I provide user experience and consumer validation research projects for identity, security and privacy-oriented companies and non-profits. My goal is to promote and facilitate the design of safe, accessible, user-friendly, and trustworthy information environments.
Latest News
- Consumer Attitudes Towards Product Safety
Just published: “Consumer Attitudes Towards Product Safety: Physical Consumer Goods vs. Internet Connected Products”. In my latest research with Lisa LeVasseur at Internet Safety Labs. we looked consumer perceptions and attitudes of safety of a variety of products. This research received financial support from the Internet Society Foundation.
…and if the 75 min read warning on LinkedIn scares you (it’s mostly charts anyway) jump to the intro and discussion to see what you really should be concerned about as digital makers. This is important information that every product designer and engineer should know.
Some interesting findings about product safety attitudes:
* When it comes to product safety, there’s a double standard among consumers for connected vs. unconnected products.
People expect product makers to be responsible for the safety of things like home goods, cars, cleaning products and the like. But they don’t have the same expectation when it comes to websites, Smart TVS and mobile apps.
* Many consumers appear unaware of the causal connection between personal and societal harms such as physical, emotional, reputational, and financial damage and the systemic loss of privacy tied to connected products and services.
Product consumers are subjecting themselves to more harms than they think when they trust digital product makers to take proper care of their personal information.
* Even though survey respondents didn’t score mobile apps as the “least safe” option—websites, smart automobiles and smart homes got that dubious honor—consumers expressed more concern about the safety of apps than the safety of other internet-connected products.
If you find that last point interesting, you will find Internet Safety Lab’s AppMicroscope educating. App Microscope displays Safety Labels for mobile applications. Currently, App Microscope contains over 1700 apps studied in the ISL 2022 K-12 EdTech safety benchmark.
Read the full report at Internet Safety Labs:
Consumer Attitudes Towards Product Safety: Consumer Products vs Internet-Connected Products:
Look for other reports in a summary of my work for Internet Safety Labs.
Portfolio Highlights
Research & Product Design
Information Architecture
Digital Standards & Accessibility
Workshops & Facilitation
Teaching & Academic Research
Coaching & Community Development
Latest Workshops
Sense-Making and Search at UXLx
May 24, 2023, Lisbon, Portugal
Sense-Making, Search and SEO Workshop at UXLx: User Experience Lisbon
Read the UX-LX Wrap Up with a description of the workshop outcomes.
Featured Posts
- Consumer Attitudes Towards Product Safety
- UX-LX: Talks on Digital Harm and Understanding Searcher Behavior
- Ethics in Computer Programming: Move Fast, and Let Someone Else Break Things
- Thoughts on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as a Design Framework
- Resilient Identifiers for Underserved Populations WG Charter Approved
Images: Most of the images on this site are my own photography, Creative Commons photos and drawings from Wikimedia or other sources. Some of the recent ones were generated by NightCafe.studio, one of the many new AI generated art programs, like Dall-E or Midjourney AI. I am cautiously exploring this new art form and its impact on fine arts programs like the one at CUNY New York City College of Technology where I teach courses in interactive media.