Samuel B. Buchdid

Creating an iDTV Application from Inside a TV Company: A Situated and Participatory Approach

TV is a highly social and massive media that is worldwide available. The Interactive Digital TV represents a new device that is still constructing its identity. Designing applications for it is a challenging task, partially because of its intrinsic complex context and the lack of theoretical and methodological referential to support design activities. In this paper, we argue for a Socially Aware Computing approach to the design of iDTV applications, articulating artifacts and methods from Organizational Semiotics and Participatory Design. A case study on requirements for the design of an iDTV application is situated in the practical context of a Brazilian broadcasting TV Company. The results show benefits of using informed artifacts and methods in participatory and situated practices, indicating that it is possible and viable to make socially aware design in industrial settings.

You Can Interact with Your TV and You May Like It an Investigation on Persuasive Aspects for an iDTV Application

Interactive Digital TV (iDTV) is a technology that has many challenges that surround it and that may discourage the passive viewers to interact with TV. To face the challenging scenario of designing for iDTV, we draw on the Social Aware Computing (SAC) approach to design, looking at the problem and proposing solutions on various abstraction levels (informal, formal and technical) according to the viewpoint of different stakeholders, including prospective end users. This paper presents a motivational analysis conducted through Analytical and Empirical evaluations and Questionnaires, to understand whether and how an iDTV application designed through the SAC motivates users to interact with it. As results, our analysis pointed out application features that are likely to motivate users to interact, and features that emerged during the design process and were reflected on the application prototype. Moreover, we discuss whether and how the SAC design process may support iDTV applications that make sense to users and motivate them to interact.

Interactive digital TV as revealed through words: focuses and research sources

Interactive Digital TV (iDTV) exists within a digital ecosystem that interconnects a variety of media, viewers and electronic devices, and it reaches new proportions as computers and hyper-connectivity are being incorporated into objects and also into everyday environments, in both public and private spheres. Every emergent technology suffers from a lack of references, processes and artifacts for developers and as they assess and design new solutions. In light of this context, this study sought to map out the main research focuses that have been addressed in the iDTV field in recent years. Data was collected and an analysis was conducted on research sources based on the frequency of words from paper titles and their abstracts; results reveal individual characteristics of one of the most relevant conferences in the field (EuroITV) and other publications found in the ACM-DL. Similarities and differences on these vehicles, allow an overview of contributions and gaps in the field. Moreover, this study presents detailed information about conferences, journals, affiliations and countries where work in the field is registered.

Values and Cultural Aspects in Design: Artifacts for Making Them Explicit in Design Activities

Values and cultural aspects must be considered for providing design solutions that make sense to people. Although there is influential literature work devoted to the subject of values and culture in design, there is still a lack of principled and light-weighted artifacts and methods to support designers in this task. In this paper we propose two artifacts for supporting designers in making explicit both stakeholders’ values and system’s requirements in design. We situate our discussion in a case study where the artifacts were used to support the design of seven prototypes of applications for Interactive Digital Television in the Brazilian context. The results were promising and indicated the artifacts’ usefulness to support designers in dealing with values and cultural aspects in design activities.

A Smart Supermarket must be for All: a Case Study Including the Visually Impaired

Shopping in the supermarket is a necessity in modern life. This task, however, can be a challenge for people with disabilities, making them dependent on relatives or supermarket employees to aid them. In this paper, we investigate the subject by proposing and experimenting a system that takes advantage of current ubiquitous computing to support all customers in finding and selecting products in a supermarket. Based on the Internet of Things (IoT), this system is embedded in a mobile platform. A case study conducted with users -- including visually impaired ones -- is reported and discussed. The results are compared with previous experiments conducted with users without disabilities, revealing the impact the system has in terms of efficiency, and feelings of satisfaction, control and motivation.

Designing Natural User Interfaces Scenarios for All and for Some: An Analysis Informed by Organizational Semiotics Artifacts

The design of Natural User Interface (NUI) technologies is still in its early stages; therefore, it does not have well-established guidelines, especially ones that consider the context of Accessibility. This increases the challenges for designers of these technologies to achieve products fulfilling their purpose. . In this paper we present a research project that aims at exploring NUI devices within the Accessibility context, with the goal of proposing ways to promote a better design for NUI technologies. We present this project from an Organizational Semiotics perspective, so that the context we aim to focus on shows itself clearly during the entire design process. Our ultimate goal is to promote better NUI designs, especially for people with disabilities, supporting their autonomy and inclusion in society.

Designing an IDTV Application in a Situated Scenario: A Participatory Approach Based on Patterns

Interactive Digital TV (iDTV) applications suffer with problems that are inherent to the technology and their social aspects. In addition, theoretical and practical references for designing iDTV applications are not easily found. In this sense, designing for iDTV has become an increasingly complex activity. In this paper, we propose three participatory practices for supporting a situated design and evaluation of iDTV applications. The practices were articulated in a situated design process conducted inside a Brazilian TV company. The approach favored the participation of important stakeholders, supporting different design activities: from design ideas to the creation and evaluation of an interactive prototype. The results suggest the practices’ usefulness for supporting design activities, indicate the benefits of a situated and participatory approach for iDTV applications, and may inspire researchers and designers in other contexts.

SAwD - Socially Aware Design: An Organizational Semiotics-Based CASE Tool to Support Early Design Activities

Developing technology to attend to social demands is an increasing challenge for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) area. Ubiquitous Computing, Wearable Computing, Social Software, and the Internet of Things are examples of how ICT has permeated personal and collective life. Technology affects people, even the ones who do not use it. Therefore, designing technology now requires higher social awareness and responsibility, as well as ethical commitment from all stakeholders. Naturally, such a process demands for artifacts and methods grounded on different theories and practices, capable of facilitating the understanding of the social world and its complexity, in an effective way. In this paper, we introduce a Socially Aware Design (SAwD) system which is a CASE tool designed to support early design activities when a problem is understood and a solution is proposed. This tool aids to articulate ideas from Organizational Semiotics and Participatory Design. We present the theoretical and methodological grounds of our work about the design rationale for SAwD and how it disseminates both the practice of a socially aware design and an adoption of theories.

Clarifying the Situational Context of a TV Company towards the Design of iDTV Applications

Television has experienced transformations that directly impact the TV companies’ production chain. In this sense, digital technology and Interactive Digital Television (iDTV) represent business opportunities in terms of investment spent by broadcasters. In this paper, we investigate the impact an iDTV application might have within a TV company by analyzing a situated context. To clarify the problem, we use the knowledge produced from workshops that were based on the Socially Aware Computing approach and that involved various stakeholders to design an iDTV application in a real context. The analysis is illustrated with the graphical representation of Ontology Charts and Norms projected for the observed organization. The findings indicate organizational changes that both suffer from and cause impact on the design of this kind of application.

Designing iDTV applications from participatory use of patterns

Interactive Digital TV (iDTV) is an emerging technology in Brazil, with inherent characteristics that must be addressed and which demand technical resources and references to support the design and development of interactive applications. This paper presents a design activity that reports and discusses the use of specific design patterns combined with prototyping tools and techniques inspired by Participatory Design in the design of applications for iDTV. Results are presented and discussed focusing on: the advantages of using design patterns in a participatory design, the main difficulties the groups had during the design activities, the importance of tools to support the design of iDTV applications.