Ph.D. Introduction Interactive television is emerging as an exciting new and innovative technology that is on the verge of revolutionizing the broadcast industry. Interactive television can be simply defined as the merging of television with Web-based interactivity. This does not, however, imply watching television while working on the computer. For now, interactivity is often restricted to navigation, and limited text entry. However, there is room for very creative and innovative applications and ideas.
Television is a very ubiquitous and affordable environment.
Efforts to make television more accessible to people with disabilities are bound to have an impact on a large number of users. Television has traditionally been a very audio and video rich environment. Over the last 30 years, standards evolved to permit limited access by people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The FCC has now mandated captioning for practically all television programming under Section 713 of the Communications Act. While there are specifications for minimum size, color, position, etc.