Paper Reading #5: Tangible Video Bubbles

Comments:

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References:
Tangible Video Bubbles
Kimiko Ryokai, Hayes Raffle, Hiroshi Horii, Yotam Mann
CHI 2010: I Need Your Input

Summary:

Ages 5-7 are when children are most creative, and they move quickly from one art form to another.  In an attempt to use interactive technology to help foster this creativity, the Tangible Video Bubble was conceived.  The TVB consists of a flexible shell that acts as an input and output device.  Inside the shell is a foam bubble that can record things like expressions.  The child can then "squeeze" said expression onto a seperate screen via a physical platform.  Squeezing with varying strength and speed can speed up or slow down the recording.  In its natural, undistorted form, the width of the bubble represents the length of the video.  The child can change the speed and the length of the recording until they are satisfied with it, and when the bubble is removed from the platform the recording is transferred to the screen.  The screen can be used as a digital canvas, and the child can add as many "bubbles" to the canvas as they like.

They researchers let a group of 18 children play with the bubbles without an in-depth explination of the bubbles.  The kids were able to grasp the concept quickly, and were soon playing with the video and sound editing.  Kids recorded all sorts of topics, from the lighthearted ("I'll be 9 next month") to the serious ("I miss Mom, it's been over a year since I've seen her").  In the end, this project was able to turn an intangible recording into a tangible, malleable medium for the kids to play with.

Discussion:
To be honest, I've never heard of anything like this before.  From the description in the paper and the results it contains, I think that the TVB could be a useful tool in getting kid's creative juices flowing.  Furthermore, the kids in this study played well together, in one case pretending they were filming a movie.  If this proves to be a common trend across a larger sample, this tool might be able to help quieter kids come out of their shells.  On the other hand, this could end up like a slew of past "must have" Christmas toys, where the kid plays with it for a week before it gets buried somewhere in the closet.