Interesting note from Sara Quinn, my former Poynter colleague and about to start a one-year stint as a visiting professor at Ball State University.
Sara, with whom I worked on the Poynter Tablet EyeTrack two years ago, informs me that she has again teamed up with Dave Stanton, principal of PixelBots (http://www.thepixelbots.com), to gather data on how readers react to images, both produced by media outlets as well as via citizen journalism.
EyeTrack offers some of the most effective methodology for testing on areas related to design. We should be looking forward to the unveiling of this new study.
"I worked with 40 participants, as they looked through as many as 200 images, created by both professionals and by the general public, (user generated content)," Sara tells me.--
Sara and David have tested in the following areas of interest:
-- How readers would rate the quality on a scale of 1 to 5.
-- The likelihood that the readers might share each image, scale of 1 to 5.
-- How long each image and caption was viewed.
-- What type of elements received the most attention (faces, interaction, details, etc)
In addition, says Sara, they also did extensive exit interviews, asking:
-- Which images in the selection were most memorable, and why?
-- What characteristics make a photograph worth publishing?
-- Where they generally encounter journalistic photography?
We look forward to presenting the results of this test in this blog as soon as they become available.
Of related EyeTrack interest:
The iPad Lab #20: What Poynter’s EyeTrack Tablet teaches us
http://garciamedia.com/blog/the_ipad_lab_20_what_poynters_eyetrack_tablet_teaches_us
Early Poynter EyeTrack results: tablet users prefer horizontal swiping
http://garciamedia.com/blog/early_poynter_eyetrack_results_tablet_users_prefer_horizontal_swiping
New EyeTrack study: learning how news apps tablet users’ eyes and fingers move
http://garciamedia.com/blog/new_eyetrack_study_learning_how_news_apps_tablet_users_eyes_and_fingers_mov
The Poynter EyeTrack for iPad: a progress report and some prototype screenshttp://www.garciamedia.com/blog/the_poynter_eyetrack_for_ipad_a_progress_report_and_some_prototype_screens
About Poynter’s earlier EyeTrack studies:
2007: The Myth of Short Attention
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/81456/eyetrack07-the-myth-of-short-attention-spans/
EyeTrack 2007 video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FKQPCn_ais&feature=youtube_gdata_player
