We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

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Ontario Tech research partnership to examine wearable technology through children’s eyes

The Decimal Lab at the Ontario Tech University (Ontario Tech) has partnered with Linkitz, a Port Hope, Ontario-based startup, to research the future of wearable technology from a child’s perspective.

“We’re undergoing a rapid cultural turn toward wearable computerized devices and schools are not necessarily able to keep pace”, said Dr. Isabel Pedersen. “Through our research we aim to learn how young children understand personal technology in terms of story-making and story-telling amongst peers, and alone as solo participants.”

Dr. Pedersen, Canada Research Chair in Digital Life, Media and Culture; Director, Decimal Lab; and Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Ontario Tech, will lead the research. The first phase of the project, entitled Kids, creative storyworlds and wearables, will involve collaboration between professors and students from the university’s faculties of Social Science and Humanities and Education. They will use textual/visual analysis and ethnography in their research. They will examine how children between the ages of five and seven think and feel about technology, and how they envision where wearable technology is headed, as expressed in their stories about the future.

Linkitz, winner of the 2014 N100 Startup Competition, has developed an electronic toy that includes a set of links that can be snapped together and programmed to create an interactive wearable device. The toy is designed to help children – specifically young girls - learn about software coding. The company will apply the results of the research toward the development of their product.

“We’re tremendously excited to partner with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s Decimal Lab and gain valuable insight into what young children really think and feel about the emerging world of wearable devices”, said Lyssa Neel, CEO, Linkitz.