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The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ R&D Prototyping team has been investigating how multi-touch software could support television viewing in the future. You can read an overview of the project in A Touch Less Remote: Part 1 . This article, written by Maxine Glancy from ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ R&D Audience Experience considers the existing role of remote control devices in the home and how these prototypes could change these scenarios.

There has been rapid development of new technology in recent years that has significantly changed the way people interact with media. Multichannel television and broadband internet access are now more common than not in UK homes and mobile internet access is becoming ever more popular.

But despite these advances remote technology has, in general, not changed all that much. This makes remote devices a fascinating area for research as they play such a major role in media interactions. In looking at how remote devices may change we have considered the more widespread use of multi-touch devices as one likely possibility.

Our particular frame of reference is how audiences access ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ content and services. If we can understand design trends and market trends in the area of remote control devices and systems then we can have a positive impact on their future development. We can also respond more quickly to creating media that supports any new modes of interaction.

There are many different types of households but there are some media-related features and activities that appear in most. These include quality time being spent congregated around a central media point, negotiations between members of the household over media content, the use of devices that support social activities and the desire or ability to blend media content from various sources.

What one might call 'traditional' remote control appliances are still very much found in homes. People may like them or loathe them but there is very little choice but to use them. In most cases people use the controls that came with each device as while universal controllers are available very few people have them as they are too complicated to use and, to a lesser extent, too costly.

Remote controls have remained remote. They have remained material objects with limited physicality due to their limited input and output methods. Meanwhile new devices like touch screen phones have introduced people to whole new ways of interacting with technology through new actions and gestures.

While the average number of remote controls in each home is increasing as people have more devices that can be controlled they are still most likely to be found at high quality 'media points' where media is consumed, usually the living room in family homes. So with this project we were really keen to explore what would happen if there was a major shift in the way these devices worked. We were particularly interested to look at negotiated viewing and social game play. Multi-touch allows us to explore very different scenarios of remote control usage.

All remote control mechanisms can be classified according to a set of attributes that describe their varying characteristics. These include physicality (how physical you need to be with the device) distribution (are the control cues on the remote control or on the device itself), proximity (how close it is to the device being controlled), materiality (how big, small, real or virtual it is) and people (how many users it supports at one time).

A basic television remote control is held in the hand and does not require much physical effort, will often require menus to be viewed on a separate device (the television screen) while buttons are pressed on the keypad, and will not support multiple users at one time.

Our prototype multi-touch device is quite different in that it's not held in the hand and does require some physical effort as you have to move around a bit to use it, does not require menus to be viewed on a separate device as you touch the menus directly on the screen, and will support multiple users at one time.

Using multi-touch can challenge current remote devices and show how they can be interactive in themselves as well as passive controllers of other technology. We feel it is important to try out new ideas to challenge the familiar, traditional approaches and these demos are an opportunity to provide evidence that different approaches might be better.

You only have to look at the rapid take up of the Wii Remote which has been so readily accepted by the public. Its barriers to use are low because it is simple, intuitive, and maps easily on to some activities and users' natural gestures in those situations.

In the next blog post Dominic Tinley from R&D Prototyping will outline the two prototypes we decided to develop.