This is our first post on the blog about our research into the world of experience of deaf children for the GR@SP project. We will keep a journal of all of the research activities and invite all of you to participate in (hopefully) lively discussions about our findings.
As you all know, the setup of the use domain involving the deaf children is slightly experimental. We have not identified a specific use domain or technology for this target group. We would like to identify a topic for this use domain (e.g. a problem or a user need) purely based on the input from the target group.
To be able to do that, we follow a contextmapping approach. Contextmapping allows us to thoroughly understand the target group, their daily life, routines, world of experience, problems, needs, wishes, interests, etc. Based on this understanding, we will be able to identify a topic on which we can focus to create a new ICT application for the target group of deaf children.
Within the framework of the contextmapping approach, we plan the following activities:
- Interviews with teachers, psychologists, logopedists, sign language experts, and other people working with deaf children.
- Observations of deaf children in their own context.
- Contextual inquiries with families with one or more deaf children.
- Creative sessions with deaf children.
Please visit this blog regularly (or, even better: add the RSS feed to your news reader!) and let us know your thoughts, questions, suggestions, etc. via comments on our posts.
We'd like to thank all of you in advance for your active participation!
Cheers,
Pieter Duysburgh (SMIT)
Karin Slegers (CUO)
