Methods for Involving Users in the Development of Social Interactive TV

Abstract

Applications for interactive TV (iTV) addressing social aspects will only be successful, if the intended user and user community is taken into account during the development process. Existing methods for evaluating usability and user experience aspects of social interactive TV applications are not really enough to address and focus on the broad range of factors related to social user experience. This chapter presents various forms of user-centered methods enhancing usability and user experience aspects of interactive TV applications in general. Giving an overview on currently used user-centered methods to enhance and evaluate usability and user experience, some selected methods are presented for early and late development stages, reflecting the peculiarities stemming from the non-traditional environment the applications are used in—the home. The chapter will show how the methods can be adopted to focus more precisely on social aspects, especially social user experience. It enables the reader to get an overview on currently used user-centered methods in interactive TV and to learn about benefits and shortcomings of these methods as well as how to choose appropriate methods for their own purposes.