Radio.Thém

Personalizable thematic online radio on the Web

Introduction

RADIOTHEM aims to develop a personalizable, thematic online radio on the Web, taking advantage of the Internet’s interactive nature.

Work Description/Objectives

-definition of a prototype for "thematic online radio" (or Thematic Web-Radio, WRT) capable of offering users a range of services tailored to their needs and taking full advantage of possibilities available via Internet, but not accessible to traditional radio broadcasts: choice of a different program packages either live or recorded catalogue browsing to find an specific show, direct access to a specific part of a show thanks to temporal flux control.

-concept of "a la carte service" providing personalizable content.

-study into the workings of new ergonomic concepts within WRT’s man-machine interface (MMI), to provide the user with simple interactive possibilities. For this, the pertinence of each sound/vocal component (music, jingles, beeps, punctuating noises, vocal messages) must be studied in order to offer a simple user interface going beyond the Web’s classic MMI.

-evaluation using a panel of several hundred representatives allowing us to gain a better understanding of the public’s feelings, habits and needs in relation to such a service, and to general ideas of distribution and internet consulting.

For this project, IRCAM is particularly involved in designing and validating experimental devices for sonic underlining, aimed at drawing attention to certain key words within a spoken message, linked via a sound file hyperlink to other elements and menus chosen by the user.

Project Details

Participants