Initial user interface design
In designing a user interface for the LinkedTV player in such a way that it gives users effortless access to information, our main concern is to not disturb the user while watching a program, but to enrich the experience of watching a programme with easily accessible information.
Initially we investigated user needs, categorized user goals derived from a review of literature on hypermedia and interactive television, and reviewed current hypervideo and Social TV interfaces – see our LinkedTV document (D3.1).
On that basis, we proposed different user interfaces taking into account the functional requirements we identified. The core of this LinkedTV document (D3.2) is the presentation of hand drawn mock-ups accompanied by critical analyses.
Finally, the mock-ups have been presented to the scenario partners in LinkedTV and a first set of interfaces were selected, with separate designs for the news scenario (of RBB) and the cultural heritage scenario (of Sound and Vision). For both scenarios, there were interfaces for a single main TV screen with remote control as well as for TV screen with a secondary screen device (smartphone, tablet). These mock-ups are presented in a further LinkedTV document (D3.3)
User trial results and redesign
In the second year of LinkedTV we conducted trials with the mock-up interfaces involving ‘typical’ viewers of the scenario content (news, cultural heritage) in order to understand better the effectiveness of the interface for viewers to be able to access and engage with LinkedTV enrichments. Specific information needs of the viewers were identified: in particular in the news scenario these could be quite complex (e.g. past events which contributed to this event; similar events that have happened close to my location).
As a result we have generated a new set of user interface mock-ups which reflect the viewers’ requirements. These can be indicative of the type of information display and functionality which needs to be integrated into future versions of the LinkedTV player.
Presentation engine
We prototype the mock-up interfaces in a real player environment (based on HTML5) for the sake of both testing the technical restrictions on the player UI as well as giving the scenario partners first experience of actual interaction with the proposed UIs.
See UI prototypes at: http://linkedtv.project.cwi.nl/homepage/
A presentation engine co-ordinates the server delivery of the enrichment content with the client side selection of the appropriate display UI (e.g. a list view, or timeline) for that enrichment. It is integrated into the LinkedTV platform and will be extended by accepted UI concepts coming out from the mock-up stage.
Deliverables and presentations
Specification of functionality requirements satisfying user information needs
Specification of presentation interfaces for the three scenarios
LinkedTV user interfaces sketch
LinkedTV interface and presentation engine version
LinkedTV will construct hypervideo interaction interfaces for supporting information browsing, organization and presentation, and higher level tasks such as information gathering. It is based on the tasks implicit in the 3 scenarios and will generalize results to identify design patterns and guidelines.
The interface design will strive to hide the complexity of the LinkedTV system operating in the background. For example, the user should be unaware of the connection between the video pixels and the concept describing them, the relation between this and a thesaurus, and how these are enriched with other web-based information. At the same time, the user should be allowed access to the underlying information resources to enable them to check information sources when needed. A metric for success for the LinkedTV interfaces is that the user should not even notice the interface, but that they should be able to carry out their tasks with a minimum of effort.