Web Home page
Often, those participants who could connect to MSN TV for the broadcast of Language of Photography found connecting to the Web Home page rather than the TV Home page had a measurable improvement in access time. Participants were encouraged to connect about 5 minutes prior to the beginning of the broadcast or before rolling their own taped copy. This was intended to avoid a potential delay in interacting while the modem tries to dial and connect while watching the program.
TV Home page
We have discovered evidence that indicates that the interactive code required to trigger the graphical enhancements may be masked by the Information Frame of the TV Home page of WebTV. To avoid this problem, before the program begins participants were instructed to view the program "full screen". To enlarge the picture to full screen, one would navigate the yellow selection border around the TV picture and press Return/Enter.
Go Interactive prompt
Once the program begins and there is a successful connection to the MSN Network, as indicated by a solid yellow light on the front panel of the Web TV box, a prompt to go interactive will appear on your TV screen. The yellow border frames the selection button indicating the focus of the cursor. Pressing Return/Enter will execute the command. As you press Return the prompt will slide off the screen and the Login prompt will appear.
Login prompt
At this point the participants' e-mail address is entered. This is an address to which the Language of Photography server would send test results and requested information. The course administrator assigned the password needed as each Web TV box was issued. The Login prompt reappears until a successful login occurs.
Connection Status display
If course login information is entered without an active modem connection the Web TV box will attempt to connect to the MSN service. No further interactive prompts appear until a successful log-in to the Language of Photography database occurs. As the modem tries to connect there is a graphical indication that the attempts continue, or have succeeded.
The graphic at the bottom of the screen displays the connection status. This process often required our participants to exercise much patience, as this is where the described sluggishness could occur.
