Hyperstories and social interaction in 2D and 3D edutainment spaces for children

ABSTRACT

This paper presents FaTe2, an edutainment environment for children that combines a variety of paradigms: storytelling, hypertext, games, collaborative learning, and social interaction. FaTe2 provides a web based, multi-user, multi-dimension hyperspace, where children (aged 8-11) can meet, chat, play, and perform storytelling activities in collaboration. Small groups of kids -- working both shoulder to shoulder and remotely - can explore together multimedia interactive stories rendered by means of 2D and 3D scenes; they can perform a variety of educational games and narrative activities; they can personalize scene elements and collaboratively create their own narrative flows, generating a multidimensional (i.e., 2D and 3D) hyperstory from the linear multimedia stories that are built-in in the system. The paper describes the background of FaTe2, its "child-centered" design (informed by field studies on kids' storytelling), and its implementation approach. We finally discuss how kids represent a challenging "category of target users" who may open new perspectives for hypertext practice and research.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education
          Subjects: Collaborative learning

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.4 Hypertext/Hypermedia
          Subjects: User issues

  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.6 Methodology and Techniques
          Subjects: Interaction techniques

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
IDC (Interaction Design and Children), collaborative storytelling, edutainment, hypernarrative, social interaction, story grammar