Music as an enabler for social inclusion and provision - The UMSIC approach

Abstract

This paper describes the motivation for, and the design of, a mobile device for music making for children that aims to improve inclusion and reduce isolation in groups of children, and especially where some children have attention deficiencies or whose language is different from that of the host country. The paper begins with a summary of the literature that places the research in context, briefly describes the approaches taken by the research team to design the technology, and then outlines the key features of the proposed solution. Finally, the paper outlines some of the challenges that the team expects to face, both from an R and D perspective and also from the point of view of evaluating the impact of the solution, before outlining where the project aims to go next.