New Forms of Interacting with the Television in an Ambient Environment

In the past there has been a lot of research in the area of humancomputer interaction. With the arrival of digital television, the television becomes more and more like a computer. A new form of television is being introduced: interactive television. The only interaction with the television in the past was via the remote control. Interactive television provides opportunities for new interaction methods. Interacting with the television can for instance be done by communicating with an avatar or by speech control. Maintaining the passive character of interaction plays an important role in this paper. Several criteria are used to select a proper interaction method. Interaction occurs via interfaces commonly used in ambient environments. The method that fits those criteria best is interacting with the television via speech control.