A Human Centered Approach to the Design of Interactive Television Applications

by Konstantinos Chorianopoulos

Digital television is one of the new technologies emerging in the media industry. The impact of digital television on the way people watch television is expected to be great, not only because it enhances the audiovisual experience of the user, but more importantly because it introduces interactivity. Apart from displaying television in a high-fidelity format, digital television will introduce a series of interrelated technologies that will allow television to become interactive, so that viewers can play along with game shows, get information from the Internet as they watch a show, or buy a vast array of products and services online. The introduction of digital technologies to television has been studied from business (Pramataris et al. 2001) and technical (Milenkovic 1998) viewpoints. In this article television is examined from a media consumption point of view, which is proposed as a human centered approach to interactive television design.

Television is a medium that is central to peoples’ everyday life; in fact as Lull (1990) has put it “television is everyday life”. Within its life span, television has developed its own grammar and structure; furthermore, the television audience has established specific and well-defined interaction patterns that are unique to this medium. Still, a literature review has revealed that the approach followed by the majority of scientific publications is mainly PC-centric and at most times implicitly focused on the work environment. Nevertheless, the need for multimedia applications and broadband connectivity in the home is widely agreed upon by both the media and IT industries, although the way of getting there, has been debatable (Mayer et al. 2000).

During the past few decades, the application of human computer interaction (HCI) theory to the design case of interactive television applications has been driven more by entrepreneurial spirit -such as TiVo's- or media giant trials -such as Time Warner's Future Service Network-, than by methodological, published and widely available academic research (Carey 1997). In addition to only a few academic publications there is also a narrow focus of interest, as a lot of them are congested around the design of the electronic program guide (Burrnester et al. 1996, Smyth and Cotter 2000).

The field of HCI has been benefited by a multidisciplinary approach to design problems (Ballay 1994). Successful interactive television applications, apart from proven methodologies and multiple design iterations, demand a diverse array of design specialties. Van Dam (2001) in his research agenda for HCI ‘User Interfaces: Disappearing, Dissolving and Evolving’ concludes that “computer scientists must learn not just about human-computer interaction, but also about underlying principles of perceptual and cognitive science, and even the design arts to be able to make the most of human capabilities and limitations”. Therefore, an analysis of interactive television applications in terms of the media consumption theory -which has been studying extensively television use for the past few decades- provides an additional perspective to understanding interactive television.

About UITV.INFO | Editorial team | Questions and Answers | Contact | Privacy Policy | Help
Copyright © 2002-2008 UITV.INFO. All rights are reserved by UITV.INFO or the respective Publishers and Authors.
Reproduction of material from UITV.INFO without permission is strictly prohibited.