Issues of access and usability in designing digital resources for children

Submitted by mlb78 on Fri, 09/16/2016 - 17:24
TitleIssues of access and usability in designing digital resources for children
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsMartens, Marianne
JournalLibrary and Information Science Research
Volume34
Issue3
Pagination159-168
ISSN Number0740-8188
Keywordschildren, cognitive disability, Interface design
AbstractThe way children's cognitive states affect how they function in digital interfaces is examined through articles published between 1989 and 2010. Children have developmental limitations, such as underdeveloped motor skills, difficulties with spelling, and trouble understanding hierarchies, classification schemes, and metadata, that make it difficult for them to find information, and challenging for adult designers to accommodate their needs. From icons to metadata to hierarchies, the best research in designing digital resources for children, (OPACs such as Pejtersen's Book House, online public libraries such as the Internet Public Library, and online collections of books such as the International Children's Digital Library), places the child user at the center, and takes an interdisciplinary and intergenerational approach. The literature indicates that research in designing for children is valuable, not only because it seeks to improve children's experience with digital resources, but also because such research translates to other marginalized users and special needs populations. (c) 2012 Elsevier Inc.
NotesThis study is a literature review of articles mainly focusing on interface design for children with developmental limitations from 1989 to 2010. Ages of children under study ranged from 7 to 12 and the research classified digital resources for children into three types, namely online public access catalogs, online virtual libraries and digital collections for children. In particular, it compared the ICDL project with other children's book projects such as the Rosetta Project and the Gutenberg's Children's Bookshelf Project in terms of interface design. Then, it reviewed the cognitive challenges that children might meet with, with the corresponding interface design that could improve it.
URLhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2011.12.003
DOI10.1016/j.lisr.2011.12.003