Title: Mobile stories: the evolution of a mobile, collaborative story reading and creation tool for children

Authors: Jerry Alan Fails; Allison Druin; Mona Leigh Guha

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, Montclair State University, Richardson Hall RI-309, Montclair NJ 07043, USA ' Human-Computer Interaction Lab, University of Maryland, 2117H Hornbake Bldg, South Wing, College Park, MD 20742, USA ' Human-Computer Interaction Lab, University of Maryland, 2117H Hornbake Bldg, South Wing, College Park, MD 20742, USA

Abstract: This paper discusses design iterations of mobile stories – a mobile technology that empowers children to collaboratively read and create stories. We present the design and discuss the impact of different collocated collaborative configurations for mobile devices including content splitting and space sharing. We share design experiences that illustrate how mobile stories support collaboration and mobility, and identify how the collocated collaborative configurations are best suited for reading and sharing tasks. We also identify how creative tasks foster more mobility and dynamic interactions between collaborators.

Keywords: children; mobile devices; collaboration; mobility; constructionism; narrative systems; narrative tools; mobile stories; user interfaces; writing stories; creating stories; collaborative reading; mobile devices; content splitting; space sharing; child reading.

DOI: 10.1504/IJART.2012.046276

International Journal of Arts and Technology, 2012 Vol.5 No.2/3/4, pp.244 - 270

Published online: 27 Nov 2014 *

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