ABSTRACT This paper takes an interaction design approach to explore how children perceive augmented toys, assign symbolic meaning, and perform pretence socially in technology-mediated playing. We developed a system with three kinds of toys—each with distinct abstract appearances and audiovisual augmentation—based on several design decisions. An observational user study with thirty-two young children aged 3–7 years revealed that children utilized digital augmentation as a facilitator of pretending behaviour with the possibility for subjective interpretation while substituting an object for another. Digital augmentation was not only a social cue for children to respond by gathering together and negotiating socially for mutual pretence—it was also a hindrance by amplifying conflicts in a shared space. Our study empirically clarifies children’s cognition and behaviour in an interactive system for pretend play and provides broader insight for the design of an interface enriching symbolic interpretation and social interaction.

中文翻译：

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调查数字增强玩具对幼儿社交装扮游戏的影响

摘要本文采用一种交互设计方法来探索儿童在技术介导的游戏中如何感知增强玩具，赋予象征意义以及如何在社交中扮演角色。我们基于多项设计决策，开发了一种包含三种玩具的系统，每种玩具具有独特的抽象外观和视听增强功能。一项针对32位3至7岁幼儿的观察性用户研究表明，儿童利用数字增强作为假装行为的促进者，有可能在将对象替换为另一个对象时进行主观解释。数字增强不仅是儿童通过聚集在一起并进行社会谈判以求得互助而做出回应的一种社会暗示，它也是在共享空间中扩大冲突的障碍。