Exploring glass as a novel method for hands-free data entry in flexible cystoscopy

We present a way to annotate cystoscopy finding on Google Glass in a reproducible and hands free manner for use by surgeons during operations in the sterile environment inspired by the current practice of hand-drawn sketches. We developed three data entry variants based on speech and head movements. We assessed the feasibility, benefits and drawbacks of the system with 8 surgeons and Foundation Doctors having up to 30 years' cystoscopy experience at a UK hospital in laboratory trials. We report data entry speed and error rate of input modalities and contrast it with the participants' feedback on their perception of usability, acceptance, and suitability for deployment. The results are supportive of new data entry technologies and point out directions for future improvement of eyewear computers. The findings can be generalised to other endoscopic procedures (e.g. OGD/laryngoscopy) and could be included within hospital IT in the future

The Extended Mind and Network-Enabled Cognition

In thinking about the transformative potential of network technologies with respect to human cognition, it is common to see network resources as playing a largely assistive or augmentative role. In this paper we propose a somewhat more radical vision. We suggest that the informational and technological elements of a network system can, at times, constitute part of the material supervenience base for a human agent’s mental states and processes. This thesis (called the thesis of network-enabled cognition) draws its inspiration from the notion of the extended mind that has been propounded in the philosophical and cognitive science literature. Our basic claim is that network systems can do more than just augment cognition; they can also constitute part of the physical machinery that makes mind and cognition mechanistically possible. In evaluating this hypothesis, we identify a number of issues that seem to undermine the extent to which contemporary network systems, most notably the World Wide Web, can legitimately feature as part of an environmentally-extended cognitive system. Specific problems include the reliability and resilience of network-enabled devices, the accessibility of online information content, and the extent to which network-derived information is treated in the same way as information retrieved from biological memory. We argue that these apparent shortfalls do not necessarily merit the wholesale rejection of the network-enabled cognition thesis; rather, they point to the limits of the current state-of-the-art and identify the targets of many ongoing research initiatives in the network and information sciences. In addition to highlighting the importance of current research and technology development efforts, the thesis of network-enabled cognition also suggests a number of areas for future research. These include the formation and maintenance of online trust relationships, the subjective assessment of information credibility and the long-term impact of network access on human psychological and cognitive functioning. The nascent discipline of web science is, we suggest, suitably placed to begin an exploration of these issues

BimodalGaze:Seamlessly Refined Pointing with Gaze and Filtered Gestural Head Movement

Eye gaze is a fast and ergonomic modality for pointing but limited in precision and accuracy. In this work, we introduce BimodalGaze, a novel technique for seamless head-based refinement of a gaze cursor. The technique leverages eye-head coordination insights to separate natural from gestural head movement. This allows users to quickly shift their gaze to targets over larger fields of view with naturally combined eye-head movement, and to refine the cursor position with gestural head movement. In contrast to an existing baseline, head refinement is invoked automatically, and only if a target is not already acquired by the initial gaze shift. Study results show that users reliably achieve fine-grained target selection, but we observed a higher rate of initial selection errors affecting overall performance. An in-depth analysis of user performance provides insight into the classification of natural versus gestural head movement, for improvement of BimodalGaze and other potential applications

The Effects of Eye Gaze Based Control on Operator Performance in Monitoring Multiple Displays

This study investigated the utility and efficacy of using eye tracking technology as a method for selecting control of a camera within a multiple display configuration. A task analysis with a Keystroke-Level-Model (KLM) was conducted to acquire an estimated time for switching between cameras. KLM estimates suggest that response times are faster using an eye tracker than manual control -indicating a time savings. To confirm these estimates, and test other hypotheses a 2 × 2 within-subjects factorial design was used to examine the effects of Control (Using an eye tracker, or manual) under different Task Loads (Low, High). Dependent variables included objective performance (accuracy and response times during an identification task) and subjective workload measured by the NASA-TLX. The eye tracker under the specific experimental conditions was not significantly better or worse, however, further research may support that the use of the eye tracker could surpass the use of manual method in terms of operator performance given the time saving data from our initial task analysis using a Keystroke Level Model (KLM). Overall, this study provided great insight into using an eye tracker in a multiple display monitoring system