to automatically record, say, all movies starring John Wayne.TiVo’s “Suggestions” programming lists are individually tailored for each viewer basedupon the owner’s “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” rating of previously-viewedprograms. According to TiVo’s website,“Over time, as your TV preferences become more detailed, the list of TiVo’sSuggestions will become more and more accurate, offering you plenty of entertainmentoptions you otherwise might have missed.”Yet on a TiVo discussion website, not moderated by the company(http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/), user complaints point out the deficienciesin the customized user experience. On the seemingly simple issue of TiVo knowingwhen a sports event is concluded, one user writes:“TiVo is absolutely worthless until they can find some way to make thesystem KNOW that a program is not over before it finishes recording. I am ahuge NASCAR fan. I just spent the last 4 HOURS watching the MBNA 500to have my TiVo cut out with 15 laps to go. The way I see it... regardless ofwhat indexing service they use... if my TV can display the program info, thereis data available to determine what is showing and if the TiVo programmerssuck so bad they cannot find a way to incorporate that data so I don’t lose myrace with 15 laps to go... they have lost me as a customer until they have.”On the technically more complex issue of TiVo’s user-based “Suggestions,” anotherwriter complains,“I’d like an option to mark some shows recorded as “suggestions” to never berecorded ever ever again.I like to watch Iron Chef so I record it every week. Now TiVo is recordingall Martha Stewart shows available on every channels... Martha’s Kitchen,Martha’s Garden, Living with Martha etc.... (BTW can’t wait for “Martha’sBedroom”)”Another new technology may offer refinements to TiVo’s learning curve to addresscurrent complaints and also to go much farther in discerning users’ programmingpreferences. As the science of “data mining” or “sense-making” matures and finds newcommercial applications, it may intersect with future TiVo-type devices. The federalgovernment is pouring millions of dollars into such software start-ups as a part of thewar on terrorism. (There is even a CIA venture fund, In-Q-Tel, for technologiesdemonstrating usefulness in intelligence applications.) The March 2003 issue of MITTechnology Review lists a number of them, including Entrieva, of Reston, VA, thatfocuses upon the management of unstructured data, including web pages, audio, andvideo.Perhaps a future PVR will have access to a database consisting of more than programtitles and key-word descriptors. This database might include all the dialogue from aprogram, extracted either by stenographic software or parsed directly from a closedcaptioningfeed. This data could be used to intelligently enhance TiVo’s “Favorites”programming lists, using user-supplied Boolean-structured searches through the16Feedback April 2003 (Vol. 44, No. 2)
database. A limited implementation of this feature is already available on some PVRadd-ons for personal computers.By providing the ability for his TiVo to delete any recorded program with dialoguecontaining the phrase “It’s a good thing,” the writer to the TiVo users’ website mightone day use data-mining software to banish Martha Stewart from his living roomforever.Howard Goldbaum is the Reynolds Professor of Media Technologiesat the University of NevadaBEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 17
- Page 1 and 2: Educating tomorrow’selectronic me
- Page 3 and 4: CONTENTSESSAYTransitionsRalph J. Be
- Page 5 and 6: ESSAYTRANSITIONSBy Ralph J. Begleit
- Page 7 and 8: party. It was a fabulous experience
- Page 9 and 10: een accustomed to leaving my “whe
- Page 11 and 12: ADVISING:THE LITTLE SECRET HIDDEN I
- Page 13 and 14: • Total intake model—all studen
- Page 15 and 16: Response to the survey has never re
- Page 17 and 18: assessment of the Center in conclus
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- Page 23 and 24: RESEARCHTHE PARTICIPATION OF WOMENI
- Page 25 and 26: Local newsroom employmentIn July 20
- Page 27 and 28: the referral source of each person
- Page 30 and 31: Discussion and ConclusionsOur analy
- Page 32 and 33: Lind, R. A., & Braun, M. J. (1996,
- Page 34 and 35: downloading services. www.schoolsuc
- Page 36 and 37: major professional selling points i
- Page 38 and 39: COURSE GRADINGElement Percent of Du
- Page 40 and 41: REVIEWHyde, Stuart (2003). Idea to
- Page 42 and 43: The primary purpose of this study i
- Page 44 and 45: detailing the number of phone numbe
- Page 46 and 47: these newscasts that “primary”
- Page 48 and 49: As Table 1.3 shows, comparing only
- Page 50 and 51: RESEARCHACCURACY IN LOCAL TELEVISIO
- Page 52 and 53: anked 26 to 50. After eliminating n
- Page 54 and 55: 2. How often do news sources compla
- Page 56 and 57: Participants were asked which one m
- Page 58 and 59: These stations still archive script
- Page 60 and 61: TABLE 12002 BEA News Division stude
- Page 62 and 63: Eiles at WCHS-TV, Portland, Maine.
- Page 64 and 65: ESSAYWHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN:THE
- Page 66 and 67: are. If the news agency editor or r
- Page 68 and 69: said Sagan, just as broadcast chann
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“We’re perfectly positioned to
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John Miller, News Director of KTVT-
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CLASSROOMGUEST SPEAKERS IN BROADCAS
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students just starting out, their m
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professionals, often with varied jo
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District NewsTo the members of Dist
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several held on college campuses. I
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2ND PLACE: Jillian Oppegard, Colora
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Faculty News CompetitionC.A. Tuggle
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AWARD OF EXCELLENCE: Kevin Hager, W
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BEA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEGOALS AND
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THANK YOU to the following individu
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