Sammendrag
Imagine that objects in your home environment – a pillow, a carpet, or a toy – became musical and interactive. Do you think that they could offer new ways of playing and being together? The creative and interdisciplinary qualitative research project RHYME engages with such a question. It explores a new treatment paradigm based on collaborative, tangible, interactive Internet based musical ‘smart things’ with multimedia capabilities, what we call ‘co-creative tangibles’ (CCTs). By addressing the lack of health-promoting interactive and musical information and communication technology of families with children with disabilities, RHYME aims to reduce isolation and passivity and promote health and well-being for them. In its finalizing rounds the results from RHYME show that the technology appears to be valuable for inclusion, human interaction and health promotion. The results are described in detail in the anthology Music, Health, Technology and Design from 2014, which is edited by the present author who is also one of the research participants in RHYME. The present chapter discusses the results deriving from the RHYME actions. To make some of the results more explicit, special attention is paid to how Petronella with Down syndrome and her family explored the CCTs called the REFLECT. Theory from music therapy, disability studies, as well as interaction design and informatics create the background for the following research question addressed for the chapter: How can a digital and musical CCTs lead to inclusion, human interaction and health promotion for families with a child with physical and mental needs?
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