What are children's digital play drivers and why do they matter for research and industry practice?

In this seminar, Dr Fiona Scott will share some of her work from her recent study leave.

Between 2020 and 2024, a team of scholars led by Dr Scott delivered innovative, international research focused on children’s digital play and well-being. This formed part of the much larger 'RITEC' initiative (Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children), which was funded by the LEGO Foundation and delivered alongside the LEGO Group and UNICEF Innocenti. 

The ‘RITEC’ initiative's ultimate goal is to change how digital games are designed, putting children’s well-being at the centre of international policy and game design processes. The team headed at Sheffield delivered in-depth case study research with 50 families, across four countries. We found that digital play could support children's well-being across eight dimensions when designed well. However, children's contextualised 'drivers' of digital play made a difference to how particular digital play experiences supported well-being (or didn't) for different children. 

In her presentation, Fiona will explain what the 'drivers' of children's digital play are, how they extend past theorisations of 'motivation' and how she's been working with industry to explore the implications for designing digital play experiences for children.