HierVid: Lowering the Barriers to Entry of Interactive Video Making with a Hierarchical Authoring System

AbstractInteractive videos have been applied to various areas due to their engagement potential and efficiency improvement of information communication. However, creating interactive videos can be challenging because of a lack of novice-oriented guidance in current platforms, and the logic-building process when authoring interactive videos. To address these challenges, we obtained insights from four creativity support tool designers, proposed a series of hierarchical interactive video structures based on existing narrative structures, and presented the HierVid system. The system is designed as a Template-Module-Unit Mode-based hierarchical authoring platform grounded on three design requirements, and we conducted two user studies to evaluate HierVid. The results showed that novice users could get started to use and understand the functions easily, and the system allowed users to use and explore freely, with an enhanced efficiency compared to the bilibili platform. In conclusion, our research and design of HierVid offer guidance and support for novice users, making interactive video authoring quicker and more accessible.Keywords: Interactive videohierarchical systemauthoring systemnarrative structure Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 https://dot.vu2 https://hihaho.com3 https://member.bilibili.com/platform/upload/video/interactive4 https://eko.com5 https://mindstamp.com6 https://spott.ai7 https://hihaho.com/showcase/cooking-tutorial/8 https://www.wirewax.com/showcase/gallery/#8199813/9 https://vimeo.com10 https://hihaho.com/showcase/cooking-tutorial/11 https://www.wirewax.com/showcase/gallery/#8071116/12 https://coverr.coAdditional informationFundingThis work is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFB3303301), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62107035 and No. 62006208).Notes on contributorsWeitao YouWeitao You is a professor at the College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University. His research lies in design intelligence and computational aesthetics.Zhuoyi ChengZhuoyi Cheng is a master candidate at the International Design Institute of Zhejiang University. She is exploring creativity support tools and AI-assisted design areas.Zirui MaZirui Ma is a master candidate at the College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University. His research interests include human-computer interaction and large language model applications.Guang YangGuang Yang is a senior design director at Alibaba Group and a Ph.D. candidate attached to Polytechnic Institute of Zhejiang University. His research focuses on Human-computer interaction and user experience.Zhibin ZhouZhibin Zhou is a Research Assistant Professor in the School of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His prior research endeavours to capture the interaction between humans and AI in order to gain a greater understanding of AI as an emerging technology for empowering the user experience (UX).Lingyun SunLingyun Sun is a professor at the College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University. His research interests include human-computer interaction and creative intelligence.