Fun as a user gain in participatory design processes involving children
Selina Schepers, Katrien Dreessen, Bieke Zaman · 2018
Although seemingly evident, 'fun' in Participatory Design (PD) processes involving children generally remains implicit. In this paper, we explore fun as a user gain since the benefits that children gain from PD are relatively unexplored. We reflect on 'Making Things!', a case study involving children in the design of FabLab workshops for the future. Our findings show that the child-participants gain from the process through fun in overcoming challenges, working towards finalised objects, experimenting, and interacting with others. Based on our findings, we posit that fun can be a direct gain of children participating in PD, but also relates to additional user gains (e.g. developing self-esteem). Furthermore, we hypothesise that opening up the assessment of children's user gains would fit the notion of the child as process designer. These findings extend the debate on benefits children can gain through PD and highlight the importance of fun as a user gain.