How Might Voice Assistants Raise Our Children?

Biele, Cezary; Jaskulska, Anna; Kopeć, Wiesław; Kowalski, Jarosław; Skorupska, Kinga; Zdrodowska, Aldona

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-11051-2_25

Cited by 15 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…In combination with our own findings, this implies that, almost regardless of their previous DVA exposure, they might perceive DVAs as playmates and engagement partners -suggesting that their interactions with DVAs might be more an end in itself than a means to an end. A potential driver behind this strong notion of engaging excitement might be children's appreciation of the instant gratification they experience when interacting with DVAs (Biele et al, 2019). Furthermore, the empirically observable notion of engaging excitement is not only consistent with other preliminary research findings on child-DVA interactions (Druga et al, 2017), it is also consistent with the larger body of empirical literature on child-machine interaction, which suggests that children's interactions with other intelligently behaving machines (e.g., robots) can reveal patterns similar to intrahuman interactions (e.g., Tanaka et al, 2007;Ku et al, 2018;Vollmer et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although previous research has often reported friendly interactions with, and perceptions of, DVAs (Druga et al, 2017;Lovato et al, 2019), this inquiry has revealed a mixed picture: results show both friendly and affable as well as unfriendly and aggressive tones. Even though extremely friendly or aggressive voices might be exceptions, the overall tone is skewed towards the plain, dominant and unfriendly voices that the children used to communicate with the DVAs -an issue of increasing importance among researchers as well as corporate DVA developers (Bonfert et al, 2018;Biele et al, 2019). This suggests that children do not perceive DVAs as morally valuable or respectable entities comparable to human beings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, Alexa etc. are not limited to specific age ranges and are designed as universal personal assistants which could accompany someone throughout their life -not to mention that a machine companion does not have many of the annoying features that a human companion might be naturally endowed with, such as impatience, tiredness, or unreliability (Biele et al, 2019).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Alexa, What Are You? Exploring Primary School Children’s Ontological Perceptions of Digital Voice Assistants in Open Interactions

Festerling¹,

Siraj²

2020

Human Development

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Today's children grow up in an environment that is increasingly characterized by digital voice assistants (DVAs), such as Alexa, Siri, or the Google Assistant. This paper argues that any attempt to investigate children's interactions with, and perceptions of, DVAs should be based on the theoretical grounds of an ontological framework that considers children's genuine understanding of what it means to be human and what it means to be a machine. Based on focus groups and a gamified data collection design, our empirical inquiry applied qualitative methods to explore primary school children's (n = 27, age range: 6-10 years, average age: 8.6 years) open interactions with DVAs. In particular, our focus was on how DVAs were embedded in children's general ontological belief system, and how children interpreted certain aspects of DVAs' interactive capabilities as being genuinely humanoid or non-humanoid. On the one hand, our findings suggest that children's interactions with DVAs might be more an end in itself than a means to an end, meaning that children primarily interact with DVAs for the sake of engaging excitement instead of using the devices' utilitarian functionalities. On the other hand, we found that children in our sample held firm ontological beliefs about the distinct nature of humans and machines, whilst interpreting certain aspects of DVAs' interactive capabilities as being genuinely humanoid (e.g., non-responsiveness, delayed responses, inaccuracy) and non-humanoid (e.g., permanent responsiveness, promptness, accuracy, limited conversational capacities, lack of common sense, standardized responses) at the same time.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alexa, What Are You? Exploring Primary School Children’s Ontological Perceptions of Digital Voice Assistants in Open Interactions

Festerling¹,

Siraj²

2020

Human Development

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“…EU Digital Single Market policy. Those concepts are connected to numerous emerging aspects that have been already the subject of the study, including by our interdisciplinary team who explored various modes of interaction between humans, machines, systems and interfaces such as VR, as explored by Kobylinski et al (2019), VA, as in Kowalski et al (2019) and Biele et al (2019), or personal and industry robots, intelligent or smart homes, cities and workplaces as in Piçarra et al (2016).…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

VR with Older Adults: Participatory Design of a Virtual ATM Training Simulation

et al. 2019

Self Cite

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In this paper we report on a study conducted with a group of older adults in which they engaged in participatory design workshops to create a VR ATM training simulation. Based on observation, recordings and the developed VR application we present the results of the workshops and offer considerations and recommendations for organizing opportunities for end users, in this case older adults, to directly engage in co-creation of cutting-edge ICT solutions. These include co-designing interfaces and interaction schemes for emerging technologies like VR and AR. We discuss such aspects as user engagement and hardware and software tools suitable for participatory prototyping of VR applications. Finally, we present ideas for further research in the area of VR participatory prototyping with users of various proficiency levels, taking steps towards developing a unified framework for co-design in AR and VR.

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“…Lovato and Piper (2015) in their study of voice input system for young children found three reasons for their engagement, namely, exploration for mostly fun, information-seeking and as way of operating a specific device. Druga et al (2017) and Biele et al (2019) talk about the use of voice user interfaces by children highlighting how the ubiquity of these interfaces create both new possibilities as well as raising new ethical and moral issues with regard to the conversations children and teens may have with them. Zamora (2017) study on the use of chatbots in routine life for users in India and USA has also shed some light on how users engage with such voice-based technologies to leverage a range of functionalities embedded in their everyday lives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Technology as Situated Practice: Everyday use of Voice User Interfaces Among Diverse Groups of Users in Urban India

2020

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As smartphones have become ubiquitous across urban India, voice user interfaces (VUIs) are increasingly becoming part of diverse groups of users' daily experiences. These technologies are now generally accessible as a result of improvements in mobile Internet access, [-8.5pc]Biography is Required. Please provide. introduction of low-cost smartphones and the ongoing process of their localisation into Indian languages. However, when people engage with technologies in their everyday lives, they not only enact the material attributes of the artifact but also draw on their skills, social positions, prior experience and societal norms and expectations to make use of the artifact. Drawing on Orlikowski's analytical framework of "technologies-in-practice" we engage in an interview-based exploratory study among diverse groups of users in urban India to understand use of VUIs as situated practice. We identify three technologies-in-practice emerging through enactment of VUIs on users' smartphones: looking up, learning and leisure. We argue that -instead of asking why and how users appropriate VUIs -identifying different kinds of enactments of VUIs present researchers and practitioners with a more nuanced understanding of existing and potential use of VUIs across varied contexts.

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How Might Voice Assistants Raise Our Children?

Cited by 15 publications

References 14 publications

Alexa, What Are You? Exploring Primary School Children’s Ontological Perceptions of Digital Voice Assistants in Open Interactions

Alexa, What Are You? Exploring Primary School Children’s Ontological Perceptions of Digital Voice Assistants in Open Interactions

VR with Older Adults: Participatory Design of a Virtual ATM Training Simulation

Understanding Technology as Situated Practice: Everyday use of Voice User Interfaces Among Diverse Groups of Users in Urban India

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