Patrick Murmann's research is about creating useful technology to help users of mobile fitness and exercise applications understand how the personal information they share is and will be processed.
Patrick Murmann, can you put your research in a context?
- My research deals with creating usable technology that helps users of fitness tracking devices understand how the data they share with their respective online service have been and will be processed. To achieve this goal, users receive privacy notifications on their mobile phones, which constitute a conceptual means to facilitate transparency about the processing of their personal data. Instead of repeatedly going through the tedious process of proactive investigation, users specify what kind of information they are interested in and how they prefer to be notified. Once these events occur, the user receives a notification.
Intervenability is something that reappears in your dissertation - can you explain?
- Legally speaking, intervenability represents our ability to intervene in the processing of our personal data. Intervenability goes hand in hand with transparency in that we need awareness and clarity about the underlying process in order to intervene. Hence, privacy notifications inform users not only about what caused the notification to be triggered, but also advise them how to intervene in the process, should they choose to do so.
How did you proceed in your research?
- In order to create technology that is actually usable, my research aims to work towards the needs and expectations of actual users, that is, representatives of the designated target audience. We not only relied on human subjects to evaluate the artefacts that we created, but we also drew on said users to elicit the requirements for implementing our prototypes. We relied on literature reviews of design principles and best practices and on online surveys to elicit our design requirements, and we used lab studies and focus groups to evaluate the prototypical implementations. Hence, our approach was human-centred.
What do you think your research can contribute to?
- I hope that my work will contribute to bring research related to privacy and usability closer together. Each of these two subjects is a well-established field of research in itself, and there are various research projects that successfully reconcile both fields. However, I believe that research about usable privacy that specifically targets the European legislation and that pursues a stringent human-centred approach will benefit from the concepts that we have proposed.
How has your research contributed to Karlstad university?
- I spent 10 months of my studies abroad working with European partner universities, an industrial partner, and a regulatory authority. This multi-facetted exposure to various disciplines and research cultures posed an integral part of being a member of a Horizon 2020 international training network as part of my Marie Curie scholarship. Moreover, our publications in various journals and at conferences highlighted that Karlstad University contributes to research and research networks on an international level.
Near future plans for yourself?
- I will continue working in the field of sensitive data processing where I will contribute to bring human needs and technology closer together.
Information at Your Fingertips: Facilitating Usable Transparency via Privacy Notifications
