Brenda McPhail

CAVEAT Exemplar: Participatory Design in aNon-Profit Volunteer Organisation

This paper reports a university course-based case study undertaken with a volunteer organisation. Our goals were to explore the use of participatory design in a non-profit volunteer setting; to reflect on the experience of learning and applying participatory methodologies; and to create a prototype, using off-the-shelf database software, that could become a sustainable organisational information system. We found system design methodologies that stress cooperation and consensus especially appropriate when working with volunteers, who expect control over their work in exchange for their time and effort. The Future Workshop was particularly valuable in developing group insight into work and consensus around system priorities. The study resulted in a prototype which has evolved, through in-house refinement, into a working system.

?I?ll Be Watching You?

Anecdotally, most people know that the video technology they use in everyday life is changing at an alarmingly fast pace. Individuals recognize that the televisions they watch and the cameras they purchase are of increasingly higher quality, versatility, and integrated with computing technologies. However, the same individuals who purchase and use these technologies do not often think about what this means in connection with the technologies used to watch and record them. Most are similarly unaware of the networked infrastructures that may connect and add new functionality to the video surveillance systems that are collecting and using their personal information on a daily basis.

Identity, privacy and security challenges with Ontario's enhanced driver's licence

This paper examines the development in Ontario of the ‘enhanced drivers licence’ as a passport substitute for entering the US, including the public discussion surrounding it. We discuss the significant security, privacy, and identity risks that outweigh the benefits claimed, and call for more effective public participation in decision making over future ID schemes.

“I'll be watching you”: Awareness, consent, compliance and accountability in video surveillance

This paper reports on-going, citizen-focussed research that seeks to a) understand what people know, and want to know, about the video surveillance they encounter; b) highlight the widespread privacy non-compliance of private sector video surveillance operators; and c) develop the means for citizens to hold surveillant organizations to public account. It combines in situ interviews, participatory design workshops and smartphone app development for probing surveillance practices while empowering concerned individuals to act collaboratively in better regulating video surveillance.

I'll be watching you: What do Canadians know about video surveillance and privacy?

The growth of video surveillance systems and their augmentation by biometric and smart algorithms has significant implications for personal privacy. The growth of ICT networks and technologies such as face recognition make it increasingly important for people to know their personal information rights. Our project assesses what citizens know about the privacy implications of developing video surveillance technologies. We have three key questions: 1. What do Canadians know about their visual (video) information privacy rights?; 2. Does information about the current technologies and capabilities change people’s perspectives on visual privacy policy?; and 3. What information do people need? Three research stages are planned: interviews regarding video surveillance, workshops and round-table discussions on visual information policy, and a Public Forum to promote discussion among stakeholders including citizens, government agencies, vendors, academics, civil society, and media. This Research Note summarizes the project and reports on preliminary findings from 126 interview participants.

Bridging Identity Gaps—Supporting Identity Performance in Citizen Service Encounters

This paper explores in situ citizen service encounters in government offices. Drawing upon ethnographically informed fieldwork in Canada and Denmark, we discuss the challenges to supporting citizens in constructing and performing identities in public service settings. Our data suggests that citizens make use of at least three strategies in their attempts to perform the appropriate identities needed to “fit within the system” in specific encounters with government. There exists a strong correlation between citizens’ ability to perform identities that are compatible with the bureaucratic administrative processes and the quality and swiftness of the service they receive. As we bring to light in this paper, this “fitting in” with rigid bureaucratic procedures and IT systems interestingly requires a substantial collaborative effort between the receiver(s) of the service and a complex constellation of surrounding stakeholders and intermediaries. This collaboration and the performing of multiple identities raises challenges for the design of e-government systems aimed at supporting physical and digital citizen service provision, as well as issues regarding privacy, citizenship, and public service quality. Lastly, we turn to a discussion of how the established identity gaps can be addressed through design. Information and communication technologies as well as face-to-face encounters have an important role to play in the building of an interface to government. Here, it is paramount to consider the context in which people and systems must function in order to meet the need for dynamic identity performance.