Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) (including smart speakers like Alexa/Siri) are rapidly proliferating and are now available globally in ~80 countries. Library and Information Science (LIS) literature is only beginning to examine their impact, especially within the context of children and their learning, and to determine implications for LIS education. This paper reviews the current LIS literature on IPAs, presents results of an exploratory content analysis of customer reviews of Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids, and proposes a preliminary research agenda focused on children’s IPA use

Barriage, Sarah

Floegel, Diana

Houli, Daniel

Radford, Marie

IDEALS @ Illinois

“Alexa, where do babies come from?” Investigating children’s practices with intelligent personal assistants

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“Alexa, Where Do Babies Come From?” Investigating Children’s Practices with Intelligent Personal Assistants Marie L. Radforda, Diana Floegela, Sarah Barriageb, and Daniel HouliaaRutgers University, USA bUniversity of Manitoba, Canada mradford@comminfo.rutgers.edu, diana.floegel@rutgers.edu, sarahbarriage@gmail.com, daniel.houli@rutgers.edu  ABSTRACT Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) (including smart speakers like Alexa/Siri) are rapidly proliferating and are now available globally in ~80 countries. Library and Information Science (LIS) literature is only beginning to examine their impact, especially within the context of children and their learning, and to determine implications for LIS education. This paper reviews the current LIS literature on IPAs, presents results of an exploratory content analysis of customer reviews of Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids, and proposes a preliminary research agenda focused on children’s IPA use. TOPICS social software, information use, specific populations INTRODUCTION Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs) (including smart speakers like Alexa/Siri) are proliferating rapidly and available globally in ~80 countries. Millions of IPAs have been sold world-wide, although features differ by region (Amazon, 2019). Along with the rising popularity of smart phones and Bluetooth technology, IPA adoption is likely to continue. Scant Library and Information Science (LIS) scholarly literature has examined the implications and impact of IPAs regarding LIS education and libraries, or for children’s use and potential learning. This paper addresses these gaps by reviewing the current literature on IPAs, presenting results of an exploratory content analysis of reviews of Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids, and proposing a preliminary research agenda.  ALISE 2019 Proceedings: Page 148LITERATURE REVIEW Individuals interact with IPAs based on needs, wants, and context. People across age groups use Alexa for weather forecasts, playing music, setting alarms, requesting information, and controlling other devices (Lopatovska & Oropeza, 2018; Lopatovska et al., 2018). The information retrieval capabilities of IPAs make the use of this technology a natural area of inquiry for LIS. Libraries are well-positioned to introduce potential users to IPAs and their capabilities (Hennig, 2018; Hoy, 2018; Stephens, 2018), including school libraries (Scardilli, 2018).  According to Allen and Sarang (2018), library users demonstrate interest in IPAs, especially when this technology is placed in the children’s section, and potential uses include searching for information about user accounts and items in the library catalog.  Concerns surrounding integration of IPAs in library services include information accuracy, privacy, and security. Individuals report difficulties in obtaining high-quality, accurate information from IPAs, which, in some contexts, can result in harm (Boyd & Wilson, 2018; Reeves & Porcheron, 2018). However, some users value the experience more than the output (Lopatovska et al., 2018). IPAs pose significant privacy concerns that librarians can help users navigate (Enis, 2018). Security threats are salient, particularly because third-party vendors can link services to intelligent assistants; users may be exposed to often-unknown and unwanted entities (Chung et al., 2017). Other security concerns include: wiretapping, compromised devices, malicious voice commands, and voice recording (Chung et al., 2017). Additionally, children have included the unpredictability of and perceived lack of control over devices such as Alexa among their concerns about such “creepy” technologies (Yip et al., 2019). LIS educators can tackle these concerns by including IPAs in curricula that address access, information literacy, personal privacy, intellectual freedom, work, and play (Johnson, 2018).  Other emerging areas of inquiry specific to children and IPAs include: the gendered nature of interactions with female-sounding IPA “voices” (Abrahams, 2018; Gordon, 2018; Lafrance, 2016), confusion about human and machine-based feelings (Elgan, 2018), and strategies used in IPA communication breakdowns (Cheng et al., 2018). However, gaps remain in LIS scholars’ understanding of how individuals, particularly children, learn from and interact with these systems and their implications for LIS services and education.  EXPLORATORY STUDY To begin to understand children’s interactions with IPAs, the research team conducted an exploratory content analysis of 100 Positive (P) and 100 Critical (C) reviews from a corpus of 1505 total reviews (1029 P, 476 C) of Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids.1 The team used the constant 1 https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Kids-smart-speaker-Alexa/product-reviews/B077JFK5YH/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_next_2?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&filterByStar=positive&pageNumber=2. Note: Reviews were from 5/2018-1/2019, and were categorized by Amazon as Positive (P) or Critical (C).ALISE 2019 Proceedings: Page 149comparisons method (Charmaz, 2014) to apply coding typologies from Common Sense Media (2017) and NPR (2018). Preliminary analysis focused on reviewers’ reports of children’s interactions with Alexa. Initial results suggest that children use Alexa (in descending frequency) to: play music, hear stories, get information/answers, connect with others inside the home, and play games. Reviewers, many of whom identify as parents/caregivers, report that children enjoy using Alexa (e.g., singing/dancing to music). One reviewer commented that her son was “dancing so hard it feels like the chandelier is going to fall down” (P84). However, reviewers report that children experience difficulties, mainly due to the device’s limitations. They have trouble (in descending frequency): playing music, hearing stories, playing games, getting information, connecting with others inside/outside the home, and controlling lights/electronics. A reviewer noted that “kids cannot request songs of their choice” (C62) while another said that Alexa “has a hard time picking up the kids voices” (C68). One recounted a consequence of Alexa’s limitations: “I have had several instances where my child was in tears because she felt that this Alexa didn’t like her because she wouldn’t do the right thing” (C15). Future research will build upon preliminary findings, utilizing the following research agenda that outlines topics/questions to better understand children’s experiences with IPAs and implications for libraries/LIS education. PRELIMINARY RESEARCH AGENDA Children and Learning. • What practices do children engage in with IPAs to support their informal/formallearning?• How do children experience/perceive interactions with IPAs within learning contexts?• What characteristics of IPAs support/hinder children’s learning?Critical Thinking and Social Justice. • How do children’s identities (e.g., gender, race) affect their interactions with IPAs?• How do algorithmic biases affect children’s interactions with IPAs?• How do Amazon’s profit motivations affect children’s interactions with IPAs?Technological/Privacy Concerns. • What concerns do parents/caregivers have regarding their children’s interactions withIPAs?• What understanding do/should caregivers/children have of the proprietary nature ofvoice-recorded data?• How well do IPAs understand children’s voices/respond to information requests?IPAs in Libraries/LIS Education. • How are libraries using IPAs in services to children? Should they? What concerns exist?• What is the potential of IPAs in addressing children’s information needs?ALISE 2019 Proceedings: Page 150• How should information about IPAs be integrated into LIS education?CONCLUSION While reviews provide insights into how children interact with IPAs, they center parents’/caregivers’ perspectives removed from engagement. The research agenda addresses these limitations by centering children’s practices and adopting more comprehensive approaches to understanding their interactions with IPAs, including those related to learning. To achieve insights into children’s practices and their implications for library services and education, methods to extend the exploratory study will include ethnographic observation, conversation analysis of children’s IPA interactions, and in-depth interviews with children/parents. Findings have global significance for LIS education, considering the ubiquity of IPAs and the need for information professionals to help individuals better understand the multifaceted implications of their use. REFERENCES Abrahams, R. (2018, October 15). Alexa, does AI have gender? University of Oxford. Retrieved from https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/Article/2018-10-15-alexa-does-ai-have-gender Allen, S., & Sarang, A. (2018). Serving patrons using voice assistants at Worthington. Online Searcher, 42(6), 49-52. Amazon. (2019). Supported featured by country for “international version” echo devices. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202207000 Boyd, M., & Wilson, N. (2018). Just ask Siri? A pilot study comparing smartphone digital assistants and laptop Google searches for smoking cessation advice. PLoS One, 13(3), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194811 Charmaz, K. (2014). 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“Alexa, where do babies come from?” Investigating children’s practices with intelligent personal assistants

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