Exploring Pointer Assisted Reading (PAR): Using Mouse Movements to Analyze Web Users’ Reading Behaviors and Patterns

TLDR: In this article, the authors explored pointer assisted reading (PAR), a reading behavior consisting of moving the mouse cursor (also known as the pointer) along sentences to mark the reading position, similarly to finger-pointing when reading a book.

Abstract: This paper explores Pointer Assisted Reading (PAR), a reading behavior consisting of moving the mouse cursor (also known as the pointer) along sentences to mark the reading position, similarly to finger-pointing when reading a book. The study shows that PAR is an uncommon reading technique and examines methods to extract and visualize the PAR activity of web users. An analysis shows that PAR data of real users reveal reading properties, such as speed, and reading patterns, such as skipping and rereading. Eye-tracking is usually used to analyze user reading behaviors. This paper advocates for considering PAR-tracking as a feasible alternative to eye-tracking on websites, as tracking the eye gaze of ordinary web users is usually impractical. PAR data might help in spotting quality issues in the textual content of a website, such as unclear text or content that might not interest the website users, based on analyzing reading properties and patterns (e.g. reading speed, skipping, and rereading). Accordingly, PAR-tracking may have various practical applications in a wide range of fields, and particularly in educational technology, e-learning, and web analytics.