Victoria Bellotti

Design for privacy in ubiquitous computing environments

Current developments in information technology are leading to increasing capture and storage of information about people and their activities. This raises serious issues about the preservation of privacy. In this paper we examine why these issues are particularly important in the introduction of ubiquitous computing technology into the working environment. Certain problems with privacy are closely related to the ways in which the technology attenuates natural mechanisms of feedback and control over information released. We describe a framework for design for privacy in ubiquitous computing environments and conclude with an example of its application.

Informed opportunism as strategy: supporting coordination in distributed collaborative writing

There is little understanding of how distributed writing groups manage their collaboration and what kinds of support are most useful. The paper presents three case studies of distributed collaborative writing groups in academia. The process evolves over time, constantly adapting to changing circumstances. Co-authors offer and make use of a range of information. Their subsequent opportunistic use of this information to make appropriate ad hoc decisions in new circumstances, appears to be essential to achieve flexibility and coordination. We call this informed opportunism. We identify design implications for support tools for distributed collaborative writing.

Integrating theoreticians' and practitioners' perspectives with design rationale

QOC design rationale represents argumentation about design alternatives and assessments. It can be used to generate design spaces which capture and integrate information from design discussions and diverse kinds of theoretical analyses. Such design spaces highlight how different theoretical approaches can work together to help solve design problems. This paper describes an example of the generation of a multi-disciplinary QOC design space which shows how designers deliberations can be augmented with design contributions from a combination of different theoretical HCI approaches.

Reaching through analogy: a Design Rationale perspective on roles of analogy

A powerful way of reaching through technology is to use analogy to make the technology transparent by exploiting the user’s familiarity with other situations. However, analogy has a number of roles in user interface design in addition to the one of helping the user understand the system. In this paper we consider some of these roles and their relationship to our Design Rationale (DR) framework (MacLean et al., 1989). Our goals are to develop the DR framework by exploring the implications of explicitly taking account of analogy, and to articulate an account of the roles of analogy in design by organizing them around DR concepts.

Information and context: lessons from the study of two shared information systems

With the increasing ease and power of wmputer netsvorking technologies, many organisations me taking information which was previously managed and distributed on paper aud making it available electronically. Such shared information systems are the basis of much organisational collaboration, and electronic distribution holds great promise. However, a primary focus of such systems is on the ease of information retrieval. We believe that an equally important component is the problem of information interpretation, and that this interpretation is .@ded by a context which many electronic systems do not fully acknowledge. We report on a study of two systems, one paper-based and one electronic, managing similar information within the same organisation. We descrike the ways in which information retrieved from these systems is interpreted subjectively by individuals, and point to some of the factors contributing to this interpretation. These factors, together making up the context of the information, an3 of critical importance in the design of successful electronic shared information systems.

Bootstrapping Trust in Online Dating: Social Verification of Online Dating Profiles

Online dating is an increasingly thriving business which boasts billion-dollar revenues and attracts users in the tens of millions. Notwithstanding its popularity, online dating is not impervious to worrisome trust and privacy concerns raised by the disclosure of potentially sensitive data as well as the exposure to self-reported (and thus potentially misrepresented) information. Nonetheless, little research has, thus far, focused on how to enhance privacy and trustworthiness. In this paper, we report on a series of semi-structured interviews involving 20 participants, and show that users are significantly concerned with the veracity of online dating profiles. To address some of these concerns, we present the user-centered design of an interface, called Certifeye, which aims to bootstrap trust in online dating profiles using existing social network data. Certifeye verifies that the information users report on their online dating profile (e.g., age, relationship status, and/or photos) matches that displayed on their own Facebook profile. Finally, we present the results of a 161-user Mechanical Turk study assessing whether our veracity-enhancing interface successfully reduced concerns in online dating users and find a statistically significant trust increase.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD DESIGN QUESTION

Designers ask questions throughout the design process. The resulting arguments about how best to answer them are critical in justifying solutions, but are rarely recorded. We are developing a representation of design rationale called QOC (Questions, Options and Criteria) which captures just such information (MacLean et al, 1991). It encourages evaluation of a broader range, or design space, of solutions than designers might otherwise consider.

For Richer, for Poorer, in Sickness or in Health...: The Long-Term Management of Personal Information

People are amassing large personal information stores. These stores present rich opportunities for analysis and use in matters of wealth, health, living and legacy. But these stores also bring with them new challenges for managing information across long periods of time. Hence personal information management (PIM) research increasingly must address the long term. For the seventh PIM workshop in a successful series started in 2005, we propose taking a look at personal information with exactly this longitudinal perspective. We expect the workshop to attract a range of people doing research related to PIM, HCI, personal digital archiving, aging, and the design of informational spaces for later life. Attendees will discuss issues related to storing information for the long run, how stored information can benefit a person throughout their lifetime (and into old age), and the legacy of a persons personal information.

Debating the media space design space

Why do Audio Video (AV) communications infrastructures differ so widely in some of their key features? What factors led designers and mearchers to choose radically different se Iutions to the same design problems? This panel brings to gether users, researchm and key designers to expose their rationale and debate some of the issues which are cunently being confronted in the development of such technology.