Lunchocracy: Improving Eating Dynamics in the Workplace Using a Bot-Based Anonymous Voting System

Previous studies have shown that when individuals join groups for lunch, they tend to conform to the decision of the group. As result, people do not always have the chance to pick the food they wish for, which in turn may have negative consequences, such as not abiding to healthy diets. To address this problem, we created Lunchocracy, an anonymous decision support tool for lunch spots in a workplace based on feedback from a focus group with 7 participants. The tool implements a conversational skype-bot, Lunchbot, that allows users to express interest in joining lunch and to vote for diners to eat at. We deployed the tool for four weeks with 14 participants from the same university department. Post-interviews with 5 participants revealed an overall satisfaction with Lunchocracy, in particular due to it structuring the lunch decision-making and saving time. We discuss how the use of Lunchocracy can positively influence the group's eating dynamics

EyeSpot: leveraging gaze to protect private text content on mobile devices from shoulder surfing

As mobile devices allow access to an increasing amount of private data, using them in public can potentially leak sensitive information through shoulder surfing. This includes personal private data (e.g., in chat conversations) and business-related content (e.g., in emails). Leaking the former might infringe on users’ privacy, while leaking the latter is considered a breach of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation as of May 2018. This creates a need for systems that protect sensitive data in public. We introduce EyeSpot, a technique that displays content through a spot that follows the user’s gaze while hiding the rest of the screen from an observer’s view through overlaid masks. We explore different configurations for EyeSpot in a user study in terms of users’ reading speed, text comprehension, and perceived workload. While our system is a proof of concept, we identify crystallized masks as a promising design candidate for further evaluation with regard to the security of the system in a shoulder surfing scenario

Understanding Shoulder Surfing in the Wild: Stories from Users and Observers

Research has brought forth a variety of authentication systems to mitigate observation attacks. However, there is little work about shoulder surfing situations in the real world. We present the results of a user survey (N=174) in which we investigate actual stories about shoulder surfing on mobile devices from both users and observers. Our analysis indicates that shoulder surfing mainly occurs in an opportunistic, non-malicious way. It usually does not have serious consequences, but evokes negative feelings for both parties, resulting in a variety of coping strategies. Observed data was personal in most cases and ranged from information about interests and hobbies to login data and intimate details about third persons and relationships. Thus, our work contributes evidence for shoulder surfing in the real world and informs implications for the design of privacy protection mechanisms

Investigating the Third Dimension for Authentication in Immersive Virtual Reality and in the Real World

Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) is a growing 3D environment, where social and commercial applications will require user authentication. Similarly, smart homes in the real world (RW), offer an opportunity to authenticate in the third dimension. For both environments, there is a gap in understanding which elements of the third dimension can be leveraged to improve usability and security of authentication. In particular, investigating transferability of findings between these environments would help towards understanding how rapid prototyping of authentication concepts can be achieved in this context. We identify key elements from prior research that are promising for authentication in the third dimension. Based on these, we propose a concept in which users' authenticate by selecting a series of 3D objects in a room using a pointer. We created a virtual 3D replica of a real world room, which we leverage to evaluate and compare the factors that impact the usability and security of authentication in IVR and RW. In particular, we investigate the influence of randomized user and object positions, in a series of user studies (N=48). We also evaluate shoulder surfing by real world bystanders for IVR (N=75). Our results show that 3D passwords within our concept are resistant against shoulder surfing attacks. Interactions are faster in RW compared to IVR, yet workload is comparable

Seamless and Secure VR: Adapting and Evaluating Established Authentication Systems for Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) headsets are enabling a wide range of new opportunities for the user. For example, in the near future users may be able to visit virtual shopping malls and virtually join international conferences. These and many other scenarios pose new questions with regards to privacy and security, in particular authentication of users within the virtual environment. As a first step towards seamless VR authentication, this paper investigates the direct transfer of well-established concepts (PIN, Android unlock patterns) into VR. In a pilot study (N = 5) and a lab study (N = 25), we adapted existing mechanisms and evaluated their usability and security for VR. The results indicate that both PINs and patterns are well suited for authentication in VR. We found that the usability of both methods matched the performance known from the physical world. In addition, the private visual channel makes authentication harder to observe, indicating that authentication in VR using traditional concepts already achieves a good balance in the trade-off between usability and security. The paper contributes to a better understanding of authentication within VR environments, by providing the first investigation of established authentication methods within VR, and presents the base layer for the design of future authentication schemes, which are used in VR environments only

LEX : a case study in development and validation of formal specifications

The paper describes an experiment in the combined use of various tools for the development and validation of formal specifications. The first tool consists of a very abstract, (non-executable) axiomatic specification language. The second tool consists of an (executable) constructive specification language. Finally, the third tool is a verification system. The first two tools were used to develop two specifications for the same case study, viz. a generic scanner similar to the tool LEX present in UNIX. Reflecting the nature of the tools the first specification is abstract and non-executable, whereas the second specification is less abstract but executable. Thereupon the verification system was used to formally prove that the second specification is consistent with the first in that it describes the same problem. During this proof it appeared that both specifications contained conceptual errors (adequacy errors). It is argued that the combined use of tools similar to those employed in the experiment may substantially increase the quality of the software developed

LEX : a case study in development and validation of formal specifications

The paper describes an experiment in the combined use of various tools for the development and validation of formal specifications. The first tool consists of a very abstract, (non-executable) axiomatic specification language. The second tool consists of an (executable) constructive specification language. Finally, the third tool is a verification system. The first two tools were used to develop two specifications for the same case study, viz. a generic scanner similar to the tool LEX present in UNIX. Reflecting the nature of the tools the first specification is abstract and non-executable, whereas the second specification is less abstract but executable. Thereupon the verification system was used to formally prove that the second specification is consistent with the first in that it describes the same problem. During this proof it appeared that both specifications contained conceptual errors (adequacy errors). It is argued that the combined use of tools similar to those employed in the experiment may substantially increase the quality of the software developed

Using Video Clips to Support Requirements Elicitation in Focus Groups - An Experience Report.

Abstract This paper reports on a methodological experiment, which was carried out in two large collaborative research projects targeted at innovative products. Video material was produced in order to visualize the project vision and solution ideas, and this video material was used in focus group discussions. The paper describes the process, the experiences gained and gives a number of hints which may be helpful for projects planning to use a similar approach