Lessons Learned from Designing Children's Interactive

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Lessons Learned from Designing Children's Interactive Lessons Learned from Designing Children’s Interactive Narratives Angela Chang1, Pei-Yu Chi1, Nick Montfort2, Cynthia Breazeal1, and Henry Lieberman1 1 The Media Laboratory 2 Writing and Humanistic Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology {anjchang, peggychi}@mit.edu, [email protected], {cynthiab, lieber}@media.mit.edu ABSTRACT In light of the informal use of interactive narrative by young Designing interactive narrative for children requires children, it seems that the field of interactive fiction (IF) awareness of the cognitive abilities of young readers. In this does not explicitly target works to young children. paper, we propose design principles based on knowledge of Although a few interactive fiction pieces claim to be children's cognitive psychology research. The principles suitable for children, we are interested in the audience of demonstrate how a children's interactive narrative can allow very young children. Works like A Bear’s Night Out or for creative play and avoid frustration. Furthermore, we WishBringer may reference childhood themes (e.g. teddy present an interaction design strategy aimed to reduce bears or postal mail; see http://www.ifwiki.org). These memory load and focus on story understanding. By using “children-oriented” works provide a simplified plot simple and encouraging discourse through short interactive compared to what exists in adult-oriented pieces. A playful prompts, electronic fiction can be used to craft delightful dialogue diffuses the sense of danger that normally and interesting literature for children. surrounds interactive fiction. Although these adaptations are accessible to young audiences, we are interested in Author Keywords looking further at how to construct enjoyable interaction Children, interactive narrative, storytelling fiction experiences. In particular, we are interested in how to appeal to young children who are learning how to read. INTRODUCTION Our approach is to design around the cognitive limitations Designing interactive narrative for children requires of young children ages 1-5 and examine the existing awareness of the cognitive abilities of young readers. There storytelling rituals at these ages. are many developmental stages necessary before children can understand narrative. Young children innately want to Informed by Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development develop the ability to articulate themselves through choice [9] framework, we believe that puzzles in the existing of grammar, and construct logical sequences of events into works are too sophisticated for young children to play. a story. Socially, children learn about empathy and Children from 1 to 3 years have very short attention spans, communication through realizing that narrative delivery and are easily distracted by sensory displays. The affects people’s perception and relationships. sequentially rigorous nature of solving problems in traditional IF prose requires the ability to perform Beginning at preschool age, children engage in oral sequenced operations on abstract items, navigate a multi- storytelling and dramatic play to experiment with narrative room map, and solve puzzles in order to “win” the game. rd variation. From kindergarten to 3 grade, participant-led These tasks require focus, memory and abstraction that very storytelling activities are a part of many classrooms [6]. young children do not possess. An IF story that supports Children often change narratives to explore alternate their shortened attention span and provides quick identities, reorder narrative events, and play with time encouragement from small interactions would be better within stories as part of pretend play. Adapting and altering suited to their developmental abilities. narratives are an inherent part of how a child learns about social roles, logical thinking, and story construction. We Another aspect of storytelling ritual is the explicit inclusion observe that storytelling play is a primitive form of oral of social cooperation. Young children do not tell stories interactive narrative. alone; they tell stories to other young children or adults. Quick, short pieces of dialogue and negotiation between INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING FOR CHILDREN people are a key part of storytelling for young children. Dialogue that references familiar everyday objects can make the topics less abstract. Furthermore, supporting ELO_AI 2010: The 4th International Conference & Festival of the vocally expressive dialogue (e.g. by using sound effects, Electronic Literature Organization, June 3–6, 2010, Providence, Rhode alliteration or onomatopoeia) encourages the oral Island, USA. performance of the text. Using sensory references (e.g. such 1 as referencing parts of the human body within the text) can ask a child to select the things to interact with. The story make the experience enjoyable and educational. Young begins with a description of the setting. children are learning how to read, and they rely on their You have arrived to observe the wildlife in the sight and sounds to scaffold learning. We believe that adult- supported storytelling using an IF narrative that lush green wilderness. You examine the wilderness full of lush greenery. incorporates these features will provide an enjoyable IF experience for young children. - Wilderness full of lush greenery - TWO EXAMPLE INTERACTIVE NARRATIVES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN You see yourself standing in the wilderness full We have designed two technologies specifically to reduce of lush greenery. The scene contains a mother the cognitive load and increase dialogic interaction. In this duck, a red rose, a sparkling pond full of clean section, we briefly present the lessons learned from two water, a flower, a duckling, a ball, a pebble, and example interactive narrative systems, Baby Duck Takes a a puddle of mud. What do you want to play Bath and A Little Quiz for the Little Hare. Both works with? target young children in the early stage of learning story As the parent reads the lines, they can reference themselves construction. in the real world (e.g. point at the child for “duckling”). The Baby Duck is a multi-sequential narrative where the user simple objects in the story can even be physically present in can explore how a duckling can become dirty or clean by front of the readers. When the readers make a choice or interacting with its habitat. The state of the characters command in the fictional world, the interaction can (including a mother duck and duckling) results from simultaneously occur in the real world. The parent may manipulating elements within the small story world. The touch or point to the objects in the physical space. narrative changes according to the user's interactions, The parent and child can explore picking up the different allowing for change in perspective, agency and attitude in objects and examining them, using the narration as a script. real-time. The narrative text describes objects simply, but the parent The Little Quiz system aims to teach young children the might embellish during the reading (“the red ball” or “the concepts of physical measurement and comparison through shiny pebble”). the conversation between two characters. Based on players' (continued) intention of exploring the story world in different ways, the >look pebble narrative dynamically changes using a commonsense knowledge database and reasoning techniques. You look at the pebble. Our approach to designing children’s interactive narrative A small rock. considers how children experience interactive story content. The basic principles of this approach are to provide small >look flower interactive, contextual interactive content, and simple flexible inputs. You look at the flower. The pretty flower here is the kind often found Case 1: Baby Duck Takes a Bath in the wild. The flower is dirty. Baby Duck is a multi-sequential narrative where the user The plot evolves as the users interact with these story items. can explore an interactive story world. The story is The experience relies on the imagination of the parent to implemented in the Curveship interactive fiction system [4] bring references out of the virtual world into the physical and can express a story using a range of narrative world. For example, in the story, the user can clean or dirty variations. For example, the narration can be prophetic, items by interacting with the different bodies of water. A personal, or surprised. In this piece, interacting with different objects in the world can control the duckling’s parent might demonstrate a physical ball getting clean in a cup of water, and make splashing sounds as she narrates the state. The duckling will become dirty or clean and have cleaning. approval or disapproval from the mother duck depending on the actions of the user. There are two characters and four (continued) common objects (a ball, pebble, a red rose, and a flower). >put flower in water The story world is the pond, and the objects around the pond. You wash the flower in the the sparkling pond full of clean water. Interactive Process The system is designed for parent and child to read >look flower together. Ideally, the parent would read the story aloud and You look at the flower. The pretty flower here 2 is the kind often found in the wild. The flower is goes, etc. In the original story, the two characters compare clean. each other’s expression continuously to greater measurements, and end with a relatively large scale: the The duck characters can also go into the water, causing a distance to the moon (and back). This storytelling process change in the state. The moral impact of dirty or clean can inspires us to design an interactive system to allow readers be a topic of discussion between the parent and child. The to “brainstorm” a way to express themselves, interact with small responses given by the system in response to a the narrative based on their interests, and learn from the command allows children to make an immediate connection exploration. between cause and effect. Interactive Process (continued) The following shows how the system begins the narration: >look duckling You look at the duckling. Here is a little ---------------------------------------- duckling who seems to be your friend.
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