Redesigning traditional media and assessing entertainment value with online comics

As traditional media make the transition to the web, the need for a systematic way of assessing the entertainment value of interfaces becomes increasingly important. In this paper we describe an experiment using online manipulations of traditional paper comic books to a) evaluate the effectiveness of different online presentations of a traditional entertainment medium and b) contrast systematic evaluation methods for assessing entertainment value. Paper comic books were transferred online and manipulated in two ways: the degree of user control in advancing through the story ("user control") and the amount of the original page presented on the screen at a one time ("visual scope"). We used a combination of methods to measure entertainment value: pre and post questionnaires, active experience surveys, facial expression analysis, heart rate measurement and time spent on the interface. From this study, it was determined that the most successful way of presenting comic books online is by giving the user full control over the navigation ("manual" condition), and by presenting each comic book page panel by panel ("panel in page" condition). The most effective and practical way for assessing entertainment value, according to the results of this study, is the use of post questionnaires, and either active experience surveys or facial expression analysis.