Adding interactivity: active touch in broadcast media

Despite continual consumer demand for richer broadcast media, there have been few examinations of senses other than vision and hearing in this domain. This demonstration paper considers the role that touch may be able to play in future broadcast systems. We have begun to explore the addition of haptic cues to children's cartoons, and through this process unearthed a number of practical design issues unique to this domain. This paper discusses one such issue: how the psychological distinction between passive and active touch influences broadcast media, and how this in turn affects notions of interactivity. Demonstrations of broadcast content featuring active cues are shown to illustrate the points raised.