Playware
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Playware is hardware and software that aims at producing play and playful experiences among its users.
Examples of playware products are numerous with computer games as the most widespread and successful, but it is a fast-growing industry utilizing pervasive and ambient technology to create new kinds of play equipment and toys, which can be labelled “playware”.
The term "playware" was coined by Carsten Jessen Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Danish University of Education, and Henrik Hautop Lund, Ph.D. a professor at the University of Southern Denmark. They first define dthe term in their paper "Playware – Intelligent technology for children’s play" to describe both a new area of research and a product type.
Jessen & Lund argue that the playware is not so much the result of the appearance of digital technology as it is the result of the fact that many children (and adults) in modern society do not have the necessary knowledge and skills needed to initiate games and play. Earlier generations of children inherited games and learned play skills from older peers when participating in cross age activities for instance on the street or in the backyard. This is not to the same extend the case today and according to Jessen and Lund this has led to the need for inspiration from playware.
[edit] References
- Lund, H.H. & Jessen, C.; Playware – Intelligent technology for children’s play. Technical Reports 2005, No. 1, June 2005. ISSN No. 1601-4219 (Available here.)
- Lund, H.H., Klitbo, T. and Jessen, C.; (2005) "Playware Technology for Physically Activating Play". Artificial Life and Robotics Journal 9:4, 165-174
