Ýnteractive TV
The Web and the Internet are the latest technologies to be harnessed by companies trying to develop interactive television. This paper reviews the efforts of technology companies and broadcasters to combine television and the Web in their products and activities, and how users are already using them both at home. It reviews some research on the way that TV and the PC/Internet are used at home, and suggests some way that the Web could be integrated with television use. Unlike earlier interactive television projects, where the innovation was largely conducted behind closed doors and among consortia of companies, the innovation environment in which Web-based interactive television is being developed includes a huge number of existing users, technology and content suppliers who play an active role the innovation process. The concept of social learning is suggested as the area of development of tools to understand the process of technical, social and cultural change around innovation of this sort. In particular the idea of poles of attraction is introduced to understand why a huge numbers of supply side players and users are orienting towards the Internet as a possible solution to interactive television.
1 A brief history of i-TV Many attempts have been made to develop 'interactive' television (Carey 1996). They tried to create ready-made systems that could be delivered fully functioning to the public. In the efforts to create i-TV, numerous applications and technologies have been tried, with companies attracted by the possibilities of each new generation of technology, and responding to the continuous pressure to develop new products, be they technologies, services or program in order to maintain their share of consumer spending. Now the Internet has emerged, and it is pole of attraction shared by users and producers: the innovation process now is shaped strongly by the market. The cheap web set-top box may restrict innovation and fix service and uses in a way that is frustrating to end users and service providers alike. Combined with reports of interactive television trials, it is possible to illustrate the rich use of both traditional and newer interactive media in the home. The possibilities and benefits of the technology seem self-evident, if only they can be made to work effectively and at a modest price. In the 1990s many expensive proprietary interactive television projects were set up, or at least publicised, by technology and network companies anxious to realise long standing science fiction dreams, bolster share prices and generate new revenue streams. Although many of these projects may have 'failed', they gave birth to huge numbers of spin-off sons and daughters: media and technology products and formats, business opportunities, engineering and business knowledge and experienced personnel. The 1980s saw the development of videotext, either broadcast or via a telephone modem, around a model of information searching and browsing. The process of creation, diffusion and use of new technology and content is not controlled by those innovating the products. These uncertainties, and the on-going process of innovation that accompanies the working out of the answer between the market or users, and the various players of the supply industries, is an important example of complex socio-technical change that needs addressed. Fortunately for the optimists, the Web is not static - developments of services and content that reflect the way television is used at home for could make the Web and TV marriage a success. Many people have both television and computers at home. Most simply it is the following: the television is a collectively consumed medium, viewed 'passively' and from a distance, sitting in a comfortable chair.
Common topics in this essay:
Internet Web,
Interactive Interactive,
Williams Edge,
TV PC/Internet,
World Web,
TV Web,
Web Internet,
TV Television,
Web Television,
Web TV,
interactive television,
innovation process,
interactive services,
technology content,
innovation environment,
poles attraction,
internet web,
social learning,
users producers,
mass market,
diffusion technology content,
users service providers,
technology companies broadcasters,
interactive services home,
interactive television projects,
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