Notification mechanisms in second-screen scenarios: towards a balanced user experience

As technological devices surrounding the television are changing, so are viewers’ habits. When the interactive Television industry turns its focus to the development of second-screen applications, this paper reports on a study aiming to analyse the impact, on users, of notifications in second-screen...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Almeida, Pedro Alexandre dos Santos (author)
Other Authors: Abreu, Jorge Trinidad Ferraz de (author), Duro, Lígia (author), Aresta, Mónica (author), Oliveira, Rita (author), Silva, Telmo (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10773/15222
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:ria.ua.pt:10773/15222
Description
Summary:As technological devices surrounding the television are changing, so are viewers’ habits. When the interactive Television industry turns its focus to the development of second-screen applications, this paper reports on a study aiming to analyse the impact, on users, of notifications in second-screen scenarios. As part of the study, the research team developed a prototype that simulated an application able to deliver synchronized information related with TV content, notifying the user – through visual, audio and haptic stimuli - whenever new content was displayed in the tablet. The study included observation sessions, conducted in laboratory settings, with participants (N=12) being invited to watch a 15-minute film while using the application. Tests were conducted under a cognitive walk-through methodology, and data collected through direct observation and questionnaires. Results show that to achieve a balanced user experience in second-screen scenarios notifications on tablet should be combined with visual notifications on TV.