Telmo Silva

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.

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.

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.

Notifications Efficiency, Impact, and Interference in Second-Screen Scenarios

ABSTRACT The growing use of second-screen devices stresses the importance of finding a balance between engagement, distraction, and disturbance of its users, while simultaneously watching television. In this framework, this article reports on a study designed to analyze the efficiency, impact, and interference of different notification strategies aiming to identify the best approach to be used when an alert is needed in second-screen scenarios. A prototype able to deliver synchronized information related with TV content, with intervals of 10, 30 and 60 s, followed by individual or combined notifications (e.g., audio, visual, and haptic—on the tablet and visual—on the TV) was developed. A laboratory adapted to replicate a living room was set up and a test that involved watching three segments of a 20-min clip while using the prototype was carried with 30 participants, under a cognitive walk-through protocol. Quantitative and qualitative results show that receiving notifications while watching TV is effective in alerting users about new information, despite its inherent cognitive disturbance for the TV viewing experience. It was also possible to highlight that in an HCI perspective, the most suitable strategy for integrating notifications (considering type and cadence) should be based on a combination of a visual notification (displayed only on the TV screen) along with a haptic notification (vibration on the tablet); spaced by an interval of at least 30 s.

Automatic Creation of TV Content to Integrate in Seniors Viewing Activities

The challenges and opportunities that arise with the increase of older populations are drawing the attention of several sectors of society, as is the case of the technological segment. The development of technical solutions to improve seniors’ quality of life and promote their autonomous living is commonly found in the roadmap of research teams and companies. Reports and news show that the elderly feel several limitations and problems concerning the activities of finding and accessing credible information through technical solutions. Statistics and studies also reveal that older people have high levels of daily television consumption, which makes TV one of the ways with a lot of potential to inform seniors. Taking in consideration these two factors, it seems that information broadcast to elderly through television, without requiring a search activity, may be an idea with a lot of potential. In line with this, this paper reveals the process to define audio-visual content for seniors as well as a set of guidelines for the development of iTV platforms for this target group. Seniors’ preferences concerning the sound and text elements were gathered in two different moments in two different Senior Universities in Portugal.

System Architecture for Personalized Automatic Audio-Visual Content Generation from Web Feeds to an iTV Platform

Fulfilling informational needs of seniors is vital for a successful development of active ageing and independent living initiatives, which contribute for an effective provision of welfare benefits tailored for these citizens. This paper aims to propose a system architecture for automated generation of audio-visual contents adapted from Web feeds of information about Assistance Services of General Interest for Elderly (ASGIE). These pieces of high-value generated content are tailored to the seniors’ requirements, needs and expectations, for further exhibition on an iTV platform. Also, this paper describes the technical choices leading to a prototype implementation developed in the context of +TV4E project, an ongoing research project of an iTV platform to enrich seniors television experience with the integration of informative content. Future work will involve submitting this prototype and the generated contents to field tests at seniors’ home environment.

Seniors' Info-Inclusion Through Interactive Television: Results of a Field Trial.

Television platforms are becoming more relevant due to multiple factors, namely the interactive features that can be provided. Interactivity can effectively support citizens’ problems and needs and open a range of opportunities in several society’s sectors. One of these opportunities is related to seniors’ level of information. In this framework, to improve Portuguese seniors’ info-inclusion in subjects such as social and public services, the +TV4E project aims to develop an Interactive Television (iTV) platform to broadcast personalized content regarding these topics. This paper presents the process and the results of the +TV4E prototype evaluation considering usability and functionality. The platform was made available to a sample of seniors that used it for five weeks in their homes. After this period, the research team applied an evaluation scale and a questionnaire survey to collect data. Despite the high level of usability depicted in results, it was also possible to identify a set of features that should be improved in the final iTV platform.

Proposal of an iTV Splash Screen Targeted to Seniors.

Population around the world is getting older every year so it is progressively getting more important to find ways to use modern technology to promote active ageing and the general well-being of seniors. In this paper, contextualized in the +TV4E project, a splash screen for an interactive television application is proposed, which serves to contextualize the users by providing information regarding weather, time, date and season, as well as contact information for the nearest pharmacy and taxi. This paper describes the splash screen and its components as well as the field tests carried out to validate its utility.