Category Archives: Research

Along with rolling heat waves, rising gas prices, and the occasional new social media site, the recent news cycle has been dominated by commentary on the potential risks, harms, and benefits children may encounter when interacting with technology. States have made bold attempts to ban social media sites, parents are wondering how to talk to children about A.I. chatbots , and platforms are adding risk-reduction tools. However, it is rarely discussed how to increase children’s well-being in the digital ecosystem…

How can we design the digital world in the best interests of children? What principles should guide innovators of digital products and services that may impact children’s lives? In the Digital Futures Commission, we asked ourselves, how can we translate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into a tool that’s practical for designers and developers? Digital technologies are part of the infrastructure of children’s daily lives. They are no longer optional for children but, indeed, crucial to…

What happens when you are trying to design a new technology for kids and things do not go as expected?  In the case of the University of Maryland KidsTeam, you might help create Nickelodeon’s Do Not Touch button—an interactive button that plays with kids’ desire to do exactly what they’ve been told not to do. This is an example of the Cooperative Inquiry method of technology co-design in action, where children engage in the design process in equal partnership with…

Creative tools for children should be designed to ensure that learning is playful and engaging. At Scratch, we believe that it is important to use a co-design process, ensuring that the needs and perspectives of our users—especially children—are taken into account at every stage. By involving young people in the design of ScratchJr and Scratch, we can create a platform that truly meets their needs and helps them to develop the skills they need to thrive in the digital age.…

Technology can be a transformative learning tool in the classroom. According to The National Education Technology Plan (NETP), technology has the potential to “affirm and advance relationships between educators and students, reinvent our approaches to learning and collaboration, shrink long-standing equity and accessibility gaps, and adapt learning experiences to meet the needs of all learners.” While these are lofty goals, to be truly effective, educators need to have the skills and support to take full advantage of technology-rich learning environments.…

It’s August—which means it’s SXSW PanelPicker time! We are looking forward to sharing ideas and learning together with friends and colleagues in Austin in March 2023. The SXSW panel selection process relies on input from the community, and we’ve got a PanelPicker proposal we’re incredibly excited to share. To vote, please visit panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote before Sunday, August 21st and log in or create a free account. It’s super easy! You can find our proposal here. Designing Tech for Children’s Well-Being There…

Augmented reality (AR) allows users to see and interact with virtual objects while still seeing their environment. AR is increasingly becoming more common and is being applied to gaming, healthcare, and education. For example, if you have ever played the worldwide phenomenon Pokémon Go, then you have used an AR application, with which you saw and collected virtual Pokémon in your environment. AR applications can be created for a variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets, as well as headsets. Compared…

2021 set off alarm bells for big tech when the courageous whistle-blowers Frances Haugen, Sophie Zhang, and Nobel Prize winner Maria Ressa made front-page news of irresponsible design of technology – an issue that’s also demonstrated by 5Right’s extensive research. The digital world is entirely human-made: designers, engineers, and rule-makers can imagine and design the digital world so that children are protected from harm and their rights are upheld. A pioneering new standard shows how. Many policymakers, civil society organizations,…

This post originally appeared on the Digital Futures Commission website and appears here with permission.   Last fall, the Digital Futures Commission (DFC) launched ‘Playful by Design: Free play in a digital world.’ The report looks at a crucial important aspect of children’s development – free play – and at how digital products and services succeed and fail in facilitating it. At our launch event, Baroness Beeban Kidron OBE and Professor Sonia Livingstone OBE were joined by key experts in the field of free play who discussed and explored our reporting as…

While young children are off school over winter break, many families will be looking for activities to keep kids learning and having fun. On cold winter days, creating art or music together using a touchscreen app is one way for caregivers to connect and support the cognitive and social development of their early learners.  Research on Joint Media Engagement (JME) from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center demonstrates that media can provide important social, emotional, and cognitive experiences for children when…