Jabberstamp: embedding sound and voice in traditional drawings

Hayes Raffle, Cati Vaucelle, Ruibing Wang* (Cornell University) and Hiroshi Ishii
MIT Media Laboratory
20 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
{hayes, cati, ishii} @media.mit.edu, *rw98@cornell.edu

ABSTRACT

We introduce Jabberstamp, the first tool that allows children to synthesize their drawings and voices. To use Jabberstamp, children create drawings, collages or paintings on normal paper. They press a special rubber stamp onto the page to record sounds into their drawings. When children touch the marks of the stamp with a small trumpet, they can hear the sounds playback, retelling the stories they created.

We describe our design process and analyze the mechanism between the act of drawing and the one of telling, defining interdependencies between the two activities. In a series of studies, children ages 4-8 use Jabberstamp to convey meaning in their drawings. The system allows collaboration among peers at different developmental levels. Jabberstamp compositions reveal children’s narrative styles and their planning strategies. In guided activities, children develop stories by situating sound recording in their drawing, which suggests future opportunities for hybrid voice-visual tools to support children’s emergent literacy.