Impact of digital traces on the appreciation of movie contents

Abstract

Despite technologic improvements in home video systems, minimal research has been carried out on the potential to enhance the audience's reflective state and content appreciation. We explored the value of video systems that leave digital traces to support the movie-watching experience. By developing video-watching systems involving the application of a digital trace, we investigate how the movie-watching experience changed. We conducted semi-structured interviews with participants after they had experienced the systems. Our findings revealed that the digital trace became a source of deeper reflection on the storyline. Active trace logging was useful for revisiting impressive scenes and for encouraging audiences to express their thoughts. The passively generated digital trace acted as a catalyst for interpreting the storyline from a self-oriented viewpoint. We found that the digital trace might support content appreciation as a developmental process. We then discussed issues related to designing video systems with a digital trace mechanism included.