TPT iTV Roundtable

TPT iTV Roundtable

May 17, 2001, Twin Cities Public Television, St. Paul, MN
Educators involved in innovative technology enhanced teaching projects from the Minneapolis / St. Paul area were invited to join a group of experience interactive media producers for a day of discussion, brainstorming, demos, and goal setting. Twenty educators and interactive producers attended the event.

After a brief overview of the LEC's mission and a presentation about iTV, the Roundtable moved on to a discussion of the importance of interactive elements in television programming. Two participants who said that they had never seen an effective application of interactive television were challenged on their views. Both were invited to interact with Winky Dink, a television program from the early 1950's. The participants' onscreen drawings and total involvement with the interactive TV program set a positive note for the remaining Roundtable activities.

TPT provided a wide range of interactive technologies for the participants to experience. A detailed discussion of TPT's involvement in producing local enhancements linked to the PBS show Scientific American Frontiers took place in TPT's interactive TV studio. Several Twin Cities interactive producers demonstrated innovative interactive programming examples. The Roundtable participants discussed how each program might be adapted for iTV broadcast. Bruce Jacobs, TPT Chief Technologist, led the group through a demonstration of the relative image quality of a high definition display on a variety of screens that included a large TV monitor, a large computer monitor, a flat screen plasma display and a projected high definition display. Most participants chose the large high definition TV monitor display over the other display options.

During the day, breakout groups were formed and challenged to list factors that may cause iTV to succeed or fail. Some of their comments and concerns follow:

It may succeed because...
- Cheap way per user to distribute high quality content
- It's entertaining
- Next generation will demand interactive content
- High cool factor!
- Engages mind and heart...different parts of the brain
- Need specific, "personalizable"
- Cost effective
- Variety of info filters under viewer control
- Technology literacy of market will create demand
- Education without walls...life long learning
- Data casting info when needed

It may fail because...
- Too many standards
- Bad first experience
- All sizzle, no steak
- High production costs
- Fragmented platform landscape
- Lack of funding
- Decreased human contact
- Unequal access / culturally specific content
- Broadcast of info versus construction of knowledge
- Doesn't address current educational problems
- Lack of content
- Technology constantly changing
- Teachers don't want to be replaced

The participants ended the day discussing next steps:
- Create several small disposable prototypes
- Test an interactive TV delivery system
- Focus on curriculum centered teacher models
- Roll out an interactive TV program by using a team training / support process in one model school
- Develop a TPT interactive TV advisory group of educational users (include student reps)