The department of computer science and information systems at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University has won the South African institute of computer scientists and information technologists` best research paper 2005 award.
The department`s winning research explored using eye-tracking data to supplement the usability evaluation data of network management (NM) tools.
The department was announced as the overall winner at the institute`s recent annual research conference, held in White River, Mpumalanga.
MSc computer science student, Marco Pretorius, conducted the research under the supervision of lecturers Darelle Van Greunen and Andre Calitz.
The research aimed to prove eye movement data and eye fixations can supplement the data obtained through usability testing, Van Greunen says. Usability testing assesses the user interface with regard to efficiency, interaction flexibility, interaction robustness and quality of use. Eye movement data provides more specific information on the user`s visual attention, she says.
"This paper further discusses the results obtained from a usability evaluation, that used a methodology combining traditional usability methods and eye-tracking methods for the usability evaluation of the visualisation techniques, used by a NM tool," explains Van Greunen.
The results show that eye-tracking does provide additional value to the usability evaluation results, she says.
Share
