WPI Research is the research magazine of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. It contains news and features about graduate research in the arts and sciences, business, and engineering, along with notes about new grants, books, and faculty achievements.
Issue link: http://wpiresearch.epubxp.com/i/229254
of toolsthetrade > THE EYE-TRACKING TECHNOLOGY IN WPI'S USER EXPERIENCE AND DECISION MAKING RESEARCH LABORATORY CAN HELP BUSINESSES BUILD SUCCESS GOOD "A frst impression makes a huge begin teaching a new user eximpact on rational decisions," perience course in the lab. "I says Soussan Djamasbi, PhD, want to expose students to what research happens in industry and associate professor of management information systems in what is needed in industry," she WPI's School of Business. "You says. can't just design something that The small camera-like eyeis easy to use. You have to know tracking unit emits an infrared what the user wants and how to beam that, once calibrated to the ref lection from a particular provide it." user's pupil, will detect where If you've ever found yourself getting lost on one website that user is directing his gaze, moment by moment, as he navwhile you navigate another effortlessly, you've experienced igates a website or uses a mobile the all-too-frequent disconnect app. The results appear as colored zones overlaid on the website or between web design and user app screen. Red indicates areas needs. Until recently, website creators have relied on good that attracted the most eye time, design principles and a bit of while yellow and green defne luck to create a satisfying cusareas that were viewed less. The tomer experience. But that is more intense the color (for exbeginning to change, thanks to ample, the darker the red), the the emerging feld of user exmore intense the user's gaze. BY JULIA QUINN-SZCESUIL perience research. "It is a clear indication of WPI's User Experience and the user's attention," Djamasbi says. "This literally allows us to peer through a user's eyes Decision Making (UXDM) Research Laboratory, which and see what she is looking at." Djamasbi founded and directs, is one of the leaders in this new discipline, which is built upon cutting-edge eyeDan McAuliffe, Dyn's user experience manager, says tracking technology. Djamasbi says user experience research WPI's eye-tracking research opened his eyes. Dyn sponsored can help companies be more successful, since more usera project in which a team of undergraduates was asked to friendly websites and applications can lead to repeat customhelp the company optimize the checkout process on its ers and more business. website for display on mobile devices with a range of screen sizes. The students discovered that while users found the But the potential for the research goes far beyond those website well designed and intuitive, when the same content basic goals. The work Djamasbi directs is aimed, fundamentally, at expanding our understanding of how people take was adapted for the mobile screen the need for scrolling, in and process information displayed on screens, how our panning, and zooming made the checkout process confusing emotional reaction to what we see affects our experience, and prone to error. and how interaction with and emotional reaction to screen Within months of implementing the students' recomdisplays infuences the decisions we make. This knowledge mendation to have pages dynamically adapt to a mobile could impact how websites, mobile applications, and other device's screen size, Dyn observed "a 10.4 percent increase screen-based information sources are built. in number of mobile transactions, with a 32 percent increase With funding and partnership from Dynamic Network in the average value of these transactions," McAuliffe says. Services Inc. (Dyn), a leader in Internet infrastructure as "Design used to be purely about the emotion you got from something, but we didn't have too much data to back a service technology founded by Jeremy Hitchcock '04, Djamasbi has created a state-of-the-art laboratory with 15 that up," McAuliffe says. "You try to put your best foot forward and make an educated guess about what is the best eye-tracking stations — fve for recording and 10 for analyzing data. In addition to using it for research, she will soon design. Now we can put more science behind it." DESIGN IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER 48 > wpi.edu/+research