In this video, my entry for the Three Minute Thesis competition, I explain some of the insights I've gained through my research with people about the handling and use of their personal data. I summarise how people think about their data, what we need from our data to really take control and value from it, … Continue reading My thesis in 3 minutes – Understanding and designing human data relations
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By storing data about citizens for the purposes of service provision, private and public organizations have disempowered the people they serve, shifting the balance of power toward themselves as data holders.
Through three co-production engagements involving families receiving "early help" support from their local authority and support workers involved in supplying this care, we have identified existing data usage practices, explored the impact of those practices upon the supported families, and co-designed new and improved approaches - both technological and practice-based - that are perceived to offer families fairer treatment, greater influence, and to benefit from better decision-making.
Our findings show that by applying Human-Data Interaction and giving supported families direct access to see and manipulate their own data, both during and outside of the support engagement, the locus of decision-making could be shifted towards the data subject.
Across social care, healthcare and public policy, there are moves to “join up” citizen databases to provide care workers with holistic views of families they support. In this context, questions of personal data privacy, security, access, control and disempowerment are critical considerations for system designers and policy makers alike. We worked with four families to explore their views on this landscape. To read more about our findings, click the image to read the paper.
Abstract: As a response to the call for “grand visions” for Human- Computer Interaction, I propose a future where people interact using a new type of interface: a Digital Life Assistant. This draws on ideas of human-data interaction, ubicomp, semantic analysis and humane design. Trained by us to understand the meaning and value of our data and digital interactions, digital life assistants will be our butlers and bodyguards, putting our needs ahead of those of corporations, marketers & service providers, embodying a previously unseen level of helpful technology and computer-aided human empowerment. Click the image to read the full paper.
Today I’m going to talk about designing for human autonomy. I believe this is the biggest civic challenge facing HCI today.
First, I’ll talk about two key trends that have shaped the current technology landscape - simplification and commercialisation. Then I’ll look at how users can be better empowered by adapting their products and exploring their own data. change the status quo. And finally I’ll look at the challenges involved - how to approach what is essentially a hidden problem for users, and how we might actually change the status quo. Click the image to read the presentation.
Dr. Alex Bowyer 