U of T’s Sara M. Grimes Will Demistify Age-Appropriate UX

More Canadian content is on the way at CanUX 2022.

 Age-Appropriate Design for UX
} Nov 5, 2022   TBA / 30 MINUTES

How can we design enriching experiences for kids that are both age appropriate and respectful of their rights? The kids’ digital ecosystem is going through a major upheaval as it adapts to new regulatory requirements set by the UK Children’s Code and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment 25 (GC25). The industry is now tasked with figuring out how to better support kids’ rights and integrate age-appropriate design principles into their apps, games, and online services.

But while some principles, like protecting kids’ privacy, are very familiar, others raise challenging new questions, e.g., how to protect kids’ free speech but also keep them safe in multiuser spaces? In this talk, I provide key takeaways for UX designers when it comes to GC25, the Children’s Code, and California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act and recommendations for how to incorporate a rights-based, child-centric age-appropriate approach to UX design.

 Speaker Bio: Sara M. Grimes

Based in Toronto, Dr. Sara M. Grimes is the Director of the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on understanding and improving how children’s digital technologies, games, and apps are designed, used, and regulated. Her award-winning book, Digital Playgrounds: The Hidden Politics of Children’s Online Play Spaces, Virtual Worlds, and Connected Games, was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2021.

For more info, you can follow Sara on Twitter @smgrimes.

*Image credit: Sara M. Grimes