Abstract
A diverse user population employs interactive TV (ITV) applications in a leisure context for entertainment purposes. The traditional user interface (UI) evaluation paradigm involving efficiency and task completion may not be adequate for the assessment of such applications. In this paper, we argue that unless ITV applications are evaluated with consideration for the ordinary TV viewer, they are going to be appropriate only for the computer literate user, thus excluding the TV audience from easy access to information society services. The field of media studies has accumulated an extensive theory of TV and associated methods. We applied the corresponding findings in the domain of ITV to examine how universal access to ITV applications can be obtained. By combining these results with emerging affective quality theories for interactive products, we propose a UI evaluation framework for ITV applications.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berglund A, Johansson P (2004) Using speech and dialogue for interactive TV navigation. Universal Access Inf Soc 3(3–4):224–238
Bradley M, Lang P (1994) Measuring emotion: the self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 25(1):49–59
Chorianopoulos K, Spinellis D (2004) Affective usability evaluation for an interactive music television channel. Comput Entertain 2(3):14
Csikszentmihalyi M (1991) Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. Perennial, New York
Davis F (1989) Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Q 13(3):319–340
Desmet PM (2003) Measuring emotions: development and application of an instrument to measure emotional responses to products. In: Blythe M, Monk A, Overbeeke K, Wright P (eds) Funology: from usability to enjoyment. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
Draper SW (1999) Analysing fun as a candidate software requirement. Pers Ubiquitous Comput 3(3):117–122
Drucker SM, Glatzer A, Mar SD, Wong C (2002) Smartskip: consumer level browsing and skip** of digital video content. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, pp. 219–226
Eronen L (2001) Combining quantitative and qualitative data in user research on digital television. In: Proceedings of PC HCI 2001, Typorama, Athens
Eronen L, Vuorimaa P (2000) User interfaces for digital television: a navigator case study. In: Proceedings of the working conference on advanced visual interfaces, pp. 276–279
Fogg B (2002) Persuasive technologies: using computer power to change attitudes and behaviors. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco
Freeman J, Lessiter J (2003) Using attitude based segmentation to better understand viewers’ usability issues with digital and interactive TV. In: Proceedings of the 1st European conference on interactive television: from viewers to actors? pp. 19–27
Frokjer E, Hertzu M, Hornb K (2000) Measuring usability: are effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction really correlated? In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, pp. 345–352
Gill J, Perera S (2003) Accessible universal design of interactive digital television. In: Proceedings of the 1st European conference on interactive television: from viewers to actors? pp. 83–89
Goleman D (1995) Emotional intelligence. Bantam, New York
Hassenzahl M (2005) The quality of interactive products: hedonic needs, emotions and experience. In: Ghaoui C (ed) Encyclopedia of human–computer interaction. Idea Group, London
Hassenzahl M, Beu A, Burmester M (2001) Engineering joy. IEEE Softw 18(1):70–76
Hassenzahl M, Platz A, Burmester M, Lehner K (2000) Hedonic and ergonomic quality aspects determine a software’s appeal. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, pp. 201–208
Holbroock MB, Hirschman EC (1982) The experiential aspects of consumption: consumer fantasies, feelings, and fun. J Consum Res 9:132–140
Knobloch S, Zillmann D (2002) Mood management via the digital jukebox. J Commun 52(2):351–366
Kubey R, Csikszentmihalyi M (1990) Television and the quality of life: how viewing shapes everyday experiences. Lawrence Erlbaum, New Jersey
Lavie T, Tractinsky N (2004) Assessing dimensions of perceived visual aesthetics of web sites. Int J Hum Comput Stud 60(3):269–298
Lee B, Lee RS (1995) How and why people watch TV: implications for the future of interactive television. J Advert Res 35(6):9–18
Livaditi J, Vassilopoulou K, Lougos C, Chorianopoulos K (2003) Needs and gratifications for interactive TV applications: implications for designers. In: Proceedings of the HICSS 2003 conference, p. 100b
Macdonald N (2004) Can HCI shape the future of mass communications? Interactions 11(2):44–47
Maguire M (2002) Applying evaluation methods to future digital TV services. In: Green W, Jordan P (eds) Pleasure with products beyond usability. Taylor and Francis, London, pp. 353–366
Malone TW (1982) Heuristics for designing enjoyable user interfaces: lessons from computer games. In: Proceedings of the 1982 conference on human factors in computing systems, pp. 63–68
Monk A (2000) User-centred design: the home use challenge. In: Sloane A, van Rijn F (eds) Home informatics and telematics: information technology and society. Kluwer, Boston, pp. 181–190
Moore GA (1991) Crossing the chasm. HarperColins, New York
Murry JP, Lastovicka JL, Singh SN (1992) Feeling and liking responses to television programs: an examination of two explanations for media-context effects. J Consum Res 18(3):441–451
Nielsen J (1994) Usability engineering. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco
Nielsen J, Levy J (1994) Measuring usability: preference vs. performance. Commun ACM 37(4):66–75
Norman DA (2004) Emotional design: why we love (or hate) everyday things. Basic Books, New York
O’Brien J, Rodden T, Rouncefield M, Hughes J (1999) At home with the technology: an ethnographic study of a set-top-box trial. ACM Trans Comput Hum Interact (TOCHI) 6(3):282–308
Park CW, Young SM (1986) Consumer responses to television commercials: the impact of involvement and background music on brand attitude formation. J Mark Res 23(2):11–24
Perse EM (1990) Media involvement and local news effects. J Broadcast Electron Media 34(1):17–36
Petersen MG, Madsen KH, Kjaer A (2002) The usability of everyday technology: emerging and fading opportunities. ACM Transact Comput Hum Interact (TOCHI) 9(2):74–105
Reeves B, Naas C (1996) The media equation: how people treat computers, television and new media like real people and places. Cambridge University Press/CLSI, New York
Rubin A (1983) Television uses and gratifications: the interaction of viewing patterns and motivations. J Broadcast 27(1):37–51
Russell JA, Mehrabian A (1977) Evidence for a three-factor theory of emotions. J Res Pers 11(3):273–294
Stephanidis C, Akoumianakis D (2001) Universal design: towards universal access in the information society. In: CHI ‘01: CHI ‘01 extended abstracts on human factors in computing systems, pp. 499–500
Thayer RE (1986) Activation-deactivation adjective check list (AD ACL): current overview and structural analysis. Psychol Rep 58:607–614
Theodoropoulou V (2002) The rise or the fall of interactivity? Digital television and the “first generation” of the digital audience in the UK. In: Proceedings of the RIPE@2002 conference—broadcasting and convergence: articulating a new remit, Finland
Tractinsky N (1997) Aesthetics and apparent usability: empirically assessing cultural and methodological issues. In: CHI ‘97: proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems, pp. 115–122
Tractinsky N, Katz A, Ikar D (2000) What is beautiful is usable. Interact Comput 13:127–145
Vorderer P (2000) Interactive entertainment and beyond. In: Zillmann D, Vorderer P (eds) Media entertainment: the psychology of its appeal. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, pp 21–36
Vorderer P (2001) It’s all entertainment—sure. But what exactly is entertainment? Communication research, media psychology, and the explanation of entertainment experiences. Poetics 29:247–261
Vorderer P, Knobloch S, Schramm H (2001) Does entertainment suffer from interactivity? The impact of watching an interactive TV movie on viewers’ experience of entertainment. Media Psychol 3(4):343–363
Wittenburg K, Forlines C, Lanning T, Esenther A, Harada S, Miyachi T (2003) Rapid serial visual presentation techniques for consumer digital video devices. In: UIST ‘03: proceedings of the 16th annual ACM symposium on user interface software and technology, pp. 115–124
Zaichkowsky JL (1985) Measuring the involvement construct. J Consum Res 12:341–352
Zhang P, Li N (2005) The importance of affective quality. Commun ACM 48(9):105–108
Zillmann D (2000) The coming of media entertainment. In: Zillmann D, Vorderer P (eds) Media entertainment: the psychology of its appeal. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, pp 1–20
Zillmann D, Bryant J (1985) Selective exposure to communication. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Jens Riegelsberger and Mina Vasalou for their suggestions on early drafts of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix: example application
Appendix: example application
In this section, we provide a brief overview of an example application for one of the proposed UI evaluation concepts [3].
The objective of the study was to evaluate user preferences for an ITV application that offers clip skip** for music video television and an animated character for presenting information. We chose to use the affective quality instrument of Hassenzahl et al. [17], because it is validated, freely available, short and features an easy-to-understand verbal scale. Furthermore, a fulfilling television experience depends on the subjective evaluations of the entertaining value of the content, a characteristic that is partially captured by the construct of hedonic quality. The experiment was designed to address two of the main issues that have been identified in ITV UI design: (a) local storage navigation through simple video clip skip** and (b) presentation of related information through alternative presentation styles. We formulated the objectives of the study as research hypotheses.
-
Hypothesis 1: Hedonic quality will be greater for a clip-skip** music TV channel compared with a fixed one.
-
Hypothesis 2: Hedonic quality will be greater for an animated character compared with a transparent information box for the presentation of related information.
Each participant received two experimental treatments (within groups) of the UI for interactive music video television: (1) the animated character and (2) the transparent box, while both setups offered video clip skip** with ad insertion. After the end of each session, participants evaluated separately the hedonic quality of (a) traditional music video television (all participants selected were frequent viewers of music TV), (b) music video television with clip skip**, (c) information presentation with the transparent box and (d) information presentation with the animated character. We ran tests with 21 users (recruited from the postgraduate and undergraduate departments of our university). Ages were between 22 and 35 (13 men and 8 women). Users were assigned with a random order to each treatment and the order of the music video clips was also randomized for each session. The video clip related information and the remote control were the same for all sessions.
The study was performed in a relaxed setting, using a traditional TV set and a remote control. The testing session contained 16 video clips and advertising breaks with three ads for every four songs (approximately every 15 min), just like a commercial music video television channel. The study followed the selective exposure paradigm. Users were free to choose the music video clip they preferred to watch, like they would do if the experiment was not running. In order to ensure selective exposure, the users were allowed a maximum of 1/3 of watching time, out of the total session duration, that is a maximum of approximately 20 min out of the 1-h program duration. Users could press the power-off button on the remote to end the testing session and they were told to watch as much as they liked, between 10 and 20 min.
We found (Table 4) that the hedonic quality score (scale is from 0 to 10; scores less/more than 5 represent negative/positive attitude) for the traditional setup is close to neutral (average 5.1/10). This finding can be explained by the fact that music video television is a pervasive experience and feels familiar to consumers, irrespective of its delivery format. In contrast, video clip skip** (average 7.5/10) allowed experimental subjects to watch favourite music video clips and despite the dynamic insertion of ads, the hedonic quality score was significantly higher (two-tailed t-test, p=0.002, n=21). Therefore, we argue that simple video clip skip**, similar to the track-skip** facility available in audio CD players, enhances the perceived television entertainment value, when compared with the fixed TV channel.
Consistent with the selective exposure theory, users actively sought for the video clips and songs they preferred. This kind of interactive behaviour may be due to the experimental setting and may not have external validity; users may have been more engaged than normal because the application was novel to them and because they were specifically asked to use the new system. They reported that they used the skip functionality mainly to skip a music video that they disliked and to a lesser extent to get to a favourite one. Either way, the clip-skip** feature was liked, despite the ad insertion, and provided a relaxed way to control the interactive music TV application.
We also found that the hedonic quality (scale is from 0 to 10; scores less/more than 5 represent negative/positive attitude) for a music video television channel is significantly higher (two-tailed t-test, p=0.0002, n=21) when using an animated character for presenting dynamic video overlays (average 7.0/10) compared with the traditional transparent information box (average 4.4/10). Again, the experimental subjects were neutral towards the traditional information box, as it is a widely used and familiar presentation style for information related to music video clips (Table 5). Therefore, we argue that the animated character could be used to enhance the consumers’ entertainment experience with television.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chorianopoulos, K., Spinellis, D. User interface evaluation of interactive TV: a media studies perspective. Univ Access Inf Soc 5, 209–218 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-006-0032-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-006-0032-1