The SpaceStation App

Abstract

Due to the rising popularity of streaming services, television networks are experiencing pressure to keep the attention of the younger audience. Especially in the field of Edutainment, platforms like YouTube or TED are serious competitors and require broadcasters to come up with novel ideas to engage viewers in their program. In this work, we present the augmented reality (AR) SpaceStation application, designed to supplement the viewing of educational videos about the ISS. We evaluated users' experience during the interaction with the app in a within-subject user study (N = 31) and assessed their workload. During the interaction with the SpaceStation App, participants experienced a higher workload compared to a video-only condition; nonetheless, they considered AR a valuable and enjoyable addition. This paper concludes with a discussion from the perspectives of viewers, content creators, and hosts, and states initial ideas on how to design television programs with AR content, without creating information overload.