Enhancing Interaction with Dual-Screen Television Through Display Commonalities

Second screening - engaging with a mobile device while watching TV - is ubiquitous. Previous research demonstrates that this is hampered by cognitive and physical disjuncts between the simultaneous content streams. To engage effectively with more than one screen, users must manage their attention, for example, by frequently adjusting their gaze or posture. This can lead to cognitive effort, which leads to disengagement, content sacrifice, and ultimately, affects user experience (UX) negatively. In this paper, we look to improve the design of the dual-screen scenario through \emph{display commonalities}; the mirroring of one content stream (e.g., TV material or second screen content) within the other. We evaluate this design space with professional broadcast practitioners, and then conduct an empirical investigation to determine the impact of the most successful methods towards understanding their impact, and designing towards positive UX with multi-device scenarios

Empowering Expression for Users with Aphasia through Constrained Creativity

Creative activities allow people to express themselves in rich, nuanced ways. However, being creative does not always come easily. For example, people with speech and language impairments, such as aphasia, face challenges in creative activities that involve language. In this paper, we explore the concept of constrained creativity as a way of addressing this challenge and enabling creative writing. We report an app, MakeWrite, that supports the constrained creation of digital texts through automated redaction. The app was co-designed with and for people with aphasia and was subsequently explored in a workshop with a group of people with aphasia. Participants were not only successful in crafting novel language, but, importantly, self-reported that the app was crucial in enabling them to do so. We refect on the potential of technology-supported constrained creativity as a means of empowering expression amongst users with diverse needs

Native title claims: overcoming obstacles to achieve real outcomes

This paper provides a stocktake of key outcomes achieved to date and an estimate of how long it will take to finalise native title claims, an assessment of the main obstacles to resolving claims, and an analysis of an approach which all participants could take to resolve the remaining claims and those to be made in the future

Designing Visual Complexity for Dual-screen Media

So many people are now using handheld second screens whilst watching TV that application developers and broadcasters are designing companion applications – second screen content that accompanies a TV programme. The nature of such dual-screen use cases inherently causes attention to be split, somewhat unpredictably. Dual-screen complexity, a clear factor in this attention split, is largely unexplored by the literature and will have an unknown (and likely negative) impact on user experience (UX). Therefore, we use empirical techniques to investigate the objective and subjective effect of dual-screen visual complexity on attention distribution in a companion content scenario. Our sequence of studies culminates in the deployment of a companion application prototype that supports adjustment of complexity (by either content curator or viewer) to allow convergence on optimum experience. Our findings assist the effective design of dual-screen content, informing content providers how to managedual second screen complexity for enhanced UX through a more blended, complementary dual-screen experience

Enhancing interaction with dual-screen television through display commonalities

Second screening - engaging with a mobile device while watching TV - is ubiquitous. Previous research demonstrates that this is hampered by cognitive and physical disjuncts between the simultaneous content streams. To engage effectively with more than one screen, users must manage their attention, for example, by frequently adjusting their gaze or posture. This can lead to cognitive effort, which leads to disengagement, content sacrifice, and ultimately, affects user experience (UX) negatively. In this paper, we look to improve the design of the dual-screen scenario through display commonalities; the mirroring of one content stream (e.g., TV material or second screen content) within the other. We evaluate this design space with professional broadcast practitioners, and then conduct an empirical investigation to determine the impact of the most successful methods towards understanding their impact, and designing towards positive UX with multi-device scenarios. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s)

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

A comparison of surface and fine wire EMG recordings of gluteus medius during selected maximum isometric voluntary contractions of the hip

Electromyographic (EMG) studies into gluteus medius (GMed) typically involve surface EMG electrodes. Previous comparisons of surface and fine wire electrode recordings in other muscles during high load isometric tasks suggest that recordings between electrodes are comparable when the muscle is contracting at a high intensity, however, surface electrodes record additional activity when the muscle is contracting at a low intensity. The purpose of this study was to compare surface and fine wire recordings of GMed at high and low intensities of muscle contractions, under high load conditions (maximum voluntary isometric contractions, MVICs). Mann–Whitney U tests compared median electrode recordings during three MVIC hip actions; abduction, internal rotation and external rotation, in nine healthy adults. There were no significant differences between electrode recordings in positions that evoked a high intensity contraction (internal rotation and abduction, fine wire activity >77% MVIC; effect size, ES 0.277). During external rotation, the intensity of muscle activity was low (4.2% MVIC), and surface electrodes recorded additional myoelectric activity (ES = 0.67, p = 0.002). At low levels of muscle activity during high load isometric tasks, the use of surface electrodes may result in additional myoelectric recordings of GMed, potentially reflective of cross-talk from surrounding muscles