Panelists at the July 17 ITV conference at Columbia.

In the near future you may be able to play along with the contestants of your favorite TV game show, in the comfort of your living room, using only the remote control for your cable box to select your response, or use the remote to instantly "vote someone off" a reality show. These were some of the possibilities discussed at the first major academic conference on interactive television (ITV), "ITV Content E-mergency," hosted recently by Columbia's Interactive Design Lab (IDL).

The innovative use of cable and satellite television is already underway in many parts of Europe, where people are using ITV for banking and shopping, much the way that Americans currently do via the Internet. If the growing success of ITV in Europe is an indicator, the television may be poised to rival the Internet-connected PC in the next decade as the focus of online activity in American homes.

Interactive television involves a range of technologies that change the way people use their televisions. Interactivity takes many forms such as managing and controlling TV programs through TiVo and other personal video recorders (PVR), allowing for pauses, instant replays and automatic recording of a recurring program. Other forms include interacting with individual TV shows and video-on-demand.

Given the extraordinary potential of this technology, the Interactive Design Lab, a collaboration between the School of Arts and the Graduate School of Journalism to analyze the design of emerging, interactive forms of media, pulled together the best minds to discuss the most pressing issues facing the development of ITV content. John Kelly from Columbia's School of the Arts and Andrew Lih from the Graduate School of Journalism, IDL's principal investigators, assembled a unique group of participants including major networks, public television, academia, software tool companies and design agencies. The day-long conference in July marked the first time such a diverse group representing a host of interests and perspectives came together to discuss the future of ITV.

The conference took a critical look at the impact of interactivity on television content and addressed the "emergency" faced by media organizations that must create new, interactive programming despite a scarcity of precedents and unclear consumer desires. Panelists covered topics ranging from viewer privacy to lessons learned from Europe to the implications of ITV for game shows, sitcoms and reality programming.

The more than 400 participants found the event to be a departure from usual ITV conferences, which tend to focus narrowly on business models and technology issues, and feature panelists who essentially deliver commercial pitches for their products and services.

"We had the opportunity to address issues that other conferences don't usually address," said Kelly. "We focused on the viewer's experience and the future of the medium, concerned with the wider implications of interactivity on television programming, rather than specific products."

According to Kelly, the absence of commercial pressure allowed panelists to speak more freely on a wider range of issues, including the controversial issue of privacy which industry often shies away from discussing. During one panel, Jeffrey Chester, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy, expressed concern that the new system will collect personal data and use that data to create profiles that will be available for sale. Other panelists disagreed, insisting any data collected is in the aggregate with the goal of making a better experience for the consumer.

As for the future of ITV, Kelly and Lih say most participants agree that it depends on who you are and where you live. European development, for example, is occurring faster largely because Europeans are not using the web to the degree that Americans are. Moreover, Europe's national broadcast systems allow content producers to make interactive programming once and to distribute it widely throughout an entire country. Given the fragmented structure of cable delivery in the U.S., producers would have to make different versions of an interactive program to accommodate the needs of multiple cable providers.

One form of ITV that is on the rise in the U.S. is "tele-webbing," accessing the Internet while watching TV. It is estimated that 13 million Americans tele-web. "Studies are showing that people with ITV are staying with a program longer," Lih said. "During a two-hour program, people who are not interacting may watch for 15 minutes, while those who are engaged through ITV stay on considerably longer."

The IDL reports that this conference has generated a great deal of interest in the subject—not only from those in the U.S. but also from around the world. Given this level of interest, Kelly and Lih are planning to hold additional evening panels in the coming year to continue the dialogue on this emerging technology.

To read about NY1's coverage of the conference, click here.

For links to additional coverage of the conference, click here.