the roles children play in the design and evaluation of technological tools in a formal educational environment. In order to do so, we describe two separate projects set in a formal educational context: primary schools, with children aged 8–10, in Switzerland (called PADS), and with older students, 11–12, in Scotland (called CHIS). In the first case the teacher and pupils were co-designing a novel application to support the creation of multimedia fairy tales, where in the second students and teachers worked towards the definition of new tools to assist them in searching for information. The tasks were different but comparable in terms of complexity and level of interest expressed by children. Researchers followed a similar approach in order to interact with the stakeholders. We here describe the different attitudes and assumptions of the adults involved. In the Scottish study these encouraged students to make choices, propose solutions and work independently. In the Swiss study these aimed at supporting children use of digital media and artefacts for the creation of a digital fairy tale. Our investigation aims at getting a better understanding of the kind of roles and contributions young users could bring to collaborative design and how to better engage and motivate them