FingerDraw: More than a Digital Paintbrush

Research in cognitive science shows that engaging in visual arts has great benefits for children particularly when it allows them to bond with nature [7]. In this paper, we introduce FingerDraw, a novel drawing interface that aims to keep children connected to the physical environment by letting the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hettiarachchi, Anuruddha, Nanayakkara, Suranga, Yeo, Kian Peen, Shilkrot, Roy, Maes, Patricia
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Association for Computing Machinery 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80345
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7722-6038
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9154-4254
Description
Summary:Research in cognitive science shows that engaging in visual arts has great benefits for children particularly when it allows them to bond with nature [7]. In this paper, we introduce FingerDraw, a novel drawing interface that aims to keep children connected to the physical environment by letting them use their surroundings as templates and color palette. The FingerDraw system consists of (1) a finger-worn input device [13] which allows children to upload visual contents such as shapes, colors and textures that exist in the real world; (2) a tablet with touch interface that serves as a digital canvas for drawing. In addition to real-time drawing activities, children can also collect a palette of colors and textures in the input device and later feed them into the drawing interface. Initial reactions from a case study indicated that the system could keep a child engaged with their surroundings for hours to draw using the wide range of shapes, colors and patterns found in the natural environment.