Main HCI issues for the design of interfaces for ubiquitous interactive multimedia broadcast

:/ 51 i n t e r a c t i o n s / m a r c h + a p r i l 2 0 0 4 Imagine a context of ubiquitous communication in which users will be free to choose the most appropriate interface to interact in the digital world [1]. In other words, users will be able to exchange almost any kind of information, with anyone, on any machine, at any place and time. Inevitably, this incoming scenario will affect the TV experience: Users will not only be able to interact with TV programs with their own mobile devices, but also will have access to TV content and formats across these devices and outside the domestic context. But ubiquitous iTV, with the changes in production processes it necessitates, will create new social and technological challenges, not least in terms of usability and accessibility. User behavior is changing: People are spending less time at home watching TV fixed to a monitor. As some popular reality-TV formats, such as Big Brother and Pop Idol (American Idol in the United States) have proved, the integration of wireless devices (mainly SMS and WAP) can become an extension of the TV experience outside the home. These reality-TV programs show another phenomenon: how TV opens doors to members of the public who are interested in having a primary role. Democratization is taking place backstage too, as TVs develop mechanisms to increase viewer participation and feedback. These trends can be characterized as the evolution of viewers to participants. This movement is being fostered by the diffusion of interactive TV technologies [6] (See figure 1). iTV gives these newly active viewers the opportunity to extend Main HCI Issues for the Design of Interfaces for Ubiquitous Interactive Multimedia Broadcast