Privacy Cards for Surfacing Mental Models and Exploring Privacy Concerns: A Case Study of Voice-First Ambient Interfaces with Older Adults

TL;DR

This case study explores older adults' mental models and privacy concerns regarding voice-first ambient interfaces, revealing gaps in understanding and highlighting ethical considerations for future design and research.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel application of Privacy Cards to surface mental models and privacy concerns among older adults using VFAIs, providing insights into their understanding and ethical issues.

Findings

Participants lacked understanding of data access and control.

Privacy Cards uncovered nuanced privacy concerns.

Initial low concern shifted to ethical awareness after interviews.

Abstract

We investigate the ethical and privacy implications of voice-first ambient interfaces (VFAIs) for aging in place through an in-depth engagement with five older adults. Our participants were in the process of becoming experienced VFAI users, and had used a VFAI-based design probe for health data reporting. We create and iteratively refine an interview protocol using Privacy Cards. We customize Privacy Cards by drawing on participants' previous interviews and device usage logs. Using Privacy Cards, we conduct interviews to surface their mental models, and explore their privacy concerns. We find insufficient mental models for proper consent. For example, participants did not know who could access their data, and experienced difficulty distinguishing built-in functionality from third-party apps. Participants initially expressed little worry about VFAI-related ethical concerns, but interviews with Privacy Cards revealed nuanced issues, resulting in various implications for future research and design.