Going beyond iTV: designing flexible video-based crossmedia interactive services as informal learning contexts

Due to recent technological advances and better interface designs, iTV started to gain its market space. However, new opportunities and challenges have aroused, namely with the convergence and use of different devices as part of the same crossmedia system, allowing to support a multiplicity of contexts of use. Considering the iTV great potential in the learning scenario, so important in a context where lifelong learning is gaining space, and the potential of including iTV as part of rich and flexible crossmedia learning environments, new research opportunities came up along with the challenges the design of these systems face and that may affect their effective use. This paper addresses the effective design of crossmedia services and interfaces with a particular emphasis on iTV and PC, through the eiTV application case study, designed to illustrate and explore this paradigm, based on cognitive and affective aspects that influence user experience. The eiTV application is capable to create, access and share web Personalized Informal Learning Environments (created as additional information to the video being watched), via iTV, PC and mobile devices (the preferred or most adequate device in each context of use).