I studied a bit about eye-tracking when I was working for newspapers. We were concerned then mostly about the readers' "flow" as they scanned the page, and how our layouts might call attention to key elements such as informational graphics or advertising.
It seemed to me then that the only way you could draw valid conclusions from eye-tracking was if you also gathered subjective data on the user's cognitive process. What information did s/he retain a minute after reading? Five minutes later? An hour later? What did s/he recall about the images or the layout and design, and how or whether they reinforced the primary messages? How relevant did s/he perceive the material to be to his/her life before *and* after the experience? If that information is correlated with the eye-tracking data, you may have something useful. I think it's also important to ask whether such studies are likely to merit their costs (time and money), compared to other user testing and the information already available to us about how to design effectively. In some rare cases, given an effective methodology, those costs will be justified. This may be comparable to a doctor who orders extensive testing "just in case" -- but not for all patients. Is eye-tracking commonly used in modern interaction design, and if so, how? I'm curious to know. Jeff Seager P.S. Cheers to Jared on the Nilsson reference! _________________________________________________________________ Don't get caught with egg on your face. Play Chicktionary! http://club.live.com/chicktionary.aspx?icid=chick_wlhmtextlink1_dec ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
