Lessons for child-computer interaction studies following the research challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been experienced differently in and within individual countries and thus has had a different impact on the individual researchers in the child–computer interaction studies. There were several challenges that our research group experienced during the pandemic period, with a rapid transition to digital working conditions and a society managing altered living conditions. The changes happened on all levels of the society, and they affected our key participants — children, teachers, designers of children’s digital books and publishers. In this Viewpoint article we highlight the lessons learnt from the changes in our study designs and data collection processes due to lockdown and other restrictions related to the pandemic. We draw on three case studies to showcase the adjustments we made and the impact such changes have had on the quality of data, participants’ attitudes towards data collection and the studies’ outcomes. The theoretical frameworks of ‘funds of knowledge’ and ‘funds of identity’ structure our discussion on the new knowledge, skills and resources that were mobilized during the pandemic from diverse community members. We propose the concept of ‘community of practice’ to guide future developments in child–computer interaction studies to support and sustain collectives of multi-disciplinary, trusted networks of diverse stakeholders.