MagiBricks: Fostering Intergenerational Connectedness in Distributed Play with Smart Toy Bricks

Playing together is crucial to the unique and invaluable bond between grandparents and grandchildren. However, co-located interactions and play can be limited due to time, distance, or pandemic-related restrictions. To facilitate distributed play, we developed MagiBricks, a system comprised of 3D-printed smart toy bricks and baseplates that provide feedback regarding their placement. The familiarity and appeal of toy bricks to both older adults and children make them ideal for intergenerational play. We conducted a within-subjects study with six grandparent-grandchildren pairs. We compared the interactions and perceived connectedness of the pairs while playing over a distance with either i) MagiBricks or ii) identical regular toy bricks. We found that MagiBricks affected communication dynamics, role taking, nature of play, and perception of connectedness during playtime compared to regular bricks, and were unanimously preferred. We contribute design implications for future systems leveraging (smart) tangibles and fostering intergenerational connectedness

MagiBricks: Fostering Intergenerational Connectedness in Distributed Play with Smart Toy Bricks

Playing together is crucial to the unique and invaluable bond between grandparents and grandchildren. However, co-located interactions and play can be limited due to time, distance, or pandemic-related restrictions. To facilitate distributed play, we developed MagiBricks, a system comprised of 3D-printed smart toy bricks and baseplates that provide feedback regarding their placement. The familiarity and appeal of toy bricks to both older adults and children make them ideal for intergenerational play. We conducted a within-subjects study with six grandparent-grandchildren pairs. We compared the interactions and perceived connectedness of the pairs while playing over a distance with either i) MagiBricks or ii) identical regular toy bricks. We found that MagiBricks affected communication dynamics, role taking, nature of play, and perception of connectedness during playtime compared to regular bricks, and were unanimously preferred. We contribute design implications for future systems leveraging (smart) tangibles and fostering intergenerational connectedness

All in the Family: Exploring Design Personas of Systems for Remote Communication with Preschoolers

Although there have been recent advances in remote communication technologies that foster connectedness and intimacy over a distance, systems designed for communicating with preliterate preschoolers—a desired use case—are not yet prevalent, nor are there clear guidelines for their design. We conducted a mixed-methods study to characterize the current practices, goals, and needs of people who wish to use remote communication systems with young children. We present quantitative and qualitative findings on the motivations for communicating, the habits, activities, and patterns that have been established, and the barriers and concerns faced. We synthesized these findings into four design personas that describe the desired functionality and requirements of systems to support remote communication with preschoolers. For each persona, we systematically evaluated 60 research-based systems based on the extent to which each persona’s requirements were covered, demonstrating that none of the personas were greatly satisfied with the available tools

Multifaith Families and their Narratives within Society

The goal of this project is to nudge the conversation about interfaith families in a direction that examines the family post–interfaith dialogue. The term multifaith better represents this new aim because it encompasses all interactions and does not limit the family to the constraints of the moniker interfaith. I apply Walter Fisher’s concepts of coherence and fidelity, in coordination with family communication literature, to structure this project and to study the various aspects of a multifaith family and narrative. I also use three typologies of multifaith family (Passive/Passive, Passive/Active, and Active/Active) to better understand the variations of this family. The project includes a discussion of the multifaith family, the extended family, and the interaction with the faith community. Furthermore, I include examples of multifaith representation in popular culture because this illustrates the inclusion of this family type in media. The multifaith family is a distinct and growing type of family, and this project tries to better understand them and their narratives

Narrating by doing: a bridging concept for understanding and informing the design of tangible interfaces for storytelling

We present and discuss the concept ‘narrating by doing’ as the process of creating narratives by performing different embodied actions with tangible interfaces for storytelling. We characterize it as a ‘bridging concept’ that can facilitate exchange between theory and design, informing research and design of TUIs for storytelling targeting young children. The concept builds on theories of cognition, learning and narration, specifically drawing upon the following perspectives: Constructionism, Socio-Constructivism, Embodied Cognition, Narratology and The Narrative Practice Hypothesis. Building upon these theoretical foundations, we identify and discuss four ‘design articulations’ (i.e. important parameters that express the qualities of the concept), namely communicative situation, narrative function of the tangible objects, collaborative and embodied actions and the narrator’s position. Finally, we add evidence to the concept and discuss its productiveness by presenting a set of considerations to inform the design of tangible interfaces for storytelling.This work has been financed by national funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and by the European Regional Development Fund through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program under the reference POCI/01/0145/FEDER/032580. This work is funded by CIEd—Research Centre on Education, Institute of Education, University of Minho, projects UIDB/01661/2020 and UIDP/01661/2020, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT

Kinship Voices: Listening to Grandparent Caregivers Raising School-Age Children

This dissertation focused on the phenomenon of grandparent caregiving within a small town in Pennsylvania. The following descriptor was used to define grandparent caregivers: Grandparent caregivers are grandparents who have gained full or part-time guardianship of one or more school-age grandchildren and co-reside with their grandchildren. Increasingly, grandparents in the United States have been thrust into the role of primary caregiver of their grandchildren (Harnett, Dawe, & Russell, 2014). The wellness of grandchildren raised by their grandparents dominates the scholarship regarding grandparent caregiving. This study aimed to uncover the ways in which grandparent caregivers of school-age children, describe how they navigate various support systems. This study was phenomenological in nature and consisted of a series of two in-depth and face-to-face phenomenological interviews with each of the seven study participants. A modified version of Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) ecological systems theory was used to illuminate the intricate support pathways that exist within the lives of those who took part in this study. Findings reflect a positive correlation between the relative happiness of grandparent caregivers with the depth of their interpersonal support systems. Further, all of the grandparent caregivers who took part in this study relied upon relationships found within the microsystem e.g. school district personnel, friends, biological parents, and other kin. Grandparent caregivers from five of the seven grandfamilies utilized relationships found within each system of the modified version of Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) ecological systems theory, i.e., the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. The implications of this study cast a light on the successful journeys undertaken by a group of rural Pennsylvania grandparent caregivers. School district administrators and faculty will benefit from studying the quality of the interactions throughout the modified version of Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) ecological systems theory. Moreover, school district stakeholders who read this study may feel compelled to include grandparent caregivers in the creation of enhanced professional development opportunities and more inclusive district policies

Mixed Reality Storytelling for Social Engagement with Older Adults

Aging is a natural process that brings social and physical challenges among adults, due to which they have to make shifts in habits and routines. Adults belonging to an older age group lose touch with people which provides an opportunity for researchers to think and implement novel ways to engage the population with their loved ones. The advent of technology within the Mixed Reality (MR) space aims to facilitate diverse groups of people to engage in immersive and interactive ways, opening possibilities to address the predicament of aging in an isolated environment. Utilizing participatory design in a virtual setting, inclusive design frameworks and design thinking practices, the contributions of this research are to present the broad concepts of storytelling, social engagement and Mixed Reality existing in the literature, and then take inspiration to co-design a Mixed Reality storytelling system with older adults and their friends & family for the purpose of cultivating meaningful social connections through sharing stories