NSF-Sponsored
Children's Mobile Workshop - February 21-22, 2008
Description and Call For Participation
Human-Computer Interaction Lab
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Organized by Allison Druin, Ben Bederson and the International Children's Digital Library Foundation
Workshop Wiki: The place to present, share and discuss topics and projects related to the workshop.
Introduction
Mobile devices have emerged as the “computing platform” for the 21st century.
Recent reports suggest that today there are more cell phones in many
countries than there are traditional desktop computers with almost 10 times more new cell phones sold than desktop or laptop
computers. With mobile devices, people can access information and share it
with a friend, a class, or an online community. With anytime, anywhere
computing, new advances must be made for information access and
interactivity. Today’s children expect active mobile technologies where they
too can access the Internet, capture and store multimedia data, and can
enable multiple forms of communication.
In recent years, researchers have been exploring the use of mobile devices for children’s educational applications. From data collection by children for field research to participatory physical simulations to use as mobile guides, to exploring mobile children’s digital libraries. Mobile devices have supported children in learning everything from language arts to science education. These mobile devices have ranged from PDAs and mobile phones to Internet Tablets and Ultra-Mobile PCs. Research in this area is being conducted in University labs (e.g., University of Maryland, University of Michigan, MIT, Open University, Carnegie Mellon) and industry (e.g., Google, Nokia, Microsoft, Kajeet, Intel, Sesame Workshop).
Given this important new area of research, it is critical that work for children be highlighted and understood by the greater research community. Therefore, we are organizing an NSF-sponsored workshop of academic researchers, industry experts, government specialists, and non-profit leaders focusing on this critical area. The range of topics we hope to cover will include:
- mobile scientific data collection by children
- emerging mobile hardware technologies that specifically support children
- mobile digital libraries for children
- mobile communication cultures and practices of children
- mobile collaboration
- sensor-driven applications for mobile applications for children
Workshop Goals
Goal 1: To better understand what leading research is being done in this
critical area -
As mobile computing emerges as a platform of choice, this workshop will help
to bring together the leading researchers in this area from academia and
industry. Given few opportunities to meet for researchers focusing primarily
on children’s mobile devises, this will be an important venue to bring
people together. Workshop participants will be asked as part of their
participation to present the current state of their work to the group.
Goal 2: To examine future research directions for the field - It is critical that future possibilities be explored by the group assembled. This can lead to possible new research initiatives in labs around the country, new government policies, and new funding initiatives for NSF. It can also inspire and support students defining their dissertation work in this area.
Goal 3: To disseminate the findings of this workshop widely - The greater communities of both mobile designers and designers of children’s technologies need to be educated as to the breadth, depth and importance of this work. Therefore, this workshop will aim to produce a special journal issue which compiles the results of our findings, and summarizes the state of the work in the field. Additional publishing possibilities will be explored which include books, online archives, and more.
Attending The Workshop
If you would like to attend this workshop, please send a one page
description of your work in the area with your reason for wanting to attend
to Profs. Druin or Bederson
who will decide on attendance based on available spots, balance, and
experience of participants. Funds will be available to offset your
expenses in traveling to attend the workshop.
Workshop Agenda
This workshop will be conducted in the newly expanded facilities of
the Human-Computer Interaction Lab on February 21-22, 2008. The workshop
will be conducted over a two-day period, which will include:
- Introductions
- Jason Bellone - United Nations
- Charlie Abelman - World Bank
- Participant Presentations (four 30-minute "keynotes", and 15-minute presentations by other attendees). Keynote presenters include:
- Walter Bender - President, Software and Content, One Laptop Per Child
- Allison Druin / Ben Bederson - UMD / International Children's Digital Library
- Ramon Morales - Intel
- Glenda Revelle - Sesame Workshop
- Yvonne Rogers - Open University, UK
- Analysis of Existing Research Areas
- Brainstorming Activities on Research Areas
- Workshop Outcomes & Next Steps
We will combine invited participants and people who respond to this call for participation, expecting approximately 25% of the participant slots for graduate students. For those responding to this call, an abstract of their current work will be reviewed by the two workshop organizers. We anticipate that the workshop will gather about 35 top researchers in the field as well as 2-3 NSF program officers.
Analysis and brainstorming techniques led by Allison Druin will be used to give participants a sense of the breadth of the research community. Based on Cooperative Inquiry, a frequency analysis will be conducted using such methods as post-it notes surveying. Brainstorming techniques using low-tech prototyping and scenario development will be used to explore deeply the problem space. All of these techniques have been used extensively in our research at the University of Maryland over almost a decade with a variety of research areas for children.
Confirmed Attendees
| Charlie | Abelman | World Bank |
| Ben | Bederson | University of Maryland |
| Jason | Bellone | United Nations |
| Walter | Bender | One Laptop Per Child |
| Tim | Browne | Int'l Children's Digital Library |
| David | Cavallo | One Laptop Per Child |
| Chris | Cerf | Sirius Thinking |
| Dixie | Ching | Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop |
| Seong-Uk | Choi | Samsung Telecommunications America |
| Nancy Ross | Dribin | Adler Planetarium |
| Allison | Druin | University of Maryland |
| Dan | Edelson | National Geographic |
| Christopher | Fabian | UNICEF |
| Jerry | Fails | University of Maryland |
| Evan | Golub | University of Maryland |
| Jim | Gray | Leapfrog |
| Dan | Greenblatt | Motorola |
| Lisa | Guernsey | Education, Science and Technology Writer |
| Mona Leigh | Guha | University of Maryland |
| Chris | Hoadley | Penn State |
| Richard | Holmes | State Department |
| Juan Pablo | Hourcade | University of Iowa |
| Anita | Komlodi | UMBC |
| Erica | Koshi | UNICEF |
| Mike | Lee | AARP |
| Michael | Levine | Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop |
| Robert | Mansur | Samsung Telecommunications America |
| Ramon | Morales | Intel (Mexico) |
| Cathie | Norris | University of North Texas |
| Liz | O'Connell | Wondervisions |
| Shelley | Pasnik | Center for Children and Technology |
| Judy | Perry | MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program |
| Jenny | Preece | University of Maryland |
| Alex | Quinn | University of Maryland |
| Glenda | Revelle | Sesame Workshop |
| Laura | Reynolds | K-8 Teacher |
| Yvonne | Rogers | Open University (UK) |
| Maria Joćo | Silva | Polytechnic Institute of Porto (Portugal) |
| Elliot | Soloway | University of Michigan |
| Ann | Weeks | University of Maryland |
| Lana | Yarosh | Georgia Tech |
| Seung Hun | Yoo | Samsung |
Draft Schedule
| Day 1: Thu, Feb 21, 2007 | |||||
| 8:30 bus from Inn & Conference Center to Hornbake | |||||
| Introductions | |||||
| 9-9:30 | Ben, Allison, Agenda, Everyone | ||||
| 9:30am-9:45am | 15 min | Welcome | Jason Bellone | United Nations | |
| 9:45am-10am | 15 min | Welcome | Charlie Abelman | World Bank | |
| Participant Presentations | |||||
| 10-10:30 am | 30 min | Keynote | Glenda Revelle | Sesame Workshop | |
| 10:30-10:45 am | 15 min | Jim Gray | Leapfrog | ||
| 10:45-11am am | 15 min | David Cavallo | One Laptop Per Child | ||
| 11-11:15 am | break | ||||
| 11:15-11:30 am | 15 min | Christopher Fabian | UNICEF | ||
| 11:30 - 11:45 am | 15 min | Elliot Soloway | University of Michigan | ||
| 11:45 - noon | 15 min | Cathie Norris | University of North Texas | ||
| noon - 12:15 pm | 15 min | Lisa Guernsey | Education, Science and Technology Writer | ||
| 12:15-1 pm | lunch | ||||
| 1-1:30 pm | 30 min | Keynote | Allison Druin & Ben Bederson | Univ. of Maryland | |
| 1:30-1:45 pm | 15 min | Shelley Pasnik | Center for Children & Technology | ||
| 1:45-2 pm | 15 min | Maria Joćo Silva | Polytechnic Institute of Porto (Portugal) | ||
| 2-2:15 pm | 15 min | Jenny Preece | Univ. of Maryland | ||
| 2:15-2:30 pm | 15 min | Nancy Ross Dribin | Adler Planetarium | ||
| 2:30-2:45 pm | 15 min | Laura Reynolds | K-8 Teacher | ||
| 2:45-3 pm | 15 min | Chris Hoadley | Penn State | ||
| 3-3:15 pm | 15 min | Mike Lee | AARP | ||
| 3:15-3:30 pm | 15 min | Juan Pablo Hourcade | Univ. of Iowa | ||
| 3:30-4 pm | break | Setup for demos | |||
| Demos & KidsTeam Workshop | |||||
| 4-5:30 pm | |||||
| Dinner @ Franklin's Restaurant (by bus) | |||||
| 6-8 pm | |||||
| 8 pm bus to Inn & Conference Center | |||||
| Day 2: Fri, Feb 22, 2007 | |||||
| 8:30 bus from Inn & Conference Center to Hornbake | |||||
| Participant Presentations | |||||
| 9-9:30 am | 30 min | Keynote | Ramon Morales | Intel (Mexico) | |
| 9:30-9:45 am | 15 min | Dan Edelson | National Geographic | ||
| 9:45-10 am | 15 min | Lana Yarosh | Georgia Tech | ||
| 10-10:30 am | 30 min | Keynote | Yvonne Rogers | Open University (UK) | |
| 10:30-11 am | break | ||||
| 11-11:15 am | 15 min | Chris Cerf | Sirius Thinking | ||
| 11:15-11:30 am | 15 min | Anita Komlodi | Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County | ||
| 11:30-11:45 am | 15 min | Judy Perry | MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program | ||
| 11:45-noon | 15 min | Liz O'Connell | Wondervisions | ||
| noon-12:30 pm | 30 min | Keynote | Walter Bender | One Laptop Per Child | |
| 12:30-1:30 pm | lunch | ||||
| Analysis of Research Areas | |||||
| 1:30-3:30 pm | |||||
| 3:30-3:45 pm | break | ||||
| Workshop Outcomes, next steps | |||||
| 3:45-5 pm | |||||