Founded by NZ entrepreneur Chris White, BigLittleBang is an online virtual world for children aged 5-12 years that features the ability for the players to collaboratively make and share music in a safe online environment. This case study looks at technical aspects of developing, maintaining and expanding a virtual world, and how standards and conventions around privacy, safety and security inform the decisions that the BigLittleBang team made to meet the demands of their international audience.

Nature of Technology

• Socio-cultural considerations – privacy; personal safety; ethics.
• Design elements – physical and functional nature.

Technological Modelling

• Functional modelling; prototyping.

Specialist Knowledge and Skills

• Digital Media outcomes – tools and techniques; testing procedures; standards and conventions.

Websites

• BigLittleBang
• Icehouse Business Incubator

YouTube videos

• BigLittleBang Tour
• Business Incubators
• Interview with Chris White

Articles

• Virtual worlds (Wikipedia entry)

Discussion starters Y7-10

• Explain why both functional modelling and prototyping are needed to support decision making in technology.
• Identify the different forms of modelling that have taken place during the development of BigLittleBang.
• Discuss how the information gained from key stakeholder groups would help the design team to work out what could and should be done in developing the site.
• Explain the following terms in relation to the design and development work undertaken:
  • Functional and practical reasoning.
  • User interface.
  • Cyber bullying.

Discussion starters Y11-13

• Discuss the interactions between socio cultural factors and the development of an online virtual world such as BigLittleBang.
• Explain why different forms of modelling were selected at different stages of the development work to inform what 'could' and 'should' be done.
• Explain the following terms in relation to the design and development work undertaken:
  • Collaborative creativity.
  • Market validation.
  • Legacy features.
  • Alpha / Beta testing.
  • Business incubators.