TinkRBook: Authors: Angela Chang, Cynthia Breazeal

Affiliation: MIT Media Lab ã 2011

TinkRBook is an interactive platform that supports storytelling behaviors for parents reading to preschoolers (2-5 year olds). Readers dynamically explore meaning as conveyed by the relationship of text to illustrated concept during shared parent-child reading.

! Focus on the socio-cultural experience! By first understanding the context of use, we

were able to identify the function of primer books as storytelling prompts. This influenced the design goal to support and enhance existing behaviors.

! Consutling a broad array of domain experts, many with parent-child reading experience, allowed us to draw from a wealth of thoughtful solutions and userful considerations for the design of a shared-reading interface.

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APPROACH

INTERVIEWEES

Design vignettes to support preexisting rituals. Prototype some new interactions that provide new functionality.2

Participatory design interviews identify the best practices for interactive storytelling, and co-invent new solutions.3

Shared Reading Interfaces for StorytellingShared Reading Interfaces for Storytelling

PROCEDURE

How do people use books in parent-child reading? Ethnography: Identify existing storytelling behaviors that interactivity 1should support.

HYPOTHESIS

DESIGN VIGNETTE RESULTING IDEAS

! Interactivity can be designed to support existing storytelling behaviors.! Interactivity can prompt new storytelling

behaviors that allow parents to demonstrate how words are diegetically related to concepts.

Underlining words to highlight visual content

Typing sentences using vocabulary, see the visualization

Using voice to control a character

Using gestures to navigate a story

PROBLEM

?How to support and enhance existing shared reading practices? How can interactivity change the way parents teach their children how to read?

ETHNOGRAPHYObserved shared book reading interactions! physical proximity! vocal expression! finger pointing and hand gestures! shared visual referencing! Page turning and book manipulation

BOOKS ARE STORYTELLING PROMPTSPhysical books enable physical proximity providing shared visual referencing Parent and child both see the book. They might navigate the book together (using page turning or reorienting the book).Multisensory expression: Parents and children make expressive sounds and gestures to draw attention to content. These activities act out the narrative: finger pointing. making sounds, voice acting, reading aloud, asking questions or talking while gesturing to the book. The pictures and words prompt storytelling behavior.

24 people were interviewed12 females12 males16 parentsThese people were from professionalstorytelling, digital media arts and, early literacy domains.

Sketches and mockups demonstrating:! Developmental

appropriateness! Making choices through

storytelling activity (dragging objects, voice acting)

! Commonsense response to input

! Multisensory interactions

14 parent-child pairs were recordedReading a favorite book at home.

CommonsenseScenario

Choices appear depending on interaction

modality

Participant sketch

Speech can change the text. Here the user

repeated moos, and the text is changed

diegetically.

Multisensory combination of text and speech alter the narrative.

When people tell stories,the words they choose affects the

image in their mind.

A book provides a shared reference that they can refer to externally while speaking.

The images in the book can also influence their internal

representation.