Interactive Podcast

Short & CurlyABC R+D: DEMO

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In this prototype we explored how we could allow users to use voice commands to interact with a podcast at certain moments in order to take their own desired path through a story.

How might we gracefully allow users to dive deeper into extra content as they listen, and then return to where they left off in the podcast? And, how does this kind of experience feel?

Car Context:

Imagine a family on a morning commute is listening to something like the ABC ‘Short and Curly’ podcast.

As they listen, the hosts of the program offer the option to play extra content snippets during the musical interludes that already natural exist during the show.

Alternatively, they can just listen through the standard show content without interacting.

Relevance for ABC content makers

> how might we allow audiences to dive deeper at particular points in a podcast? How do we make them feel comfortable interrupting? How can we return them to the original audio without feeling disoriented?

> what kinds of content would best suit this kind of experience? What are the key challenges with offering branching narratives in audio-only experiences?

> workflow - how might an ABC podcast producer create this alternative experience on top of their usual production?

> uses simple voice commands - shows how the ABC could start its journey with CUI experiences by catering for simple voice interactions.

> voice comments - demonstrates potential for the audience to leave voice comments and for these to be dynamically included in the show.

> content makers could use this format to connect their content from other parts of the ABC, including the archives - i.e. giving us a new way to showcase the breadth of ABC content

What is this?

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2016 202620212017 20182011

Learning to listen

We allow people to talk to us, basic commands and simple questions

Seamless, natural conversations

You can converse with your virtual assistant, who now feels more like a friend or companion

Anticipating audience needs

We can facilitate highly personal journeys and more conversational interactions with our content

Building understanding and a relationship

We begin to learn about user context and preferences, starting to recognise patterns

Speech recognition improves

Coupled with natural language understanding communication opens up from basic commands

Q&A with a podcast via a virtual assistant

NIGEL

Interactive podcast with voice comments

SHORT & CURLYVoice

activated news headlines

SOUND DEMO

Interactive audio explainers

IN FIVE YEARSVoice and Emotion detection

IN UR FACE

ABC NewsbotFacebook

TRIAL

Interactive audio explainers

IN TEN YEARSOur demosFor the Connected car and where ‘Short & Curly’ fits in

Play demo

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INSTRUCTIONS with Carl

Example interaction

SEGMENT 1:INTRO to “Would you eat your pet?”

INTERLUDE:“Eat It” song

SEGMENT 2:WEIRD MEAT

User hears audio flag then says: “MORE”

User: “Play the latest episode of Short and Curly”

User: “YES” User: “NO”

“Hey! This is a special interactive episode of Short & Curly. There are going to be some extra paths you can follow for extra content…”

Carl: “So we thought you might like to hear an example of a situation where someone might eat their pet. Would you like to hear about Ali and her pet pig Bacon?”

“Feel like some lunch Molly? ….”

Audio flag (sound of a bell) plays to indicate user can dive deeper

Carl: “Before you go back to the show would you like to hear comments from some kids about whether they’d eat a pet pig? ”

Play ABC Adelaide story about lady with pet pig

User: “YES” User: “NO”

Plays kids comments

Return to where you left off in the show (the interlude music)

Return to where you left off in the show (the interlude music)

This segment is followed by another musical interlude with an audio flag and an option to dive deeper… and that structure is repeated for 2 more segments.

See page 15 below in the Appendix for a complete interaction flow diagram.

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16/19 of Ozpod testers said they would like the ABC to continue work on interactive podcasts.

The three participants that showed apprehension told us it was because they weren’t comfortable with the interaction design and type of content on offer.

Wow, that was fun…

Like the concept of ‘choose your own pathway’ of content consumption.

I have no idea how this works, but it caught my attention.

Re: First impressionsOzpod survey responses

reactions

OZPOD FEEDBACK

True crime podcasts might lend themselves to interactivity. Science Versus would be

great for this, explainers in detail for extra info. You should only have this for

interactive stories, not news stories. Make bespoke interactive content. I think Short

and Curly was a good example.

Re: What content could work for this? Ozpod survey response

OZPOD FEEDBACK

I like that you can choose to listen to segments. But you need to make sure you don't feel like you are missing out if you

skip a section.

Christie

OZPOD FEEDBACK

Loved the idea of it for this type of content, but I think there’s some content that I may

not want to interact with.

Adam

OZPOD FEEDBACK

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We discussed thisconcept with content makersHow do ABC radio makers and reporters feel about the potential of on-demand audio experiences to be interactive?

We interviewed 12 content makers from news, radio and regional, after showing them a video of somebody using this demo. The demo was an interactive version of the Short and Curly ethics podcast for children. The user could use their voice to make selections from a branching narrative - choose your own adventure style.

This is very different to (using a virtual assistant to ask questions) - this is a curated storytelling style. You don't want it to be a novelty, you want it to be an experience. There is a real offering. And there is good information to feed back to content makers. If people are always saying 'no they want the short form' or they're always saying 'yes they want more' - you can actually start to see what people want to listen to.

YasminProducer/Presenter

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Key reactions from content makers

“This would suit certain content forms better than others”

This kind of predefined branching narrative is more suited to certain genres of audio content. The most popular suggestions were:

● Kids

● Health

● Science

● Fictional

“You’d have to make it sonically seamless”

The interaction for this kind of experience would need to be carefully designed and tested to avoid jarring sonic discontinuity, and disrupting the narrative for people.

“This makes the most of our content”

It was felt that this experience was an opportunity to use ‘extra’ content often left on the cutting room floor, or to make older content evergreen.

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Core features of this demo

● The user has the option to interact at certain ‘junctions’ or narrative branches - OR - just listen through to the baseline podcast audio

● The junction points occur at musical interludes

● Each junction allows the user to dive deeper into extra content

● Two of the junction points showcase related content from other parts of the ABC - ABC Adelaide, Radio National

● Leave a voice comment

● Listen to comments submitted by other users

● User can say “skip” at any point to progress through the segments in the podcast more quickly

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Notes on demo features> Short and Curly worked particularly well in this format because the show is already naturally made up of short segments joined together by musical breaks - AND - because it’s lighthearted, conversational, and includes audience vox pops.

> We recommend narrative branches be limited to 2 options - if you offer too many paths you spend a lot of time trying to remember where you are and how to navigate back.

> There are two junctions in this demo that allow you to ‘dive deeper’ down into 2 levels of extra content - again, we felt like if you add any more than 2 levels then users could become overwhelmed and feel lost.

> Musical interludes work well as moments where we can invite users to take another path with content - and, they were excellent signposts for users to return to and continue on with the core podcast audio.

> Voice comments - this demo records what a user says, then converts their speech to text, which is then read back to the listener. It would also be possible to record and play voice comments as audio clips. Also, voice comments submitted by users could be dynamically included back into the demo according to sentiment.

> New opportunities to gather data on the kinds of information users want the most - e.g. according to the extra elements they are choosing to listen to, and to the voice comments being submitted by other users.

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At the moment we are beginning to think about what types of tools or systems we might need in order to create non-linear CUI-based content.

Despite the difficulty of figuring that out, CUIs tools like this mockup would allow ABC to connect multiple segments of content across divisions to create more interaction with our audiences.

What might make us feel uncomfortable could leave our audiences empowered, CUIs gives them a chance to choose if they want to dive deeper on a topic and when.

Path Producer tool

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Questions or comments?

Astrid Scott

Priscilla Davies

NicolaasEarnshaw

Jo Szczepanska

Amy Nelson

JanelleHerrera

Anne Lin

Charlie Szasz

Email ABC R&D to get in touch.