Eye tracking in library and information science: a literature review
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-07-2016-0085 |
| Published date | 21 November 2016 |
| Date | 21 November 2016 |
| Pages | 585-614 |
| Author | Haakon Lund |
Eye tracking in library
and information science:
a literature review
Haakon Lund
Royal School of Library and Information Science,
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic literature review of the application of
eye-tracking technology within the field of library and information science. Eye-tracking technology
has now reached a level of maturity, which makes the use of the technology more accessible.
Subsequently, a growing interest in employing eye tracking as a methodology within library and
information science research must be anticipated.
Design/methodology/approach –The review follows the guidelines set in the Preferred Reporting
Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses recommendations. Two reference databases are
searched for relevant references: Library and Information Science Abstracts and Library, Information
Science and Technology Abstracts. The main selection criteria are peer-reviewed literature that
describes the experimental setting, including which eye-tracking equipment was used, the number of
test persons and reports on the eye-tracking measures. Furthermore, this study will report which other
methods were applied in combination with eye tracking.
Findings –The number of published research utilizing eye-tracking technologies within library and
information science (LIS) is still limited although an increase in the use of eye-tracking technologies is
observed during recent years.
Originality/value –To the knowledgeof the author, this is the first systematic reviewon eye-tracking
technology and application in LIS.
Keywords User studies, Technology, Data collection, Research methods, Information systems,
Eye tracking
Paper type Literature review
Introduction
Eye-tracking equipment has now reached a mature level as a technology and
is in widespread use within a number of disciplines, i.e. human-computer interaction,
usability research, psychology, marketing research and so on. The field of library
and information science (LIS) has adopted research methodologies from the field
of human-computer interaction in the study of interaction between users and
information systems, and information behaviour (Ingwersen and Järvelin, 2006).
It is therefore relevant to investigate the use of eye tracking as a research tool
and methodology in papers published within the field of LIS. In this paper,
LIS research literature is defined from what can be identified in two research
abstracts: Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) and Library,
Information Science and Technology Abstract (LISTA). Both databases cover the
field of LIS extensively and therefore form the basis for identifying the relevant
research for this review. Library Hi Tech
Vol. 34 No. 4, 2016
pp. 585-614
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-07-2016-0085
Received 28 July 2016
Revised 1 September 2016
Accepted 4 September 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
The author would like to thank the author’s good colleague Lorna Wildgaard for fruitful
discussions.
585
Library and
information
science
Eye tracking
That eye movements can tell us something about how we question the surrounding
world is not a new discovery. The research on eye movements and its importance for
our understanding of the world have been investigated since the 1880s with the
foundation of modern eye tracking (Wade and Tatler, 2005). Since then the movements
of our eyes has been studied to uncover the relation between eye movement and
cognitive processes and to identify how visual stimuli affect us, and influence the
decisions we make ( Jacob and Karn, 2003).
It is possible to divide the application of eye tracking into eye-tracking research and
eye tracking used for gaze interaction (i.e. as an input device) where the eye tracker acts
as a substitute for a mouse controlled by eye movement. Eye-tracking technology used
in research has been applied to a number of scientific fields, e.g. psychology and
medicine. Examples are the study of eye movements and cognition in psychology, and
in medicine pathologies of specific medical condition that is manifested in eye
movements. The application of eye tracking has led to the formation of the eye‐mind
hypothesis where the assumption is that what we think and what our attention is
about, is directing our eye movements, i.e. eye movements are driven by top-down,
high-level cognitive processes ( Just and Carpenter, 1980). Other research (Land and
Tatler, 2009) has claimed a bottom-up explanation where eye movements are driven by
the properties of the image exposed on the retina and do not involve high-level
cognitive processing, the saliency of the image. (Land and Tatler, 2009). These two
approaches tend to be integrated into eye-movement control (Land and Tatler, 2009).
The processes that guide our visual behaviour are influenced by a number of factors
usually divided into top-down attention and bottom-up attention. Top-down attention
includes voluntary eye movement where the shifts in attention is controlled by the task
we are involved in, i.e. looking for a specific information on a web page. Bottom-up
attention includes involuntary eye movement, where the visual system is guiding our
gaze according to features intrinsic in the scene or objects we are looking at, i.e. colour
composition,dark and light objectsetc. or the saliency of an object(Holmqvist et al., 2011).
Eye movement is created because even though our visual field is approx.
180 degrees the actual area with the highest visual acuity, the fovea, allows only
approx. 2 degrees of movement since the full colour and light spectrum is only available
from the fovea. The surroundings are still visible but only as a blurred image meaning
that repositioning of the eye is necessary for requiring an optimal image.
The repositioning of the eye occurs generally three to four times per second depending
on the change in visual attention. Eye movements can be categorized accordingly into two
main types: saccadic eye movement and f ixation. The actual eye movement is the saccadic
eye movement where the eye is repositioned because of shift in attention from one object
to another object. The saccadic movement is a very fast ballistic movement usually in the
range of 30-40 ms. It is generally accepted that the no visual intake is happening during
saccades. Fixations are the time between saccades where the eye is fixated on an object.
The fixation time on an object will fluctuate depending on the activity the viewer is
participating in Rayner et al. (2012) measured fixation duration in reading from 202-264
ms depending on the type of literature; in contrast Henderson and Hollingworth (1999)
reported a mean of 330 ms when viewing pictures and natural scenes.
Eye-tracking technology
The fundamental function of an eye tracker is to record the eye movement of a person
when looking at any object in their surroundings (i.e. lookingat a picture, reading a text,
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