Problem Area
Children's interactions and time spent outdoors and within nature are decreasing. There are many reasons, the biggest being increased use of technology. As a result, children spend more time indoors, which affects their physical, social and mental health: children are not as active, children are not socialising, and children feel more lonely.
Children's interactions and time spent outdoors and within nature are decreasing. There are many reasons, the biggest being increased use of technology. As a result, children spend more time indoors, which affects their physical, social and mental health: children are not as active, children are not socialising, and children feel more lonely.
Considering children enjoy using and understand technology, this project investigates whether technology integrated into outdoor environments can make playing outdoors more attractive and fun for children.
The Drum
The Drum is a technology-enhanced play artefact which contributes light and colour to children's outdoor play. The Drum uses a Circuit Playground Arduino board placed within a physical design reminiscent of a drum.
The Drum is a technology-enhanced play artefact which contributes light and colour to children's outdoor play. The Drum uses a Circuit Playground Arduino board placed within a physical design reminiscent of a drum.
The Drum features two elastic bands which allow the Drum to be hung on and attached to trees. Meanwhile, the plastic knobs allow multiple Drums to be attached to each other.
The user can create different colours by 'hitting' the Drum using various combinations of taps and lengths of presses. Each colour has a different sound associated with it, which plays after each colour's input has been successful.
The Drum is programmed to be a pattern maker. Once the user has chosen five colours, these colours create a pattern, which is displayed until the Drum is reset and the user creates a new pattern.
Process
Primary research for this project consisted of a workshop with families to understand how children conduct outdoor play. The workshop involved observations and interviews with the children focused on what they played, how they facilitated their play, and whether there was a reason behind their play.
The workshop results were analysed using content analysis, identifying a theme of construction, which became the focus of a brainstorming session conducted with fellow HCI researchers.
The brainstorming session generated the first design idea: a pressure-based lamp that produced random colours. The idea developed to include the elastic bands and plastic knobs, sound as feedback, and an initial state that would encourage children to interact.
The design was tested in a user-testing session with adults alongside two ideas. The first additional idea was the user must press the design a certain number of times to produce different colours, an idea inspired by the Fibonacci sequence. The second idea was a pattern maker, where the user had 5 seconds to input different combinations of presses to generate a pattern that would play after the 5 seconds were complete.
The pattern maker was the preferred design, and after the final design iteration, it became The Drum. The final design iteration: added the duration of presses to produce different colours, a method to hide the technology while showing the coloured light, and better weatherproofing.
The Drum was tested in a user-testing session with children to understand how The Drum affected their outdoor play experience through observations and interviews with the children.
