Category: Press

Posted on

CPPA Stakeholder Meeting Discusses “Dark Patterns”

On May 5, 2022, I participated in the California Privacy Protection Agency’s (CPPA) stakeholder meeting, making a public statement about “dark patterns” which I urged them to redefine as “harmful patterns,” and suggested changes to their definitions of “Consent” and “Intentional Action.”

As Jared Spool says, we should be looking at the UX outcome of design decisions, not just the intent, as many designers adopt strategies or work with underlying technologies whose outcomes can be harmful to the technology user and other stakeholders. These UI patterns may not have the intent to do harm. Often the designers’ intent is to provide convenience or a useful service.

Take accessibility overlays that intend to provide a better experience for people with visual or cognitive disabilities but have the effect of overriding necessary controls. Even patterns that affect user behavior, like staying on a page longer, clicking on a link, accepting default cookie settings, etc. may be intended to provide convenience to users, but unknowingly to both the designer and the user, there are processes underlying many of these tools that share data and information about the transaction that can be harmful.

CPRA is defining what it means to consent to data collection and what an intentional user action is. It addresses “dark patterns” as an intentional deception, when often the digital harm is not intentional, yet is deep-rooted. We are hoping to make these harms clearer and provide guidelines for addressing them through our ISL Safe Software Specification.

Read more about the CPPA stakeholder meeting and my statement on behalf of the Internet Safety Labs (formerly the Me2B Alliance):

CPPA Pre-Ruling Stakeholder Sessions
Digital Harms Dictionary 2.0
ISL Safe Software Specification for Websites and Mobile Apps v1.1
Posted on

Press Mentions: Beta Phi Mu Initiation Speech

New Initiates and Guest Speaker Noreen Y. Whysel

Noreen Whysel addressing the 2017 Initiation Class of Beta Phi Mu Theta at Pratt Institute School of Information

“A lovely Initiation Ceremony and Dessert Reception were hosted by the Beta Phi Mu Theta Chapter on May 17, 2017.

“Guest Speaker Noreen Y. Whysel (SILS ’14) gave a fantastic keynote speech, which she described below:

Dreams, Resilience and Making a Difference
Our goal as we embark on our journey as Pratt SILS graduates is to make a difference. Whether we leave Pratt to become a school librarian, a legal librarian, a UX designer, or an archivist, we stand as a gateway between a deluge of Information and the people we serve.

“Using an example of a proposed 9/11 geographic archive, Noreen Whysel explained how between our dreams and our goal of making a difference is resilience.”

The full talk transcript and presentation slides

Posted on

Decision Fish Named Best for NYC by Mayor’s Office

On Tuesday, September 19, 2017, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development and B Lab recognized Decision Fish as one of 14 Best for NYC Changemakers.  According to the awards committee, “Best for NYC Changemakers are redefining business success by creating quality jobs, building stronger communities, and supporting a more sustainable environment.” Decision Fish is very proud to be a part of this progressive community.

Decision Fish accepts Best for NYC Changemaker Award
Brett Whysel, CEO of Decision Fish, left, and Noreen Whysel, COO of Decision Fish, right, celebrate with Rose DeStefano, center, of the Mayors Office of Workforce Development.

Decision Fish won the 2017 Best for NYC award in the category of Financial Empowerment, along with coffee purveyor Cafe Grumpy. The category reflects our mission to help people make wise financial decisions step-by-step with friendly and independent online decision support tools.

Best for NYC is a campaign and set of business tools designed to enhance business competitiveness and improve quality of life for workers. Launched by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and powered by the nonprofit organization B Lab, together with the support of community-based organizations, local chambers of commerce, and city agencies, Best for NYC inspires and equips NYC businesses to improve jobs, strengthen communities, and preserve the environment. It is a citywide movement of people using business as a force for good.

Best for NYC centers around the Best for NYC Challenge, a holistic online business assessment which calculates a company’s performance across multiple categories, such as community   impact, environmental impact, and job quality. Once complete, the Challenge generates a scored snapshot of the business’s performance, at which point a business can compare itself to others their size and in their industry. They also have the option of accessing best practice and improvement guides. Best for NYC participants are given opportunities to strengthen their bottom line through marketing collateral, employee engagement strategies, and a connection to a values-aligned network.

Decision Fish is proud to recognized by the City of New York as a business leader for our efforts improve our home town and the quality of life for New Yorkers and all Americans. To learn more, visit Best For NYC or Contact Us.

Posted on

Data Detox: A Journey into My Digital Past

What Strange Wonderful Things Lurk in Your Digital Footprint?

While running a Data Detox, I came across a review of my 2016 DH Week Workshop, “Pinterest as Digital Exhibition” from Pratt student, Akaya Sato. 

This was interesting. I did the detox primarily in the hopes of reducing my data footprint. I knew I might find strange and potentially, dare I say, scandalous (or at least worrisome) information about myself that I didn’t want out there. Once upon a time a boss of mine informed me that my posts to a maternity forum and at least one post I made to a video game cheat code list were easily findable in a Yahoo! search. So yeah, pretty embarrassing. I certainly wasn’t expecting to find clues to a mini Noreen Whysel fandom. At the risk of expanding my data footprint ever so slightly, here’s a peek at Akaya’s review and some background.

For the workshop, I presented a set of Pinterest boards that I have been curating for the research group, Architecture_MPS. These boards focus on conferences and journal issues published by Architecture_MPS as well as topics the group covers, such as Housing – Critical Futures and the Mediated City. Additional boards cover events, exhibitions, books, films and political issues around architecture and related design.

“By providing these Pinterest boards, AMPS emphasizes collaboration with other institutions. With their contributions, many users, including architecture firms, can recognize the significance of AMPS and raise awareness about architecture. Institutions and nonprofit organizations utilizing social media advance the public awareness by collaborating and highlighting community engagements over the same field.”

I knew some of the attendees would be from the museum community so as an exercise, we created an example set from my MetIllumination project, covering devotional art represented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We explored many ways to document and annotate art objects by pinning links to articles, provenance records and other related materials that describe the artifacts and encourage discussion and sharing.

“Since many of the attendees were staff members from institutions and museums, the ‘Fire and Light: Illumination in Religious Art‘ website demonstrates a great example for archivists and librarians to utilize Pinterest and display visual images of the institutions ephemera.”

When I did the data detox, I expected to find things that needed to be removed, deleted or forgotten. I certainly wasn’t expecting to find a review of a small talk at a digital humanities event. In any event it was nice to find someone gleaned enough from my little workshop, that they posted a review for their fellow classmates. But it also made me wonder what else might be out there that is good, but hidden among my digital footprint.

So I kept looking and found a couple other things that I found delightful, including two published books where I was mentioned in acknowledgements, one that I knew about: Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati’s book Pervasive Information Architecture, where I somehow made it above Bruce Springsteen (but below Richard Saul Wurman) in the thank yous. Quite an accomplishment. The second was Aaron Irizarry and Adam Connor’s Discussing Design, which I own and have read, but somehow missed my name being mentioned in the acknowledgements. (Thanks, Guys!)

I won’t tell you about the things I found that weren’t so delightful. I am working through the Data Detox advice to reduce the prominence of these items.

Have you done a data detox recently? What have you uncovered?

Read Akaya’s review: http://dh.prattsils.org/blog/resources/event-reviews/noreen-whysels-pinterest-as-an-exhibition-gallery-at-metropolitan-new-york-library-council-21016/

Pinterest as Digital Exhibition (DH Week slides, February 10, 2016): https://www.slideshare.net/nwhysel/dh-week-workshop-pinterest-as-exhibition

Pinterest as Digital Exhibition (IA Summit poster, May 7, 2016): https://www.slideshare.net/nwhysel/pinterest-as-digital-archive-ia-summit-2016-atlanta

Data Detox: https://myshadow.org/ckeditor_assets/attachments/189/datadetoxkit_optimized_01.pdf

Posted on

Short Bursts: Noreen Whysel

The Information Architecture Summit has a feature where they ask members of the community to answer the same ten questions. The feature editor, Marianne Sweeney, invited me to participate.

“Short bursts is a head start on meeting some of the smart, talented, funny, thoughtful, creative and disruptive information architects, user experience professionals and content strategists that you might see in Vancouver.”

Read my answers

Posted on

New IDESG Service Empowers Organizations to Better Protect Digital Identities

Registry Is Key Step in Growing Healthy and Secure Online Identity Ecosystem
Marketwired Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG)

Jun 6, 2016 8:00 AM

WASHINGTON, DC–(Marketwired – Jun 6, 2016) – The Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG) — an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to creating the future of trusted digital identities — today announced a new service that empowers organizations to improve the way they handle identities. The Identity Ecosystem Framework (IDEF) Registry brings the digital identity community closer to realizing the White House’s vision for trusted identities in cyberspace.

Every organization involved in online identity transactions plays a key role in creating and sustaining a healthy online identity ecosystem. The IDEF Registry allows companies to independently assess their own identity management methods against common industry practices. Using the IDESG’s Identity Ecosystem Framework as a model, organizations can now master and build on commonly accepted criteria for interoperability, privacy, security and usability. Meeting milestones in these subject areas is essential to ensuring that digital identities are protected and trustworthy online.

“This is an essential step in creating a safer environment for online transactions,” said Salvatore D’Agostino, President of the IDESG and CEO of IDmachines, LLC. “By equipping organizations involved in online transactions with a tool to measure where they stand relative to accepted policies and best practices, we’re promoting a safer internet on two levels. We’re making industry-accepted best practices more accessible to organizations who want to meet them, and providing a structured benchmark to organizations and individuals that want to use safer protocols for their digital transactions and information management.”

The Registry is an actionable step in the Identity Revolution, and the first opportunity of its kind for online identity service providers and owners and operators of applications that register, issue, authenticate, authorize and use identity credentials to prove that they operate secure platforms for their customers. Those that voluntarily register with the Registry publicly demonstrate their dedication to best practices in identity management. In addition to increasing participating organizations’ value and trust in the marketplace, the Registry gives them access to their industry’s most cutting-edge methods for identity management.

Initial listers include some of the preeminent companies in the identity space, such as MorphoTrust and PRIVO.

“As a founding member of the IDESG, PRIVO understands the level of commitment, subject matter expertise and vision required to bring the Registry to life,” said PRIVO Co-founder and CEO Denise Tayloe. “We are very proud to be one of the first services to hold ourselves accountable to the IDEF requirements that support a privacy-preserving, interoperable, secure, easy-to-use credential for families we serve, in order to protect and enable young users to engage and transact online.”

The IDESG has a pipeline of applicants and anticipates significant demand to join these early adopters to complete the process. Listing in the IDEF Registry is currently free for those who self attest.

“An Internet built around the identity principles of the Identity Ecosystem Framework, is in the best interest of us all as individuals,” said Mark DiFraia, Senior Director of Market Development at MorphoTrust. “MorphoTrust is proud to be one of the first organizations to join the IDEF Registry because we made the investment to build our online identity solution from the ground up to deliver on the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) Principles. It is our sincere hope that the combination of NSTIC principles, the IDEF and now the IDEF Registry apply the right amount of pressure to shape the behavior of online players for the benefit of us all.”

For more information on The Identity Ecosystem Framework Registry, visit IDEFRegistry.org.

About the Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG)

IDESG is a voluntary, public-private partnership dedicated to developing an Identity Ecosystem Framework (IDEF) and services to better online digital identity. The IDESG looks to advance the Identity Ecosystem called for in the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). The NSTIC, signed by President Obama in 2011, envisions the identity ecosystem as an online environment where individuals and organizations will be able to trust each other because they follow agreed-upon standards and policies to obtain and authenticate their digital identities. Come see how IDESG is making this happen by joining us in the effort and taking advantage of our services at IDESG.org.

Contact:

Media Contact
Donna Armstrong
ConnellyWorks, Inc.
571-323-2585 x6140
donna@connellyworks.com

Posted on

Press Mentions: Art Documentation, vol. 34, no. 2 (Fall 2015)

My feedback and contributions were acknowledged in Art Documentation, vol. 34, no. 2 (Fall 2015) “Transferable Skills and the Nontraditional Workplace: A Case Study of Internships with an Art and Design Theory-Focused Journal,” by Rachel Isaac-Menard of Adelphi University.

Abstract—The author outlines a librarian internship in the virtual, nontraditional context of an open-access scholarly journal and research group called Architecture_MPS (architecture_media_politics_society). This group also organizes academic events and offers research materials in its primary area of study—architecture—and the related fields of art, sociology, and design. The importance of such training opportunities is placed in the context of the changing nature of the workplace and, in particular, the ever-more-difficult job-seeking process for librarians. This type of internship indicates possible ways forward for the training of librarians in the humanities and other fields that could help prepare library students for the workplaces of the future.

Posted on

#BlackLifeMatters Wikipedia Editathon

A news clip from the New York Public Library’s February 7, 2015 Wikipedia Editathon, #BlackLifeMatters, where I am interviewed about the editing my daughter Jay and I were doing on the life and career of costume designer Judy Dearing, best known for her work on Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama A Soldier’s Play, the 1976 stage adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s book, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf and the musical Once On This Island. Lead story on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s InnovationTrail.com:

http://innovationtrail.org/post/wikipedia-editing-workshops-aim-increase-black-history-content

Posted on

West 104th Street Block Association Talks IA

The April 15 issue of the West 104th Street Block Association Newsletter featured the efforts of my design team in an article about the Association’s pending website redesign. I also had the unexpected honor have my profile featured on their website.

As part of the project, my design team conducted interviews, surveys and user testing of current residents, neighbors and prospective residents. These were divided into four test groups including families with children, younger residents (couples and singles), those aged 55 and over and those considering a move to the neighborhood. The block association reported that “The respondents to the survey requested that the website be reorganized to find information more easily with an emphasis on portraying a ‘neighborhood feel.'” Indeed, my team found a great need among the test population for findable and accessible information.

My specific user test population included site users aged 55 and older. Among the requirements of this group, legibility and safety information was the most important need, and descriptive pictures of the block’s people and activities were especially appreciated.

The Information Architecture community also got a shout out:

“We are very lucky to have an information architect on our block to develop our ‘new and improved’ website that will be informative for all our residents.”

It is an honor to be recognized by the block for our contribution, and I thank my teammates for doing such a great job. We expect to launch the new site in June.

Read more about the West 104th Street Block Association Web Redesign.

Posted on

Press Mentions: Marketing Land: Redesigning Or Creating A Website? Here’s Why Information Architecture Should Be Priority #1

From “Redesigning Or Creating A Website? Here’s Why Information Architecture Should Be Priority #1: Columnist Shari Thurow explains information architecture, site navigation, and how they relate to one another.” Shari Thurow on February 13, 2015 at 10:37 am
http://marketingland.com/redesigning-creating-website-plan-information-architecture-117040?utm_campaign=feed-main&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner

Of course, I am not saying to ignore the aesthetics of navigation design. Nor am I saying to ignore the user experience. What I am saying is to have a strong foundation that makes sense and is meaningful to users.

I think my colleague, Noreen Whysel, Community Manager for the OWASP Foundation, Operations Advisor for the Information Architecture Institute, and independent researcher, summarizes this well:

“Information architecture is getting people to the information they need quickly, easily and without a lot of hassle. It’s sort of like a good road map. But it doesn’t mean leaving out the scenic overlooks. I’m a big fan of brown highway signs and serendipity. Sometimes you need a big picture view or a detour to get a new perspective on what you are looking for.”

Amen to that, Noreen.