Most of the web is designed
with adults in mind. Sure, there are plenty of websites built
specifically for children, but they’re mostly cordoned off playgrounds
with little more than a handful of brain-dead Flash games and
“edutainment” videos. Why create something small and isolated
specifically for kids when you could leverage the core technology and
name recognition of services like Google Search and YouTube? Starting
next year, that’s exactly what Google plans on tackling — a safe,
intuitive way for kids to use the internet to its full extent.
In a recent interview Google’s Pavni Diwanji sat down to discuss Mountain View’s plans for the 12-and-under market.
Details and firm timeframes are scarce, but Diwanji did let us in on
the direction her team is headed. Safety is obviously a priority
whenever young children are involved, but this project is so much more
than an updated Net Nanny for 2015. It’s also focused on making the web easier to navigate, and encouraging participation — not merely consumption.
Later on in the interview, Diwanji brings up a specific incident with one of her own children. When her 8-year-old searched Google
for “trains,” she was baffled by the numerous schedules that popped up
in the results. While those schedules are incredibly useful for adults,
they have absolutely no use for an 8-year-old looking for Thomas the
Tank Engine. It’s a shrewd move for Google to reconsider the user
experience for different age groups, and it’d be nice to see other major
companies follow suit.
Projects like Doodle 4 Google and Maker Camp
were briefly namechecked, but it remains unclear what tools and
safeguards will be put into place to help young children express their
creativity on sites like YouTube while remaining compliant with
regulations like COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) in the
United States. If Google really wants to cater to kids, there are going
to have to be safe and easy ways for them to find and make video
content. Kids already care passionately about making Minecraft videos, so if this initiative isn’t facilitating that kind of creativity, Google has already screwed up.
Besides
usability, the other major hurdle for this project is customizability
for parents. Individuals vary wildly on what content and behavior they
find acceptable for children, and dealing with a twelve-year age range
is definitely challenging. After all, something appropriate for a tween
may not be right for a kindergartner. Google is facing some major
challenges, but sowing the seeds of brand loyalty at an early age will
likely pay dividends in just a few short years when smartphones and
tablets enter the picture for these kids.
source:extremetech.com
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