Wat ruist daar door het struikgewas? Over een gevleugelde uitspraak van Toon Hermans

Een beroemde sketch van Toon Hermans die zich in het collectieve geheugen heeft genesteld, is 'Wat ruist er door het struikgewas?' De vraag is inmiddels klassiek geworden, maar echt beantwoord werd hij nooit. Een recente ontdekking brengt daar dertig jaar na dato verandering in

Reading the least read? Indicators of users' intention to consult privacy statements on municipal websites

Though seldom read or consulted, privacy statements are often the only means for users to know how their personal data will be used by collecting organizations. While the length and the legalistic nature of most privacy statements are often blamed for people's reluctance to consult such documents, studies on the factors that influence users' intention to read privacy statements are still non-existent. For this survey, respondents from the Netherlands were presented with the situation of registering a child for a basic school through their municipalities' websites. The scenario was selected since it was assumed that it would be one that would require a significant amount of personal data from registrants, and not just the usual contact information. Results of the conducted online survey reveal that although not all users consult a privacy statement on a municipal website before they would disclose personal data, the availability and the ease of finding them on a municipal website strongly contribute to users' belief that a municipality can be trusted with their personal data whenever they are shared for a particular online transaction. This study also shows that users' perceptions of the risks involved in the online disclosure of their personal data influenced their intention to read online privacy statements on municipal websites. Older users were also more likely to consult privacy statements than their younger counterparts, while those with lower levels of education and internet experience expressed a higher tendency to read such online documents than those with higher levels of education and internet experience

A comprehensive theoretical framework for personal information-related behaviors on the internet

Although there is near consensus on the need for privacy, the reality is that people's attitude toward their personal information privacy is complex. For instance, even when people claim that they value their information privacy, they often trade their personal information for tangible or intangible benefits. In this article, the research on different ways in which people respond to risks to privacy is examined. They include information seeking to reduce uncertainty, the withholding of information, and the provision of fabricated information. The impact of trust and inducements on Internet users’ willingness to share personal information is also examined. Thereafter, important postulates from theories in communication, social psychology, and sociology are synthesized into a comprehensive theoretical framework for personal information-related behaviors in the online environmen

Effecten van motiverende elementen in instructieve teksten

The possible benefits and drawbacks of adding motivational elements to user instructions are discussed in several books and articles, but empirical research on this topic is scarce. We conducted two studies to examine the effects of two motivational elements aimed at increasing confidence: verification steps and motivational agents. These elements were added to the user instructions of a cell phone. These user instructions were targeted to a specific user group: seniors between 60 and 70 years of age. The goal of the first study was to find out how seniors perceived these motivational elements. The results show that about onethird of the participants discouraged adding motivational agents to user instructions, but the majority encouraged this. The presence of verification steps is encouraged by almost all participants. The goal of the second study was to investigate the effects of the two motivational elements on seniors’ confidence, their motivation and on usability. The results show that adding verification steps or motivational agents has a positive effect on seniors’ effectiveness in performing tasks