Kantegger

“Zhe Te Dong” “YiTeYi” might seem like unintelligible utterances, yet they are in fact unique worlds, crafted by a seven-year-old boy. Only he can decipher these characters, for they are the fabric of his creation.

The publication of Joe’s first book, “The Little Bus and His Family,” was my initial case study, and it required a year-long collaboration. Each week, we spent an hour immersed in his stories about a world inhabited by buses while sketching out these narratives. I observed the intricate network of subway lines, highways, and even the unique script of Bus City he painstakingly etched out.

This unforgettable journey showcased the innate ability of children to comprehend and construct their reality. It prompted me to question why studies on children’s literature largely focused on textual critique, neglecting the equally important child-audience interaction with visual sources (E. Arizpe & M. Styles, 2016). Fortunately, this perspective is beginning to shift.

In my class, the favored picture book is Curious George, a tale of an ingenious monkey whose problem-solving adventures captivate the children. They are also fascinated by books devoid of text, such as Iwai’s “A House of 100 Stories,” which encourages them to spin tales from illustrations. Adult participation, as in Hervé Tullet’s Mix It Up, greatly enhances children’s reading experience, emphasizing the co-creation in children’s literature. This co-creation suggests that the author’s final full stop is not the end of creation, but rather the beginning of a new cycle as the audience’s response is channeled back into the literary marketplace.

The definition of children’s literature remains nebulous. Classics like “Harry Potter” and “The Book Thief” also resonate with adults, revealing a vast difference between child and adult readers when their reading processes are considered.

The evolution of modern media technology has broadened how readers interpret texts. In my class, story reading has shifted from a teacher-led activity to a multimedia experience. I’ve witnessed this change in Galle, Sri Lanka, where the traditional classroom is replaced by age-based gathering spots under shacks. There, children use jigsaw toys to craft narratives. This approach has proven effective at the Autistic Children Rehabilitation Center, where music and wordless picture books facilitate interaction with the world.

Children’s reading has morphed into a multifaceted process, as exemplified by ABC KIDS in Australia. There, children read paper books while watching related videos on mobile devices. As educators, we must navigate a world saturated with visual information. The advent of digital media and VR technology suggests that reading will soon encompass auditory and tactile experiences. This expansion of the reading experience implies that children’s literature transcends printed texts and ventures into a more complex domain. But what are the cognitive implications of this shift for children? How will new technologies reshape reading?

My previous research centered on children’s perception of digital media and their interaction with various text forms. One study, presented at the HCI International 2020 HCI in Games section, employed the Attention networks task (ANT) to assess video games’ impact on children’s attention networks. We discovered that frequent video gaming negatively influenced children’s orienting networks but positively impacted their executive networks. In essence, video games can distract children, yet enable them to react faster. As game designers, this presents a conundrum: how to balance these effects. This dilemma persists across all materials provided to children. If we could map these influences onto children’s cognitive abilities, could we enhance the positive effects while minimizing the negative? Although this process may be intricate, we have attempted to explore it. Our experiments, employing single-factor design variable methods, compared the effects of e-books and paper books on children’s comprehension and subjective assessments.

Inspired by Professor Arizpe and her team’s case studies on children’s interaction with visual texts, I plan to conduct mini case studies each semester, encouraging children to narrate their own stories in various forms. This mirrors my approach with Joe’s case study. Recognizing the fluidity of children’s development, I incorporated a QR Code linked to Joe’s personal website on the book’s back cover, providing a platform for continuous content update. My ultimate goal is to showcase children’s original creations, be they e-books, videos, or other innovative formats.

I remain committed to enhancing children’s media literacy. The CMLC project’s curriculum, aimed at deepening our understanding of children and culture, aligns with my interests. My studies at the University of Glasgow and Aarhus University focused on children’s literature development and defining childhood and children’s literature from a media perspective. My second-year studies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona will be more hands-on. Reading River, Annotations (McAdam, J. E., Arizpe, E., Devlin, A. M., Farrell, M. and Farrar, J., 2004), and parent-teacher collaboration (Tizard, Schofield, J. Hewison, 1982) are established methods of promoting children’s reading. Although multimedia’s emergence has amplified program design possibilities, the balance must be struck due to load theory, which posits that overly complex multimedia may hinder children’s text comprehension (Acha, 2008). If we could address this issue through careful design and repetition, it would bolster multimedia’s role in promoting children’s reading and maximize its benefits. This forms the core of my second-year study plan. I am excited about the collaboration ahead.