Specialist Task Force 266: Guidelines for the design
and use
of ICT by children
Who we are:
Team Leader : Anne Clarke
Experts : Nicolas
Hine
Bruno von Niman
Kari Hamnes
What we do :
The STF is funded by EC/EFTA to produce an ETSI Guide, EG 202 423,
“Guidelines for the design and use of ICT by children”. The current draft can be
found here.
The work is based on
ETSI
TR 102 133, “Access to ICT by young people: issues and guidelines”. It
will take an approach similar to CEN/CENELEC Guide
6, “Guidelines for
standards developers to address the needs of older persons and persons with
disabilities” but applied to children.
A workshop to establish
stakeholder and user requirements was held in ETSI headquarters in Sophia
Antipolis (Nice, France) on 21st & 22nd June 2004.
A workshop to evaluate the guidelines was held on April 20 & 21, 2005 in
Brussels.
Read our Terms
of Reference
Why we do it:
Social significance
Children (defined by the work of this STF as 12 years and younger) are
rapidly becoming a significant consumer group for advanced computing and
communications services. In some cases, children as young as four or five are
using and are becoming increasingly dependent on ICT products and services.
Products often take the form of or are "disguised" as toys, but far
too often they are designed for the general user, i.e. able-bodied adults.
Children are expected to use equipment and services designed for adults, that
usually has inappropriate physical and cognitive ergonomics for their needs. The
accessibility requirements for participation in ICT of this group are not
currently clearly identified or catered for, partly because no developmental
account of physical, cognitive and social maturation which exists have been
readily applied to product design. Standards bodies are therefore unable to
provide needed guidance for designers and developers. If the capabilities and
characteristics of children are not taken into account this may result in
problems such as inability to access services, service abuse, and vulnerability
to exploitation on-line, failures in growth of relevant cognitive skills and
physical damage from prolonged use of systems with inappropriate or inadequate
physical terminal design.
The proliferation of broadband services at school and in the home will greatly
increase the demand for child-specific guidelines. Life in front of a screen and
keyboard (specifically e-learning and entertainment applications) consume a
large portion of the average child’s day. The use of mobile broadband
terminals and applications will further contribute to total exposure time. One
can expect to see a more and a wider range of broadband services targeting
children in the near future. The consequences of assuming that children adapt
and adjust to the challenges of the broadband revolution and life ‘on-line’
in the same manner that adults do may not become evident until the present
generation of children reaches maturity. It may then be too late to prevent
negative side effects, such as physical injury, service abuse, resulting in
threats to personal security and social exclusion.
The role of
standardisation
National and international standards bodies have for many years addressed the
needs of persons with disabilities and older people, developing specific
standards in the areas such as assistive technology. Childhood, however, is
invariably overlooked as a distinctive developmental stage requiring specific
solutions founded on detailed knowledge of the child’s physical, cognitive and
social development. Even the popular ‘design for all’ and ‘universal
design’ approaches to product design often neglect the unique qualities of
childhood and the specific needs of young people. Consequently, the needs of
children must be properly understood and taken into consideration by standards
bodies There is a need for early European human factors standardisation
involvement. The ETSI Guide here proposed is intended to be part of the overall
framework that standards bodies can use in their efforts to support the need for
better, safer and more accessible ICT products and services for children.
This STF will address the central philosophy of the eEurope action plan.
“The
Lisbon strategy is not just about productivity and growth but also about
employment and social cohesion. eEurope 2005 puts users at the centre. It
will improve participation, open up opportunities for everyone and enhance
skills.” eEurope 2005
Objectives
This project has the following key objectives:
- To contribute to the implementation of the eEurope
2005 Action Plan in the area of e-inclusion;
- To develop an ETSI Guide (EG) containing
guidelines for designers, service developers and standardisers to address
the needs of young people using information and communication technologies
and services;
- To actively involve all relevant stakeholders, and
in particular representatives of the community of young people, into the
standardisation process;
- To promote a common approach with respect to the
development followed by network providers and equipment manufacturers in
developing products and services that respond to the specific needs of young
people;
- To address the risks of negative side effects to
children, such as physical injury, threats to personal security, service
abuse and social exclusion;
- To facilitate the revision of European and
international standards, with the view to better respecting the specific
needs of young people using information and communication technologies and
services;
- To contribute to the design of safer and more
accessible ICT products and services for children;
- To create and increase awareness about
children’s specific needs in the design and development of ICT solutions.
Time plan for the work:
March 2004 |
Start of work |
May 2004 |
First public draft ETSI Guide |
June 21-22, 2004 |
First Workshop (guidelines requirements verification - stakeholders' perspectives) at ETSI, Sophia-Antipolis, France |
December 2004 |
Second public draft ETSI Guide |
March 2005 |
Third public draft ETSI Guide |
April 2005 (preliminary) |
Second Workshop (guidelines refinement and verification), Brussels, Belgium |
May 2005 |
Final public draft (last chance to comment) |
July 2005 |
Final draft ETSI guide approved (by ETSI TC HF) |
August 2005 |
ETSI Membership Approval (voting) begins |
September 2005 |
ETSI Membership Approval ends |
October 2005 |
ETSI Guide published |
Until December 2005 |
Dissemination activities |
How to contact us:
If you would like more information, please contact the STF Leader: mailto:clarkeam@compuserve.com
Other STFs currently working for
TC HF
Note: this information is based upon STF working assumptions.
The views expressed do not necessarily represent the position of ETSI in this
context.
Last updated: 2012-02-09 15:34:18