Invisibly Entangled: When Children Meet a System of Connected Components

Today many children encounter Internet of Things (IoT) devices and systems of connected products in their daily contexts and activities such as learning, play, and helping in the household. When designing computational systems that children can understand and use, making sense of a child’s perspective of system behaviors is a challenge for HCI practitioners and researchers, particularly when targeting an informal, undirected learning experience. To build design knowledge on how children approach and make sense of novel interactive system concepts, we have designed and implemented a system of ten connected components, which was deployed at a local Maker Faire. This case study reports on design requirements, data design process, observations from and reflections on the deployment with respect to the young visitors’ interactions with the implemented system behaviors. We conclude with a discussion of insights and future possibilities.