Overview
The 18-month VISTA Project started on April 8th 2002 and
will finish October 7th 2003. Within this time frame, The
VISTA Project will develop a Virtual Human Interface for interaction
with Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) data carried on digital
television to improve access to digital TV for elderly and
visually impaired viewers.
Objectives
Project objectives include:
- a clear understanding of the needs of visually impaired
and elderly viewers with regard to the navigation of digital
TV channels and EPGs,
- identification of optimal audio-visual interaction paradigm(s)
for target users
- the integration of a virtual human with voice recognition
and synthesis systems
- development of PC software prototype implementing optimal
audio-visual interaction paradigms to enable target users
to query EPG data
- human factors evaluations of the prototypes to inform
their further optimisation
- advanced speech processing research to potentially enable
the final version of the prototype to support more "intelligent"
speech recognition.
Approach
A user-centred approach is being taken to the development
and optimisation of the VISTA PC-based prototypes. The approach
includes:
- definition of initial audio visual interaction and technical
specifications based on in depth knowledge of user needs
- development of 3 prototypes throughout the project for
evaluation
- refinement of prototypes as required, with the refinements
being defined by the human factors user testing.
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Methodologies
A range of methodologies will be used in these evaluations
including:
- questionnaires and diary studies to investigate viewing
habits of household members, how users plan their viewing,
users' favourite programmes and channels, use of EPG functionality
(listings, channel switching, reminders, video), and scope
of functions understood and used
- usability evaluations will identify, diagnose and rectify
aspects of the prototypes that cause inappropriate user-system
behaviours. Examples of potential factors affecting usability
include: navigation, content, synthetic speech quality,
and errors
- experiments will investigate in more depth issues identified
in the background and usability studies. Results of the
evaluations will guide the optimisation of the system developed
within VISTA
Progress To Date
Good progress has been made to date on the VISTA project.
A good team spirit has developed between the project partners
facilitating effective work towards the planned goals of the
project.
1. The first integrated PC-based Virtual Human Interface
was delivered in September 2002.
2. First round usability evaluations were completed in January
2003.
3. Revised specifications are currently being finalised for
the second iteration of the integrated PC-based demonstrator.
The second demonstrator was developed and made available to
human factors teams in April 2003.
4. 2nd round human factors evaluations will commence on delivery
of the second demonstrator.
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