Proceedings of the 2006 symposium on Eye tracking research & applications - ETRA '06

Abstract

ETRA 2006 is the fourth bi-ennial symposium in a series focused on all aspects of eye movement research across a wide range of disciplines. The goal of ETRA is to bring together computer scientists, engineers and behavioral scientists in support of a common vision of enhancing eye tracking research and applications.This year's themes included the following:• Advances in Eye-Tracking Technology: eye-tracking systems, software, and algorithms, eye movement analysis techniques and predictive models.• Visual Attention and Eye Movement Control: studies of eye movement guidance during natural stimuli and behaviors, driving, web surfing, usability studies.• Eye Tracking Applications: gaze-contingent displays, attentive user interfaces, human computer interfaces, assistive technologies.• Special Theme: Communication by Gaze Interaction: human computer interaction using eye movements is a rapidly growing research topic that is now coming into fruition due to recent advances making eye tracking less expensive and intrusive. Submissions were invited that explore eye movements as a communication modality, especially assistive technologies that benefit people with disabilities.Two categories of submissions were sought: Full Papers and Late- Breaking Results. Full papers conform to the ACM SIGGRAPH proceedings category 2 format and are a maximum length of eight pages. New for 2006, Late-Breaking Results conform to the ACM SIGGRAPH proceedings category 4 format. Late-Breaking Results consist of a one-page abstract.Answering the Call For Participation, 45 papers were submitted by authors from 12 countries working in diverse research areas. The final Proceedings contains 18 papers, selected by peer review. The 18 full papers have been grouped into 6 generally related themes of 3 papers each. These groupings were determined after the paper selection process was completed.This year's paper selection process continued to strive for impartiality and rigor, requiring at least two reviews of each paper. Most papers were reviewed by three reviewers, and a few were reviewed by four. The final paper selections were made by the program Co-Chairs following review rankings of all papers. Prior to this process, authors were encouraged to submit their work in final proceedings format and reviewers were instructed to consider each paper for publication as-is, with no changes required. Authors of accepted papers were, however, instructed to respond to the criticisms of their reviewers before submitting the final camera-ready copy for publication.Sixty-five individuals, considered to possess expertise in the field of eye tracking, eye movement research, psychology, or human-computer interaction, volunteered as paper reviewers. Paper reviews were assigned to reviewers following reviewers' bids based on previews of paper abstracts. Reviews of papers were prohibited from committee members where the review would present a conflict of interest.The review process was double-blind, i.e., committee members did not know the identities of the authors and identities of the reviewers were hidden from the authors. Through password-protected web access, completed reviews were made available only to corresponding paper authors as well as to the program Co-Chairs. The entire review process was conducted electronically through web access and email exchanges. The final paper selection was conducted by the program Co-Chairs through email and teleconference. This year marks ETRA's second use of an on-line paper submission and review system.