A Low-Cost, Flexible, Lightweight Video Recording System for Task Analysis

摘要

Low-cost camera technology is a useful tool that makes video analysis more accessible to practitioners. The authors report their experience from various task analysis projects in which users have been observed in situ. Solutions for simultaneous video recording, often needed to adequately observe and analyze a workspace, are discussed. Of the various analog- and digital-based solutions, the authors deem a low-cost solution using entry-level computer hardware to produce sufficiently high-fidelity feedback for most task analysis purposes. Such systems can be acquired and set up by novice computer users for a fraction of the cost of broadcast video systems. A case study demonstrates the application of one such inexpensive solution.