Designing a Layer for Communication and socialization for Digital Natives within a Digital Library

Abstract: This thesis is a report of a research and design process for creating a layer for a certain Digital Library; a layer that allows users to communicate and socialize with each other within the environment of the Digital Library. Also, the effects that this layer could have on the users’ behaviors, social lives, and private lives, were evaluated.In the process, the most-visited Digital Libraries have been introduced and examined. Furthermore, they have been compared with each other using a united framework. In addition, the user group has been chosen, analyzed and categorized. According to that, International Children’s Digital Library has been chosen as the most suitable Digital Library for the target user group.Through series of prototypes and workshops done with a selection of user group representatives, design decisions were made and tried out. The final outcome of these workshops is a prototype layer for International Children’s Digital Library that allows users to communicate and socialize with one another. As a further matter, the potential effects it could have were explained.