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Spy: Events: CHI2003: Development Consortium Position Paper (Draft 1)
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DEVELOPMENT CONSORTIUM POSITION PAPER
(DRAFT 1)
Mass communication is the presentation of editorially or creatively shaped
information or entertainment by an individual or organisation to significant
numbers of individuals. It encompasses the publishing of newspapers,
magazines, journals, books and newsletters; broadcasting of time-based
media, primarily radio and TV but including other modes such as phone
conferencing and SMS; and facilitation of online group interaction through
discussion, chat or IM.
Digital computing and the Internet will clearly enable the transformation of
publishing, broadcasting and other forms of mass interaction. In the past the
players in these arenas have been technology-driven, ignoring the
requirements and context of use of viewers and readers. Today we find a lack
of imagination and innovation in forms of mass communication.
How did we get here?
Technology has been intimately involved with the creation of new forms of
mass communication, from the newspaper to television, and these forms
have been designed in conscious and unconscious ways.
Two contemporary, and linked, technologies are redefining the possibilities for
mass communication. They are the development of digital computing and the
resulting ‘convergence’ of media, and the creation of the Internet.
Convergence in mass communication was theorised in Claude E Shannon and
Warren Weaver’s 1964 text The Mathematical Theory of Communication1
where they argued that all communication is essentially digital. The idea of
media convergence in practice came to prominence with the publication of
John Naisbitt Mega Trends2 in 1982 that posited one trend as the merging of
communications and entertainment. And its arrival was heralded with the
opening of the MIT Media Lab in 19853. One of its founders, Nicholas
Negroponte, described a converged world in his 1995 book Being Digital4:
“Bits comingle effortlessly. They start to get mixed up and can be used and
reused together or separately. The mixing of audio, video and data is called
multimedia; it sounds complicated, but it is nothing more than co-mingled
bits.” Don Tapscott, author of The Digital Economy5, notes that “digitisation
means that all content, including audio and video content, can be used in any
order and can be rearranged at will. Digital content can be transformed for
use in another medium.”6
The Mathematical Theory of Communication; Claude E. Shannon and Warren Weaver
(University of Illinois Press, 1963) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0252725484
1
Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives; John Naisbitt (Warner Books, 1982,
currently out of print) http://www.naisbitt.com/3megatrends.html
Megatrends 2000 http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ISBN=0380704374
2
3
http://www.media.mit.edu/about/
Being Digital Nicholas Negroponte (Vintage Books, 1996)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0679762906
4
5
http://www.nplc.com/digital/
6
The Digital Economy p96
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The second technology, the Internet, supports delivery of much of this
converged digital media, to multiple devices, in synchronous and
asynchronous modes, though at present most users have too little bandwidth
to download and view movies or television shows. Additionally Internet
Protocol doesn’t support realtime control (though this isn’t currently an issue
for mass communication).
What is happening
Since the theorisation of convergence we have seen a massive increase in
accessible text-based and time-based media information created by the
proliferation of Web publications with online archives, time-based media (both
video-on-demand and video stored locally using digital video recorders7),
increased numbers of channels facilitated by cable and digital radio and TV,
and a greater number of communicators (often active media consumers).
These present tremendous possibilities which have barely been addressed by
the organisations involved mass communication.
There have been many experiments in mass communication using digital
networks. Interactive television was famously trailed by Time-Warner in
Florida in the early 90s. More recently UK-based Kingston Communications
and the BBC have been running a trial in Hull, where Kingston is
headquartered. At another end of the mass communication spectrum as long
ago as 1997 the Poynter Institute had identified over 700 daily US
newspapers with an online presence.8 In early 2000 AOL and TimeWarner
announced a merger that was widely expected to exploit the synergies of the
world’s largest online service one of the biggest players in publishing, music,
movies and cable-based delivery. AOL TimeWarner has since announced one
of the largest losses of corporate value in history and is still struggling to
create new business models and products.
The technology to create new models for mass communication exists, but
there has been too much focus on the technology and not enough on
understanding the more significant barriers to the creation and adoption of
new products: products that are not only ground-breaking but also are as
easily understood by people as possible, are as easy to use as possible, and
support the contexts in which people are likely to use them. Many of these
issues are addressed by the field of human-computer interaction.
Of course viable business models also need to be developed to support new
modes of mass communication and their general absence is due to many
factors, including a weaknesses in product innovation and interface
development.
The use of digital technologies and the Internet for mass communication has
largely built on existing models for communication, or adopted and stuck to
models from the early days of the Web. There are many challenges to
address.
7
Such as TiVo http://www.TiVo.com/ and SonicBlue’s ReplayTV http://www.sonicblue.com/
‘Newspaper Publishing and the World Wide Web’
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=5687
8
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Context of use
Devices that support mass communication have proliferated and include the
personal computer-based Web browser, mobile phone, interactive televisions,
PDAs, and large format displays. The Internet can also be used for delivering
information that will be printed (‘deliver and print’). Not only do interfaces for
these platforms present their own design challenges but interfaces and
formats need to adapt to work across platforms, and where appropriate
support printing, and a recipient of an SMS news flash may want to read the
full story.
People also need to be able to move from one platform to another. For
instance, a reader of an article in a newspaper may want to be able to send a
reference to a colleague, or a viewer may want to read background
information on a broadcast.
New devices facilitate access in new locations: the living room, on the move,
in public spaces. New input modes support these contexts: enhanced remote
controls, touch screens, one-handed input (for instance mobile phones), and
voice commands.
The context of the user can inform what choices or information they receive
and it may be appropriate to indicate what decisions the system made and
why.
Creating contexts for material found
With so many media so readily accessible people need to be able to easily
establish the nature and value of material they find. Nature will include media
type, scope, and accessibility (how easily can a particular resrource be
accessed).
Value might be indicated by relevance (exploited by search engines),
taxonomic matches to other artifacts, number of references (a principle used
by Google), recommendation by third parties with similar interests
(collaborative filtering) or trusted associates.
Navigating and delving into information
People need to be able to browse large sets of information, from broadcast
electronic programming guides (EPGs) to Weblogs, and see information in a
wider context. They also need to be able to delve further into information,
such as the actors in a television drama, or the background stories that
inform a current news story.
Managing information
If people want to retain material they need to be able to retain sufficient
meta information and add their own notes such that they can retrieve it
where appropriate, be reminded why it was of interest, and relate it to other
material they have referenced. Context of use is important here.
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Commentary and feedback
Recommendation, validation of information and the development of
arguments require that material can be commented upon. Comments need to
be related to specific elements of the material, contextualised by time and
other characteristics, rated9, and clearly connected to an author. Comments
may also be presented in other contexts, for instance a writer’s Weblog, and
presentation needs to clearly relate the comment to the material it
addresses10.
It may be appropriate for feedback to a publisher or broadcaster – a kind of
private commentary – to have visibility to the poster. (This is partially
achieved by the current practice of emailing a copy of the posting to the
poster.) This may also be appropriate for SMS-based interaction and
feedback.
Customisation and personalisation
As access to the Internet proliferates the requirement of communicating to
people with varied cultures, languages, scripts and writing formats will
become more important and communication interfaces and formats will need
to be able to adapt accordingly.
Business issues
There are a number of business issues that interface design needs to
address. The major issue is creating business models for mass
communication and many such models will require payments to be made by
the user. Interface design issues include indication of the value of material
and terms of sale, ease of entry of payment information, integration with
central payment systems, overviews of user expenditure, and the creation of
trust in payment systems.
Representing and managing copyright and other intellectual property rights
also has interface design implications.
Future platforms
Many technologies are nearing viability and will present new possibilities and
challenges in HCI.
New kinds of displays and devices support new contexts of use. Public
displays and kiosks for access outside the home. Tablet PCs for portable, pendriven interaction with publications11. Living room-based displays and laptop
devices (such as Sony’s Airboard) for remote control of entertainment
systems and Web access. And 3G cellphones for mobile access to news
information and streaming media.
In the first iteration of the BBC’s Beeb.com discussion tool the font size of postings increased
according to the number of people who had read them.
9
Articles summarising discussion postings, eg: ‘Who killed RealNames? Don’t blame
Microsoft’ May 16, 2002
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2865662,00.html
1010
See New platforms, see ‘ePeriodicals: Microsoft’s Killer App for Tablet PC?’ October 1, 2002
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,562642,00.asp
11
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Specialist Internet appliances, such as the streaming radio developed by
Kerbango (but unsuccessfully marketed by 3Com), and interactive televisions
present specific interface and interaction design challenges. They have the
advantage of having physical aspects to their interface but often the
disadvantage of displays and input methods limited in size by cost factors.
This may suggest independent devices for controlling such devices and
configuring delivery and presentation.
Many of these platforms are enabled by wireless technologies such as WiFi,
which will also make standard portable computers more useful for mass
communication tasks. The other contemporary development in connectivity is
broadband, always-on connections (primarily cable and ADSL) which apart
from allowing for access to material that requires higher bandwidth also allow
for the creation of ‘presence’ and its associated instant messaging fast
feedback12.
Further over the horizon is digital paper, which combines the flexibility and
portability of paper with the ability to be updated and personalised familiar
from the Web. In the longer term its cost will be closer to that of paper than
a PDA or laptop.13
Conclusion
Poor HCI and interaction design are by no means the only barrier to the
development of new models of mass communication but their potential
contribution has been considerably underestimated. Not only do they have
more to contribute advocates also need to understand how best to effect
ideas for new approaches, interfaces, products and services that HCI and
interaction design can deliver.
The creation of good graphical user interfaces in the personal computing
industry in the early 1980s help move it from being an IT sideline to being a
major global industry. Can HCI and interaction design do the same for the
next era of mass communication?
More on the implications and impact of broadband: ‘myTV’
http://www.extra.research.philips.com/euprojects/mytv, researching ways to enable people to
store digital television output to create their own personalised channels.
12
See ‘How paper is becoming super smart’ November 4, 2002 for a discussion of the pros
and cons of electronic paper plus some real applications.
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2896358,00.html
13
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