Local communities and IPTV: lessons learned in an early design and development phase

Local communities are communities that have relationships in real life due to the physical location of their households. IPTV can be a way to support these local communities (either in their establishment, in fostering relationships, or even in extending these local communities). Through a two-year research process, requirements for IPTV as support for local communities were investigated and IPTV services were developed and evaluated. In this article, findings and lessons learned from the early design and development phase of a specific case study are presented. The findings show that support for local communities must take communication structures into account, balance real life and online community support, while at the same time it must also provide for more fun and entertaining aspects.