Rafigh: A Living Media System for Motivating Target Application Use for Children

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dc.contributor.advisorBaljko, Melanie A.
dc.creatorHamidi, Foad
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-20T16:57:24Z
dc.date.available2016-09-20T16:57:24Z
dc.date.copyright2016-02-22
dc.date.issued2016-09-20
dc.date.updated2016-09-20T16:57:24Z
dc.degree.disciplineComputer Science
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractDigital living media systems combine living media such as plants, animals and fungi with computational components. In this dissertation, I respond to the question of how can digital living media systems better motivate children to use target applications (i.e., learning and/or therapeutic applications)? To address this question, I employed a participatory design approach where I incorporated input from children, parents, speech language pathologists and teachers into the design of a new system. Rafigh is a digital embedded system that uses the growth of a living mushrooms colony to provide positive reinforcements to children when they conduct target activities. The growth of the mushrooms is affected by the amount of water administered to them, which in turn corresponds to the time children spend on target applications. I used an iterative design process to develop and evaluate three Rafigh prototypes. The evaluations showed that the system must be robust, customizable, and should include compelling engagement mechanisms to keep the children interested. I evaluated Rafigh using two case studies conducted in participants homes. In each case study, two siblings and their parent interacted with Rafigh over two weeks and the parents identified a series of target applications that Rafigh should motivate the children to use. The study showed that Rafigh motivated the children to spend significantly more time on target applications during the intervention phase and that it successfully engaged one out of two child participants in each case study who showed signs of responsibility, empathy and curiosity towards the living media. The study showed that the majority of participants described the relationship between using target applications and mushrooms growth correctly. Further, Rafigh encouraged more communication and collaboration between the participants. Rafighs slow responsivity did not impact the engagement of one out of two child participants in each case study and might even have contributed to their investment in the project. Finally, Rafighs presence as an ambient physical object allowed users to interact with it freely and as part of their home environment.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/32261
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectComputer science
dc.subject.keywordsDigital living media systems
dc.subject.keywordsHuman-Computer Interaction
dc.subject.keywordsDigital Media
dc.subject.keywordsDesign of Interactive Systems
dc.subject.keywordsMushrooms
dc.subject.keywordsChildren
dc.subject.keywordsChildren with disabilities
dc.subject.keywordsRapid prototyping
dc.subject.keywordsResearch through Design
dc.subject.keywordsParticipatory Design with Proxies
dc.titleRafigh: A Living Media System for Motivating Target Application Use for Children
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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