'
Inputlog
'' is one of the most used

keyloggers Keystroke logging, often referred to as keylogging or keyboard capturing, is the action of recording (logging) the keys struck on a keyboard, typically covertly, so that a person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored ...

. It enables researchers to observe the online

writing process A writing process describes a sequence of physical and mental actions that people take as they produce any kind of text. These actions nearly universally involve tools for physical or digital inscription: e.g., chisels, pencils, brushes, chalk, di ...

unobtrusively. It logs every input action that is used to produce a text, viz.

keystrokes In programming and software design, an event is an action or occurrence recognized by software, often originating asynchronously from the external environment, that may be handled by the software. Computer events can be generated or triggered ...

(incl. navigation keys),

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

movements and clicks and speech input via

Dragon Naturally Speaking Dragon NaturallySpeaking (also known as Dragon for PC, or DNS) is a speech recognition software package developed by Dragon Systems of Newton, Massachusetts, which was acquired in turn by Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, Nuance Communications ...

(Nuance). The program also provides a timestamp (in ms) and detailed information about the Windows environment that is activated (e.g. URL of a web page). Researchers can download the program from the Inputlog website for free (after registration).
Inputlog
features five modules: # ''Record module'': This module logs (

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, mouse, and speech) data in

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms includin ...

and other Windows-based programs together with a unique timestamp. Moreover, in MS Word this module also logs character position, actual document length, and copy/paste/move actions. # ''Pre-process module'': This module allows researchers to process data from various perspectives: event-based (

and

speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...

), time-based or based on window changes (sources: MS Word,

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, etc.). # ''Analyze module'': This module features three process representations (general and linear logging file and the s-notation of the text) and four aggregated levels of analysis (summary, pause, revision, and source analyses). Additionally, a

process graph In mathematics graph theory a process graph or P-graph is a directed bipartite graph used in workflow modeling. Description With a process graph, the vertices of the graph are of two types, operation (O) and material (M). These vertex types form ...

is produced. # ''Post-process module'': This module integrates single or multiple log files from Inputlog or other observation tools and also makes it possible to merge multiple output files for further statistical analysis in, for instance,

SPSS SPSS Statistics is a statistical software suite developed by IBM for data management, advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, and criminal investigation. Long produced by SPSS Inc., it was acquired by IBM in 2009. C ...

, R or

MLWin MLwiN is a statistical software package for fitting multilevel models. It uses both maximum likelihood estimation and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. MLwiN is based on an earlier package, MLn, but with a graphical user interface (as well ...

. # ''Play module'': This module plays back the recorded session. The replay is data-based. Inputlog also allows you to measure the (technical) typing skill of a participant. To this end, a so-called
Inputlog copy task
has been developed in more than ten languages.

References

Van Waes, L., Leijten, M., Pauwaert, T., & Van Horenbeeck, E. (2019). A multilingual copy task: Measuring typing and motor skills in Writing with Inputlog. Journal of Open Research Software, 7(1:30), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.5334/jors.234 {{reflist Surveillance