I have began to research servomotors and began putting together a schematic in order to begin preliminarily construction on the physical prototype of my visual component. I am currently debating whether it would be better to use a solid body core construction of the bear with a soft body built around it or if I should fore go the solid skeletal construction and have the servos mounted within the body of the plush animal. I think that the second option would allow for a softer plush and I do not think it would effect the overall body or movement of the servomotors. The arms and legs would need to have a durable rod of some sort in order to control the movement of the arms, legs and head but it should be padded enough so that they would not interfere with the overall comfort for the child.

Overall, progress goes well. I am meeting with Roger Sova again the week to consult with him over the best type of servomotors I should be looking at. I think I will get the actual body for the prototype bear at the local Build-A-Bear store. The back of the bear can be unthreaded and I can insert the servomotors and skeletal structure inside.

This past week has been taken up mainly for preparing for the 45- hour review process but I spent a bit of time working on a rough, rough draft of my thesis paper as well as adjusted my Gap Analysis. I have modified when I will build a physical toy prototype until my actual thesis topic is approved due to the overall labor and material costs that will be involved. I would hate to begin something and have to seriously revise something after spending many hours and much money. Of course after adjusting those dates I also adjusted the revision dates for that as well as final adjustments. User testing was slightly adjusted as well with some overlap carried into the final revision stage. In addition to that I moved the date of the thesis paper draft forward to coincide with last week’s assignment in ITGM765 as well as adjusted the 2nd and final drafts.

I am pretty happy with the progress so far. This past week I also had another conversation with Roger Sova, whom I mentioned about in an earlier post, about using servos in conjunction with some C++ programming to handle the physical movement of the toy bear prototype. I am very much looking forward to how it all comes together.

Below is my modified Gap Analysis.

While combing over various journal articles developing my thesis I came across a project developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2009 called ShareTable presented in 2009 in Como, Italy at IDC 2009. You can view the whitepaper here but, in essence it is a way for parents to connect with their children remotely via teleconferencing and the use of an interactive tabletop.

Suffice it to say, I imaged an image of my work so far swirling down a drain before reading the whitepaper. The ShareTable technology actually compliments the work I am doing. Because my work is geared more towards toddler-aged children, ShareTable is a bit too advanced for them. In addition to that, my focus is more on the psychology of children in regards to the interactive technology I have begun to develop. Some of the new research I have begun to theorize include using the interactive product as a modified form of filial therapy to help boost the child’s self-esteem, security and confidence.

All-in-all, the ShareTable work is a wonderful new resource I can use in order to build upon the research into the psychology of Interactive Design.

Below is my thesis outline and updated bibliography reorganized in order of subject areas.

Outline

I. Introduction of concept

a. Parent/child interaction and child psychological development

b. Children and interactive technologies

II. Child development and parental separation

1. Learning disabilities
2. Self-esteem
3. Psychological benefits of parental involvement

III. Communication and psychological development through play

1. With peers
2. With parents

IV. Applications of technology with children

1. Previous research and findings
2. Current research and findings
3. Pros and cons
   1. Is technology detrimental to early childhood development?
   2. How much technology should children be exposed to?
   3. Alternative forms of interactivity.

V. Using robotics as a form of social media with young children

a. Remote communication technology and children

b. Ease of use and adaptability

c. Parental interaction

VI. Testing

a.   Observations and short-term results

1. Issues and refinements
2. Additional testing with refinements

V. Conclusions

a. Final testing results

b. Short-term psychological benefits

c. Hypothesized, long-term psychological benefits

Bibliography

Communication, Objectification and Semiotics

Ware, Elizabeth, Susan Gelman, and Felicia Kleinberg. “The Medium is the Message: Pictures and Objects Evoke Distinct Conceptual Relations in Parent-Child Conversations.” Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. 59.1 (2013): 50-78. Print.

Roberts, Donald, and Ulla Foehr. “Trends in Media Use.”Future of Children. 18.1 (2008): 11-37. Print.

Calvert, Sandra. “Children as Consumers: Advertising and Marketing.” Future of Children. 18.1 (2008): 205-234. Print.

Wallendorf, Melanie, and Eric Arnould. “My Favorite Things: A Cross-Cultural Inquiry into Object Attachment, Possessiveness, and Social Linkage.”Journal of Consumer Research. 14.4 (1988): 531-547. Print.

McLaughlin, James. “Nonverbal Behaviors in the Analytic Situation: The Search for Meaning in Nonverbal Cues.” American Imago. 67.4 (2010): 487-514. Print.

Shedroff, N. Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design.In:Jacobson, B (ed.) Information Design. Cambridge: MIT Press (2000): 267-292. Print.

Child/Parent Relationships

Dunn, Judy. “Understanding Children’s Family Worlds: Family Transitions and Children’s Outcome.”Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. 50.3 (2004): 224-235. Print.

Frosch, Cynthia, Martha Cox, and Barbara Goldman. “Infant-Parent Attachment and Parental and Child Behavior During Parent-Toddler Storybook Interaction.” Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. 47.4 (2001): 445-474. Print.

Mullin, Amy. “Parents and Children: An Alternative to Selfless and Unconditional Love.” Hypatia. 21.1 (2006): 181-200. Print.

Choate, Molly, Donna Pincus, et al. “Parent-child interaction therapy for treatment of separation anxiety disorder in young children: A pilot study.”Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. 12.1 (2005): 126-135. Print.

Parkes, C. M., J. Stevenson-Hinde, and P. Marris.Attachment across the life cycle. New York: Psychology Press, 1991. Print.

Bornstein, M. H. Handbook of parenting. 2. 4. Mahwah, New Jersey: Mahwah, NJ, 2002. Print.

Children and Technology

McGonigal, Jane. Reality is Broken: Why GamesCan Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. 1. 1. New York: Penguin Press, 2012. Print.

Rideout, Victoria, Elizabeth Vanderwater, and Ellen Wartella. “Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers.”Henry J. Kaiser Family

Breazeal, Cynthia. “Toward Sociable Robots.” Robotics and Autonomous Systems. 42 (2003): 167-175. Web. 6 Apr. 2013. <http://robotic.media.mit.edu/pdfs/journals/Breazeal-RAS03.pdf>.

Breazeal, Cynthia. “Dr. Cynthia Breazeal-MIT Media Lab.” Dr. Cynthia Breazeal Associate Professor of Media Arts & Sciences Director of Personal Robotics Group. MIT. Web. 6 Apr 2013. <http://web.media.mit.edu/~cynthiab/index.html>.

Breazeal , Cynthia, perf. Cynthia Breazeal: The rise of personal robots. TED Talks, 2011. Web. 6 Apr 2013.

Breazeal, Cynthia. “Social Interactions in HRI: The Robot View.” IEEE Transactions in Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C. 2.34 (2003): 181-186. Print. <http://robotic.media.mit.edu/pdfs/journals/Breazeal-IEEESMC-04-trv.pdf>.

Kirkorian, Heather, Ellen Wartella, and Daniel Anderson. “Media and Young Children’s Learning.” Future of Children. 2008.39-61 n. page. Print.

Although there has been a lot of research on digital interactivity and its effects on children, to my knowledge, there has not been much quantifiable research on interactive toys and the positive influence that the non-digital environment can possess. Although there have been some steps in the right direction, particularly Cynthia Breazeal’s work with the development of personal robotics used in conjunction with virtual environments, there has not been much research in the development or psychological effects of interactive communication devices that can act as a proxy for absent family members, particularly parents.

I am currently studying research on the psychology of child/parent dependencies, how children codify various mediums, nonverbal behavior in childrens’ analysis, and the psychology of object attachment in children. There is a lot of research in the negative effects of children and interactive media but being able to develop a positive attitude towards children and interactive media is one way I feel that I can contribute to the field. I also feel that by developing a way for children to feel psychologically sound, despite being apart from a caregiver, will not only be a benefit to Interactive Design but will be a benefit to children in general.

I believe when one works on a project of this scope we are often not only influenced by new material that we research but we also are influenced by things that influenced us in the past. For example, as I have written previously, while researching this particular project I have been pointed to the work of Dr. Cynthia Breazeal whose work, much like my own, was inspired in part by George Lucas’ Star Wars movies.

Our work is informed by what has affected us and my own research is partially inspired by my military service. Although an injury prevented me from being able to be deployed I spent many, many months separated from my family, a household of five children between the ages of six months and 11 years old. My separation profoundly affected all of my children but, in the case of the older ones, I was still able to have effective and meaningful communications through telephone conversations, instant messaging services and email. In the case of the youngest child and my two children who were both about the age of 6, our engagement was minimal and not very meaningful. I was somewhat reminded of Scott McCloud’s analogy in his second book about the comic medium, Reinventing Comics. He used a comic strip about his young son calling the telephone “Daddy” to illustrate the point that the senior McCloud spent too much time on the road and thus all meaningful communication between father and son was done, quite literally, long distance.

I have spent many pages in the past listing my past influences including comic books and strips, animation and consumer culture. As an American child raised in the 1970s and 1980s I was raised on a culture of McDonald’s and Muppets, Evel Knievel and Teddy Ruxpin. I understand the cultural significance of objects and how those objects can be used to facilitate positive communication between children and adults.

In previous posts I have neglected to mention the work of pioneering interactive designers Edwin Schlossberg, Myron Kruger, Daniel J. Sandin, and Jane McGonigal as influences. As I also mentioned previously, I have most recently discovered the work of Cynthia Breazeal and see that her previous and current research aligns nicely with my current work.

I was discussing my thesis to Alec Hosterman, Senior Lecturer and Area Coordinator for Communication Studies at Indiana University, South Bend when he suggested I look at Jane McGonigal’s book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. He also pointed me to Cynthia Breazeal’s TED talk (which can be viewed here). This led me to her website at MIT which then pointed me to a series of journal articles she has written. So, thanks to Alec, I now have a large amount of reading to do. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

I believe that these new sources are going to invaluable when it comes to my research. Dr. Breazeal’s work when it comes to children and robotic interaction in particular will be invaluable.

Below is a working bibliography of my newest sources;

Breazeal , Cynthia, perf. Cynthia Breazeal: The rise of personal robots. TED Talks, 2011. Web. 6 Apr 2013.

Breazeal, Cynthia. “Social Interactions in HRI: The Robot View.” IEEE Transactions in Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C. 2.34 (2003): 181-186. Print. <http://robotic.media.mit.edu/pdfs/journals/Breazeal-IEEESMC-04-trv.pdf>.

Breazeal, Cynthia. “Toward Sociable Robots.” Robotics and Autonomous Systems. 42 (2003): 167-175. Web. 6 Apr. 2013. <http://robotic.media.mit.edu/pdfs/journals/Breazeal-RAS03.pdf>.

Breazeal, Cynthia. “Dr. Cynthia Breazeal-MIT Media Lab.” Dr. Cynthia Breazeal Associate Professor of Media Arts & Sciences Director of Personal Robotics Group. MIT. Web. 6 Apr 2013. <http://web.media.mit.edu/~cynthiab/index.html>.

McGonigal, Jane. Reality is Broken: Why GamesCan Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. 1. 1. New York: Penguin Press, 2012. Print.

Just to refresh your memory my thesis statement and abstract can be found here.

http://blog.scad.edu/jthomp38/2013/03/03/brand-new-thesis/

Research Continues

During the quarter break I continued to research my thesis. Most of the research concentrates on learning disabilities but there is also quite a bit of research on separation anxiety and links between the two areas. By developing this prototype I hope to help alleviate some of those issues through engaging communication between the separated parent and child. The two most obvious areas, outside of divorce, where this would be most beneficial to children would be during a parent’s military deployment or if the child were hospitalized at a facility not near the child’s home. By being able to implement this prototype I hope to show that children can still engage in meaningful interaction with their separated parent(s) helping to alleviate some of the psychological trauma associated to the separation.

Thesis Timeline

Plan

I have begun speaking informally to faculty at Indiana University in order to facilitate communication with the psychology department. If my thesis is approved I believe that will help expedite putting together some volunteers for user testing. I have also talked to Roger Sova, former chair of the school of Computer Electronics and Engineering Technology of ITT Technical Institute at South Bend, for help in developing the physical toy prototype. I have also been in touch with some former colleagues in the Indiana Army National Guard about the possibility of user testing volunteers. Upon approval of my thesis I believe this legwork will help the development of the overall project run much more smoothly.

Overall

I am very excited about the progress of this project and look forward to my thesis presentation so I can get the development started.

I have spent the last few days doing more research into my thesis regarding the psychological aspects of parental and child separation.

Most of the research I have been finding in in relation to parental separation/divorce but outside of that context the research applies. In all cases the research points to maintaining the bonds between parent and child. Communication seems to be the key.

In addition to parents deployed by the military or through other work related separations this could also be applied to children who are undergoing hospitalization. I am a big supporter of St. Jude Children’s Hospital and Rileys Hospital for Children. This would be another area, where children have to stay for an extended period of time apart from their parents, that would benefit through the use of this technology.

Below are some links to articles and papers I have been looking at:

Separation Anxiety in Children

http://children.webmd.com/guide/separation-anxiety

Cognitive‐Behavioral Group Treatments in Childhood Anxiety Disorders: The Role of Parental Involvement

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856709632366

My current thesis site is now available for viewing at;

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jthomp38/jthompson_thesis/index.html

It is a work in progress. I will also be updating blog posts to that site as well.