International Workshop on Serious Games Development and Applications

Designing a technological framework for serious gaming

on interactive TV

ELIOS Lab

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1st International Workshop on Serious Games Development & Applications

Univ. of Derby, 8 Jul. 2010

F. Bellotti , R. Berta, A. De Gloria

ELIOS LabDIBE – University of Genoa

Introduction

TV & education (mass audience)Cultural movies, documentaries, news, educational programs

Potential of iTV as a learning mediumPervasiveness

t-learning

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t-learningTV-based interactive learning at home

Introduction

Now challanged by other media formsInteraractivity & mobility

New services to generate new TV forms able to attract and retain audiences

Investigate how to support authors in exploiting the t-learning potential

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exploiting the t-learning potential

TV specific features

Several t-learning principles and applications inspired by e-learningTV medium’s specific features

Transmit information through broadcastingLimited computing hardware

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Limited computing hardwareDifferent user interaction modalities�Remote control, low resolution screen, no

windows, no mouse, no keyboards

User typically in a relaxed environment and attitude

TV specific features

TV typically perceived as an entertainment mediumEmphasis on engagement and fun also for educational topics

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Key t-learning peculiarities

Edutainment particularly suited for such a less formal learning environmentApplications

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e-learning user-driven strategies�Applications respond to user actions

t-learning more suited to media-driven strategies for interactivity

Key t-learning peculiarities

A strong motivation for investigating how to exploit Serious Games’ principles on iTVA challenge on how to adapt the SG’s typically user interaction-driven philosophy to a media-driven environment

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A number of educational games titles already exist for iTV

Simply exploit TV as a display/computation medium

We are interested in exploring the integration of SGs and TV programs

Sample existing applications

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Enhancing educational TV programs

A lot of iTV research donePersonalization, interactive narrative and remote collaboration

Research should be done on how to support pedagogical experts to enhance

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support pedagogical experts to enhance linear TV A/V streams

iTV educational services as enhancements aimed at giving more value to TV-specific languages and styles

Integrating TV & SG

Exploit and enhance the value of creative TV professionals

e.g. authors, scriptwriters, cartoonists, etc.

Allow viewing of a program by interactive and non interactive users

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Foster a meaningful re-use of archives of TV programs and historical videosApproach complementary to techniques borrowed from e-learning

e.g. remote user collaboration

Further requirements from user/stakeholder analysis

Compatibility with other iTV platformsSupport for various categories of usersEfficient content productionSupport for User Generated Contents

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(UGC)High-quality graphics and usability

The ELU format (high-level)

A linear A/V streamNo user control

Non-linear interactive contentsAvailable over the videoControllable by the user

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Controllable by the user

Exploit a linear storyCan be viewed also by non-interactive users

Provide enhancements to improve the interactive user’s experience


Expected advantageslow production costscentrality of TV authorspossibility of various user interaction levels

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Production & deployment chain

ELU AT

- Creation of SCORM

educational modulesESL

EMP

- Management

execution of the

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- Customization and

integration of

edutainment services

- Time-synch. with A/V

- Platform independent MHP STB

execution of the

courses

Production & deployment chain

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HCI Elements

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ELU Style

Communication is a very important part of a TV program

Careful support of multimedia design2 clusters of configuration parameters

Content, Style

Libraries of styles by 3rd party media designers

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Libraries of styles by 3rd party media designersConcept similar to skins in web developmentA course as the composition of a style part (media designer) and of a content part (author)

ELU Scrpit Language

The screenplay of the programmeImplemented in XML

The time events, sorted in chronological order, the time-line, then the logical eventsTo each event, an instruction corresponds

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To each event, an instruction correspondsControlling the presentation of cards, also keeping into account the sync. constraints�LatestDisplayTime, minimumDisplayLength

Every instruction may be filtered by one or more conditions – Personalizer Conditions

Dynamic and static user profile

EMP

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Portability

ELU format is platform-independentESL language and the Authoring Tool

EMP is platform-dependent, first implementation done for the MHP standardConsequences

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ConsequencesProgrammes are specified in ESL and Services’ config. files �No impact by a platform change

The EMP to be updated�Comp. Layers not touched� I/O classes yes

TVEduGames

Games & QuizzesQuiz. Sequences of questions and answers;VisualQuiz. Q&As in images;Couples. Join the matching elements;RightPlace. Put icons in their right place;

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RightOrder. Order a sequence of items;Puzzle. Build an image from shuffled pieces;Memory. Remember the cards;Stop it! Stop the animation at the right time to answer the question;RepeatedTrials. Statistic outcomes from experiments

TVEduGames

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Conclusions

Design of a system architecture with specificmodules aimed at supporting serial instantiationof SGs applications in several different iTVcontexts

e.g. cards, game templates, ProgressBar, PerformanceMeter

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PerformanceMeter

Visual authoring tool to support efficientproduction of the interactive elementsEvolutionary rather than revolutionary approach

A media-driven strategy and the role of the author/director in proposing contents

Conclusions

Added value of SG interactivityhelp the viewer to better contextualize/understand the video stream andgo more in depth about the touched items at the end

New iTV applications, in particular to supportweaker users

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weaker usersi.e. users that could not view the video without a help

Tools tested in 7 countries with over 200 end-users and in a variety of edu domains

Cultural tourism, basic business, MBA statistics, driving license, computer basics and basic statistics

Future work

Support of specific categories of users (e.g. the elderly) through dedicated applications and alsothrough new interaction modalities

Pointing devices, gesture recognition and non-speechvocal input

New generation iTV middleware to better

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New generation iTV middleware to bettersupport media-driven interactive applicationsFurther increase in the appeal and usefulness of the interactive enhancements by integratingfeatures and modules supporting social interaction enabled by a more widespread useof the return channel

Education

International Workshop on Serious Games Development and Applications