Digital play in nature : a study of digital play installations from a nature play perspective
Waern, Annika ; Mårtensson, Fredrika ; Back, Jon ; Litsmark, Anna LU
and Sallnäs Pysander, Eva-Lotta
(2025)
Conference: CHI 2025: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Abstract
- While digital play installations for outdoor use are becoming more common, little work has been done on how such technology shapes play in nature-rich environments. We performed a study of children's self-directed play with access to nature as well as digital installations. Our findings show that play with nature materials and digital installations emerged in different ways. Most notably, imaginative play was observed emerging in close interaction with nature, while the digital installations mostly inspired rule-based play. Furthermore, engagement with digital installations typically involved an active exploration phase which was not observed with nature materials. Nature materials instead engaged the children's senses more immediately,... (More)
- While digital play installations for outdoor use are becoming more common, little work has been done on how such technology shapes play in nature-rich environments. We performed a study of children's self-directed play with access to nature as well as digital installations. Our findings show that play with nature materials and digital installations emerged in different ways. Most notably, imaginative play was observed emerging in close interaction with nature, while the digital installations mostly inspired rule-based play. Furthermore, engagement with digital installations typically involved an active exploration phase which was not observed with nature materials. Nature materials instead engaged the children's senses more immediately, and often offered opportunities for collection and consumption, paving way for fluent play activities roaming large areas. We argue that these differences motivate rethinking the design of digital installations for play in nature and suggest guidelines to this purpose. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/200536df-c8a9-4b96-9cdb-489e9bd1def7
- author
- Waern, Annika
; Mårtensson, Fredrika
; Back, Jon
; Litsmark, Anna
LU
and Sallnäs Pysander, Eva-Lotta
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-04-25
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Digital outdoor play, Open-ended play, Restoration, Children ́ s play, Nature, Nature-rich settings, Landscape architecture, Nature play
- host publication
- CHI '25 : Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- editor
- Yamashita, Naomi ; Evers, Vanessa and Yatani, Koji
- article number
- 324
- pages
- 19 pages
- conference name
- Conference: CHI 2025: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- conference location
- Japan
- conference dates
- 2025-04-26 - 2025-05-01
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105005772279
- ISBN
- 979-8-4007-1394-1
- DOI
- 10.1145/3706598.3713303
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 200536df-c8a9-4b96-9cdb-489e9bd1def7
- date added to LUP
- 2025-05-20 13:36:37
- date last changed
- 2025-05-29 04:01:47
@inproceedings{200536df-c8a9-4b96-9cdb-489e9bd1def7,
abstract = {{While digital play installations for outdoor use are becoming more common, little work has been done on how such technology shapes play in nature-rich environments. We performed a study of children's self-directed play with access to nature as well as digital installations. Our findings show that play with nature materials and digital installations emerged in different ways. Most notably, imaginative play was observed emerging in close interaction with nature, while the digital installations mostly inspired rule-based play. Furthermore, engagement with digital installations typically involved an active exploration phase which was not observed with nature materials. Nature materials instead engaged the children's senses more immediately, and often offered opportunities for collection and consumption, paving way for fluent play activities roaming large areas. We argue that these differences motivate rethinking the design of digital installations for play in nature and suggest guidelines to this purpose.}},
author = {{Waern, Annika and Mårtensson, Fredrika and Back, Jon and Litsmark, Anna and Sallnäs Pysander, Eva-Lotta}},
booktitle = {{CHI '25 : Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems}},
editor = {{Yamashita, Naomi and Evers, Vanessa and Yatani, Koji}},
isbn = {{979-8-4007-1394-1}},
keywords = {{Digital outdoor play; Open-ended play; Restoration; Children ́ s play; Nature; Nature-rich settings; Landscape architecture; Nature play}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{04}},
title = {{Digital play in nature : a study of digital play installations from a nature play perspective}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/219726123/Litsmark-A_et-al_Digital-play-in-nature_2025.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1145/3706598.3713303}},
year = {{2025}},
}