Category Archives: RITEC

Here at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, we talk to a lot of folks who design digital products for children. One topic that comes up consistently is the challenge of applying quality academic research to everyday design practice. We are very proud to be a part of the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) project because a key goal has always been to generate research-based insights from children’s perspectives that are easy for designers to use. After more than…

During the week of the 2024 Games for Change Festival, the Cooney Center had the privilege of helping to organize a series of events to bring the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children Project (RITEC) learnings to life by sharing the backstory of the research process and work with children, and demonstrating how some have begun putting the RITEC-8 framework into practice. Celebrating the launch of the recent RITEC research report: Diving into working with children for children We started…

 I recently had the chance to chat with Michael Preston, Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, for a new episode of the Designing for Children’s Best podcast, produced by the Designing for Children’s Rights Association. The result was an inspiring conversation between Michael and myself, Polina Lulu, regarding one of Michael’s recent talks, “Building a Positive Digital Future for Kids, with Kids—Together.” We dove into each of the title words individually and in relation to…

We are very excited to share new research produced by UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight as part of the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) initiative. The Cooney Center was fortunate to hear insights from the researchers as the report was being finalized. From a Cooney Center perspective, there are several things that we love about it: Many initiatives work to create a framework and then leave it there. The RITEC initiative developed the RITEC-8…

The importance of play for children’s development and learning has long been recognized by parents, educators and researchers.1 Much of our lives are now being lived in digital contexts, and this is true for children as well. With the global popularity of video games such as Minecraft and Angry Birds, a great deal of children’s play these days includes digital games. This has raised some concerns about possible negative effects of digital technology, and it is important that parents help…