Children's Rights in Your Pocket – Lessons Learned from a Three-Year Case Study on Participatory App Design with Children

Prior research on participatory design of digital artefacts with children has been criticizing the often restricted scope of children’s involvement. Studies on comprehensive long-term participation and thus corresponding knowledge on the setup, organization, and overall success factors of participatory design projects with children are scarce. To address this gap, we present the case study of a nationwide three-year participatory app project on children’s rights in Switzerland. With overall more than 170 children involved in 18 different workshop formats, the project plays a pioneering role in continuous long-term participatory app design with children. Having analyzed various approaches and decisions in setting up the project, coordinating participants, planning and running workshops, etc., we were able to derive a set of recommendations for related project endeavors. Core success factors (and challenges) turned out to include building a basis of trust, achieving genuine participation, considering children’s diversity, and ensuring continuous communication with children involved.