Companion apps for information-rich television programmes: representation and interaction

Abstract

International audienceThe use of a companion app to augment viewing of information-rich television programmes is investigated. The app displays a synchronised graphical abstraction of a programme's content in the form of a concept map. Two experiments were conducted involving participants watching an astronomy documentary with the app. The first compared watching the programme with and without the app, the second compared non-interactive and interactive versions of the app. Understanding of the programme, cross-device gaze behaviour and user experience of the app were assessed. Our results show that the companion app improved participants' understanding and recall of the programme. Participants were found to manage their visual attention systematically when using the companion app and correlations were found in the way they shifted their gaze from TV screen to tablet and back in response to changes in the programme content. Increasing interaction with the app disrupted understanding of the television programme and visual attention. Participants were positive about the value of companion apps for understanding and recall of programmes but distraction and 'knowing where to look' were significant concerns

Cross-device media: a review of second screening and multi-device television

“…There are numerous applications to support tangential browsing, which typically manifest to present passive information presentation to the user. Complementary content is provided at timed intervals, or explored through interactive information search, for example through tree visualisations [27]. This information is generally trivia related to a programme.…”

“…Dowell et al [27] augmented an information-rich programme into an interactive companion application -in this case, they explore how information in an astronomy documentary can be summarised though interactive concept maps. In addition Eversman et al [29] explored how second screen content can be introduced at key moments in a programme to link together Marvel's United Universe, creating a Transmedia 9 experience in which the affordances of each media are utilised.…”

Enhancing Interaction with Dual-Screen Television Through Display Commonalities

“…Many companion applications address user inclination to discover more about things they have seen in a programme, and much empirical work has explored the provision of programme-specific second screen companion content: typically complementary information [11,12,32], related social media [21,26], and play-along games [8]. Many broadcasters and developers have created companion apps for public distribution (e.g., [1,30,31]).…”

“…The HCI community has considered how to improve companion UX using supporting, tangential information: Geerts et al [17] use a companion application live-synced to a programme to examine the perspectives of users and producers, yielding qualitative and analytics-based insights; Fallahkhair et al [13] described the potential for supporting language learning through combining a foreign television programme with a companion application; and, much work has looked at how we can provide second screen applications to simplify complex plot lines and concepts [11,32,40]. Another avenue of exploration has looked at support for social second screeners through dedicated apps.…”

From the Lab to the OB Truck

“…smartphones and tablets) and these continue to be integrated into standard television, a challenge production teams are facing is to tailor the content of the TV program so that the content takes advantage of these additional devices and screens. Content on companion screens is customizable to provide the audience access to additional information next to the TV screen, thus enabling interactive and immersive TV viewing experiences [2,4]. However, given the current workload of live broadcasting inside OB trucks, it is difficult to deliver additional versions of the program to multiple screens.…”