A Board-Game for Co-Designing Smart Nature Environments in Workshops with Children

Abstract

In recent years, the Human Computer Interaction community has increasingly engaged children in the design process of technology for them as co-designers, and recently as protagonists in co-design. It has also recognised the need of “bringing children back to nature”. This paper combines both lines of research, giving children the role of protagonist co-designers of smart nature ecosystems. In order to engage children as co-designers, the research reported in this paper has employed a playful solution: a board game for children for co-designing smart interactive objects for outdoors nature ecosystems. This paper illustrates the genesis and recent evolution of the board-game in two workshops with children of different ages and gender. Its conclusions draw lessons for involving children as protagonist co-designers of smart nature ecosystems.