Is Someone Listening?

Author(s):  
Julia C. Dunbar ◽  
Emily Bascom ◽  
Ashley Boone ◽  
Alexis Hiniker

Smart devices with the capability to record audio can create a trade-off for users between convenience and privacy. To understand how users experience this trade-off, we report on data from 35 interview, focus group, and design workshop participants. Participants' perspectives on smart-device audio privacy clustered into the pragmatist, guardian, and cynic perspectives that have previously been shown to characterize privacy concerns in other domains. These user groups differed along four axes in their audio-related behaviors (for example, guardians alone say they often move away from a microphone when discussing a sensitive topic). Participants surfaced three usage phases that require design consideration with respect to audio privacy: 1) adoption, 2) in-the-moment recording, and 3) downstream use of audio data. We report common design solutions that participants created for each phase (such as indicators showing when an app is recording audio and annotations making clear when an advertisement was selected based on past audio recording).

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4684
Author(s):  
Lihi Dery ◽  
Artyom Jelnov

Accurately tailored support such as advice or assistance can increase user satisfaction from interactions with smart devices; however, in order to achieve high accuracy, the device must obtain and exploit private user data and thus confidential user information might be jeopardized. We provide an analysis of this privacy–accuracy trade-off. We assume two positive correlations: a user’s utility from a device is positively correlated with the user’s privacy risk and also with the quality of the advice or assistance offered by the device. The extent of the privacy risk is unknown to the user. Thus, privacy concerned users might choose not to interact with devices they deem as unsafe. We suggest that at the first period of usage, the device should choose not to employ the full capability of its advice or assistance capabilities, since this may intimidate users from adopting it. Using three analytical propositions, we further offer an optimal policy for smart device exploitation of private data for the purpose of interactions with users.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 2347
Author(s):  
Yanyan Wang ◽  
Lin Wang ◽  
Ruijuan Zheng ◽  
Xuhui Zhao ◽  
Muhua Liu

In smart homes, the computational offloading technology of edge cloud computing (ECC) can effectively deal with the large amount of computation generated by smart devices. In this paper, we propose a computational offloading strategy for minimizing delay based on the back-pressure algorithm (BMDCO) to get the offloading decision and the number of tasks that can be offloaded. Specifically, we first construct a system with multiple local smart device task queues and multiple edge processor task queues. Then, we formulate an offloading strategy to minimize the queue length of tasks in each time slot by minimizing the Lyapunov drift optimization problem, so as to realize the stability of queues and improve the offloading performance. In addition, we give a theoretical analysis on the stability of the BMDCO algorithm by deducing the upper bound of all queues in this system. The simulation results show the stability of the proposed algorithm, and demonstrate that the BMDCO algorithm is superior to other alternatives. Compared with other algorithms, this algorithm can effectively reduce the computation delay.


Dementia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 930-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Lillekroken ◽  
Solveig Hauge ◽  
Åshild Slettebø

Research literature in the dementia field lacks examples of ‘best-practices’ demonstrating concretely how it is possible to support the sense of coherence in people with dementia. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the nurses’ views concerning a caring approach that may support the sense of coherence in people with dementia. The data were collected through participant observation and focus group interviews during a four-month period in 2011. Sixteen registered nurses recruited from two Norwegian nursing homes participated in this study. The data were interpreted using a phenomenological-hermeneutical method. Three themes were identified: ‘being in the moment’, ‘doing one thing at a time’, and ‘creating joy and contentment’. An overall interpretation of these themes is described by the metaphor ‘slow nursing’, a caring approach that may lead to supporting the sense of coherence in people with dementia.


1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Navakanta Bhat ◽  
Harry Chuang ◽  
Paul Tsui ◽  
R. Woodruff ◽  
John Grant ◽  
...  

Comunicar ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (60) ◽  
pp. 61-70
Author(s):  
Yi-Ning Katherine-Chen ◽  
Chia-Ho Ryan-Wen

With the prevalence of smart devices and wireless Internet, privacy has become a pivotal matter in governmental, academic, and technological fields. Our study aims to understand Taiwanese university students’ privacy concerns and protective behaviours in relation to online targeting ads and their habitual smartphone usage. Surveying 810 valid subjects, our results first propose that ad relevance has direct bearing on attention to ads. Second, ad relevance inversely correlates with privacy concerns (i.e. descending personal control and surging corporate power) and protective behaviours (self-filtering and ad evasion). Third and finally, neither privacy concerns nor protective behaviours have a negative bearing on habitual smartphone usage. Opposite to previous research, our study concludes that Taiwanese college students exhibit zero privacy paradox, owing to no signs of privacy concern incited by mobile targeting ads, no evidence of significant protective behaviours, and no decreasing habitual smartphone usage out of privacy concern and protection. Our findings indicate Taiwanese university students’ shaky awareness of potential risks and crises from exposure to vulnerable online privacy management. To deal with this, we suggest educating youths’ understandings of digital jeopardy by experts is urgently needed more so than just technical tutorials of privacy settings. Con la prevalencia de dispositivos inteligentes e Internet inalámbrico, la privacidad se ha convertido en un tema esencial en materias gubernamentales, académicas y tecnológicas. Nuestro estudio se dedica específicamente a entender las preocupaciones de los estudiantes universitarios taiwaneses en privacidad y comportamientos protectores en relación con la publicidad online y el uso habitual de teléfonos inteligentes. Con 810 muestras válidas encuestadas, nuestros resultados revelan que: 1) La relevancia de la publicidad tiene un efecto directo en su atención; 2) Está asociada inversamente a las preocupaciones de privacidad (por ejemplo, control personal descendiente y poder corporativo ascendiente) y comportamientos protectores (evasión de anuncios y autocensura); 3) La preocupación por ña privacidad ni los comportamientos protectores tuvieron efecto negativo en el uso habitual de los smartphones. Nuestro estudio concluye que no hay paradojas de la privacidad halladas en estos jóvenes taiwaneses debido a cambios en su preocupación por la privacidad, generada por la publicidad personalizada en su móvil. Ello evidencia un cambio significativo en los comportamientos protectores. En suma, estos universitarios taiwaneses tienen una débil apreciación de los riesgos potenciales y crisis a los que una vulnerable gestión de la privacidad online les podría exponer. Para abordarlo, una educación que cultive la comprensión de los peligros digitales para los jóvenes es muy recomendable y requiere urgentemente tutoriales técnicos sobre privacidad.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 124-128
Author(s):  
Nadide Duygu Solak ◽  
Murat Topaloglu

The number of mobile applications has been increasing rapidly in every field of life with the increasing use of smart devices. Smartphones and tablets make our lives easier with their properties and application they include. Minor or major accidents in traffic are always present in the daily life resulting in financial damage and loss of lives. There have been a number of studies done to speed up the processes to be done from the moment an accident happens. This study aims to enable people to perform all of the post-accident processes quickly and accurately with the use of mobile devices. In this way, papers and documents like photographs will be sent to the competent authorities without wasting time and effort. In addition, access to the road assistance needed will be quite easy. Keywords: Traffic accident, loss assessment and proceedings, mobile application.


Author(s):  
Mohamad Alameddine ◽  
Hussein Soueidan ◽  
Maha Makki ◽  
Hani Tamim ◽  
Eveline Hitti

BACKGROUND The use of smart devices (SD) by healthcare providers in care settings is a common practice nowadays. Such use is not restricted to applications related to the care of patients but often extends to personal calls and applications with frequent prompts and interruptions. This enhances the risk of distractions caused by SD in the hospital settings and raises concerns on service quality and patient safety. Such concerns are exacerbated in complex care settings like the Emergency Department (ED). OBJECTIVE This study measured the frequency and patterns of SD use among healthcare providers in the ED of a large academic health center in Lebanon. The perceived consequences of care providers on using SDs on the provider-provider communication and the care quality of patients in ED were further assessed. The study further examined the factors associated with the use of smart devices and measured the approval for regulating such use. METHODS The study was carried at the ED of an academic health center in Lebanon. The ED received the highest volume of patient visits in the country. Data was collected using a cross-sectional electronic survey sent to all ED healthcare providers (n=236). The target population included core ED faculty members, attending physicians, residents, medical students, and the nursing care providers. RESULTS Half of the target population responded to the questionnaire. A total of 85.6% of the respondents use one or more medical applications on their smart devices. The respondents believed that using the SD in the ED improved the coordination among the care team (81.6%) and that it was beneficial to patient care (78.9%). In addition, 41.1% of the respondents acknowledged they were distracted when using their SD for non-work purposes. Furthermore, 54.8% of the respondents acknowledged having witnessed their colleagues committed a near miss or an error due to the smart device-caused distractions. Regression analysis revealed that age and missing information due to using the SD are major predictors of committing an error at the ED (p<0.05). Interestingly, more than 40% of the respondents were significantly addicted to using SD and more than third of them felt the need to cut down on such use. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study make it imperative to safeguard the safety and wellbeing of patients, particularly in high intensity, high volume department such as the ED. Irrespective of the positive role the SD play in the healthcare process, the negative effects of its use mandate proper regulation. This is an ethical mandate taking into consideration the important consequences such use may have on care processes and outcomes.


Author(s):  
Nuha Iter

The study aimed to explore the negative effects of using smart devices on the physical and psychological health of children aged (13-16) years from their perspective. The study was applied to a random sample of children aged (13-16), consisting of (102) male and female students. The descriptive method was used to answer the study questions, and a questionnaire was developed to collect data, which contains (3) sections, first section asked about the most used and preferred devices by children aged (13-16) years, and the number of hours the child used the smart device, the second one asked about the negative effects of using the smart devices on the physical and psychological health of children aged (13-16) years from their perspective, and the third section is an open question to know other negative effects of using the smart devices on the physical and psychological health of children aged (13-16) years. The study achieved a set of results, such as the smartphones are the most used and preferred devices by children aged (13-16) years, where (57%) of the study sample preferred to use, and there is  (86.3%) of children aged (13-16) use these devices at average from 4 up to 6 hours daily.  The responders highly agreed upon the negative effects of the use of smart devices on the physical health with average (4.2); which is a high degree, also the responders highly agreed upon the negative effects of  the use of smart devices on the physiological health with average  is  (3.73) which is also high,  added there are other effects caused by the use of smart devices for long hours on  children aged (13-16); the low rate of family discussions, and causes the low writing skills for child.   Depending on the results of the study, the researcher recommends that:  researchers should conduct a correlative study to know the relationship between the effects and the number of hours of daily use of devices; families should rationalize the use of smart devices.


2019 ◽  
pp. 119-140
Author(s):  
Jinseok Woo ◽  
Naoyuki Kubota

Nowadays, various robot partners have been developed to realize human-friendly interactions. In general, a robot system is composed of hardware modules, software modules, and application contents. It takes much time to design utterance contents and motion patterns as application contents simultaneously, but the design support systems mainly focus on the generation of robot motion patterns. Furthermore, a methodology is needed to easily change the specification of hardware and software according to diversified needs, and the developmental environment to design the application contents on verbal and nonverbal communication with people. In this paper, the authors propose robot partners with the modularized architecture of hardware and software by using smart devices, and propose a developmental environment to realize easy contents design of verbal and nonverbal communication. In order to solve the problem of difficulty in the content design, they develop a design support environment using design templates of communication application contents. Next, they apply the robot partner to navigate visitors to the robot contest of the system design forum held in Tokyo Metropolitan University. Finally, they show several examples of the interaction cases, and discuss the interaction design for smart device based robot partners.


Author(s):  
Laura Aymerich-Franch

This chapter analyses privacy concerns of students and faculty resulting from the adoption of social media as teaching resources in higher education. In addition, the chapter focuses on privacy concerns that social media can cause to faculty when they are used for social networking. A trans-cultural study was carried out which involved three Spanish universities, a Colombian university, and an American university. A focus group was organized with PhD students to brainstorm the topic. Afterwards, 94 undergraduate students completed a survey and 18 lecturers participated in a written interview. Results indicate that social media are widely adopted in the university and are perceived as valuable resources for teaching. However, privacy concerns can easily emerge among students and faculty when these applications are used for this purpose. Concerns may appear when social media are used for social networking as well. The text also offers some guidelines to overcome them.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document