Tobe: A Virtual Keyboard and an Animated Character for Individual and Educational Cyberbullying Intervention

Abstract

As the use of communication on social media among children increases, the cyberbullying phenomena is becoming a prominent challenge. We present the preliminary design of Tobe, a virtual keyboard that provides textual and visual feedback in real-time to help prevent harmful discourse on social media among elementary school-aged children. The widget is designed based on two unique principles: (1) An empathy based feedback mechanism which involves an animated character and verbal statements (both positive and negative); (2) A class specific solution in which children and the teacher build a vocabulary of words together. This element provides transparency as to why feedback was shown at any given moment, and can increase cooperation and empowerment for both the teacher and the children. We present the human centered design process and early results from a user study with 12 children. Our findings show high engagement with the system, and user awareness before texting.