Notification mechanisms in second-screen scenarios: towards a balanced user experience

As technological devices surrounding the television are changing, so are viewers’ habits. When the interactive Television industry turns its focus to the development of second-screen applications, this paper reports on a study aiming to analyse the impact, on users, of notifications in second-screen scenarios. As part of the study, the research team developed a prototype that simulated an application able to deliver synchronized information related with TV content, notifying the user – through visual, audio and haptic stimuli - whenever new content was displayed in the tablet. The study included observation sessions, conducted in laboratory settings, with participants (N=12) being invited to watch a 15-minute film while using the application. Tests were conducted under a cognitive walk-through methodology, and data collected through direct observation and questionnaires. Results show that to achieve a balanced user experience in second-screen scenarios notifications on tablet should be combined with visual notifications on TV

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

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

QoE-aware inter-stream synchronization in open N-screens cloud

The growing popularity and increasing performance of mobile devices is transforming the way in which media can be consumed, from single device playback to orchestrated multi-stream experiences across multiple devices. One of the biggest challenges in realizing such immersive media experience is the dynamic management of synchronicity between associated media streams. This is further complicated by the faceted aspects of user perception and heterogeneity of user devices and networks. This paper introduces a QoE-aware open inter-stream media synchronization framework (IMSync). IMSync employs efficient monitoring and control mechanisms, as well as a bespoke QoE impact model derived from subjective user experiments. Given a current lag, IMSync's aim is to use the impact model to determine a good catch-up strategy that minimizes detrimental impact on QoE. The impact model balances the accumulative impact of re-synchronization processes and the degree of non-synchronicity to ensure the QoE. Experimental results verify the run-time performance of the framework as a foundation for immersive media experience in open N-Screens cloud

Challenges in mobile multi-device ecosystems

BACKGROUND Coordinated multi-display environments from the desktop, second-screen to gigapixel display walls are increasingly common. Personal and intimate mobile and wearable devices such as head-mounted displays, smartwatches, smartphones and tablets are rarely part of such multi-device ecosystems. METHODS We conducted a literature research and an expert survey to identify challenges in mobile multi-device ecosystems. RESULTS We present grounded challenges relevant for the design, development and use of mobile multi-device environments as well as opportunities for future research. While our surveys indicated that a large number of challenges have been identified, there seems to be little agreement among experts on the importance of individual challenges. CONCLUSION By presenting the identified challenges, we contribute to a better understanding about factors that impede the creation and use of mobile multi-device ecosystems and hope to contribute to shaping the research agenda on interacting with those systems.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Cross-device media: a review of second screening and multi-device television

Television viewers interacting with second screens has become a common sight in the modern living room. Such activities are a mixture of related, semi-related, and non-related browsing of content. This growing trend is revolutionising the way that broadcasters think about their content. Through the envisioned connected home, driven by end-to-end IP connected networks, television content creators and app developers are now considering the design space for multi-device, interactive experiences. In this review paper, we consider the pre-digital beginnings of such scenarios, and progress to discuss how the introduction of mobile devices has affected the TV viewing experience. We discuss dual-screen usage over a variety of contexts in the connected home, with a focus on ‘designed’ dual-screen experiences such as companion applications. We conclude with reflections on the future of this area so that app developers, broadcasters, and academics may push further the space and improve future dual- and multi-screen experiences

Closing the gap: human factors in cross-device media synchronization

The continuing growth in the mobile phone arena, particularly in terms of device capabilities and ownership is having a transformational impact on media consumption. It is now possible to consider orchestrated multi-stream experiences delivered across many devices, rather than the playback of content from a single device. However, there are significant challenges in realising such a vision, particularly around the management of synchronicity between associated media streams. This is compounded by the heterogeneous nature of user devices, the networks upon which they operate, and the perceptions of users. This paper describes IMSync, an open inter-stream synchronisation framework that is QoE-aware. IMSync adopts efficient monitoring and control mechanisms, alongside a QoE perception model that has been derived from a series of subjective user experiments. Based on an observation of lag, IMSync is able to use this model of impact to determine an appropriate strategy to catch-up with playback whilst minimising the potential detrimental impacts on a users QoE. The impact model adopts a balanced approach: trading off the potential impact on QoE of initiating a re-synchronisation process compared with retaining the current levels of non-synchronicity, in order to maintain high levels of QoE. A series of experiments demonstrate the potential of the framework as a basis for enabling new, immersive media experiences

Performance, workload, and usability in a multiscreen, multi-device, information-rich environment

Potential benefits of multiscreen and multiple device environments were assessed using three different computing environments. A single factor, within-subject study was conducted with 18 engineering students in a laboratory experiment. Three levels for the computing environment factor included one with a desktop computer with a single monitor (control, condition A); one with a desktop with dual monitors, as well as a single tablet computer (condition B); and one with a desktop with a single monitor, as well as two tablet computers (condition C). There was no statistically significant difference in efficiency or workload when completing scenarios for the three computing environments. However, a dual monitor desktop with a single tablet computer (B) was the ideal computing environment for the information-rich engineering problem given to participants, supported by significantly fewer errors compared to condition C and significantly higher usability ratings compared to conditions A and C. A single desktop monitor with two tablet computers (C) did not provide any advantage compared to a single desktop monitor (A)

Integración espacial de contenidos en entornos de realidad extendida

La realidad extendida es un conjunto de tecnologías inmersivas de la Cuarta Revolución Industrial que incluyen la realidad virtual, la realidad mixta y la realidad aumentada, y que son usadas  en entornos inmersivos de aprendizaje. Sin embargo, para garantizar la utilidad de estas tecnologías se debe conocer el impacto de los principios multimedia que garantizan la integración espacial de la información, especialmente en entornos virtuales 3D, dado que estos son principios que buscan que el aprendiz use adecuadamente sus recursos cognitivos. Con el propósito de identificar la forma en que los mismos son usados y cómo influyen en la integración espacial de contenido en entornos de realidad extendida, se realizó una revisión sistemática de información. Los resultados muestran la influencia de tres características asociadas a las diferencias entre usuarios, permitiendo establecer un conjunto de técnicas que fomentan la integración espacial y proponer una taxonomía. Finalmente, se identificaron atributos de configuración del entorno virtual 3D y su influencia en la carga cognitiva de los aprendices. Estos resultados pueden orientar la aplicación de los principios de la teoría de la carga cognitiva en el diseño de entornos de realidad extendida para el aprendizaje y entrenamiento

MediaSync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization

This book provides an approachable overview of the most recent advances in the fascinating field of media synchronization (mediasync), gathering contributions from the most representative and influential experts. Understanding the challenges of this field in the current multi-sensory, multi-device, and multi-protocol world is not an easy task. The book revisits the foundations of mediasync, including theoretical frameworks and models, highlights ongoing research efforts, like hybrid broadband broadcast (HBB) delivery and users' perception modeling (i.e., Quality of Experience or QoE), and paves the way for the future (e.g., towards the deployment of multi-sensory and ultra-realistic experiences). Although many advances around mediasync have been devised and deployed, this area of research is getting renewed attention to overcome remaining challenges in the next-generation (heterogeneous and ubiquitous) media ecosystem. Given the significant advances in this research area, its current relevance and the multiple disciplines it involves, the availability of a reference book on mediasync becomes necessary. This book fills the gap in this context. In particular, it addresses key aspects and reviews the most relevant contributions within the mediasync research space, from different perspectives. Mediasync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization is the perfect companion for scholars and practitioners that want to acquire strong knowledge about this research area, and also approach the challenges behind ensuring the best mediated experiences, by providing the adequate synchronization between the media elements that constitute these experiences

Second Screen Applications: A Multi-Platform Software Development Kit and Optimization of Human-Computer Interaction in Distributed Systems

This dissertation addresses various aspects of the term second screen and the challenges involved in the development of this type of application. The term and its characteristics have been clearly delineate by the means of a structured review of literature of 65 publications and an analysis of 19 currently available commercial applications. Furthermore, a content and technical classification were created to facilitate communication and the positing of future research activity in this area. The development of second screen applications is currently associated with a high effort, caused by the redundant implementation of multiple software platforms on both first and second screen side. In order to counteract this double multi-platform problem, an SDK was developed that facilitates the connection and communication process between the different application parts. The functionality of this 2ndS SDK was evaluated as reliable and performant and proven in several functional prototypes, which also served the purpose to examine existing and new forms of second screen interaction. In addition to addressing the technical challenges involved in the development of second screen applications, this work presents several results regarding the optimization of human-computer interaction in this type of application. These include a collection of 55 application components raised and validated in a mixed-method approach and insights into the attention behavior in such scenarios with corresponding recommendations derived from two eye-tracking studies. Furthermore, were concrete design guidelines from existing sources abstracted and evaluated with the help of a user study, and heuristics derived for the domain second screen and extended to a checklist for the efficient identification of problems. The results presented in this work are intended to be used in a usercentered design process and aim to ease the development of second screen applications with optimized interaction, and thereby contribute to their awareness and further distribution