October 10, 2019

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UX for security: Perils of surveillance, pain of dashboards, and power of design

UX for security: Perils of surveillance, pain of dashboards, and power of design

User experience designers have an extraordinary opportunity to empower people to take control of their privacy. Ame Elliott shares examples of design for secure experiences and illustrates how UX can make systems more secure by addressing human behavior. Examples are applicable to a range of areas, including personal communication, business transactions, and government and nonprofit projects.

Talk Title UX for security: Perils of surveillance, pain of dashboards, and power of design
Speakers Ame Elliott (Simply Secure)
Conference O’Reilly Design Conference
Conf Tag Design the Future
Location San Francisco, California
Date January 20-22, 2016
URL Talk Page
Slides
Video

Privacy breaches and security threats are global crises that affect our wellbeing. Privacy is a human right for all people, from activists in repressive countries struggling to organize to Fortune 500 executives hoping their dating habits don’t damage their careers. When our personal communications, medical information, financial transactions, online behavior, and physical-world activities using connected devices are vulnerable to surveillance, society suffers. Recent security threats have shown that personal data may be more liability than asset, and the need for user empowerment has never been greater. User experience (UX) design plays a critical role in empowering people to protect their privacy by controlling their data. Current UX models for privacy polarize into two groups. Passive experiences are easy to use but offer users low or no control. Active experiences are difficult to manage but offer high control. New UX design forges a path between passive and active engagement with security interfaces. A human-centered design approach to security can bring together what’s desirable to people, possible with technology, and viable in a business and regulatory context. Ame Elliott shares examples of UX design for secure communication tools, with a focus on open source efforts, and explores principles broadly applicable to personal communication, business transactions, and government and nonprofit projects. These examples illustrate how UX design can chart a path between the perils of surveillance and the pain of hypervigilance that arises from managing an overwhelming array of controls.

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