INTERACTION DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR INTERACTIVE ...

“If the 19 th century was the age of the newspaper and the 20 th century the age of radio and
television, this century will be defined as the age of media personalization. The news you
want, when you want it. The concept is simple – forget the old media that decided what
was news and when and how you would consume it” (Glocer, 2005).
2.12 CONCLUSIONS
Different platforms offer different affordances for interactive television. The
functionalities offered by many of these platforms speak to key features that iTV users
are getting increasingly accustomed to and will most likely demand in the future,
regardless of platform. Many of the observations arising from the examples presented in
this chapter are key contributors to the principles that are laid out in chapter five. I offer
some observations and questions arising out of thinking about iTV-enabling platforms
abstractly in application to successful iTV programming:
Viewers enjoy having control over their viewing experiences. For example, DVRs
and VOD systems allow viewers to watch what they want, when they want.
Viewers can also time-shift through media, skipping directly to parts of interest.
Television is increasingly becoming an on demand experience.
Viewers enjoy being able to customize their viewing experiences. The TiVo
WishList, for example, by taking advantage of metadata already associated with
programs, allows users to sort by and record every program or film by actor,
director, category, keyword, or title.
Platforms that engage the audience in activities such as voting are popular.
Content that is “pushed” by the networks, such as the synchronized delivery of
trivia, is not effective. Users prefer to “pull” desired content.
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