We’re happy to announce that the Alpha Generation Lab, in collaboration with researchers from the KU Leuven, Belgium, has won the CELSA (Central Europe Leuven Strategic Alliance) research grant. The title of the awarded project is “ReDUX – Building Resilience to Deceptive Patterns in Children”!
Digital services increasingly target children, aiming to monetize children's attention, time and data. Many of these platforms are built on strategies that trick children when interacting, encouraging certain interactions in ways that bring harm. ReDUX aims to build resilience to these deceptive patterns in young children (age 9 to 10). We will research children's understanding and attitudes towards deceptive patterns, and based on this knowledge, design and develop a mobile game that trains children in recognizing them. To this end, we will employ a participatory design method. The outcome of this research project is threefold. ReDUX will result in
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a gamified digital service to train resilience for children,
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grounded knowledge on deceptive UX (user experience) and children via a triple-lens analysis, and
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a research tool (and online repository) where data on deceptive UX can be collected.
These outcomes will be leveraged to build a ‘Sustainable research line on deceptive UX and vulnerable populations In this manner, ReDUX not only strengthens children's resilience, but equally forms the starting point of long-term research on deceptive patterns and vulnerable populations.
ReDUX is a collaborative initiative between:
- Veronika Konok from the Alpha Generation Lab,
- Vero Vanden Abeele from the eMedia Research Lab and the Department of Computer Science at the KU Leuven,
- Bieke Zaman from the Media Culture & Policy Lab of the Department of Communication Sciences at the KU Leuven.
Together, we aim to advance ethical, child-centered approaches to digital design and promote safer, more transparent online environments for young users.