Jan Hess

Jumping between devices and services: towards an integrated concept for social tv

Television and video belong to the most important media in domestic environments. Nowadays, television means more than the classic reception at the TV set, it also provides new manifold opportunities for on-demand media consumption. The technical infrastructure grows extremely fast whereby an increasing number of options of how to use rich media are being offered. Functionalities from the Internet, such as e.g. communication, sharing and other information services enrich the TV experience. The convergence of media is not only visible in broader functional sets at one device, e.g. broadcast and online access at Media Center systems, but is also reflected in the interconnectedness of the device itself. In order to understand the design dimensions for further SocialTV applications, we conducted different kinds of empirical work including a diary study, interviews and creative workshops. Results indicate that several forms of parallel and convergent media usage have already been established. We identified flexible changes between devices and services related to TV and video content (cross-media jumps). We also discussed several mockups for integrated, cross-platform Social TV applications. It turned out that the identified needs relate to both a better interconnection between devices and services.

Impacts of new technologies on media usage and social behaviour in domestic environments

Technological infrastructure at home is changing continuously and is becoming increasingly interconnected. Media devices, including the TV set, provide access to the Internet and offer manifold opportunities to consume media on demand. Additionally, personal devices, such as smartphones, also enable flexible consumption and sharing of media. Questions about how these technologies change the users media usage and how these changes affect the social structure of a household, however, remain largely unanswered. In order to gain insight into the adoption of new technologies into daily routines, we explored these changes in respect of peoples media usage in a qualitative long-term Living Lab study. We will present findings regarding personal routines, flexible integration of new devices into existing practices, influences on households as social systems and related issues in device access and collective use. We will highlight potentials and conflicts regarding device shifts and roles; restrictions in device access; social influences in the living room; and individual changes in media consumption.

Steps toward a living lab for socialmedia concept evaluation and continuous user-involvement

Involving users in the design and evaluation process of new technical artefacts is a fundamental approach in building usable and acceptable applications and services. To conduct such studies in realistic settings, the Living Lab methodology has been established over last few years. In our research work we established such a lab in a local area with the intention of building a foundation on which to evaluate ideas and prototypes around the Social Media topic. In this paper we describe our approach and point out issues that occurred within the build-up process. Crucial aspects include the selection process, the organisation and especially the question of how clusters of households can be built.

Understanding and supporting cross-platform usage in the living room

Abstract Nowadays users can choose TV and video content from diverse broadcast and online sources. The Internet many functionalities, such as communication, sharing and other information services, enrich the TV experience. The convergence of media is not only visible in the broader functions of one device, e.g. broadcast and online access through a media center system, but is also reflected in the interconnectedness of different devices. In order to understand the design dimensions for further Social TV applications, we conducted different empirical studies, including a diary study, interviews and creative workshops. The results indicate that several forms of parallel and convergent media use have already been established. We identified flexible switching of devices and services related to television and video content. While the empirical results also confirmed limitations of isolated applications and services, we will present a technological infrastructure that supports Social TV in a more integrated and flexible manner. Furthermore, we will describe two use-cases that show the potential of interconnected design concepts.

Explore social behavior around rich-media: a structured diary study

We developed a structured media diary, to ease the understanding of social activities around rich-media consumption. The diary enables the participants to document social events in everyday life. Even though the diaries were our primary method, we added pens and a digital camera to the documentation package. To evaluate these packages, we gave them to nine households to gain insights into social practices around TV- and Video-Consumption. In this paper we introduce the diary method and reflect on its usage.

SUPPORTING END-USER ARTICULATIONS IN EVOLVING BUSINESS PROCESSES: A CASE STUDY TO EXPLORE INTUITIVE NOTATIONS AND INTERACTION DESIGNS

Adaptations of business processes are important in work environments, specifically when process-support needs to be tailored according to changing needs. The creation, management, and adaptation of the process models require typically modeling-experts. While these actors are knowledgeable in formalizing and operationalizing processes end-users who do not necessarily possess sophisticated modeling skills know typically local practices and framing conditions best. In this paper, we present an approach to support users in articulating their needs and to involve them into the (re-)design of process specifications. We explore how end-users reflect upon and articulate about business processes. Based on results of a qualitative study, we present a new, paper-based interaction technique, which enables users with little skills to model processes. The resulting process specifications can be transferred either in paper or in digital form into traditional modeling systems for further elaboration.

New technology@home: impacts on usage behavior and social structures

Studying domestic usage contexts has become an important field in research. Recent technological improvements have made media available on different devices, in different contexts and from different places. The adoption and appropriation of new devices and technologies has led to a more flexible usage behavior. However, even if we know about such a behavior, many questions, regarding how new technology changes the users media usage and how these changes affect the social structure in a household, are still unanswered. We will address this topic in our work and want to provide an insight on how recent media consumption patterns have changed due to the appropriation of new technologies in the home. Based on a qualitative long-term Living Lab study we will present various patterns based on changes in media usage routines and their influences on households as social systems. The results provide a detailed understanding of how the new technology is embedded within domestic life by considering potentials and conflicts that also address further design oriented work.

In-situ everywhere: a qualitative feedback infrastructure for cross platform home-IT

The domestic appliance landscape is becoming increasingly interconnected with different options to consume rich media, e.g. on TV, PC or Mobile with manifold options for additional services. From a participatory design oriented perspective, involving users into the design of new applications related to video and TV is a topic with growing importance. However, current options to provide feedback at use-time are limited to a standardized form, e.g. in traditional usability tests. In order to open the design space for long-term and more creative in-situ feedback, we will address this topic by a concept of a cross platform infrastructure that enables users to provide feedback on different devices in the context of the usage. This concept enables users to co-develop and improve a system over time in a continuous manner. Crossing the boundaries of various platforms, feedback can be enriched in a very comfortable way, e.g. by annotating a screenshot of the television screen with the smartphone.

Using paper and pen to control home-IT: lessons learned by hands-on experience

Standard remote controls are the most important interface to handle and control TV and media center systems for home entertainment. While the controlling device is being used as something statically, most providers now realize the flexibility of an interface on the software level at the controlled device. Such straightforward approaches reach their limits, when complex functionalities are to be handled remotely. Managing the media library, converting media items or entering text are examples of such enhanced options. In order to handle such complexity we experimented with smart remotes. In a first case study we explored the use of digital pen & paper as a personalizable control device with enhanced text input capability. A prototype called p-Remote (personal remote) was implemented. The evaluation showed us that the users appreciate the possibility of being able to personalize the remote control interfaces, as they fully understand their own interfaces and they can have specific interfaces for different scenarios. The evaluation also showed that the p-Remote provides the user with a fast access and intuitive usage. By discussing the results, we will also point out several issues from which we have derived implications for designing smart remote control concepts in further work.

Thinking beyond the box: designing interactive TV across different devices

Thinking beyond the box: designing interactive TV across different devices Jan Hess, Hendrik Knoche & Volker Wulf a Institute for Information Systems, University of Siegen, Holderlinstr. 3, 57068 Siegen, Germany b Department of Architecture, Design & Media Technology, University of Aalborg, Sofiendalsvej 11, 9200 Aalborg SV, Denmark c Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology (FhG-FIT), Schloss Birlinghoven, 53754 Sankt Augustin, Germany Published online: 07 Jul 2014.