Social Reading and Privacy Norms: The Aesthetic of Simplicity, Online Reading, and Interface Confusion J. Richard Stevens

The Paradox of Data Privacy Studies show Americans are generally concerned about data privacy (Stevens, 2007; Stutzman, 2006; Solove, 2004; Palen and Dourish, 2003) but do little to protect their private data (boyd, 2004; Gross and Acquisti, 2006; Jupiter Research, 2002) and continually adjust expectations to meet offered choices (Palen and Dourish, 2003; Bennett, Raab & Regan, 2003; Friedman, 1997; Murphy, 1964).

Privacy Defined Solove (2007) argues: “… the quest for a traditional definition of privacy has led to a rather fruitless and unresolved debate. In the meantime, there are real problems that must be addressed, but they are either conflated or ignored because they do not fit into various prefabricated conceptions of privacy” (759). Privacy as reaction to technological innovation Privacy controversies as routinized moral panics

Privacy and Context Decisions concerning information disclosure depend heavily on the circumstances, audience and perceived implications of the potential disclosure (Rosen, 2000) Privacy decisions are largely informed by expectations, expectations that rely on contextual cues Online, context is communicated through design aesthetics and affordances.

HCI and Interface Studies Classic Human-Computer Interaction has historically focused on usability, the effectiveness of design in allowing users to achieve their goals. Usability is usually defined in terms of a lack of obstruction or complexity Recent moves to examine aesthetics of interface as factors in encouraging particular behaviors. Design aesthetics communicate context: sense of “place” (Harrison and Dourish 1996) and interface interpretations (Dourish and Button 1998) for transactions.

Privacy Expectations and Interface Design Interface designs increasingly utilize affordances of simplicity to increase user confidence and performance + Back-end architecture is increasingly complex, creating “architectures of vulnerability” (Solove 2004) + Low user digital literacy = Increasing gulf between how tools APPEAR to function to users and the actual functionality of back-end tools

Interface Disconnections... the importance of interface design revolves around this apparent paradox: we live in a society that is increasingly shaped by events in cyberspace, and yet cyberspace remains, for all practical purposes, invisible, outside our perceptual grasp. Our only access to this parallel universe of zeros and ones runs through the conduit of the computer interface, which means that the most dynamic and innovative region of the modern word reveals itself through the anonymous middlemen of interface design (Johnson 1997, 19). “As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product” (Raskin 2000, 5) Hutchins et al.’s (1986) “gulf of interpretation” - difficulty of interpreting system’s state as a response to a user’s command

Open Graph Facebook protocol enabling “frictionless sharing,” introduced September First 9 weeks: Yahoo Social Reader - 10 million users The Guardian Social Reader - 4 million users The Washington Post million users

Privacy Controls/Permissions

Importance of Aesthetics In physical space, architecture creates psychological and social effects (Tuan 1977) including altering individual conduct (Katyal 2002). “Information design makes information understandable by giving it a context. Information design builds new relationships between thoughts and places” (Mok 1996, 46).

Washington Post Social Reader Permissions

Unconscious Promotion

Social Readers Increase Architectures of Vulnerability News media organizations using social reader exacerbate by appearing to offer content as an enticement for installing software. “Okay, Read Article” = install reader software, become unpaid distributor of content for a media organization. “Cancel” = don’t install, read article on website Result: further undermining of user contextual assessment, user surprise at results of choice (if comparative results of choice options are even detected)