Amy Tiemann notes how astonishing it is that a group of children who have relatively little access to computers already have some firm ideas about web 2.0 and online shopping.Children at an American elementary school enjoy sending imaginary emails to each other using paper laptops they custom-designed themselves.
Prioritize for convenience
Looking at their designs it's clear that these children have automatically assigned buttons to common tasks and personalized the keyboard to best serve their needs; prioritizing the most important things and people in their lives.Anything is possible
Features and functions revolve around children's daily activities (maths class, playing, talking to friends) and aspects of the world around them (movies, virtual pets, shopping). Many include buttons to their best friends, pets, games and Harry Potter trivia. There is no distinction between socializing, recreation, work and study; these children appear to consider computers as a constant element and a tool to be used in all aspects of life.Clearly this generation expects and assumes technology to be flexible and personalizable.
Keyboard design
There is a mixture of what children know to be included on a keyboard (letters and numbers) and how they think this is displayed (the letters are in alphabetical order in many cases; logical if you've not long learnt the alphabet).Although I do not know the extent to which they shared ideas or copied from a real keyboard, there are also signs that these children have already assimilated computer lingo into their day-to-day vocabularly with Enter, Space bar, page down and dotcom being liberally sprinkled about.
An insight into local pop culture
Children are sponges and their designs evidently reflect their life-styles and culture. It would be great to compare the same type of drawing done by children in different regions and countries to see what they think about computers and the possibilities they hold.3 lessons for designers!
- A truly great reminder that we should not always let ourselves be restricted by the limitations of reality.
- Play is practice for real life. Why worry about looking silly?!
The children don't have any problem using paper laptops to shop or chat online; something which seems pointless or plain ridiculous to many adults when trying to test out designs and ideas using paper prototypes. Plus, it made me realize just how natural it is for children to plan things out on paper; and how, as we get older we get out of the habit of doing just that. It would be nice to lose the idea that everything has to be done on the computer to be professional. Sketches are good. - Let go. If the prototype doesn't work or is out-of-date, scrap it and start again (salvaging any great bits of course). The kids use a laptop until it's worn out or until they can't fit any more functions on it before grabbing some new ideas and drawing another one!
Links:
A kid's-eye view of laptop design by Amy Tiemannhttp://tiny.cc/AmyTiemann
Interview by Rosecrans Baldwin
www.themorningnews.org/archives/galleries/the_laptop_club/
