Close up of an eye. By troncap Own work, CC BY 4.0.
A special programme from Virginia Tech’s Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment is helping to drive digital innovation and technological progress for improving society. This is the +Policy Network’s Policy Scholars program.
The system is designed to assist researchers who lack policy expertise but who wish to address policy questions or develop a policy focus in their work. The scholars collaborate with a faculty member who serves as a policy coach or mentor.
The programme tasks the scholar and mentor with working together for up to three years to develop a policyrelated product. This could be a grant proposal, workshop, or publication with the ultimate goal of expanding policyrelated thinking across disciplines.
As an example of what can be achieved, Brendan DavidJohn was looking into eyetracking technology for years. His time as a +Policy Network Policy Scholar provided a new perspective.
It was through the +Policy Network that DavidJohn connected with Saul Halfon, associate professor and chair of the Department of Science, Technology, and Society. The two exchanged articles and discussed policy on multiple levels, from inhome remote assistance applications to federal or international law, and ways ethics experts and policymakers can address emerging concerns to craft policy and regulations.
“I saw the Policy Scholar program as a chance to learn what policy is, the role it plays in technology design — especially for emerging technologies — and what solutions it can provide,” DavidJohn says. “I thought there might be some complementary or augmented approach that takes on this more technical work that I’ve been doing along with the more policyinformed approach.”
A researcher with funding from the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, DavidJohn was named a Policy Scholar in 2022. Since then, the program has provided him with seed funding and a policy expert mentor with the aim of expanding his policy knowledge to better the navigate privacy and security concerns related to eyetracking technology.
Eyetracking technology
DavidJohn says his interest in the intersection of policy and emerging technologies drew him to the opportunity:
“A lot of my background and interest in eye tracking came from an interest in human vision, how the eyes work, and how we perceive things. My research focuses on how I can integrate eyetracking technology in ways that are beneficial to users while also keeping their privacy in mind.”
By utilising eyetracking sensors, DavidJohn creates representations of users that capture personal characteristics, behaviour, and preferences to optimize the user experience when interacting with eyetracking systems.
He expands on his research further: “We place little cameras near your eyes and track every little detail that you look at, giving us information we can use to develop the technology further. However, when people realize these small cameras track everything they see at 60 frames per second or higher, privacy becomes a big issue.”
The second iteration of the programme is currently accepting applications.
