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ETSI Workshop announcement:
Human Factors Guidelines for the design and deployment of ICT products and
services used by children

Location        Telenor's European Office, Brussels, Belgium

Date    Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st April 2005.

Start time 13.00 first day, end time 16.00 second day

Registration due by 7th March 2005
Contact Anne Clarke on [log in to unmask]

Background
ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, is currently
producing guidelines for standards developers and ICT designers on how to
take account of the needs of children (12 years and younger) in the design
and deployment of ICT products and services.

Children (12 years and younger) are becoming an increasingly significant
consumer group for advanced computing and communications services. In some
cases, children as young as three or four years old are using ICT products.
These products are often imbedded in or "disguised" as toys, but far too
often they are designed for adults. Children are expected to use equipment
and services that have inappropriate physical and cognitive ergonomics for
their needs.  If the needs of children are not adequately taken into
account this may result in problems such as inability to access services,
service abuse and on-line vulnerability to exploitation.  It may also
result in failures in growth of relevant cognitive skills and physical
damage from prolonged use of systems with inappropriate or inadequate
physical terminal design.

Many guidelines exist for the design of ICT for adults, however, the child
market is completely different as young children are not little adults and
they should be treated differently.  They differ from adults on a number of
dimensions; in particular in size, cognitive ability and their life
experiences.  They are a protected market requiring special attention.

A draft version of the guidelines will be available in March 2005.  Before
final release of the document an industry consultation is taking place.  We
would welcome as much feedback as possible.

The guidelines are presented in a form that will assist the different
stakeholders to identify and access those parts of the guidelines
appropriate to their needs.  The stakeholders identified include standards
developers, manufacturers, designers, service providers, policy developers,
parents/carers, educators and groups working with children.

The guidelines are applicable to ICT products and services characterized by
a capability to offer interaction between children and other users or
services, including:
 fixed and mobile telephones, pda's, and services which use these
devices;
 computers connected to the Internet;
 networked services and applications;
 interactive games; and
 toys that interact with each other, the environment and/or people.
Stand-alone, non-networked applications or toys are outside the scope of
the guide but might be considered in cases where clear separation is not
obvious.
Wherever possible the requirements of children with special needs, i.e.
children with sensory, motor, cognitive and communication impairments, will
be considered. It is acknowledged, however, that some children with very
extensive and complex disabilities may have requirements beyond the level
addressed in the guidelines.

Although the guidelines will be presented in a close to completed state,
there will still be the opportunity for participants to influence the final
version of the document.

Aims of the workshop
 To present the content of the guidelines to stakeholders
 To obtain endorsement from stakeholders on the content of the
guidelines
 To obtain endorsement from stakeholders on the structure of the
guidelines document.

A copy of the guidelines will be sent to participants two weeks in advance
of the workshop to enable them to prepare for the workshop.


Draft Programme

Day 1
Brief introduction to our work
Why we are doing the work including statistics for young children's use of
ICT (mobile phones and computers).

Discussion on the scope of the guidelines
Are we answering the right questions and are we answering the questions
adequately?

Discussion on the structure of the guidelines 
Are the guidelines in a structure and format that designers can use?

Children's use of ICT
Consider where, when & how children will use the technology e.g. is it
supervised or unsupervised use.  How rugged or robust is the technology? 

Content Provision for young children
How can we provide appropriate content in a form that communicates to
children and protect them from harmful content?

Day 2
Guidelines within the document will be discussed under the following
general headings:

Physical design issues
Young children are smaller and weaker than adults.  How can ICT products
and services be designed to take account of this?

Terminal operation issues
How can ICT products be designed so as to avoid inappropriate use by young
children for example in not being able to access 'adult only' facilities or
being able to reconfigure the system?  How can ICT products be designed so
as to protect the system from inadvertent use by young children?  

Service and application issues
How can a designer ensure that services for children are securely usable by
children?  Issues of security, authentication and financial implications
will be covered.


Who should attend?
The workshop will be of interest to those involved in the design and
deployment of equipment/services/applications/content aimed at children.

It is anticipated that delegates will come from the following types of
organisations: Telecommunications Operators; Mobile phone handset
manufacturers; ICT manufacturers; Operating system producers; Content
providers and Telecommunications Regulators.


Registration
Please register for the workshop by March 7th 2005 by sending an email to
the STF leader Anne Clarke at [log in to unmask]

Confirmation of a place on the workshop, along with details of location and
hotels will be sent by March 14th 2005


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