Unleash Your Child's Creativity with StoryDrawer AI

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   1. Background
   2. Challenges in Children's Visual Storytelling
   3. Design Goals
2. StoryDrawer: A Co-Creative System
   1. User Interface and Features
   2. Collaborative Strategies
      1. Real-Time Transformation of Telling into Drawings
      2. Generating Abstract Sketches with Semantic Similarity
   3. Context-Based Voice Agent
3. Experimental Study and Results
   1. Methodology
   2. Results and Findings
4. Qualitative Analysis of Children's Work
   1. Enriching Details through Prompting
   2. Developing Creative Ideas through Observation and Association
   3. Positive Child-AI Relationships & Engagement
5. Contribution and Conclusion

StoryDrawer: Supporting Children's Visual Storytelling through Child-AI Collaboration

Creativity is a vital skill for children's development, and nurturing it has always been a challenge. Traditional methods of creative expression such as writing or drawing have been commonly used, but visual storytelling combines the power of oral storytelling and narrative visualization. However, children face various challenges in this creative process, including multitasking, Writer's block, and maintaining engagement.

To address these challenges, we have built StoryDrawer, a co-creative system that leverages artificial intelligence to support children in visual storytelling. It features a user-friendly interface on a tablet where children can draw, erase, and adjust various elements. Two collaborative strategies are employed to assist children. The first involves the real-time transformation of a child's storytelling into drawings, relieving their cognitive load and allowing them to focus on creativity. The Second strategy generates abstract sketches with semantic similarity to the existing story content, helping children overcome writer's block by providing visual stimulus.

Additionally, StoryDrawer incorporates a context-based voice agent to enhance engagement. The agent responds in three parts: positive affirmations, context-based utterances, and substantive utterances. Positive affirmations acknowledge what the child has said, while context-based utterances incorporate information from the children's drawings to establish a deeper connection. Substantive utterances aim to Elicit more narratives from the children.

An experimental study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the collaborative strategies. The results showed that Strategy 1, the real-time transformation of storytelling into drawings, significantly improved the creative performance of the participants, particularly in terms of detailed narratives and creative drawings. Strategy 2, which generated abstract sketches, significantly increased the number of ideas and elaborations. The study also revealed that StoryDrawer helped children enrich their stories and develop more creative ideas.

In conclusion, StoryDrawer is a valuable tool to support children's creative development in visual storytelling. By alleviating multitasking burdens, overcoming writer's block, and promoting engagement, it offers a solid step towards fostering children's creativity. For further information, please refer to our paper.

Highlights:

• StoryDrawer is a co-creative system that supports children in visual storytelling through collaborative drawing.
• The system incorporates two collaborative strategies: real-time transformation of storytelling into drawings and generating abstract sketches with semantic similarity.
• StoryDrawer features a user-friendly interface on a tablet, allowing children to draw, erase, and adjust various elements.
• The system includes a context-based voice agent that enhances engagement by providing positive affirmations and context-based utterances.
• An experimental study demonstrated that StoryDrawer significantly improved children's creative performance, enabling them to Create detailed narratives and more creative drawings.

FAQ

Q: How does StoryDrawer help children overcome writer's block? A: StoryDrawer generates abstract sketches with semantic similarity to existing story content, providing visual stimulus that prompts children's creativity.

Q: What are the collaborative strategies employed in StoryDrawer? A: The first strategy transforms children's storytelling into real-time drawings, while the second strategy generates abstract sketches to provoke creativity.

Q: Does StoryDrawer support engagement during the creative process? A: Yes, StoryDrawer includes a context-based voice agent that responds to children's narratives, providing positive affirmations and context-based utterances to enhance engagement.