Evaluating Eye Tracking Systems for Computer InputScott MacKenzie, York UniversityThe human eye, with the assistance of an eye tracking apparatus, may serve as an input controller to a computer system. Much like point-select operations with a mouse, the eye can "look-select", and thereby activate items such as buttons, icons, links, or text. Evaluating the eye working in concert with an eye tracking system requires a methodology that uniquely addresses the characteristics of both the eye and the eye tracking apparatus. Among the interactions considered are eye typing and mouse emulation. Eye typing involves using the eye to interact with an on-screen keyboard to generate text messages. Mouse emulation involves using the eye for conventional point-select operations in a graphical user interface. In this case, the methodologies for evaluating pointing devices (e.g., Fitts' law and ISO 9241-9) are applicable but must be tailored to the unique characteristics of the eye, such as saccadic movement. This presentation surveys and reviews these and other issues in evaluating eye-tracking systems for computer input.Scott MacKenzie is associate professor of Computer Science and Engineering at York University, Toronto, Canada. His research is in human-computer interaction with an emphasis on human performance measurement and modeling, experimental methods and evaluation, interaction devices and techniques, alphanumeric entry, language modeling, and mobile computing. He has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in the field of Human-Computer Interaction, including more than 30 from the ACM's annual SIGCHI conference. He has given numerous invited talks over the past 20 years.
