An Evaluation of the Movie Song Browser System Among IT and Non-IT Users

Browsing temporal media content has become a challenge because it is a time-based data type and has a temporal nature which can be accessed using fast forward and rewind buttons, and its overall content can be only seen partially and not all at once. The Movie Song Browser (MSB) system applies a timeline visualization technique to help users in browsing temporal media content. The main feature of this system is to support the browsing of movie song contents by visualizing the temporal occurrences and allowing interactivity at those points on a timeline. Forty students were selected and divided into two groups comprising IT students and non-IT students to participate in the experiment. The purpose of the experiment was to evaluate the interface design of the Movie Song Browser, to evaluate timeline visualization, and also to measure the usability of the MSB system. The results revealed that using the MSB system helped both participant groups to browse the contents of movie songs. The results also showed there was no statistically significant difference in perception about interface design, timeline visualization and usability of the system between the two groups. 95% of participants stated that they would use the MSB system in the future and all of the participants enjoyed using the MSB system. The overall results indicate that both groups of participants have a good impression of the MSB system, they found the system helpful and the MSB has the potential to improve the way users browse media content.