A need-driven design approach: addressing latent needs in collaboration rooted in early childhood.

When the latent needs are un-addressed, collaboration can be easily turned into a non-collaborative activity while the participants are unaware of why. This paper describes a need-driven approach for computer-supported collaborative interaction design, with specific focus on collaboration rooted in early childhood. We conducted a need-identification study, where explicit needs and latent needs in children's collaborative interaction were identified and constructed into a guideline for computer-supported collaboration design. Demonstrating the need-driven approach, a toolkit was designed and the prototype was evaluated based upon the guideline attempting to address the needs identified. The need-driven approach and the design guideline that the toolkit design was based upon may offer new dynamic domains for future computer-supported collaboration design.