With the rapid growth of computer systems in home environments we need to expand our focus to ensure that interactions with computers have a positive impact on child development too. Drawing on IDEO's experience in product development for people from the very old to the very young, I shall take the optimistic view that access through interaction is a way forward for us all. Developing interactivity for all the senses - vision, hearing, touch. Making interaction active, social, and reflective. Recognizing that these challenges and opportunities represent an adult perspective, I shall discuss how we observe and evaluate children's wants and needs, and how their input can be reflected in the design of products.
Children are the technologically-literate consumers of our age.
Technology has irrevocably changed the way that children perceive, process and respond to their world. The best designs do not mimic technology, with 'look-alike' product, but rely on it. Children are ready for the real thing. Nowhere is this more evident than with computers. With them, we have forever altered the landscape of learning and of childhood, opening educational possibilities never before imagined.