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::the problem
The delivery of news information has a rich history that has
constantly been shaped by the latest advances in information technology.
Television, radio and printed materials perhaps remain the most popular mediums
for delivering news. When using these mediums, the end user is typically a
passive consumer of information, allowing the editors to control which sources,
genres and specific news items are presented. On the other hand, the
physicality of these media creates many usage implications. Time and print
limitations constrains the amount of content that can be presented. Also,
the physical presence of traditional news media defines its unique and exclusive
purpose. In turn it can be argued that this limits the scope of influence
of the news items it presents, isolating it form daily life.
On the other hand the online news websites have given users more breadth and control
over their news consumption. The recent popularity of technologies such as the
Really Simple Syndication (RSS), have sparked the creation of software applications
known as news aggregators. These applications allow users to combine content from
different sources as if they create a “personalized newspaper.” While
this provides a sense of organization in a sea of information, the interaction model
of this way of reading news demands users’ full attention to the computer screen.
Newscast is our answer to the common problems of both traditional and modern
interfaces: they are attention intensive, which makes news navigation an isolated
and entirely intrusive activity. The design goal is to build an intuitive and
non-intrusive news reading device that seamlessly integrates itself with users’
everyday activities.
With modern technical advantages and espeically RSS, it is possible to
simultaneously collect information from many news sources at the same time and
during the whole day. The continuity of the news is now better captured with
multiple sources that provide alternative perspectives on even the same news
item. The Newscast uses the well-tested faucet system to aggregates and
presents the continuous streams of news stories. At the same time, continuous
news browsing is a demand and unrealistic activity. Here, the Newscast allows
users to easily navigate through a great deal of content using personal customization
and a calm non-intrusive interface.
::current prototype
Our current prototype of Newscast takes the form of a table, with an embedded pool of
water where news items are displayed. Designed with the metaphor of “news
streams as water flows,” each news items is represented by an
individual “news droplet,” which is both a physical water droplet and a
digital image of news item. When a news droplet “falls,” a water
droplet falls and creates ripples on the water surface; at the same time a photograph
or headline from the news item is projected on the same location. The content of the
news is manipulated by a set of “faucets”, which allow the user to control
of the source of information (e.g. CNN, BBC) or the news genre (e.g. politics,
technology, fashion). Each faucet allows the user to control the amount and flow of
news from its specific news feed. Inspired by the intuitive gesture of catching water,
Newscast lets its user to view more detailed information about a specific news droplet
by “catching” that droplet (either by hand or a cup). Upon catching a
droplet, Newscast displays on the table a more detailed version of that particular news
item.
The conceptual base of Newscast lies in the intersection of different types of objects
and technologies. While the system strives to make the best use of the metaphor of
water droplets as news items, in this design we emphasize the switching between
foreground and background information reading. The following sections will
present related work, the design and implementation of our current working prototype,
and future directions we plan to explore.
::paper
to CHI 2006, download!
::credits
Newscast is a collaboration with THE best tangible interface group ever:
orkan telhan, andres monroy hernandez, and elysa wan.
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