Interactive television, past, present, and future
How do you define “interactive television”? Even more difficult, how do you do so in such a way that separates theoretical or upcoming technology like t-commerce (being able to instantly buy a product being advertised) from more obvious and traditional forms of interaction, like changing channels or lowering the volume? This is the question facing many companies today as they try to bring television watching into the 21st century?One way in which providers are defining interactivity is by degree, from high to low. In the highest level of interactivity, viewers can actually affect the events onscreen. One example is the 2006-2007 Finnish television show Accidental Lovers, in which viewers sent text messages which determined the emotions of the main characters. Obviously, interactive television can include other mediums of communication, like a phone. This type of interactivity dates back to even the early 1990s, when the Danish show Hugo premiereda television video game which viewers controlled by phone. (more…)