Immersive, Participatory Television: A New Paradigm of Social Media

由于互联网和大量数字媒体设备的出现，传统的广播电视在内容创作、传输和消费方面的竞争技术进步进展缓慢。虽然广播电视的制作价值和编辑能力仍然优于其他数字媒体，但它吸引精通数字技术的年轻观众的能力正在减弱。我们建议通过为广播电视创建一个参与式平台来解决这一重大问题，该平台将观众作为内容贡献者，并通过增强现实和基于web的内容增强来进一步增加节目的维度。在一个无处不在的摄像机时代，众包与上下文相关的内容将迎来一个参与式电视的时代，观众不再是被动的，而是节目的积极贡献者。很少被记者访问的偏远社区将听到他们的声音。通过本研究将开发的“可信度”工具适当筛选的贡献者将获得同行认可、广播公司可能提供的财政奖励和职业发展机会。推特和其他社交媒体通知将吸引观众对节目的关注，并加深虚拟记者/制片人的数量。这种电视节目的民主化不仅会增加观众的参与度；它可能会产生增加公民意识和社会包容/责任的必然影响。通过添加暂停节目的功能，以及在主屏幕或第二屏幕上无缝访问与某个片段相关的补充上下文信息，可以进一步提高观众的参与度。例如，在CBC电视台观看一集《道尔共和国》（Republic of Doyle）的观众可能希望暂停节目，观看圣约翰市中心的谷歌街景图像，或者在节目结束后观看国家电影委员会（National Film Board）推荐的一部有关纽芬兰历史的纪录片。他们可能希望在观看有关冠状动脉疾病的教育节目时，旋转和翻转人类心脏的增强现实3D图像。随着时间的推移，本研究中开发的个性化功能将根据过去的查看/信息访问模式向查看者提供选择，并将在用户配置文件中捕获。在视频处理和交互性的背景下，具体的研究任务将涉及结构化交互内容的创建/检索/组织、众包和社交互动、验证、信任和质量保证、推荐、个性化、3D增强现实和用户评估。使能技术将被纳入机顶盒或未来的电视。将联系地方/国家广播公司进行可行性和原型测试。通过这项研究实现的新颖的沉浸式电视体验将有助于通过广播公司的专业知识将大量的数字媒体源材料语境化，同时为传统的电视观看体验增加维度和高度的社会参与感。广播电视将吸引来自人口统计范围内的观众，从而确保其持续的相关性。新的社会社区的贡献者和观众将围绕特定的兴趣发展，进一步丰富广播电视的内容，增加其观众基础。

Traditional broadcast television has been slow to adapt to competing technological advances in content creation, transmission, and consumption made possible by the Internet and a plethora of digital media devices. While the production values and editorial capabilities of broadcast TV remain superior to those of digital media alternatives, its ability to engage digital-savvy younger viewers is waning. We propose to address this significant problem by creating a participatory platform for broadcast TV that enlists viewers as content contributors, and adds further dimension to programming through Augmented Reality and Web-based content enhancements. Crowdsourcing contextually relevant content in an era of ubiquitous video cameras will usher in an era of participatory TV, where the viewer is no longer passive but an active contributor to programming. Remote communities rarely visited by reporters would have their voices heard. Contributors, appropriately screened by a “trustworthiness” tool to be developed in this research, would be rewarded by peer recognition, possible financial incentives from the broadcaster, and career development opportunities. Tweets and other social media notifications would draw viewers’ attention to the program and deepen the pool of virtual reporters/producers. This democratization of TV programming would not only increase viewer engagement; it could have the corollary effect of an increased sense of citizenship and social inclusion/responsibility. Viewer engagement can be further increased by adding the ability to pause programming and seamlessly access supplemental contextual information relevant to a segment, on the main or a second screen. A viewer watching an episode of “Republic of Doyle” on CBC, for example, may wish to pause the program and access a Google Street View image of downtown St. John’s, or watch a recommended National Film Board documentary about Newfoundland history following the show. They may wish to rotate and flip an Augmented Reality 3D image of a human heart while watching an educational program about coronary disease. Over time, personalization features developed in this research will present choices to the viewer based on past viewing/information-accessing patterns, and will be captured in a user profile. Within the context of video-processing and interactivity, specific research tasks will address creation/retrieval/organization of structured interactive content, crowdsourcing and social interaction, verification, trust and quality assurance, recommendation, personalization, 3D augmented reality, and user evaluation. Enabling technologies will be targeted for incorporation into set-top boxes or future televisions. Local/national broadcasters will be approached for feasibility and prototype testing. The novel immersive TV experience to be realized by this research will help contextualize an overwhelming amount of digital media source material through broadcaster expertise, while at the same time adding dimension and a heightened sense of social engagement to the traditional TV viewing experience. Viewers from along the demographic spectrum will be attracted to broadcast television, ensuring its continued relevance. New social communities of contributors and viewers will develop around specific interests, further enriching the content of broadcast TV and increasing its audience base.