We design and evaluate a way to modify television news to make it interactive for viewers. We allow them to get more of what they want and less of what they don't want. This allows news to break constraints imposed by television broadcast schedules. Our solution is to augment the existing news broadcast structure in the following ways: add a video headlines menu, provide on-demand access to additional story content, provide interactive navigation controls between stories, and a control overlay. For news producers we create a video annotation program and process to help create the interactive news. We use the production tools in a news production room for a week to show viability. We also evaluate the home interactivity by having viewers provide feedback after watching the interactive news produced during that week. Our results show that our solution easily fits into existing news production processes. The solution provides additional depth into stories and individualizes the newscast for each viewer. The interaction for viewers is optional and easy to use, but future work could make it even easier to learn and use.

We design a complete interactive television news system. We develop a news production system that allows for the creation of flexible, content-rich interactive news. This system embraces a general creation process to interactive news that is built on top of a newscast model that evolves from and conforms with the current production newscast model. It allows for content sharing and content reuse. We also create an interactive news viewing system that adapts well to a living room environment. It contains several interactive features designed to give the viewer control and allow them to watch the news when, where, and how they want to. We perform a formative evaluation through a user study and interviews. Our results show that the production system allows fast, quality construction of interactive news. Viewers enjoy the interactivity and control the viewing system provides, but more work needs to be done to improve ease of use. Our system increases extra content visibility and usage over previous studies through additional features, more content, and direct invites to viewers. We also produce and deliver the news over an entire two-week period to a large number of viewers, making it the largest study done according to our knowledge.