+TV4E: Delivering Information about Social Services for
Seniors throughout TV
Telmo Silva
1,2
, Hilma Caravau
1,2
, Liliana Reis
1,2
, Carlos Silva
1,2
,
and Martinho Mota
1,2
1
Department of Communication and Art, Campus Universitário de Santiago,
3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
2
CIC.DIGITAL/Digimedia, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
Abstract. As a result of the ageing population process, societies, governments,
and individuals deal with the emergence of new needs at several levels. Nowa-
days technological solutions are a reality in the daily life of senior citizens en-
hancing their quality of life, through the promotion of their autonomy and inde-
pendence. Concerning the role that television plays in the quotidian of older
adults, interactive television (iTV) platforms are becoming more relevant due to
multiple factors, namely the interactive features it can provide. To quickly and
easily access information on public and social services, iTV platform +TV4E
was developed aiming to improve Portuguese seniors’ info-inclusion. This
chapter presents the steps inherent to the process of creating +TV4E. Alongside
promoting Portuguese seniors’ quality of life, it also aims to serve as a guide for
similar projects.
1 Introduction
Ageing is one of the most challenging characteristics of the 21
st
century. Elderly life
stage can be complex and distressing both for individuals themselves, families and
communities if the conditions for an independent, active and healthy life are not en-
sured for as long as possible [1]. Concerning the multidimensionality inherent to the
ageing process, it is essential to promote the cooperation and mobilization of agents
from several sectors of society to enhance the elderly life’s quality.
The "active ageing" paradigm holds that the ageing process must be accompanied
by continuous opportunities in health, participation and security. In this regard, the
elderly can also benefit in a large scale from technological developments [2]. Howev-
er, the success rate of technologic solutions is highly related with the care taken in its
development. This process should be based on the needs and expectations of potential
end users, which is typically characterized by participatory design methods [3]. One of
the key aspects to promote active ageing [2] and the individuals' quality of life is to
obtain adequate information and be updated on the various aspects of life. Getting this
information allows people to face challenges and make decisions in a conscious and
Silva, T., Caravau, H., Reis, L., Silva, C. and Mota, M.
+TV4E - Delivering Information about Social Services for Seniors throughout TV.
DOI: 10.5220/0008862501330149
In OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES for European Projects (EPS Portugal 2017/2018 2017), pages 133-149
ISBN: 978-989-758-361-2
Copyright
c
 2019 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
133

informed way [4]. Among other fields, an info-exclusion scenario of seniors is notori-
ous concerning the access to information about public services [5]. Thus, considering
the high levels of TV penetration in Portuguese elderly homes, it seems that allying
this technology with the information sending process of public and social content can
be a solution with great potential. In this context, the next section describes the
+TV4E project, in development since 2016 and currently at its final stage of imple-
mentation. It aims to send informative videos about public and social services through
an interactive television platform (iTV) to seniors, through videos that are dynamical-
ly introduced into the linear TV emission, which is locally paused during the display
of these videos and then resumed, as depicted in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Informative content inclusion in television programming.
Thus, this chapter presents the several phases that have been developed and which
have allowed the development of an iTV platform for the Portuguese elderly. It is
intended that this work can serve as a guide for other projects in this area as well as to
disseminate guidelines resulting from a field experience that may be an added value to
the scientific community.
2 +TV4E Project
The +TV4E project aims to support the Portuguese elderly in obtaining information
on public and social services quickly and easily through TV, reducing the probability
of an exclusion situation due to information deficits. Regarding this, an iTV platform
is under development and it will run in a low-cost Android Set-Top Box (STB) using
a regular internet connection. This infrastructure allows access to the same channels
that are offered in the Public Digital TV service in Portugal [6]. The developed plat-
form follows the operating flow illustrated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.
The +TV4E platform provides a splash screen (element 1 – Fig. 2) that is presented
each time that the user connects the STB. This “welcome” screen, that is active for 30
seconds, aims to guide the user concerning key areas of daily life, providing easy and
quick information which serves to contextualize the users about weather, time, date
and current season, as well as contacts for the nearest pharmacy and taxi service.
Afterwards, when a new information about a certain social or public matter is availa-
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ble, a video spot is created and then injected into the linear television flow (element 2
– Fig. 2). The video can be visualized or not, according to the user preference. The
audio-visual content presented to the user is created in an automatic way by a software
developed according to a system architecture that will be presented later in this chap-
ter.
The information presented in the videos is aggregated into seven previously studied
macro-areas of interest, namely: (1) health care and welfare services; (2) social ser-
vices; (3) financial services; (4) culture, informal education and entertainment; (5)
security services; (6) local authority services and (7) transport services [7].
When the video is sent (element 3 – Fig. 2) and accepted by the user, the regular
TV broadcast is locally paused and the video is displayed (element 4 – Fig. 2). Final-
ly, the linear content is resumed (element 6 – Fig. 2) to the exact moment when the
emission was interrupted to avoid content loss. When the video ends, a rating screen is
displayed for 25 seconds in which the user is requested to express their opinion con-
cerning their interest on the video, through a "like/dislike" system (element 5 – Fig. 2).
The information gathered at this moment feeds a recommendation system that tunes
the content to each STB according to the user preferences [8]. The rating screen only
appears 50% of the times the video is viewed, minimizing possible problems in the
user experience.
Additionally, all the informative videos sent to the STB are also available in a vid-
eo library feature, accessed through the “0” key on the remote control. In this library,
the user can review content already viewed as well as rejected or unseen videos [9].
Fig. 2. Flowchart elements that appear on the screen.
The +TV4E platform also provides two modes of presentation/visualization of the
videos, as outlined in Fig. 3: "injection", where the user receives an overlaid notifica-
tion informing that a new video is available and it will start in 15 seconds; or (ii) "no-
tification", where the user only receives a notification, on the top of the screen, re-
questing the user's express wish to start the video display. At this moment, to accept
the video, the user should press the “OK” key on the remote control. If the user does
not execute any action, after 30 seconds, the notification retracts to the corner of the
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screen waiting for instruction. After 4 minutes it disappears irreversibly if no action is
taken.
Fig. 3. Video injection modes available.
Moreover, a mobile application for Android systems was designed (using a User Cen-
tred Design Approach), implemented and tested with potential end users. This app
intends to give a more flexible access to the videos, not limiting the visualization
solely to a home context.
Both in terms of the concepts inherent to the +TV4E project, and the components
that compose it (graphics and sound elements) were implemented considering the
opinions gathered with seniors, through a participatory design approach.
3 Project Execution Phases
One of the main goals of the +TV4E project is to develop a system with real impact
on the lives of its potential users. In line with this, and according to the literature, it is
important that products are built with potential end users, considering their needs and
expectations [10]. Thus, participatory design methodologies were applied since the
initial phases of the project. The guidelines of these methods were included in the
procedures of creation, monitoring and approval of the available contents, design
selection and presentation of the solution and decision on the product's functionalities
[11]. The several phases conducted through the development cycle of the platform are
depicted in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Project execution phases.
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Each phase consisted of several intermediate steps, in which different methodological
techniques were applied. These phases took place in an evolutionary and sequential
way, where the results obtained in each phase supported the development of the next
one. However, the overlap of tasks' execution occurred several times, with the devel-
opment of more than one task in parallel, which made some tasks take advantage of
the results that started to emerge during the following activities [12].
3.1 Information Needs Analysis
In the initial phase of this project, a literature review was carried out addressing the
challenges inherent to the population ageing and the responses available based on
technological solutions [13]. It has been realized that these answers can represent
valuable tools to foster high levels of integration in the community of older adults as
well as improve their quality of life. Interactive television (iTV) platforms are some of
these solutions, which benefit from the fact that TV is one of the most used media
devices by the Portuguese elderly [14]. During this research, it was verified that there
are some solutions to support and/or improve the quality of life of elderly in several
life areas. "SmartSenior", eCAALYX, CogKnow, TAsisto and iNeighbour TV are
some examples in this field [13].
With this basis information, the research team continued analysing the senior popu-
lation’s informative needs. For the implementation of this conceptual framework,
databases of scientific publications were used as well as entities’ reports with an inter-
est in this subject. There are some studies, conducted in different countries, that ana-
lysed the informative needs felt by the elderly population. The main categories in
which more information needs were identified are: health, finance/pensions/benefits,
government policies, transportation, daily assistance services, housing, and current
affairs [15–19]. Although there are no studies analysing this question in the Portu-
guese context, based on the concept of Services of General Interest (SGI), that sup-
ports elderly in their daily life activities to allow them to live independently, it seems
there is a transversal trend at the informational level, namely in the field of health,
financial, pensions and local policies [20]. Considering this, a first list of public and
social services was defined, from which the Portuguese elderly seemed to require
information concerning: health services; social services; financial services. Each one
of these areas included a list of inherent social services, activities, and programs. After
this initial definition, an interview was conducted with a specialist in public health
promotion for seniors, who works with older people integrated in home context in
Lisbon. At this stage, a preliminary version of the main information areas to be con-
sidered was defined: health services; social services, and financial services. Local
services, listed in the literature review, were distributed among these three domains.
Afterwards, a focus group with specialists (n=4) in the development of public policies
in Portugal considered essential to add 3 other information domains to cover all the
social activities and programs offered by the governmental authorities. In both data
collection moments, a survey concerning the information sources (typically web ad-
dresses) to obtain information for each of the defined domains was applied. After the
integration of these contributions, a second preliminary version of the services' list that
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aroused interest in the seniors was defined, which was subsequently validated by a
group of 25 seniors through the application of a survey. In this survey, participants
were asked to rate each of the 7 macro-areas of interest and their respective services
based in a Likert type scale to classify from 1 (unimportant) to 3 (very important).
Most of the services listed were classified as important or very important, indicating
that these domains can be considered as essential information for the daily life of the
elderly. This process finished with the concept and taxonomy creation of Assistance
Services of General Interest for Elderly (ASGIE).
Simultaneously to the execution of the first phase, the functional components of the
+TV4E platform were defined to design an operational prototype and to base the
future tasks by studying multiple solutions for each component.
3.2 Functional Study
After analysing the contents in which seniors felt the need to access, the next step
consisted in defining a list of high-level functionalities to the +TV4E platform that
should be included. Similarly to the previous phase, an exploratory literature review
was conducted initially to understand seniors’ expectations regarding digital platforms
and iTV functionalities, as well as guidelines to develop digital and interactive plat-
forms for older people. The analysis of international practices, together with the
knowledge acquired by the research team, allowed the conception of a preliminary list
of functionalities to implement in the platform. When a first version of the +TV4E
platform was developed, the functional viability of the STB was tested. From this
process, the first list of functional requires was submitted to an evaluation from ex-
perts with technical skills in iTV technologies and applications, through a focus group
(n=4). This list specified the platform’s requirements for each actor (senior, adminis-
trator; recommender mechanism and video generator which included WebCrawler,
FFMPEG, and Text-to-Speech). Following the project’s legitimization and presenta-
tion, the participants were given a list containing 25 functionalities and were prompted
to classify each one’s relevance. The list was based on a Likert type scale (0=not im-
portant; 1=important; 2=very important). Afterwards, all participants were invited to
suggest any additional functionality or, if pertinent, to adapt/modify some of the pro-
posed ones, to include them in the final list of high-level functionalities. This data
collection moment, and after a technical analysis by the research team, was concluded
with the final definition of the platform’s high-level functionalities and the design of a
system architecture.
3.3 System Architecture
Following the analysis of the most requested informative areas by seniors, alongside
with the related web sources to extract information from, and the analysis of the func-
tional components to be implemented in the platform, the platform’s system architec-
ture was designed. Fig. 5 is a high-level depiction of the system’s architecture, which
generates informative videos and broadcasts them to the iTV platform.
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Fig. 5. Overview of content generation and delivery on +TV4E platform.
To produce the informative videos, a webcrawler developed by the +TV4E research-
ers analyses textual content obtained from the defined informative sources (websites
and portals previously associated with each ASGIE), in order to gather information to
use in these informative videos[21]. The webcrawler is fully automated and its main
task is to verify if there is new and relevant information available for the users. Being
that the case, the system seeks for certain keywords within this information in order to
filter in news pieces that are considered relevant for seniors. The used keywords were
defined by the research team and were carefully chosen so that every senior’s interest
and needs are included.
Following the previously described proceeding, audio-visual content is automati-
cally generated through a process in which the Automated Video Engine considers
parameters such as a text-to-speech narration and visual elements (background colour,
icon identifying each informative category, font type, and size, etc.) to include in the
videos [22].
These videos are sent to the users every half an hour while using the developed iTV
platform and according to a set of rules defined by the recommendation system (user’s
location and favourite topics). The received informative content is overlaid with the
linear television broadcast, appearing a notification on screen asking the senior if he
or she wants to watch the video. If so, the linear television broadcast is paused and
resumed after the informative video is closed.
To design the referred architecture, it was first necessary for the development team
to conduct a thorough technical analysis of several available tools, preferentially those
which were free of charge. To create an automatic text-to-speech narration of the
content three different alternatives were considered: IBM Watson, Ivona and
ReadSpeaker. From all of these Ivona, currently bought by Amazon and renamed as
Polly, was the chosen one, once it features Portuguese from Portugal language alterna-
tive, its speech quality was very satisfactory and because, when considering the price-
quality overall, it was the most economical solution [21]. Whereas, to produce and
encode the videos FFmpeg was used, which has support for Javascript, the Automated
Video Engine’s main programming language [21].
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3.4 Audio-visual Design Proposal for the Interface
Creating innovative solutions with the participation of potential end users, both at
design and evaluation stages is one of the most important design principles to develop
effective solutions to citizens' lives [23]. In this sense, once the basic aspects of the
system were defined, the establishment of the audio-visual elements of the interface
was started.
Firstly, a literature review analysis was made concerning the main physical and
cognitive modifications that happen during the ageing process of individuals, which
can be reflected in problematic situations in the independent use of technological
systems. Age-related changes contribute to a decrease of comprehension of the sur-
rounding world, due to the central nervous system becoming slower at processing
information captured by the sensorial channels, which causes some loss of information
[24]. Visual changes (e.g. decline in the adaptability at different viewing distances and
places with different lighting, loss of contrast sensitivity, loss of chromatic distinction,
susceptibility to brightness) and hearing modifications (e.g. loss of sensitivity to pure
sounds, difficulty in understanding speech, problems in locating the origin of sounds,
problems in binaural hearing, increased sensitivity to sound intensity, and difficulty in
processing sound information) profoundly mark the elderly overall performance and
consequently affects their interaction with the use of iTV systems [22, 25]. Based on
these changes and in order to identify the current trends in iTV applications for elder-
ly, an analysis was made concerning the principles and design recommendations for
the creation of the interface, audio-visual content and subsequent implementation of
the informative videos on the +TV4E platform [22].
In the light of including end-users’ participance during the development and design
of a product, aspects related to typography, text, iconography, colours and sound
elements were deeply analysed, and subsequently used to design and test a set of pro-
posals, disaggregated by audio-visual component, with groups of seniors [22]. For
example, to define the most adequate font type to implement in the platform, seniors
were prompted to analyse various proposals of fonts in order to choose which one was
the best for them.
For the accomplishment of the participatory design sessions, a partnership with two
senior universities, from the Aveiro district, was established. This simplified the
presentation of the project to the elderly as well as the dissemination of data collection
moments held at their facilities. Throughout the several focus group sessions, different
techniques were applied to the data collection [26], namely questionnaires, interviews,
voting by symbolic process, election test and cognitive walkthrough [27]. During
these moments, the audio-visual components put to test alongside with the participants
were: i) textual elements (font type and size, analysis of the text on coloured back-
grounds with variation of brightness and opacity); ii) sound elements (narrator gender
and use of background music); iii) iconography (choice and/or proposal to reformulate
a representative icon of each ASGIE, which identifies the main information area in a
quick and intuitive way, based on three proposed icons developed for each ASGIE);
and iv) colours (background colour that identifies each ASGIE).
Still in terms of designing the platform’s interface, the video library feature was al-
so a component that went through a process of co-design with end-users. Three differ-
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ent proposals were presented to the participants consisting in three different naviga-
tion styles – horizontal, vertical or horizontal with a detailed information area of the
selected video.
The number of participants included in the sample to establish each of these ele-
ments varied according to the individuals' availability, ranging from a minimum of
four people to a maximum of 19 [9, 25, 28].
After collecting data on the several audio-visual elements, these were analysed by
the research team, which resulted in some modifications according to the orientations
and opinions of the seniors. After completing this phase, evaluating all these elements
in a final moment was considered essential to validate the final versions of all compo-
nents integrated in the platform, so that participants got a global idea of what the final
product would look like. This led to a last focus group where a final evaluation was
made alongside eight seniors. The elements tested in this moment were: text size;
speech velocity; music perception; iconicity level; colour distinction; video’s duration;
reading synchronization with transitions and speed; screen’s transitions; background
images; background opacity and the information’s interest [28]. The results obtained
during this phase were crucial for the design of the interface and, consequently, for the
course of the +TV4E project.
3.5 Implementation and Test of the 1
st
High Fidelity Prototype
After the audio-visual components were defined and tested with a group of senior
citizens, the modifications established were implemented in the first high-fidelity
prototype. Following the literature guidelines, it was considered essential to verify if
the solution was in line with the real needs and expectations of potential users.
Thus, the next step of the +TV4E project was an observational study in a laboratory
context (conducted under controlled conditions) with seniors, which allowed the anal-
ysis of the usability level, acceptance and utility of the prototype. In addition, it was
possible to identify potential interface problems and aspects that could still be im-
proved to increase the success rate when applying the system in a real context. The
sample of this study was selected by convenience [29] and included 11 seniors inte-
grated in a Day Care Centre of a Private Institution of Social Solidarity (IPSS) in
Aveiro. After approving the collaboration request, the IPSS promoted a presentation
of the project to its users and pointed out individuals that fulfilled the inclusion crite-
ria defined by the +TV4E team, such as: being over 60 years; watching TV regularly;
knowing how to read and being able to provide informed consent. All participants
who took part in the study were volunteers. The objectives of the data collection were
explained to them and everyone was given the opportunity to request additional in-
formation or to withdraw from the tests at any time. In addition, an information sheet
was provided, and each participant was requested to sign and date an informed con-
sent (inclusion criteria).
The user tests were divided in three phases: pre-test; test and post-test. In the pre-
test, a sociodemographic questionnaire was applied to characterize the participants
and analyse their television consumption habits. In the test phase, the participants
were asked to perform a list of 14 tasks, previously defined and verbally explained by
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the researcher. Simultaneously, an observer registered the participant's actions on a
performance evaluation grid as well as reported critical observations/incidents during
each task. Before starting the tasks, the researcher gave an overview about the plat-
form and explained how the person should use some buttons (e.g. "0" key allows ac-
cess to the video library, "OK" button to start and stop the display of a video). In the
post-test phase, the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) [30] was
applied to analyse the usability of the prototype as well as a final questionnaire to
assess the utility and general perception of the system.
This test was important to recognize the potential that this solution could represent
for the life of an older adult. High levels of usability were achieved, but interface
limitations have also been identified, particularly in the video library feature. It was
found that in this feature, the layout of the videos with two horizontal lines showing a
thumbnail of the videos and dividing them into categories of "seen" and "unseen"
videos was not easy to understand and use. Then, and according to the collected con-
tributions, some of the prototype components were modified and improved, in order to
obtain the second version of the high-fidelity prototype.
Subsequently, according to the literature guidelines, the prototype was tested with a
set of potential users in real use context. In order to collect relevant information to
improve the platform and ensure functional suitability, accessibility and usability, as
well as guarantee user satisfaction, field tests were carried out in home context with a
group of potential end users. The inclusion criteria considered were: being over 60
years; watching TV regularly; live geographically close to the Aveiro area, to simplify
the logistic of equipment installing and monitoring the experience. To take part in the
field tests, participants needed to have a TV with High-Definition Multimedia Inter-
face (HDMI) input to connect the provided STB, and an Internet connection that
would foster the channels and the iTV application. These requirements have, in some
way, restricted the diversity and size of the sample. Moreover, considering that the
whole sample had a paid TV service, having a wide range of channels at its disposal,
which were not provided by the STB was an extra restricting element. Due to legal
constraints, the STB box only provided nine channels to the users, seven open Portu-
guese channels and two open Spanish channels. The sample was selected by conven-
ience and it included four homes, with two individuals living in each residence. The
eight participants (50% women and 50% men) used the prototype for five weeks.
During the first test moment, two research team elements went to the participants’
homes and installed the STB, when possible on the TV used more regularly. Similarly
to the in-lab tests, described above, information was provided concerning the study
aims and data collection aspects, both written and orally. The sample was asked to
sign an informed consent, answer a sociodemographic questionnaire for participants’
characterization and then was explained how the platform worked. A user guide was
provided with the main aspects that should be considered during the experience. Dur-
ing this time period, users were asked to regularly use the platform in order to identify
all the elements related to the interface that hindered their user experience. The use of
the platform was monitored through usage logs which were automatically saved by the
system and telephone calls by the research team, to maintain frequent contact with the
participants. These contacts aimed to keep the users engaged and motivated through
the duration of the tests and allowed the research team to identify and record incidents
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that happened over time. Ultimately keeping close contact with the sample was very
important since it helped in finding and fixing software problems.
At the end of the fifth week, a final questionnaire and PSSUQ were applied to gath-
er users’ opinions on the system interface. It was also possible to identify and analyse
technical limitations that were not detected during the development phase and labora-
tory tests, allowing the +TV4E team to address these gaps and fine-tune the final pro-
totype. Additionally, it was possible to triangulate this analysis with the user-platform
interaction registers, that allowed to identify other software faults and to define correc-
tion strategies, to adjust the final prototype of the +TV4E platform.
3.6 Implementation and Test of the Final High-fidelity Prototype
In the same way as the initial stages of a technology-based project’s creation, it is also
important that, at more evolved phases, field tests are conducted in a real-life usage
context of a solution [10]. This way, more reliable results can be obtained, since the
user is at its natural environment setting, within a context that is familiar to them and
under conditions that are difficult to recreate in a laboratorial setting.
As referred in the previous subchapter, after testing the 1
st
version of the high-
fidelity prototype of the +TV4E platform, the identified errors were solved, and the
system was adapted according to the users’ recommendations. These modifications
were implemented which led to the final high-fidelity prototype, that was further put to
test in a real usage context (domicile) with a group of potential end-users. Due to the
difficulty in gathering people that would be available to test a system of this sort at
their own homes, this testing phase relied in a non-probabilistic sample by conven-
ience, which counted with a total of 21 participants. The sample included people aged
over 60 years old, with availability to install an STB, a router 4G/Wi-Fi (which would
guarantee Internet access), and if necessary, a television at their homes (in case they
owned a TV without HDMI ports). This testing phase composed a total of five rounds,
considering the research team only had four televisions available to set up at partici-
pants’ houses, in case it was necessary. Each one of participants had the opportunity to
test the system for two consecutive weeks, in which at the final of the first week, the
video presentation mode was switched (“notified” vs “injected” – see chapter 2,
Fig. 3). At each test round, the video sending mode for the first week, and consequent-
ly for the second, was alternated with the intent of avoiding biased and influenced
results (e.g. the individual can be more compromised during the first week and, there-
fore, can refer preferring the sending mode of the first week).
The process followed during this phase was quite similar to the previously de-
scribed, in the sense of obtaining comparable data over the several phases. It started
with a face-to-face moment where the researchers met with the participants at their
homes to install the equipment and explain them about the project and the value of
their contribution to its development. At this first encountering, the participant was
asked to sign an informed consent and to answer a brief sociodemographic question-
naire. Then, as the material was being installed, orientations were given to them on
how to use the system. During the first week, the videos were sent through one of the
two developed approaches (“notified” or “injected”), and at the end of this period, the
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participant was prompted to answer a usability evaluation scale (PSSUQ), a User
Experience evaluation scale (Self-Assessment Manikin – SAM), and a set of four
questions regarding their usage experience. During the second week, the method of
sending videos was changed and, finally, also in a face-to-face approach, the same
usability and user experience evaluation scales were applied, as well as an interview
for experience evaluation which included questions about their preference of sending
mode, considered subjects, recommender system, etc. To avoid biased results in the
final evaluation of injection modes, the sample was evenly split into two groups con-
cerning the video presentation each week. While some of the users received videos
through “injected” mode during their first week which was then swapped for the “noti-
fied” mode in the second one, the other users interacted the other way around, starting
with “notified” mode, followed by “injected” mode. This strategy tried to ensure the
minimization of influence on the gathered data, for example, users claiming their fa-
vourite mode was the last one they tested due to remembering it better.
By the end of the tests, a total of 1188 videos was sent by the system to the sample.
Naturally, not all videos were viewed or rated. Among the total of sent videos, 665
were played. Considering the rating screen would appear with a 50% chance, within
the total number of sent videos, 336 presented a rating screen, from which 106 were
rated positively and 26 were rated negatively.
The results gathered from the final questionnaire showed that the platform was easy
to use and revealed good usability, providing a pleasant experience to users when
interacting with it. The frequency of sent videos per day was considered adequate, the
remote control was simple to use and caused no problems. The video library and the
splash screen were both positively evaluated. Nevertheless, and as negative inputs
should never be neglected, some users referred to the narrator’s voice as being a frail-
ty in the platform and that the way of presenting the information could become mo-
notonous, yet the aim of the platform and functionalities were recognized as interest-
ing, useful and valuable to answer their informational needs.
3.7 Development and Test of a Mobile Application
After considering the platform’s utility as stated by the participants of the previous
studies, a mobile application was considered as an extension of the iTV platform. This
application offers another way to access the platform's informative contents in a port-
able and simplified way. It features the user's video library as well as recommended
content. The screens flow that appear while using the app are depict bellow (Fig. 6).
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Fig. 6. Mobile application screens.
The +TV4E mobile application serves as a similar purpose as the video library pre-
sent in the iTV application, allowing users to watch videos on-demand, thus giving
control over which content the users want to see. Both in the library and the mobile
application, the users are able re-watch videos they already saw or catch up on videos
they missed or ignored while watching TV. Users can also watch suggested videos
based on their usage of the platform. These suggested videos are provided by a rec-
ommendation system, developed under the +TV4E project [8], which is also used
when choosing which video should be sent to each user. Furthermore, the mobile
application gives users a search feature to find videos faster, allowing them to watch
videos on their smartphones or on TV, and also interact with the iTV application
through voice commands. Voice commands allow the user to perform a limited
amount of actions, such as switching channels, changing to a specific TV channel
given its name or number, and accessing the video library. This feature was imple-
mented due to the rising popularity of voice assistants in the market, such as Siri,
Alexa and Google Assistant.
Despite of being similar in terms of functionality, the mobile application greatly
differs from the video library on iTV when it comes to its interface and user experi-
ence especially since it is developed for a different platform with a different interac-
tion paradigm.
After the development of a first prototype of the mobile application, two test mo-
ments were performed with a limited number of potential users. This step is essential,
in the authors’ point of view, concerning that by engaging seniors in basilar develop-
ment steps, it is easier to create a solution that better suits their needs, who often have
difficulties handling newer technologies.
The test moments occurred both in under controlled conditions (n=5) as well as in
home context (n=4). For both phases the participants should accomplish the following
inclusion criteria: being over 60 years old; having a basic knowledge on how to use a
smartphone since the application was being designed for users who already use a
smartphone on a daily basis and being familiar with the +TV4E project. Both test
phases aimed to evaluate key aspects of the interface and the layout of the application.
In the first test carried out, the participants were invited to perform a list of 14 pre-
defined tasks through a cognitive walkthrough method, under controlled conditions.
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After the cognitive walkthrough moment, a SAM scale was applied to analyse the
usability levels of the application, followed by a focus group (7 questions) in which
the participants were invited to expose their opinions concerning the biggest issues of
the proposed prototype while performing the cognitive walkthrough, as well as gather
suggestions to fix these issues.
After analysing the gathered data and improve the mobile application concerning
the opinions of seniors, field tests were carried out to evaluate the mobile platform in
the real context of use (home context), with 4 seniors.
As in the previous phase, the objectives of the test were explained to the partici-
pants, and they were asked to sign an informed consent and to fill a socio demograph-
ic questionnaire. Afterward, the research team installed the necessary equipment for
testing the platform, which involved hooking up the STB to a TV, installing a 4G
router and the mobile application in the participant’s smartphone. After explaining
how the application worked the users were left to test it for a total of eight days, dur-
ing which researchers frequently contacted the participants to monitor the experience.
In the end of the experience, the material was removed and a semi-structured inter-
view was applied to each participant, where they were encouraged to share any aspects
they either liked or disliked regarding the mobile application. Afterward they were
asked the same set of questions used in the previous focus group in order to gather
some consistency in the results.
In general, between the first and the second test phases the usability levels clearly
improved. In the SAM scale, a significant upgrading in the “Dominance” item was
verified which can be attributed to the several improvements and fixes made to the
first prototype, which aimed to address the biggest complains the users had regarding
the navigation in the application. The “Pleasure” and “Arousal” items dropped, prob-
ably concerning that the sample included in the second round of tests did not maintain
the same motivation throughout the duration of the field tests.
Globally, the results gathered with the other techniques suggested that the overall
changes improved the usability of the mobile application.
4 Conclusions
The challenges and opportunities that come up with the ageing process, both at per-
sonal and community level, are drawing the attention of several sectors of society.
Often, alternatives and solutions are being developed so that ageing is a stage of life
marked by high levels of autonomy. This concern is reflected in the efforts undertaken
to develop active ageing policies, products and services that promote quality of life in
older age.
In the last decades, one of the answers to fulfil seniors’ needs are the technological
innovations that have appeared. Although this type of solutions only make sense if the
final user is an active participant in the development solution process, as suggested by
the co-creation process.
Additionally, societies’ evolution is also proceeded by the sharing of knowledge, a
key aspect in the development of innovative projects in academic and enterprise con-
texts. Distributing the information and knowledge obtained over an academic or cor-
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poration project can represent an advantage for other research teams that operate in
the same field or similar scientific areas. To confine the acquired know-how to solely
those projects’ members limits the results’ utility and extent. Considering that the
+TV4E project aims to develop a technological-based system for the Portuguese sen-
ior population, the present chapter intends to disclose which procedures and tech-
niques were used on the several phases, as well as some difficulties that were faced
that could potentially be transversal to other initiatives. The presented information is
intended to inspire some guidelines for other projects taking the obtained results into
account.
After the concept validation that was achieved through the life cycle of this pro-
ject, it was also possible to conclude that this idea had potential to be explored in a
commercial basis. In line with this, the team is already working hard to adapt the solu-
tion to the market, so that in a short time some individuals can benefit from this solu-
tion.
Acknowledgments. The research leading to this work has received funding from
Project 3599 – Promover a Produção Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico e a
Constituição de Redes Temáticas (3599-PPCDT) and European Commission Funding
FEDER (through FCT: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia I.P. under grant agree-
ment no. PTDC/IVC-COM/3206/2014).
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