Uma abordagem ética e responsável ao design para/com crianças: investigando a integração de práticas de interação humano-computador à engenharia de requisitos

Abstract

In different social contexts, children have access to digital technologies as users and consumers of products built for adults. More than users, children can be great contributors in the development of technologies of their own interest. Related works show different approaches to children inclusion in the design of digital technologies. Sometimes such approaches are not aligned to inclusive design. Considering the relevance of Requirements Engineering in the software development process, this work aims at investigating the Human-Computer Interaction and the Software Engineering integration in the Requirement Engineering by developing software artifacts to/with chilren in the context of DICA-TDIC (from portuguese, Design Inclusivo para/com Crianças e Adolescentes de Tecnologias Digitais de Informação e Comunicação) research project. A qualitative research approach is adopted within the development of two exploratory studies. By analysing Participatory Design techniques integrated to Requirement Engineering activities conducted with children participation, it was observed that adopting Human-Computer Interaction practices with children offers important elements to the requeriment specification as part of a broaden Software Engineering process. Some lessons learned are presented, contributing to an ethical and responsible approach to software development with children.