Second screening is a widespread activity among users, although many are not aware of the term, and second screen applications are becoming increasingly popular in research and commercial use, from well-known examples such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or YouTube to applications that enable novel uses cases and have the potential to change the current usage behavior of the content on the first screen. Despite the increasing prevalence of this phenomenon, there are different interpretations in the relevant literature and in existing applications about what exactly is meant by the term second screen. In order to evaluate these different interpretations, we conducted a structured review of literature (SRL) on 65 publications in this area and reflected the results on an analysis of currently available second screen applications to precisely delineate the term and its characteristics. Furthermore, we derived a content and technical classification that will make it easier to manage the various benefits and characteristics of second screen applications in the future, to create a framework for the appropriate positioning of new research activities and reasoned basis for discussion.

The use of a secondary device alongside a first screen, such as a television, is referred to as second screening and is generally considered as a common and widespread behavior. With the advent of smart first screens (smart TVs, set-top boxes, streaming sticks, etc.), this type of activity gained a new perspective in the form of connected second screen applications such as YouTube, Netflix, or Amazon Prime Video which enable functionalities such as the dis-play of additional information or remote control aspects on the second screen. The design of these distributed applications is difficult because the user´s attention cannot be focused on both parts at the same time, which is why this paper presents two eye-tracking studies investigating this problem. The studies examined on the one hand the general viewing behavior with second screen applications and on the other hand the targeted directing of attention to the first and second screens. From these results, recommendations for the design of second screen applications are derived and presented, with the aim that the two application parts complement each other rather than competing for the user's attention.

Large high-resolution displays (LHRDs) are entering into our daily life. Today, we already see them in installations where they display tailored applications, e.g. in exhibitions. However, while heavily studied under lab conditions, real-world applications for personal use which utilize the extended screen space are rarely available. Thus, today’s studies of LHRD are particularly designed to embrace the large screen space. In contrast, in this paper, we investigate a real-world application designed for researchers working on large text corpora to support them in deep text understanding. We conducted a study with 14 experts from the humanities and computational linguistics which solved a text analysis task using a standard desktop version on a 24-inch screen and an LHRD version on three 50 inch screens. Surprisingly, the smaller display condition outperformed the LHRD in terms of task completion time and error rate. While participants appreciated the overview provided by the large screen, qualitative feedback also revealed that the need for head movement and the scrolling mechanism decreased the usability of the LHRD condition.

Aesthetics has become a central construct in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and it has clear beneficial effects on users’ perceptions and attitudes. Yet, do attractive interfaces actually enhance user performance? In the light of the importance of the construct and the mixed findings in various studies on the matter a systematic approach is urgently needed. Thus, the present meta-analysis examines in detail the effects of visual interface aesthetics of websites, software and other interactive systems on objective user performance. A systematic literature search yielded 25 eligible studies with 101 observed effects and a total of 3,025 participants. The conducted meta-analysis revealed a small significant overall effect of interface aesthetics on user performance (g = 0.12), while a high heterogeneity of effects was observed. As potential moderators, we tested the type of used interaction medium, task, goal orientation, measure of performance, measure of aesthetics, and aesthetics manipulation. None showed a significant moderating influence. Thus, aesthetics can be considered to have a small but heterogeneous influence on user performance that so far cannot be further resolved by moderating variables reported in eligible studies. Therefore, the discussion sketches avenues for future research and encloses a call to action for the HCI community.