Last updated August 8, 2022
“I didn’t like having to explain to them, so I just shut up, smoked a cigarette, and looked at the sea.”
― Albert Camus,
― Albert Camus,
EYE TRACKING
Eye tracking is a technology that measures the position and movement of the eyes, in order to be able to register and analyze where the user fixes the gaze, how long the focus is maintained, and the movement of the eyes. As an additional dimension in data collection, more advanced eye tracking systems can also measure emotional response by examining changes in pupil size (Ahern & Beatty, 1979).
Eye tracking is a technology that measures the position and movement of the eyes, in order to be able to register and analyze where the user fixes the gaze, how long the focus is maintained, and the movement of the eyes. As an additional dimension in data collection, more advanced eye tracking systems can also measure emotional response by examining changes in pupil size (Ahern & Beatty, 1979).
With eye tracking, a small window is opened toward insight into the, often unconscious, human behavior in interactions. The technology is widely used in the interaction with computers or other hardware using the eyes as a controller, instead of a keyboard, mouse, or joystick.
Tobii Pro Glasses 2 (Photo: Tobii Pro)
THE EYE TRIBE
The Eye Tribe was a Danish startup, founded i 2011 by 4 former ITU-students: Sune Alstrup John (CEO), Javier San Agustin, Martin Tall (CTO) & Henrik Skovsgaard.
The Eye Tribe was a Danish startup, founded i 2011 by 4 former ITU-students: Sune Alstrup John (CEO), Javier San Agustin, Martin Tall (CTO) & Henrik Skovsgaard.
They developed software and hardware that made it possible to use the eyes as a control/pointing tool for interacting with computers and mobile phones. The software was based on a reproduction technology that allows VR systems to save computer power by only generating perfect graphics in the field of view - where the gaze is directed.
The company also developed the affordable The Eye Tribe Tracking bar, which meant that more people had the opportunity to try out the technology. The small external, portable eye tracker, which connects via the computer's USB port, was in 2013 the smallest in the world - with dimensions of 20 cm x 1.9 cm x 1.9 cm. In 2016, the company was acquired by Oculus Rift (Facebook), and both analytics software and hardware were removed from the market. The driver for The Eye Tribe tracker can still be found on Github.
THE EYE TRIBE TRACKING BAR
The Eye Tribe tracker bar is compatible with other analytics software - like Ogama. In May 2019, I gave a presentation on Eye Tracking at SDU. The presentation can be seen here (DA). The purpose was to introduce the students to eye tracking in connection with user studies. Because the tracker is so small and portable, it is especially useful for field studies with a laptop. It does however require a bit of technical knowledge to set up so it is not for everyone.
The Eye Tribe tracker bar is compatible with other analytics software - like Ogama. In May 2019, I gave a presentation on Eye Tracking at SDU. The presentation can be seen here (DA). The purpose was to introduce the students to eye tracking in connection with user studies. Because the tracker is so small and portable, it is especially useful for field studies with a laptop. It does however require a bit of technical knowledge to set up so it is not for everyone.
TOBII EYE TRACKER 5
This tracker is also quite small and is therefore equally suited for field testing. It is compatible with several programs, depending on the level of insights needed - and works well with user testing (UX/UI).
This tracker is also quite small and is therefore equally suited for field testing. It is compatible with several programs, depending on the level of insights needed - and works well with user testing (UX/UI).
TOBII PRO GLASSES 2
This is a high-end solution for Eye tracking in UX/UI testing of web and app solutions, but also physical world object handling, documenting customer journeys, and gathering user experience data. It's quite expensive but can provide a broad variety of data like heatmaps, attention maps, and saliency tracking. The advantage of the glasses is that the precision of the user's gaze is higher than with tracking bars.
This is a high-end solution for Eye tracking in UX/UI testing of web and app solutions, but also physical world object handling, documenting customer journeys, and gathering user experience data. It's quite expensive but can provide a broad variety of data like heatmaps, attention maps, and saliency tracking. The advantage of the glasses is that the precision of the user's gaze is higher than with tracking bars.
Tobii Eye Tracker 5 (Photo: https://gaming.tobii.com/)
The Eye Tribe tracker bar
Fixation
Heat map
Saliency map
Scan path
REFERENCES:
Ahern, S., & Beatty, J. (1979). Pupillary responses during information processing vary with Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Science, 205(4412), 1289–1292. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.472746
Bergstrom, J. R., & Schall, A. J. (2014). Introduction to eye tracking. In J. R. Bergstrom & A. J. Schall (Eds.), Eye Tracking in User Experience Design (pp. 3–26). Elsevier Science & Technology Books.
Ahern, S., & Beatty, J. (1979). Pupillary responses during information processing vary with Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Science, 205(4412), 1289–1292. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.472746
Bergstrom, J. R., & Schall, A. J. (2014). Introduction to eye tracking. In J. R. Bergstrom & A. J. Schall (Eds.), Eye Tracking in User Experience Design (pp. 3–26). Elsevier Science & Technology Books.
Busjahn, T., Schulte, C., Sharif, B., Simon, B., Begel, A., Hansen, M., Bednarik, R., Orlov, P., Ihantola, P., Alperovich, G., & Jetbrains, M. (2014). Eye Tracking in Computing Education. In ICER 2014—Proceedings of the 10th Annual International Conference on International Computing Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1145/2632320.2632344
Fu, B., Noy, N. F., & Storey, M.-A. (2016). Eye tracking the user experience – An evaluation of ontology visualization techniques. Semantic Web, 8(1), 23–41. https://doi.org/10.3233/SW-140163
Hossain, G., & Yeasin, M. (2014). Understanding Effects of Cognitive Load from Pupillary Responses Using Hilbert Analytic Phase. IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops, 381–386. https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPRW.2014.62
Hossain, G., & Yeasin, M. (2014). Understanding Effects of Cognitive Load from Pupillary Responses Using Hilbert Analytic Phase. IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops, 381–386. https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPRW.2014.62
Klerke, S. (2016). Glimpsed: Improving natural language processing with gaze data [PhD]. Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet
Pernice, K., & Nielsen, J. (2019). How to Conduct Eyetracking Studies. California, USA: Nielsen Norman Group.
ScienceDirect Topics. Eye-Tracking System—An overview. An overview. Hentet 11. januar 2021, fra https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/eye-tracking-system