Visual Analysis of Dyslexia on Search

Seminar Abstract:

A key problem in the field of search interfaces is dyslexic users interaction with the UI. Dyslexia is a widespread specific learning difficult (SpLD) (10% of any population is estimated to have this cognitive disability) which is under researched in the field of information retrieval. The focus here is an analysis of the User Interface (UI) for search, using visual analytical methods on eye tracking data to examine the difference between control and dyslexic searchers. We use a number of visual analytic methods including path similarity analysis (PSA) and clustering of time intervals to demonstrate both similarities and differences between the user groups. Observations of videos are used to augment the visualizations. Results demonstrate a clear difference between the user groups, and a clear memory effect on the user of search interfaces is shown – this is a key contribution of this talk. We examine the results using of theories of dyslexia, contributing also to the field of dyslexia and search.

Joint work with: Areej Al-Wabil, Gennady Andrienko, Natalia Andrienko, George Buchanan

About the speaker:

Andy is a Reader in the Department of Computer Science at City University, and is a member of the Centre for HCI Design. He got his PhD in Information Science from the same University under the supervision of Prof Robertson and Dr J.A. McCann (now at Imperial College London). His research interests currently focus on a number of areas including disabilities and Information Retrieval (dyslexia in particular), Image Retrieval, AI techniques for Information Retrieval and Filtering, and Open Source Software Development.