GRASPING DATA: Co-creating Physicalizations to Empower Young Children to Interact with, Understand, and Benefit from Their Personal Data

Grasping Data will change how we think about children and their personal data. We go beyond current emphases on privacy and protection by co-creating cutting-edge, child-centred tools and pedagogies with young children, helping them understand and directly benefit from their own data.

We achieve this by advancing diverse research fields of early learning, cognitive psychology, child-centred design, data ethics, data visualization, and computer science to explore the potential of Data Physicalization for children in their early years (aged 3-8) to construct (with adults) physical representations of their personal data that they can touch, explore, talk about and learn with. Our focus on the youngest learners pushes the boundaries of helping all ages to understand and benefit from data in an increasingly digital world.

This proposal is time sensitive. Artificial Intelligence is accelerating ways children's personal data is already captured and processed by others. Toothbrushes monitor their hygiene, smart toys capture their conversations, activity watches capture their movement, education platforms record their (mis)behaviour. Yet children's consent for this data is either acquired through adult caregivers (who themselves may not be confident about data), or not at all.

Whilst there are efforts to improve children's understanding of data, research and educational initiatives tend to focus on older children and online protection. Yet, personal data is likely to be highly engaging for young children as it can reveal much about themselves: where they have been, what they said, how active or loud they are. By creating new forms of representation and activities, Grasping Data will enable us to tap children's interest to help them understand and value their personal data, before thinking about whether to give it to others.

The aim of Grasping Data is to empower young children by enabling them to create, explore, understand, and directly benefit from their personal...