Abstract
The move toward digital switchover increases content and introduces interactive services available through the television. UK legislation advocates universal access and equitable provision of services, across all platforms and equipment, particularly for ‘vulnerable’ groups. However, key aspects of usability and accessibility have been overlooked by those responsible for encouraging this new infrastructure’s inclusive development. Aspects of previous interactive television provision and developments in web accessibility appear to have been ignored, along with findings from relevant user-centred research and even from specifically commissioned reports. This paper will identify these issues and discuss their impact on the inclusiveness of DTV.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Notes
In the UK, “subtitles” is used to refer both to on-screen text that is a translation of (foreign) spoken content, and to text representing spoken and non-spoken audio content for deaf and hard of hearing viewers. The latter is known as “captions” virtually everywhere else in the world
References
Age Concern (2004) Response to the regulation of electronic Programme Guides, http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/past/epg. Cited 2004
Ang I (1991) Desperately seeking the audience. Routledge, London
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (2000) http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG10
BBC (2000) Freeing up the TV frequencies. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/450313.stm. Cited 2004
Blomberg J, Burrell M, Guest G (2003) An ethnographic approach to design. In: Jacko J, Sears A (eds) The human-computer interaction handbook: fundamentals, evolving technologies and emerging applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London, pp 964–986
Brookes M (2004) Watching alone: social capital and public service broadcasting. The Work Foundation in partnership with the BBC, May 2004
Burke D (2000) A guide to Interactive TV. http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp. Cited 2004
Carmichael A (1999) Style guide for the design of interactive television services for elderly viewers. Independent television commission, Kings Worthy Court, Winchester. Available at http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/staff/acarmichael/Carmichael_DesignStyleGuide.pdf. Cited 2004
Carmichael A, Petrie H, Hamilton F (2003) The VISTA project: broadening access to digital TV electronic programme guides. Psychnol J 1(3):230–242
Charness N, Bosman EA (1992) Human factors and age. In: Craik FIM, Salthouse TA (eds) The handbook of aging and cognition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hilsdale NJ
Christesen L (2004) Out of interactive television. In: Proceedings of the 2nd European conference on interactive television: enhancing the experience, Brighton, UK, March–April 2004
Clark J (2004) Response to Ofcom consultation on draft code providing television access services. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/responses/tv_access_services/responses/?a=87101. Cited 2004
Clarkson J, Keates K (2003) Digital television for all: a report on usability and accessible design, Appendix E—investigating the inclusivity of digital television set-top-box receivers. http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/pdf_documents/publications/Digital_TV_for_all_appendix_e.pdf Cited 2004
Cockburn C (1992) The circuit of technology: gender, identity and power. In: Silverstone R, Hirch E (eds) Consuming technologies: media and information in domestic spaces, pp 32–47
Communication Act (2003) Crown copyright. http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030021.htm. Cited 2004
Consumers’ Association (2001) Turn on, turn in, switch off. Consumer attitudes to digital TV. http://www.dvb.org/documents/white-papers/Consumers%20Association%20Rvue%20of%20Digital%20TV.pdf. Cited 2004
Consumer Expert Group (2004) Persuasion or compulsion? Consumers and analogue switch-off, available at; http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/pdf_documents/publications/Consumer_Expert_Group_report.pdf. Cited 2004
Craik FIM, Salthouse TA (2000) The handbook of aging and cognition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah
Daly-Jones O (2002) Navigating your TV: the usability of electronic programme guides. UsableiTV 3:2–6
DCMS (2004) Secretary of state for culture, media & sport announcement “Digital Switchover: Further Progress”. http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/press/2004/dig_switchover_progress.html. Cited 2004
DCMS (2004) Broadcasting minister statement, “Consumer Expert Report Into Digital Switchover Published”. http://www.culture.gov.uk/global/press_notices/archive_2004/dcms124_04.htm. Cited 2004
Digital Logo (2004) http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/digital_switchover_logo/index.html. Cited 2004
DigiTV project (2004) http://www.digitv.org.uk. Cited 2004
DigiTV project (2004) The new citizen channel for the digital age: delivering local government services on digital interactive TV. http://www.digitv.org.uk/content_images/Digitv_finaldoc_tcm2-568.pdfCited 2004
Disability Rights Commission (2004) Guidance on matters to be taken into account in determining questions relating to the definition of disability. http://www.drc-gb.org/thelaw/practice.asp. Cited 2004
Disability Rights Commission (2004) The web: access and inclusion for disabled people. TSO, London
Dix A, Finlay J, Abowd G, Beale R (1993) Human–computer interaction. Prentice Hall International (UK) Limited, New Jersey
DTI (2004) Digital television. http://www.dti.gov.uk/industries/broadcasting/digital_television.html. Cited 2004
DTI/The Generics Group (2003) Digital television for all: a report on usability and accessibility design. http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/pdf_documents/publications/Digital_TV_for_all.pdf. Cited 2004
DTP (2004) Digital television action plan. http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/pdf_documents/publications/ActionPlanvs12_oct04.pdfCited 2004
Dureau V (2004) Addressable advertising on digital television. In: Proceedings of the 2nd European conference on interactive television: enhancing the experience, Brighton, UK, March–April 2004
Eronen L (2003) User-centred research for interactive television. In: Proceedings of the 1st European conference on interactive television: from viewers to actors, Brighton, UK, April 2003
European design for all e-accessibility network (2004) http://www.e-accessibility.org. Cited 2004
Featherstone D (2004) The future of accesskeys http://www.wats.ca/articles/thefutureofaccesskeys
Fidler R (1997) Mediamorphosis: Understanding new media. Sage Publication Ltd, London
Fisk AD, Rogers WA, Charness N, Czaja SJ, Sharit J, (2004) Designing for older adults. Principles and creative human factors approaches. CRC Press, London
Gawinski M (2003) Interactive television production. Focal Press, London
Gregor P, Sloan D, Newell AF (In press) Disability and technology: building barriers or creating opportunities. In: Zelkowitz M (ed) Advances in computers. Academic, New York
Hanson V, Richards J (2004) A web accessibility service: Updates and findings. In: Proceedings of the Sixth International ACM conference on computers and accessibility, Atlanta GA, New York, pp 169–176
Hinckley K (2003) Input technologies and techniques. In: Jacko J, Sears A (eds) The human-computer interaction handbook: Fundamentals, evolving technologies and emerging applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London, pp 151–168
Irving A, Sparham I, Spicer N (2003) Attitudes towards electronic service delivery http://www.dfwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/ih2003-2004/IH117.pdf. Cited 2004
Keates S, Clarkson J (2004) Countering design exclusion: an introduction to inclusive design. Springer, London
Klein J, Karger S, Sinclair K (2004) Attitudes to digital switchover: the impact of digital switchover on consumer adoption of digital television. http://www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk/pdf_documents/publications/AttitudestoSwitchover_300304.pdfCited 2004
Landscape (2003) Interactive digital sales, issue 6. Landscape, London
Lee SH (1999) Usability testing for developing effective interactive multimedia software: Concepts, dimensions, and procedures. Educ Technol Soc 2(2), ISSN 1436–4522
Lessiter J, Freeman J, Davis R, Dumbreck A (2004) Understanding DTT remote control button labelling: a multi-method approach. Proceedings, Second European conference on Interactive Television, Brighton
Ling R, Thrane K (2002) “I don’t like TV to like learn anything”: the leisure use of TV and the Internet. First Monday 7 (1). http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_1/ling/index.html. Cited 2004
Lister M, Dovey J, Giddings S, Grant I, Kelly K (2003) New media: a critical introduction. Routledge, London
Lull J (1990) Inside family viewing. Ethnographic research on television’s audiences. Routledge, London
Mackay E (1997) Consumption and everyday life. Sage Publication Ltd, London
Making a Commercial Case for Adopting Web Standards (2004) http://www.maccaws.com. Cited 2004
Morley D (1992) Television, audiences and cultural studies. Routledge, London
Newell AF, Gregor P (1997) Human–computer interfaces for people with disabilities. In: Helander MG, Landauer TK, Prabhu PV (eds) Handbook of human computer interaction. North Holland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp 813–824
NHS Direct: A new gateway to healthcare (2004) http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/misc/NHS%20Direct%20AR%20FINAL.pdf. Cited 2004
Norman D (1999) The invisible computer. The MIT Press, London
O’Brien J, Rodden T, Rouncefield M, Hughes J (1999) At home with the technology: an ethnographic study of a set-top-box trail. ACM Trans Comput Human Interact 6(3):282–308
Ofcom (2004) Consultation on; the regulation of electronic programme guides http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/past/epg. Cited 2004
Ofcom (2004) Driving digital switchover. A report to the Secretary of State. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/dso_report/?a=87101. Cited 2004
Ofcom (2004) Statement on code on electronic programme guides http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/responses/epc/statement/statement.pdf. Cited 2004
Office of the E-envoy (2003) Digital Television. A policy framework for accessing e-government services. http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/documents/digital_tv.pdf. Cited 2004
Parsons HM, Terner J, Kearsley G (1994) Design of remote control units for seniors. Special Issue: Technology and environmental issues for the elderly. Exp Aging Res 20(3):211–8
Pemberton L, Rice M, Griffiths R (2004) Fear and loathing in the living room. Acceptability issues for interactive television services. In: proceedings for the 18th British HCI conference, Leeds Metropolitan University, September 2004
Rabbitt PMA, Carmichael AR (1994) Designing communications and information-handling systems for disabled and elderly users. In: Snel J, Cremer R (eds) Work and aging: a European perspective London: Taylor and Francis Ltd, pp 173–195
Rehabilitation Act 508 (1998) http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/act.htm
Rice M, Fels D (2004) Low vision the visual interface for interactive television. In: Proceedings of the 2nd European conference on interactive television: enhancing the experience, Brighton, UK, March-April 2004
Rice M (2003) Television and visual impairment: the prospects for the accessibility of interactive television. In Stephanidis C (ed) Universal access in HCI: inclusive design in the information society. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey, pp 800–804
RNIB (2002) RNIB’s response to the draft communications bill http://www.communicationsbill.gov.uk/responses/RNIB.doc. Cited 2004
Root J (1986) Open the box. Comedia Publishing Group, London
Sandhu J (1993) Design for the elderly: User-based evaluation studies involving elderly users with special needs. Special Issue: Designing for our future selves. Appl Ergono 24(1):30–34
Silverstone R, Hirch E, Morley D (1992) Information and communication technologies and the moral economy of the household. In: Silverstone R, Hirch E (eds) Consuming technologies: media and information in domestic spaces, pp 15–31
Schroder K, Kirsten D, Kline S, Murray C (2003) Researching audiences. Arnold Publishers, London
Sloan M (2001) Web Accessibility and the DDA. In: Paliwala A, Moreton J (eds) The journal of information, law and technology (JILT) 2001 (2). Available at: http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/01-2/sloan.html. Cited 2004
Sloan D, Gregor P, Rowan M and Booth P (2000) Accessible accessibility. In: Proceedings of the First ACM conference on universal usability (CUU 2000), Arlington
Smith DDB, (1990) Human factors and aging: An overview of research needs and application opportunities. Hum Factors 32(5):509–526
Stanton N (1998) Human factors in consumer products. Taylor and Francis, London
Swedlow T (2000) Interactive enhanced television: An historical and critical perceptive. InteractiveTV Today http://www.itvt.com/etvwhitepaper.html. Cited 2004
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (2002) http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10
Waddell C (2004) Letter to the editor regarding the Southwest Airlines Accessible Web Case. International center for disability resources on the internet. Retrieved 30th June 2005 from the ICDRI web site: http://www.icdri.org/CynthiaW/eaccess_SWAir.htm.
Web Accessibility Initiative (2004) http://www.w3.org/WAI. Cited 2004
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (1999) http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10
Web Standards Project (2004) http://www.webstandards.org. Cited 2004
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Carmichael, A., Rice, M., Sloan, D. et al. Digital switchover or digital divide: a prognosis for usable and accessible interactive digital television in the UK. Univ Access Inf Soc 4, 400–416 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-005-0004-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-005-0004-x