Jessica Vitak
University of Maryland, College of Information Studies, Faculty Member
- Information Technology, Library and Information Studies, New Communication Technologies, Computer-Mediated Communication, Media Studies, Social Networking, and 13 moreSocial Media, Facebook, Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Online social networks, Relationship Maintenance, Social Capital, Privacy, Impression Management, Teens, Social Provisions, Social Psychology, and New Mediaedit
- Jessica Vitak is a professor in the College of Information and director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) ... moreJessica Vitak is a professor in the College of Information and director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) at the University of Maryland. Her research evaluates the privacy and ethical implications of new technologies that collect data in our homes, schools, and workplaces. She seeks to understand how privacy concerns play a role in technology adoption and use, and she develops tools and resources to help children and adults make more informed decisions when using technology and sharing sensitive data. For more information, visit https://pearl.umd.edu.edit
Research using online datasets from social media platforms continues to grow in prominence, but recent research suggests that platform users are sometimes uncomfortable with the ways their posts and content are used in research studies.... more
Research using online datasets from social media platforms continues to grow in prominence, but recent research suggests that platform users are sometimes uncomfortable with the ways their posts and content are used in research studies. While previous research has suggested that a variety of contextual variables may influence this discomfort, such factors have yet to be isolated and compared. In this article, we present results from a factorial vignette survey of American Facebook users. Findings reveal that researcher domain, content type, purpose of data use, and awareness of data collection all impact respondents' comfort-measured via judgments of acceptability and concern-with diverse data uses. We provide guidance to researchers and ethics review boards about the ways that user reactions to research uses of their data can serve as a cue for identifying sensitive data types and uses.
Research Interests:
The open science (OS) movement has advocated for increased transparency in certain aspects of research. Communication is taking its first steps toward OS as some jour- nals have adopted OS guidelines codified by another discipline. We... more
The open science (OS) movement has advocated for increased transparency in certain aspects of research. Communication is taking its first steps toward OS as some jour- nals have adopted OS guidelines codified by another discipline. We find this pursuit troubling as OS prioritizes openness while insufficiently addressing essential ethical principles: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. Some recommended open sci- ence practices increase the potential for harm for marginalized participants, commu- nities, and researchers. We elaborate how OS can serve a marginalizing force within academia and the research community, as it overlooks the needs of marginalized scholars and excludes some forms of scholarship. We challenge the current instantia- tion of OS and propose a divergent agenda for the future of Communication research centered on ethical, inclusive research practices.
Research Interests:
Crises, whether society-wide or personal, are endemic to the human condition. Yet academia and its associated institutions persist in having insufficient scaffolding to support its members during periods of crisis. No one knows this more... more
Crises, whether society-wide or personal, are endemic to the human condition. Yet academia and its associated institutions persist in having insufficient scaffolding to support its members during periods of crisis. No one knows this more acutely than academic caregivers of children, elders, disabled adults, and other loved ones with special needs. Academic caregivers are disproportionately women, and the COVID-19 pandemic brought to light our precarious position and the lack of structural and institutional responses to cope with crises. Academia is decades behind other sectors in family leave and accommodation policies, and caregivers are suffering the consequences. In this article, we outline recommendations for shifting away from individual approaches to resilience, instead building organizational and community resilience in academia. Our focus is on caregivers in academic teaching and research roles; however, these recommendations will help everyone in academia, especially institutions, withstand future crises and are critical for academia's sustainability.
Research Interests:
Frequent public uproar over forms of data science that rely on information about people demonstrates the challenges of defining and demonstrating trustworthy digital data research practices. This paper reviews problems of trustworthiness... more
Frequent public uproar over forms of data science that rely on information about people demonstrates the challenges of defining and demonstrating trustworthy digital data research practices. This paper reviews problems of trustworthiness in what we term pervasive data research: scholarship that relies on the rich information generated about people through digital interaction. We highlight the entwined problems of participant unawareness of such research and the relationship of pervasive data research to corporate datafication and surveillance. We suggest a way forward by drawing from the history of a different methodological approach in which researchers have struggled with trustworthy practice: ethnography. To grapple with the colonial legacy of their methods, ethnographers have developed analytic lenses and researcher practices that foreground relations of awareness and power. These lenses are inspiring but also challenging for pervasive data research, given the flattening of contexts inherent in digital data collection. We propose ways that pervasive data researchers can incorporate reflection on awareness and power within their research to support the development of trustworthy data science.
Research Interests:
The internet of things (IoT) and smart home technologies are pervasive in the U.S. and abroad. Devices like smart speakers, cameras, thermostats, and vacuums promise to save consumers time and energy and to make tasks easier. Many devices... more
The internet of things (IoT) and smart home technologies are pervasive in the U.S. and abroad. Devices like smart speakers, cameras, thermostats, and vacuums promise to save consumers time and energy and to make tasks easier. Many devices also provide significant benefits through accessibility features that offer hands-free options, voice commands, and management through smartphone apps. At the same time, however, researchers and the media have documented a number of vulnerabilities in these devices, which raises concerns about what and how much data is being collected, how that data is used, and who has access to the data. In this one-day workshop, participants will work together to brainstorm potential solutions for making smart device data more visible and interpretable for consumers. Through rotating breakout sessions and full-group discussions, participants will identify data-based threats in popular smart home technologies, select data flows that are most concerning, a nd generate design ideas for tools or other artifacts that can help consumers make more informed decisions about using these devices. Opportunities for networking and future collaborations will also be incorporated. CCS CONCEPTS • Security and privacy; • Human and societal aspects of security and privacy; • Privacy protections;
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Significant research has examined social media users' self-presentation strategies, both within a single account and across multiple platforms. Few studies, however, have considered how users' self-presentation varies across multiple... more
Significant research has examined social media users' self-presentation strategies, both within a single account and across multiple platforms. Few studies, however, have considered how users' self-presentation varies across multiple accounts on a single platform. In this survey study, we examine how Instagram users manage content sharing decisions and the audience for their content across two types of Instagram accounts: Rinsta ("real" Instagram) and Finsta ("fake" Instagram). Data analyzed includes 499 Finsta and Rinsta posts rated across different dimensions of self-presentation (e.g., self-presentation intention, picture editing effort) and 453 open-ended responses about participants' rationales for using the two accounts. Through this mixed-method approach, we find that Rinsta accounts are more likely to be public, focus on positive and uplifting content, and involve more careful editing and selection, while Finsta accounts are used for more off-the-cuff, emotional, and inappropriate content, as well as those photos that do not make the Rinsta cut. Participants also rated how they perceived responses to their Finsta and Rinsta posts. Mediation analysis suggests that participants perceived responses to Finsta posts as less satisfying, useful, and supportive-partly because Finsta posts contained more negative emotions and received fewer comments than Rinsta posts. We discuss these findings in relation to prior work on social media, self-presentation, and platform affordances, and consider the benefits of this more time-intensive approach to managing two distinct personas on one platform. CCS Concepts: • Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in HCI.
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Late adolescence represents an important life stage where children are becoming more independent and autonomous from their parents but are not quite old enough to go out on their own. Teenagers are also avid users of mobile devices and... more
Late adolescence represents an important life stage where children are becoming more independent and autonomous from their parents but are not quite old enough to go out on their own. Teenagers are also avid users of mobile devices and social media and actively use their smartphones to connect with friends and share their lives. Much of the research looking at teen technology use has employed a risk-centric approach; in other words, it takes the view that teens are putting themselves at risk by sharing personal information online, so the privacy-oriented solutions typically involve parental monitoring or technology restrictions. In this chapter, we review the research on teens, technology use, and privacy and discuss why such risk-centric models may be problematic to teens' maturation. Instead, we argue that-much like it was for prior generations-risk-taking is a learning process critical to becoming a young adult and that teens do think about their privacy online, albeit in different ways than their adult counterparts. We offer design heuristics for developing tools for teens that allow for appropriate levels of risk-taking while protecting their privacy and ensuring their safety.
Research Interests: Privacy and Adolescence
Information and communication technologies play a critical role at home, school, and work for people of all ages. At the same time, use of these technologies can present challenges to privacy and security. In this study, we apply the... more
Information and communication technologies play a critical role at home, school, and work for people of all ages. At the same time, use of these technologies can present challenges to privacy and security. In this study, we apply the concept of funds of knowledge to understand how families develop knowledge and skills around using technology and protecting personal information. Funds of knowledge explains how people gain knowledge and highlights how learning happens in a variety of environments beyond the classroom. Through interviews with 52 families living in economically disadvantaged communities in the United States, we develop a typology of privacy funds of knowledge in families. We also explore how privacy funds of knowledge inform families' privacy practices. We conclude the paper by identifying how these findings inform the development of resources for families to further enhance their digital practices.
Research Interests:
The platformization of households is increasingly possible with the introduction of "intelligent personal assistants" (IPAs) embedded in smart, always-listening speakers and screens, such as Google Home and the Amazon Echo. These devices... more
The platformization of households is increasingly possible with the introduction of "intelligent personal assistants" (IPAs) embedded in smart, always-listening speakers and screens, such as Google Home and the Amazon Echo. These devices exemplify Zuboff's "surveillance capitalism" by commodifying familial and social spaces and funneling data into corporate networks. However, the motivations driving the development of these platforms-and the dataveillance they afford-vary: Amazon appears focused on collecting user data to drive personalized sales across its shopping platform, while Google relies on its vast dataveillance infrastructure to build its AI-driven targeted advertising platform. This paper draws on cross-cultural focus groups regarding IPAs in the Netherlands and the United States. It reveals how respondents in these two countries articulate divergent ways of negotiating the dataveillance affordances and privacy concerns of these IPA platforms. These findings suggest the need for a nuanced approach to combating and limiting the potential harms of these home devices, which may otherwise be seen as equivalents.
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Elementary school educators increasingly use digital technologies to teach students, manage classrooms, and complete everyday tasks. Prior work has considered the educational and pedagogical implications of technology use, but little... more
Elementary school educators increasingly use digital technologies to teach students, manage classrooms, and complete everyday tasks. Prior work has considered the educational and pedagogical implications of technology use, but little research has examined how educators consider privacy and security in relation to classroom technology use. To better understand what privacy and security mean to elementary school educators, we conducted nine focus groups with 25 educators across three metropolitan regions in the northeast U.S. Our findings suggest that technology use is an integral part of elementary school classrooms, that educators consider digital privacy and security through the lens of cur-ricular and classroom management goals, and that lessons to teach children about digital privacy and security are rare. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, we identify design opportunities to help educators integrate privacy and security into decisions about digital technology use and to help children learn about digital privacy and security. CCS CONCEPTS • Security and privacy → Social aspects of security and privacy; • Social and professional topics → Children.
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Voice-controlled intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) have seen tremendous growth in recent years on smartphones and as standalone devices in people's homes. While research has examined the potential benefits and drawbacks of these... more
Voice-controlled intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) have seen tremendous growth in recent years on smartphones and as standalone devices in people's homes. While research has examined the potential benefits and drawbacks of these devices for IPA users, few studies have empirically evaluated the role of privacy and trust in individual decision to adopt IPAs. In this study, we present findings from a survey of IPA users and non-users (N=1160) to understand (1) the motivations and barriers to adopting IPAs and (2) how concerns about data privacy and trust in company compliance with social contract related to IPA data affect acceptance and use of IPAs. We discuss our findings in light of social contract theory and frameworks of technology acceptance.
Research Interests:
Fitness trackers are an increasingly popular tool for tracking one’s health and physical activity. While research has evaluated how these mobile devices can improve health and well-being, few studies have empirically evaluated users’... more
Fitness trackers are an increasingly popular tool for tracking one’s health and physical activity. While research has evaluated how these mobile devices can improve health and well-being, few studies have empirically evaluated users’ privacy concerns that stem from the collection, aggregation, and sharing of personal fitness information (PFI). In this paper, we endeavor to gain a more complete picture of users’ experiences with fitness trackers and how they manage the privacy of personal fitness information. Using Communication Privacy Management (CPM) as a theoretical framework, we describe findings from survey and interview data regarding the benefits and drawbacks users perceive from using a fitness tracker, as well as how privacy concerns and behaviors map onto user strategies for managing privacy boundaries related to personal fitness information. We conclude by discussing how our findings contribute to theory and future information policy related to the growing wearable device ecosystem.
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Given the ubiquity of social media platforms, the online harassment of women is deservedly drawing significant attention from the media, academics, and the platforms themselves. This study uses data from in-depth interviews with 23 women... more
Given the ubiquity of social media platforms, the online harassment of women is deservedly drawing significant attention from the media, academics, and the platforms themselves. This study uses data from in-depth interviews with 23 women university students, who were harassed/cyberbullied, to explore how young women respond to negative experiences online. Findings suggest women deploy various defensive strategies while navigating online spaces, from normalizing harassment-and taking it for granted-to self-censorship and withdrawal. Interpreting these responses through a feminist lens clarifies the implications for women's willingness and ability to participate in public spaces and highlights an increased urgency for social media platforms to address and mitigate harassment.
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In this position article, we synthesize various knowledge gaps in information privacy scholarship and propose a research agenda that promotes greater cross-disciplinary collaboration within the iSchool community and beyond. We start by... more
In this position article, we synthesize various knowledge gaps in information privacy scholarship and propose a research agenda that promotes greater cross-disciplinary collaboration within the iSchool community and beyond. We start by critically examining Westin's conceptualiza-tion of information privacy and argue for a contextual approach that holds promise for overcoming some of Westin's weaknesses. We then highlight three contextual considerations for studying privacy-digital networks, marginalized populations, and the global context-and close by discussing how these considerations advance privacy theorization and technology design.
Research Interests:
Technology platforms, including learning management systems and monitoring tools, have taken root in schools. While seen as bringing efficiency or innovation into classrooms, they also offer greater capacities for surveillance. Drawing on... more
Technology platforms, including learning management systems and monitoring tools, have taken root in schools. While seen as bringing efficiency or innovation into classrooms, they also offer greater capacities for surveillance. Drawing on findings from focus groups with teachers in the US, we explore how teachers' use of technology platforms produces surveillance. We argue that this positions teachers as surveillant consumers who use monitoring as a way to fulfill their responsibilities to students. We portray two configurations of monitoring in the classroom: tracking student learning and keeping students on task. These configurations reveal how technology platforms orient teachers to see student data as interchangeable with students, which we believe highlights the need for greater scrutiny of technology platforms' role in the classroom.
Research Interests:
Most social media platforms record, display, and archive users' personal histories. This persistence of posts over time can be problematic, as users' self-presentation goals and network composition change, but old content remains. In this... more
Most social media platforms record, display, and archive users' personal histories. This persistence of posts over time can be problematic, as users' self-presentation goals and network composition change, but old content remains. In this paper, we explore an alternative feature that provides control over content persistence. We present findings from interviews with 16 users of the popular Chinese social media platform WeChat Moments. We focused on Moments' Time Limit setting, which makes social media data ephemeral to audiences, but persistent to posters. Interviewees described changes in their self-presentation goals and social network composition over time and reported the Time Limit feature helped them effortlessly manage their desired self-presentation as they matured. Drawing on these findings, we discuss design implications for social media to facilitate greater control over content visibility and persistence, which may have significant benefits for social media users with large and diverse networks.
With the influx of content being shared through social media, mobile apps, and other digital sources—including fake news and misinformation—most news consumers experience some degree of information overload. To combat these feelings of... more
With the influx of content being shared through social media, mobile apps, and other digital sources—including fake news and misinformation—most news consumers experience some degree of information overload. To combat these feelings of unease associated with the sheer volume of news content, some consumers tailor their news ecosystems and purposefully include or exclude content from specific sources or individuals. This study explores customization on social media and news platforms through a survey (N = 317) of adults regarding their digital news habits. Findings suggest that consumers who diversify their online news streams report lower levels of anxiety related to current events and highlight differences in reported anxiety levels and customization practices across the political spectrum. This study provides important insights into how perceived information overload, anxiety around current events, political affiliations and partisanship, and demographic characteristics may contribute to tailoring practices related to news consumption in social media environments. We discuss these findings in terms of their implications for industry, policy, and theory.
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As sensitive transactions continue to move online, public libraries are becoming a critical resource to patrons without access to the internet. This paper shares insights on how library staff negotiate privacy risks when working with... more
As sensitive transactions continue to move online, public libraries are becoming a critical resource to patrons without access to the internet. This paper shares insights on how library staff negotiate privacy risks when working with patrons handling sensitive and private information. Based on findings from an analysis of library policies on technology use, as well as focus groups and participatory design sessions with library staff from around the United States, we categorize primary risks patrons face when using library computers to complete information tasks requiring submission of sensitive information, as well as how library staff navigate the tensions between their professional values and privacy concerns. We conclude the paper with a discussion of how these findings are informing our development of a framework that library staff can use to navigate privacy risks patrons face.
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The global coronavirus pandemic has raised important questions regarding how to balance public health concerns with privacy protections for individual citizens. In this essay, we evaluate contact tracing apps, which have been offered as a... more
The global coronavirus pandemic has raised important questions regarding how to balance public health concerns with privacy protections for individual citizens. In this essay, we evaluate contact tracing apps, which have been offered as a technological solution to minimize the spread of COVID-19. We argue that apps such as those built on Google and Apple's "exposure notification system" should be evaluated in terms of the contextual integrity of information flows; in other words, the appropriateness of sharing health and location data will be contextually dependent on factors such as who will have access to data, as well as the transmission principles underlying data transfer. We also consider the role of prevailing social and political values in this assessment, including the large-scale social benefits that can be obtained through such information sharing. However, caution should be taken in violating contextual integrity, even in the case of a pandemic, because it risks a long-term loss of autonomy and growing function creep for surveillance and monitoring technologies.
Research Interests:
In February 2016, Facebook launched Reactions, an interactive feature expanding the Like button to include five additional emotional responses: Love, Sadness, Anger, Wow, and Haha. In this article, we examine users' feedback about this... more
In February 2016, Facebook launched Reactions, an interactive feature expanding the Like button to include five additional emotional responses: Love, Sadness, Anger, Wow, and Haha. In this article, we examine users' feedback about this new feature and identify important design implications of this significant modification of Facebook's interface. We did this by applying theories of human emotion and emotion-specific influences on cognitive appraisals to conduct a heuristic evaluation of Facebook Reactions and a thematic content analysis of the 3,000 "top" comments posted by Facebook users on the official pre-and post-launch announcements about Reactions. Prior to launch, many users were concerned that the addition of a Dislike button would lead to abuse; thus, they favored the more nuanced design of Reactions. After launch, users were more positive about the feature as many of their misconceptions were clarified through actual use. Overall, we identified several design constraints of this new feature, including users' inability to express conflicting emotions. We conclude the article by discussing the implications of our findings and the challenges around research and design for sociotechnical systems that involve complex human emotions.
Research Interests:
The COVID-19 global pandemic led governments, health agencies, and technology companies to work on solutions to minimize the spread of the disease. One such solution concerns contact-tracing apps whose utility is tied to widespread... more
The COVID-19 global pandemic led governments, health agencies, and technology companies to work on solutions to minimize the spread of the disease. One such solution concerns contact-tracing apps whose utility is tied to widespread adoption. Using survey data collected a few weeks into lockdown measures in the United States, we explore Americans’ willingness to install a COVID-19 tracking app. Specifically, we evaluate how the distributor of such an app (e.g., government, health-protection agency, technology company) affects people’s willingness to adopt the tool. While we find that 67 percent of respondents are willing to install an app from at least one of the eight providers included, the factors that predict one’s willingness to adopt differ. Using Nissenbaum’s theory of privacy as contextual integrity, we explore differences in responses across distributors and discuss why some distributors may be viewed as less appropriate than others in the context of providing health-related apps during a global pandemic. We conclude the paper by providing policy recommendations for wide-scale data collection that minimizes the likelihood that such tools violate the norms of appropriate information flows.
Research Interests:
Researchers and policymakers advocate teaching children about digital privacy, but privacy literacy has not been theorized for children. Drawing on interviews with 30 families, including 40 children, we analyze children's perspectives on... more
Researchers and policymakers advocate teaching children about digital privacy, but privacy literacy has not been theorized for children. Drawing on interviews with 30 families, including 40 children, we analyze children's perspectives on password management in three contexts-family life, friendship, and education-and develop a new approach to privacy literacy grounded in Nissenbaum's contextual integrity framework. Contextual integrity equates privacy with appropriate flows of information, and we show how children's perceptions of the appropriateness of disclosing a password varied across contexts. We explain why privacy literacy should focus on norms rather than rules and discuss how adults can use learning moments to strengthen children's privacy literacy. We argue that equipping children to make privacy-related decisions serves them better than instructing them to follow privacy-related rules.
Research Interests:
As organizational security breaches increase, so too does the need to fully understand the human factors that lead to these breaches and take the necessary steps to minimize threats. The present study evaluates how three sets of employee... more
As organizational security breaches increase, so too does the need to fully understand the human factors that lead to these breaches and take the necessary steps to minimize threats. The present study evaluates how three sets of employee characteristics (demographic, company-specific, and skills-based) predict an employee’s likelihood of becoming a security breach victim. In order to move beyond traditional evaluations of security threats, which generally consider security threats individually, analyses in this paper approach security vulnerability from a more holistic approach to analyze four risk categories concurrently: phishing, passwords, bring your own device (BYOD), and company-supplied laptops. Findings from a survey of 250 employees at a medium-sized American information technology (IT) consulting firm identify higher-risk employees across the four risk areas and provide new insights into the challenges organizations face when trying to ensure the protection of company data.
Research Interests:
Librarians face numerous challenges when helping patrons— particularly those with low socioeconomic status (SES)—meet information needs. They are often expected to have knowledge about many different technologies , web services, and... more
Librarians face numerous challenges when helping patrons— particularly those with low socioeconomic status (SES)—meet information needs. They are often expected to have knowledge about many different technologies , web services, and online forms. They must also navigate how to best help patrons while ensuring that personally identifying information (PII) is kept private and that their help will not hold them or their library system liable. In this paper, we explore data collected in eleven focus groups with 36 public librarians from across the U.S. to understand the information challenges librarians encounter when working with patrons who have low digital literacy skills but must increasingly use the internet to request government assistance, apply for jobs, and pay their bills. Findings highlight the thin line librarians must walk to balance issues around privacy, trust, and liability. We conclude the paper with recommendations for libraries to provide additional training to librarians and patrons on privacy and information technology, and we suggest ways for librarians to fulfill their roles as information intermediaries while minimizing legal , ethical, and privacy concerns.
Research Interests:
Fitness trackers are an increasingly popular tool for tracking one's health and physical activity. While research has evaluated the potential benefits of these devices for health and well-being, few studies have empirically evaluated... more
Fitness trackers are an increasingly popular tool for tracking one's health and physical activity. While research has evaluated the potential benefits of these devices for health and well-being, few studies have empirically evaluated users' behaviors when sharing personal fitness information (PFI) and the privacy concerns that stem from the collection, aggregation, and sharing of PFI. In this study, we present findings from a survey of Fitbit and Jawbone users (N=361) to understand how concerns about privacy in general and user-generated data in particular affect users' mental models of PFI privacy, tracking, and sharing. Findings highlight the complex relationship between users' demographics, sharing behaviors, privacy concerns, and internet skills with how valuable and sensitive they rate their PFI. We conclude with a discussion of opportunities to increase user awareness of privacy and PFI.
Research Interests:
As social media becomes more deeply embedded into our daily lives, researchers are examining how previously private disclosures and interactions are manifesting in semi-public spaces. This study evaluates how sites like Facebook may help... more
As social media becomes more deeply embedded into our daily lives, researchers are examining how previously private disclosures and interactions are manifesting in semi-public spaces. This study evaluates how sites like Facebook may help users grieve following the loss of a family pet. Through an empirical study of Facebook users, we evaluate survey responses (N=396) and users' actual Facebook posts related to pet loss (N=190) to better understand how individuals use (or do not use) social media as part of the grieving process. We find that users weigh several benefits and drawbacks before making these sensitive disclosures on Facebook, including whether they think posting will mitigate or perpetuate their emotional pain, the privacy of the experience vs. the public nature of sharing, and whether their disclosures will be met with support or dismissal (i.e., disenfranchised grief). We conclude by discussing implications for theory around grief and social support, as well as the design of social media interfaces that support grieving processes for the loss of a loved one.
The parallel rise of pervasive data collection platforms and computational methods for collecting, analyzing, and drawing inferences from large quantities of user data has advanced social computing research, investigating digital traces... more
The parallel rise of pervasive data collection platforms and computational methods for collecting, analyzing, and drawing inferences from large quantities of user data has advanced social computing research, investigating digital traces to understand mediated behaviors of individuals, groups, and societies. At the same time, methods employed to access these data have raised questions about ethical research practices. This article provides insights into U.S. institutional review boards’ (IRBs) attitudes and practices regulating social computing research. Through descriptive and inferential analysis of survey data from staff at 59 IRBs at research universities, we examine how IRBs evaluate the growing variety of studies using pervasive digital data. Findings unpack the difficulties IRB staff face evaluating increasingly technical research proposals while highlighting the belief in their ability to surmount these difficulties. They also indicate a lack of consensus among IRB staff about what should be reviewed and a willingness to work closely with researchers.
Research Interests:
ASKfm is a social media platform popular among teens and young adults where users can interact anonymously or semi-anonymously. In this paper, we identify the modes of disclosure and interaction that occur on the site, and evaluate why... more
ASKfm is a social media platform popular among teens and young adults where users can interact anonymously or semi-anonymously. In this paper, we identify the modes of disclosure and interaction that occur on the site, and evaluate why users are motivated to post and interact on the site, despite its reputation for facilitating cyberbullying. rough topic modeling–supplemented with manual annotation–of a large dataset of ASKfm posts, we identify and classify the rich variety of discourse posted on ASKfm, including both positive and negative forms, providing insights into the why individuals continue to engage with the site. ese ndings are complemented by a survey of young adults (aged 18-20) ASKfm users, which provides additional insights into users' motivations and interaction paaerns. We discuss how the aaordances speciic to platforms like ASKfm, including anonymity and visibility, might enable users to respond to cyberbullying in novel ways, engage in positive forms of self-disclosure, and gain social support on sensitive topics. We conclude with design recommendations that would highlight the positive interactions on the website and help diminish the repurcussions of the negative interactions.
Research Interests:
Children under age 12 increasingly use Internet-connected devices to go online. And while Internet use exposes people to privacy and security risks, few studies examine how these children perceive and address such concerns. To fill this... more
Children under age 12 increasingly use Internet-connected devices to go online. And while Internet use exposes people to privacy and security risks, few studies examine how these children perceive and address such concerns. To fill this gap, we conducted a qualitative study of 18 U.S. families with children ages 5-11. We found that children recognized certain privacy and security components from the contextual integrity framework, but children ages 5-7 had gaps in their knowledge. Children developed some strategies to manage concerns but largely relied on parents for support. Parents primarily used passive strategies to mediate children's device use and largely deferred teaching children about these concerns to the future. We argue that helping children develop strong privacy and security practices at a young age will prepare them to manage their privacy and security as adolescents and adults. We offer recommendations to scaffold children's learning on privacy and security.
Research Interests:
This study examines the impact of privacy defaults and expert recommendations on smartphone users' willingness to pay for " privacy-enhanced " features on paid applications using a 2 (privacy premium default/no privacy premium default) x... more
This study examines the impact of privacy defaults and expert recommendations on smartphone users' willingness to pay for " privacy-enhanced " features on paid applications using a 2 (privacy premium default/no privacy premium default) x 2 (privacy expert recommendation/non-privacy expert recommendation) experimental design. Participants (N ¼ 309) configured four paid apps with respect to privacy features. Selecting premium privacy features was associated with an increased cost, while removing premium privacy features reduced the cost of the application. Replicating findings from behavioral economics on default modes in decision-making, we found that participants presented with apps with privacy premium default features were more likely to retain the more expensive privacy features. However, the recommendation source did not have a significant effect on this relationship. We discuss how these findings extend existing work on users' decision-making process around privacy and suggest potential avenues for nudging users' privacy behaviors on mobile devices.
Research Interests:
The concept of affordances has been increasingly applied to the study of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in organizational contexts. However, almost no research operationalizes affordances, limiting comparisons and... more
The concept of affordances has been increasingly applied to the study of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in organizational contexts. However, almost no research operationalizes affordances, limiting comparisons and programmatic research. This article briefly reviews conceptualizations and possibilities of affordances in general and for media, then introduces the concept of organizational media affordances as organizational resources. Analysis of survey data from a large Nordic media organization identified six reliable and valid organizational media affordances: pervasiveness, editabil-ity, self-presentation, searchability, visibility, and awareness. Eight media scales based on frequency of use of 10 media within each of three organization levels were differentially associated with these affordances. The conceptualization, measurement approach, and results from this study provide the foundation for considerable future organizational communication and ICT research.
Research Interests:
This study aims to clarify inconsistencies regarding the term affordances by examining how affor-dances terminology is used in empirical research on communication and technology. Through an analysis of 82 communication-oriented scholarly... more
This study aims to clarify inconsistencies regarding the term affordances by examining how affor-dances terminology is used in empirical research on communication and technology. Through an analysis of 82 communication-oriented scholarly works on affordances, we identify 3 inconsistencies regarding the use of this term. First, much research describes a particular affordance without engaging other scholarship addressing that affordance. Second, several studies identify " lists " of affordances without conceptually developing individual affordances within those lists. Third, the affordances perspective is evoked in situations where the purported affordance does not meet commonly accepted definitions. We conclude with a set of criteria to aid scholars in evaluating their assumptions about affordances and to facilitate a more consistent approach to its conceptualization and application.
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While social media platforms enable individuals to easily communicate and share experiences, they have also emerged as a tool for cyberbullying. Teenagers represent an especially vulnerable population for negative emotional responses to... more
While social media platforms enable individuals to easily communicate and share experiences, they have also emerged as a tool for cyberbullying. Teenagers represent an especially vulnerable population for negative emotional responses to cyberbullying. At the same time, attempts to mitigate or prevent cyberbullying from occurring in these networked spaces have largely failed because of the complexity and nuance with which young people bully others online. To address challenges related to designing for cyberbullying intervention and mitigation, we detail findings from participatory design work with two groups of high school students in spring 2015. Over the course of five design sessions spanning five weeks, participants shared their experiences with cyberbullying and iteratively designed potential solutions. We provide an in-depth discussion of the range of cyberbullying mitigation solutions participants designed. We focus on challenges participants' identified in designing for cyberbullying support and prevention and present a set of five potential cyberbullying mitigation solutions based on the results of the design sessions.
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In the aftermath of disasters, communities struggle to recover from the physical and emotional tolls of the event, often without needed social support. Social media may serve to bridge the distance between the affected community and those... more
In the aftermath of disasters, communities struggle to recover from the physical and emotional tolls of the event, often without needed social support. Social media may serve to bridge the distance between the affected community and those outside who are willing to offer support. This exploratory study uses Twitter as a lens for examining gratitude for support provisions in the aftermath of disasters. Gratitude for support is examined in the context of two significant U.S. disasters, a tornado that devastated Alabama and the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Observed expressions of gratitude for social support from each community differed from what would be expected based on established factors relating to social support in the aftermath of the disaster. These findings offer ways for social media – as a window into real-time community behaviors relating to response and healing after disaster – to contribute to the provision of mental health resources and monitoring community resilience and recovery.
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The popularity, availability, and ubiquity of information and communication technologies create new opportunities for online harassment. The present study evaluates factors associated with young adult women's online harassment experiences... more
The popularity, availability, and ubiquity of information and communication technologies create new opportunities for online harassment. The present study evaluates factors associated with young adult women's online harassment experiences through a multi-factor measure accounting for the frequency and severity of negative events. Findings from a survey of 659 undergraduate and graduate students highlight the relationship between harassment, well-being, and engagement in strategies to manage one's online identity. We further identify differences in harassment experiences across three popular social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We conclude by discussing this study's contribution to feminist theory and describing five potential design interventions derived from our data that may minimize these negative experiences, mitigate the psychological harm they cause, and provide women with more proactive ways to regain agency when using
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In the aftermath of a traumatic mass casualty event, a com-munity's resources are strained, while its needs for tangible, emotional, and informational support are elevated. Social media may serve to bridge the distance between the locally... more
In the aftermath of a traumatic mass casualty event, a com-munity's resources are strained, while its needs for tangible, emotional, and informational support are elevated. Social media may serve to bridge the distance between the locally affected community and those outside who are willing to offer support. This exploratory study uses Twitter as a lens for examining gratitude for support in the aftermath of disaster. We examine how social media may provide new opportunities for support to be exchanged and networks to be formed in the aftermath of a traumatic event. By analyzing tweets originating from Newtown, CT after the school shooting, we identify and describe six categories of support exchanged through Twitter, including two categories (symbolic and role-based) that have not been extensively discussed in the social support literature-but are valued by the community. Each type of support network shows distinct structural characteristics and temporal variance.
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Research in computer-mediated communication has consistently asserted that Facebook use is positively correlated with social capital. This research has drawn primarily on Williams’ (2006) bridging and bonding scales as well as behavioral... more
Research in computer-mediated communication has consistently asserted that Facebook use is positively correlated with social capital. This research has drawn primarily on Williams’ (2006) bridging and bonding scales as well as behavioral attributes such as civic engagement. Yet, as social capital is inherently a structural construct, it is surprising that so little work has been done relating social capital to social structure as captured by social network site (SNS) Friendship networks. Facebook is particularly well-suited to support the examination of structure at the ego level since the networks articulated on
Facebook tend to be large, dense, and indicative of many offline foci (e.g., coworkers, friends from high school). Assuming that each one of these foci only partially overlap, we initially present two hypotheses related to Facebook social networks and social capital: more foci are associated with perceptions of greater bridging social capital and more closure is associated with greater bonding social capital. Using a study of 235 employees at a Midwestern American university, we test these hypotheses alongside self-reported measures of activity on the site. Our results only partially confirm these hypotheses. In particular, using a widely used measure of closure (transitivity) we observe a strong and persistent negative relationship to bonding social capital. Although this finding is initially counter-intuitive it is easily explained by considering the topology of Facebook personal networks: networks with primarily closed triads tend to be networks with tightly bound foci (such as everyone from high school knowing each other) and few connections between foci. Networks with primarily open triads signify many crosscutting friendships across foci. Therefore, bonding social capital appears to be less tied to local clustering than to global cohesion.
Facebook tend to be large, dense, and indicative of many offline foci (e.g., coworkers, friends from high school). Assuming that each one of these foci only partially overlap, we initially present two hypotheses related to Facebook social networks and social capital: more foci are associated with perceptions of greater bridging social capital and more closure is associated with greater bonding social capital. Using a study of 235 employees at a Midwestern American university, we test these hypotheses alongside self-reported measures of activity on the site. Our results only partially confirm these hypotheses. In particular, using a widely used measure of closure (transitivity) we observe a strong and persistent negative relationship to bonding social capital. Although this finding is initially counter-intuitive it is easily explained by considering the topology of Facebook personal networks: networks with primarily closed triads tend to be networks with tightly bound foci (such as everyone from high school knowing each other) and few connections between foci. Networks with primarily open triads signify many crosscutting friendships across foci. Therefore, bonding social capital appears to be less tied to local clustering than to global cohesion.
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While social media platforms enable individuals to easily communicate and share experiences, they have also emerged as a tool for cyberbullying. Teenagers represent an especially vulnerable population for negative emotional responses to... more
While social media platforms enable individuals to easily communicate and share experiences, they have also emerged as a tool for cyberbullying. Teenagers represent an especially vulnerable population for negative emotional responses to cyberbullying. At the same time, attempts to mitigate or prevent cyberbullying from occurring in these networked spaces have largely failed because of the complexity and nuance with which young people bully others online. To address challenges related to designing for cyberbullying intervention and mitigation, we detail findings from participatory design work with two groups of high school students in spring 2015. Over the course of five design sessions spanning five weeks, participants shared their experiences with cyberbullying and iteratively designed potential solutions. We provide an in-depth discussion of the range of cyberbullying mitigation solutions participants designed. We focus on challenges participants' identified in designing for cyberbullying support and prevention and present a set of five potential cyberbullying mitigation solutions based on the results of the design sessions.
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Pervasive information streams that document people and their routines have been a boon to social computing research. But the ethics of collecting and analyzing available—but potentially sensitive—online data present challenges to... more
Pervasive information streams that document people and their routines have been a boon to social computing research. But the ethics of collecting and analyzing available—but potentially sensitive—online data present challenges to researchers. In response to increasing public and scholarly debate over the ethics of online data research, this paper analyzes the current state of practice among researchers using online data. Qualitative and quantitative responses from a survey of 263 online data researchers document beliefs and practices around which social computing researchers are converging, as well as areas of ongoing disagreement. The survey also reveals that these disagreements are not correlated with disciplinary, methodological, or workplace affiliations. The paper concludes by reflecting on changing ethical practices in the digital age, and discusses a set of emergent best practices for ethical social computing research.
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In recent years, research on online impression management has received considerable scholarly attention, with an increasing focus on how the affordances of new media shape the impression management process. However, scant attention has... more
In recent years, research on online impression management has received considerable scholarly attention, with an increasing focus on how the affordances of new media shape the impression management process. However, scant attention has been paid to how individuals perform their identity online in places where surveillance is the norm—and punishment for non-compliance to behavioral codes is severe. This qualitative study of Azerbaijan, an honor culture with a norm of surveillance and serious repercussions for deviating from behavioral codes, explores how young adults balance the tensions between wanting to connect, create, and interact in these spaces while still adhering to behavioral codes. Findings from interviews reveal a complex set of strategies young people employ to both adhere to and break free of the restrictions they experience in offline settings. In many ways, these strategies are similar to those identified in research on more open societies; however, the ramifications for behavioral violations are so severe that careful and controlled impression management becomes paramount for Azerbaijanis, and especially so for women, who face significantly more restrictions than men.
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This is the syllabus I used when I taught INST201, Introduction to Information Science, during the Fall 2017 semester. I designed this course the previous year as an introduction to information science as a career, so it provides a survey... more
This is the syllabus I used when I taught INST201, Introduction to Information Science, during the Fall 2017 semester. I designed this course the previous year as an introduction to information science as a career, so it provides a survey of topics that information and data scientists might pursue following graduation.
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This course is designed to provide a general understanding of qualitative research methods and issues related to the design and conduct of qualitative studies. It is important for researchers to understand how different methods can be... more
This course is designed to provide a general understanding of qualitative research methods and issues related to the design and conduct of qualitative studies. It is important for researchers to understand how different methods can be used to investigate different research objectives. Qualitative research seeks the answers to how and why; it analyzes and describes; and it may shape preliminary questions to quantitative research. Qualitative methods include interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and content analysis.
If you plan to use qualitative research in your future career or studies, or want to become familiar with the various methods to qualitatively evaluate research questions, this class will provide a strong foundation in the primary research methods used in social and informational science research.
If you plan to use qualitative research in your future career or studies, or want to become familiar with the various methods to qualitatively evaluate research questions, this class will provide a strong foundation in the primary research methods used in social and informational science research.
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This is a new graduate-level class I'm developing for UMD's iSchool. I'd love feedback on the design and/or content!
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INFM 600 Information Environments will explore various models and methodologies used to capture and deploy internal and external information and knowledge in a number of settings. Students will analyze organizations in terms of... more
INFM 600 Information Environments will explore various models and methodologies used to capture and deploy internal and external information and knowledge in a number of settings. Students will analyze organizations in terms of information creation, flow, sharing, conservation, and application to problem solving. The course will take into account both internal and external influences on the management of information and knowledge. We will also examine how information flows, and is managed, in online settings, and examine a number of examples of successful and unsuccessful online information management.