Discovering E-Literature for children

This paper presentation will be based on a 6­month long exploration of electronic literature designed for children or that may appeal to children. This survey of the field will be conducted publicly using I ♥ E­Poetry as a platform and structure for publication of weekly reviews of works, which will result in a dataset of 15­20 works. As a father of two children­­ a 4 year old boy and a 6 year old girl­­ I will have an ideal test audience for the works. In addition to reading and critically appraising the works myself, I will also invite my children to play, read, and interact with the works so I can observe their reactions and receive their input when writing my reviews. The platforms I will be focusing on will be iOS (we own iPhones, iPod Touch, and an iPad), Android (I own a Nexus 7), and the LeapPad Ultra system of tablets designed for children. The affordances and constraints of these systems will be of interest for my analysis. For this exploration, I will define e­literature broadly and may include video games, interactive e­books, apps, and more, as long as there is a significant engagement with language in digital media. I will also present a selection of e­lit works, such as iOS apps created by Jody Zellen and Jörg Piringer, to my children and observe their response to the works. The resulting series of entries will draw attention to the topic and lead to insights on the current state of e­literature for children. The paper and presentation will organize those thoughts into a clear hypothesis, discuss a selection of e­lit works, and draw conclusions from the data. (Source: Authors abstract)