"I Have No Idea What I'm Doing" - On the Usability of Deploying HTTPS

Protecting communication content at scale is a difficult task, and TLS is the protocol most commonly used to do so. However, it has been shown that deploying it in a truly secure fashion is challenging for a large fraction of online service operators. While Let’s Encrypt was specifically built and launched to promote the adoption of HTTPS, this paper aims to understand the reasons for why it has been so hard to deploy TLS correctly and studies the usability of the deployment process for HTTPS. We performed a series of experiments with 28 knowledgable participants and revealed significant usability challenges that result in weak TLS configurations. Additionally, we conducted expert interviews with 7 experienced security auditors. Our results suggest that the deployment process is far too complex even for people with proficient knowledge in the field, and that server configurations should have stronger security by default. While the results from our expert interviews confirm the ecological validity of the lab study results, they additionally highlight that even educated users prefer solutions that are easy to use. An improved and less vulnerable workflow would be very beneficial to finding stronger configurations in the wild

Report of the Stanford Linked Data Workshop

The Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) with the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) conducted at week-long workshop on the prospects for a large scale, multi-national, multi-institutional prototype of a Linked Data environment for discovery of and navigation among the rapidly, chaotically expanding array of academic information resources. As preparation for the workshop, CLIR sponsored a survey by Jerry Persons, Chief Information Architect emeritus of SULAIR that was published originally for workshop participants as background to the workshop and is now publicly available. The original intention of the workshop was to devise a plan for such a prototype. However, such was the diversity of knowledge, experience, and views of the potential of Linked Data approaches that the workshop participants turned to two more fundamental goals: building common understanding and enthusiasm on the one hand and identifying opportunities and challenges to be confronted in the preparation of the intended prototype and its operation on the other. In pursuit of those objectives, the workshop participants produced:1. a value statement addressing the question of why a Linked Data approach is worth prototyping;2. a manifesto for Linked Libraries (and Museums and Archives and …);3. an outline of the phases in a life cycle of Linked Data approaches;4. a prioritized list of known issues in generating, harvesting & using Linked Data;5. a workflow with notes for converting library bibliographic records and other academic metadata to URIs;6. examples of potential “killer apps” using Linked Data: and7. a list of next steps and potential projects.This report includes a summary of the workshop agenda, a chart showing the use of Linked Data in cultural heritage venues, and short biographies and statements from each of the participants

Provenance for the people: an HCI perspective on the W3C PROV standard through an online game

In the information age, tools for examining the validity of data are invaluable. Provenance is one such tool, and the PROV model proposed by the World Wide Web Consortium in 2013 offers a means of expressing provenance in a machine readable format. In this paper, we examine from a user’s standpoint notions of provenance, the accessibility of the PROV model, and the general attitudes towards history and the verifiability of information in modern data society. We do this through the medium of an online-game designed to explore these issues and present the findings of the study along with a discussion of some of its implications

Independent evaluation of ARMED service: final report.

ARMED (HAS Technology, Lichfield, UK) is a falls prevention technology that combines a wrist-worn activity tracker with predictive analytics and machine learning to enable early intervention. Data from the tracker is augmented by weekly grip strength and body composition measurements. ARMED-in-a-box is a streamlined version of ARMED that does not use the grip strength or body composition measures, rolled-out in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This independent evaluation was commissioned by the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre and conducted by an interdisciplinary team from Robert Gordon University, the University of Aberdeen, and NHS Grampian. The purpose of the evaluation was to inform the potential for scalability of ARMED within the Scottish digital health and care context, and specifically to analyse and appraise the effectiveness of the current ARMED service and business models, aligning with the national technology enabled care (TEC) programme's existing test of change (TOC) activity

“We have been magnified for years - now you are under the microscope!": Co-researchers with learning disabilities created an online survey to challenge public understanding of learning disabilities

Public attitudes towards learning disabilities (LDs) are generally reported as positive, inclusive and empathetic. However, these findings do not reflect the lived experiences of people with LDs. To shed light on this disparity, a team of co-researchers with LDs created the first online survey to challenge public understanding of LDs, asking questions in ways that are important to them and represent how they see themselves. Here, we describe and evaluate the process of creating an accessible survey platform and an online survey in a research team consisting of academic and non-academic professionals with and without LDs or autism. Through this inclusive research process, the co-designed survey met the expectations of the co-researchers and was well-received by the initial survey respondents. We reflect on the co-researchers’ perspectives following the study completion, and consider the difficulties and advantages we encountered deploying such approaches and their potential implications on future survey data analysis

Referring to Somebody:Generic Person Reference as an Interactional Resource

A growing body of research, examining a wide spectrum of reference forms across diverse languages, cultures, and identities, has shown how references to persons can be selected for context-specific interactional outcomes. This report describes how even such simple forms of person reference as somebody (along with someone and a/the person) can be selected on the basis of their relevance for the specific interactional context in which they are employed. We consider how the particular circumstances of some person reference occasions can make these generic person reference forms specially relevant (even when other, more elaborated forms of reference, either recognitional or non-recognitional, were evidently available to the speaker), and we demonstrate how even these barest forms of person reference can be called on to perform delicate, context-sensitive interactional work. Specifically, we show that speakers can select these generic reference forms for non-recognitional references that a) contribute to the formation of the action of a turn, and, when used in a story, b) contribute to the story’s telling. Finally, we show how a generic person reference can be selected in place of a recognitional reference, thereby openly concealing a referent’s identity

Pedestrian Pal: A Route Recommendation System for the Android Mobile Phone

With mobile phone technology pervading people\u27s everyday lives, using these devices has become prevalent for route recommendations while traveling in unfamiliar locations. Current research works to improve algorithms that calculate efficient and effective routes between two or more points. While expedient travel is necessary in time constraint situations, efficiency is not always required. This paper describes Pedestrian Pal, an application built for the Android mobile phone, which offers route recommendations to users based upon their desired specifications. The recommended routes are not necessarily efficient, but rather are paths based upon collected user ratings, aesthetic interests, and users\u27 inputted parameters. During the development of this project I issued a short survey to 23 individuals to collect data to seed the system and solicit desired functionality for the application. Results of this survey confirmed most pf the design choices and were incorporated into the system. Special design choices were applied during the interface designing phase due to the limited screen real estate of the Android mobile device. Large buttons, simple menus, and familiar layouts do not overwhelm the interface and offer a seamless and intuitive user experience. Upon completion of the application development, ten users participated in testing sessions. These tests required the users to walk through eight separate tasks to examine the system\u27s ease-of-use, fluidity of design, and intuitiveness. A follow-up interview questioned the users about the system\u27s menu navigation, usability, and opportunities for improvement. The user tests provided encouraging feedback that affirmed the design choices as well as discovered faults in the system

EXPLORING THE CONSEQUENCES OF SHOPPER-FACING TECHNOLOGIES: THEIR EFFECT ON SHOPPER EXPERIENCES AND SHOPPING OUTCOMES

Just as technology has influenced nearly every facet of the modern consumer’s life, it is also significantly changing how those consumers shop and how it influences their purchase decisions. Understanding how technology impacts these shoppers within the retail environment is crucial for retail managers who are expected to deploy and manage these sources of continuous change. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the phenomenon of shoppers experiencing technology in the retail environment. Specifically, our primary goal is to understand how shopper-facing technologies impact shoppers’ experiences and behaviors and subsequently affect outcome variables that matter to retailers. To that end, this dissertation includes two studies, an ethnography and survey, each with specific objectives designed to illuminate an increasingly common, yet under-researched phenomenon. The first study is an ethnography of shoppers in an office supply retailer context. In this study we explored emergent themes of shopper-facing technology use and how they affected shopper behaviors, perceptions, and strategies. A service channel decision tree was developed to explain the series of technology use decisions that shoppers made as they negotiated the shopping task and a framework of retail technology experience was created to explain the phenomenon, its consequences, the shopper dispositional traits that impact those consequences, and the strategies that shoppers employ as a result. The second study is a survey of recent shoppers designed to test a model of technology-induced shopper ambivalence. Measures were developed and tested from technology paradox theory to expose how technology engagement and technology readiness are associated with technology-induced shopper ambivalence and how this ambivalence drives surprising changes to hedonic and utilitarian shopping values. Contributions to theory, managerial implications, and future research opportunities are discussed within each study and a convergence of findings provides insights across both studies

How a Small Business Negotiates Digital Inclusion of People with Disabilities: A Case Study

Technology has provided more people access products and services, yet some individuals who would benefit the most from digital access to resources are frequently excluded from participation. One group that is largely neglected is the disability community. Despite federal regulations intended to ensure that people with physical/mental disabilities are included in public digital platforms, organizations continuously design websites, applications, and interfaces without people with disabilities in mind. This is particularly the case with small businesses, which are most commonly reported as having inaccessible digital platforms. Digital inclusion attempts to ensure equity in digital properties by providing a model to operationalize inclusion across technologies. This qualitative case study examines how a small business owner in an urban U.S. city prioritizes digital inclusion in his daily operations. Using a responsive interview model, the business owner’s experiences, attitudes, and priorities were recorded. Six themes appeared from this study: perceptions of disability influence digital inclusion, powerful branding suggests digital access, unawareness of accessibility guidelines, UX testing overlooks input from people with disabilities, inclusion is tough to enforce on digital platforms, and workarounds hinder digital improvements