The work to date on ReacTickles Global has consisted of two stages: developing the prototype concept, with a range of partners, and initial user testing with the target group, users of mobile phones who sit on the autistic spectrum.
Prototype Concept
Initial activity was related to a Java (J2ME) application, and Mobile Processing was an suggestion as the development environment. On the 3rd and 4th July 2008, Wendy Keay-Bright and team worked to develop some playful materials on mobile which were later tested with users at the Dyscovery Centre on 14th August.
For the purposes of generating a working prototype for the generative qualities of ReacTickles, and how it evolves with use, experienced developers are looking at the iPhone environment to deliver early success- which can be developed in other iterations for the more widely spread and dispersed population of J2ME phone users.
This view is to develop an accessible application for the iPhone that reflects the physical, perceptual and embodied nature of the online/offline ReacTickles, that has resulted from the tight coupling of input and output, we proposed that the way forward would be to create a ReacTickles wrapper for a suite of ReacTickles iPhone applications.
The proposed model takes into account both the constraints of the project in terms of development funding and the unique way in which ReacTickles have evolved to date. It is anticipated that through the close relationship with a very small group of young players early prototypes can grow on the basis of identifying the unique interests of the young people in our workshop groups through how they chose to interact with the iPhone prototype. The notion of starting with a simple, easy to use, screen that maximises on early forms of pre-verbal conversation (shape, pattern & rhythm - supported by the affordances of the phone) will provide a starting point on which to build iPhone ReacTickles.
The suite of applications will offer a series of ReacTickles, each of which will have its own mode of play, reflecting the affordances of that mode, for example: touch, tilt/move, sound. On launch of the application the player will be shown which mode of play he/she is in. This will provide necessary structure and reassurance, from which point, the player, when exploring the ReacTickle, will begin the process of creation. At the point when the player is satisfied with the ReacTickle screen he or she has created, the application can be exited and the creation saved. When the player next visits the application his ReacTickle will be restored to the state in which it was left.
Certain Guiding principles for new ReacTickles are suggested as a method of provoking thoughts and ideas; they are not rules but heuristics that draw on the experience of designing and prototyping interfaces with young people over the past seven years. The main objective is to trigger curiosity, to maintain interaction and support inclusion by making the design so simple that anything is possible and open to interpretation in the mind of the user. In order to do this we need to value the perceptions, behaviours and interactions of all children as unique and meaningful. Attention must be given to sensory play, and opportunities to increase mutual enjoyment. For the designer, the challenge is to create elements that are naturally stimulating but that do not overburden the user with complex features that require an unnecessary level of cognitive processing and compliance.
