Right Place, Right Time.

Right Place, Right Time is a research artefact aimed to research qualities needed to convey information to children to be able to participate in sports activities. Using Research through Design, different qualities were discovered which were seen as useful. Normative influence, tangible playful interaction, and feedback through confirmation were all implemented in the final design, which consisted out of a game with information about the sports activities. Facilitating explorative play and playful interaction to learn more about sports activities in their neighborhood.

 

Playgrounds in deprived neighborhood are placed by the municipality and are supported by the Krajicek Foundation with as goal to stimulate the physical activity under children. The Krajicek Foundation provides free sport activities on playgrounds throughout the Netherlands. These activities are organized by scholarshippers which in return receive funds for their education and children are free to join these sport activities without any obligations. However, a lot of children are not participating because they do not when these activities take place and are not notified in any way.  Therefore, the possibilities to inform children in regard to sports activities were investigated in this project.

 

By engaging a lot with different stakeholders initially and through an iterative process in which multiple studies were conducted, the concept was developed. The first study focused on observing children noticing anything related to the playground when entering, the second study aimed at testing the short-term memory and normative influence. Finally, insights from both studies were implemented in the final design, where the different qualities were tested in their way to notify children about sports activities.

 

It was seen that children started communicating with each other about the information in the image on the artefact. Supporting them in externalizing their thoughts. Increasing their memorability on discussing the experience and the proposed message. However, the contextual setting of the test could have been a big influence on the behavior of the children and memorability. Children were aware that after interacting with the artefact questions would be asked about the artefact