Lock Operations Through the Operator’s Eyes: A Qualitative Exploration of Gaze Strategies

This paper reports a qualitative exploration of gaze strategies during closed-circuit television (CCTV) tasks in remote nautical object control of a lock. Previous research has not examined gaze strategies in scenarios where systems, such as nautical objects, are operated remotely using CCTV. As contextual factors matter in nautical object control, a qualitative approach was necessary to uncover domain-specific terminology and insights into gaze strategies. We recorded eye gaze from professional lock operators and then conducted semi-structured interviews with domain experts to assess these recordings. Thematic analysis revealed that experts were able to identify (features of) gaze strategies but did not share the same terminology. Based on this analysis we defined four strategies: anticipating, verifying, overview, and movement-directed gazes (RQ1). All strategies, except movement-directed gaze, were observed consistently across operators (RQ2), with verifying gaze aligning with task steps in a predefined protocol (RQ3). More generally, our classification framework from thematic analysis could help to systematically define and verify gaze strategies based on domain and task features across various CCTV working contexts. For nautical object control, the framework can be instrumental in interpreting and verifying future (quantitative) eye tracking results and informing instructional procedures.