Universal Threshold Object (UTO)

The ‘Universal Threshold Object’ is a tangible device for television-like interactive narratives based on the TV show American Horror Story. The project uses gestural interactions with a tangible controller that provides haptic feedback as an interaction strategy to augment the narrative pleasures of immersion and dramatic agency. We leverage a branching scenario and story-driven gestural interaction with haptic feedback to provide limited sets of interactivity suitable for a television platform. From our research, design goals, and design process, we provide design implications for interactive narratives that employ gestural and haptic interactions.

How can a device for interactive television be more engaging and immersive? The advancement of game consoles and devices have enabled immersive gaming, yet watching television remains relatively passive. We brainstormed and created a prototype for an interactive device that lets interactors engage as a main actor in the television content.

Publications

Jean Ho Chu, Paul Clifton, Hank Blumenthal, Abhishek Nandakumar, Balasubramanium Ganapathi, Janet Murray, and Ali Mazalek. 2015. Universal Threshold Object: Designing Haptic Interaction for Televised Interactive Narratives. In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI '15). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 285-292.

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