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RUXAILAB's First Google Summer of Code 2024 - A Milestone Achievement

Authors

We're thrilled to share that 2024 marked a historic milestone for RUXAILAB (formerly Uramaki LAB) - our first-ever participation as a mentoring organization in Google Summer of Code (GSoC)! 🎉

Google Summer of Code 2024 Logo

About Our GSoC 2024 Journey ​

Being accepted into Google Summer of Code was a dream come true for our organization. As "The User Experience LAB based on IA," we had the incredible opportunity to mentor three talented contributors who worked on groundbreaking projects that advanced our mission of democratizing usability and accessibility evaluation through Artificial Intelligence.

Our Successful Projects ​

1. Eye Tracking Algorithm Optimization Based on Low-Resolution Cameras ​

Contributor: Sitam Meur
Mentors: Marc Gonzalez Capdevila, Karine Pistili Rodrigues, Vinícius Cavalcanti

This project focused on improving eye-tracking algorithms by exploring new techniques, optimizing existing parameters, and integrating JavaScript solutions. The work significantly enhanced our web-eye-tracker capabilities, making eye-tracking technology more accessible through low-resolution cameras.

2. Implementation of Card Sorting Method on RUXAILAB ​

Contributor: Julio Manoel
Mentors: Marc Gonzalez Capdevila, Karine Pistili Rodrigues

This project introduced a new user evaluation method using card sorting, seamlessly integrated into the RUXAILAB environment. The implementation expanded our suite of UX evaluation tools, providing researchers with another powerful method for understanding user mental models.

3. Data Extraction for Sentiment Analysis from Usability Tests ​

Contributor: Basma Elhoseny
Mentors: Karine Pistili Rodrigues, Vinícius Cavalcanti

A standalone backend solution that leverages sentiment analysis to streamline the evaluation process for moderated usability tests. This sentiment analysis API enables researchers to automatically extract emotional insights from user testing sessions.

Our Mission and Impact ​

RUXAILAB is dedicated to democratizing usability and accessibility evaluation through AI-powered tools. We provide a comprehensive suite of solutions that enable remote usability and accessibility testing, including:

  • 🧪 User Testing methodologies
  • 📝 Heuristic Evaluation frameworks
  • 👁️ Eye-Tracking systems
  • 🤖 Sentiment Analysis tools
  • 🥽 VR prototyping utilities (2D to VR conversion)
  • 🔥 Heatmap analysis for advanced data extraction

Breaking Down Barriers ​

Our mission is to eliminate financial and technological barriers to usability and accessibility research. We believe that anyone, anywhere, should be able to set up their own usability lab at zero cost. GSoC 2024 helped us take significant steps toward this goal.

Technologies We Work With ​

Our projects span multiple technologies including:

  • Python for backend AI algorithms
  • JavaScript for web-based tools
  • HTML/CSS for user interfaces
  • Firebase for cloud infrastructure

Looking Forward ​

The success of our first GSoC experience has energized our team and community. We're grateful to Google, our amazing contributors (Sitam, Julio, and Basma), and our dedicated mentors who made this possible.

We invite developers, designers, and researchers to join us in expanding our toolkit, refining existing solutions, and fostering a more accessible digital world.

Get Involved ​

Want to contribute to RUXAILAB? Here's how:

Here's to making usability and accessibility research more accessible for everyone! 🚀🌍

Want to learn more about our current projects? Check out our GitHub organization and see how you can contribute to the future of accessible UX research.