Sociability Heuristics for Evaluating Social Interactive Television Systems

Abstract

In this chapter, the author introduces 12 heuristics for evaluating the sociability of social interactive television systems. He first introduce the social uses of television, documented by many scholars in media studies, as well as the relatively new concept of sociability in new technologies. He then explain how the heuristics are based on a thorough analysis of several user studies the author performed with several social interactive television systems, as well as of literature that reports lab studies and field studies with such systems. Finally, each heuristic is presented and explained in more detail, along with some more specific guidelines. Geerts hopes these heuristics will enable designers and evaluators of social interactive television systems to make sure they support the social uses of television and create sociable systems.