Evaluating the Use-ability of VR

Useful to see the proposal of a measure here, regarding usability. 

How Usable Is VR? 
University of Gottingen

Patrick Harms at the University of Gottingen in Germany has designed an automated process for evaluating the usability of virtual reality (VR). Harms' process, which can detect many issues with user friendliness and usability in the virtual environment, begins by recording testers' individual activities and movement, producing "activity lists." A program (MAUSI-VR) mines those lists for typical user behavioral patterns, then assesses this behavior as it relates to defined irregularities. Said Harms, "This makes it possible...to determine how well users of a specific VR are guided by it and whether they usually have to perform ergonomically inconvenient procedures during its operation." ... " 

Copyrights Expire

How important is this?   95 year ago.   What is the most iconically valuable thing from 1923 that could be repurposed, for free? Fascinating writeup.  Note the important distinction between copyrights and Trademark property enforcement.   From Motherboard:

A Massive Amount of Iconic Works Will Enter the Public Domain on New Year’s Eve
Why the copyright terms on a goldmine of works from 1923 are about to expire.

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, movies, songs, and books created in the United States in 1923—even beloved cartoons such as Felix the Cat—will be eligible for anyone to adapt, repurpose, or distribute as they please.

A 20-year freeze on copyright expirations has prevented a cache of 1923 works from entering the public domain, including Paramount Pictures’ The Ten Commandments, Charlie Chaplin’s The Pilgrim, and novels by Aldous Huxley.

Such a massive release of iconic works is unprecedented, experts say—especially in the digital age, as the last big dump predated Google.  ... "

Gazerecorder Eye Tracking

Brought to my attention by a client connection.    In Sourceforge, a new version 1.9 of Gazerecorder  " ... WebCam Eye Tracking for usability testing ... " .  See also their web site.    A broad overview with images. 

User Interface for R

In the midst of looking at some User Interfaces for the R statistical and visualization system.  The RStudio system was brought to my attention by several people and sources. If anyone has other suggestions for examination, please send them along.  Also includes educational and contracting resources:  " ... RStudio is a company dedicated to providing software, education, and services for the R statistical computing environment. We started RStudio because we were excited and inspired by R.  The creators of R provided a flexible and powerful foundation for statistical computing; then made it free and open so that it could be improved collaboratively and its benefits could be shared by the widest possible audience.... "

Check out their screencast of RStudio productivity functions at the link above.  This will give you a good view of what it can do.  Note that this will be most relevant to analysts with programming experience.

Eyetracking Web Useability: Review

A good review of the book, which is on my list, read the full, useful review:

' ... Eyetracking Web Usability is the outcome of the largest eyetracking study ever undertaken: 1.5 million fixations from 300 participants. Nielsen and Pernice are clearly keen to stress the magnitude and legitimacy of their research. Their test script, posted in full, is well considered and comprehensive, covering a range of tasks representative of real web use ... '