Voice User Interface (VUI) Design – With Children in Mind

The internet is still actually such a new space for many parents, let alone design for voice assistants such as Alexa – although we are used to using them we have the added problem of technology moving so fast that it’s often hard to keep up. 

Children on the other hand have no fears towards new technologies and are more likely to ‘dive straight in’ without considering any risks involved. I believe that from tier one level the parent or guardian should have the authority on what a child can and cannot do online through websites or apps/skills – much like a parental lock on a TV or website browser. It is twice as important that the ability to purchase anything should also be safe guarded, I have been victim to this via in app purchases for instance where the authorisation to use my account was simply not tight enough.

It is also interesting that not only the child’s safety is an issue for me personally. The fact that we do not need to say please and thank you to an online voice system is also a major concern to me. The gaming culture has shut a generation away into their bedrooms without the real interaction of kicking a ball around a park with friends and in my opinion this is having a damaging affect on children’s personalities. The real world where we need to interact verbally with people to find a job, order something in a restaurant etc. will never go away and nor should the manners and personal interaction that go with it. As the voice technology grows we all need to learn how to speak to machines in the same way we would speak to a real person. 

The information that a system can ask a child to provide also needs to be put under scrutiny. We all have a duty to protect children from any kind of exploitation and of course, safety concerns. 

As adults and more importantly Designers we need transparency on what children are viewing and interacting with online. This is particularly important when finding out what information is being stored. If it is established that a user is under 18 or even younger – we need the ability to overview what is happening and give access as appropriate. This is more apparent when voice technology is being used so the security levels should be even tighter and what is and what is not possible for the user to do within an app, website or device can be limited as required.