Safer Internet Day 2014: intense participation of POSCON network members

This year’s Safer Internet Day is celebrated under the motto “Let’s create a better internet together” – a slogan that obviously very much meets POSCON’s overall scope and project objectives. The Thematic Network and its members are thus intensively involved in SID 2014, all over Europe. Find more details below – and, by the way: POSCON has set up a twitter account (@positivecontent) where the interested public can follow on news considering positive content and services. 

 

Participation at the high level round table and European Awards Ceremony for Best Online Content for Kids in Brussels

POSCON will take part in the future looking round table organized by the European Commission and chaired by the Director General of DG CONNECT Robert Madelin in Brussels in the afternoon of February 11. The event brings together key stakeholders from all sides of the digital community: Safer Internet network, industry representative of the CEO Coalition, young people, representatives and experts from Member States, NGOs and researchers, as well as representatives from different Commission and EU services.

The debate will be followed by a speech by Vice-President Neelie Kroes at the European Award ceremony for Best Online Content for Kids Award where the European winners of the Award will be announced. The Thematic Network POSCON was intensively involved in the preparations for the European Award For Best Content For Kids and has shaped the main features of the competition and delivered the concept and suggestions on how to organize and run the competition. 

POSCON Network Member on Safer Internet Day 2014:

Various POSCON Network Members also participate in or organize SID events themselves. Below you can find a couple of examples: 

Czech Republic - Safer Internet Center 

The SID 2014 will be opened traditionally by the press conference - a range of events and documents will be introduced to media. First of all the fourth annual round of the nationwide competition: Schools, public libraries, public internet access points, organisations and individuals as well as the Czech network of information centers for youth will be invited to organize different events – lessons, workshops, discussions, exhibitions - promoting the safer use of the internet. The events will be announced on the Saferinternetday.cz web and displayed on the map of the Czech Republic. The most popular events will be awarded a Czech Safer Internet Day 2014 prize. For more information please visit: http://www.saferinternetday.org/web/czech-republic/home

Denmark - MovieStarPlanet

The events for SID 2014 will be organised and produced within the MovieStarPlanet online community: There will be events on safer internet issues and creating a better internet together. Children can take part in the theme and update their knowledge to gain new insights into online safety. Special pop ups with messages about SID 2014 will appear within the game, when users log on. Many other actions will be taken to promote SID 2014. For more information please visit: http://www.saferinternetday.org/web/moviestarplanet-aps/home

MovieStarPlanet will also be attending the Danish Safer Internet Centre special debate at SID, taking place at the Danish Media Council.  

Germany

fragFINN

FINN’s web rallye: On the search engine for children www.fragfinn.de children can complete an online quiz of 9 tricky questions raising awareness on safer internet issues. All answers can be searched on participating websites for children: http://www.fragfinn.de/kinderliste/quiz.html

School workshop at Christburg primary school in Berlin: Based on the children’s guidebook “Internet guide for kids” fragFINN has developed three stations focusing on different safer internet topics. During games, group work and practical exercises children will learn how to use search engines, how to safely communicate in chats or social networks and how to protect their personal data online. The event is organized together with the German child welfare association Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk (DKHW) and the Voluntary Self-Monitoring Organisation of Multimedia Service Providers (FSM).

jugendschutz.net/klick-tipps.net

jugendschutz.net will present its media pedagogical services “Klick-Tipps.net” (weekly recommendation of positive content and services for children) and “Meine Startseite” (“My Homepage” for children) in the context of a day of action in the Museum of Communication in Frankfurt/Main. http://www.mfk-frankfurt.de/safe-internet-day/

LMK / klicksafe

LMK as coordinator of the German Awareness Centre klicksafe initiates and coordinates activities and events on Safer Internet Day and collects and publishes information on all SID projects on www.klicksafe.de/sid. As the central element of the SID campaign klicksafe will organise a press conference in Berlin in cooperation with several partners. New material for parents on the topic of "mobile internet" will be published on SID; furthermore, klicksafe offers a range of online materials and activities for schools and everyone interested around the topics "better internet" and "mobile internet", at www.klicksafe.de/sid and www.klicksafe.de/sid-mitmachen.

 

Greece

A high profile conference for celebrating the SAFER INTERNET DAY 2014: “Lets Create a Better Internet Together” will take place at the premises of the National Centre for Scientific Research DEMOKRITOS (NCSR “D”) in Greece on February 11, with 460 registered attendees. The conference which is co-organised by the Greek Safer Internet Centre (SIC) and NCSR D under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Education and Religion will be moderated in its entirety by SIC’s Youth Panel, showcasing the safe and creative Internet. In the conference, a theatrical festival will take place on the day of SID 2014, where 6 shortlisted theatrical sketches by primary schools and kindergartens will be performed in front of an audience and a jury will nominate the top three. 17 music videos created by high school for SID2014, will be shown in the conference foyer, while 4 of the schools-creators, will answer questions about how we can all together make the Internet a better place. Furthermore, hundreds of poems about the safe and creative Internet will be showcased on special walls in the conference foyer. The conference will be also broadcasted live at http://vod.sch.gr/video/iptv/646.

Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications website: https://www.iit.demokritos.gr/news/saferinternetday2014

National Centre for Scientific Research DEMOKRITOS website: http://www.demokritos.gr/Contents.aspx?lang=gr&CatId=1042&View=18

Iceland - Safer Internet Center Iceland

On SID 2014 SAFT will organize a one day conference. The first part of the conference will focus on this year’s SID topic. The latter part is organized as a follow up to the first Icelandic IGF meeting held at SID 2011, with number of different workshop and with participation of different stakeholders. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Ministry of Welfare and Ministry of Interior will participate – all ministers will address the conference. The Youth Panel will play a big role, i.e. in preparation and sitting in the panel of six workshops organized. As previously the conference will be streamed online. The SID spot will be aired online on all 3 major TV stations in Iceland on SID.  For more information please visit: http://www.saferinternetday.org/web/iceland/home

The Netherlands

Mijn Kind Online organises a symposium about the near future of the internet and the consequences for parenting and teaching: Internet has caused a revolution. What did it bring children and what can we expect in the future? What are the challenges? What do we have to know as parents and as professional to guide children and youngsters in a good way?                                                             

Several speakers will talk about privacy and technology related to youngsters. http://mijnkindonline.nl/artikelen/symposium-mijn-kind-online-11-februari

Mijn Kind Online will also launch the new publication 'The best free apps for children'. 

Further events will be e.g. a talk show about misuse of privacy-information from children. http://www.saferinternetday.nl/ or the premiere of Like, an interactive theatershow for youngsters about cyberbullying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjR8F_E5zY8

Portugal - The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) prepared a kit with all the resources and tutorials of the Safer Internet Centre (SIC) developed for awareness and training initiatives for children, teenagers, educators, parents and social workers. Then, all over the country, Municipalities, Public libraries, NGO's, Digital Inclusion Centres, Public Libraries, School Libraries, City Halls, Parishes, Cultural and Leisure Associations, amongst other institutions that work towards the improvement of digital literacy and digital safety, received an invitation to promote activities locally. The SIC provides guidance and physical tools to support the activities. More than 45000 booklets and leaflets are being sent. These activities will take place between the 10th and the 28th of February 2014. For more information please visit: http://www.saferinternetday.org/web/portugal/home

United Kingdom

From 12-8pm on Safer Internet Day, the UK Safer Internet Centre will present SID TV online, a live TV show at www.saferinternetdaytv.com with advice and practical information from experts and providers such as Facebook, Twitter and BT for teachers, young people and parents on internet safety and issues such as cyberbullying, sexting, parental controls, reporting and privacy.

Also further events will happen for the day in the UK, e.g.  

• Safer Internet Day quiz – for young people, schools and families
• Films on our YouTube channel to promote the day
• 400 organisations have already registered to support the day
• Beth Tweddle, Olympic gymnast and Dancing on Ice star, has pledged her support for SID
• The SID youth event at Microsoft’s offices will be opened by Maria Miller MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Beth Tweddle
• Advice for parents – including conversation starters and top tips
• Youth page to encourage young people to get creative and be a good friend online this SID

Interview with the usability-expert Wouter Sluis-Thiescheffer, KidsRnD

The Miffy Tablet Usability Test

Remco Pijpers, CEO of Mijn Kind Online and POSCON Network Member  interviewed Wouter Sluis-Thiescheffer, KidsRnD


Can you tell me more about the Nijntje project?

The Miffy Tablet Usability Test was conducted by me in 2012 with User Intelligence. The study was setup to find out about the usability of tablet applications for very young users (<6). Miffy (Nijntje) has iconic status in the Netherlands and is internationally famous. My colleagues and me thought that an iconic character in an app will indefinitely attract attention and it was assumed it would set a high standard upon its release. 

The app landscape in 2012 was (and still is) quite rough, especially for the very young and their parents. App catalogues (like Apple’s appstore and Google’s Play) did not have a clear age indication, nor were the categories providing clear direction. For example the term “educational” was used for both “useful in the educational setting” and for “this app will teach your child something new”. Alternatives for making a choice, like review sites, were released every day, each with their own review process, target group and rating system. Making an informed choice is therefore a laboursome process. So how were parents supposed to find an appropriate app?

The release of “Miffy in the Garden” was a relief in that sense. The character Miffy is connected with a clear age indication, safe and appropriate content is guaranteed. The app was a popular download from day 1. It was also a very well timed release, the public press started to draw attention to the fact that very young children were experienced tablet users. YouTube was starting to fill up with examples of excited parents showing babies as young as 2 months old interacting with a tablet.

However a structural approach to developing guidelines for the usability of a tablet by the very young had yet to be developed. Therefore I thought it would make an interesting case to subject the first release of Miffy to a usability test with 2-4 year olds.

Can you briefly explain the app “Miffy in the Garden”?

Miffy in the Garden is an app rich in different activities. The app contains the interactive picture book “Miffy in the Garden” and three games: (1) counting carrots; (2) shadow game and (3) make your own garden.

The book can be read to you with the prerecorded voice, it can be read by the child itself and it can be read accompanied by a custom recorded voice.

With that functionality, the supports two usage scenario’s. (1) A caretaker (e.g. a parent or older child) reading the book “Miffy in the Garden” to and with a child and (2) the child using the iPad on his/her own.

So, what did you do exactly and how did you test?

The app was tested with seven children, two 2-year olds, two 3-year olds and three 4-year olds. Since I was mostly interested in the usability for young children, I only tested the second scenario, a child using the iPad on his/her own.

The two-year olds were tested in the home environment, the older children were tested in the usability lab. To keep the children comfortable in the one-on-one setting, the parent was always close by and visibly present to the child. Naturally, the parents were asked not to interfere with the activities and responses of their child.

The children were asked to perform three tasks: to find and launch the app, to play each game and to read the book.

What kind of issues did you find?

Overall, the Miffy app was very well designed. The visual language, the animations and transitions are clear and calm matching the Miffy style. The voice over (and reading voice) is recorded in a very high quality, crisp and clear, calm and comforting throughout the app. The quality of the voice is very important for this young age group as they are in the middle of their language development.

Also, all children found it easy to find and launch the app. They were all familiar with the “swipe to unlock” bar and flipped through the pages looking for the Miffy Icon to launch the app. The icon was available from a page.

However, the two and three year olds had considerable problems to go through the splash screen.

They expected that the character would take them to the next step, as they tapped on Miffy, ignoring the country flags. Although it is understandable from a business point of view (one app for all stores), two- and three year old children cannot be expected to read nor to understand country flags. They would ask the parent for help or would simply give up.

Another important issue was found in the games. The younger children found the “fruit shadow game” slightly too difficult. The two year olds and one three year old had a tendency to use multiple fingers (some from one hand and some from both hands) or use one finger and lean on the screen with the remainder of their hand. The fruits would not respond very well to the gestures of the two year olds. 

Also, the multi-finger input would sometimes lead to unwanted behavior. In some cases the app closed and in others the app changed to the previously opened app. The four year olds found the games too simple and were easily bored.

Finally what is important to mention is that when using the iPad in the home environment. For the two- and three-year olds the iPad is large and heavy device. When reading from the iPad on the couch they often need one hand to support the iPad in the right viewing angle while they interact with the other.

What changed and what did not after that first release?

In subsequent releases of the app the app improved on accounting for the motor skills for the very young. The Miffy app will not allow a swipe from the Miffy app to a previously opened app directly, allowing a two year old for example to accidentally send emails. Also, the app will not close any more after a grasping gesture. And the accuracy for controlling the games has been improved. 

The splash screen remained the same and so did the inability to recover from accidentally starting the record functionality.

So in general, how do you go about when testing with young children?

First I estimate what kind of information I need and whether the children in the target age group can provide me with this type of information. In the Miffy case, it was important to find information about the children’s behavior. Therefore it was crucial to observe the children directly. 

In other cases, when Ì want to have a conversation about motivations, or when I want to test with a functional design I consider to work with experts about the user group. Children in this age have too short a concentration span to go through an hour of usability testing. In addition, their verbal skills are not yet matured enough to reflect reliably on what they do. So, instead of children I involve for example parents, kindergarten teachers etcetera. These experts are then asked to go through the application on behalf of the children with a validated evaluation method.

When working with young children directly it is essential that they are comfortable in the testing environment. In the lab setting I often play introductory games with the children while their parents are close by. Once the child is comfortable with the test moderator, I often ask the parents to move a bit more into the background. Testing in the home environment is a good alternative. 

Children are sensitive to power-structures in the adult-child setting. This can influence a test heavily as children feel the need to “do it right” or to give “the right answer”. To soften this effect even more, I sometimes work with more children in one setting. For example in focus groups or in a peer tutoring setting. Peer tutoring puts one child in the role of a teacher, teaching a younger child what an app is about. This setting is very resourceful. The explanations of the teaching child provides insights in the mental model of the app for that child, coping strategies when stuck etc. The younger child provides insights in what is intuitive and what is not.

When working with children in a group setting there is even more to take into account, for example age differences, gender differences and group size. Homogeneous groups are recommended, both in age and gender. Children are very sensitive to age differences and a difference of two years can affect their behavior already. Similarly, children of around five to eight like to be in same-gender groups as the other gender is not appreciated. Children older than twelve years of age are often best consulted in  same-gender groups for opposite reasons. Concerning group size, I often work with five to eight children in one group. A smaller number often results in parallel interviews rather than a group, a larger group is hard to control.

Do you have design recommendations when designing for a young target audience? 
The findings of the usability study became part of our presentation Tablets and Kids. Released by User Intelligence and published on SlideShare.

Test often and test early.

The context of use is most informative about the effect for example:  

1. motor skills proficiency on the gestures,
2. the size of the children vs the size the tablet, and
3. the usage scenario

• single vs supported usage,
• usage on a table vs usage on a couch,
• usage as first screen vs second screen
• usage with pawns or with fingers
• etc.

     Provide a clear app store description

Design to empower

1. Reinforce children’s mental models
2. Support children’s motor skills
3. Allow for accidental success
   

Design to grow 

• Integrate complexity to address children at different stages of development

Keep the navigation structure consistent and shallow 
  
Mind the edges, they are often used to control the tablet, not so much the app.

Contact

KidsRnD

Wouter Sluis-Thiescheffer

wouter@kidsrnd.com (website in development)