Jorge Ferraz de Abreu

2BeOn: interactive television supporting interpersonal communication

Interpersonal communication mediated by computer services supports the reinforcement and emergence of new communities brought together by leisure or work interests. This paper presents a workbench system that aims to study how the same principle can be applied in interactive television. The main objective is to allow TV users to be online (2BeOn) through the integration of basic and advanced communication services, enabling them to reinforce their interpersonal communication. The 2BeOn system is based on four core components: user tracking, Communication services, interface engine and collaboration content/interaction tracing. In addition to the social and behavioural context of the system, its conceptualisation, prototyping and evaluation are addressed.

Viewer behaviors and practices in the (new) television environment

This paper presents the main results of a study conducted in Portugal with the aim of identifying the current trends of the television ecosystem, with special relevance to understand the cognitive processes of viewers when selecting what to watch on TV. To this end, an online survey targeted mainly to young adults with mid to high academic degrees was designed. The survey gathered more than 600 responses, of which 550 were validated and taken into account in the data analysis. The results provide a detailed insight about the habits, dynamics and behaviors of spectators regarding the actual scenario of television. It also allowed the identification of the most relevant criteria considered by viewers when deciding what to watch on TV. The most important ones include the program genre followed by the state of mind (mood), the people who share the couch with and the time available to watch TV. The results also provide a structuring framework for the design of interactive television applications, targeted to this audience in the areas of personalization, recommendation and search and discovery of TV content.

TV discovery & enjoy: a new approach to help users finding the right TV program to watch

This paper presents the development and evaluation cycle of an interactive television (iTV) prototype that aims to improve the way users discover and select their TV content, bearing in mind the cognitive model that the viewer typically uses in mindless zapping situations. The development of the iTV application was supported by a study of the habits and behaviours of TV viewers (namely the ones related to the referred cognitive process), followed by the specification of its conceptual model and features, interface mock-ups and its integration in the filtering engine of the iTV application. Additionally, an indexing and cataloging system interconnected with the filtering engine was designed. The developed prototype was evaluated by a group of users, with the results revealing to be very positive, both in in what relates with the interest on the application and its usability. In parallel to the development of the iTV application, a tablet version was conceptualized and evaluated with the aim of studying the suitability of the extension of the same conceptual model to a secondary screen approach.

A UX Evaluation Approach for Second-Screen Applications

Technological devices surrounding the television are changing, leading to changes in viewers’ habits and to the development of second-screen applications created to provide better TV viewing experiences. Used while watching television, the 2ndVision application presented in this paper is able to identify – through audio-fingerprint – content being displayed on the TV screen and present enhanced information on the second-screen. Under a participatory design approach, the development of the application took in consideration the users’ opinion regarding its main functionalities and interface solutions and included evaluation test sessions conducted in laboratory settings. This paper reports on the adopted UX evaluation approach where opinions regarding instrumental, non-instrumental and emotional impact of the application were collected with a combination of SUS, AttrakDiff and SAM scales.

Implementation of social features over regular IPTV stb

Social TV research area has benefited in the late years from the dissemination of IPTV services and related technological possibilities. Features of presence, communication and recommendation have been proposed and are now more common in the prototypes being developed. However a high number of these experiments and proposals are not yet implemented over regular commercial IPTV platforms and can take some time to be available with a compelling graphical and interaction design. The Social TV application WeOnTV, covered in this paper, was developed in the staging platform of PT Inovação IPTV infrastructure. The work and evaluation so far showed promising results including a successful test over the MEO - IPTV commercial solution. The paper focuses on feasible approaches taken towards the interface design and implementation of WeOnTVs social features, which can be useful as directions to other iTV developments over regular browser based set-top boxes.

Participatory design of a social TV application for senior citizens - the iNeighbour TV project

In this paper, we present the on-going work of the iNeighbour TV research project that aims to promote health care and social interaction among senior citizens, their relatives and caregivers. The TV set was the device chosen to mediate all the action, since it is a friendly device and one with which the elderly are used to interact. A study, conducted among the project’s target audience (TA), using a participatory design approach is addressed in the paper. Its purpose was to better characterize this type of users; identify relevant features; and evaluate usability and user interface requirements targeted to television (in an IPTV infrastructure). The analysis of the study results, which ensured the revision of the project’s features, is also presented along with a comprehensive description of the validated features. Some of these include: automatic user recognition system, medication reminder, monitoring system (of deviations from daily patterns), caregiver support, events planning, audio calls and a set of tools to promote community service.

Promoting IPTV Accessibility for Visually Impaired Users: Implementation of an Adapted Service☆

Abstract In spite of the wide dissemination of technologies and digital resources, people with special needs still find barriers and difficulties in accessing and using many of the information technology (IT) services currently available. This problem is particularly critical in usage scenarios involving mass media devices like Television (TV), specially taking in consideration its interactive format with all advanced features it brings. In this context, the creation of inclusion strategies becomes essential for increasing digital literacy and citizens’ capacity to participate in different areas using advanced services like Interactive Television (iTV). Universal Design shows up as the appropriate approach to answer this problem, since the systems that are shaped based on this methodology make available the accommodation of a wide range of human skills, abilities, needs and preferences. In this framework, this paper introduces a research related to universal design issues on the iTV scope, which aims the conceptualization, prototyping and validation of an IPTV service specifically designed to look on visually impaired users’ needs. The presented results are based on the second phase of this research, which intended the conceptualization and development of the prototype. Accordingly, we describe the elicitation process of the technical and functional requirements that led us to the implementation and test of the advanced and customizable features of an adapted IPTV service.

User Identification: A Key Factor for Elderly Viewers to Benefit from Interactive Television Services

The offer of interactive television services is becoming more and more frequent in regular households allowing a more customizable way of watching TV. However, in a multi-viewer environment a truly personalized TV experience could not merely rely on the identification of the STB that users have at their homes. For this purpose, a non-intrusive user identification technique is especially relevant, namely when senior viewers are at stake. In this work we are studying different approaches to perform an adequate identification of senior viewers so they can benefit from a series of interactive services targeted to their needs. To achieve this aim, a set of exploratory interviews have been carried out, and based on its results, a prototype with several identification technologies has been developed. With this prototype and through a set of usability tests we were able to collect relevant opinions about the type of added value TV services that this target audience desires. In addition, it was also possible to understand points of view that lead us to conclude that the user context involves a complex trade-off that influences the choice of the most suitable identification system.

Recommending Personalized Informative Contents on iTV

This paper aims to present an ongoing PhD research of the Doctoral Program Information and Communication in Digital Platforms and proposes a context aware recommender system (CARS) of informative contents about Assistance Services of General Interest for the Elderly (ASGIE) [6], for later exhibition on an Interactive TV (iTV) platform. The first phase of this research has been dedicated to assessing the information needs of seniors and designing a proper CARS data model. Future work will involve designing and implementing a prototype for further evaluation in the field with seniors, in the context of the +TV4E project [20]. In addition, it is intended to study the feasibility of leveraging the prototype over the Catchup TV service built in the UltraTV project [2]. The intended contribution of this doctoral research is to promote greater autonomy, wellbeing and info-inclusion of seniors through a personalized approach.

Iterative User Experience Evaluation of a User Interface for the Unification of TV Contents

One of the key components of the design and development process of a User Interface (UI) is the User Experience (UX) assessment. It guarantees that the product meets the users’ needs and provides the best interaction, while achieving usability goals and emotional reactions of motivation, arousal and dominance. In this scope, this paper describes the results driven from a User-Centered Design (UCD) methodology adopted in the development and evaluation of consecutive versions of semi-functional prototypes (of the UltraTV concept), with iterations that comprised an expert review and subsequent testing with users in a laboratory environment. This evaluation approach aims to achieve a proof of concept for the profile-based unification of traditional TV and Over-the-top contents offered in the same user interface. As an R&D project based on a partnership between the research field and the industry that aims to bring innovation to the interactive TV (iTV) domain, the UltraTV concept targets for the synergy between users and market interests. Despite the challenges of introducing an interface that unifies linear and nonlinear content in the same UI assuring the continuity of the UX contrary to the current app-based trend, the combined results from the experts’ review and the inLab tests demonstrate the relevance and desirability of the concept as a potential solution for the future of iTV. The presented results provide valuable insights for further stages of field trials with end users, as well as to prove the feasibility and user demand for the profile-based unification for the next TV generation.