CHI 2006 Special Interest Group Mobile iTV: new challenges for the design of pervasive multimedia systems Dr. Anxo Cereijo Roibàs David Geerts

Agenda Presentation of the SIG goals and topics (10 mins) Introduction of participants (10 mins) Interactive debate with participants on the research topics introduced (50 mins) Summary of the topics and discussion on future actions and how to create a common background in this area among those interested (20 mins)

SIG topics Novel sociability issues for cross-media applications Incoming usability challenges and future interaction design issues such as new interfaces, interaction modalities and forms of smart content New paradigms in context awareness in intelligent environments beyond the traditional taxonomy of context Controversial evolutions and trends such as a potential 'utterly controlled society’ and cross-media applications in nano and biotechnology Original contributions from diverse disciplines (art, design, sociology, anthropology, biology, etc)

What is Mobile & Pervasive iTV? Users’ adoption of powerful handhelds with multimedia features, together with an increasing interoperability between platforms, is resulting in expanding the iTV consumption beyond the domestic context. We can define this convergence of multimedia systems in different platforms as ‘pervasive TV’.

Technological trends diffusion of powerful handhelds with multimedia features increasing interoperability between platforms, communications are going pervasive. swap from one-to-one to one-to- many connectivity (network, Bluetooth, infrared…) development of context-aware applications evolution towards novel forms of content Exploration of advanced ways of interaction.

Mobile iTV Workshop results: New challenges in Mobile iTV Exploring new genres Self-authored content Smart and highly interactive content Co-creation and participation Sociability Supporting social interaction Beyond usability Novel interaction paradigms Immersive environments Gestures … Personal and social context awareness Intelligent environments Convergence Work – home – on the move PC – TV – Mobile – In Car Navigator – new devices (wearables, home appliances - …)

SIG discussion notes

Topics raised by participants What is (interactive) television? Will interactivity on mobile phones be a success? Content ownership / co-creation Personalization / context awareness Cultural differences Change in types of content Internet broadcast Older people and iTV interfaces Collaborative content creation/consumption Blurring between games and TV Social control / sociability

What is (interactive) television? People don’t want to only watch broadcasts, but also self-authored content, share with communities Tv is just the display with computer behind it – broadcast is old-fashioned, one-way Technical formats / content (MPEG2: streaming – MPEG4: real interactivity at local side) Broadcast as transport mechanism / IP on all kinds of devices TV has a powerful connotation: good quality – easy to use – no productivity – lean back No connection problems, reliable, no computer TV traditionally huge audiences / iTV has niche audiences, users  interactive tv services (voting, vod, …) – content/service providers instead of broadcasters Mobile iTV services instead of Mobile iTV The word television is a strength – lowers the barrier for older people and to try out something new Mobile – what is it on a mobile device? Inherently different than in the home? Passivity – not activity: conflict. Do we make television interactive? Strong desire not to interact with television. 5% interactivity / 95% not – not everyone has to be active Contestants choose suitcase with money – people at home can vote with mobile phones – 8 million viewers Same information on mobile when you don’t have a tv Whole production process – you look at the content that others have made Advertisers have a stake in this as well Program via the pc remotely, when you get home you can lean back Interactivity as social interactivity, not UI interactivity

Personalization / context awareness Making a video on a specific location at specific time  link this with advertisement Smarter mobile devices – like TiVO / automatic volume reduction / … More memory and power when watching video / traffic cams / …  DVB-H Small screen, want to watch mobile television? Lots of technological solutions already for problems raised – costs money. Type of content, size of display, … - lousy content is the problem Not watching movies, but killing time – different end-user needs Also getting information when something’s going on / real-time events – videos are made on the spot and distributed – bottom-up

Cultural differences Korea – attached to mobile devices, want tv-content – tv in the car Maybe not appropriate in North-America, but it is in Asia Even difference between Spain and UK Majority of people watch mobile tv at home (e.g. bathroom) – take it shopping to keep children quiet – at the workplace  lot of different situations: listen to results of trials Short span across different cultures? Personal space when commuting – in western countries, don’t want to interact with other people From big tvs to small devices  culturally dependent? – but SMS was not only big success in Asia, also in Europe and America Mobile phone success not predicted Abilities of mobile phones for making video will change the industry Also different user groups  e.g. adults vs. Children Generation: going out, playing mobile games, small devices No standard navigation paradigm for mobile interactive television The future: disappearing interfaces – media wherever you are in appropriate fashion, based on devices

Change in types of content Who creates the content, what kind of screen, what kind of users? Smaller segments for shorter attention times New services and applications – when a goal is made, a short clip is sent to mobile phone Motivation is important – even if it is less than optimal Do I want television on my mobile? – information, entertainment? Different kinds of content at different times TV consumption is changing – possible that children will use this in the schoolyard Support in mobile phone for tv-creation TiVO services on the mobile phone – get information immediately – when and how i want it Video blogs – broadcast site  beginning of a new culture from podcasts and blogs to video From broadcast of traditional television to personal vlogs and shared editing  1 to 1  1 to many? DVB-H - media FLO New paradigms in video sharing and creation – revenue generation for broadcasters?  business models for personal video sharing? iTV in the states  cable providers  > youtube, making content themselves / time shifting / TiVO – cable providers are roadblock / resistance to great ideas Some content providers put content on the web – with commercials Video snippets in Mobiles include ads – using traditional revenue models Things are changing, they have tom come up with new business models – people are skipping! Preventing fast forwarding New ad formats to captivate people? But failed trials ten years ago? Now more interactivity, more mobility  changed. Targeted advertisement on specialty channels  more direct advertisement

Workshop and SIG website For SIG and Workshop results, see: or /