Interactive environments for children

Museums and galleries have borne witness to a radical rethinking of the relationship between art and the public. Moving from the democratisation of culture to Cultural Democracy, there is a growing expectation to not merely spectate but instead to actively participate in the creation of meaning itself, amounting to more enriching experiences than those offered by previous models. This participatory turn for cultural institutions has also given rise to debates around inclusivity for young people. What, it has been asked, can be done for museums and galleries to continue to fulfil their social function while also serving the rights and needs of children?

It is in this context that digital technologies have assumed something of a liberating character, able to offer an unprecedented level of interactivity to increasingly computer-literate younger generations. Nevertheless, as interactive technologies have found a place within galleries and museums, accusations that these innovations have little to offer beyond their novelty value have not been unfounded, reflecting wider dissatisfactions with interactive and participatory art. Furthermore, the child-centric claims made by many artistic interventions are often betrayed by an overt focus on learning and a spatial segregation from the "serious work" happening elsewhere in the museum.

My research argues that play offers a route out of this malaise. The instinctive desire to play-informed by child and developmental psychology-provides new ground on which to reimagine interaction with both technology and art. A renewed appreciation of the act of play has already inspired the curatorial practise of museums and galleries, however, a focus on physical open-ended play means that the possibilities afforded by digital technologies and data-driven interactivity remain relatively unexplored.

By using observational studies of work done by current artists and practitioners in the field to inform novel design approaches, my research hopes to discover new ways in which interactive technologies can be deployed in museum spaces to create playful environments for children. It is hoped that this work can produce valuable perspectives on how children can engage with both technology and culture, as well as a disruptive intervention into what constitutes interactivity and inclusivity in the practise of artistic installations.

We will collaborate with over 40 partners drawn from across FMCG and Food; Creative Industries; Health and Wellbeing; Smart Mobility; Finance; Enabling technologies; and Policy, Law and Society. These will benefit from engagement with our CDT through the following established mechanisms:

- Training multi-disciplinary leaders. Our partners will benefit from being able to recruit highly skilled individuals who are able to work across technologies, methods and sectors and in multi-disciplinary teams. We will deliver at least 65 skilled PhD graduates into the Digital Economy.

- Internships. Each Horizon student undertakes at least one industry internship or exchange at an external partner. These internships have a benefit to the student in developing their appreciation of the relevance of their PhD to the external societal and industrial context, and have a benefit to the external partner through engagement with our students and their multidisciplinary skill sets combined with an ability to help innovate new ideas and approaches with minimal long-term risk. Internships are a compulsory part of our programme, taking place in the summer of the first year. We will deliver at least 65 internships with partners.

- Industry-led challenge projects. Each student participates in an industry-led group project in their second year. Our partners benefit from being able to commission focused research projects to help them answer a challenge that they could not normally fund from their core resources. We will deliver at least 15 such projects (3 a year) throughout the lifetime of the CDT.

- Industry-relevant PhD projects. Each student delivers a PhD thesis project in collaboration with at least one external partner who benefits from being able to engage in longer-term and deeper research that they would not normally be able to undertake, especially for those who do not have their own dedicated R&D labs. We will deliver at least 65 such PhDs over the lifetime of this CDT renewal.

- Public engagement. All students receive training in public engagement and learn to communicate their findings through press releases, media coverage.

This proposal introduces two new impact channels in order to further the impact of our students' work and help widen our network of partners.

- The Horizon Impact Fund. Final year students can apply for support to undertake short impact projects. This benefits industry partners, public and third sector partners, academic partners and the wider public benefit from targeted activities that deepen the impact of individual students' PhD work. This will support activities such as developing plans for spin-outs and commercialization; establishing an IP position; preparing and documenting open-source software or datasets; and developing tourable public experiences.

- ORBIT as an impact partner for RRI. Students will embed findings and methods for Responsible Research Innovation into the national training programme that is delivered by ORBIT, the Observatory for Responsible Research and Innovation in ICT (www.orbit-rri.org). Through our direct partnership with ORBIT all Horizon CDT students will be encouraged to write up their experience of RRI as contributions to ORBIT so as to ensure that their PhD research will not only gain visibility but also inform future RRI training and education. PhD projects that are predominantly in the area of RRI are expected to contribute to new training modules, online tools or other ORBIT services.