Laboratories and computer labs of the Institute of Media Technology
Usability Laboratory
Usability Laboratory
The spacious Usability Laboratory of the Media Production Group is equipped with the most modern technology, such as a modern HD recording system, which facilitates conducting a variety of demanding experiments. Three permanently installed HD pan-tilt-zoom cameras and two permanently installed microphones can record all relevant details in usability tests or in focus group experiments. In addition to this, the system also accomodates attached mobile cameras and microphones. For processing audio and video data, an HD video mixer and recorder is available. This simplifies the goal-oriented analysis, processing, and presentation of audio and video data.
Additionally, the Media Production Group has a mobile usability laboratory which is also able to record HD video data.
Especially for optimizing operating surfaces, the Media production Group has a head-mounted eye tracker.
Eye Tracking
Eye tracking means capturing the eye movements of a person. With this it is possible to determine how users perceive an operating surface, for example, to detect possible improvement measures.
Employed Technology
The eye tracker of the Media Production Group is a mobile device, a so-called head-mounted eye tracker. It consists of a frame similar to one for eye glasses which is put on by test subjects and can be fixed directly on the head. The two cameras mounted on this frame record the vision field of the test subject as well as the subject's eyes.
The mobility of this device enables testing not only in the Usability Laboratory, but also on the field. The vision field of the test subject is hardly compromised by the eye tracker, making tests under almost real conditions possible.
Use of Eye Tracking in the Media Production Group
Eye tracking makes it possible to optimize operating surfaces, determining which areas of an interface are looked at by users most often and which areas are possibly not perceived. Based on this knowledge, operating surfaces can be optimized, and, for example, frequently used functions of software can be moved to the area which is most often in the vision field of the user.