Finding a needle in a haystack : new ways to search and browse on Scratch

Abstract

With Scratch, young people can program their own interactive stories, games, animations, and simulations -- and share their creations with one another. Since the launch of Scratch five years ago, over 2.5 million projects have been shared on the website and it is has become increasingly difficult for Scratchers to find projects that connect to their interests. This thesis discusses the design and implementation of the Searching and Browsing toolkit, which will enable project discovery on the new Scratch 2.0 website. Scratchers will be able to find projects through the new Search page, the Explore page and the Related Projects strip. The Searching and Browsing toolkit was designed with the goal of helping users find projects that are more meaningful, serendipitous and inspirational, while also making projects more discoverable overall.