Exploring Gaze for Assisting Freehand Selection-based Text Entry in AR

With eye-tracking increasingly available in Augmented Reality, we explore how gaze can be used to assist freehand gestural text entry. Here the eyes are often coordinated with manual input across the spatial positions of the keys. Inspired by this, we investigate gaze-assisted selection-based text entry through the concept of spatial alignment of both modalities. Users can enter text by aligning both gaze and manual pointer at each key, as a novel alternative to existing dwell-time or explicit manual triggers. We present a text entry user study comparing two of such alignment techniques to a gaze-only and a manual-only baseline. The results show that one alignment technique reduces physical finger movement by more than half compared to standard in-air finger typing, and is faster and exhibits less perceived eye fatigue than an eyes-only dwell-time technique. We discuss trade-offs between uni and multimodal text entry techniques, pointing to novel ways to integrate eye movements to facilitate virtual text entry

Mobile eye tracking applied as a tool for customer experience research in a crowded train station

Train stations have increasingly become crowded, necessitating stringent requirements in the design of stations and commuter navigation through these stations. In this study, we explored the use of mobile eye tracking in combination with observation and a survey to gain knowledge on customer experience in a crowded train station. We investigated the utilization of mobile eye tracking in ascertaining customers’ perception of the train station environment and analyzed the effect of a signalization prototype (visual pedestrian flow cues), which was intended for regulating pedestrian flow in a crowded underground passage. Gaze behavior, estimated crowd density, and comfort levels (an individual’s comfort level in a certain situation), were measured before and after the implementation of the prototype. The results revealed that the prototype was visible in conditions of low crowd density. However, in conditions of high crowd density, the prototype was less visible, and the path choice was influenced by other commuters. Hence, herd behavior appeared to have a stronger effect than the implemented signalization prototype in conditions of high crowd density. Thus, mobile eye tracking in combination with observation and the survey successfully aided in understanding customers’ perception of the train station environment on a qualitative level and supported the evaluation of the signalization prototype the crowded underground passage. However, the analysis process was laborious, which could be an obstacle for its practical use in gaining customer insights

Formulating the design rationale of visual representation

8pWhen designing a representation, a designer implicitly formulates a method required to understand and use the representation effectively. This paper aims at making the method explicit, in order to help designers elicit their design choices. In particular, we present a set of concepts to systematically analyze what a user must theoretically do visually to find information. The analysis consists in a decomposition of the activity of scanning into elementary visualization operations. We show how the analysis applies on various existing representation, and how expected benefits can be expressed in terms of elementary operations. The decomposition highlights the challenges encountered by a user when figuring out a representation, and helps designer to exhibit possible flaws in their design.The set of elementary operations form the basis of a shared, common language for representation designers

Attentive Groupware Systems: A Framework and a Prototype Tool

We address the development of software devices that can be installed on groupware systems to help people stay attentive and be more productive during computer-mediated collaboration. We introduce a framework that derives attentive devices from groupware mediation modes to take into account attentional phenomena, and demonstrate the framework's role in an attentive electronic brainstorming tool. Finally, we describe a laboratory experiment to evaluate the impact on group performance caused by the use of the attentive devices, and present preliminary results that encourage further evaluation on the 'opportunity seeker', which minimises interruptions while the user is typing an ide

The mobile information access experience - A user perspective

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Mobile technologies, such as mobile phones, smartphones and Palmtop computers, are in an upwards trend and earliest models of such devices are already available to end-users to communicate and access multimedia content on-the-move. As a logical outcome of this development in mobile technologies and devices, content provider companies have already started investing and piloting mobile multimedia content distribution and broadcasting technologies. Nevertheless, no matter how cutting-edge technology is and no matter how stylish the mobile devices are, the ultimate success of wireless communication technologies and devices are directly associated with the user adoption and embrace of these new equipment and technologies. In this perspective, since multimedia content, for mobile or not, is ultimately produced for the education and/or enjoyment of viewers, the user's perspective concerning the presentation quality is surely of equal importance as objective Quality of Service (QoS) technical parameters, to defining distributed multimedia quality. In order to comprehensively understand user experiences whilst accessing information using mobile devices and technologies, we investigate user-mobile device interaction and look into the surrounding issues in a uniform manner by combining multiple aspects: user initial device experience (Out-of-Box Experience), mobile information access in a real-world context, device impact on user information access and perceptually tailored multimedia content impact on user information assimilation and satisfaction. Accordingly, an extensive experimental investigation has been undertaken to see how user experiences varied based on device familiarity, device type, real-world context and variable locations. The findings has shown that the overall perception, and effectively the user information access experience, is affected and improved when multimedia content is tailored according to user device type and context. Thus highlights that the future of mobile computing necessitates two-faceted research, which should combine both a user as well as a technical perspective

Answering a Questionnaire Using Eyetracking

The beginning of eye tracking research lies far back in the past. Since eye tracking costs decreased over the past years, the usage of an eye tracker for everyday matters, like the interaction with a personal device, becomes more and more attractive. In the present work, the realization of interacting with a computer interface with only the help of an eye tracker is illustrated. The conducted study examines the acceptance and usability of such a system. Therefore, three different interaction methods have been implemented. In a study, the participants had to complete a questionnaire with those interaction methods using a Windows application and a low-cost eye tracking device. All in all, the study results imply that the number of negative aspects about this system outweigh the positive ones. The biggest issue was the restriction of mobility during the usage of the tracking device. In addition, the usage of the system turned out to be rather exhausting for the eyes. Generally speaking, among the three implemented interaction methods, the interaction method that combines gaze with a second input modality (a keyboard) scored best in terms of interaction speed and usefulness considering the completion of a questionnaire

A multimodal measurement approach using narratives and eye tracking to investigate visual behaviour in perceiving naturalistic and urban environments

The notion that exposure to the natural environment positively affects human well-being has been validated by studies showing measured cognitive, psychological, and physiological benefit. This research is unique in exploring gaze behaviour on environmental images possessing different levels of saliency by using eye tracking along with traditional data collection techniques for example narratives, connectivity to nature scores and interviews. The majority of existing landscape research has been derived by conducting heuristic evaluations without having empirical insight of real participant visual response. In this research, a modern multimodal measurement approach (using Narratives and Eye tracking) was applied to investigate visual behaviour in perceiving naturalistic and urban environments. Eye behaviour is predominantly attracted by salient locations. The concept of methodology of this research on naturalistic and urban environments is drawn from the approaches in market research. Borrowing methodologies from market research that examine visual responses and qualities provided a critical and hitherto unexplored approach. This research has been conducted by using mixed methodological quantitative and qualitative approaches. This thesis focuses on two aspects of Human Environment Interaction (HEI). a) The evaluation of existing environmental research and b) The use of eye tracking as a supplementary objective environmental evaluation technique. A combined qualitative and quantitative approach has been used, including a state-of-the-art technique, eye tracking. The eye movement data were complemented by participant-profile data elicited through background questionnaires and participant-perception data as captured through semistructured interviews. This provides an insight into the participant experience that spans behavioural aspects such as visual search behaviour and visual search performance data, and subjective aspects such as participant expectations and preferences. As a result of this study, when Eye tracking data was collected and analysed two types of responses were observed: i. Immediate Involuntary Response ii. Delayed Learned Response In terms of key finding of this research, it is noticed that each participant has an individual unique navigation style, while surfing through different elements of landscape images. This individual navigation style is termed the ‘Visual Signature’, which is an immediate involuntary response. On the whole, the results of this research corroborated existing landscape research findings, but they also identified potential refinements. The research contributes both methodologically and empirically to Human-Environment Interaction (HEI). This research focused on initial impressions of environmental images with the help of eye tracking. Taking under consideration the importance of the image, this research explored the factors that influence initial fixations in relation to expectations and preferences. This research adds the necessary clarity that would complete the picture and bring an insight for future landscape researchers

Mobility and Aging: Older Drivers’ Visual Searching, Lane Keeping and Coordination

This thesis examined older drivers’ mobility and behaviour through comprehensive measurements of driver-vehicle-environment interaction and investigated the associations between driving behaviour and cognitive functions. Data were collected and analysed for 50 older drivers using eye tracking, GNSS tracking, and GIS. Results showed that poor selective attention, spatial ability and executive function in older drivers adversely affect lane keeping, visual search and coordination. Visual-motor coordination measure is sensitive and effective for driving assessment in older drivers

Interfaces cérebro-computador no desenho de páginas web

Ao longo de várias gerações, o Homem sonhou com a capacidade de comunicar e, eventualmente, controlar as máquinas que o rodeiam através do pensamento. Até há algumas décadas, esse fascínio não passava de um impulso virtual, apenas ao alcance de cirurgias complexas e perigosas ao cérebro, onde são implantados eléctrodos que medem a corrente elétrica. Contudo, o desenvolvimento tecnológico permitiu a evolução de dispositivos, não-invasivos, portáteis e recarregáveis, que registam a atividade cerebral, recorrendo a eléctrodos aplicados no couro cabeludo, e que, a partir de algoritmos computacionais, possibilitam a comunicação entre o cérebro e um computador. Atualmente, estão já comercialmente disponíveis alguns dispositivos que permitem o desenvolvimento de interfaces baseados no paradigma cérebro-computador e que, fundamentalmente, abrem portas à investigação e desenvolvimento de novas técnicas e abordagens de interação. Este tipo de equipamentos registam as correntes elétricas do cérebro e viabilizam a associação de padrões mentais a um conjunto de comandos predeterminadosnum computador. Assim, objetivo desta Dissertação é desenvolver um espaço concetual de design que contemple interfaces cérebro-computador no desenho de páginas web. Para isso, será realizada uma revisão dos princiais autores, conceitos e projetos relacionados com o paradigma de interação cérebro-computador, bem como o contexto desta na complexa área da HCI, envonvendo outras tipologias de interfaces e Web Design. Até ao desenvolvimento de experiências e provas de conceito de aplicações que culminarão com o contacto e contributo de utilizadores para o espaço concetual de design proposto

Enhancing the Performance of Eye and Head Mice: A Validated Assessment Method and an Investigation into the Performance of Eye and Head Based Assistive Technology Pointing Devices

This work poses the question "Could eye and head based assistive technology device interaction performance approach that of basic hand mouse interaction?" To this aim, the work constructs, validates, and applies a detailed and comprehensive pointing device assessment method suitable for assistive technology direct pointing devices, it then uses this method to add enhancement to these devices, finally it then demonstrates that such enhanced eye or head based pointing can approach that of basic hand mouse interaction and be a viable and usable interaction method for people with high-level motor disabilities. Eye and head based pointing devices, or eye and head mice, are often used by high-level motor disabled people to enable computer interaction in the place of a standard desktop hand mouse. The performance of these eye and head mice pointing devices when used for direct manipulation on a standard graphical user interface has generally been regarded as poor in comparison to that of a standard desktop hand mouse, thus putting users of head and eye mice at a disadvantage when interacting with computers. The performance of eye and head based pointing devices during direct manipulation on a standard graphical user interface has not previously been investigated in depth, and the reasons why these devices seem to demonstrate poor performance have not been determined in detail. Few proven methods have been demonstrated and investigated that enhance the performance of these devices based on their performance during direct manipulation. Importantly, and key to this work is that, no validated assessment method has been constructed to allow such an investigation. This work seeks to investigate the performance of eye and head based pointing devices during direct manipulation by constructing and verifying a test method suitable for the detailed performance assessment of eye and head based assistive technology pointing devices. It then uses this method to determine the factors influencing the performance of eye and head mice during direct manipulation. Finally, after identifying these factors, this work hypothesises, and then demonstrates that applying suitable methods for addressing these factors can result in enhanced performance for eye and head mice. It shows that the performance of these enhanced devices can approach the performance of standard desktop hand mice with the use of highly experienced users, together with the enhancement of a supporting modality for object manipulation, and a supporting interface enhancement for object size magnification; thus demonstrating that these devices can approach and equal the performance of basic hand mouse interaction