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

Part 2: Organizational Semiotics and ApplicationsInternational audienceTV 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

Thinking about Culture in iDTV Projects

Interactive Digital Television (iDTV) is a technology that has potential to mitigate economic and social difficulties related to knowledge access and digital inclusion in Brazil. Nevertheless, iDTV solutions did not yet bring anything new and disappointed most users. Thinking about social and cultural issues in iDTV applications might result in design solutions that make sense to people affected by this new communication medium. In this paper, we propose a set of questions to support designers of iDTV applications to address cultural aspects during requirement analysis in a structured way. As practical use example, we apply these questions to prospect requirements from a cultural perspec-tive for an overlaid iDTV application in the real context of a Brazilian Company’s TV show

Culture-based artefacts to inform ICT design: foundations and practice

Cultural aspects frame our perception of the world and direct the many different ways people interact with things in it. For this reason, these aspects should be considered when designing technology with the purpose to positively impact people in a community. In this paper, we revisit the foundations of culture aiming to bring this concept in dialogue with design. To inform design with cultural aspects, we model reality in three levels of formality: informal, formal, and technical, and subscribe to a systemic vision that considers the technical solution as part of a more complex social system in which people live and interact. In this paper, we instantiate this theoretical and methodological view by presenting two case studies of technology design in which culture-based artefacts were employed to inform the design process. We claim that as important as including issues related to culture in the ICT design agenda—from the conception to the development, evaluation, and adoption of a technology—is the need to support the design process with adequate artefacts that help identifying cultural aspects within communities and translating them into sociotechnical requirements. We argue that a culturally informed perspective on design can go beyond an informative analysis, and can be integrated with the theoretical and methodological framework used to support design, throughout the entire design process

Artifacts and languages of interaction with contemporary digital systems : the adjustable interactive rings for interactive digital television

Orientador: Maria Cecília Calani BaranauskasTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: A digitalização da transmissão da televisão terrestre no Brasil e, consequentemente, a possibilidade de oferta de interatividade na televisão estabelece um novo paradigma de interação do telespectador com essa mídia com extremo potencial de impacto social, especialmente para a população brasileira. Entretanto, a existência de artefatos digitais comumente utilizados para a interação com o sistema de televisão hoje praticado não garante que esses dispositivos sejam os mais adequados aos avanços propostos com a Televisão Digital Interativa (TVDI). Além disso, a convivência de um número cada vez maior de equipamentos que fazem uso de controle remoto leva a interfaces mais complexas considerando os problemas existentes com o controle remoto já discutido na literatura por vários autores. O foco desta pesquisa de doutorado foi, portanto, investigar o design da interação nessa nova mídia com o objetivo de propor, desenvolver e validar novas formas de interação entre os usuários e a TVDI. Com base no entendimento de que uma interação mais direta com a TVDI passa pela necessidade de fazer com que o foco da interação se dirija mais à interface das aplicações interativas do que ao artefato físico de interação, chegamos a alguns resultados desta pesquisa. A tecnologia resultante desta pesquisa de doutorado saiu do plano das ideias, passando pelo seu projeto conceitual, de forma participativa, até sua implementação e validação junto a representantes do público-alvo. Podemos destacar algumas contribuições decorrentes da realização desta pesquisa no contexto dos artefatos físicos de interação com a TVDI: i) taxonomia para os artefatos físicos de interação; ii) recomendações de uso dos artefatos físicos de interação conhecidos na literatura; iii) análise sócio-técnica do domínio/contexto de novos artefatos físicos de interação; iv) diretrizes para novos artefatos físicos de interação; v) modelo de interação baseado em gestos via artefato físico de interação; vi) guidelines de design para novos artefatos físicos de interação; vii) especificações do design do produto e da linguagem de interação de um novo artefato digital para a TVDI; viii) implementações de protótipos de hardware e software do novo artefato digital para a TVDI; e ix) validação das especificações e dos protótipos do novo artefato digital para a TVDI junto ao público-alvo.Abstract: The digitalization of terrestrial television broadcasting in Brazil and consequently the possibility of offering interactivity on television establish a new paradigm of interaction for the spectator with the media that has great potential to make a social impact, especially for the Brazilian population. However, the existence of digital artifacts commonly used to interact with current television system does not guarantee that those devices are adequate to the developments with the Interactive Digital Television (iDTV). Moreover, the coexistence of an increasing number of devices that make use of the remote control could result in more complex interfaces, considering the problems with remote control already discussed in the literature by several authors. The objective of this Ph.D. research was to investigate the interaction design in the iDTV with the purpose of proposing, developing and validating new ways of interaction with this new media. The research results are grounded in the understanding that a more direct interaction with iDTV involves making the focus of the interaction more on the interface of the interactive applications than on the physical artifact of interaction itself. The technology resulting from this research involved since its conceptual design, with a participatory approach, to its implementation and validation with real users from the target audience. Some contributions of this research in the context of physical artifacts of interaction with the iDTV can be highlighted: i) taxonomy for the physical artifacts of interaction; ii) use recommendations of physical artifacts of interaction known in the literature; iii) socio-technical analysis of the domain/context of new physical artifacts of interaction; iv) guidelines for new physical artifacts of interaction; v) gesture based interaction model via physical artifact of interaction; vi) design guidelines for new physical artifacts of interaction; vii) product design and interaction language specifications for new digital artifact for iDTV; viii) implementations of hardware and software prototypes for the new digital artifact for iDTV; and ix) validation of the specifications and prototypes of the new digital artifact for iDTV with the target audience.DoutoradoInteração Humano-ComputadorDoutor em Ciência da Computaçã

Mediating effect of personal and situational characteristics of Arab tourists in Malaysia and their influence on information sources and information channels of tourist information choice strategies

Statistics show that the influx of tourists in Malaysia has continued to increase by 14.3%; information sources and information channels have played crucial roles in this regard. However, existing studies are yet to distinguish how information sources and information channels influence information choice strategies of Arab tourists. Therefore, this study examines the mediating effects of personal and situational characteristics on information sources and information channels to provide clearer understanding on how information sources and information channels influence the information choice strategies of Arab tourists. Data was collected from 358 Arab tourists in Malaysia through the self-administered questionnaire procedure, and the data was analysed using the multiple regression analysis. Overall, the study found that information sources and information channels had significant influence on the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists. As for the mediating effects, the study also found that personal characteristics significantly mediate the influence of information sources on the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists. The result showed that situational characteristics significantly mediate the influence of information sources on the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists. Therefore, the study concluded that information sources and information channels influence the information choice strategies of the Arab tourists, while personal and situational characteristics significantly mediate influence of the information sources and information channels on the information choice strategies. The study contributes to the body of literature in this area and also provides several insights that may contribute to the development of knowledge that would effectively enhance the tourism industry in Malaysia and also attract more Arab tourists to Malaysia. The study recommends that both the Arab tourists and the Malaysian tourist agencies should always consider personal and situational characteristics in planning for tourism adventure policies on tourism. Finally, the study highlights the limitation of the study and the suggestions for future study

Telematics for community portal development.

Community portals emanate from information and communication technology (ICT) applied to community networking, enabling citizens to access information and services on-line. These telematic portal systems are now deployed globally, facilitating information services to geographic and virtual communities. The context of this research study is one of community portals deployed by UK government local authorities for citizen service interactions. To date there have been few studies that holistically and longitudinally examine the subject of community portals. The 5 year research exercise has been undertaken as a qualitative study using an interpretivist approach and methodology derived > from context-process analysis. The approach was influenced by Mumford’s writings on ‘people and technology' and Schuler’s early work on community network development in the USA. Data collection was undertaken using a national survey questionnaire and qualitative techniques including interviews and mini-case studies. Findings of the research include a new categorisation of community portals into two distinctive types of Civic and Civil portal. Theoretical outcomes include an improved understanding of the methodological, technical, and social dimensions of portal development and deployment. The implications for management include an exposition of the issues involved in community portal development and the important need for citizen engagement in the process. A case study of Blackpool, (and mini case studies of five civic / civil portals), point to lack of collaboration between central and local government portal architects and developers

Design and Digital–material Possession: Sartre’s potential for mobile UI design

Jean-Paul Sartre’s conceptualisation of material possession contains rich insights for this study located at the intersection of visual communication, mobile UI design, human–computer interaction and design philosophy. Possession is a relational concept concerning more than just the ownership of things. It contributes to an understanding of self-identity via an individual’s relationship with the objects they see, use, use up and create. Initial ideas for a contemporary conceptualisation of digital-material possession presented in this study expands on Sartre’s philosophy enabling technologies such as the iPhone, including its hardware and software components, to be positioned as an entanglement of possessions. Likewise, the unique relationships between humans and their non-human technological and appearance-dominant things can be included among the many human–possession relationships that constitute an individual’s self-identity. This thesis uses the set of iOS7 app icon graphics and their redesign, conducted as part of this study, in the critique, expansion and application of Sartre’s material possession to the contemporary context. Reflection on the redesigned iOS prototypes shifted the original practice-based design research approach, to instead underpin a Research through Design investigation of the nature and agency of iOS graphics as exemplars of appearance-dominant digital-material possessions. Reflection on the prototypes through the lens of possession created a feedback loop between the speculative prototypes, Sartre’s philosophy of material possession and its expansion for the contemporary digital-material context. Possession and digital-material possession have interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary relevance. In the design context, together they enable increased understanding of the role of the designer, their design activities and design outcomes, and the role of individual users of designed things, their co-creation activities and outcomes. Beyond design, digital-material possession highlights Sartre’s contribution to the philosophy of technology

The Interactive Sphere for Three-Dimensional Control in Games and Virtual Reality

In electronic games, the controller is the mean through which the player can interact with the game’s virtual world, being an essential factor in all of the user experience. New controllers may, therefore, completely modify the player experience, also serving as a tool to investigate new ways of interacting with interactive systems of various purposes. In this context, this paper presents the Interactive Sphere, a spherical device to be employed specially with games and virtual reality environments. This novel device combines the pressing of certain regions of the sphere with gestural interaction, in addition to providing haptic, auditive and visual feedback. The paper describes all of the rationale behind the decisions taken during the design and development process of the device, in addition to the techniques employed for implementing the detection of the acts of pressing and moving the Interactive Sphere. In this project, accessible, low-cost materials and techniques were prioritized, which could be more easily adapted to other contexts. We envision that the lessons learned and the guidelines derived from its design and development process may assist in the idealization and construction of new ways of interacting, by providing a set of methods, techniques and technologies that were employed in the development of a new physical artifact of interaction presented in this work

Proceedings of the 9th Iberoamerican Conference on Applications and Usability of Interactive TV - jAUTI 2020

Damos la bienvenida al libro de anales de las 9a Jornadas de Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de la Televisión Digital Interactiva - jAUTI'2020. Esta conferencia es una organización conjunta del grupo Social iTV de la Unidad de Investigación DigiMedia de la Universidad de Aveiro y de RedAUTI (Red temática en Aplicaciones y Usabilidad de Televisión Digital Interactiva). La edición de este año (celebrada el 18 de diciembre de 2020) se llevó a cabo, en el contexto de la pandemia COVID-19, en modalidad online, sin embargo, no dejó de reunir a investigadores de diversas universidades, concretamente de Europa y América, y de la industria para compartir su trabajo de investigación. Este libro de anales incluye un conjunto de 27 artículos organizados en 7 sesiones temáticas: Interacciones en el ecosistema de la televisión; El audiovisual en escenarios didácticos; Televisión interactiva para audiencias sénior; Evaluaciones de usabilidad y UX; Contenidos y experiencias audiovisuales; Aplicaciones de TV digital e IPTV interactivas.RedAUT